Learning Curve with Brian David-Marshall = Worthless

[Reverend Love]

[Rant]

Worthless;

Main Entry: worth·less
Pronunciation: 'w&rth-l&s
Function: adjective
1 a : lacking worth : VALUELESS <worthless currency> b : USELESS <worthless to continue searching>
2 : CONTEMPTIBLE, DESPICABLE
- worth·less·ly adverb
- worth·less·ness noun

So says Merriam-Webster dot com...so it is, so it shall be.

Worthless is exactly what Brian David-Marshall articles are. NEVER is there any interesting information contained. NEVER are his articles entertaining to read. NEVER does he not come off as a complete a-hole.

Today I decided to give him another try. I figured;

Hey, maybe I judged this cat too quickly. What if I scan today’s article just to make sure my prior opinion isn't deserved. Ya know you were wrong about Buehler, maybe your wrong about this guy.

So I click the link and off we go…

After three paragraphs of stroking his ego concerning privy knowledge to early spoilers, he drops this golden nugget of quotable goodness.

On the other hand, I like to believe I am going to win any tournament I play in so at first it felt as though prizes were being taken away from me.

Wow, glad your there for the fun eeh? Taking packs away from you? So I guess all us casual scrubs shouldn’t even bother attending as to your opinion we're just in the way AND taking your packs by our mere appearance.....oiiiink dawg, sorry.

Afterwards he deftly applies the patented troll technique of moonwalking over his previous issue.

Anything that encourages players to come back and try out other tournament formats is a good thing by my count.

Ooh ok...so I suppose ignoring that prior paragraph you devoted to you know…scrubs stealing your cards is in order...again with I is...

Then it's on to his hard hitting informative match analysis. Great! Afterall this is Learning Curve, I's be teh lurnin now!

In all honesty this is where the Brain David-Marshall’nator shines a bit. Not as bland as some of starcitygame's clown articles but not MaRo or Buehler caliber. Those guys make learning about Magic both illuminating and appealing.

When it's all said and done the tone of his articles really grate against me. Even though I don't know the guy from Adam he irks me...and I blame both his writing and that idiotic little picture of him and his cell phone.

[/Rant]


Grrrrrrrr......

 

[Spiderman]

Well, I don't think quite as negatively of him as you do, but I have to admit, I don't get much out of his articles.

 

[Mikeymike]

Honestly, the first time I saw that cell phone was the first time I specifically ignored an article on mtg.com. Over time I'd read his articles on occassion, but nothing has ever stuck out to me - but honestly I think it all comes back to that cell phone.

Was that supposed to be a joke? I hope so, as long as it was some pathetic attempt to display status and popularity.

 

[train]

the person on the rother end of the phone was bruce... from 1-900-_________!... (fill your own expletive delted here...)

That may be why he was smiling!

 

[NorrYtt]

He once quoted me in his article. I emailed him something like "Griffins make too much noise for his cell phone" or something.

Anyone who quotes me in their article gets a thumbs up from me. Even if it's a flame. For about a week.

I think his W/G Control deck (or R/G?) surprised many playtesters as Tier 1.

Other than that, not too much I can say about him.

Mark Rosewater, though goofy, incorrect, and sometimes annoying, has undeniable passion and communicates very well. Randy Buehler doesn't seem to try very hard on his articles unless it's about a tournament of some sort. His best stuff is the Vapor Ops and Limited Point System since no one on the 'Net can do that but him...but I feel he still wastes his opportunities on tournament stuff (which everyone writes on anyway, though his views are correct 99% of the time). I want to know how many 5.0's are in Mirrodin: Pentavus? Solemn Simulacrum? Loxodon Warhammer? Bonesplitter? Duplicant? When would you ever not run one of these if you busted them?

Alongi is the only guy who will use old cards like Sol'kanar and Multani in a decklist. Mark Grobttleibb has made me laugh and hasn't done anything disagreeable. I suspect he's forced to make Type II Lite decklists by the people in Marketing, but that's business.

There are an incredibly huge number of 'Timmies' that read that site and boards. They go absolutely nuts over something like Eater of Days and 'Meh' over Skullclamp.

