#the other reason is that now i play a round or two of mtg with corv every night so that's taken up my only free slot of personal motivation

[starlit-mansion]

i really hope i can get my hypothyroidism under control soon. i am..... tired but also i never get enough sleep

#i am working on it... #my problem is that i hated my last doctor and got super avoidant about it so i started taking a very small dose and then never went back #to adjust and see what the actual dose i needed was and i felt okay on it! better than expected! but the prescription ran out #and i've been off it for like a month and brother... i can't get ANYTHING done #this is part of why i can't draw much lately even tho i want to. i am on reduced ration of spoon #the other reason is that now i play a round or two of mtg with corv every night so that's taken up my only free slot of personal motivation

[pauperpedia]

Tuesday Brewsday 08: The Hive

The hive is unrelenting. The hive is everlasting. The hive is evolving. The hive demands your attention. WE ARE SLIVERS!

Slivers have always held a special part in my heart when it comes to pauper. It was the first deck I ever bought into, and the first deck I started to have success with. Slivers recently caught our hearts and attentions when Bladeback Sliver was introduced in Modern Horizons. After that four players recently piloted Slivers to top 32 finishes in a Sunday Challenge back on November 17th, and Bladeback Sliver was at the forefront of those decks. There was still much debate as to whether or not you should dedicate mainboard slots to the card, or have it in the sideboard. As for me, I’ve always thought Slivers were at their strongest when the mainboard is solely Selesnya colors.

4 Crumbling Vestige

9 Forest

8 Plains

4 Plated Sliver

4 Sidewinder Sliver

4 Virulent Sliver

1 Metallic Sliver

1 Universal Automaton

4 Muscle Sliver

4 Predatory Sliver

4 Sinew Sliver

3 Gemhide Sliver

1 Spinneret Sliver

4 Winding Way

1 Lead the Stampede

4 Prismatic Strands

I’d like to start out with how I built my manabase. There is a reason why you don’t usually see two colored aggro decks. Taplands and “fetch lands” typically slow you down a turn. I’ve always liked the idea of running Crumbling Vestige as a way to hedge a slight advantage with immediate colored mana of your choosing. This makes it less awkward when most of your one drops are white creatures and your two drops are green. For the rest of the mana base I’m going with just basics with one more forest than plains. The goal is to remain aggressive by casting the colors we need and not lose tempo.

Slivers are home to some pretty nice one drops which I definitely wanted to run playsets of. Plated Sliver is kind of half a lord by boosting every sliver’s toughness. Sidewinder Sliver makes blocking the hive difficult as it gives each sliver flanking (-1/-1), and this also stacks with multiple sidewinders on the board. Virulent Sliver makes your opponent’s life gain look silly as it gives every sliver a stackable poisonous ability. Along with dealing damage, slivers now deal an additional 1 infect damage for every Virulent Sliver on board. And when I say every sliver, I mean it. That little clause makes all the older slivers’ abilities affect not only slivers you control, but you’re opponent’s as well. Rounding out the one drop slivers are one copy of Metallic Sliver and Universal Sliver. I like to run 2 extra one drops because I feel like they make faster starts possible. The reason for running 1 of each artificial sliver is for outside corner cases being targeted by Echoing Decay/Truth.

The core of the deck are the 12 lords we run. Muscle Sliver and Sinew Sliver give +1/+1 to every sliver on the battlefield, and Predatory Sliver gives +1/+1 to every sliver you control. Naturally you can see why when the hive comes together, slivers are very hard to stop. The other 2 drops are three Gemhide Sliver and 1 Spinneret Sliver. Gemhide isn’t vital to making the deck function to warrant a full playset, but it’s the only way to utilize your sideboard. It’s also a smart play to tap all your slivers for mana after a nice Winding Way to better set up your next turn. Spinneret Sliver makes an appearance because sometimes you just need to be able to block your opponent’s flyers. This is especially true against Boros variants when they’re able to keep most of your lords off the battlefield and have amassed a large aerial advantage.

Moving on from creatures I want to talk about the card advantage engine I have brewed around. Winding Way is such a great card in a creature heavy deck. On average after you look at the top 4 cards of your library you’ll end up drawing 2, assuming you picked creature as the card type you want. Not bad for a non blue deck I must say. The rest of the cards are put into your graveyard, but that’s where things get a little interesting. As you can see I’m also running a playset of Prismatic Strands, which can be flashbacked from your graveyard for literally free so long as you have an untapped white creature on board. So even if you do throw Prismatic Strands into your graveyard off a Winding Way, it’s still a castable card. I like Prismatic Strands because it helps protect against damage based removal, makes the Hexproof matchup hopeful, and your burn matchup winnable game one. The last draw card I’m running is Lead the Stampede. You’re probably surprised I’m only running 1 of this fantastic card. I just wanted to rely more heavily on Winding Way than wait for a 3 drop. Lead is so good though that I had to run one.

1 Ray of Revelation

4 Faerie Macabre

3 Lone Missionary

3 Standard Bearer

4 Bladeback Sliver

You’ll notice that outside of Ray of Revelation (which has flashback) all of our sideboard options include creatures. This is so you can take advantage of Winding Way and Lead the Stampede. There are two decks that I’m primarily sideboarding against, and that is Tron and Burn.

Tron typically makes combat as your only way of winning impossible if they can achieve a fog lock or continually loop Stonehorn Dignitary. To fight this, we bring in all of our Bladeback Slivers and Faerie Macabres. To make room I take out Prismatic Strands, the artificial slivers, the Spinneret Sliver, and one Sidewinder Sliver. Bladeback Sliver can turn all of our creatures into 1 damage pingers to hopefully finish off what’s left of Tron. Faerie Macabre can exile Ghostly Flicker or other important targets from our opponent’s graveyard to make their gameplan harder to achieve.

Burn can usually outrace you with a decent draw, especially if they are on the play. Prismatic Strands is nice, but typically not enough. I bring in Lone Missionary and Standard Bearer to gain valuable life and “counter” their burn spells. Standard Bearer is also great when you’re up against Elves and Hexproof too.

The last card I’ll touch on briefly is Ray of Revelation. I always bring this in against Hexproof as a way to destroy a valuable aura. Also, depending on how many Journey to Nowhere my opponent runs, it’s nice to bring in this little card for surprise value. Even though it’s not a creature, it’s still easy to cast this from the graveyard if I bin it off a Winding Way.

One matchup I find impossible to beat unless I get a ridiculous start is Elves. If they can go into “elfball” mode and flood the board it makes it really difficult to find a situation to attack. I mostly rely on Sidewinder Sliver and Virulent Sliver to get me through and kill them after they’ve amassed a bunch of life. If I was expecting to go up against Elves I would probably go down a copy of Faerie Macabre and Ray of Revelation. In their place I would likely choose Gut Shot, Electrickery, Holy Light, Viridian Longbow, Heart-Piercer Bow, or even Sparksmith. Those are a lot of options I know, but each one does the job and you’ll have to pick whichever one fits your play style. Personally, I’m a fan of Sparksmith because it can be found off your card draw spells, shuts down Tireless Tribe and prevents Soul Sisters from getting out of hand as well as Elves. In fact, after writing this, I’m liking that idea more and more because typically there is always a player on Elves in the Pauper Classic Tournament.

Slivers is a great deck for beginners, and with Christmas just around the corner, I highly recommend it as a gift deck for those who have friends and want to play MTG with them. Have fun with the hive and become one with them, may you cast your slivers on curve and draw into plenty of lords. If you have any brews you’d like me to write about, please email them to [email protected]. As always, I play the decks in the free tournaments hosted by gatherling every Tuesday night, and do a quick report on how the deck fared the following day on my Pauperpedia Facebook page. Till next time folks, have a happy Brewsday!

[jeskaim]

FNM 11/8/19 - MTG Players of the Square Table

Man what a night.  Going in I was planning on drafting as many Swamps and Mountains as possible for my Rakdos Sacrifice (as I assume it’s called in the meta) because I like to coordinate my lands to the key cards of my deck.  I actually got all of the ones I needed in packs one and two.  I was going for Orzhov Knights but still drafted a bit of red when I needed to.  I open my third pack and look who shows up.

Needless to say I picked it up and then the person to my right passes me a FOIL Cauldron of Eternity which I also took.  Supposedly she got two mythics and took the other.  Then for some reason we decided to draft a FOURTH pack so as soon as we finished pack three we all went to the counter to get another one.  That was when I decided to add red to the mix for Mardu knights.  I pulled an Oko and got passed a foil mythic so I could have lost all of my games last night and still would have been happy.

In terms of how I did last night I decided to stay for only two rounds because we started late and went 1-1.  First round I had trouble drawing the lands I needed (the struggles of drafting three colors).  Second round I had more luck and beat my opponent in two games.  Second game my opponent almost beat me but then I drew an Inspiring Veteran to pump my knights and attack for the win.

I decided to drop after round two because I got my one win for the night and figured I would most likely lose my third round with three colors in my deck and didn’t have enough cards to go down to two.  Plus I had work today and didn’t want to stay out too late.

I’m just happy I got my basic lands for my standard deck so the Oko and foil Cauldron were an added bonus.  I still haven’t played against Oko in paper or arena but I’m not surprised that 69% of the decks at the recent Mythic Invitational played him.  His second ability to turn artifacts or creatures into Elks is broken as hell.  I’m sure he’s bound to get banned eventually with him dominating the standard meta as well as other formats like pioneer and even modern (I’ve seen some simic merfolk decks that play him) and when that happens I’ll be happy because it’s one less threat I have to worry about.

I’m not sure about what to do next week.  Now that my deck is at full strength with Blood Crypts in place of Bloodfell Caves I might give it another try.  I still have issues with sideboarding so I plan to study the original stream for some tips.

On a side note I wanted to talk about this AWESOME art from the commander collection: green coming out next year.  Yisan is currently my second favorite commander next to Narset so I was pretty excited to see this.  Even though it’s not an alt-art for Yisan according to the article I can’t wait to see what card the art is for.  I’ve heard rumors that it’s for Beast Within but either way it’s going in my deck just because it has Yisan on it.  Taking a second look there’s also a chance it might be Chord of Calling because it goes with his ability in both the game and the lore.  I can’t wait to find out more.

#Magic the Gathering #MTG #Friday Night Magic #FNM

[drkungfus-customs]

Mtg Custom Card Competition Round 1: Rabiah

Hello everyone and welcome to the first custom card competition for mtg cards that I have judged. For this round, submissions were gathered from a discord server and the results have been judged by myself and my partner in crime Alyssa. The theme this week was Rabiah. Participants were asked to design a card that could have been printed if the set Arabian Nights was designed in 2019 with modern design sensibilities.

Alyssa says:

Flavourwise, it’s real fun! Trade as a method of getting white card advantage is really nice, and the art, name and flavour text all flow together. It’s not really that exciting, though. There’s nothing particularly mystical about the capitalism of antiquity!

Remember to capitalise Human and Treasure. Is it meant to scale to every Human everyone else plays too? If so, that’s a little too strong. Keep it to Humans you create.

The draw effect being “free” mana-wise isn’t that much of a problem. I’d add a tap to the ability so you can’t abuse it so freely. If this were blue, and cost 3 mana, then that effect would maybe fly, but white doesn’t get that.

Michael says:

So this card seemed a slam dunk at first, it has excellent flavour, very pretty art, and an appropriate white effect as we have seen the colour move into treasure generation a lot more in recent sets to compensate for its core weakness of mana ramp. This was until I got to the last line. Card draw in white is something that must be carefully monitored as it is one of the fundamental aspects of colour balance in magic. A good litmus test for this kind of effect is mentor of the meek, if a card can draw better or draw easier than mentor it probably crosses the line from a bend to a break in white.

Because the card itself produces treasure at a considerable rate, on a good body (thankfully still within bolt/push range), there is no real opportunity cost to the drawing as the treasure tokens also come incidentally by doing things a mono white deck wants to do. If this was a tap ability or had some kind of limiter the card would probably be acceptable but as it stands it represents a potent draw engine in any creature heavy deck, and god forbid what would happen in a Selesnya token strategy or an EDH deck running smothering tithe.

While the human type rider does help to limit this card, it is the most common creature type and so more often or not this card will provide good value even in decks not built around the card. Overall I really dig the treasure creation as a reward for building to a theme but the card draw is far too powerful and generic to be considered acceptable in mono white.

Possible improvements:

o   Currently this card is a break in white, either adding blue or limiting the rate of card draw would bring it into line with whites modern design philosophy.

o   It shouldn’t activate from your opponents Humans, symmetrical tribal effects have been retired due to poor gameplay.

o   It feels a shame to tie it to Humans, which are such a supported type. Making it rewarding to a more obscure tribe such as Advisors could be interesting.

Grades:

Formatting – 4/5

Function – 2/5 (would be a 4/5 with the drawing ability fixed or removed)

Flavour – 4/5

Alyssa says:

The formatting here has several notable issues:

o   As-written, the cast from hand effect gives temporary unblockability but the combat damage Treasure-making effect is permanent because you haven’t given it a duration.

o   Every time you define a token on a card, unless you’re writing a modifier for how many of the same type of token are produced by the same effect under different conditions (like Increasing Devotion, Gather the Townsfolk or Saproling Migration) you need to define those tokens again, so you’ll need to write out the Treasure text for the second effect. Make space on the card by omitting the reminder text on Flashback.

o   Magic uses numerals to refer to life, damage, stats and costs, but everywhere else they write out the numbers, so you create five Treasures rather than 5.

o   The destroy effect on casting it from the graveyard should just be sacrifice. You don’t need to make it a targeted destroy just because the original effect destroys, because you can use the cast-from-graveyard replacement effect to override its targeting, just like how Overload makes a targeting spell into a non-targeting one.

