Drainpipe Vermin's tail

Advancing from black-and-white to colors

My second altering idea was just as simple as my first, just a little bit more advanced in the color department, now featuring orange and brown!

Partially altered Drainpipe Vermin

I just wanted some unimportant common card to do some small and easy work on to not feel overwhelmed, and I figured this conditional discard outlet Drainpipe Vermin fitted. At first I wondered if I could work out how to recreate the colors of the tail: there seem to be a kind of orange and a more purplish shade - this has to be a blend of...yellow, red and white? Add in some black for the darker shade, and eventually the colors matched! Yeah! MOTIVATION!

My palette when blending color. I try to waste as little as possible. Note the clean and strategically placed brushes

In hindsight I see that I failed to understand the shadow cast by the rat on it's on tail. The tail should be darker in front of the rat, because of the rat's shade. Light sources are still a pretty uncharted territory for me.

Another change resulting from toxic chemicals leaking into the drainpipes can be seen in the vermin's eye color. It is now yellow.

FNM-promo November review - Pillar of Flame

Kortet heldige vinnere og randoms får/har fått utdelt på FNM i november er sorceryet  Pillar of flame. Med undying, scavenge og flashback har dette kortet, opprinnelig fra Avacyn Restored, blitt mye brukt i Standard constructed. Den lille setningen som sier "exile" istedetfor å sende kreket i graveyarden er hovedårsaken til at en treig Shock (2 damage-burn for R) har så stor nytteverdi.

Participants, or mostly winners at FNMs this October are given a Pillar of Flame, as originally printed in Avacyn Restored. The new art is by Dave Kendall. With graveyard tricks in standard such as undying and scavenge, this card, essentially a sorcery-speed shock, has proved to be quite a staple and a much sought-after card. That's also reflected in the price of the card. A common, the card stockist Star City Ggames prices it at 0.99 $, whereas a less popular uncommon, Rewind (M13), is at 0.49 $. We can also compare it to another popular common in standard, Centaur Healer (RtR), at 0.25 $, and a card considered junk, Drainpipe vermin, at 0.15 $. (prices as of 23. nov)

Pillar of Flame (neat scan from magiccard.info)

Yes, it sure looks like a pillar of flame. Moreso than the smoke tornado far in the distance summoned by some biblical figure in the original AVR art.

I just wanted to add that a sideaffect by selecting this as a promo is teaching new players that exiling is better than simply killing. I sure started to add it to my sideboard after meeting reanimating zombie decks online where killing would only make them stronger! When noobs get hold of this card, they will want to try it. That will make the undying/zombie decks prevalent in standard harder to play, and also learn how to deal with the new scavenge keyword from Return to Ravnica.

German basic lands (RtR) and a rhino token

My local drafting group sometimes bring in foreign boxes and packs for drafting. Magic is, after all, translted into eight different languages! Earlier this fall we drafted with Russian packs, after a couple of members had participated in tournament in Mosocw, and that sure was a confusing experience! You realize that even if you know every card by heart and picture, you still depend heavily on the text, especially when evaluting cards. At least it worked that way for me. It's similar to how musicians depend on the music sheets they always keep in front of them.

This rhino token, "Nashorn", would be "Neshorn" in my language Norwegian (another germanic language). Kreatur is Creature, and Those Long Words Verursacht Trampelschaden means "Causes trample damage"

This time there were german packs in the mix! I picked some basic lands, or "Standardlanden" as is their name in German. I was so fascinated, because German is the closest magic cards will ever get to Norwegian (my mother tongue). Some words are written just the same - example: Angel of Serenity is Engel der Reinheit in German, and that would be translated into Renhetens engel in Norwegian.

Here are pictures of the five kinds basic lands from Return to Ravnica in German: Ebene,  Insel, Sumpf,  Gebirge and Wald. Click them for bigger size pictures.

I wanted to display a larger version of this card for three reasons: 

• we need green spaces in our life
•  this is the odd one of the five lands
• because the art is beautiful
• But larger images hurts for people on slower connections

When scanning these cards I used 300dpi and the TIFF-file format, as it's better for editing than PDF. The cards are a bit brighter than I would like, so I edited light and contrast. There are some bright spots here and there, they are products of a dirt on the glass plate. Next time I will rinse with soap, NEXT TIME.

Catacomb Slug - My first alter

It feels so good I feel like an artist! 

