I Knew It

 I didn't like The Big Score and the Professor helps lay out all the things that are messed up with it. Give it a listen: he's very clear about how this exists to burden the players. 

The Wrath Of Code

The Wrath of Code, named after a song by the excellent Dan Terminus, is my turn on the Thopter decks. I know, this is where Kappa Cannoneer has found a home but Cannoneers are spendy! Why pay for those, when I can swarm the air with tokens?

2 Mishra's Bauble

3 Urza's Bauble

1 Aether Spellbomb

1 Sunbeam Spellbomb

4 Sai, Master Thopterist

3 Emry, Lurker of the Loch

2 Master of Etherium

4 Ethersworn Canonist

2 Esperoza

3 Thopter Spy Network

4 Tempered Steel

3 Dispatch

2 Metallic Rebuke

3 Seat of the Synod

3 Ancient Den

4 Razortide Bridge

4 Plains

4 Island

1 Otawara, Soaring City

4 Mystic Gate

3 Tezzeret, Artifice Master

This should be a lot of fun.

Free Pizza: Thunderbolts

 I've made my goal of level 90 this season, so huzza! I went through level 80 and won in with...this deck of all things!

No, I don't know how that works, either. That is: I know how the deck works-use Mordu, Maximus, Master Mold and Black Widow to pump your opponent's hand, Ronan and Mystique to win lanes. But...why is that working now?

I don't know exactly why but I also don't feel like arguing with the result. I know Zabu isn't as good as it once was so I might have to figure out what to do with that slot but hey, thanks for getting me to 90!

For friends who are new to the game, this is a reminder that this week, High Evolutionary has become a card you can acquire via keys. HE is a very powerful deck with a lot of flexibility and powerful cards new players already have, so get that card if you can!

Set Review: Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Got the MTG nexus link, but we got the official one too. As always, I'll start talking about the mechanics, and then go from there. 

The take on Outlaws is certainly better than the Party "mechanic" of Zendikar Rising. While thematically fun I don't see this helping create a subtype deck of Outlaws that starts to take over. Still, I'm all for giving a boost to these kind of 'profession' types as opposed to creature types.

Crimes are a very good thing for the game. Like Landfall, anything that rewards you for doing what you want to do in the the game already has a leg up on any other mechanic. More of these!

Spree feels like the most potentially confusing mechanic of the set. You have to pay the cost AND pay additional costs just to do anything. That is not how Magic cards typically work and it seems like there's a possible 'feel bad' to this one. The card is useless at it's mana value and I don't like that. It also means that players have to think about the card differently, which isn't inherently bad but it does throw off calculations when searching for cards to build decks with. 

For example: if you need a one Blue cost spell to draw cards, then Three Steps Ahead is going to show up in your search for such a card. But it doesn't work like that at all. 

That feels frustrating.  

Plot, on the other hand looks very cool. A way to reward strategic thinking, Plot seems like it might reward players who like to get into long game situations. 

As for Commander's Bounty mechanic? Seems neat! And a way to make multiplayer games interesting without breaking things in half, unlike Exploring the Dungeon or Monarch.

The most impactful news about this set might come from The Big Score subset. I want to say outright: I hate this. 

Usually cards from The List have been cards that were reprints; cool, thematic cards that WotC could find from other sets that just didn't quite fit into the story of this set. Reprints are good and necessary for the game!

The Big Score is taking The List slot in booster packs and of the forty cards, there are three reprints that I am aware of. Which turns The Big Score into an added rarity slot, not a cool way to get older cards into newer player's hands. 

Are the cards good? Yeah, they seem quite good. Is this a shitty way to exploit players? Yes. 

Let's move on.

White
Let's not pretend they haven't been storing the names Bovine Intervention and Holy Cow for a decade. Glad to see them finally get some time in the sun.

Another Round looks like the kind of card that could be a finisher for a deck but I'm not sure what kind of deck that might be.

With all the Mercenary tokens being created, I'd bet Vengeful Townfolk will be a house in Limited environments, and I really like the flavor of High Noon. I'm also seeing more +1 counter stuff than I feel I usually do. But I'm having trouble mustering some excitement for this color; cards seem expensive and don't quite do cool enough stuff.

Blue
Loan Shark is, of course, far too civilized to for this outlaw town. I kinda love it. 

By now certain notions are starting to get a little clearer: I like how Blue and Red have the opportunity to use Plot to gain bonuses, as on Razzel-Dazzler. That's some nice synergy. 

More flavor wins with This Town Ain't Big Enough, too. 

