What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Niv-Mizzet, Parun deals one point of damage whenever you draw a card and you draw a card whenever a player plays an instant so you don't actually need to combo. You simply put him in a typical UR deck and if you untap with him, you play Opt, Shock and other similar cards and win.

So, for example, Opt becomes "One blue mana, draw two cards, deal two points of damage to any target". This also draws you into more spells that deal more damage and draw you more cards. Quite simply, it's a "untap and you win" card that you can slot into any UR controllish shell.

The Niv-Mizzet/Curiosity combo you are thinking of was with the old Niv Mizzet card, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind which is a much worse card.

The issue for me is not it being overpowering or having to deal with it, but the very idea of "If I untap with this I win", which I find boring and bad game design. Niv-Mizzet, Parun is not broken (Competitively he's actually a sideboard card), he just doesn't make the game engaging. I don't think "untap to win" is really engaging, nor fun and he's pretty much that.

In other words, the question with Niv-Mizzet is "Do I have it?" If I do, I keep playing and if I don't, I lose. I don't think that's an interesting question. And yet this "Do they have it?" question is extremely common in Magic, far more than any other cardgame.

These cards are not new, of course, but they are now pushed to a higher degree than they were in the past and they are less narrow. And I understand that, mind. All the big dragons and angels and bit Timmy cards were basically unplayable, because they were not enough of a big pay-off to compensate their high casting cost. But I think making the cards bombier doesn't lead to interesting games, either.

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I do accept that I do not like that question. I think it would be fair to say that I would prefer if Magic were a little bit longer and a little big grindier. I would prefer if you played a few more cards and so on.

Gary Sax wrote: Played Arkham Horror w/2 characters each, my spouse's favorite game. Not much to say but Hail to the King, still the best adventure game I've played. Don't regret sending off EH for a second. We had a good run of draws and managed to beat Cthulu on seals, but not before we had to sweat a gate draw at 6 gates open. We both had a chance to actually use a corner niche item, a big highlight of any AH game.

These days I play AH/DH board/mythos together with nothing else and it's pretty perfect. All the rest of the decks keep their additions from my billion expansions. I'm vaguely tempted to get ahold of that final expansion expansion love letter to AH.

there's nothing quite like it. My wife's favorite game too, 2 players, 2 characters each. I figured she enjoys the game enough and I like to rotate through the expansion boards, that getting the expansion expansion was worth it. and since it'll never come back, at least won't have that FOMO regret on it.

Just played my first game of Darkover in 4 years. I get why this game is ignored and derided over at the other site, but I’m surprised it doesn’t get more love here.

It has problems, yeah. I won a psychic contest, not by being the last person to maintain a straight face (our chant was “one solid gold dancers, two solid gold dancers..etc”), but by being the first person to accuse the other of cracking up. The game ended abruptly after two swords were played and a Sword power disc was revealed. Still, it’s daring, and like nothing else.

This game was Eon at their most drug-enduced, zany, and outright bizarre. It deserves to be talked about more as a great blend of serious DOAM strategy and party shenanigans. Weird, weird, weird (and fun).

Here’s the game in action (I copied a friend’s copy and upgraded the components).

What?

Darkover is one of the few Eons I haven't tried. I probably won't get the chance and I'm kind of sad about it. It sounds absolutely insane in the best possible way.

In re Eric's MtG questions, I think MtG has a place for cool combo cards that can win you the game quickly. Where I don't want to see these effects is in blue. Blue is the color that powers have decided can draw cards and counter spells. So, it's one thing to give a potent effect like this to Red (the card, by the way)
Niv-Mizzet, Parun {R}{R}{R}{U}{U}{U} 5/5 Legendary Creature -- Dragon Wizard
This spell can't be countered.
Flying
Whenever you draw a card, Niv-Mizzet, Parun deals 1 damage to any target.
Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell, you draw a card.

So, can't be countered means they will get it to the table. And they give it to Red/Blue, the colors dominated by drawing cards and playing Instants/Sorceries, and most able to prevent your ability to interact with the card because of their access to Counterspell effects. That's where it's not super-fun for me. This card in any other opposing color combination doesn't draw as many cards, and has to work much harder to protect it. Even if you tune the card to match those colors (like, making it trigger on a white effect like heal/lifegain or a green effect like a creature buff) doesn't have nearly the generic impact on your ability to keep it alive when compared to drawing more potentially protective Instant-speed blue cards. You could make a whole color-cycle of 6-mana 3-of-each 5/5 creatures and this would probably be the only one that gets played (maybe Blue Green too).

Erik Twice wrote:

I think it would be fair to say that I would prefer if Magic were a little bit longer and a little big grindier. I would prefer if you played a few more cards and so on.