It’s fine as a card, but it feels kind of weak and the two effects don’t feel connected. The first cast feels like a good effect with good flavour ties, but I’m not sure how the second effect ties into it. The first incentivises high creature quality (giving a big beater evasion) while the second incentivises low creature quality (sacrificing a worthless token to get advantage) and while the environment for those two interacting can exist (read: Rise of the Eldrazi) it’s rare.

Triple black feels far too colour-intensive in an effect we’ve seen at 2B and 1B before. I am also not entirely sure what is happening from a flavour perspective when the creature gets destroyed. If it’s being closed off in the Cave of Wonders, how the hell do you get the treasures out?

Michael says:

The flavour on this card is very apparent, showing off an iconic scene with using the alternate flashback effect to progress the story of this card. I very much enjoy how well the flavour and mechanics have been integrated on this card especially in a way that is in-colour for Dimir. However the templating very much needs work, the effect can be unclear on a first read. Something as simple as a paragraph break between the regular and flashback effects would do wonders to the overall card. 

In addition when designing black costs, sacrifice is usually a preferred choice both flavourfully and mechanically as the flashback just becomes a seething song when you possess an indestructible creature. I think this card has very strong flavour and story but has a few formatting concerns that take away from its impact. While the card can go mana positive I think the card is balanced well enough to not create any dangerous situations. Solid workhorse uncommons are just as important as flashy mythic rares and this card could help to signal a more aggressive or saboteur based blue black deck in the limited environment, although the card is a little disjointed in effect possibly due to it being created to match the flavour rather than the other way around.

Possible improvements:

o   Formatting changes as Alyssa has acknowledged.

o   Changing the effect so that it doesn’t split the card’s focus. If you want to get increasing Treasure value, perhaps just make it mono-blue, the flashback cost 2U and make the damage dealing effect create three Treasures instead.

o   Perhaps a small pump of +1/+0 to help solidify its role in limited decks.

Grades:

o   Formatting 3/5

o   Function 2/5

o   Flavour 3/5

Alyssa says:

Flavourwise it’s fine, but not particularly imaginative. Genie wishes have been done before a lot and this doesn’t really do anything new with the effect except some ridiculous efficiency. (I’ll get into that later.) Formatting wise, it’s mostly fine. “It gains suspend” should be its own sentence. You missed “on it” for the land card drop.

Are the extra cards put on the bottom of your deck? I feel like you’re trying to make the “cost” of the effect be that it mills you slightly, which isn’t really that dangerous for reasons I’m going to get into, because the card is ridiculously strong.

It’s not hard to just casually spin this in your opponent’s end step with basic tutors or Brainstorm-like effects to find your best card, put it on top of your library, exile it with suspend and one time counter on it and just drop it like it’s hot. Five mana Emrakul, the Promised End with its cast effect? Anything that isn’t a land obtainable for free as long as you wait till your upkeep for it?

The second effect really doesn’t need to be there and is still really strong. Even though you can whiff, it can still effectively mean colourless 0 mana ramp every turn even if you lose the lands eventually. But it’s not like you’ll really want an effect like this when you’re doing top-deck manipulation to drop your biggest and best cards for free. It’s just overkill at that point.

Michael says:

This card feels intended to be fun but I believe has accidentally became far scarier than intended. I believe this card is firstly a lot more complex than it needs to be. The second ability that searches for lands adds a lot of extra complexity for this card and doesn't really add much to the overall playability. I believe it could be cut without losing the core effect of the card.

I would express serious concerns over power level however. Its nature as a colourless artifact means any deck can include it, miracle shells and cards such as sensei's divining top and scroll rack allow for significant levels of top deck manipulation which would make its random nature a lot more controlled especially in older formats and EDH. Being able to activate this card in your opponents end step for almost no cost also takes away any kind of risk to playing this card as even played fairly this allows for serious cheating on mana costs with a bit of luck.

There is also the slight problem that there is no rider to return the exiled cards to the bottom of the deck which would be standard for this kind of effect. While I assume this was accidental, it means that as submitted this card can mill your entire deck for a jace/lab man kill. There is clear potential in this card as a fun semi-random value piece but as it stands right now it has too few safety valves, and there is a clear risk of variance where one game you mill twenty cards to get to a one drop and the next where you rip Ulamog off the top on turn four. If anyone tried to play this card unfairly, as competitive players will certainly try to, this card will fundamentally break the mana system. Adding a mana cost to the effect and possibly increasing the casting cost is going to be the easiest way to preserve this card's intended purpose without being used as a combo piece, or just tying the suspend cost to cmc as opposed to how many cards milled. Also don’t forget the artist credits, that’s always important to have on custom cards.

Possible improvements:

o   Remove the second ability entirely. It’s superfluous at the best of times.

o   Jack a hefty mana cost on that ability. To keep the artifact at 4 mana, I want to make the ability cost 5 or 6. Alternatively, make you shuffle your library as part of the effect to make it a bit less spooky. Compare to Temporal Aperture or Mind’s Desire, which have a similar effect but deliberately shuffle your library beforehand. One thing you could do is make it a static suspend value, maybe 3, rather than however many cards you flip, because if you have to shuffle your library for that you might get stuff exiled with suspend 7 or whatever.

Grades:

o   Formatting – 4/5

o   Function – 1/5

o   Flavour – 2/5

Alyssa says:

Beautiful flavour. This card looks gorgeous and makes me very happy to read. Your formatting is flawless as well. The flavour clearly stems from his portrayal in the original arabian nights stories so I appreciate the top down design here.

Unfortunately, this card kind of pays for itself with what might amount to an upside in a bad spot by making additional chump blockers/sac fodder, like a bargain bin Bitterblossom. Additionally the downside is also relatively small, as is the payoff. I wouldn’t have a problem with leaving him tapped for a few turns which I feel isn’t good for a sexy black 4 mana 6/6: those stats and that colour want to have a stronger downside for a stronger payoff. Think Phyrexian Obliterator or Death’s Shadow: Black’s big creatures go hard on the pro and harder on the con. I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything if he doesn’t make a big splashy impact on the board.

Michael says:

This card I quite like. While it’s unusual to see humans as powerful as a 6/6, that is about the maximum I would realistically expect to see for the tribe so that isn't too much of an issue. The flavour of a mono black king who uses his subjects is absolutely on point though and feels very in fitting for the feel of arabian nights so good job on that front. My foremost concern with this card is that there is no real downside to this card, while the king requires a sacrifice in your upkeep he has a built in method to mitigate this in his automatic ability to create soldiers. However there is a really easy fix to this, just include a cost to his ability to create tokens. Replacing this with a repeatable activated ability for an amount of mana feels too white so instead I would propose adding a cost to his end of turn trigger, possibly discarding a card to ensure that there is a price to splashing the king. Although given humans are the most popular tribe and many cards are incidentally human, I imagine that there will be plenty of sacrifice fodder in both constructed and limited. Overall good work on this one, a strong design that just needs a few tweaks to be good to go and really screams arabian nights flavour (in a good way).

Possible improvements:

o   Include a cost for the human token production. Perhaps “At the beginning of your end step, you may discard a card. If you do, create a 1/1 white Human creature token.” The card disadvantage is a real downer, but you have an option not to if you can’t.

o   Go a bit harder on his power level. Something on the level of a keyword ability such as menace for example wouldn’t hurt.

o   Make the damage life loss. Possibly amp it up to 3.

Grades:

o   Formatting – 5/5

o   Function – 3/5

o   Flavour – 4/5

Alyssa says:

The flavour is nice, perfectly evocative of what Aladdin is. Perhaps it’s a bit too safe? This is what I’d expect Aladdin to do: maybe I was hoping for a little more. The formatting is mostly good, but as of now the steal effect is permanent and not tied to Aladdin staying in play. Was this intentional? Permanent steal effects are Blue’s wheelhouse, not Red’s, making it a colour bend. (Red does get to steal stuff, especially artifacts, but it very rarely gets to keep it.) I wouldn’t be averse to seeing this effect on an Izzet Aladdin for example.

It’s a simple, clean effect that has the potential for sick card advantage. I like it! It feels like something you could open in an artifacts matter set. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar card when we return to Kaladesh.

Michael says:

This card is interesting. As a four cmc legendary creature that fixes a core problem with mono red in an in-colour way, this card is clearly very good in EDH. However this card also is a significant tempo play and value generator in an environment that is heavy on artifacts which would probably give it legs in standard, albeit constrained thanks to the legendary supertype. My main concern with this card is that there is no condition or limitation to the steal effect. Indefinite stealing of cards is a very blue effect, while playing with artifacts is red, so I would like to make this an izzet card, but the flavour clearly does not support blue. Therefore to make this card more in line with the colour pie I would add either an end of turn clause to the steal, a limit on the cmc of the artifact, or at the very least have stolen artifacts return when this card leaves the battlefield. Return on leaving the battlefield seems the most appropriate option to me to help avoid flicker abuse in commander while still preserving the flavour of the card. Other than that good job, this is an excellent effort to provide a balanced and flavourful red card that I believe would excite people to play with.

Possible improvements:

o   Address the colour pie bend, or otherwise tie the stealing effect to Aladdin’s survival.

Grades

o   Formatting 5/5

o   Function 4/5

o   Flavour 4/5

So congratulations to Shanobi and her submission of Aladdin, Prince of Thieves as the winner for this week. It was a close race between Aladdin and King Shahrayah but where we could point to a few areas of improvement for the King, Aladdin felt perfect with just a minor tweak to bring his effect more into red’s area of the colour pie. 

It has been a fun week to judge and hopefully we should see these competitions continue if there is renewed interest in our judging. If any of you have any feedback or improvements to our judging style, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Thank you all for your hard work and submissions!

As a bonus Alyssa and I worked briefly on what our theoretical submission could have been to this contest which we based off a monster from Iranian folklore and posted for fun here in Zahak, Hunger-Cursed.

[cyberdack-blog]

Week ending 6/22/19

Hi! Welcome to DillsVille. This is week one of my effort to write about my progress becoming one or both of two things: a professional MtG: Arena Twitch streamer, and/or a Software Developer or Cyber Security specialist. The latter really could go any which way, I’m not too choosy. I love computers and I’m in the process of studying programming with regards to game development, but my ultimate goal is to culture the skills necessary to get a job in the software engineering field at large. There was a recently announced cyber-security program at the community college near where I live, and that sounds like an exciting avenue for me to end up venturing down as well. So all-around, I want my career to be in tech. Primarily software-focused tech. At the same time, my number one biggest passion right now is Magic: the Gathering. With the release of Arena, Wizard’s premiere digital experience of the classic trading card game, there has been a huge boom in Twitch streaming. Of course, that means the competition is all-around pretty fierce, especially for someone like me who really doesn’t have any experience or clout backing them up to go into it. But here’s the way I see it. I love playing Magic. I love talking to people about playing Magic. I love analyzing my own play and improving myself through the game. What’s the best way I can accomplish all of this, while making the hobby an investment that can actually produce returns? That’s it: streaming. I don’t care if my viewership is 20 people per two-hour stream and I never get sponsored or anything like that. It’s not about getting big, although it would be nice. It’s about doing what I love anyway and extracting value from it. Even if the only value I get is feedback on my gameplay, either by re-watching my own recordings, or by having a live chat tell me just how much I’m screwing up. Anything else is gravy. So the stream will be starting soon. Right now, I’m working on getting my new account (featuring a username that matches this blog) past all the new-account bullshit they throw at you at the start. You kind of have to grind up through this Skyrim-esque tree of beginner decks. I’m just about to hit 5,000 gold, and I’ll use that to record a draft video and upload to YouTube this week

So that’s where I’m at with CyberDack the Twitch-streamer. This week is all about getting that draft vid up. The follow-up is to use the new account $5 bundle to get some gems and go live on Twitch despite not having a camera to show myself. My idea is to have two separate two-hour sessions each Monday and Wednesday. No particular reason for those dates, but it’s what I know I can commit to for a start. The stream will be from 5:30 PM PST to 7:30 PM PST. I’m pretty sure the $5 bundle can carry me through to enough content for that first stream, I’ll have to re-evaluate for the Wednesday stream.

So what about my other career? Well, right now I’m working on a video game built in Unity currently nicknamed Project Nightframe. My buddy Kenny, a veteran programmer currently working as a team-lead for user experience, is helping to mentor me through the process of creating the game. I can’t be more thankful for his help on the project. The idea is we meet up each week to discuss progress on a schedule we’ve established as bi-weekly development.

At the moment I’m a little behind from where I’d like to be on the project. Part of this has been outright procrastination. Last weekend in particular I really spent almost no time working on the game, thinking I could make up for it during the next week. Well, that next week has come and gone as well and I’m not a whole lot farther along. But that brings me to the second aspect of the problem, which is that I kind of jumped ahead of myself and my abilities.

You see, I thought I’d be able to create a working prototype in Unity within a week or two. At the moment, I have two sprites that I built in paint, and...nothing else. Instead, I’ve been focusing my efforts on a pair of tutorials for Unity in general. The first tutorial was How to Make a Rogue-like, but I realized even from going through that tutorial that I could benefit from backing a little farther up and experiencing a How to Make Your First Game in Unity, which is what I’ve more recently been doing by following the Brackeys tutorial.

In addition, I’ve been trying to progress through the codecademy website’s learner path for C# in general. I have to say, the codecademy course is particularly disappointing. It just doesn’t feel nearly as cohesive and rounded as their other tutorials have been like with projects for Javascript, which I really liked. The best example I can give is there was a lesson on finding the character index of a string. The example showed how they called a method to find the precise index of a known substring within a string (finding “cactus” in a larger sentence). Then the lesson asked you to build your own code for finding “the first letter” in a person’s name in order to address an email to them. The example does not illustrate how to find the first index position of a string, but it doesn’t matter. Apparently what they’re actually asking you to do is create the same method from the example to find the first letter “F” in the string.

