2027 Hype

Nauctis trailer.

Titanbreach trailer.

Zhalfir trailer.

Of these, the one I'm most excited for is Titanbreach. Pacific Rim set? Yes please.

The most interesting one is Zhalfir of course: Wakanda mythos writ large? Alright let's see what you got! It doesn't hurt that it's a riff off of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor and Lorwyn Eclipsed, a modern set I loved, with Shadowmoor, a set I'm very fond of. 

Plus, I always enjoy it when Magic goes to a place that doesn't get a lot of exposure. It's an opportunity for a window to be opened in my world that wasn't there before.

Which is probably why I feel that Nauctis has something to prove. Atlantis was never a thing. I know, it's a high fantasy staple and truthfully, I'm shocked Magic hasn't done it. But it's such an old trope that I don't feel much excitement about it. 

The trailer said that it's the first Magic set-maybe ever?-without flying as a mechanic, which is great, I love that.

It also says that there's a mechanic to replace that aaaaaannnnnd that raises some eyebrows. Because previous attempts at making creatures "unblockable except by X" (shadow, horsemanship) have had some very bad impacts on the game, especially in limited.

Sill, I'm glad to see these sets coming next year and I hope y'all are too.

Always Here

 So, been getting into the Arkham Horror LCG and it's been neat! As is so often the case with me, I've been doing dives into reviews of expansions, how to build decks, all that neat stuff.

Then I found this review and it just stuck in my craw.

"Woke" is such a terrible criticism here, even without having played that expansion.

Black people existed in the 1930s. Queer people existed in the 1930s. That may have been to Lovecraft's dismay but we shouldn't be taking his bullshit into the future, and it certainly doesn't change the truth.

So complaining that showing the existence of people in a game where you play as a person is...trash. 

Big Business is not your friend

Well, Sony have announced the elimination of physical media for games. 

And it's a bad, dumb idea. 

There are a lot of takes out there right now as to why it is and some of them carry more weight than others. Your mileage may vary, as always. 

However there is one thing that I feel becomes undeniable: once Sony controls their own marketplace, they have a monopoly. 

And that is bad for everyone. 

For me, personally, I hate that we are going back to 'company store' days. You don't own what you own; you rent it all from the company. We already know that businesses consider digital content to be something they can take from you.

I like to own the things I buy-that is why I buy them.

And it means I'm going to have to reconsider my gaming habits for the future. That also kinda sucks. I liked it when things were easy. 

And that's it for a week! I'm going on vacation and going to play some Warhammer Conquest!

Tiny Holiday

 Sorry everyone! Just need some time to get caught up. 

Just Different

I'm struggling with Grimlock a bit because, sigh of the search engines. 

See, if you search for Mortuary at Moxfield, you get this. Because now, there are three cards with the word Mortuary in it, and one of them is super useful.

This is a bummer because hey, that is one of the key cards and I was hoping that by searching for a key card I would vastly narrow the focus of my search. Now? Not so much.

Fortunately, there is Fecundity and that search provided me with the 'duh' moment for this deck: creature tokens. 

Again, back when I first built the deck the volume of tokens at large, much less creature tokens, just wasn't that high. But it's a new day! Cards like Malevolent Rumble and Eldrazi Repurposer exist. 

In addition, the rule with cards like Fecundity is that you need to find ways to break the parity to your advantage. Enter Dauthi Voidwalker.

So with some creature updates, it's time to take this deck for a spin.

Grimlock

A long time ago, I saw a relationship between Fecundity and Mortuary. At least I think I did. It might've been a combo pointed out in a print magazine, just to give readers a sense of how long ago we are talking. However, G/B is one of my favorite combos and letting that pass by was not going to happen.

3 Wall of Blossoms
2 Bottle Gnomes
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Quagmire Druid
3 Sadistic Hypnotist
3 Fume Spitter
2 Blastoderm
2 Woodripper
3 Bone Shredder
4 Skullmulcher
2 Vulturous Zombie
4 Fecundity
4 Mortuary
6 Swamp
2 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Llanowar Wastes
7 Forest
4 Blooming Marsh

Now, there are probably some obvious issues here. The first is that the creature selection is ancient, and inconsistent on top of that. That is a space with easy improvement. 

However, the elephant in the room is this; I have a two card combo that 1) Doesn't win the game and 2) doesn't do anything to the board when it arrives. That is a problem--sort of.

I'm not going to lie to ya: I like this combo enough that I'm keeping the deck. It's too much fun as a concept for me to get rid of. This means that I'm already accepting that it isn't going to be a A tier deck. B if I'm lucky. 

But maybe I can get it to a good B+. Heck, creatures are good enough now that A- might even be possible. 

And of course this is named after the leader of the Dinobots.

Life From The Low

Recently I got a game in against my buddy Jeff, who was playing a B/W ninja deck built heavily off the TMNT set. We weren't able to finish it (the pub was closing) but in the middle of a game I stopped and asked him to rewind his turn.

Jeff is pretty new to Magic and he wasn't using the Sneak (Ninjitsu) abilities of his cards at all. So I walked him through a turn where he did that, and although I could've punished him for it, I didn't. It isn't worth bringing the hammer down on new players in a non-tournament setting. I'd much rather see him be excited about the thing he built!

Now, I got pretty low on life before the game ended but I think I could've pulled it out, as I was just a turn away from being able to start to generate blockers and life. Once that happens, all I need is enough time to wipe the board with a Withering Curse. 

While I didn't get that chance I liked the performance of the deck. It felt like I could dig my way out of the situation. 

I'm headed on vacation so next post will be next Thursday!