PDA

View Full Version : Magic IS useful in real life!



Tog
08-25-2008, 06:02 PM
Well, I started playing Magic way back in fourth grade when Tempest was new. Mind you was never very good but I spent hours searching up cards on Anycraze making up hypothetical decks which would never see the light of day. My parents would get on my case about how much time spent on pieces of paper. Deep down, I always knew they were right but I just couldn't give it up.

Well recently, I've been studying hard for the GRE for the last two months or so and I had to learn a lot of nonsensical words for the verbal section. I'm an engineer so the number crunching is rather easy for me. One thing I came across was the sheer number of words that came up during practice tests that I could relate to magic cards. From the pictures I remembered, I could deduce what the words meant. Here are some examples:

Savant (Ogre Savant): Think smart person
Austere (Austere Command): Think forbidding
Intrepid (Intrepid Hero): Think fearless, bold
Pithing (Pithing Needle): Think killing/debilitating
Oblation (Oblation!): Think an offering
Stigma (Stigma Lasher): Think a brand of disgrace
Immaculate (Immaculate Magistrate): Think perfect
Fetter (Faith's Fetters): Think of shackles

Others include: Cauterize, Insidious, Pernicious, and Despondency. These are the only ones which come to mind right now but there are many more!

And from the source:
Obfuscate: Think to confuse (Made possible by Obfuscate Freely!)
Disingenuous: To not be straightforward (Post by someone)

I took the test today and the following words came up on the test:

Abeyance: Think to stop
Conflagarate: Think big fireball
Halcyon: This one was a stretch. It came up on another practice test so I knew what it meant but the magic card sure made it stick the first time around.

I just wanted to say that if your parents ever nag you about magic being a waste of time, just let them know in the process you're making an investment in your English vocabulary.

I ended up getting a 1440 on the exam (640/800 on the Verbal and 800/800 on the Quantitative).

Has magic ever made an impact on your life?

deviant
08-25-2008, 06:12 PM
When I got my ex to give me a BJ after we broke up I couldn't help muttering "good play" to myself.

That was the end of it.

Fucking magic.

EDIT: This is not MishMash?!

Solpugid
08-25-2008, 06:16 PM
Actually, I've had the exact same experience. There were a surprising number of GRE words that I linked directly to Magic cards. These connections happened long before the GRE though, with words like rancor and affinity.

I managed to screw up on my quantitative section of the GRE, realizing I made a mistake the second after I submitted my response to three questions in a row. That resulted in a decent 1350, but my Biology subject test score made up for that (98 percentile). Tog, what field are you going into?

Aggro_zombies
08-25-2008, 06:24 PM
I managed to screw up on my quantitative section of the GRE, realizing I made a mistake the second after I submitted my response to three questions in a row. That resulted in a decent 1350, but my Biology subject test score made up for that (98 percentile). Tog, what field are you going into?
Gah! I'm taking the general GRE on the sixth of September and the biology one in October. What did you do to study for the biology subject test? Anything?

Tog
08-25-2008, 06:33 PM
My biology research internship this summer paid me money to take GRE classes. Then they told me they would pay me more money if I took the exam. And I like money. I took the test but I'm more interested in going in to medicine. I thought of it as practice for the MCAT. =/ Right now, I'm a Bio-Engineering student at UCSD (Boo Berkeley, at least we got good weather). It's fine and dandy but I want to make sure all my effort at school are going to guarantee me a job in the future. Plus, what lady can resist a doctor.

Solpugid
08-25-2008, 09:38 PM
@Aggro zombies

I did one thing to study for the bio subject test: I read the Campbell and Reece textbook cover to cover. Combined with a pretty strong undergrad bio education, it seems to have done the trick.

The big deal, as one might expect since we're talking about biology, is memorizing terms. Know what r-selected species, the loop of henle, and enantiomers are and you'll do fine.

Edit: Sorry if we're derailing this thread.

Afro
08-25-2008, 10:54 PM
When I got my ex to give me a BJ after we broke up I couldn't help muttering "good play" to myself.

That was the end of it.

Fucking magic.

EDIT: This is not MishMash?!

I fucking loled. Good form.

Bardo
08-26-2008, 12:28 AM
This isn't Mtg.com. Locked.