The part that’s confusing about this is that in a real-world scenario, your code wouldn’t know what that first letter is supposed to be unless you’re manually looking at every stored value in your database that you’re trying to pull “the first letter” from! I dunno. If you’ve been through this lesson you know what I’m talking about. So what have I learned from going through these Unity tutorials and codecademy lessons on C#? Well...I’ve started to understand the basics of the Unity engine. How it creates scripts, stores them in your directory, and how the editor calls those scripts into its Inspector, which is really neat. I’ve also started to get a general sense of the flow with C#. Everything needs to be declared which is different from Javascript because in JS everything is interpreted automatically. You can’t just say “var yourMom = ‘example string’” and have it store that variable as a string in C#. It won’t even run. Instead, you have to say “STRING yourMom = ‘example string’”. Also everything has to end with a semicolon or it won’t run either! It takes some getting used to.

But I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of things to the point where I really ought to be able to get that prototype up over the next two weeks. My minimum goal is to have a working mouse-click event for my “Hacker” object that creates a pattern of highlighted tiles to be selected and moved onto. I think what this is going to take is a little more rooting around in the Unity documentation to get a better handle on events and also how an object can call a function to create another object or at least render an image in the game environment.

Either way I have a conversation with Kenny to look forward to and I feel like I’m a bit of a disappointment. I’m not sure how much crap he’s actually going to give me for not meeting the goals we set out, but my hope is that once he understands I was a little over-eager on my abilities, he won’t beat up on me too much. I even went through the process of tracking how much time I spent on the project and so far it’s been at least 5 hours of work. Most of that has been the tutorials, like I mentioned.

I did procrastinate, though. If I had really worked as hard as I would have liked on this project, I would be at 15 hours of project-related time. That’s basically 7.5 hours per week. So that’s my goal this next week! Even if it’s just more tutorial-grinding, I know that 7.5 hours of tutorials will get me a lot farther than I am right now. 

So, let’s recap.

Last week I:

- spent 3 hours on my Unity game: Project Nightframe

- created my CyberDack accounts for gmail, twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and MTGA. 

This week I will:

- spend 7.5+ hours on my Unity project

- record and upload to YouTube an MTGA draft video

My goal for the Unity project are to create a working mouse-click event that creates highlighted tiles around the player object.

If you’re interested in seeing me progress through these goals each week, follow me here on Tumblr where I will write about what I’ve learned, whether I met my goals, and what I plan to do with the next week!

See you then.

#mtga #programming #unity #twitch #personal #journal #june

[bassimelwakil]

GDS3 Essay Answers for Round 1

So the Great Designer Search has begun. Several people I follow on twitter who were eligible to enter put up their answers to Round One, an essay contest (which meant I now knew the questions). (http://sarpadianempiresvol-viii.tumblr.com/post/170001140404/the-great-designer-search-3-trial-1-essays and https://mtgcolorpie.com/2018/01/22/gds-3-round-1-essay-answers/)

I thought it might be fun to answer them, despite my ineligibility to actually enter GDS3. (I don’t live in the US). 

Unfortunately, a lot of the essays’ questions irked me and most of my answers end up containing a level of snark I’ve tried to tone down so I don’t end up sounding like this...

1. Introduce yourself and explain why you are a good fit for this internship.

2. An evergreen mechanic is a keyword mechanic that shows up in (almost) every set. If you had to make an existing keyword mechanic evergreen, which one would you choose and why?

I am presuming the following:

I cannot change the mechanic anyway, not even in name. (Otherwise, this question may as well ask me to invent a mechanic.)

I can’t choose ability words, as they’re not the same as keyword mechanics. (Similarly, I couldn’t pick hybrid mana.)

I can pick keyword actions. (I’m being pedantic, but since the hypothetical is asking me to make choice, I’d rather know what my options are... or are not.)

So I’m picking Crew.

There’s no good candidate for a Blue/Black keyword (an obvious circumstance for selecting a keyword), and really the two mechanics that ought to be evergreen are Crew and transform for this same reason:

Every Magic world needs them.

It’s why Equipment became evergreen; mechanics are either necessary to gameplay or creative (or both). Some story elements cards ought to capture, such as swords and shields. But Magic cannot capture other basic creative needs because the evergreen keywords needed to represent them don’t exist. I can think of five such tropes currently absent.

Vehicles remained absent until Crew.

Transform carries logistical issues and walks the tightrope of being too broad, like Kicker.

The complexity of Crew may be a concern, but that can be offset by its intuitive and independent natures; the mechanic piggybacks on creative resonance and doesn’t need to appear more than once or twice, nor even at common, to do its job.

And it’s so much fun.

3. If you had to remove evergreen status from a keyword mechanic that is currently evergreen, which one would you remove and why.

Defender.

It’s a downside mechanic that does nothing.

It can just be written out, the game text is three words.

It’s annoying because creatures with defender don’t count as creatures in design skeletons, and they wheel in draft because they can’t attack. And sometimes they’re a trap; newer players take them and miss that one little keyword without reminder text and end up with a dud in their decks.

And R&D don’t even use it when they could: most effects that stop a creature attacking don’t even give the creature defender. Pacifism-auras say “it can’t attack”, not “it gains Defender”. Auras that say “it can’t attack or block” can’t give defender because it would look counterintuitive; “it gains defender and can’t block”.

It’s a keyword that got grandfathered in because of walls, and really, that’s this keyword’s purpose: to consolidate a tribe around specific gameplay.

Walls are cool. Buffing your walls/creatures with defender remains silly fun and was a theme in Iconic Masters. One of my best friends loves doing this. I made a commander deck I adored which sat behind lots of walls and forced everyone’s creatures to attack (this was before goad).

So write the mechanic out, de-keyword it, and create a new creature type. “Guardian” will do. Then make creatures that say, “Guardians and Walls you control...”.

Yes, other evergreen keywords might be a problem, such as Hexproof, but Defender demands players actually remember what it does; the actual number of evergreen keywords MtG can sustain remains precious, and Defender doesn’t need to be one of them.

4. You’re going to teach Magic to a stranger. What’s your strategy to have the best possible outcome?

I’d ask them to pick two of the following:

Soldiers and honourable knights

Wizards of water and air

Necromancers and zombies

Goblins and pyromancers

Elves and big monsters

Then I’d get the two welcome decks they picked and tell them to shuffle them together. I’d then pick two other decks they didn’t pick and shuffle them together and start explaining how the game works with broad strokes, animating the game’s rules by picking up cards and focusing on the fun.

I want to focus on why I’d make them pick decks: I want a new player to immediately notice the personal customisation of the game by making them pick two colours and smooshing them together. After one game they will immediately wonder what would’ve happened if they combined two other decks together or one of their chosen decks with a deck they didn’t pick, because once a player realises how much customization Magic has, they’re hooked.

I was the first person in my town to play MtG so I taught most of the people in my area.

That’s how I did it. They picked two colours (no sample decks back then) and I gave them what cards I could in those colours so they could have a deck.

5. What is Magic’s greatest strength and why?

As I pointed out in my previous answer, the customization Magic offers. Players can truly make Magic their own in a way almost no other game has. Thanks to the versatility of the mana system and the faction distinction in the colour pie, players get to essentially compose the colours of their deck, making it an intensely personal game.

Right now, one of my best friends is getting hooked to this game, and this is what’s drawing him in. We draft and he loves playing colours he’s not played before, combining them in new ways, finding new strategies to explore.

The modularity of the game creates the opportunity for players to invest themselves in it.

6. What is Magic’s greatest weakness and why?

The community.

Players can customise Magic so completely that what matters to them becomes the only thing about the game that really matters and anyone who disagrees isn’t “really” playing Magic.

Players will happily dismiss cards as rubbish if they won’t hit their chosen format. That negativity drives people away because, hey, that card might be a lot of fun in another format.

Other players, deciding Magic must be serious, don’t like silly cards, and so cards that aren’t powerful or even sensible get mocked.

And that’s if you can even find players who want to play the same format as you.

Players who take the time to invest in Magic can easily become stubborn, and won’t play outside their comfort zone. My (now former) playgroup was at first, all about serious tournament constructed play. Then it became about Commander, playing their decks against each other, but the politics was always very Spike-y. But I I loved diversity of format. I loved trying new things: Planechase, Archenemy... just recently I played my first ever Pauper tournament. I don’t like constructed formats, but I’ll play if that’s what everyone wants. My new playgroup, amusingly, made of friends in the same group who were put off Magic because they “weren’t good enough” and never found it that much fun, are finding it to be fun precisely because I show up with different sets to draft and different formats to try; Wizard’s Tower, Explorers of Ixalan, and they’re getting hooked as I show them that Magic isn’t just one game.

And then there’s the community that doesn’t even play Magic but their existence drastically affects other people’s capacity to get cards: Investors oft-times turn Magic from a card game into a stock market game, that casual players now find themselves embroiled in as unwilling participants. You can’t play Magic without playing the market anymore... which is why I make decks for my friends.

As I cultivate my new gaming group, I’m simultaneously inoculating them from the community’s problems.

7. What Magic mechanic most deserves a second chance (aka which had the worst first introduction compared to its potential)?

Tribute.

It’s not fun in a standard-legal set pushed for competitive play because no one wants to do that at tournaments, or even in 1v1 games.

But Conspiracy sets would love it. It’s the kind of mechanic you absolutely want to debut and delve into in Conspiracy or Commander because the whole joy is you get to pick who pays tribute. You get to make a great deal, “pay the tribute and I promise you [blah].” It causes players to make alliances, break alliances, create grudges, end grudges...

That’s what you want in a keyword for multiplayer Magic.

8. Of all the Magic expansions that you’ve played with, pick your favourite and then explain the biggest problem with it.

My favourite expansion is probably Khans of Tarkir.

I love Morph. I love the creative behind Khans, a war-torn dragon graveyard makes it so unique. I love the real world influences for the clans. I love the five clans. I love the enemy-three-colour combinations more than any other colour combinations. And my favourite clan might be the Temur.

My biggest problem with it... Ferocious.

The Temur deserve better than that mechanic. I remember spoiler season: we’d seen the creative for each of the five clans, but the last clan mechanic to be spoiled was the Temur. I was expecting something to fit the art for Savage Punch because lookatit.

Bushido!

That’s what I expected. The finally renamed Bushido. “Duelling” maybe. It would work when they attacked, blocked, or fought. It would be perfect.

And instead we got this reprint of the Naya mechanic from Shards, which was boring back then too.

Ferocious. And then in Dragons of Tarkir you failed me again ad gave them the way too similar in both name and function keyword, Formidable...

It still drives me crazy.

9. Of all the Magic expansions that you’ve played with, pick your least favourite and then explain the best part about it.

Dragons of Tarkir.

That list I made of why I loved Khans? Yeah, you got rid of all that. Except Morph. And it managed to make Dragons boring.

But the best part? There are four cards I love.

Zurgo Bellstriker because I love how he plays and I love the character.

Dragonlord Silumgar because he is fat and cute and he steals things while on his chez-long being petted and adored.

Narset Transcendent because this one of the most beautiful pieces of art in the game.

Sarkhan Unbroken because he is the most metal planeswalker and it’s about time he got back to being a badass and look at the art shut up.

10. You have the ability to change any one thing about Magic. What do you change and why?

Some things I would love to change remain to speculative on my part because they restructure the way in which certain decisions regarding story or reprints are made. But... since I’m not privvy to those discussions, I’d rather save those suggestions for another time.

Instead, I’ll look at a problem that needs solving.

Commander.

MaRo’s blog continually floods with the demands of Commander players that fights against the demands of every other format. These demands basically stem from two issues:

The Legendary rule

The colour identity rule

A “Tribal Commander” showcases both of these issues.

Commander players want a legendary creature that grants a tribal bonus so it can lead that tribe, and the commander needs to be in all the colours of that tribe.

But Non-Commander players want the creature to not be legendary, so its tribal bonuses can stack, and in few colours as possible, so it can go in different archetypes of that tribe.

I have some suggestions for fixing the colour identity side, but since Wizards doesn’t control the format, I’ll focus on the change Wizards could implement: get rid of the Legendary rule.

I was expecting the rule to go when Ixalan debuted Legendary Planeswalkers, yet it remains. The Legendary rule has changed multiple times and it’s gone from being a cool bit of flavour to an irrelevant nuisance.

What formats actually care about the rule?

Limited players don’t care, neither for cube, draft or sealed, since most cubes are singleton and Legends are rare or mythic, appearing infrequently.

Constructed formats like standard or modern don’t want to care. Constructed formats want to be able to make their decks as consistent as possible and the legendary rule aggravates.

Most damningly, Commander itself, the format that cares most about whether a card is legendary or not, doesn’t actually care about the legendary rule. You’re only allowed one copy of any card.

The rule just gets in the way; people ignore it but enjoy the flavour behind it.

I’d argue the flavour of legends would survive and does not rest in that rule.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

#gaming #gds3 #magic the gathering #mtg

[arcanite2805]

Pauper - A View from the Outside

Before my first stream tomorrow, I thought I’d give a brief overview of Pauper as a format. Unfortunately, the brief slightly went out the window. Pauper as you’re probably aware, is a format played primarily on Magic Online, where only cards that have been printed at a common rarity are legal. The exception of course are the small number of cards on the banned list, which at the time of writing includes Cloud of Faeries, Cloudpost, Cranial Plating, Empty the Warrens, Frantic Search, Grapeshot, Invigorate, Peregrine Drake, Temporal Fissure and Treasure Cruise. Almost all of these were banned because they enabled extremely fast kills, or combos that were overly oppressive to the metagame.

Many extremely powerful commons have been printed across the history of magic, even today, with powerful cards from Amonkhet and Kaladesh making an impact on the format. The biggest impacts have been felt due to the rarity shifting of certain cards in the Masters sets, such as Peregrine Drake and Burning Tree Emissary most recently. The format does have a few facets missing that are normally found in others, such as the lack of planeswalkers and unconditional board sweepers for example. However, the format is cheap and healthy, and a great way to start playing on Magic online.