Det første steget må man jo ta, ikke sant?

Think about it - this 5 cmc common SURVIVES ARMADA WURM ( - gatherer).
ERMAHGERD!

Jeg digger dette kortet og arten; en rosa, feit snegle som bare står der og er i veien for folk som prøver å slå på deg. Den virker bra i draft/limited. Er motstanderen landbunden, kan de ikke gjøre annet enn å bare gjentatte ganger dulte borti i den. Forestill deg en liten djevel som kyler seg inn i siden på sneglen, som ikke rigges av flekken og bare står og tar imot angrepene. Det var iallfall én kamp i et RtR-draft jeg ikke tapte mot et aggrodeck fordi jeg sidet denne inn i bytte mot en Goblin Electromancer.

Magikarp

Det øyet jeg hadde i tankene da jeg malte er det øyet som finnes på et bilde av en gravemaskin som sier omnomnom. I ettertid sier jeg at det faktisk er øyet til pokemonen Magikarp.

I have kind of fallen in love with this card, its pink, colorful body and the fact that, and that is is a big, big wall nothing can pass through, but just repeatedly beat into. There was one draft match I won against a aggro deck because I sided out an Golbin Eelctromancer (a U/R 2/2 that makes sorceries and instants cheaper) for Yet Another Catacomb Slug (YAC)! There are only 5 cards that this card won't survive in RtR limited - the remaining 5 cards with more than 6 toughness are mythic rare.

My primary source of inspiration was this picture of a truck eating dirt omnomnom-style, but now I see that the eye in fact belongs to the victorious pokemon Magikarp.

"Circular" template

For at øyet skulle bli rundt og for å slippe å skrape bort feil hele tida, lagde jeg en slags sirkelmal i maskeringsteip. Ikke at det hjalp så mye - øyet er ikke helt rundt. I tillegg var det vanskelig å få overflaten av malingen til å bli glatt og jevn. Den ble liksom ru og klumpete uansett. Det hadde nok også litt å gjøre med at hvitmalingen min er såpass gammel som den er. Kunne likegjerne brukt blanko (korrekturlakk), lism.

Å få en skikkelig hvit sirkel på magickortene synes å være veldig vanskelig. Først vil ikke malingen feste seg på den glatte overflaten, og så tar det så mange lag, og så mye tålmodighet! å male alle disse lagene for at hvitfargen skal bli heltmettet, og ikke gjennomsiktig. Hvis jeg først tok på tykk maling, var det vanskelig å få samme farge i hele overflaten, hårene dyttet bort malingen. Og hvis det første laget ikke var jevnt, ville ingen av de andre bli det, heller.

To easier make the eye outline circular and not having to erase errors all the time, I made some sort of template out of masking tape. Even so, the eye is not perfect at all. Another thing I'm not happy with is the surface of the paint - it is really rugged and I struggled to make it even and smooth.

Getting a real white spot on a card is really hard - my paint wouldn't stick and moved around on the gloss surface of the magic cards. Eventually I painted 6 layers, I think. The first one had to be really thin and smooth, just for all the following layers to adhere to the paper. If a single layer is not smooth, no later layers will ever be.

Vi får se åssen dette går, da...

(skulle ønske jeg kunne toggle engelsk/norsk tekst, eller ha to spalter...)

RtR-draft 1 - Å sende feil farge og drafte fendere uten finisher

Vel, jeg var jo på pre-releasen for Return to Ravnica tidligere i høst, men har liksom ikke spilt noe særlig etter den gang, bortsett fra en standard-turnering som gikk sånn...passe bra? Dette er en rapport fra mitt første praktiske (IRL) RtR-draft. Jeg spiller litt tomannsdraft med ccgdecks.com og LackeyCCg av og til, så helt grønn var jeg ikke, men man lærer bedre IRL, synes jeg.

Draftrapport 9. nov

Det skakke være så vanskelig å drafte et bra, hvis jeg bare hadde fattet signalene! Vi var et 10-mannsbord, som skal gi muligheten til å å drafte enda mer fokuserte deck, eller som gjør at enda flere, også ved siden av hverandre, drafter de samme fargene. Gjennom hele draften ble jeg sendt perfekte kort for et tokens-deck: Centaur's Herald, flere rootborn defenses, Courser's accord, Skyroc, Arrester, Lyev....Var den Arresten tidlig i p1 et signal, kanskje? Jeg bet meg også i merke at jeg så sikkert 5 Grisly Savage i draften, som var merkelig, siden det satt GB på hver side av meg. Den var ikke høyt verdsatt, altså, et kort som fungere mest som et Scry 5-spell for G/B.

