I join What Exit? in bowing to Qadgop’s amazingly encyclopedic knowledge of Middle-earth. I know Tolkien better than any of my family or friends, but jeez, QtM leaves me awestruck.
I know the law, Star Trek, Scouting, military history (esp. the American Revolution, Civil War and World War II), the American presidency, flags and heraldry, and general American and British history pretty damn well, but I’m a distant second (or third, or fourth, or…) to other Dopers on just about all of these subjects.
This a ballsy claim given that there is another doper named MtgMan, but I believe I know more about Magic: The Gathering than any other doper. Not sure if I should be proud of that.
I also may be the alpha doper when it comes to the card game Hearts.
Professionaly, I probably know more than any other doper about game flow and entity systems in video game programming, and I’m rapidly becoming an expert on atomic transactions in multi-server MMOs.
There was a brief period when I was the most knowledgeable person in the entire WORLD about one specific thing (2d programming on the 3DO M2 system). That was kind of neat.
I am a Knitter with a capital K… there are others on this board, but we never have a chance to get out the really tiny needles–for that we take it to the knitblogs, I guess. Anyway, I think there are very few knitting questions I couldn’t answer.
Humor theory. I do think that I know the most about humor research, on the board. Not that I enjoy writing out long, detailed posts about it–but I do know.
I seem to be the expert on gay male sex in NYC in the '70s (and no, I haven’t seen the film).
Oh, and kerning. I’m one of the few people in the world who ever did kerning full-time, for a number of years. I even wrote a book about it. If the subject ***ever ***comes up, I’m ready.
I’m probably the resident expert on Japanese martial arts. There aren’t many discussions about it, so I don’t know for sure. I started with Bujinkan Budô Taijutsu (officially ni-dan, could probably test to 3 almost immediately, or 4 with a few months of intense practice). I did Daitô-ryu Aikido for about a year, year and a half. I practice Judô and Kyûdô with my high school kids and have done enough Kendô to know that it’s not really my thing (the target areas are a joke – yeah, I want to cut the strongest parts of my opponent’s armor :rolleyes:) though I do see some small practicalities and good things still remaining in it.
I am currently doing Shindô Isshin-ryu Kenjutsu, which is a local school of old-style sword fighting. We’ve got about 5 regular students, including me. My teacher is grooming me to be an instructor. He has said that he wants me to go back to the US and start a school there since interest in traditional martial arts is so low in Japan and he wants this school to survive.
I’ve dabbled in a few non-Japanese martial arts too. That’s just my direct experience, I know a lot more from books. Just don’t ask me to do translations of makimono, my classical Japanese is shitty to non-existent.
Otherwise, my knowledge is fairly broad rather than focussed. I know a lot about literature (I should, Comparative Lit was my major) and have read a ton of SF and Fantasy, enough to probably discuss most of the post-War era on an academic level. I’ve got a fairly good grasp on anthropology since it remains a major interest for me and I took several undergrad classes in it, and I can follow most discussion on physics, biology, and other sciences. Like others have said, that puts me at about the middle of the pack on the Dope.
Gahh! I swear to the gods I didn’t hit “submit,” I didn’t even click on “preview.” My possessed browser posted that last all by itself. I blame any errors on spirits in the aether.
You’re welcome to the title if you want it. After having my rear handed to me a fair number of times at a friends place(played until about 3:30 Saturday night) and walking away with about a 60% win percentage for the evening I’m thinking I either need to invest more time in my hobby or change my screen name.
I think I can hold my own here in high-level athletics. Not necessarily in statistical or historical knowledge, but in first-hand experience. I was not a professional athlete, but played at a very high level with and against people who went on to professional careers.
The two guys I would defer to are BooBooFoo and Mullinator, but neither are around much these days.
I’ve been playing for almost ten years, and there isn’t much I don’t know about the game, or a lot of related trivia. Like you, though, not too sure if I should be proud of that. :smack:
Uh oh… time for a throwdown. Off the top of your head:
(1) What was the first set to feature color-coded expansion symbols?
(2) What does Baki’s Curse do?
(3) What was the misprint on the Mirage deck registration sheet?
(4) How does the “wall of boom” combo work?
(5) What is “summer magic”?
(6) In what set might one find a rare textless lightning bolt?
(7) What unique deck construction rules made a lot of the original Necro decks that people played at qualifiers include some weird card chioces?
(8) There were a series of Limited PTQ’s whose format was a started of 5th edition and two boosters of what set?
(9) What set had the first prerelease card, and what was that card?
(10) Who is “BethMo”?
Anyhow, aside from trivia knowledge, my credentials include:
-I’ve been a DCI-sanctioned judge
-I’ve played MTGO since beta, and several times have had a top 10 limited rating
-I’ve made top 64 at two different pro tours, and qualified for pro tours something like 7 years apart (Mirage block and Kamigawa block)
-I’ve invented, printed, and played with homemade card sets
-I’ve invented homemade draft formats and homemade vanguard cards
-My friends and I have our own sanctioning system and ratings so that we can use a web-based app to choose fair teams randomly for our weekly drafts
-I have a collection, the “red sleeve box”, of almost one of every card ever, randomly mixed together, for impromptu drafting and play
-I used to play weekly with Brian Weissman and Zak Dolan. I also spent 20 minutes or so arguing with Mark Rosewater about mana screw
-I’ve beaten the reigning world champion in a sanctioned match
-I wrote a tournament report that was Star City Games’s article of the month
-I used to own around 100 Jester’s Caps, before I sold my collection
My point being, I’ve done just about everything there is to do in Magic, aside from compete in a high level constructed tournament.
