What do you think of the new 18sec Timer rule?

James13

I hate the concept completely

Hate is a strong word.  I dislike it.

I'm waiting to see how it works in real practice, but I don't like the idea of shutting down combos as a playstyle.  MTG as a card game has always been about finding ways to stretch the functions of cards.  It's part of the charm of it.

OmegaLolrus

I don't really care either way

I've got a background in computer programming, so it insults me more as a heavy handed solution to a delicate problem. I don't like it the sound of it, and I don't like what it could mean long term... but it also doesn't really affect me.

Dynamite job on building the poll, by the way. Great job on capturing all the possible reactions.

Gabrosin

I hate the concept completely

I wouldn't go so far as hate, not without getting a chance to experience it personally, but I'm very skeptical.

KageTora

I hate the concept completely

Hate it. No such thing that limits one's own turn duration should ever be implemented, not unless we're in a "true pvp" scenario. And this is specially true when it's put in place as an empty answer to a vague problem. 

souki12

I hate the concept completely

It's not hate, it's milder in my case. The stop should not be time based, it should be the number of cards/actions. Let's say play 40 cards, then ask the player if they want to continue the loop or not. Greg's loop automatically ends at 40 cards played. Or maybe more. The limit should not be a mean to save the player from getting killed by AI.

James13

I hate the concept completely

Seems to me a potential option here is to just make it a toggle ala card info in settings.  People who want such functionality can use it.  People who want to play combo decks still can that way by having it off.

jtwood

I hate the concept completely

I wish I could vote "I'm willing to try it out and hope the devs will listen to input after we have had a chance to see how it plays"

BigSwifty

I like the concept, but the time limit should be longer

I'll put it this way; I have spent far more money on this game than I would like to admit, but if the new direction of the game is that our turns are time limited, then I will not spend another dime, and will consider quitting altogether. I like taking my time to examine the board, plan my hand and so forth, and being rushed would literally ruin the game for me.

Kyphonis

I hate the concept completely

I know I posted it as hate it completely, but this is mainly due to the fact that I am a heavy spell player in this game. A lot of my decks trigger a LOT of animations from the spells and effects, and this is just from things like drawing cards using the heavily sped up mode (I can never go back).

I want to lay down an example I just played in my last game. I was playing using Jace, Unraveler of Secrets (J2) and had just triggered his ultimate ability with 3 wizards in play including Adeliz, the Cinder Wind. In hand I had 2 Blue Suns Zenith (BSZ), 1 had full mana and one did not. I did a match 5 and drawing and triggers began. That single BSZ alone with J3 triggers took close to 20-25 seconds to resolve on fast mode with the J2 ultimate buffing each creature as I drew 5 cards, then filled with mana, and then had Adeliz do her buff. With the current 18 second trigger my turn would end basically there. 

There is nothing broken about this, no infinite loop, no mechanics to delay the turn, just the current way animations and a Planeswalker are programmed into the game. The ANIMATIONS make the 18 second timer, or any actual timer for the game something the changes the game from one with many, many interactive strategies (I am a player who heavily uses spells) to one that only benefits agro decks.  If something must be put in place to stop loops, it should be based on something different. 

2 possible solutions to this that would let lock out game playability and diversity would be:

1) a card used cap, set to around 60ish or so cards used. This allows decks to function while giving wiggle room to poor draws. Yes, it doesn’t speed up things like part the waterveil, but that is more due to the animations than the “loops” fault.  

2) The second would require much more effort in programming, but would be for an internal check to be given to a deck when one player has played enough power to just kill an opponent. This would be more difficult as it would have to check for flash cards in hand that could be played that could keep you alive, like Murder or the prevent damage card. This doesn’t fully speed these up, but takes away the worst irritation.

Basically, the biggest problem with any timer is the excessive amount of animations in this game for every detail.

Loops are a minor annoyance to this game, but one that I sure as hell do not want o get rid of. Forcibly destroying deck variance in a MAGIC THE GATHERING GAME IS INSTANT SUICIDE!