Noen valg jeg lurte på:
Ragemutt eller Traitorous Instinct? Ragemutt. Den er et dyr, som jeg alltid har for få av, et bra dyr, og jeg har en Instinct fra før.
Mådi el. golgari guildgate - gate. Heller fiksing over et dyrt dyr.
Gatecreeper Vine eller hex - gate..fixing, defender, ikke sant


Til slutt ble jeg Golgari/rakdos med tre Trestle Trolls. Det eneste som sendte meg dit var en tidlig Auger Spree og Desecration Demon, og jeg er dårlig til å bytte farge. Decket ble 2/5 grønt 2/5 sort og 1/5 rødt. Nøyaktig 12 - 12 - 6, det var fint og symmetrisk

B/G/r Fendere (endelig liste)

Oppsummering av decket mitt: Trestle Troll

 Dyr
2 Gatecreeper Vine
1 Axebane Guardian - spilt én gang!
1 Lobber Crew - trukket flere ganger, var ofte det eneste presset jeg hadde
3 Trestle Troll - stogget godt, men det tok lang tid før jeg hadde mana til regen
1 Slum Reaper - sidet inn etter en stund, men ble ikke trukket
1 Ogre Jailbreaker - svær og jævlig
1 Desecration Demon - spilt én gang, funket, men synes å huske at den ble raskt knerta
1 Perilous Shado
1 Golgari Longlegs - fikk tips om å inkludere denne, ettersom den er bra stor
1 Rakdos Ragemutt - flott sak, dyr, da

Spell
2 Grisly Salvage - super, kasta endel av removalspellsa, men sørget for land og dyr
1 Explosive Impact - for dyr til at jeg fikk brukt den
1 Arrest
1 Traitorous Instinct - funket bra, kom igjennom med den for lethal en gang
1 Aerial Predation
1 Auger Spree - kunne ikke ta livet av en 5/5 rogue-passerende
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Grave Betrayal - morsomt, i første kamp fikk jeg ut denne med desecration....
1 Mana Bloom - for å ta vare på mana fra en runde uten instants, tok litt tid før jeg forstod åssen kortet virket

Land
5 Swamp
5 Forest
3 Mountain
2 Plains

1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate


Sideboard (hva som ble tatt ut)
Grim Roustabout - aggressivt kort, men billig kort. Jeg hadde nok fendere fra før, og decket mitt var ikke raskt nok til å gidde å spille denne.
Golgari Longlegs - Byttet ut et eksemplar mot Arrest

Rakdos charm - fjernet etter første kamp, siden den ikke gjorde noe. Perilous Shadow var bedre. Dette er et sideboard-kort, gjenta etter meg: Dette er et sideboard-kort

Ikke/rest/skrot-board
Stonefare Crocodile - vurderte denne. Utover i spillet hadde jeg stadig mye mana til overs, kunne investert i lifelink, nemlig
Catacomb Slug - Denne hadde muligens vært bedre enn defenders, siden den faktisk gjorde noe, var svær og ekkel, nemlig

Doorkeeper - latepick. Fikk ikke plass i defender-decket
Shrieking Affliction - hadde just spilt øvedraft online der noen hadde eid meg med tre sånne...gøy kort, men så conditional. Ingen mindrot som kunne støtte opp om det
Daggerdrome Imp - jeg liker egentlig denne, selv om den bare er 1/1, for den funker fett om den blir større, men passet ikke inn her
Dark Revenant - kompis overtalte meg mot å maine denne - tenk, om motstanderen dreper den igjen og igjen ødel, ødelegger hand drawen min. På den andre siden så er jeg også sikret en 2/2-fugl
Racecourse Fury - gøy kort, tenkte jeg, og det var ikke noe annet i pakken (hm, dårlig vurderingsevne på meg?) Haste! Som aboslutt ikke passer i decket, nei.
Bellows Fury - nah
Urban Burgeoning - hva slags deck er det som ønsker dette? Et deck med mange instants, eller activated abilities? Nei, et deck med superland! Inkmoth nexus! Grove of the Guardian!
2 Essence Backlash - dyr kontrer som sikkert er veldig morsom med electromancer, vil jeg tro
Rakdos Shred-freak - gøy kort, passet ikke inn
Rakdos Ringleader - lurte på om han var spelbar, men tok heller knert - Explosive Impact
Coursers Accord - en rest av Selesnya-gullet som jeg mottok og sendte videre ut i periferien

