Theros - Favorite Cards from the Set

I was looking at some all of the cards from the Theros set tonight and was really amazed at some of them:

1 mana for unblockable and a scry1? Thats pretty amazing. Has a cipher feel to it. Not crazy about the art, but it makes sense when you think about it.

Regenerate is typically pretty expensive on cheap/weak creatures, the Asphodel Wanderer is no exception. I do like the flavor text and the art though.

Once again, a cheap but powerful enchantment. I really enjoy the trample part. Fans of The Flash would enjoy this card.

I really like the art on this card; I absolutely love the colors used but moreso the helms and the fins at the back. Very Cool.

A great card for graveyard-themed (Golgari) deck; with enough creatures in one's graveyard, you could have a 10/10 in very short order. Give it hexproof/trample/unblockable and game over asap.

There are many artifacts and artifact creatures in this set! I think my girlfriend would enjoy the art of this card in particular.

Just when you thought that some artifact cards were over-powered, you get Colossus of Akros. I see it being put into ramp decks.. maybe a Green/Blue deck. Green to ramp, blue for hexproof and unblockable... wow. 20/20. Rage Quit.

I always enjoy strong and relatively cheap defenders; the art is pretty cool too. I like the right statue's tower shield which gets narrow at the middle.

Mechwarrior Online Launch!

Happy Launch Day for Mechwarrior Online!

Looking forward to some CRAZY sale *coughcough*. Maybe ill be able to afford many dyes so I can color my mech like above! (probably not, but its purty).

The next set for MTG is coming up very soon: Theros. A very Greek-themed cardset.

I really liked this token.

Finally, check out Cardhunter if you enjoy D&D and MTG. It went live last week but had a few issues (lag and queues), but seems to be better now.

Friday: Favorite Theros Card

Take a quick glance:

At first, 5 mana for only one +1 counter is rather lame.. especially when you see it is a rare. BUT then you look at the original cost of 2 mana (granted green+white).. for a 3/3 is pretty good: typical specialty of that color combination (a stronger creature). What blows this card out of the water is the Monstrous abilities: Hexproof (my favorite) AND indestructible. LOVE it! Time to make a white green deck!

Pincer

They have a preview today of MTG's newest set of intro packs.. and at first it was a "ho-hum, Wizards is just pumping out another set of cards.. nothing new.. nothing exciting.. heck.. i'm getting pretty bored of this!" Then they spring this:

 Finally.

A kraken (favorite monster). Interest renewed!

Went to the Fan Expo on Saturday. Some people would describe it the same way I describe places I don't like going to, "same old stuff every year." But if you like it, then its always fun and exciting and worth going to. I didn't have anyone to go with this year, but still had a blast, (as an introvert) actually liked the crowds and go some really nice prints.

I didn't take many photos at all this time.. normally ~50% of the people are in cosplay, but this year, i'd say maybe less than 15%. This could be possible b/c it was a Sunday (probably most cosplayers go Friday/Sat) and it was near the end of the day.

MTG: Grisly Salvage

One of the big draws to Magic: The Gathering is the art.

 Very cool

You know where else you can get great art? The Fan Expo. Going there tomorrow, check out some art, some cosplayers and just everything there in general :)

Theros

I thought it was odd that the site was down late last night..

Matching the Card to the Player

Although my friend BrownMagic may like the Core Sets for Magic the Gathering better than themed sets, I couldn't find any particular cards that he'd enjoy. Last weekend was the pre-release, this week will be the official release.

I think my friend, Ginger will enjoy this card and make her zombie deck even more powerful.

My best friend, Hunter typically likes to recoup mana or get a one shot boost of mana, so I think he'd want a card like this.

I love using enchantments and I love mana ramping. This enchantment is something i'm very interested in, although i'm not very keen on the artwork.

Click for a closer look on my dominance in Mechwarrior Online (free to play people!) in my Raven mech. Speed kills.

Release the Kra....

Whale???

Bah. More Krakens demanded! 

I've always liked the ideas of condors or vultures.. and its surprising that you don't see 'that' many vultures in the game. There are many griffins and drakes.. but not vultures. I like the art style of this one. Blue!

I can see this being great for aggressive extort decks in multiplayer.

For more card reveals for the Magic 2014 Core Set, go here! I typically like specialty sets and not specifically Core Sets, but I'll post any with good mechanics or with cool artwork.

Friday Magic Artwork

With each iteration of Magic, the artwork improves tremendously. I especially love the following pieces:

Feels like the the Witch Doctor from Diablo 3

Looks like a centaur if you don't look to closely.