Pardon the all caps but I want to make this clear how much MTG relies on diversity of play to keep its base around both in Paper and online variants.

DragonSorcerer

I like the concept, but the time limit should be longer

Make it a personalized setting, 18 to 999 seconds

Fedaykin

The only way the idea of a timer makes sense is to only have Greg, the AI's, turn on the timer. That would eliminate all of the looping and long turns that some people are opposed to. Since I am the only real live person playing a match, I certainly don't want my turn to be cut short for no good reason, since Greg, the AI, doesn't care how long my turn is. If this timer idea ends up constantly cutting my turn short before I can play the cards that I normally play in a turn, and I don't mean just turns that have loops in them, then I can see that my enjoyment of the game will decline sharply, and I can predict that a lot of other players will feel the same way, and may even cause a mass exodus of players temporarily leaving, or totally abandoning the game.

Vorazg

I hate the concept completely

My brief $0.02:

I guess the timer is in response to complaints about combo decks making games last for a long time?

If this is the case, why not just give some kind of loop ender (or even timer) to Greg? 

Who cares if I take an hour to play a turn? It's not as though someone (other than an angry wife maybe) is waiting on me!

- V

TomB

I hate the concept completely

Hate IS too strong of a word but people are right, once something like Path gets going, or BSZ, your own turn can easily go more than a minute and it's not like it's infinite or anything. I think if a timer is the only way you guys can figure out how to control infinite loops then it should either only affect Greg or the timer should be way longer - at least a minute - and then it should flash a prompt asking if you want it to continue or you'd like to stop it yourself. This way, if you fail to realize you've included a loop in your deck that you can't break you have a way out of it without forfeiting the match.

Honestly though, this just seems like a very heavy-handed solution to a problem created by bad card design and a failure to anticipate card interactions prior to release. Makes it sound like something WotC would come up with, doesn't it?

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FindingHeart8

I hate the concept completely

Are we even playing a MTG style game anymore?

You can't just stop someone's deck combos because it's taking too long.  In paper mtg, that's the impatient player who keeps yelling "HURRY UP!" because they want it to be their turn again and have no consideration for other players. It's generally advised to not play with people like that, because they're rude and unsportsmanlike.

Sure, make 1 to 2-minute timer if you have to stop infinite loops (if any still exist), but 18 seconds is actually short enough to clip the wings of combo decks.

Octagon should really talk to the community, and get some feedback before making rash decisions like this

wereotter

I love it as is, 18 seconds is perfect

Froggy said:

180 seconds. That's what we should start with.

If it does not work out (too short or too long), then it can be changed.

Originally they said it would be 25 seconds. Then 18 seconds. So my conclusion is that the second count is easily changeable.

Maybe if we all push for a 180 second counter, they might do it and we can take it from there...

Shall we begin?...

180 seconds means anyone facing off against a combo deck that the AI can actually play now has to sit without playing at all for over three minutes. I don’t know about anyone else, but if my phone locks itself due to not doing anything waiting for something to finish, I’m not having fun.

18 seconds might prove to be too short, but it’s impossible to know for sure at the moment as there are so many things that stop the timer. Do your proposed 180 seconds might turn into a full 10 minutes, or longer of extra swaps are involved. 

IM_CARLOS

I hate the concept completely

You don't have to be a genius or dedicated player to know that some turn took a little longer than 18 sec. even without an combo.

Every card with enough lines of text get cut for sure. 

Welcome back to plain simple smash of Pig and Olivia. And put aside those longterms Behold from Beyond. 

Laeuftbeidir

I don't really care either way

Anybody got a torch or a pitchfork? I'd like to change my vote

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Tilwin90

I hate the concept completely

Laeuftbeidir said:

Anybody got a torch or a pitchfork? I'd like to change my vote

Burning stuff is so much fun, here you go hon, join the mob!