Monday, February 27, 2023

Work Life: Cannot get the value of a token type 'StartObject' as a string. (Jira and C#)

Using JSON deserializer for the response from Jira. This is caused by Jira admins updating one of the fields from a string to an object.

Is there a way to default problems to a value or null instead of failing? The field was a minor field but the entire report fails. Would like there to be a way to still get the report minus the one field.

C# provides the error on the character count. I had to use an editor to search the character count as my response is well over 10k characters.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Scammish: (Opinion) MtGA rigged... eventually leading to quitting the game

This may come from me being triggered but it won't change the fact that I am quitting this game. I just lost the last 6 games. Each game the opponents had exactly the mana they needed and the cards they needed to counter my deck.

Again, I played another multi-color deck with Jodah, the Unifier. Guess when it played each and everytime? On the fifth round. One of each color. I barely can get two different lands with a two color deck. I barely even get three lands by the third round. Yet, every multi color deck is able to not only get one of each color but 5 lands.

I played a black deck which always seem to be able to play a Sheoldred by round 4. Then always followed by a Phyrexian Obliterator. If not Sheoldred by round 4, then Obliterator by round 4. I have a black deck with 4 Sheoldred. I barely even get a Sheoldred in a game. So, not only that I have to face this card occasionally but  every mono-black deck.

Then you play a blue counter deck. Play a creature? Create counter. Early game? Counter unless you pay extra obviously no one has extra mana in early game. Play sorcery? Counter that. Play a mix? Exactly the counter they need for it.

Play a Djinn deck? Always by round 4. I have played it so many times that I can tell when I play against one. Basically, if it is not a pure counter deck, it's a Djinn deck.

Cannot leave out that MtGA also loves to play mono-red aggro deck against my own mono-red aggro deck. Yet each time, I either drought or flood.

Prior dry run included 3 games in a row with only 2 lands from a 21 land / 60 deck with at least 11+ draws. Then followed by 3 floods where I drop more than 50% lands in 15+ draws from the same 21 land / 60 decks. If random, this is the crappiest RNG engine. Ending with 3 lands after 17 draws....

That's it. I'm triggered. I'm done with this game. In my opinion, this is a scam. I was happy to pay to play, and I have but now sad that I did. I was happy to play Magic online. But this supposed "RNG" is too ridiculous. If this is a case of just being bad luck, then... well... still quitting.

Some posters say losers don't know how to build a deck and say others don't know what randomness is. I think they are paid "opinions". This sort of randomness is almost on the scale of Zynga's "randomness" which is designed only to feed on people's addictions which in my opinion is a scam. Which makes this scammish but nearly a scam.

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Monday, February 13, 2023

Buggish: MtGA RNG Land Pulls (Droughts, Floods)

The random number generator or whatever algorithm MtGA is too unrealistic. Also the opponent decks that you play against is definitely some sort of algorithm dependent on the deck you play.

RNG

Majority of the time, I play a 20-land 60-card aggro deck. In the latest expansion, ONE, this has been much less successful. The reason I still play it is because I lose quickly and win quickly. My other decks are also performing worse across the board.

With 20 of the 60 cards being land, I expect to draw about 1 land and 2 non-land cards. Overall, I may average out to that. But the amount of droughts or floods is unbelievable.

Droughts

Majority of the time, I start with one or two lands and more on the two-land side. When I start with 1 land, I draw a land about a third of the time as expected. This odd is totally not worth it because I have lost every game where I do not draw a land within two draws.

Majority of the games are with two lands. And there have been several games where I reach rounds 7-8 rounds with no more land. This means that I have my initial 7 cards plus another 7 cards. With 14-15 cards, I have only 2 lands where I expect to be around 5 lands.

I have been able to win a minority of the games with two lands due it being an aggro deck. The other decks with more lands never wins with two lands.

The odds of this happening should be around 6%. At 45 games a day, I should expect this about 2-3 times a day. I see this about a third of my games.

Floods

And the other half of the time, I just get round after round after round of lands. The funny part is that this also tends to happen when I draw an initial 3 lands which should DECREASE the odds of pulling another land due to there being more non-land cards remaining.

In the last game which triggered this post, I reached round 6 with 6 lands plus two more in my hand then drew another land. I have gone through 13 cards and have 7 lands. That is over 50% land. And this happens quite frequently in a single day. The odds that this should happen should be way below 1%.

At 45 games a day, I should see this maybe once a week. I see this about a third of my games.

Opponents

I do not understand this part but it ALWAYS seem like my opponents are able to drop a land every, single round. The frequency of my opponents not drawing more than 3 lands in the first 3 rounds is extremely low. I have maybe 2-3 quitters, which if I assume are due to lack of land, per day. I play over 30+ games per day, probably more like 45+ games. I have played with nearly half land decks, and I still cannot pull that kind of stats.

Also with how quickly the game can find me an opponent is extremely good. I suspect several of my games are not human players or at least not normal players. By that, I mean that some may be hired players. Although the game says they'll have special highlight in the player name, I have never met one.

One that almost seems definitely rigged is the blue counter-decks if you play a red-deck. The game-play is almost always identical: two considers, an impulse, and 2-3 negates. Djinn never on round 3; always on round 4 or later. The one mana is always for Slip out the Back if you have a burn card or some sort of single-blue counter spell. And the rare chance that I manage past round 4, it is followed by not just 1 that already can kill me but 2 or 3 Tolarian Terrors.

Then when you are tired of losing to that deck which I face multiple times a day, I play a white or black deck. And BEHOLD, I never see a blue-counter deck.

I do not even have to note it, but there is definitely a set of opponents when I play certain decks. I have played so much that I notice it almost immediately when I switch decks. It is not just color, it is the content of the deck. Even between my red burn deck and my red aggro deck, there is a definitely a pre-set type of decks it plays against.

In the latest expansion, the red aggro has been seeing a lot of black annoying decks where it seems EVERY SINGLE OPPONENT has not just one but 3 Cut Downs.


Cards

Which leads me to the odds of getting a three of a kind with a smaller deck is 4.83% in the initial draw. I do not know how many times I have seen 3-4 of the same cards. 

Cut Down, Consider, Phoenix Chick, etc.

But for myself, I saw 3 Phoenix Chick for the first time since I built the deck a few months ago.



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