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Desperate Ravings and the not-so-random

Posted on by Douglas Linn

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I love a card like Desperate Ravings because its value isn't immediately apparent. It's sort of like Balance in that you need to play it a little bit to see just how good it can be. Here's the fundamental bit about the random discard: it's not as random as it seems. It was inspiring to listen to Patrick Chapin talk about the card in the Worlds Deck Tech video this past weekend. He said basically that you cast it if you need lands, you cast it if you need spells, and if you don't need lands or spells, you don't even need to cast it!

When you decide to cast Ravings, you're looking at the rest of your hand. You know whether you'd be fine trading any one of those cards for two more. You've made the choice, even if it's "I could lose three of these four." Your chances of losing that card are one in six by the time you've cast the spell - incredible! I think more people will adopt Desperate Ravings when they play with it more; the in-game feeling of looking at your hand and deciding that you can go +2 cards on what you're looking at is informative in the way that mathematical explanations often fall short.

Douglas Linn

Doug Linn has been playing Magic since 1996 and has had a keen interest in Legacy and Modern. By keeping up closely with emerging trends in the field, Doug is able to predict what cards to buy and when to sell them for a substantial profit. Since the Eternal market follows a routine boom-bust cycle, the time to buy and sell short-term speculative investments is often a narrow window. Because Eternal cards often spike in value once people know why they are good, it is essential for a trader to be connected to the format to get great buys before anyone else. Outside of Magic, Doug is an attorney in the state of Ohio.  Doug is a founding member of Quiet Speculation, and brings with him a tremendous amount of business savvy.

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26 thoughts on “Desperate Ravings and the not-so-random”

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