Black
I think Pitiless Carnage has potential. The ability to Plot that card means you can just put it in storage; if the game goes sideways on you or gets deadlocked, there are worse things than sacing a couple permanents to fill your hand and get you going. 

Tinybones, the Pickpocket might be the best card of the set though. It's at least one of the most interesting, offering something in Black that I don't see terribly often. 

Now, this is an idea that only an old player is going to consider, and it is probably bad but Rakish Crew plus the Mercenaries of old might make for an interesting deck. Maybe something to mock up!

Red
Alright, look: Coyote-Roadrunner is pretty great. This is definitely more a 'if you know you know' but I am old enough to know. 

I also really want to like Stingerback Terror but I just don't know that there's something there. 

Green
Ah, there's more +1 counter cards. That must be the GW draft theme. Seems like it could be very strong!

Multicolor
It gets a little weird here. There's a lot of characters I didn't expect to see from places far from their origin. On the one hand; ok that's neat. But on the other; why are they there? Just because?

I'm not objecting; I actually want to know more about Thunder Junction, now. Is it a kind of dimensional wayport? Mos Eisley for Magic? I could get behind that! The story parts I've read are so concerned with the goings on of Oko and company that there isn't much setting being set. 

Artifacts & Lands
They're all fine. There are now a lot more deserts than there have been in Magic: I wonder if there's a deck to be built around that subtheme. I'm probably just hoping against hope but I do like the subtheme of these deserts doing a point of damage to opponents. The basic lands are also very striking, just another thing WotC has been doing very well these past few years.

Conclusion
I'm sure by now it's pretty clear I'm not extremely high on this set. I don't hate it: WotC is good enough at these things by now that sets are usually solid. Unfortunately, at least for me the cards don't seem to be very interesting. Or at least they aren't inspiring!

That doesn't mean this isn't worth playing! There are still plenty of Sealed matches ahead of me and Plot does pique my interest as something to mess around with. Playing the cards always illuminates the experience a lot more than just reading and evaluating Plus, there are a lot of flavor wins; Thunder Junction feels like a place I want to hang out in and see more of. 

But the obvious good cards are obvious and The Big Score leaves a very sour note in my mouth. So until I get to play some games, I'm more cautious about this set.

Just A Little Delay

 I'm working on a set writeup for Outlaws of Thunder Junction, the next game in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion (first boss!), and just earned Free Pizza in the new Marvel Snap season  (you won't believe the deck that I hit 90 with...).

But none of it is ready yet! Sorry. Still being sick and busy has not been helpful. I'll have something up Thursday, though.

Late To The Party: Greedfall

It took me a long time to finish GreedFall. Part of that was that it was a RPG and those just take awhile but it wasn't the only reason.

The upsides: this game had a compelling story, a lot of ways to customize your character and what I felt were meaningful ways to impact the story, depending on who wanted your character to be. Gameplay was solid; combat encounters could be challenging but never got frustrating for me.

Though it helped that I decided I was going to be a gunslinger. You know what works REALLY well in arcane times? Guns. Guns are great when swords are the default.  

The medium stuff; the animation had the Mass Effect problem where faces didn't always match up to dialog, and dialog lines didn't always match up to the conversation. This was notable in the usual places; Greetings and farewells, but I feel like if you're going to play this kind of game, you have to roll with that.

Also; while the movement animation was pretty good, whenever my character would run up or down stairs, they looked like they were high-stepping which was hilarious every time I saw it. 

The bad: fast travel wasn't implemented well. 

GreedFall spends a LOT of time sending the player on conversation fetch quests, and hey, that's partly why I'm there. However, traversal became a genuine slog in GreedFall. Having to walk to a travel point instead of the game just sending me to the location meant a lot of hours looking at that movement animation. 

It also meant that I began to notice when I was playing a game and when I was just running errands. That's not a great thing. So the momentum that the game would build would start to falter, and I'd set it aside for something more immediately engaging. 

Still, I liked it overall; it's a solid game made by a small team and it executes pretty well! Give it a solid B. 

Couple Videos

I'm still recovering from being sick, so posts this week will be on the lighter side. However, we persevere. 

I'm sure most have see The Professor's April Fool's joke, but still.

When you're done with that, take a gander at this overview of one of Magic's most controversial pieces of art.  

I can't say that I like the piece myself-something about the medium hits an uncanny valley for me. There's something real and unreal there and it doesn't harmonize well. But finding out more about the inspiration, background and context for the piece was incredibly interesting and let me appreciate the art in a different light.