Warhammer Conquest 2023

Some notes taken from the last run of Warhammer Conquest games! The plan was to play the decks in a best out of three, but to change the planet systems between games.

Illumior Szeras vs Magus Harid/Praetorian Shadow

OG planets, we started off slow: It’d been awhile since Jason had played. I lost at the 5th planet: my resources were spread too thin and I just didn’t have enough Army units to match up with his resources.

Also: I spent too much time on the small units when he was putting his warlord at risk. Next time.

Round 2
Is much shorter; ends by planet 4 because I just got swarmed out, with no way to take out all the cheap creatures he had. I made a mistake by not picking the correct planet for a Defensive Protocols, and by not giving the correct creature Sweep so I could take out two at a time.

Eldorath Starbane vs Epistolary Vezuel

This ended by planet 3: Once again I was overwhelmed by resources and ended up playing a large unit at a planet I thought I had time to create a defense point at.

I did not. Three up, three down.

Round 2: This time it was all me: i was able to keep his units tapped down, and get damage in, despite the deep strike making some real problems with Holy Sepulcher getting his units back.

So to Round 3!

And on planet 3, I blew almost an entire hand on an attack with a Banshee Power Sword…to have it negated by the Indomitable. That was my downfall: I no longer had the resources in hand to help defend or capture a planet. I couldn’t have foreseen the Indomitable but damn, it was a rough way to go.

Yvraine vs Shaper Agnok

Rough game: I couldn’t gather enough resources to deploy cards and in the debrief, Jason and I looked at the cards in Shaper’s deck and realized that 5 of them just were both expensive and without the impact they needed.

So: at least 2 if not 3 new cards are needed here to shape up this deck.

Tras the Corruptor vs Urien

A total beatdown in both games: Tras could just not get anything going! The deck might be too chaotic.

All in all a fun evening of games! 

The Retired: Skalor

I know, another deck I've gone over. 

It seemed so neat! But I also have multiple decks in G/B using this theme. 

4 Gluttonous Slime
4 Festering Goblin
3 Young Wolf
3 Viridian Zealot
3 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
2 Reaper of the Wilds
3 Leaf Gilder

4 Gutter Grime

2 Hero's Downfall
3 Tragic Slip

9 Forest
9 Swamp
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Darkbore Pathway

2 Garruk Relentless

The theme isn't even entirely focused, either. What is Wolfir Silverheart doing here, aside from being a big monster? This deck really wants Gutter Grime to create an overwhelming advantage but then doesn't include an engine to really sacrifice creatures with. I just expected they'd die due to normal gameplay!

That's relying on my opponent to execute my strategy and that is deeply unwise. 

The Retired: Wizard Fight!

This one was named after the best song Weedeater ever did. Honestly, they probably should've retired after this song, because I don't think anyone can top it. 

Still here we are:

1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
3 Kami of the Crescent Moon
2 Psychosis Crawler
2 Dragon Mage

4 Words of War

4 Jilt
4 Repeal
4 Bewilder

9 Island
3 Izzet Boilerworks
4 Scalding Tarn
8 Mountain

2 Preordain
4 Wheel of Fate
3 Rolling Thunder
3 Serum Visions

While the idea is to use Words of War in combination with basically every red card drawing effect ever, and supplement WoW with Psychosis Crawler for a victory condition, Wizard Fight also had to run cards like Kami of the Crescent Moon. KotCM helps everyone, and the support cards I added in just weren't punishing enough.

Rolling Thunder is too slow and I don't have enough mana in here to make it truly dangerous. Jilt, Repeal, and Bewilder aren't even close to being a strong enough suite of cards to help keep the game in my favor.

This is probably a deck that if I refashioned it into a combo deck that used Blood Oath or Sudden Impact to do damage and Arcane Laboratory to control the board, would be more interesting to play. And since it turns out, I already have a deck like this, letting Wizard Fight! go is for the best. 

But the name is awesome! Maybe I'll reuse that. 

Note: No posts next week, as I'll be away for Thanksgiving and quite likely playing a lot of Warhammer 40k Conquest.

Lost Caverns of Ixalan pre-release-2-1!

For this pre-release, I got to go with my friend Rebecca to do the Two-Headed Giant format at Red Castle Games! 

RCG really rocked the house, running a great tournament and we had a lot of fun. Here's my vague-ish notes.

We were able to put together a mono-Black deck for Rebecca, with a low curve and a lot of removal, and with the rest of the cards a Red/Green deck for me to pilot was available.

Round 1

Vs Via/Levy (sorry, I didn't get your first names!)

