meta user
network profile
| bio | website | |
|---|---|---|
| location | Seattle, WA | |
| age | 42 | |
| visits | member for | 1 year, 6 months |
| seen | 12 hours ago | |
| stats | profile views | 38 |
Software engineer and long-time dabbler in mathematics; 11th in the Putnams forever ago but I've long since atrophied.
|
Dec 29 |
revised |
Does a winning strategy exist for Don't Break the Ice? Clarified the (simplified) rules. |
|
Dec 20 |
answered | Software to search for MTG decks based on a list of cards |
|
Dec 12 |
comment |
Tactics for Othello More broadly, though, IIRC even limiting the number of moves available to your opponent appears to be a good heuristic - moves that have forced replies are usually better than moves that leave multiple replies. I have a conference proceedings that includes a paper on Othello AI, I'll try to take a look later and see what else it mentions heuristically (they mostly talk about their learning algorithm). |
|
Dec 11 |
comment |
Third Hole in Cribbage Board +1 for introducing me to some cribbage terminology I've never seen before! |
|
Dec 5 |
comment |
What happens when I copy Precursor Golem with Rite of Replication? wesdfgfg Not all of those golems have the 'when this comes into play, put two additional golems into play' - that's a triggered ability on the original Precursor Golem but NOT on the 'dumb' golems it makes. (And a good thing - otherwise you'd have an infinite loop!) |
|
Dec 5 |
awarded | Nice Answer |
|
Dec 4 |
comment |
Dictionary for Scrabble that doesn't contain ridiculous words Why is 'XI' any worse than, say, 'EM' or 'AA'? I would be willing to bet that more people know the definition of the former than either of the latter! The problem with Scrabble is that you really can't eliminate all 2-letter words because it changes the way the game plays on a fundamental level. You could play the game, but it would bear only a vague resemblance to Scrabble at that point. |
|
Dec 4 |
comment |
Dictionary for Scrabble that doesn't contain ridiculous words For what it's worth, many clubs allow beginners to play with club-printed lists of 2-letter words. Rather than trying to arbitrarily dictate that 'QI' is bogus but 'EM' is legit - and remember which is which! - why not have a copy of that list handy and allow it as an explicit resource? |
|
Dec 3 |
answered | What happens when I copy Precursor Golem with Rite of Replication? |
|
Dec 3 |
comment |
Pros and Cons of running a deck with no 1-mana spells? Agressive Rakdos and Gruul-style decks in RTR are also happy to play all the two-power one-drops they can get their hands on; Rakdos Cackler is excellent and Dryad Militant quite viable in that kind of deck, and I've even seen (as Steve Sadin points out) some excellent white aggro decks using Trained Caracal/Judge's Familiar and Ethereal Armor. It's not every draft format where a true aggro style is viable, but Wizards has apparently been making it more and more of an option the last few years. |
|
Nov 29 |
comment |
Is there an unofficial term for an artifact that produces mana? I'm less sure it refers to the Moxes (though not entirely sure it refers to Fellwar Stone either); the term seems to have primarily originated in EDH/Commander play, where moxen are outright banned. It's more likely than anything else, I suppose, to be an offshoot of 'brown' as the color of artifacts and the notion of artifacts as generically being mineral of some sort or another. |
|
Nov 29 |
comment |
How is legality of blockers determined? Reading this makes me wonder, geekily: is declaring blockers NP-hard? |
|
Nov 29 |
answered | Is there an unofficial term for an artifact that produces mana? |
|
Nov 29 |
comment |
In Magic, when Magus of the Unseen returns an untapped artifact to its original controller, is there a delay before it becomes tapped? Excellent answer! The only thing I'd add is the standard definition of triggered abilities so that it's clear that the 'When' clause induces one. |
|
Nov 29 |
answered | Pros and Cons of running a deck with no 1-mana spells? |
|
Nov 26 |
comment |
Why creature enchantments aren't playable? @AdamArold Read the rest of the review for Rancor - after its limited review he gives the 'real' constructed review, where it gets a 3.0 (which is about right, by comparison with the other cards in that rating and the ones above and below). |
|
Nov 26 |
answered | Why creature enchantments aren't playable? |
|
Nov 14 |
comment |
When should a player decide to fold in Texas Hold'em Poker? Appropriate location aside, I can't imagine how this is either answerable or reasonably scoped - the FAQ says 'if you can imagine an entire book that answers your question, you're asking too much', and I think it's safe to say that several hundred books have been written that answer this question at this point... |
|
Nov 12 |
awarded | Yearling |
|
Nov 8 |
answered | Why is chasing the low considered a trap in Omaha Hi/Lo? |