 

 Matchrapport

1. Min første motstander kjørte Azorius med grønske (grønt splasj). Jeg tok en dårlig hånd med INTET grønt i, grønt, som er en av hovedfargene mine, grønt, som skulle fikse alt og viser herved at muliinga mi fortsetter å være ELENDIG. Jeg trakk og jeg trakk intet grønt, ingen land. Ut med rakdos-charm, inn med Perilous Shadow og Aerial etter å ha blitt most av flyver. Decket mitt mangler draw, men egentlig er det en designfeil med spillet som blått tjener på. Fyren, som tilslutt endte på 2.  plass i draften, foreslo å splashe arrest i decket. Utrolig nok 1 - 1!

2. R/B aggro, der jeg vant første omgang etter å ha stogget med Trestle Trolls ved å sende hans egen Cobblestone Brute eller noe sånt med Traitorous Instinct i trynet på ham. Sidet inn arrest og ut Grim Roustabout. Andre omgang hadde jeg ingen permanents i spill før for sent. Det er dumt mot Aggro. Det er tydelig at fendere trekker ut spillet. Vi rakk ikke mer enn to kamper her heller. 1 - 1

3.Nesten mirror - han var U/W, au. Mulligans fra helvete: IKKE TA EN HÅND UTEN HOVEDFARGER I! Plains, mountains, mine splashede farger, JA! Tabbe nr. 2 var at jeg burde skjønte at han hadde supreme verdict når han 1. var U/W og 2. ikke spilte NOEN TING de første turene. Det er rart, tenkte jeg, skal han kontre meg? Det er jo ingen billige kontrere i dette settet? Aldri mer den tabben, jaffal! Denne første omgangen tapte jeg mot noe flyvende, og sidet ut en Longlegs mot Aerial, igjen. Andre omgang vant jeg pga. at han ikke hadde blokkere (unleash) og jeg hadde Grave Betrayal framm,e som tok alle dyrene hans, men tapte til gjengjeld siste omgang for Rogue's Passage og Pursuit of Flight som gjorde den unleashte Firstrikeren hans immun mot Auger Spree. 1 - 2

Ettertanker

Decket mitt hadde masse mana, men gjorde ikke noe. Jeg hadde ikke mange gode kort og kun én bombe - Desecratino Demon, som trolig skyldtes at jeg satt i en befolket farge. Masse defendere, men bare én Axebane gjorde liksom ikke noe, og i mange omganger var jeg rett og slett ingen trussel som bare satt der og spilte land. Vel, denne gangen satt jeg ikke på et nybegynnerbord, så sånt sett er det mitt beste resultat hittils? På nybegynnerbordet var det ihvertfall ikke jeg som køet pakkene...

Dagens lærdom:

 Det er ikke for sent å bytte farge i 2. pakke! Kunne hatt Vitu-Ghazi-guildmage, jeg!

Magic på Outland i november

November er allerede i gang, så trist og grå, men nyttig likevel. Her har vi en oversikt over magicspilling på Outland-Bergen kommende kvelder:

Hver fredag er det Friday Night Magic, FNM, og formatet er draft. Det draftes det pakker av det nyeste settet Return to Ravnica (RtR). 
Dato: 2., 9., 16., 23., og 30. november 
Format: 3xRtr- draft
Start: 16.00 
Pris: kr 125 (kr 65 for de fem første gangene, på nybegynner-bord)
Prisfordeling: Én pakke per deltaker, alle som vinner 2-1 får én pakke.

FNM-promo October review - Evolving Wilds

Participants, or mostly,  winners at FNMs this October will receive a Evolving Wilds, as originally printed in Zendikar and later reprinted in M13 and in Innistrad with new art. The new art is by Sam Burley (also the artist of Supreme Verdict).

Evolving Wilds (this nice scan is from magiccard.info)

Look at that art! Such beautiful light play and colors! It plays better out at grand scale - the huge wave almost seems to be in motion. Get a large-sized wallpaper at this address.