The Mana:

Like all decks across MTG, Pauper decks are constrained by their mana. Unlike Modern, Legacy and Vintage, the luxury of fetchland and shock/dual lands are not available. Neither are the powerful 5 colour lands like Spire of Industry, Mana Confluence and Glimmervoid; Utility lands such as Ghost Quarter and Desolate Lighthouse; or creature lands such as Celestial Colonnade or Treetop Village.

However, it is still possible to run functional multicolour manabases in Pauper. The primary multi-coloured lands used in Pauper are the neo-refuge cycle from Tarkir Block (ETB Tapped and Gain a life, T: add X or Y) and the Bounce lands for Original Ravinca Block (ETB Tapped, and return a land to your hand, T: add XY). These also have the benefit of the incidental lifegain to offset the slower mana development, or the virtual card advantage provided by giving yourself additional land drops.

Further colour fixing can be provided by Evolving Wilds/Teramorphic Expanse or by recent Commander Deck printing, Ash Barrens. These also have the additional benefit of thinning your deck of additional lands, which can be particularly valuable in decks that want to draw action spells regularly.

Additionally, multicolour decks and artifact synergy based decks utilise mana artifacts like Chromatic Sphere, and Prophetic Prism, as the 5-colour fixing, or the artifact synergy is valuable to the deck’s strategy. Some ramp decks also utilise the Signets from the original Ravinca block. Green decks can use auras like Abundant Growth and Utopia sprawl as additional fixing.

Specific decks also use more niche lands, such as Affinity’s Artifact lands, and Tron decks utilising Haunted Fengraf as an additional mana sink. Even Snow covered lands are used to power up specific cards, like Skred as additional removal spells.

Metagame:

The Current Pauper Metagame (June 2017) appears to be reasonably diverse, with aggro, tempo, control, combo and ramp decks all viable, and with significant metagame share. Tradditional Midrange (think modern Jund, or standard creature based decks) is somewhat reduced in prevalence, although some decks in the metagame can take this position in a given matchup.

My theory for this apparent lack of metagame share is because the lack of efficient 2-for-1 answers and generic solutions to the wide range of pauper threats mean that it is extremely difficult to line up threats and answers in the right manner. This can be alleviated with sufficient card advantage, which is hard to come by in non-blue decks, which then tend towards a more consistently controlling approach.

The recent release of the Conspiracy 2 cards for Magic Online has given some hope to these archetypes with the ‘Monarchy’ cards (Palace Sentinels and Thorn of the Black Rose). These both allow you to add a reasonable body to the board, whilst providing an easy, recurring source of card advantage. They also add a fun level of strategic complexity to the game, as if you take a hit, your opponent steals the monarchy and your card advantage!

The main source of data that we can use to appreciate the state of the pauper metagame is the successful lists from Magic Online tournaments. These have recently been mostly 5-0 deck lists from leagues, along with the top decks from the recently added “Pauper Challenges”. Although these clearly don’t give a complete picture of the metagame, it is the primary force that drives churn in the metagame. MTG Goldfish takes these decks and groups them (roughly) by archetype, from which a picture of the metagame can be formed.

Delver (UR/Mono-U):

As you might expect, Delver is one of the most popular decks in Pauper. The allure of playing cheap efficient threats, disruption and removal and the ability to have a fighting chance in any matchup is often too much to pass up. Along with Delver itself, Faerie Miscreant and Spellstutter Sprite add a disruptive and card advantage angle to the deck. More card advantage comes from the Ninja of Deep Hours, who are easily set up by the evasive nature of the other threats. Augur of Bolas (UR) and Spire Golem (Mono-U) round out the threat suite.

The threats are supported by efficient countermagic like… uhhh… actual Counterspell, Daze and Logic Knot. Opposing threats are dealt with by efficient removal like Lightning Bolt and Skred, and bounce spells like Snap and Vapor Snag that can also be used to protect your creatures in a pinch.

All this value is tied together by Ponder and Preordain: two of the greatest cantrips ever printed deemed two powerful for modern. A little extra draw power is provided by Gush – which is now only legal at a full 4 copies in Pauper.

Mono Green Stompy:

Since the release of Modern Masters 2017, Burning Tree Emissary has unleashed its true power on Pauper. Stompy looks to flood the board with extremely cheap threats, and force damage through with Hunger of the Howlpack, Rancor and Vines of Vastwood (which also protects your creatures from pesky removal.

The threats are somewhat homogenous, all costing one or two mana. Young Wolf adds a little resiliency, whilst Nettle Sentinel and Skargan Pit Skulk offer immediate two power for one mana (and a little evasion in the case of the Skulk). Quirion Ranger, whilst not offering a particularly high power, allows you to reuse your lands on turns where you don’t hit your land drop, allowing you to continue deploying threats.

Moving up the curve, Burning Tree Emissary allows you to deploy multiple threats as quickly as possible, and enables your best draws. Nest Invader adds an additional body to the board, whilst River Boa and Silhana Ledgewalker and Vault Skirge add some more evasion.

Affinity:

Again, featuring cards deemed too powerful for Modern, Pauper Affinity is powered by the full power of the Artifact Lands. Along with a collection of cheap artifacts, the true Affinity threats of Myr Enforcer and Frogmite can see the light of day again. These are supplemented by the pretender Gearseeker Serpent and the efficient metalcraft threat Carapace Forger. Finally, Atog makes an appearance, as a powerful quick combo kill by eating your redundant artifacts to get in a huge hit (sometimes powered by Temur Battle Rage), or to literally ‘Fling’ it at your opponent.

Digging for these threats is made easy using Thoughtcast and Perilous Research, whilst a variety of cheap artifacts (Chromatic Star, Springleaf Drum, Ichor Wellspring and Prophetic Prism) power affinity, draw cards and fix your coloured mana. Galvanic Blast rounds out the deck with a little more reach and interaction with whatever creatures your opponent tries to contest the board with.

The huge amount of manafixing also enables a very customisable sideboard, able to be customised to whatever the metagame throws at it. Conversely, Affinity is vulnerable to specific artifact hate, and as one of the key players in the format, most sideboards will attempt to prepare for affinity with powerful cards like Gorilla Shaman, Natural State and Gleeful Sabotage.

Kuldotha Boros:

Affinity isn’t the only deck that utilises the cantripping artifacts as a value engine. Kuldotha Boros uses Prophetic Prism and Alchemist’s Vial to draw cards, pick them up and replay them again with Glint Hawk and Kor Skyfisher, which are simply efficient threats when you turn their downside into an upside. Thraben Inspector also pulls double duty, generating a clue, and becoming a decent self-bounce target too. Additional value can be generated with cycling lands, which can be picked up later in the game by your threats or bouncelands once you have sufficient mana.

Two different approaches can then be employed. Traditionally, a token based approach using Kuldotha Rebirth and Battle Screech, with a final push from Rally the Peasants is used to kill the opponent once the board is under your control. The release of Palace Sentinels has allowed builds to take a more traditional midrange and card advantage approach instead.

This is made possible with a varied removal suite including damage based removal like Lightning bolt, Flame Slash and Galvanic Blast (additionally powered by artifact lands), along with more general removal such as Journey to Nowhere to deal with larger threats.

Tron:

Tron decks use the Urzatron lands (Urza’s Mine, Power Plant and Tower) to generate a huge mana advantage, and use powerful expensive spells to take over the game. Thanks to the colourfixing from lands like Painted Bluffs (and its functionally identical variants) and Prophetic Prism, a range of game plans can be used. Big Win conditions include the largest creature in pauper, Ulamog’s Crusher, the biggest burn spell, Rolling Thunder, or more intricate value based plans involving Dinrova Horror.

Dinrova Horror and Ghostly Flicker combine well with the Mnemonic Walls (a staple across all versions) to decimate the opponents board, as the mana advantage provided by Tron allows multiple iterations of the combo each turn. It also works well with the other value creatures included in the deck: Mulldrifter and Sea Gate Oracle.

A variety of interaction can be included in the Tron decks, thanks to their flexibility. Counterspells such as Condescend can be used to good effect Along with card advantage tools such as Mystical Teachings and Forbidden Alchemy. Some decks choose to interact with red removal, whereas others choose to ignore their opponents while setting up, and rely on Moment’s Peace to keep them alive while setting up their endgame. Most of the interaction used

Tron is assembled by utilising the card draw throughout the deck, along with searching tools like Crop Rotation and Expedition Map.

UB Control:

Like Tron, UB control exists in a variety of forms. The fundamental gameplan of control the game until you have enough resources to put away the game. The most common build utilises a ghostly flicker combo like Tron, but uses Chittering Rats and Archeomancer to completely lock the game as the components are cheaper, and UB doesn’t have the overwhelming mana advantage that Tron does. Other versions use Gurmag Angler as a finisher, or in the most extreme case, a single copy of Curse of the Bloody Tome.

The win conditions are supplemented by a range of card advantage. Augur of Bolas, Sea Gate Oracle and Mulldrifter are all seen, particularly in Ghostly flicker builds. Creature less builds and Angler builds rely strongly on Mystical Teachings and Forbidden Alchemy respectively. As well as the standard Ponder and Preordain, some builds also utilise thought scour to power up graveyard synergies.

The interaction comes primarily in the form of counterspells (Counterspell, Remove Soul, Prohibit, Exclude etc.) and removal (Chainer’s Edict, Disfigure, Doom Blade, Echoing Decay etc.), with a huge variety of options available. Some builds can also utilise Evincar’s Justice as both a Win condition and sweeper with incidental lifegain such as Pristine Talisman.

Bogles:

Just like the Modern Version, Bogles seeks to load up hexproof creatures with as many auras as possible, so they hit as hard as possible, and neutralize opposing forms of interaction. Slippery Bogle, Gladecover Scout and Silhana Ledgewalker are the key threats, with some builds utilising the power of Aura Gnarlid as an additional threat.

Ancestral Mask and Ethereal Armor both scale with the numbers of auras in play, resulting in huge creatures. Rancor and Armadillo Cloak both provide Trample to prevent token blockers from being effective. Abundant Growth and Utopia Sprawl fix your mana for the white splash, whilst increasing the aura count. Amonkhet has reinvigorated the archetype, with Cartouche of Strength adding some interaction, and Cartouche of Solidarity protecting your creatures from pesky edict effects.

Izzet Blitz:

A similarly all in deck, Izzet Blitz aims to use Kiln Fiend or Nivix Cyclops, along with a handful of cheap spells to kill the opponent in one shot. The damage is ensured to hit your opponent thanks to Slip Through Space and Temur Battle Rage, or Apostle’s Blessing, which also protects your creatures.

The combo is put together with the standard cantrip suite of Ponder and Preordain, along with Faithless Looting and Gitaxian Probe. Augur of Bolas and Gush also help dig towards your combo pieces. Dispel also acts to protect your creatures, and Lightning Bolt adds a little interaction to slow opponents down.

Others:

Other decks with fewer consistent finishes include Elves, Various Blue Control Decks, Slivers, Mono White Tokens, and Burn just to name a few. There are even infinite combo decks such as Midnight Guard + Presence of Gond in the format.

One of the best features about the Pauper format is that because the format is so cheap, brewing new decks is incredibly feasible. With a small number of exceptions, cards are extremely cheap, and decks usually cost less than forty tickets ($40) on magic online. Once I am more familiar with the format, expect to see me brewing and playing more unique decks.

Stream:

This Week’s Stream on Friday will (likely) feature a friend and I running UR Delver through a league, and who knows where we will end up after that! I’m aiming to start sometime before 7:30 and 8:00 (BST), on https://www.twitch.tv/arcanite2805. Hope to see you there!!!

[trpg-dingusmaster]

convos with 2 wednesday dms

last week after DarkSun I went over to my brothers house and, my brothers girlfriends brother- the 90lbs FineCoal dm was over too, I think he lives there now? at least temporarily because family stuff?

he confirmed he was planing on canceling his campaign for pretty much exactly the reasons I suspected. he mentioned he had some ideas for a replacement game focusing on the parts of 90lbs that the group seemed most invested in, territory expansion and base construction, but the twist would be that the group would be divided in half and as well as fighting npc factions we would be fighting each other. Which is the thing *I* always felt was what the group was most invested in.

I told him it sounded fine and I understood his frustration, I offered that so long as he thought he could manage something that complicated sounding I was down to try it out and that I was sure the group wouldn’t object. He had his doubts on that part but I think he’ll figure something out. “I’m sure whatever effort you put in will come through.” We talked a little about the other games that happen on the other wednesdays of the month and there I learned that Bassun on the Sea was not ALWAYS a kingdom hearts fanfiction and it WAS in the beginning an actual high seas adventure but the dm just wasn’t able to reign in the story or theme well enough to maintain it and so a lot of his current obsession bled into the story. 

That friday I went to another mtg draft tournament and lost spectacularly, but I still had a pretty good time and I got some good pulls **I** think anyway. we had an odd number of players so every round somebody had a by. In the next room there was a group playing dnd with some wild ass sounding role play going on. it sounded amazing, they were SUPER into all the voices and camp it was great. MY by round in the tournament was the last round so I spent that time wandering around the rest of the shop looking at paint and minis and seeing if they had some specific game my friends have wanted to play.

as I was considering the paints the door to the second room housing the dnd players opened and out popped the Bassun on the Sea dm. we greeted each other and I was hoping that was the end of my social obligation but no. a conversation... though I use the term lightly, started. mostly he was just looking to have somebody listen to him talk and vent which is fine but all I ask is you be upfront about it? Dont ask me questions/for advice if you dont actually want me to answer you? I dunno maybe thats just me.

