Rebirth

 I've been playing plenty of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth and I'm fairly torn about it. 

The game is clearly reaching for the stars; it's weird and the main characters are well drawn. The storyline feels both true to the original and wildly outrageous. 

But I hate the combat system. It feels so repetitive! And why, why, WHY are the mechanics all kept behind the obtuse menus and...hell why does it feel so complicated?

There so many different combat effects it might as well be a fighting game, and it's all layered under menus that leave me doing something I hate: not playing a game, but instead reading about it. 

Why do I even have to worry about aerial combat???

And none of my teammates seem to build ATB: I have to actively control them to get that to happen. 

This all feels like systems that are impediments to play, instead of flavor enhancers. 

Going to be taking the rest of the year off to play games & catch up. See y'all in 2025!

If I Had My Little Way

So...look at this absurdity. 

That's 23 human tokens and eight Kaito tokens. What this tells me is that Peaches has a tempo issue, and I need to make sure I'm getting ahead of it. 

While it is true that four Soul Wardens in play will make for something very dumb, when I am attacking for 30 a turn and losing, something is still wrong. 

Basically: I need a way to establish tempo or take it from my opponent. Establishing tempo should be easy enough, because I think the curve is solid so I shouldn't have a lot of difficulties. But if for some reason I can't or don't, say because the game is just random or I come up against a aggressive deck then I need a way to make sure can climb back into the game. 

Which means taking a look at what kind of resources I have early on.

Currently, I'm thinking of cutting my copies of Prosperous Thief and Thousand-Faced Shadow but this leaves me with a very particular problem: I need two more cards and there isn't an obvious fit. Because with two slots, those cards need to be useful in nearly any situation I draw them in-let's say from turn three on. I can't be sad that I've got a card in hand that there aren't may duplicates of. 

The Long Goodbye makes a strong case for running four copies of (I currently have 3) but now I have one slot left!

I think that I've got the right amount of planes walkers (3) and creatures (24) so I really am in need of something to help me with tempo. Chain of Vapor effects come to mind but I'm feeling a little stymied!

And that's it for this week! I'm on vacation, and will have another post next week folks. Cheers!

In A Factory Downtown

So, after a major overhaul of the deck, Peaches definitely had some trouble. I played this against a MUD deck with Metalworkers but found myself really throttled by Lodestone Golem. In both games Noah was able to resolve one fairly early and that just made the rest of the game cost too much for me. 

At the same time, the fact that I was being pinned down by one card suggests to me that it may be possible that there's something to this deck. Or at least I'm doing something right, because most decks won't be running Lodestone Golem.

So I dialed it up again, this time in a three player game. The mana issues weren't prevalent and the deck functioned very smoothly! I even won out, being able to utilize the ninja abilities, coupled especially with the ability to replay my cheapest evasive creature, Will-o-the-Wisp. It was especially good when I could hold up regeneration mana. 

I'm on to something, which is great! 

Movin' To The Country

The first run out with Peaches went about the way I expected: the game was interesting but with a few mistakes and cards that felt weak. 

Yes, Standstill + Ninjutsu is a great combo but I found myself without much to do afterwards. In addition the mana base felt a little off, so I'll be taking a look at that as well. 

Now, the good news is: there's a whooooole lot of new cards to help up the power level and lean into the theme. From a new Planeswalker to a full decade's worth of cards that have activated abilities, including lands that could operate under a Standstill. 

After some research at Moxfield, I ended up cutting Cavern Harpy, Dauthi Horror, Escape Artist, Okiba Gang Shinobi, Thalakos Sentry, Into the Roil, and Throat Slitter.

In went Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, 4 Silent Wallcreeper, 1 Fallen Shinobi, 1 Ingenious Infiltrator, 3 Biting Palm Ninja, 1 Thousand-faced Shadow and 3 Long Goodbye.

After a look at the deck via Deckstats, I noticed Peaches was 40% lands, so I trimmed an Island for a Creeping Tar Pit and a Swamp for a Prosperous Thief,

That's a lotta lotta. But I said I wanted to update the deck, so let's commit!

Peaches

"Movin' to the country...."

3 Ronin Warclub

4 Will-o'-the-Wisp
3 Throat Slitter
1 Higure, the Still Wind
2 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
3 Mistblade Shinobi
2 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
4 Escape Artist
3 Cavern Harpy
1 Thalakos Sentry
3 Dauthi Horror

4 Standstill

3 Into the Roil

4 Polluted Delta
8 Swamp
8 Island
4 Choked Estuary

As a result of me tweaking Weapon of Choice, I had to snag some Cavern Harpies from this deck--so why not give it an entire facelift!

Note to future me; first change -2 Cavern Harpy +2 Silver-Fur Master

The Retired: Revenge of the Slith

OK, I just need to admit that I did this one for the name. Can you blame me though? 

4 Kami of False Hope

4 Slith Firewalker

4 Slith Ascendant

3 Kor Sanctifiers

3 Firemane Avenger

2 Guardian Seraph

1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs

2 Precinct Captain

2 Odric, Master Tactician

2 Bedlam

4 Intimidation Bolt

3 Brimstone Volley

2 Order // Chaos

8 Mountain

8 Plains

3 Wind-Scarred Crag

4 Furycalm Snarl

Obviously, the big problem here is that the central concept-Make your creatures unblockable and huge-is simply worse than: play good creatures and stomp over theirs. Bedlam is a really neat card that costs too much. 

And there's so much that can be done with these other cards-from the lands to Guardian Seraph, that I'll let this one pass.