Absolutely love the look of this knight.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Best Kind

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

There is a good article today on Daily MTG of the origins and evolution of tokens in Magic.

I originally didn't like tokens too much when I first started, for I found it was too much upkeep, having to keep track of so many units. But then when you faced off against the Infect mechanic, I found a really good use for them (black/green elf token deck). It finally evolved into a source of fuel to make incredibly strong units and eventually be able to overcome any creature when protected, and given trample. Imagine this creature.. devouring 21 creatures (it actually happened in one match) AND given trample. Only a fog would stop it.. and thats only for one turn.

Photography relaxes me; it is better than gaming (blasphemy! I know) as I find it is more creative and productive output for me. I struggle with this art; I research and study for it, prepare myself both physically, mentally and emotionally. While I probably have much more success in gaming, I frequently encounter failure with photography through ruined/unusable photos. 

But with even that one good photo, it makes it all worth it and pushes me to try even harder. The photo above initially was considered a failure as I didn't like how I could see so much in the reflection: the strobe, the boxes and myself. But then you take a look at the body positioning, but most strikingly, her expression.. it makes it all worth it.

Selesnya Sentry of Suck

Still here; I haven't been playing much of anything these days. Waiting for May 14th when the new Borderlands 2 character Kreig becomes available. I think i've played the beginning part of Neverwinter Nights 2 so many times that I can't wrap my head around it anymore... or it could be the style of gameplay is stale.

Anyways, I was adjusting some decks and came across this one:

Yuck. Who in their right mind would pay 6 mana to regenerate a 3/2?
I would pay 4 at the most.. even then, I wouldn't think it's worth it. Bad card.

Dragon's Maze: Catch and Flinnnng

You know what to do

Click it.

There was one Fuse card in Dragon's Maze that I didn't particularly like (maybe it was a "I've run out of ideas, so here").. this isn't the one tho:

I absolutely love taking control of something, then sacrificing it.. very Slave of Bolas feel to it, except for the fact that it would be a red/white/blue deck... which... I haven't ever thought of making. 

Good things (cool and amazingly designed cards)can't last forever.. and I think the next 3 cards are the case. Prove me wrong, but the following come to mind when I see these kinds of cards:

Don't like the randomness to it.. if it hurt only your enemies, even random, then it would be ok. It meets the flavor of the goblin which tends to hurt themselves due to their stupidity. Ill admit that the art is cool.

There are countless articles on the Wizards website that talks about complexity and how they try to avoid making something too wordy.. this flies right in the face of that concept!

Whenever... yada yada... yada... zzzzzzz. Come on! So much reading! I really hope I don't get this card in my boosters; I don't care how powerful it is (is it? I'll read it again).. who is going to spend the time to read this card? TL:DR.

 

Ugh.. and you're mythic rare too? Another card I hope I never get. I understand in tournament, this card might be amazing (prevent your opponent from casting a certain spell, and making you cast yours faster).. but thats REALLY boring for casual format. So sure, if you have a friend.. or a group of friends that somehow (don't ask me how tho) use all the same card to win the game.. then sure, this mythic might be worth it.. otherwise.. i'd sell it to a tournament player :P

Where are my Dimir cards Wizards?

Dragon's Maze: Savage Milling

Click on the banner for more information on the newest MTG cards and information. Every day there's more exciting cards!

Talking about exciting cards... I absolutely LOVE what Wizards have done with Fuse cards.. the rares tend to require 3 colors, but boy are they cool when used together!

Breaking is a fantastic mill card on it's own, but coupled with Entering, you can get some pretty devastating monsters to use against their master! Looks like Dimir and Rakdos are working together...

 

I'm not particularly a fan of hydras.. mostly b/c I'm not lucky enough to get them in boosters.. but this one is pretty cool; constantly getting bigger whenever you have extra mana. I don't particularly like relying on one card to win a game, but a few of them working together. Cards like Savageborn Hydra are incredibly powerful, but can be mindcontrolled or removed easily.

They always tend to be mythics as well. Very Gruul feel to it tho. *tip of the hat*

I absolutely love how Wizards have implemented milling in Return to Ravnica; I never liked the straight "mill x  card", and love cards like this one:

It brings a bit of danger to the match, for you 'could' mill a minimum of 4 cards if you're unlucky.. or you can mill half a person's deck. It could go either way. We demand MOAR Dimir goodness!