He talked about his campaign and complained about the players other dms in the wednesday group. He complained about the other dnd group that kicked him out. He complained about the bad dating advice his dad gave him that caused the break up between him and his  former gf. He talked at length about warhammer. he asked my thoughts on stuff for his campaign, which I havn’t been able to make it to yet. At nearly every turn where I was prompted to give some kind of response I was cut off. 

what it boiled down to was: he has a problem with how other people play but simply cannot see that he is doing exactly the things he hates. “I’m just playing my characters they are always chaotic neutral! I can have them be as crazy as I want!” No, you are being difficult and trying to find a petty excuse for the group to be ok with it, also.... I’d like to have a discussion with him about mental illness, I think thats a conversation that needs to happen because I’m getting a little offended. The thought of cooperating with the group for the sake of the story and balancing character and individual choices with actual playability within a group occurs to him but only enough to make up excuses and place blame on other people. He wondered why this bothered the groups.

I told him it was his play style (being a weenie and trying to make excuses for it). How he chose to use his characters doesnt fit with every group or every game he’ll ever encounter, sometimes you need to adjust for the sake of group cohesion. I told him I didn’t always like his play style and character choices, though they do have their place and can be very fun and interesting choices, but I deal with it and react as I do to his choices because he’s young and still learning table/social and roleplay etiquette and styles, still finding his voice. I understand he’s a teenager who is still building up experience and has all that messy teenager shit going on. So for the sake of understanding what teenageness was like and for the sake of group cohesion its important to pick your battles. MY play style doesnt always mesh either and I too need to adjust, its part of being in a group. Its as much about fun as it is learning for everyone. 

his response was: I already have my voice and have been role playing for years! ...well... whatever I guess.

I learned in his new campaign that the group rolled on a random table to determine their characters home and family life, married? children? are any dead? kidnapped and enslaved?

he asked my characters gender but at the time I couldn’t remember, he had me roll anyway and I got ‘husband- living, missing; children- living, ensalved at X location’ he said if my character turned out to be a guy then gay marriage would be a thing in that world rather than change it to a wife. in truth I found out my character was a girl BUT I’m changing it because if I can be responsible for gaying up the campaign world you bet your ass I’m gonna do it.  

unfortunately, my work has lost two people and I wont be able to get off for next wednesday which is when that campaign will be running I think. unless it gets changed to today but I THINK Official Event is running tonight? we’ll see. It MIGHT be the replacement for 90lbs. I’m not sure when I’ll get wednesdays free again. I know I was considering leaving that group ANYWAY but other days there are dnd games running at the shop I’m either busy or that group isnt accepting new players and I still cant find an online game that looks nice to be a player in.

#Wednesday update #90lbs FineCoal #mtg

[ddrkirbyisq]

It's that time of the year -- Fanime is upon us again! My last writeup (for 2016) can be found in 2 parts: Part 1 and Part 2. It's currently the night before Fanime "proper" starts on Friday and I'm just doing a bunch of mental decompression as I'm getting ready to go to bed, including this post as well as working on my post-mortem for Raven Delivery Service. Also!  My business cards from Moo came in, which is super duper exciting!!!  They are beautiful and I'm so happy to finally have them in my hands.  Will try and take some photos of them tomorrow morning! Every year at Fanime is a bit different.  Last year the main takeaways from my experience were that I was a lot more chill about the con in general -- sometimes leaving earlier, not going to ALL the things, etc. which was to great effect I think, and that I was able to spend more time actually hanging around friends, which also was great.  There was also no TGM (sadness) but we did stop by the B&W ball for some fun times (yay). This year I'm hoping to replicate the more easygoing approach and mostly take it easy while spending time with friends and in general just having fun being around, being in my wonderful Journey outfit, and basking in the general Fanime atmosphere.  I've got three whole days at con and I don't actually have very much planned! Friday there is a Melee tourney but I feel like I'm like 25% to enter; I do feel like I will probably have better things to do and don't want to just wait around in the gaming hall forever.  There is also swap meet that night!  That said my dance friends are also putting on a dance that night and despite the fact that I have been off of dance recently I might actually be feeling up for it.  So maybe I'll go and do that instead!  It would be a shame to miss swap meet, but....actually, not really.  Last time the only notable things I got from there were some new card sleeves, which were great, but I don't even get to play MtG at all at the moment so that is no longer a concern of mine.  So the only things I would really pick up would be cheap sanrio stuff and random stationery, probably, haha. Saturday night I'm going to see Aivi & surasshu perform live which should be super great!  Ahh, I hope they'll perform more original works >w<.  I have a couple of my business cards which I made with my Love Everlasting album artwork that I want to show them too :) Sunday morning I have to drive to SF to play chauffeur a bit (zzzz) but I'll also be doing a WCS private lesson (whee!) and probably having fun with the other social dance kids at B&W ball. Other than that I really don't have much planned, besides doing the usual rounds of everything at con.  I may also actually (?) register for speed dating this time (actually as in, don't just show up too late and be "eh w/e" like i did last year) but even that is not really too big of a deal.  What IS a big deal is that TGM (TAP i believe???) will be back this year which means awesome Tetris funtimes ahhhhhh so excited for that.  Ooh, and Bishi Bashi will be there too!  And I hear they'll even have Metal Slug there; I actually want to just play through that entire game with someone if possible :)  So maybe a lot of fun gaming is to be had at con this year! I've packed up most of my stuff in preparation for tomorrow and will probably be making it to con lazily sometime in the late morning or early afternoon depending on whatever I feel like (I've taken the day off of work).  My costume is the same as it was at V-ball, but with a minor addition -- I now have two Journey-themed messenger bags and will be using one to carry my stuff around with me at con!  Not to mention I still have my Journey lanyard for holding my Fanime badge (the badges look awesome this year btw!).  So yeah, pretty cool :)  I will have a bunch of stuff that I'll be leaving in my car, like my portable melee setup, extra controllers, watercolor supplies, etc, as well as just-in-case stuff like my ironing board and scissors, etc etc.  I won't need 80% of those things but it doesn't hurt to be prepared! Main thing tomorrow is just to wake up, shower, do makeup, and make my way to con!  Since it's Friday perhaps there will actually be parking in the convention center structure?  If not, I'll head to the old standby--the Safeway parking garage, hehe. Hopefully I don't get super tired of wearing makeup for the whole weekend.  I never put any on nowadays.  I'll have to try and put it on in a somewhat reasonable amount of time, ha ha ha... I'll try to be blogging about each day as it happens.  I know it seems I never really do that for things these days but I actually think it's great for me to just type out everything like this as a way of relaxing.  You know, for the same reason that journaling can be great. Hope to see people at con tomorrow!

#Blogger

[megastickytreecollector-blog]

Why Play Magic the Gathering Online

I am a Magic the Gathering competition player. This means I put in a considerable measure of exertion when I know about an up and coming substantial competition. I will put in hour's play trying the deck I need to play. I will pine over which sideboard cards will be the best. I will attempt to suspect what other individuals will play and change my deck as needs be. I put in a ton of time testing on the web and when I meet new individuals I generally think that its interesting that they will put in a great deal of hours playtesting or notwithstanding goldfishing their decks for quite a long time to perceive what beginning hands they'll get yet they absolutely never utilize MTG online as an apparatus. I generally here similar reasons. Why would it be advisable for me to play Magic the Gathering Online when I effectively possess the cards? Playing on the web is excessively costly. With this article I might want to demonstrate to you how simple and viable it is to play MTG Online.

I realize what you're considering. Why does this person need me to play online so awful? No, I don't work for Wizards of the Coast. I don't have stock in the organization Hasbro. I simply know for me, that I would not have the play ability that I have now, without the open door for me to play Magic the Gathering Online. I believe it's an exceptionally gainful device to use for any aficionado of the amusement and particularly the AFL Sports news competition player. One reason I made this site is so that everybody has a great time playing Magic as conceivable in light of the fact that I adore this diversion to such an extent. I know I have a ton of fun when I'm winning so as to win more I have to show signs of improvement. Enchantment Online offers another road for you to show signs of improvement.

For whatever is left of the article I will discuss a portion of the favorable circumstances to playing on the web and what it can offer enchantment players.

Time

For my whole grown-up life I have had an occupation, and keeping in mind that I was constantly lucky to have the capacity to work at a side interest store, it ate into my Magic playing time. I worked Friday night and Saturday evening, since that was the point at which the store was generally occupied. In case you're a competition player you know these are the two times that enchantment competitions by and large happen. FNM is Friday night and a great deal of greater competitions like PTQs and Opens occur on Saturdays. All the more as of late, I additionally work a 9-5 work that quite often turns into a 9-7 work contingent upon what Newsklic activities are going. No I'm not revealing to you this so you feel terrible for me, I'm stating this since I need to delineate that not every one of us can go to competitions constantly. Enchantment online gives us an approach to continue playing notwithstanding when our timetables don't coordinate that of our neighborhood diversion store's.

Presently I attempt to make it out to RIW Hobbies to play FNM at whatever point I can, yet I additionally love to return home, at 7:30pm, haul out my portable PC, start up my standard deck, and simply play a couple rounds with it. This stays up with the latest on the present decks in the configuration while reinforcing my aptitude with the deck I'm playing. It likewise gives me a chance to eat a bowl of oat all while assaulting you with 5/5 wurms and populating. (As of now I'm a major enthusiast of a G/W aggro deck including Advent of the Wurm and Scion of Vitu-Ghazi).

Another issue is you don't generally be able to go to each PTQ or other extensive in your general vicinity. Perhaps you went a week ago and you would prefer not to drive an additional two hours to get out top decked by that Jund player, in the last round, thumping you out of main eight conflict. Just me? Possibly cost is an issue. Heading to occasions not just sets aside opportunity to arrive and passage charge costs, however gas is costly and wear and shred on your vehicle includes. With enchantment online there is a day by day occasion like clockwork for each configuration. PTQs are likewise on the web, and now appropriate in your cellar. In the event that you lose, you don't have to drive an additional two hours home. You can even begin another diversion in that spot.

Drafting

Another wonderful motivation behind why you ought to play Magic the Gathering Online is on account of you want to draft. I know you want to draft, you know you want to draft, so lets quit joking ourselves. Where on the planet would you be able to get a draft going in under a moment? In the event that you go to your nearby diversion store they likely have a draft going, "A" draft going. You need to play two drafts possibly three, since you want to draft. Lets not overlook that we can make the most of our oat, in our night wear, while drafting, from our agreeable love seat.

So now you spent this cash drafting, now what? You don't earned anything, or perhaps a few packs, I can't expect how great you are. That is not valid. You have an awesome gathering to begin playing standard or piece. You additionally took in a considerable measure about enchantment and ideally showed signs of improvement at it. Drafting is a standout amongst the most ability escalated AFL Sports news organizes out there. You need to manufacture your deck on the fly, utilizing an obscure card pool. You have to figure out how to assess cards that you wouldn't regularly. You need to play around loads of darken cards and battle traps. Every one of these things improve you a general enchantment player.

Taken a toll

Many people dependably utilize taken a toll as a reason to not play on the web. Cost is certainly a component however you ought to comprehend that playing on the web is not as costly as you think. Beyond any doubt there are the costly cards on the web. Yes, Sphinx's Revelation and Voice of Resurgence will cost a considerable measure, much the same as they do, all things considered. My point is you as of now spend a great deal of cash on Magic so why not spend somewhat more and play on the web. The cards online hold their esteem by and large and also cards, in actuality, do. What's more, offen times you can utilize your insight into enchantment card estimating and your card assessment aptitudes, that you got from drafting, to pick when a cards cost will go up. Purchase low and offer high and you can profit online simply like wherever else.

There are costly decks on the web and there are shoddy decks on the web. On the off chance that you are not kidding about being a superior player you can make the bounce to online for under fifty dollars. Investigate this rundown:

18 Mountain

3 Mutavault

4 Burning-Tree Emissary

4 Chandra's Phoenix

4 Firefist Striker

4 Rakdos Cackler

4 Stromkirk Noble

4 Young Pyromancer

2 Brimstone Volley

4 Pillar of Flame

4 Searing Spear

4 Shock

1 Skullcrack

Sideboard

4 Burning Earth

3 Electrickery

1 Flames of the Firebrand

3 Mizzium Mortars

1 Mountain

3 Skullcrack

Be that as it may, I would prefer not to play Mono Red. Stopped crying, I have your dearest UB Control deck appropriate here:

1 Dimir Guildgate

4 Drowned Catacomb

8 Island

3 Nephalia Drownyard

6 Swamp

4 Watery Grave

3 Augur of Bolas

2 Snapcaster Mage

2 Curse of Death's Hold

3 Dissipate

3 Doom Blade

1 Essence Scatter

3 Forbidden Alchemy

2 Opportunity

2 Ratchet Bomb

1 Rewind

2 Syncopate

3 Think Twice

2 Tragic Slip

3 Tribute to Hunger

2 Warped Physique

Sideboard

1 Cremate

2 Devour Flesh

2 Duress

1 Jace, Memory Adept

2 Negate

1 Nephalia Drownyard

2 Pithing Needle

1 Psychic Spiral

1 Staff of Nin

2 Vampire Nighthawk

Both of these decks can be purchased online for under fifty dollars. Both of these decks additionally went 4-0 in a day by day occasion. Furthermore, yes, that is three Snapcaster Mages in the UB deck. By and large, rares online are considerably less expensive than they are, all things considered. Lets take, for instance, our companion Snapcaster Mage.

Online the card just costs you around six dollars. All things considered, the cost of Snapcaster Mage is more like twenty-two dollars. That makes getting to specific cards substantially simpler on the web. What's more, to make sure you know the reason they are so shoddy is on the Newsklic grounds that drafters, similar to you, are continually drafting, so packs are continually being opened so there is a steady flood of new cards.