What you got?
lizardling, I don’t know how much knowledge/gut ability you have, so I don’t know which of us (if either) should defer to the other on matters of English grammar. I’m hesitant to even say I know a lot or a little, because in the grammar community I co-mod, there are few who know as much, but this board has shown me that the things I dominate elsewhere are covered by other people. (Where I’m head copy editor, I’m the guy people ask for help when they don’t know the answer to a question—about grammar or about anything else.) I get to feeling all superior when I’m tossing out player and team names the sports editor of the paper has never heard, but there are a half-dozen dopers who could wipe the floor with me if they cared enough to. Similarly, I trounce schoolmates when it comes to Latin or logical fallacies, but there are dozens here who could accidentally destroy me in a discussion on those particular topics.
However.
Does anyone here play Kingdom of Loathing?
(Guin, your post count is almost twice mine. Before I left for a year and change, it’d been a long while indeed since anyone doubled me up. Kyrie, lady!)
(1) What was the first set to feature color-coded expansion symbols? - I think I’ll leave this one for Othersider
(2) What does Baki’s Curse do? - It never kills a Rabid Wombat.
(3) What was the misprint on the Mirage deck registration sheet? - Bleah, Tournament Trivia.
(4) How does the “wall of boom” combo work? - “Mana Source”
(5) What is “summer magic”? - Edgar! I live in one of the two areas in the world to receive shipments of Edgar. A guy came into the shop one day with about two boxes worth and we all traded like mad. I love the Serendib Efreet. I should have gotten more.
(6) In what set might one find a rare textless lightning bolt? - This was a Card of the Day or Magic Arcana not too long ago on MTG.com I kind of wish they had mentioned the fact that Serra Avatar could be found this way too.
(7) What unique deck construction rules made a lot of the original Necro decks that people played at qualifiers include some weird card chioces? - Heh, Pro Tour 1 was weird too.
(8) There were a series of Limited PTQ’s whose format was a started of 5th edition and two boosters of what set? - More tournament trivia?
(9) What set had the first prerelease card, and what was that card? - It’s quite rude in multiplayer.
(10) Who is “BethMo”? - The “Deconstructing” series was one of the best ever written.
Exodus, the third set in the Rath block. Commons, however, as their expansion symbols aren’t colored, would not indicate this; only rares and uncommons would.
(Very clever, by the way, Mtgman.)
I did not remember this off the top of my head (seriously, it’s from Homelands, which has about three cards worth remembering), but I figured it out when I saw Mtgman’s post, as no one could forget what the once widely-feared Rabid Wombat does.
I don’t know. Tell me please?
It doesn’t, anymore. You needed a Wall of Roots, Magma Mine, and Stasis, if I remember the mechanics correctly. You could put as many counters as you wanted on Wall of Roots “between turns”, as I think people called it - which never made sense to me - so you’d do that ‘after’ your opponent’s turn, and ‘before’ yours. Then, because you had a Stasis, you’d skip your untap step, and during your upkeep, you’d dump all that mana into the Magma Mine, and sack it. Magma Mine’s flavor text is “BOOM!”, which gave the combo the second half of its name.
Some call it the rarest set ever, depending on what you call a “set”. It was a re-printing of the 3rd edition (Revised) basic set, widely believed to have been created to “fix” some errors in the Revised set (most notably the Serendib Efreet, a blue card, having the art and color of the Ifh-Biff Efreet, a green card). The Serendib Efreet was (mostly) fixed, but Hurricane was printed blue instead of green. The pentagram was also edited out of the artwork for Unholy Strength.
I own a pair of Summer Magic Ironroot Treefolk. They’re among the more prized of my cards.
The Japanese release of Urza’s Destiny, along with Serra Avatar. I knew this once, and I remembered it was a Japanese set, but couldn’t recall which.
Well, the restriction of some cards (as opposed to banning), in retrospect, seems weird - but you’re probably talking about the necessary inclusion of a minimum of five cards from each of the standard-legal sets at the time.
I don’t know. Again, I’m curious, what is it?
I knew it was around the Rath cycle, but I couldn’t remember which set nor which card, so I looked it up. (Dirtcowl Wurm from Tempest)
Beth Moursund, one of the original rules gurus. I first read her columns in Inquest, way back in the mid-90’s, and last I checked, she was working for Wizards.
That is certainly an impressive résumé (I’m not being sarcastic). I suspected you had a better one than I, and possibly knew more about the game than I, but I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to talk cardflopping.
I’ve never been a judge, but considered it several times (I’m pretty knowledgeable of the rules, and I’m a pretty good peacekeeper and arbitrator). I’ve never qualified for a Pro Tour (my best finish being 12th place at the Osaka PTQ in Houston). I’ve played with homemade cards a few times, but that didn’t go very well since not too many others dug it. I live in Texas, so you can guess how many recognizable names I’ve met. I’ve played in fewer tournaments than my knowledge and skill would indicate, but I’m not near the professional level or anything. There was a time when I could tell you what more than 90% of the cards did, and usually other things about them like their color(s) and cost, but now I’m sure I couldn’t score nearly that high.
I’d like to present a list of questions for you, but that may have to wait until later. I imagine, though, that I wouldn’t succeed at stumping you as many times as you did me. And for that, I shall formally concede my claim to the title. :smack:
The Mirage deck reg misprint was that “Spitting Earth” was printed as “Splitting Earth”.
The oddball PTQ format was 5th-Visions. I remember it clearly, as I had one of the most broken PTQ decks of all time, feature 4 X-spells and 2 waterspout djinns.
(Sadly, I lost in the first round of the top 8.)
(Actually, here’s a good trivia question… from a starter of 5th edition and 2 boosters of visions, I had 4 distinctly named cards whose casting cost was RX. What were they?) (Oh, and none of them were Disintegrate.)
