Due to the devotion and measurement of the MTG neighborhood, creators and corporations have created all method of attention-grabbing instruments to assist gamers. Deck builders, for example, are extensively obtainable assets which are typically filled with options. To assist gamers to seek out playing cards for these decks, web sites comparable to Scryfall present an exhaustive and accessible search engine. If deck constructing isn’t your factor, a number of web sites additionally supply pack-opening simulators to please Draft followers. Alongside pricing instruments, life counters, and Enviornment help, there isn’t a finish of instruments on supply for MTG followers to make the most of. 

Nevertheless, MTG gamers are sometimes left on their very own relating to instruments that rank homebrewed decks. Whereas irritating, this lack of complete deck rating isn’t all too shocking while you keep in mind that MTG has 25,354 distinctive playing cards. This immense variety of playing cards permits for a actually incalculable variety of attainable deck mixtures. As you may think, discovering a mathematically excellent deck in any format is troublesome. Fortunately for statistic-hungry MTG followers, energy isn’t the one method to rank Magic: the Gathering decks. This was not too long ago confirmed by EDHREC, who took it upon themselves to create a brand new EDH rating system for MTG decks. 

Hipster Dragon Highlander

Whereas aggressive cEDH decks definitely exist, Commander is, before everything, an off-the-cuff MTG format. Providing an unmatched playground for gamers to get artistic and experiment in, Commander is dwelling to all method of bizarre and wild decks. Boasting 24,199 of the launched 25,354 playing cards, it’s protected to say that EDH gamers have a variety of MTG playing cards to select from. Subsequently, MTG gamers are capable of vividly categorical themselves and their pursuits inside their 100 card creations. For some gamers, these distinctive creations are some extent of pleasure. Now, because of EDHREC, that sense of pleasure is a measurable useful resource, as a deck’s uniqueness can now be ranked!

Introduced in a current EDHREC article, MtGDS (Magic Knowledge Science) has pioneered a brand new deck rating system. Generally known as Hipster Dragon Highlander, this rating system does because the identify suggests and analyses the individuality of a Commander deck to learn the way hipster it’s. That is performed by measuring any given EDH deck towards the “virtually 1.9 million” different MTG decks on EDHREC. After some fast calculations, the brand new net app churns out the deck’s total “Hipster Quotient.”  As MtGDS explains within the weblog put up, “a deck’s Hipster Quotient is the sum of the proportion of all recorded EDH decks through which its constituent playing cards (excluding primary lands) seem.” 

Hipsters to the Rescue

Past giving gamers a software to rank their deck’s uniqueness, MtGDS defined this software does have a noble goal. Whereas uniqueness is one in all Commander’s best strengths, energy creep threatens to cut back “the heterogeneity that may make the format so interesting.” The latest instance of this rising energy creep is Elesh Norn, Mom of Machines. Releasing in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, Elesh Norn, Mom of Machines seems to be so highly effective that it could be banned upon launch. Boasting unbelievable management, there’s hardly a motive to keep away from enjoying Elesh Norn, Mom of Machines.

Whereas a card like Elesh Norn, Mom of Machines being an auto embrace isn’t essentially a foul factor, it isn’t very artistic. For Commander Guidelines Committee member Sheldon Menery, this can be a actual drawback. “When twenty or extra of our playing cards have been determined earlier than we really begin constructing the deck, we’ve headed in a harmful route,” Meneary said in a current Star Metropolis Video games article. “We’ve sacrificed creativity on the altar of effectivity. That’s good in codecs which privilege the mechanical. It’s a contrarian place in Commander.” Fortunately, whereas it’s hardly Commander 2.0, that is the place Hipster Dragon Highlander involves the rescue. 

Of their EDHREC article, MtGDS proposes the Hipster Quotient as a “voluntary deckbuilding restriction/metric,” basically creating a brand new format. “One thought is to agree along with your playgroup to a HipQ cap, construct decks that match below that cap and play video games on equally obscure footing. If you need basically no cap, 1500% must be adequate; if you need reasonably hip decks, I’d counsel one thing like 500%. If you need one thing really obscure, strive 150%: you’ll possible see a bunch of playing cards you’ve by no means seen on the desk earlier than!” 

Hip To Be Sq.

Upon exhibiting off the Hipster Quotient calculator on Reddit, MTG gamers shortly took to competing with each other. Disregarding all wise deckbuilding practices and the promising new format, MTG gamers as a substitute raced to create essentially the most hipster deck EDH attainable. At first, u/PlaneswalkingBadger confirmed off their 99% hipster “‘Do stuff with every participant on my flip’ Group Hug Deck.” This, nonetheless, would shortly be bested by u/bryan-b’s 81% hipster Wyll, Blade of Frontiers Vital Roll deck. An hour later, u/mountaintop-stainer would drive that rating down even decrease, pushing the Hipster Quotient to only 73%. Whereas spectacular, u/mountaintop-stainer’s deck wasn’t essentially the most hipster deck on show, nor did u/SmashPortal and their 46% Hipster deck. As an alternative, that title belongs to u/superawesomedman, who showcased a 4% Hipster Quotient deck to say the crown, for now. 

Finally, whereas Hipster Dragon Highlander supplies an interesting new deckbuilding restriction, by MtGDS’ personal admission, it isn’t excellent. “I do wish to be aware that whereas ubiquity correlates with energy degree, the 2 should not synonymous.” Subsequently, MTG gamers will nonetheless be capable of construct area of interest however surprisingly highly effective decks to dominate their equally hipster opponents. Alongside this, Reddit person u/NoExplanation734 complained that the mannequin excluding primary lands isn’t very best. On account of this, Hipster Dragon Highlander “‘punishes’ individuals who play extra nonbasics.” This doesn’t precisely really feel truthful when “a number of fundamentals are very hipster,” u/NoExplanation734 claims. 

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