Rivalry

When you play online you will be playing against a higher expertise level rival by and large. I mean hello this person experienced the inconvenience of paying for cards online just to play to show signs of improvement. He's not searching for the social part of enchantment, an issue with playing on the web. He cherishes Magic and needs to show signs of improvement. For the most part from what I've discovered, individuals who play in every day occasions will be keeping pace with individuals who play in PTQs and superior to individuals who play at FNM. This is awesome for you, since you need to show signs of improvement, and the most ideal approach to show signs of improvement is to play against individuals who are superior to you. You gain significantly more from misfortunes than wins and when playing against somebody superior to you, you can observe how they play and comprehend why they make certain plays. Perhaps he doesn't have to play Wrath of God against your one animal since he is utilizing his life as an asset and your not compelling him enough. Possibly he isn't overextending by playing a ton of animals into your Wrath of God. These are strategies you can gain just from playing against better individuals. You may recollect that one time you won a match despite the fact that you made a terrible play. I promise you will recollect the match the time you made a terrible play and your adversary rebuffed you for it.

[pauperpedia]

Tuesday Brewsday 02:

Exhume the Position

Welcome to the second article where I attempt to introduce you to new & interesting brews, as well as new takes on established decks. This week I’m continuing down the brewing rabbit hole to bring you a fun Exhume deck. Reanimator has always been a powerful deck in modern as well as legacy, but you don’t see it very often in pauper. The problem is there isn’t a payoff card that pretty much wins you the game on the spot that you see in other formats. There is also the problem of having access to very few reanimate spells, exhume being the most popular one of the bunch. So what you get are either UB variants that rely on counterspells to protect your investments, or RB versions that go more all in for turn 2 or 3 kills with an Ulamog’s Crusher suited up with a Dragon Breath. I was going to post an interesting take on a UB decklist this week, but a notable YouTuber (congrats to the person behind Stompy MtG Blog) ended up beating me to the punch and went 4-1 in a league a better decklist than what I was trying to come up with. This got me to thinking outside the box and got the brewing gears running. After a bunch of tinkering I present to you this fun mono black exhume deck.

4 Peat Bog

10 Swamp

2 Witch's Cottage

4 Exhume

4 Horror of the Broken Lands

3 Street Wraith

4 Viscera Dragger

1 Greater Sandwurm

4 Gurmag Angler

3 Ash Barrens

4 Grisly Survivor

1 Mountain

1 Ghastly Demise

2 Disfigure

2 Twisted Abomination

1 Syphon Life

2 Ransack the Lab

3 Faerie Macabre

2 Sign in Blood

2 Snuff Out

1 Monstrous Carabid

You’ll notice right away that this deck relies on cycling, the sweet ability that can’t be countered which draws you a card. We are running two creatures which benefit from our constant cycling, Grisly Survivor and Horror of the Broken Lands. I absolutely fell in love with these guys after a few playtests and found the deck to be very organic and synergistic. Your gameplan is pretty much cycle your creatures to draw cards, play one of your pay off creatures, and exhume big creatures that you cycled into the graveyard. So now that we have identified what our game plan is and which creatures really play well with cycling and discard, let’s get into the rest of the deck.

We will start off with Exhume, one of the main reasons we’re playing this deck. For one colorless and a black each player returns a creature from their graveyard to the battlefield. A sweet line of play will often times be to play a Peat Bog on turn 1, then on turn two play a swamp, cycle Horror of the Broken Lands and then cast Exhume to bring it back to the battlefield. A turn 2 4/4 is nothing to sneeze at, especially one that you can pump by pretty much just playing out your deck naturally. Other great Exhume targets are Street Wraith if you’re facing opposing swamps, Greater Sandwurm, Twisted Abomination (so long as you have regeneration mana up), and if you really need to get in damage quick there is Monstrous Carabid.

We’re running an abundance of cycling creatures to help fuel our payoffs, draw cards/swamps, and fill the graveyard for Gurmag Angler. Street Wraith in this deck can act as a combat trick for free at the cost of 2 life that draws you a card. Viscera Dragger can cycle and then be Unearthed from the graveyard to put even more pressure on your opponent. Horror of the Broken Lands can be cycled for one black mana till you can either exhume it or hard cast it. Twisted Abomination has the unassuming swamp cycling ability but here’s the sweet kicker - Witch’s Cottage can be fetched which allows you to return a creature from your graveyard to the top of your library so long as you have 3 other swamps in play. There is Faerie Macabre which can be cycled for free as a combat trick or get rid of creatures from your opponents graveyard when you cast Exhume so that it benefits you more, and finally we have Greater Sandwurm & Monstrous Carabid.

Our removal package consists of 2 copies of Disfigure, 1 copy of Ghastly Demise, and 2 copies of Snuff Out. I’m still on the fence about Snuff Out and think that maybe Victim of Night might just be better, but often times I’ll tap out trying to cast creatures and cycling so it fits my play style best. Obviously in a mono black heavy environment this removal package won’t work all that well, and in that case I’d go 3 Disfigure and 2 Defile. If tokens start making a comeback it might even prove necessary to run one Echoing Decay mainboard with one in the sideboard as well. You could also get cute and use Wasteland Scorpion as removal which has the added benefit of being able to cycle as well. There are tons of options out there, but what I have been running works well enough.

Rounding out the deck we have 1 Syphon Life, 2 Sign in Blood, and 2 Ransack the Lab. You’ll notice that by playing Street Wraith and Sign in Blood that your life total takes a serious hit, so to mitigate that and also add in a little inevitability we are playing Syphon Life. It’s also one of those cards that synergizes well with the deck when you cast it from your graveyard by paying its cost in addition to discarding a land. Why the split between Sign in Blood and Ransack the Lab you might ask? Well, as previously mentioned we lose a lot of self inflicted life by drawing cards, and it just seemed too risky to play 4 copies of Sign in Blood, so we are playing Ransack the Lab alongside it. I love what Ransack the Lab does for black, it digs three cards deep to help you find exhume or a relevant card for the situation, and fills your graveyard for Gurmag Angler. It might be correct to just run 4 copies of Ransack the Lab, but I felt like the deck needed a couple of advantage spells instead of cantrips.

Finally I’ll touch on the mana base really quick before getting into the sideboard. Peat Bog is essential because it allows you to cast Grisly Survivor on turn 2 and can help “ramp” you into some nice plays early on. After you’ve exhausted the usefulness it also fills to graveyard for Gurmag Angler which is another added benefit. Another interesting addition is Ash Barrens instead of Barren Moor. My reasoning for this is that in a pinch Ash Barrens can come into play untapped ready to go, and it can also fetch our lone mountain if we ever wanted to hard cast our Monstrous Carabid. I’ve already mentioned Witch’s Cottage, but the value it offers the deck is worth mentioning again. It gives extra life to our cycled creatures and can be fetched by Twisted Abomination, something I found to be amazing.

1 Faerie Macabre

4 Geth's Verdict

2 Crypt Rats

2 Vampiric Link

2 Monstrous Carabid

1 Victim of Night

2 Disfigure

1 Raven's Crime

The sideboard is built to fight burn, hexproof, and aggressive decks. Crypt Rats is my favorite card to bring in post board and almost warrants a spot in the main as well, the only thing I don’t bring this in for is Tron and hard control decks. Raven’s crime is a card that is brought in against control decks as well, being able to be recast by discarding a land and boost your Grisly Survivor or Horror of the Broken Lands.

Now start cycling some creatures and forcing your opponents to “Exhume” the position. I’ve had a lot of fun coming up with this decklist and bringing another article to you as well. If you have any brews you’d like me to write about, please email them to [email protected]. As always, I play the decks in the free tournaments hosted by gatherling every Tuesday night and do a quick report on how the deck fared. Till next time folks, have a happy Brewsday!

[drkungfus-customs]

Mtg Custom Card Competition Round 2: Phyrexians on Ixalan

Hello everyone and welcome back to the second week of I and Alyssa's custom card challenge. Just a quick foreword to thank everyone for the warm response we have had to the last round of judging, it is always nice to see people throw feedback back at us for running it. This weeks prompt was provided by Alyssa where participants were asked to present a theoretical Phyrexian corruption of Ixalan. As always submissions were gathered through discord and were judged by myself and Alyssa.

Michael says: So our first submission of the prompt, this card is a powerful reanimation and board control effect stapled onto a phyrexian corrupted dinosaur. However the power level, especially for a rare, is what has me most concerned. The colour pie is fine and the card feels very black, there are no problems in that regard. The part that has me worried is that the reanimation is instant, comes at a low cost, and is a replacement effect. Once Corruptosaurus is on the battlefield, and if itself gets a -1/-1 counter, it becomes almost impossible to deal with as traditional measures such as rest in piece or leyline will do nothing to prevent this effect. Additionally because the return is instantly rather than at the end of turn as with Marchesa, the Black Rose it opens the card up to some silly loops with persist cards or anything that has -1/-1 counters built in.  While the card is slow to distribute -1/-1 counters, their existence on this card implies they exist elsewhere in the set which will make this card much stronger. Especially in limited this card would be a nightmare as -1/-1 effects your opponent controls will be useless against your creatures and your own also feature as a steal effect. In order to make this card feel a little less broken and more fair I would restrict the resurrection to either only your own creatures or only your opponents. The potential value engine of this card seems a little above the curve as-is, especially when considering older formats with access to things like black sun’s zenith. There isn’t a single factor that pushes this card over, its just a confluence of factors that would make this card just not fun to play with and too warping in the limited environment.

Alyssa says: Formatting is mostly fine. The third ability shouldn’t be a replacement effect, because as written it inappropriately uses “return”. (Because the word return requires a card to be in the graveyard, and this replacement effect means that you gain control of the creature instead of it dying, it never enters a zone it can “return” from.) As written now, it resurrects friendly things with -1/-1 counter on them, meaning anything that has a -1/-1 counter either endemic to it (Bloodied Ghost, Grief Tyrant) or has permanent persist can be infinitely looped by it. You’ve accidentally prevented some abuse like Disciple of the Vault and Blood Artist by replacing the death trigger, but you can still benefit immensely from the infinite sacrifice. Furthermore, it just makes immortal creatures.

Balance-wise, it’s doing a bit much. The endemic wither is fine, giving it a way to damage stuff and get it back, and it would tie well in with the third ability like a souped up Necroskitter. The second ability is completely unnecessary, though perhaps more novel. You really only need one of these for the card to be useful for Limited and narrow Constructed applications (which is where this thing feels like it belongs.) It would be so much better if you went with only one of these abilities: I prefer the second one, as the incremental infection-based effect, perhaps through infected bites or claw injuries, seems much more “dinosaur” than a resurrection effect.

Flavor-wise, it’s okay, but it’s a bit bland. It’s a zombie dinosaur that does vague infection stuff. There’s not much of a story to the card, and a bit of flavor text with the space freed up from the above changes would be just dandy. I want to see how it fits in with the set around it, how Ixalan responds to its new apex predators. You have no art credit. We wouldn’t have noticed that “Mr. J” wasn’t an art credit if someone else didn’t use that art and credit it correctly.

Possible improvements:

-          Focus on one of the two passives and cut the other. If you wanted to focus on the incremental blight aspect, then perhaps make it asymmetric and only affect your opponent’s creatures.

-          Fix that malfunctioning third ability if you decide to stick with it.

-          Flavor text never hurts.

-          Drop a reminder text bubble on Wither for easier reading comprehension.

Grades:

Formatting – 4/5

Function – 3/5

Flavor – 2/5

Michael says: This card appears to have a serious flavour issue which really hurts the mechanical execution of the card. The flavour text indicates a phyrexian merger of Ghalta and Etali, something I would expect to have a similar importance as Brisela from Eldritch Moon, however the rest of the card appears to instead by an Ixalani call-back to Phyrexian Obliterator. This card feels like two excellent ideas combined to a less effective whole.

Judging by the perspective of an Obliterator call-back this card feels like a very good way to make a dinosaur version of the card, using enrage as an in theme way of simulating the desired effect. However in this case the card doesn't feel very green at all, outside of the dinosaur tribe and enrage there is nothing mechanical to make this card green. Given the enrage effect is symmetrical and only sacrifices a single land, if you had to keep the green in the mana cost rather than making it BBBB you could probably improve its power and toughness. Additionally if we assume this card is representative of the rest of the set, it is important to note that Wither and Enrage really do not play well in the same environment as wither -1/-1 counters will not trigger any enrage abilities on blocking. I personally would look to replacing wither with another ability, preferably one that is more green to help reinforce the colour requirements.

Again the card isn't particularly bad by any means, but the foremost improvement I would make is replacing the flavour text. The combination of Ghalta and Etali shouldn't be as small as a 5/5, should certainly be a legendary, and should at least cost red. The dissonance of these two ideas harms the card severely.

Alyssa says: Wither shouldn’t be capitalized. In a list of keywords, only the first one is capitalized. When you’re writing quotes in flavor text, make sure you put a shift line break in between the end of the quote and the beginning of the speaker’s name. The card feels barely green at all: in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this as red/black. The only bit that really strikes me as possibly green is the trample, which is secondary in black anyway. Enrage is also really hard to trigger intentionally in black, making abuse of the ability in its two intended colors very difficult.

The enrage ability is beyond busted. I understand you want to reference Phyrexian Obliterator and its extremely powerful on-damage ability, but remember that ability can only be as strong as it is because there’s very few ways for you to abuse it, since the controller of the source sacrifices the permanents. There’s tons of enrage enablers that would allow you to use this to repeatedly Armageddon the board. You may think its symmetry compensates for it, making it a “risk vs reward” play, but if you’re building around it the play will never be symmetrical. If you have one of the many ways to reliably damage this each turn you can just pop every land your opponents play consistently, and you’ll have a giant 5/5 that can wear down literally anything over time provided it doesn’t die. There’s a reason people play Armageddon despite the “this includes your lands” line, and making a repeatable version on top of a strong creature isn’t a good combo.

But it’s the flavor which really grinds my gears. The implication is that the Obliterator is some kind of Brisela-like chimera of Etali and Ghalta… which completely doesn’t gel with the card itself. It’s not legendary, it’s less than half the size of Ghalta, it has none of Etali’s lightning stuff or draw power going on. It looks like a generic compleated dinosaur, which would honestly be completely fine if it weren’t for that flavor text implying this was an amalgam of two of Ixalan’s Elder Dinosaurs. It would be similar to Brisela being, like, a 3/3 Eldrazi with a card draw ability.