Functionally this is the same card as the Time Spiral Terramorphic Expanse. It is a very much used card for budget formats such as pauper and peasant, and of course, casual magic, when you simply aren't willing to shell out XX bucks for rare dual lands. Pauper players will love this alternate art for their decks. In limited it also shines, while it is less featured in constructed decks for loss of tempo. Some may choose to use it nevertheless as it fetches the land you need while thinning your deck.

Jassmonsteret vurderer og oversetter prerelease-promoene (RtR)

Jeg skal skrive litt om kortene man får utdelt på prereleasen for det neste Magic-settet, Return to Ravnica (RtR), som er en reise tilbake til det populære settet fra 2006. På prereleaser får alle utdelt et spesielt kort for å delta, kalt "promokort", som er et ikonisk kort fra settet, men denne gangen vil kortet også ha noe å si for selve spillet: det kan brukes i decket du bruker denne dagen! Det pleier nemlig ikke være sånn.  Hver promo tilhører et av de fem guildene(foreninger) i Return to Ravnica.

Én ting jeg vil få fram er hvor mye vi går glipp av som er fremmedspråklige for disse engelskspråklige kortene. For meg personlig, og sikkert for svært mange norskspråklige, er mange av navnene på kortene bare ordbilder å pugge, fraser uten noen betydning, eller kun med et visst snev av betydning. Ta f.eks. det første kortet her - Archon of the Triumvirate - kan du forklare meg hva archon betyr, sånn på sparket? Kan du gi meg et norsk ord for det?  For de som har engelsk som morsmål er magic en helt annen saga. NEI, FOR EN VERDEN VI GÅR GLIPP AV.

Jeg vil i tillegg vise begge varianter av kortet, ettersom promoene har en annen kunst, eller art, enn kortet du finner i RtR. Promoene er jo faktisk med i settet det promoverer. Promoversjonene vises til venstre, det er de med datostempel i bildet, mens den vanlige kunsten fra RtR ser du til høyre. Imens jeg skrev dette innlegget innså jeg hvor fryktelig subjektivit det er å vurdere kunst, og hvor teit det er å si at noe er pent eller stygt, på generellt grunnlag. Man kan bare beskrive delårsaker til at man liker noe - man kan ikke si at man liker noe pga. de delårsakene i utgangspunktet.

For mer informasjon og bilder av disse og de andre promokortene fra prerelease-eventen, kikk på denne siden (wizards.com)

Azorius (W/U) - Archon of the Triumvirate

Archon of the Triumvirate 5WU  4/5, Flying, attacking detain 2

Navn: Formynderskapets overhovud  
Archon betyr leder eller hersker, mens triumvirate betyr trio; altså en gruppe på tre, helst i sammenheng med politsik styre, offentlig administrsjon el. borgerskapet. På bildet ser man bare én person, da, og det er fordi archon, det er elderen. Det er sjefen for byråkratiet, det her. Forsøkt oversatt blir det "Formynderskapets overhovud", ettersom bokmålsordboka i sitt eksempel nevner "...et formynderskap på tre personer styrte landet..." Flavormessig ser vi dette i at han har kjempestor makt og arresterer masse hver gang han slår: også kjent som Azorius' nye stikkord i RtR, nemlig detain. Han flyr selvfølgelig fordi han har en...hund med horn og vinger?

Stats: Manakosten er i praksis 8, pga. dobbelfarge. For åtte mana 4/5 flying, pluss at man slår gjennom blokkere og delvis fogger motstanderens neste tur. 8 mana i disse fargen? Tenk, disse fargene har tilgang på konterspells og flere detain-dyr, så det skal la seg gjøre, hvis du kjører kontroll/tempo på prereleasen. Jeg synes den er balansert. 4/5 flying ellers koster sju uansett, vanligvis..i hvitt 6. I hvitt koster 4/5 flying 6 mana, og da er det snakk om rares med en god ability slengt på i tillegg. Helhvitt har jo som regel bedre dyr enn hybrider med blått i, men så har den en ganske god evne, denne også. Det som er så synd med store kort er at du betaler sju denne runden og så skjer det noe like etterpå -  died to removal. Removal, eller knert, som jeg liker å si, er og vil alltid være OP i denne sammenhengen, sju mot to, men man vinner ikke med Doomblade alene, bortsett fra når man spiller Delver (et blått egentlig aggro-kontroll-deck i standard basert på pesten Delver of the Secrets).

