El Goonish Shive

Hope 58

He’s a magic jerk.

Ok, so he has the ability to sense the content of others’ strategies and intentions, possibly even read their decks or cards outright if I’m getting his last comment right.

Ironically, unless he can definitely read the cards an opponent has in their hand at any time, or something, just knowing what people plan to do might not be the most useful way to cheat in this context. Magic The Gathering - even new sets - has a nasty habit of quickly becoming a closed system where people really fixated on the game learn how to identify every strategy people might take before the cards even hit the table.

Someone like Tensaided for instance might be able to figure out someone’s whole strategy and educated guess most of the cards in their deck within a couple turns without needing magic to do it.

Edited by KnownUnknown on May 3rd 2024 at 4:50:05 AM

After steamrolling over poor Guy here, in Round 2 he’ll go up against Tedd, Luke, or Hope, any of whom can tell, with varying degrees of certainty and thoroughness, that he’s doing something underhanded with magic. Not sure what happens after that, though. “Tedd or Luke tells Justin, who is in the know and can find some plausible reason to disqualify A.J.” seems too neat and tidy.

Honestly, AJ might just lose normally. I think Tedd plays a control and stall water deck. Even if AJ is able to side deck in some anti-stalls cards, that's not really going to help him too much unless he can make sure that he top-decks whatever card he needs before Tedd finishes building his board.

Bro, is there even a good prize, why is he cheating?

I appreciate that Shive is keeping the name Some Guy. Also, apparently AJ's power makes him Maximilian Pegasus

Edited by thok on May 3rd 2024 at 4:45:18 AM

It’s a round robin tournament, so beating AJ doesn’t get rid of him. And I expect he’s cheating because he can and he doesn’t think there’s any way to catch him at it; the question is why he’s here and not cheating at something more lucrative. Maybe this is a practice round for him.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on May 3rd 2024 at 8:44:45 AM

x2

He's more like the dollar store discount version

He can see the general playstyles and deck profiles but can't actually read their minds to see what cards they have in their hands. Honestly, in most card games that wouldn't really help you that much. But maybe there is more to his power that we are not seeing"

He could just be kind of petty and like winning local events for bragging rights (also usually there is a small pot depending on the store for the winner). I feel like if lots random people got superpowers, some of them (if not most) would use it for mundane stuff. Very few people are going to jump into big stuff if ever.

"Alright, now that I won that local MTG tournament time to make it rich in Los Vegas. I can tell exactly what type of cards everyone at this poker table is playing...I immediately see the problem here."

Edited by Freshwater on May 3rd 2024 at 7:12:30 AM

The way magic works and spells are acquired, it may really only work on children's card games.

Edited by Will29 on May 3rd 2024 at 11:09:45 AM

Double Date 19

Rhoda can’t believe her eyes.

So far, AJ's power tells him nothing you can't learn by watching this guy play a single match.

Edited by Medinoc on May 5th 2024 at 2:26:48 PM

I gotta agree. Knowing your opponent's deck is an advantage, but only if you're already a good player who knows both your deck's limits and your opponent's deck's limits very well. And you still need to be lucky enough to draw the right hand. Hearthstone is 99% netdecking, but that doesn't make the matchup solved.

Maybe there's more to it. Like, if he can see what's in the opponent's hand at all times, that'd be pretty OP.

Comic Hope 59

Regrets. She has a few.

While Pandora's redemption kind of annoyed me, I love how Hope is characterized, and how she has to deal with how she was just such an awful person in the past, haunted by these memories of a past that doesn't feel like hers but she carries the guilt for anyway. Like, she doesn't understand her past self and why she did all those awful things, and she also feels so so guilty for the things she knows and remembers that she did. IDK. Identity shenanigans like that are so tasty.

Double Date 20

I still think the outfit looks more like a bowling shoe.

Comic Hope 60

Oh yeah, that...guy?

So, if Tedd is weirdly perceptive of Sam's gender identity via magic, well, Sam was perceptive of Tedd's first, just through experience.

Really, Shive? Because "Sam is trans and is trying to encourage Tedd along their journey of self-discovery" seemed like a pretty solid interpretation at the time, and is exactly how it turned out.

My read on the commentary was that Shive hadn't actually decided that Sam was trans yet, and more that Sam had simply picked up on Tedd having switched sex/gender (and assuming it was a trans thing, not magic).

Tedd was still male at that point.

... And I forgot that.

He really is just that androgynous.

Double Date 21

She would describe herself as more of a loudspeaker.

Hope 61

Of course that’s not a date, Susan. If it were a date there’d be bowling.

NP Double Date 22

Enter (and exit) Luke. Or one of his friends.

Hope 62

Sarah gets schooled.