Possible improvements:

-          You need to find a way to make it green. Perhaps play on the legendary Phyrexian resilience and have it punish by getting bigger when it takes damage. Or perhaps have it dredge its way out of the graveyard at end of turn if it would die from combat damage. Who knows?

-          Figure out a new enrage ability. This one is ridiculously easy to turn into Armageddons For Ever.

-          Use some new flavor text. If you’re dropping story characters, then you need to reflect their abilities, roles, and legendary status.

Grades:

Formatting – 4/5

Function – 2/5

Flavor – 1/5

Michael says: A compleated Azor is a very interesting concept from a lore perspective, and his card would surely excite players to see printed. This card however I am not sure would accomplish this feat. His mana cost is highly colour intensive meaning he is very difficult to cast in any normal game, therefore I would expect to see a reward equivalent to the effort I put in to cast him. In addition to possessing no built in way to protect himself, his effect feels incredibly weak. While seeing your opponents hand is noteworthy, in the vast majority of games when you cast Azor you are likely to be in the later stages of the game. At this point your opponent has likely already cast most of their hand and if not you are playing against control in which case Azor is never resolving let alone actually attacking. And even if the effect does trigger you are only likely to draw a single card at most given the opponent will play around the effect as much as possible. In order to make this card playable its effect needs to be tuned into a specific niche; given Azor's previous identity as a control piece I would want to see an effect that works well against control to help tie the flavour into the mechanics. I and Alyssa came up with giving him "this card cannot be countered" to help give him an anti-control niche along with changing his effect to be an enter the battlefield trigger. Allowing you to look at an opponents hand, pick a card type, and producing a static draw effect whenever your opponent casts one similar to how Archon of Dawn's Reach is worded we believe would be the best way to give him a specific use worth the extreme mana investment to cast him as well as being more relevant in multiplayer.

Alyssa says: Some small formatting changes. It’s “…look at defending player’s…” rather than “the defending player’s”. You need to add a “Then” before “Choose a nonland card type” to help sequence the effect (basically, so you know you look, then declare.) Make sure you install the M15 Mainframe layout for MSE, so you get the M15 card style, holofoil stamp, legendary crown, flavor bar and text chopping.

Woah, that’s a restrictive mana cost! This gent would be underpowered at 3WUB, so making him six mana of specific colors is a bit too much. I get that it’s acknowledging Azor’s original 2WWUU, but he had two strong abilities, one with instant payoff, that necessitated four color pips. This card doesn’t, and should be priced accordingly. I doubt you’ll ever get value off of his ability. He needs to survive a turn to use it, and by that time you not only have to attack an opponent with a brimming hand, but choose a card type they’ll play loads of. It also only triggers from that player casting that card type, so if Jimmy jams all the enchantments that you just disincentivized Bimmy from playing you dont get any cards. Even so, he doesn’t stop your opponents from comboing off, and the fact it isn’t a “may” means in fringe cases he might mill you out. You might get, like, one card off this guy every two turns, and that’s far too weak. Just play Cloudblazer. This ability isn’t black at all. Becoming Phyrexian doesn’t just jack black onto your mana cost, as New Phyrexia demonstrated, and his vague lockdown/card advantage ability doesn’t do much.

Flavor-wise, I’m not sure what Azor is doing here. He’s evidently compleated, and is doing vague law things, but I just don’t see what the ability is meant to indicate. Does he demand tribute from those who would transgress his twisted law? It just doesn’t have an immediate, strong flavor resonance for me. There is also an Incorrect art credit, which also is already in use. This is the art for Sphinx of the Steel Wind, by Kev Walker, from Alara Reborn. (It’s also one of the five first Mythic Rares! The more you know.)

Possible improvements:

-          Make him 3WUB. Or just make him 4WU. He isn’t strong enough to need all of that color.

-          He needs protection, or a stronger ability to justify the risk. Perhaps make his ability also trigger off entering the battlefield, a la Arashin Foremost. You could also retool it into an effect that names a card type that can’t be played, a la Archon of Valor’s Reach. If you make it stronger, tick up the mana accordingly.

-          Make him scale to multiplayer scenarios.

Grades:

Formatting – 3/5

Function – 2/5

Flavor – 2/5

Michael says: Ok so I really enjoy this card. Its a silly win the game condition with a really crazy activator. These sorts of cards are almost always popular and incentivize weird brews in both the standard environment and in eternal formats. Also I do appreciate the effort you put in to photoshop this yourself, good job on that front. While there is nothing wrong this card in its present incarnation, I think it needs to be improved from where it is now. Phyrexia in general often has an identity of using -1/-1 counters, and so if those exist in the environment it will stop a significant +1/+1 counters theme from being present which would be a key tool making this card workable. In addition while the precedent for win the game effects has been established for the upkeep step this particular card would struggle significantly with such a timing window, as many cards that buff or double power last until end step. If we assume this set cannot use +1/+1 counters the main pathway for this card would be effects that double in power, and therefore I think you can change this effect to an end of turn trigger without much concern over power. If you have a creature with power 40 or greater you are probably winning anyway. In order to avoid confusion with the cleanup step and to improve flavour I would suggest an end of turn trigger where if you attacked with a creature with 40 or more power you win the game.

Alyssa says: You need a comma between “more power” and “you win the game” as they’re two separate clauses. You spelt “versus” wrong, and you want to add a shift line break after the quote finishes before the speaker’s name. Make sure to get the M15 Mainframe card style to add a flavor bar.

Funky, fresh, and Green! The problem is that it’s way too hard to pull off. Placing the win trigger at the beginning of the turn means you need a creature with static power 40 or more, plus instant boosts/abilities, which is really hard because it and the creature both need to survive a full turn to trigger outside of some abstruse circumstances. This just feels like it’s been made too safe out of power level concerns.

I appreciate the need for some counterplay in win conditions, but I feel it’s pretty telegraphed anyway, and if you’re getting the beefy boy that you need to win with this there’s some other enchantments for similar cost that will make your beater so ferocious it’ll probably just win you the game anyway. I feel that it’s perfectly fine to make it an end of turn effect. One variant that we like is for you to attack with a creature with 40 or more power to win the game on the end step, really playing up the flavor of the card.

That flavor is really nice, and I appreciate the photoshop. It’s really cute! I would really prefer to have the artists who made the art you’ve edited credited too (the people who painted Ghalta and Vorinclex.)

Possible improvements:

-          Make it an end of turn effect to better synergise with creature buffs.

-          If you want to keep it at upkeep, add an activated ability that boosts power or whatever. It’s hard to use counters in a Phyrexian set (which is going to be a -1/-1 counter set nearly all the time) but temporary boosts still work.

Grades:

Formatting – 4/5

Function – 4/5

Flavor – 4/5

Michael says: This card I find somewhat disappointing in all honesty. To give credit where it is due the templating is correct, I love the flavour text, and the card works. But it is far too safe, and that safety really hurt the card. This is obviously a call-back to the original Mavren effect, but creating 2/2 horrors with deathtouch instead. This really does impact the card in a few ways. Firstly the tokens you make are not vampires, one of the benefits of the original Mavren is that he did not need to attack, and the tokens he made would fuel his ability further so you could always swing in with a single vampire every turn and remain even on tokens. This Mavren requires a significant amount of other vampires in the deck, or to swing with himself which opens up a lot more vulnerability to the card getting blocked and killed. And this plays into my other concern as well as the creatures have deathtouch instead of lifelink. While a more powerful mechanic it promotes a slower and more defensive playstyle, which conflicts with the precedent of the vampires being the white weenie deck, in addition to meaning that if Mavren does swing it is more likely there will be creatures available to block him. Finally and this is the most important concern, he is a white card that creates deathtouch tokens. Yes he is tied to vampires, a tribe mostly in black, but he needs to have black in the mana cost or otherwise this card is a colour pie break.  

Alyssa says: The formatting is just dandy. The full art is nice, but it does reveal the Legend of the Cryptids watermark and copyright information below, which really takes you out of the card. You also spelled Mavren Fein wrong! It’s a small quibble but it really, really hurts the card’s aesthetics and is something that could be easily fixed with some proofreading. Unless compleation made him shuffle his name around a bit.

This card puzzles me. For one, it’s not remotely white: Mavren Fein does produce tokens but they’re white tokens with lifelink rather than black ones with deathtouch. I don’t like the fact that mono-W can break the color pie and make deathtouch creatures relatively easily with him. For another, unlike Mavren Fein’s initial form which produces aggressive tokens with a keyword that incentivizes combat and attacking each turn, Mavren Fien’s ability produces defensive tokens instead. I’m therefore confused as to what exactly his game plan is: attack in every turn, or hunker down? There’s also balance considerations in that he does make 2/2’s, which is fine perhaps on a multicolored card but a bit much for a monocolored one, especially when it’s a color bend like this.

I also don’t like that it lets token vampires make tokens. Small thing, but the Torrezon vampires traditionally make lots of tokens so I worry that might kick it over. The flavor is fun, if a little lazy. It’s literally just Mavren Fein again, but with a slight change in some knobs. I want to see something a little more exciting.

Possible improvements:

-          Proofread! So close to being perfect.

-          He’d be perfect if he just cost WB. No color breaks there, and a neat compensation for being two colors.

-          Is deathtouch really the best keyword for his token? Possibly look to making the tokens more directly incentivize aggression

Grades:

Formatting – 4/5

Function – 3/5

Flavor – 3/5

Michael says: Another odd infect card, this time a compleated siren with the ability to steal creatures. Firstly I really, really love that flavour text. Definitely one of the best I've seen in a while from a personal perspective, it resonates just right. My opinion on the mechanics however is that this card is pulling in two directions. Its raid effect wants it to sit back and block attacking creatures to distribute -1/-1 counters, and this would inevitably be very powerful in limited. However on Ixalan I expect to see bigger creatures than normal thanks to all the dinosaurs, which means it can be very difficult at times to block with this creature. The card really wants to both attack to activate the raid safely as well as remain untapped to block incoming attacks. While this dissonance helps to balance what can be a very potent steal effect, it would also make the card very unfun to play as you cant play in the way this card wants to. Yes a board presence and other infect creatures help to mitigate this, but by itself it will not have a good gameplay loop. Additionally this card uses art that already exists on a magic card. I'm not particularly bothered by that but it can lead to a bit of confusion so if you can avoid that it helps.

 Alyssa says: You forgot the “on it” part of “with a -1/-1 counter on it.” You don’t capitalize the “The” in “the Stormwreck Sea”. Otherwise, formatting is good!

I feel mixed things about this card. On the one hand, it’s mechanically sound, on the other I’m not entirely sure how well it will play. It’s a seemingly very powerful trigger, but I worry that its implementation is internally competitive. You want to steal big stuff here, which is good, but as a 1/5 infect on its own you can only steal things that have 4 or less power that attack into Ichorfleet Despoiler. You aren’t going to be taking any Colossal Dreadmaws with this thing. Similarly, anything it can safely block will probably be worthless when you get it: it’ll be out of the way, sure, but I want more for 5 mana. If the surrounding environment supports putting -1/-1 counters onto creatures, then this could have applications, but it’s really, really bad at triggering its own ability and I think that should be taken into account.

I’m always awkward about putting infect onto things. Once again, this exposes another internal competition within the card. Its 1 infect damage means it’s going to kill people at the speed of a Coral Eel, but I don’t like that you’re incentivized to steal your opponent’s stuff, which probably won’t have infect. You want to win in infect by dealing 10 damage as quickly as possible, but because “not having poison counters” isn’t a resource, you don’t really gain much through incremental, slow upticking. If you’re stealing creatures without infect it’s like the damage this deals doesn’t even matter. In effect, it’s kind of like giving this infect has reduced its power to 0. Just give it wither, like several other entrants have twigged.

It’s a good card, but it just doesn’t sit right to me. The potential line of “attack with my dinky infect rat, get blocked by a gigantic dinosaur, play Despoiler main 2 and steal it” is really fun but once you’ve seen it once you’ve seen it all. This is a card that’s so hard to evaluate outside of set context.

The flavor is lovely, but this art is in use! It’s the art for Siren of the Silent Song from Born of the Gods. Reverse image search your images before you use them just to make sure.

Possible improvements:

-          Give it wither, so it can actually attack well.

-          Swap out the art for something that hasn’t been used.

-          Consider making the card better at activating its own abilities, so it doesn’t rely on the context of a set that doesn’t exist.

Grades:

Formatting – 4/5

Function – 3/5

Flavor – 4/5

Michael says: So because of the nature of this card as a goblin piker I am less reviewing the card as I am the mechanic, and to be totally honest I am not super keen. The mechanic is clearly a riff on explore, providing a poison counter instead of a +1/+1 counter. My concern with this kind of mechanic is that it would struggle to exist in an environment with infect already present as they compete with similar design space and infect is often easier to get to 10 counters thanks to how it scales and is repeatable. With this mechanic you would need to trigger it and hit a non-land 10 times to win and that is almost impossible in limited if we assume the mechanic is seeded like explore was in Ixalan. Another issue here is that these poison counters are functionally useless until you hit 10 meaning that there is no real benefit for the first 9, whereas with explore the +1/+1 counters can be supremely relevant to the board. Encroach would need to be significantly pushed in how often you can activate it in order to see any amount of constructed play and in doing so could produce a harmful standard environment as these counters would be more difficult to interact with than creature damage through infect. In addition seeing this effect on a BB goblin piker at uncommon is very below rate, while this effect existed in Ixalan the explore trigger was significant in that it existed on both a 1/2 and a 2/1 while also costing one coloured and one generic mana. This card is seriously underpowered in almost every circumstance except when the opponent is on 9 poison counters and I am unsure as to how the mechanic could be tweaked and still keep the flavour of phyrexia while also working similar to explore.