We had a strong start, with enough pressure to put them in the single digits, but Rebecca got stalled on lands, which hamstrung on out ability to keep the pressure up. She didn't see her fourth Swamp until the game was nearly over! While she was able to make some plays and use Souls of the Lost and Echo of Dusk, with some early removal in Dead Weight and Bitter Triumph (a great card for 2HG), we couldn't quite get our opponents defeated. They put on a nice comeback with some measured play and lifegain from Armored Kincaller. 

Eventually our opponents got out two Panicked Altisaur and that put us on a clock we couldn’t get back from.

Round 2
Vs Alex & Steven

They had a slow start, but this time my partner had mana. That meant that she could keep casting more than just removal. It started with a Broodrage Mycoid, then a Vito's Inquisitor with a Hunter's Blowgun. Then Queen's Bay Paladin came out to help put the hurt on. 

While I had a Panicked Altisaur of my own, it was Eaten by Piranhas. But I was still able to get enough dinosaurs out to keep our momentum going and with some smart removal from Rebecca with the clutch play of taking out the opponent’s Altisaur using a Fungal Fortitude on my Armored Kincaller. Plus, we gained another 3 life (Which gained us 12 life over the game), which kept us out of reach of their building army.

Round 3
Vs Daniel & Jason

This time we really took it to ‘em. It seemed like Daniel got stuck with a hand that didn't have a lot of action, so most of the removal took out Jason's creatures.  With a Palani's Hatcher, I was able to represent a lot of pressure, aided by the Vampires from my partner. Plus, we really held out on use of Tithing Blade to get two creatures instead of just one.  Eventually, I cast my own Altisaur we were able to attack for 15, then do an extra 4 damage after combat.

My thoughts after the event:

First, the set is more dynamic than I thought it was in my review. There is a lot going on at any given moment. I think this is a good thing but I also know it made for longer, grindy games. Keeping track of it all became an exercise by itself.

Second: my experience with Craft was pretty meh. I was able to use Kaslem's Stonetree to make a 5/5-but it was promptly neutered by Petrify. That's a 8 mana investment for a 5/5 with no abilities to get nothing. Similarly, when Rebecca had the mana to craft Tithing Blade, the game was effectively over. The front side was good, but the mechanic might as well not exist. 

Third: Discover probably needs to be in Constructed decks. I spun the wheel on Discover caves three times over the course of the day and each time felt extremely underwhelmed. I wasn't expecting much but I have learned my lesson about utilizing it in a Sealed format. 

That aside, the games we played were fun and interactive-even the one where Rebecca was froze out of much of it. A 2-1 record is nothing to sneeze at!

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan-Set Review

Of course we lead with a link to the spoiler list that we can all read.

I want to start this off with brief look at mechanics and an example of making something harder than it ought to be. 

We have in the same set, Descended, Descend 4/8 and Fathomless Descent. 

All of these things do different stuff and yet use the same root word because that stuff is also similar. 

First, I thought they learned from the Threshold example, where WotC has admitted that it would've been better to have Threshold work like Threshold N, where they list a number and cards care about if you've hit that number or not, instead of tying it to a specific number.  

Why not just have Descend (n)? You can set that number to anything-including X!-and do exactly what they want to do, while still allowing for some flexibility. Plus, you've just reduced your keywords from three to one. 

Worse, they are using different words to do the same thing. Look at Starved Revenant-Descent 8- and Stinging Cave Crawler-Descend 4. 

They can't even get the templating right!

Second, while I understand that making sets thematically cohesive in every way you can matters, it shouldn't come at the expense of clarity. Since Descended is only a triggered state, using that word when you also have Descend in the same set means that you've increased the mental costs for players. 

I'm trying to read spoilers and getting confused. It's irritating because I know they could just write it as a triggered ability. Taking Broodrage Mycoid from the article as an example: At the beginning of your end step, if a permanent entered your graveyard from anywhere, etc etc.

It works exactly the same and it doesn't increase the complications. 

Moving on.

White
I really like the art on Dusk Rose Reliquary. 

Fabrication Foundry is doing something interesting: mana rocks in White are unusual. That it's tied to artifacts makes sense but it's unusual. I was not expecting an artifact subtheme in this set but given the narrative themes, it makes sense. 

What's really interesting to me, so far anyway, is that this might be the first artifact set WotC has done where there isn't a clearly broken artifact. Maybe? The effects are powerful but the costs to Craft is keeping that in check. 

Favorite dinosaur: none. Soaring Sandwing is fine for a common but I don't like the art there. 

