iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

it means Hasbro and GW think they can make more $$.

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learned later the school wanted me to skip grades. my parents chose not to because they wanted me to have a "normal childhood experience". they never asked me. wasn't diagnosed as autistic until I was an adult. ADHD years later.

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i was admittedly odd. i had a severe stuttering problem. i was interested in things no one else was. schoolwork had no challenge. i sometimes corrected the teachers for grammatical and mathematical errors. i talked in a mostly monotone voice.

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there was one girl who chose to be my friend. we'd walk together, fold origami, and tell stories together during recess and lunch. she moved away over summer. we only had one year.

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as early as i can remember. i didn't have friends at school. kids from school would hang out with me after school but not at school. i was constantly made fun of. i was a social pariah. i spent recess alone on a concrete slab by the LRC room, or staying inside if i could.

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I would love to, but I'm still trying to figure out how to pay for "life" next year.

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Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy but isn’t a selfie

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the broader public is less interested in hearing about your call on using Disfigure vs Dead Weight than they are hearing about your 3:1 with a well-timed Mystic Confluence or similar. stories make things memorable, and are often fueled by outliers, even if just a little.

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however, flattening the power band too much often leads to grindier, less storied gameplay and reduced engagement. "big" moments carry weight in players minds. so, the more you strive for balance, the smaller your audience and the less they share.

if a curator prefers a tighter power band and less draft-by-draft variance they will need to amass a great deal of data each iteration, from a large pool of skilled drafters. they will likely have to cull outliers with greater frequency.

swapping cards in over performing packages with cards that have greater appeal to other archetypes can add more variance, as contention can drive selection, but equally a drafter could be lucky and open all he needs, having an "unbalanced" deck.

when we discover individual outliers, those are often easy to address. broader balance between archetypes and packages is more complex, especially in lists with a greater volume of smaller packages, and/or with overlapping cards filling multiple roles.

players stating a card being over or underpowered deserves the same process. it may oray not be true. it may be part of something greater. it may be due to something else entirely. we hear it and it informs us, but we look for more.

in the Lucky Paper Radio episode with Richard Garfield, Richard talks about collecting feedback like a doctor hears patients. You listen and keep it with context rather than accepting it as complete truth. It information judgment but isn't complete by itself.

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there are often emergent decks, outside prescribed archetypes and signposts. curators who hyperfocus on the viability of each prescribed archtype may likely ignore broader possibilities. observation and feedback, as divorced from ourselves as possible but with context, drives better decisions.

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aquaone @aquaone.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

balance exists within context. one considers the power band, the goals, and what they allow. "true" balance _is_ logically impossible, and I question seeing it as a goal. I'd rather see a curator improve balance over time with minor adjustments, culling power outliers and unfun cards on both ends.

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listening through The Wheel of Time books again and whenever I hear "Saidin" I imagine Valvatorez from Disgaea 4 saying it and spouting random facts.

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aquaone @aquaone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I picked up a few signatures and alters but missed out on some due to scheduling. I'll share one of the alters tomorrow as it's part of my 100 artist-thopters project.

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aquaone @aquaone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

so many wonderful games and good memories. thank you to @joe-cube-anderson.bsky.social and the Judge staff for all of the hard work to make it happen.

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aquaone @aquaone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

CCC comes to a close. d1 was 0-3 (0-2, 0-2, 1-2) d2 was 3-0 (2-1, 2-1, 2-1) d3 was 2-1 (2-0, 2-1, 1-2) d4 was 1-1-1 (1-1-1, 0-2, 2-0) details on my Discord

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Anarchy Cube by @joe-cube-anderson.bsky.social is excluded as well for similar reasons.

I am grateful that people are exploring more of the possibilities of what cube can be, not just vintage cube.

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it tends to be very polarizing. frequently at events my powered cube is in the top 2 both for desired and avoided.

very true. I know my powered cube is excluded from his dataset because of some of my inclusions.

aquaone @aquaone.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'll be there, but I'm poor. What is something Detroit-specific but not crazy expensive?

is it weird that I don't react to the power 9 but, "ooh!" over the Tinker?

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looking forward to seeing friends old and new on this trip. 💙

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I'll be home by Wednesday night, just in time to get ready and drive to Spokane for Inland Northwest Cube Fest!

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open to stopping by anywhere between Santa Rosa and Seattle if people are looking to cube. let me know if you're down.

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Monday I head out. possibly stopping in Yuba City to see Murray.

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Cube Cobra List: names matter

my Names Matter cube is in the event. I look forward to seeing the shenanigans people pull off.

cubecobra.com

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Friday I'll be in Santa Rosa, likely drafting at @joe-cube-anderson.bsky.social 's place.

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