Combo and Aggro players don't have much sympathy for that; they want you dead ASAP. Well, all opponents do, but Control knows that realistically they're going to be there a while.

If you're dead set on playing constructed deck Magic, I'd recommend that you play Control.

jeb wrote: In re Eric's MtG questions, I think MtG has a place for cool combo cards that can win you the game quickly. Where I don't want to see these effects is in blue. Blue is the color that powers have decided can draw cards and counter spells. So, it's one thing to give a potent effect like this to Red (the card, by the way)
Niv-Mizzet, Parun {R}{R}{R}{U}{U}{U} 5/5 Legendary Creature -- Dragon Wizard
This spell can't be countered.
Flying
Whenever you draw a card, Niv-Mizzet, Parun deals 1 damage to any target.
Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell, you draw a card.

So, can't be countered means they will get it to the table. And they give it to Red/Blue, the colors dominated by drawing cards and playing Instants/Sorceries, and most able to prevent your ability to interact with the card because of their access to Counterspell effects. That's where it's not super-fun for me. This card in any other opposing color combination doesn't draw as many cards, and has to work much harder to protect it. Even if you tune the card to match those colors (like, making it trigger on a white effect like heal/lifegain or a green effect like a creature buff) doesn't have nearly the generic impact on your ability to keep it alive when compared to drawing more potentially protective Instant-speed blue cards. You could make a whole color-cycle of 6-mana 3-of-each 5/5 creatures and this would probably be the only one that gets played (maybe Blue Green too).

That guy's a beast. I wouldn't be overjoyed to see him.

It might be due to my playing experience (Combo Winter), but Blue seems like a totally natural combo color. I played against a ton of Blue combo decks (never played a combo deck because fuck combo decks) like Time Spiral and U/B Memory Jar. Of course they had to ban a ton of cards afterwards.

Again, it's possible that my old age is showing, but I don't think so. If you're playing a deck that doesn't have some kind of instant-speed answer to big creatures (return to hand, removal, whatever), you better make sure that you kill that other player as soon as possible.

Note to Erik: I recall seeing this a lot in Sealed Deck, less so in Booster Draft - I've got a big pile of creatures, and you've got a big pile of creatures, and these creatures stare at each other until one of the players gets their gamebreaking card. I'd argue that's what happens when you don't have finishers - which you might not get in Sealed because you got some shitty purpose-specific Rares that are useless in a creature fight.

Vysetron wrote: Darkover is one of the few Eons I haven't tried. I probably won't get the chance and I'm kind of sad about it. It sounds absolutely insane in the best possible way.

You could probably easily whip one up yourself using pen and paper just to try it. A lot of what makes the game special is the social aspect of it.

Can we cut all this Magic talk to the thread dedicated to Magic?

To be honest I don't play magic and all this in depth talk, which is no doubt incisive and interesting to those who do, is just white noise to me and no doubt many others.

Made it out to open play night at the local store for the first time in a month or two. Opened up with Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra. It was fine. There were plenty of opportunities for good plays and risks and rewards to judge, but I think I need something a little more than chunky, translucent colors to draw me into a game. I would play it again if invited, but I'm not asking for it anytime soon.

Finished with Flamme Rouge. I was sharing with the other Azul players what I had brought when a guy across the room saw me bring out Flamme and shouted and rushed over to join us. Made a huge mistake in explaining the rules when I said that you gain an exhaustion every turn, not just when you're leading a pack, but that was easily rectified, fortunately. It's a really good game. In both of the games I've played so far it's managed this amazing balancing act between allowing the best player to consistently win while also keeping it close enough that you never feel totally out of it. The greatest compliment came when one of the guys said that he hadn't been that excited about bicycle racing (granted he had just played a game ostensibly about setting stained glass), but the gameplay turned it around for him before we were half through.

Gary Sax wrote: These days I play AH/DH board/mythos together with nothing else and it's pretty perfect. All the rest of the decks keep their additions from my billion expansions. I'm vaguely tempted to get ahold of that final expansion expansion love letter to AH.

What is a good mix of Arkham expansions for your average player that doesn't want to chase them all down? I'm looking for fun and replay-ability. Thanks!

If you’re talking 2e, then I like the updated Dark Pharaoh expansion for a simple way to add a little more fun and flavor to the mix.

DUNWICH is key.

I would add a small box too--probably LURKER or BLACK GOAT.

After that, it's all optional. Wait for a sale or something.

Just Dunwich and base are all that is necessary. Anything else is gravy.

I think the game got too hard later on but there's still plenty of good stuff in the other boxes, especially Innsmouth.