Dragon's Maze: Burn Baby Burn

Make sure you're going to MTG Daily for new articles and new card reveals for the newest expansion: Dragon's Maze. Today's article reveals an uncommon fused spell, and while at first glance, it looks (honestly) pitiful, the article goes on to show how incredible it is and how it may change the face of tournaments. I absolutely love cards/strategies that counter decks that are overpowered; it makes me remember when my close friend had a very powerful Infect deck and made a green/black elf deck that was purely built to feed on the Infect mechanic. After a few rounds in FFA, he decided he couldnt attack me anymore, for he would just be helping me get stronger!

So you look at this card and think "3 mana to turn something into a 0/1 for 1 turn is kinda weak" and then you say "sure, even if you fuse them together, its like an expensive removal spell." But then you look at the following card:

Cards such as Thragtusk or Boros Reckoner are both HEAVILY used in tournaments and very powerful rares. I'm thankful that my friends don't utilize these kinds of cards too much.. except one (Brown Magic!) person. But a card like Turn & Burn, not only sounds cool, but is flexible and gets rid of these powerful cards without their secondary effect triggering.

Dragon's Maze Spoiler: Melek, Izzet Paragon and Fused Mechanic

I'll give props to the people at Wizards to continually improve upon themselves and produce better products. That includes better ways to navigate their website and find the information that their visitors crave. One of the things that they implemented recently is having this banner on the main screen of the Daily MTG screen.

Basically directing you to the page with all the information of the newest expansion/block for MTG.

After reading a few articles from Daily MTG, I recognize and agree with the issue development encountered with Dragon's Maze: a small set of cards (145 vs 300+) and needing to accommodate enough cards for 10 guilds. Basically, there will be less than 14 cards that would be exclusively used by one guild. I do look forward to the DM to see what cards they will reveal including:

Very cool; a cat weird.. kinda like Ajani. Would have never have thought of a Weird to be a champion for Izzet, much less a guild. Basically, one extra card in your hand.. and an extra card to be played. This can result in needing less of a certain card, playing it more and having greater variety in one's deck. A good reason to make a blue red deck... oh wait.. ;)

When I saw this card, I thought "oh no.. I can't believe they made this" (in a bad way) b/c it made me think of cards like Callow Jushi. Less room for the art.. needing to look upside down... usually complicated.. didn't like it at all.

Then it made me think of my most hated part of the Innistrad block: Werewolves. YUCK. Needing to have a checklist card instead of the actual card made it very annoying for players that use card protectors. Then having to set aside the cards. Although no one ever asked to sneak a peek at what cards you have set aside, a player with good observation would know you're using two sided cards and may switch decks accordingly.

When looking at fused cards, I saw what it brought to the table: flexibility. Especially if you utilized both (all)types of mana, you could cast half of the spell in the early stages of the game, while fusing the spells at end game to have a more powerful effect. The love cards that are useful both in early and end game. The two cards that they've revealed so far with Fuse, seem to work hand in hand. I am excited to see some rare versions of the mechanic.. altho we may only see 2 of those at the most (i'm guessing they'll make a red/blue and blue/black/red rare fused spell) due to the number of cards that can be created.

Enter the Dragon deck

And here is my second favorite, but possibly most powerful deck.. one that doesn't get too much action, but is a better representation of the kind of enchantment player that I am. This deck requires my opponents to have many disenchants, otherwise once they get out, they have a huge impact on the game.

Lurking Predators is one of my favorite enchantments, coupled with Where Ancients Tread, my opponents damn themselves when they cast spells, to have me pull dragon after dragon, with the typical power 5 or greater which results in 5 free damage.

If that wasn't enough, I have a few Crucible of Fires which can really make my already powerful dragons even scarier.

Enchantments like Bower Passage is just a bit of overkill, making my dragons basically unblockable.. except for those that have reach (very infrequent). The trick is, to hope your opponents have few disenchants or to waste it on other opponent's enchantments.

This is one of my favorite cards, that I think I fail to thank my girl friend's brother in law, Ryusei, the Falling Star, always tends to make my opponents blink twice, stop them from attacking me or grind the game to a stop all-together. One big bomb just ticking. 

 Hit him! I dare you!

Opponents will laugh when they take down Ryusei.. but then I'll pull out one of two (due to sheer luck of boosters) mythic rare dragons such as Thundermaw Hellkite... equipped with one or two Crucibles.. game over.

There are obvious weaknesses to this deck.. its not fast (altho I have added cards to help me last) and if you have ways to weaken fliers, then you're set, especially if I don't draw enough lands. Best in a multi-player setting, give me enough time to draw 6+ mana and it'll be very hard to stop the dragon legion! Also, I didn't really reveal the cards, but this deck eats artifacts for breakfast.. om nom nom.