Kunsten: Alle promobildene som vist på Wizards nettsider, og dermed også på nesten alle bildene man finner på nett ser ut til å ha fått redigert på seg et slags regnbueglans som skal etterape foil-effekten. Det gjør dem fine i fargene, men stemmer nok ikke helt med virkeligheten. Promoen har en så fin kombinasjon av blått, gult og rosa i fargene som ikke kan overvinnes, tilogmed med en anelse grønt i sentrum som lenker det blå og det gule. Den andre versjonen er kjedelig i fargene med brunt, mørkt og rosa, rett og slett. Bortsett fra fargene har figuren til høyre en mektigere framtoning.

Return to Ravnica card list - excel worksheet

I was looking for a simple, copyable list of the cards in RTR just to check some stats, but now that the LackeyCCG plugin (online card game software) has been updated, there's really no need for this. You see, LackeyCCG lets you sort cards by any stat and has filtering mechanims. Another place for looking at card stats is the site http://tappedout.net. Tappedout is usually used to check deck stats, and displays them very nicely with a colored pie chart, but I guess you can just put all of a set into your deck to check stats for a whole set.

the worksheet: You can't see it here, but it even has artist names for the art savvy!

Still, even with these high-tech innovations, a lightweight list is much more responsive than a java-clogged website or slow program. I'm sure there're lot of ways to tweak and meddle with a worksheet, such as adding filters. You could also print out selected stats or fill in as you like as a checklist.  

Pro Tip: To hide a column, right-click and select Hide from the drop-down menu. To show a column, right-click both columns next to the hidden one and select Show.

Return to Ravnica - checklist worksheet (google.drive)

Variables included in the worksheet:

• Collector's number
• Name
• Color
• Mana cost
• CMC
• Power
• Toughness
• Rarity
• Rules text
• Flavor text
• Artist name

= 11 columns

Fact - When you make a plugin for LackeyCCG, you need a card list such as this, in worksheet format, to make the .txt-file that contains card information.

This sheet was made by copy-pasting information from a couple of sources, therefore, mistakes ought to have occured. Please leave a comment if you encounter any wrong information!

Return to Ravnica Prelease - lør 29. sept.

Outland Bergen, lørdag 29. september, kl:11:00

Inngang: 300 kr

Format: Sealed*, med top 8 draft.

*Alle får 5 boostere, pluss en guild-booster og et guild-promokort.

Møt opp tidlig for å få den du liker best.

Varighet: Minst fem timer. Ta med mat.

Kommentar

Til lørdag er det prerelease på det nye settet i årets blokk, Return to Ravnica. I dette settet møter vi noe vi har sluppet unna stort sett helt siden alara-blokken i 2008-2009 - (stygge) gullinnrammede multicolor-spells.

Fargene i RTR deles inn i fem guilds (laug - en slags forening)som "kjemper om kontrollen" i byen Ravnica, som egentlig er hele planeten også. Altså, det er en by som dekker hele planeten. Urbanisering, heter det. Det hadde vært ekkelt hadde det ikke vært for trærne. Guildene heter Azorius (W/U), Izzet (U/R), Rakdos (R/B), Golgari(B/G) og Selesnya (G/W).

Som sjette booster får man en guildbooster - dvs. en pakke med kort i fargene til det guildet du valgte ved registreringen.Guildboosteren har fordeling som vanlige boostere. Du får også et promokort fra guildet, som kan brukes allerede samme dag.

Samfunnøkonomisk

300 kr for 85 kort gir ca. 3,5 kr per kort, dersom man ikke når top 8-draften. Hvis man ikke har sjanse for å nå top 8, burde man virkelig revurdere å dra. Jo færre deltakere, dess bedre luft og plass til de andre. Hvorfor dra dit og belønne Outland for opplegget, når de så klart har et problem der nede i kjelleren når det gjelder plass og sirkulasjon. På den annen side betaler man jo også for et første møte med nye kort og man får lese kortene uten å stresse som man gjør i et draft.

PS: Vi kjører sterkt apartheid her: Folk uten sleeves er griser som må spille egen pod og er derfor utafor hele top 8 systemet. Ta derfor med sleeves.Vet du ikke hva sleeves er? Nei, men da kan du se her. De går også under navnet 'plastlommer'.

