Treeless Cul-de-sac

Well....this went a lot better than I had planned. I'm not upset about it! 

I don't know who approved Risky Shortcut but...how is this just not better than any other Black spell doing the same thing? I draw two cards and YOU lose two life? (Yes I lose two life too but I was going to lose it anyway).

Decode Transmissions comes close but I'd have to jump through hoops. 

Still, I think I like this:

4 Jet Medallion
1 Nightmare

2 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Ihsan's Shade
1 Reiver Demon
1 Visara the Dreadful
2 Magus of the Coffers
1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
3 Twisted Abomination
1 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 Griselbrand
2 Black Cat

4 Heartless Act

21 Swamp
2 Cabal Coffers

3 Forced March
3 Drain Life
3 Hymn to Tourach
4 Risky Shortcut

Reiver Demon is probably the weakest creature in the bunch, actually. When it works it's pretty great, but the successful targets for it just aren't what they used to be. Still, this has been a fun deck to play. Is it great? No-I'd probably give it a B-. It can do a lot but there are times when the deck gives me a handful of nothing to do. Still quite enjoyable overall though.

A Hostile Climate

Let's get back on track.

With ten cards to add, I took a look at the deck and made some decisions. 

First; I needed a way to disrupt my opponent. Second, I needed a way to draw cards. 

Which lead me to the following additions: 3 Hymn to Tourach 2 Black Cat, 1 Griselbrand and 4 Risky Shortcut.

Of those, only Griselbrand is more than 3 mana and as a beatstick you'd be hard pressed to do better. 

The rest all keep my costs low so that I have something to do in the early game, either to set me up, or stalling until I make it to the point where I can cast my haymakers. 

Free Pizza: Guardians Vol 2

 I used last month's tech to beat this month's tech.

Ghost is the flex slot, but this is what I ran when the new Proscenium location was hot. I am not above taking advantage of a good thing.

The other thing I'm not above is finding ways to double up on Shang-Chi. With so many players utilizing the new Star Lord and Fang Foom, being able to take out 2 or 3 characters can really change the game. Absorbing Man can also repeat Shou-Lao's ability, which is not to be overlooked!

However, right now the meta is adapting with a TON of Stardust, so be careful about adding Scarlet Spider. 

TMNT Analysis

While I'm not going to dive into the TMNT set-and no shade to anyone who is-I think there's a few things to talk about.

First; there's the Professor's video on the set design. I highly recommend it, as he's very good at breaking down what the problems are, drawing from experience and the game's history. 

Second, I said back in September that the small sets were being floated as a way for WotC to introduce a new set every month. I feel like the Prof's video supports this idea-because he thinks this is just the way things are going to be, going forward. At least 4 of the 7 sets are UB this year and TMNT and I guess The Hobbit are small ones? 

That's not great for the game. 

Third, all of this product is having an impact on the card quality. I don't know if you've ripped any Lorwyn Eclipsed boosters, but I have and it is clear to me that multiple cards have been miscut. It isn't much and you might not notice at all if you just automatically sleeve every card you get before paying it. But it's something I've noticed and it's diminished my optimism about things going forward. 

Boarders

 Just a neat post about how the iconic boarders were created for Magic cards.

Lurker 2-Son of Night

 But we're just gonna shorten this to Lurker 2. 

4 Jet Medallion

1 Nightmare
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
1 Bringer of the Black Dawn
2 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Ihsan's Shade
1 Reiver Demon
1 Visara the Dreadful
2 Magus of the Coffers
1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
3 Twisted Abomination
1 Stronghold Overseer
4 Scion of Darkness
1 Phyrexian Obliterator

4 Dark Ritual

21 Swamp
2 Cabal Coffers

3 Forced March
3 Drain Life
2 Corrupt

The premise behind this one was to make a big mana/Black legends deck. Obviously, there's a whole lot that can be updated from here, but I'd like to try and keep the premise going-including keeping the Jet Medallions if I can. 

My first thought: cut Stronghold Overseer (shadow OR flying, I do not need both), Bring of the Black Dawn, Myojin of Night's Reach (I can do better for 8 mana now), Ob Nixilis (there really isn't enough land to make this worth my time), Corrupt (same problem), and Scion of Darkness.

That's ten cards that I can replace to make a better deck. Let's go.

Late To The Party: Othercide

I've played through the first fifth of Othercide and feel like I can talk about it. 

Othercide is an interesting, turn-based tactics game that wants to do a lot with a little. I can respect that: making something very lean asks players to really focus on the things that matter. 

And focus is what it asks for: this is not a game where the player gets to have three teams that can rotate through missions. Characters don't heal: they are regenerated if you sacrifice a character of greater or equal power. 

So you use your high level characters until they are nearly dead and then sacrifice them to boost an up and coming character. 

If that sounds bleak, it's because it is: in Othercide's Victorian-era influenced apocalyptic setting, it goes out of its way to remind you that there are horrors all around you. Children are possessed and need to be sacrificed to stop a plague-or worse. 

Unfortunately for me, the game cut too far down. With only three classes, there isn't a lot of diversity between your characters, nor many choices that feel meaningful to make within those classes. 

In addition, the visual style starts to work against Othercide as well. Black, white and red is a striking color scheme, but those are the ONLY colors in the game and red is used as a highlight. After awhile, it just gets dreary to look at. 

I'm glad I checked it out but I'm not sure it has the lure to keep me playing.