Blue
Cogwork Wrestler is a neat card with great art. I like this. Confounding Riddle too, and I have been a fan of effects like Confounding Riddle since I saw Supreme Will. 

I'm also a fan of Tishana's Tidebender and what it does. Feels a little out of place in Blue-the exile part is very White-but I like the toolkit the card provides.

Favorite dinosaur: you know, for a setting that is supposed to have dinos everywhere, there are remarkably few dinos. I mean. Marauding Brinefang will do but c'mon!

Black
Bloodletter of Aclazotz lets Black get in on the 'double damage' train Red has, and I dig it. Also, I really want to try the Bloodthorn Flail in my Madness deck. This seems very strong. 

This color is the first place where I'm really noticing a difference in the art in regards to setting. A lot more cavernous zones, contrasted with pieces like Synapse Necromage or Malicious Eclipse that are a little silly and a city scene, respectively. 

Favorite dinosaur: Sigh. I guess the Vistage of Dread will do.

Red
Huh. I thought Etali had been corrupted by the Phyrexians, but apparently they're still around to bestow favor upon folks. I'm ok with that!

Inti, Seneschal of the Sun looks like another neat card for a Madness deck. 

Favorite dinosaur: why are the dinosaurs here all so ugly! This sand-brown color is entirely lacking in comparison to their cousins in the original set! So I'm giving this one to Dinotomaton. 

Green
It's hard not to look at Glowcap Lantern and not smile. It's cute! 

While I'm seeing some solid cards here, there's nothing catching my eye that stands out. Even Ghalta seems fine, but hardly mind blowing. 

Favorite dinosaur; Easily the Pathfinding Axejaw. Dino with a headlamp? Hell yes.

Multicolor
Some nice cards here to help build up or around for decks. Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar seems very cool, and Quintorius Kand has an ability I've never seen. Should be good for the brewers!

Artifact
Can't say too much flashy here: the Hunter's Blowgun is a nice blend of function and flavor, and I love Throne of the Grim Captain and The Millennium Calendar. 

Lands
It is great that Cavern of Souls is getting a reprint. I like the caves thematically, and more crittur lands are always fun. Sunken Citadel seems like it could be HUGE, I'm just not sure where, yet. 

And that's it. This set feels fine right? I'm not overly excited about anything here but nothing stands out as being bad or good. The basics are all there; now I just need to see how it plays out. Is Craft really a thing? How much of a pain is the "descent" mechanic to remember? 

Also, I don't get much storyline from these cards, and I feel like that's a missed opportunity. The art is outstanding and really does help separate the inner world of Ixalan from the outer but the only story event I can see happening is a bat god creating eternal night. 

Is that the way it ends? 

Still, good job, let's have some fun!

Out Today

 On the road, but I hope to have a Lost Caverns of Ixalan review up on Thursday! 

Late To The Party: Remnant 2

 All of my free videogaming time has gone into Remnant 2, since it was released in July. With the new DLC being announced yesterday, now is as good a time to talk about the game.

The opening statement alone should tell you something about how much they improved on the first game. It's primary gameplay loop perfectly in tact, the team at Gunfire Games focused on making a better experience overall, from the options to build your characters in interesting ways, to providing challenging but not severely punishing bosses and arenas to fight in...mostly.

The game is so packed with interesting secrets, it feels like I find something every week-which since I've logged in over 200 hours, is impressive. The game still feels not just worth playing, but challenging enough to be enjoyable. 

I'm given so many options and with some forethought and practice, nearly any kind of build I want to make is worthwhile. It is just fun to play. 

There are some drawbacks: the so many options part means that sometimes, the game's organization can be really challenging. There are over 100 different rings you can pick and while having them in alphabetical order is helpful, breaking them down into further categories would be nice. Unfortunately, there are so many options that I'm not sure that's feasible!

Armor is effectively cosmetic in this game and I'm hard pressed to decide if that's a great decision or merely an OK one. Fashion is fun to run on your characters, and having one less thing to think about for players is nice. We're already so focused on spec-ing out our characters for maximum value, adding defense doesn't really add much.

Still, it would feel nice to have a little more say in the character than weigh class & looks.

And, like many games of its type: Remnant 2 requires players to have access to the internet to really get the most out of it. There are so many secrets (as noted above) that there is just no way to find all or even most of them without guidance. 

Though I feel that's less of a negative and just a state of the industry right now. Guidebooks have always been useful but they weren't always necessary. Games like Remnant 2 make them required-if you're like me and want to dig into all that.

On the other hand, the game is also content to let you play through it as often as you like, and let you miss or acquire or ignore whatever you want. In the end, I think that's better design. 

So I like it. I like it a lot.