 Alyssa says: Formatting wise, this is completely fine. It wants to be a Soldier, though. Or perhaps a Horror, with appropriate art?

Mechanically, I don’t really have that much to say. Encroach is a very weak ability because it really doesn’t do anything to alter the game state aside from when your opponent has nine poison, which, if that is only being spread through encroach, means the first nine activations that don’t hit a land basically do nothing. With explore, both times you’re getting something, whether that’s a land card or a counter plus a surveil, but with the Conquistador you just give a worthless poison counter. It also feels very lackluster as a concept. It’s literally just explore, but with a tinge of Phyrexian spice that ironically makes it weaker. I can’t think of a set that would want this as one of its 3.5 mechanics. The card wants to be 1B rather than BB. For BB you’re getting a 2/2, or perhaps a 3/2, with that basic effect, especially at uncommon.

A big problem I have is that it’s ripped wholesale from Vraska’s Conquistador, which is also a black uncommon 2 mana 2/1 Vampire with the same art (which you didn’t credit, by the by.) There’s nothing spooky or Phyrexian about the art that tells me that this thing is encroaching on Ixalan, and there’s no flavor either. It just feels like it was slapped together in a couple minutes from Vraska’s Conquistador, even down to the name, with a mechanic that’s just Explore covered in Phyrexian graffiti.

Possible improvements:

-          It needs to be overhauled from the top.

-          Encroach needs some genuine thought to turn it into an incremental poison/value generation mechanic, with a benefit on top of just giving them a single poison counter.

Grades:

Formatting – 4/5

Function – 2/5

Flavor – 1/5

And finally we have our winner for this week:

Michael says: This is a safe design, but I think it checks a lot of boxes for a good call back design while still having its own unique effect. Here the original value engine of kumena is replaced with an infect strategy which supports itself through a token creation ability that also possess infect. I also enjoy how in order to fuel his unblockability, it requires a sacrifice instead of just tapping merfolk, an elegant way of powering down the card in a very flavourful way thanks to the addition of black to his mana cost. While infect can be scary I think the limiters on dealing combat damage to players to trigger the token making definitely helps to mitigate the potential of the card. In order to break this card you would need a lot of tribal investment and synergies, which means he would probably make a strong commander but his standard impact can be well measured. In addition to this the formatting has no problems and the art was well picked for this card. Honestly it makes me sad I cant say much more about this card, its just a really good example of linking old and new flavour. The power level may be a bit suspect but I think it is correct to err on the side of caution for infect cards, especially with built in evasion.

Alyssa says: The formatting is superb. You even got the rules for multiple instances of a legendary creature’s name in a text box right! I also appreciate that you provided the token it produces.

I always get leery of infect, but I can honestly see it working here. The stats are about right (considering it attacks players as a 4/4) especially for a 3-color legendary creature. It’s not Boltable, but it has no inbuilt protection, which I feel compensates. The combat damage trigger is a little uninspired, and perhaps a little weak. I’d like to see something sexier, maybe a card draw? I can’t help but look at Phyrexian Swarmlord as a point of comparison. But I suppose incremental infect production is a decent enough compensation. Either way, I feel it’s a good implementation of infect on a creature that is its own game plan.

You could probably dink the sacrifice condition for his unblockability down to two merfolk. Going in on a -3 to then get, I dunno, Divine Arrowed or whatever is really sad. I like it being free on mana but high on card disadvantage to really sneak infect hits through.

Flavorwise, he’s a real treat. Lovely to see a Phyrexian card with a bit of personality, especially with him being all shouty up in the card art. Flavor text is actually unnecessary on this, in my opinion. His charisma and influence is demonstrated by the Merfolk he summons, his cruelty by how quickly he disposes of them for his own benefit. It’s a shame he’s not a Zombie too but the typeline is packed to the gills (ha) already.

Possible improvements:

-          I want to see either the combat damage trigger a bit sexier or the unblockability trigger a little cheaper.

Grades:

Formatting – 5/5

Function – 4/5

Flavor – 5/5

So thank you to everyone who submitted a card and to Hyperviper for his winning design of Kumena, the Tainted Tyrant. As always feedback on this would be greatly appreciated and hopefully the next prompt should be provided shortly.

 As a bonus please see our take on the prompt with Azor the Mad, unable to intervene in the conflict thanks to his oath limiting simply to providing a passive sanctuary on Useless Island.

[trpg-dingusmaster]

2nd event: the useless but intimidating halfling

I only rolled one natural 20 that night but I think it was probably the best possible time I could have rolled it.

for the start of the game two people were sitting out, the party wizard and the party druid- the dm for the darksun campaign, because they were working on character sheets for another game.

so, because we had more people than last time we had this dm it was hard to hear and I missed a lot of details about what we were doing, but from what I gathered:

a pair of guilds? or the city guards and a guild? a guild and some guy? had teamed up to investigate rumors of lost treasures in a supposedly cursed light house. They had each sent a team of one ranking guild member and a small number of attaches/guards for that member, the plan was to split the treasure. together the two groups had enough pull to convince the dock and water way workers/who ever actually owned the light house to let them into the light house which was otherwise closed off for everyone's safety. Unfortunately this was over a week ago and the group should have been back by now. Also weird things have started happening around the light house again. people and animals disappearing, strange noises, ect.

the party was hired by one of the guilds/some dudes family or associates? to find out what happened.

The party goes to a bar near the light house to try and get some info. it starts off badly where I order some cabbage soup to help break the ice and innitiated a social encounter check of some kind? it was either WIS or INT whichever was higher but it didn't matter because I rolled a natural 1. I assume Solya must have said something like: "What is that smell? cabbage soup? or is that just how this place smells?" or "Motherfucker can a bitch get some fuckin soup? before I die of old age or what? get off your ass. I'm as small as I am hungry-- which is very." I dont know, but they wont talk to us (I don't think I'm the only one who failed the check but I definitely failed the most), but at least they didn't throw us out.

My soup never comes but a group of people who work in and around the harbor/docks lighthouse area does come. They are arguing with each other and some people from the city guards/guild that didn't hire us. They are complaining that they werent compensated enough to have allowed entry into the lighthouse. people are getting attacked by weird things in the night and going missing, fish have left the area, weird noises from the light house area are keeping people up at night and scaring away customers, ect. the other guys are just like: well you were compensated and that should be good enough quit your bitchin, our boss and friends are missing and so we might not get paid at all or whatever.

the party rogue tries to step in when a fight starts to break out and severely wounds one of the guards from the faction that didn't hire us. Being the cleric I thought I'd try helping the dude, so the dm had me make a medicine check... which I crit failed. the two groups the harbor workers and the guards thought I was trying to finish what the rogue stated and would not let me near the injured person. Maybe the bar staff interjected something about how the halfing is an asshole dont trust her, who knows?

so... the wounded guy dies on the floor during the bar fight. and I continued to roll very, very badly.

at this point, I had to leave the table as the wizard rejoined it to work with the darksun dm/the party druid on my sheet for their campign.

I had brought a friend with because she wanted to check out the shop and to see what other dnd games are like besides the one I run. I had her take over my character and do any rolls or healing that might be needed while away. I'm less clear what happened during this time but what I know for sure happened is:

I lost several charisma points for some reason? No one explained why, just that it happened. I assume my poor cleric must have crit failed something again but I might never know.

There were clues leading to the fact that there was a temple to Dagon full of undead deep under the light house but because no one rolled well? none of the characters figured it out. so they dont know the relationship between the light house and the temple, which came first, who did or didn't know about it, what was in there, how long it was there. anything.

It was only by the grace of a patient dm that the party found their way to the correct part of the light house (which sounds like it may have been a regular house with a light house attached right to it?) to find the secret entrance to the underground cave the temple was hidden in.

The groups tabaxi found something that was specific to his faction/guild which gave him the mini objective of finding some specific item and delivering it to his superiors.

The groups rogue found out he is terrible at making shadow puppets

The wizard accidentally figured out how to open the secret door, clues on how to do this were part of stuff the party had never figured out.

As the secret door was opened the druid/darksun dm and I finished with my character sheet and we rejoined the table.

My friend went off to play mtg with a relative of one of other players. She doesnt seen very fond of 5e as a whole so far but that might just be because she tossed in mid adventure with with an unfamiliar character, she does however like how the character sheets are organized. She asked if I could switch the 3.5 sheets we use in our game, or at least hers, to the 5e ones. I might.

Going through the damp stone tunnel we find evidence of violence having occurred at various point is time, several days ago to several years ago. There is a small elevated alcove to small for the medium sized character to get into too high up fort he small sized characters to get into. One of the larger characters after a surprisingly large to do lifts the kobold up to investigate, theres nothing interesting just a very old skeleton. probably a clue about the age of the temple.

at the end of the tunnel there is a large open room,in the center is a murky pool more silt and mud than water and around the edges of this there is a ledge probably at one time easily passable but now treacherous from disrepair and over grown with moss/algea. the choices are wade through the pool unknowing of its depth or what may live in it or try and take the ledge around.

the wizard suggested burning away the dampness and plant growth with a fire blolt but we agreed it might A- destroy the ledge, B- alert monsters that there is fresh meat near by. The dm begins to ask for an acrobatics check on traversing the dangerous ledge when the druid pipes up that she wants to cast entangle in the center of the pit, saying she thought it might decrease the roll or maybe give us advantage because we'd be able to see what places would be somewhat safer to walk on and prevent anyone who failed from falling too deep into the muck. The dm was surprised by the spell use and explanation and gave us advantage. Even so, Solya nearly failed but then I remembered I had a lot of things to add to DEX and acrobatics rolls because of halflingness and background and ended up with the best result.

Two group members failed the check, the kobold and the druid. They didn't fall far down but they did fall away from the ledge and got a little tangled up and stirred something that was hiding out in the pool. by the time the kobold and the druid righted themselves a pair of ghouls hand pulled themselves out of the depths and up onto the entanglement, I assume if it werent for that the ghouls would have had more of an upper hand though their higher than expected ac did give us some trouble.

none of us thought to ask exactly but I now wonder if we had bothered to if we would have recognized either of them or what they were wearing.

we took some damage but nothing serious yet. Following the ghoul room was another muddy winding hall ending in a slightly ajar pair metal braced doors. inside was the antechamber to the temple, large and round crusted with dead coral and barnacles carpeted in mosses and algea. on either side of the door to the rest of the temple stood suits of armor long rusted and nearly attached to the wall from all the plant and animal matter.

the sensible members of the group take to carefully inspecting the room and one of the suits of armor, the rogue however thwacks one with his sword and with the resounding CLANG the group pulls away from the other armor and watches the rogue as the armors spring to life and pull their way out of the growth on the walls.

almost immediately the rogue is knocked prone then shortly knocked out by the attacking armors. the rest of the group began attacking at a distance, and we discovered that the ac of these things was higher but not much than the ghouls. I was basically useless in this fight, my offensive cantrips and mace missing their mark. Once Solya noticed that the rogue was  down and I had found out  that he had failed his first death save I had her go right into the middle of the armors and cast Spare the Dieing, unsure if this was the boss fight or if another character who didn't have a health potion on them would go down it seemed the best idea. I maybe got one hit on the armour with the mace and it wasnt great but Solya was a great sheild to defend the fallen rogue from further damage at least, she has a great ac.

The rogues health potion was used on him, but even then he and everyone else still needed a rest before moving on.

the next room indeed the main area of the temple, a large room with neatly lined pillars and a raised platform near the far end with a large glowing green statue of Dagon, though I have no idea if the characters/all the characters knew that? but the dm told us the players for clarity I think.

not far in there was a small drag trail of blood to the side of one of the great pillars and lying crumpled on the filthy floor was the guy we were paid to find. investigation showed that the only wounds on him was what appeared to be an clean and very deep stab in the back- unlikely caused by the undead monsters and definitely not those armors since they were crusted into the wall when we arrived. Likely if we hadn't bothered them they would have stayed put. WE find a wand of detect magic near him but only the wizard can use those and theres a limit on how many magic items you can ever have ever on these characters? even if you sell/get rid of one later? but he and I can do that anyway and I also have the identify spell so? it was pointless.

we go further in looking for more people but only find more undead. Again, we didn't think to ask but I wonder if we had if we would have recognized them or what they were wearing? I decide to try rolling for using the crossbow instead of the mace or hoping they fail the check for whatever spells I can cast at them. I succeed a couple times only because these monsters have outrageously low ac. Once again, the rest of the party does nearly all the work. the tabaxi, happens to be a ranger and is favored enemy happens to be undead and this was of great help in the whole situation. Also, another character, played by the oldest? second oldest? member of the group, I'm not sure what the class is but he had these javelins right? and they were just wrecking the shit out of everything on every roll he made for them. it was neat.

once the battle was over we found a door off to one side nearer to the statue and we heard voices inside asking if we were there to help. we pushed our way in and found the guy from the guild/group that did not hire us and a couple of his guards and couple from the guy we were hired to hind see the guy from the group that didn't hire us has a weapon that is an approximate match for the wound that killed the guy we were supposed to find.

we say nothing of this and ask what happened. they all say it was the monsters outside that did it. they out number us a bit and we were not badly hurt in the last fight but we wouldn't have done well fighting these guys so we tried to get them to come clean. we consider intimidation. two people roll badly but not a crit fail, at least and after a second or two of thought, when it seemed like we might have to fight these guys or let them get away with murder I for just for laughs announce I too want to roll an intimidation check.

the group laughs

I roll a natural 20 and all those shady dudes confess their sins and flip on their leader.

the guy from the guild that didn't hire us killed the guy we were supposed to find and bribed that guys guards to say he didn't do it but then they got stuck in there because of the number of undead.

we brought the lot of them to the people that paid us and got a reward along with what we were owed for finding the guy. I think we may have also confiscated the bribe money too.

We have no idea what anyone wanted with whatever that was sitting around in the temple of Dagon that they went after.

#dnd #dnd 5e #official event #solya springhill