 

[Notepad]

What is it about cell phones that tick people off so much? But yes, it bugs me too that he's in that "Oh, reader, can you hold on? I got an important call I need to take instead of facing the camera." Yeah, kind of asinine.

I totally agree about the content of his articles. I love to bash Bull-head and Maro, but their stuff is readable and funny if you like laughing at PR lies. Alongi has some nice decks, even if he never once builds them or tests them. This Brian guy though...I think I may have read his stuff in the past, but now I just scan it and find nothing of interest. It has its place, but maybe somewhere like SCG, and not on MT.com. He's an arrogant s.o.b.

 

[Master Shake]

The only articles on Magicthegathering.com worth reading are the Serious Fun ones... Everything else is devoted to being evil, worshipping Mark Rosewater, and sodomy (like the above mentioned.)

 

[Reverend Love]

So I believe we're all in agreement. What kind of dude posts a picture of themselves ignoring the obvious photo shoot and talking on their cell phone? I sincerely hope it's misguided humor.

 

[Notepad]

Poor guy, all this hate spewed at him. I'm sure he's a real nice and cool dude...

...for about five minutes total out of any given day.

 

[Reverend Love]

Call me a pessimist but I seriously doubt a magic stud as he would stoop to reading casual message boards.

 

[orgg]

Granted, he did stay in theme for Banding week. For that, I'm most appriciative. One of my favorite abilities.

Other than that, I've never gotten much from his column... and that's because I'm not a beginner. His column is dedicated to those who don't know much about Magic.

I'm sticking up for him a bit, but if you looked at the MiseTings rejected interview... you'll see some displeasure I voiced at having a patronizing column on MTG.com.

 

[Notepad]

For the love of all that's holy, please tone down that intereview and send it in here as an article. It won't lose any of its punch with a PG rating, trust me. The cussing is funny, but funnier and best of the article is the aloof nature of the interview.

And, um, just like I said in the other thread: I'll even copy edit it for you if you'd like.

 

[Spiderman]

Boy, not here to defend Mark over the weekend so I'll have to do it now.

Originally posted by NorrYtt
Mark Rosewater, though goofy, incorrect, and sometimes annoying, has undeniable passion and communicates very well

Maybe I'm the one being "brainwashed", but when is he incorrect? And not a "hindsight" example either...

I want to know how many 5.0's are in Mirrodin: Pentavus? Solemn Simulacrum? Loxodon Warhammer? Bonesplitter? Duplicant?

You're never going to know that definitively because

• ratings are subjective
• like he's going to come out and say it flat-out instead of letting players play with the cards to figure it out on their own
• along with the above, some cards might not be 5 star apparent immediately, to either players or designers (look at Necro and Pox for example).

 

[Master Shake]

That was not much of a defense.

 

[Spiderman]

True, but I wanted to see why he thinks he's incorrect first before I go further. Perhaps I should have said "sticking up for him"

 

[Notepad]

There was this one time he said that crap rares aren't printed to sell more packs while people hunt down chase rares. Another time, he said Magic cards aren't officially sanctioned by Satan himself, and individually inspected by balrogs before being inserted into booster packs.

Feh! You can't get more incorrect than that, Maro!

 

[Spiderman]

Oops, I stand corrected

 

[train]

I'll second some of the statements... but I don't think there is a true crap rare out there...

"That's the creative side of him... the reality side is speaking now - all rares not in netdecks are crap... You guys shut up... Magic is about possibilities..."

 

[Rooser]

I like Rosewater's stuff. Sometimes his articles raren't so great, and he certainly give off that, "I'm a big dork!" sort of vibe, but that's okay, he's also informative and insightful, and even when his humor is lame you have to at least smile at the effort. I used to like all 5 of them, but Alongi, Marshall, and Bullhead have gone down hill in the past few months, (And now Bullhead says he's out entirely anyway). I want to like Alongi's championing of us casual types, but his articles sometimes feel repetitive, and recently have simply not been that interesting. Gottlieb, on the other hand, is consistently hilarious, and when he's not, his decks are still fun to look at anyway. He and Maro are my favorites.

 

[Reverend Love]

I'll second some of the statements... but I don't think there is a true crap rare out there...

Aah, that makes me feel better about that stack of 13 False Memories I own..