Assembling a plugin for lackeyCCG (Return to Ravnica)

look! - IT'S ALMOST WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beauties - for your information, online card program and competitor Cockatrice already has a plugin from the upcoming Magic: the gathering set Return to Ravnica, with card images.

Magic Celebration 2012 - lør 8. sept.

Denne bloggen var opprinnelig på engelsk, men jeg skal begynne å skrive en del innlegg på norsk, istedet. Det er lite tekst om magic på norsk i utgangpunktet, eller det vet jeg ikke, siden jeg bare søker på engelsk, men dette kan sikkert bli et velkomment bidrag likevel. Jeg har draftet litt på Outland i Bergen denne høsten, og kommer til å skrive om mine erfaringer.

Førstkommende lørdag, 8. september, arrangeres  Magic Celebration - et årlig, avslappet gratisarrangement. Formatet er limited, mini-master, der alle får én booster hver, og kan vinne opptil tre boostere til. I mini-master, også kjent som pack wars, spiller man med kortene rett ut av pakken, legger til tre av hvert land som gir et land på tilsammen 30 kort. Cluet er at man ikke ser på kortene i boosteren før man spiller - det skal nemlig bli en overraskelse.

Outland - Om du ikke vet hvor Outland ligger i Bergen, sjekk denne linken.

Påmelding klokka 10:00-10:30

Arrangementet begynner kl. 11:00

Me sjåast!

5CC is becoming too easy

At the release of Alara reborn (early May 2009) I was thinking that maybe non-basic lands are getting too powerful, and mana-fixing too efficient. Alara Reborn gave us the trilands...See, the point is that when you use more than one colours, you're taking a chance. You have to sacrifice constistency for power Using more colours gives you more possibilities - see, instead of having to use the enchantment destruction of, white you can use the slightly better one of green.

With all these dual doublelands - it's becoming even easier to play 5CC, as it's called, the decks with all five colors. Now, take a look at the new double lands for the M10 core set

Given you already control one of lands of a friendly color-pair, this kind of dual land will produce both types of mana. It is not a first turn-land, meaning it is kind of balanced. It simply gives you better choice for the next turn.

But I wonder, why are these new duals rare? Is it because they're so good, so strong? So by putting them in the rare slot, their power will be limited? If they are so strong, they should never have been printed. Moneyspending and serious players will get four of these even though they are rare. If they were common - they would deplete basic lands.

On the other hand, there won't be more than four of any of these in a deck. Maybe it is just good for the game, making it easier to taste the colour cake.

A two-headed dragon mini-tournament

I attended such one only yesterday. It was a constructed event. We were eleven people, so one guy decided to take up the task of playing two decks, making us 12 people, and three games every round. We only played one round, with three matches, though. I was teamed up with a guy with a pretty decent deck, saving me loads of times, still, half the games I was the one sending them down. In fact, we won the tournament, I would never have guessed from my usually bad singleton decks.We won because he had a-

Sometimes I hate constructed. I mean, if we would play single-player, I wouldn't stand a chance against people with decks filled with several 4-ofs bombs in their deck. I wouldn't stand a chance against people who have spent much more on the game than I do - both time and money. You have to be at the same level, to fully enjoy the game.

That's why I prefer multiplayer magic, as in 2HG. We two really cooperated and looked at eachother hands to make the best out of it. Limited is great too, except that it gets costly and that I don't really need all those cards. No one where I live wants to do build drafts or build sealed. I'm like - I want to play with ALL OF THE cARDS I ALREADY OWN.

Hmm...more about that in CARD WASTE post later, I guess. :)

Buying all those new cards

I know some magic players. Some of them have collections of over two thousands cards, one of them just started "playing", etc. buying, less than half a year ago.

What sickens me, almost, is the fact that most of all those cards are never put into play. They are not good enough, they bad. When you spend so much money, you will always end up with a lot of grizzly bear that will never see play. Even cards I myself would find good wouldn't be used, because there are more effective alternatives. And they go on to buy new cards when new sets are released and old sets rotate out, even if they have lots of cards already to play with. Change is good.

One of them is playing this Shards of alara block esper tribal artifact creatures deck. Hmhm, netdecking, anyone? Of course he's doing it thoroughly with multiple rares, with Master Transmuter, entering high-costed artifacts for nothing, and the other staple cards; such as Sphinx summoner, Tidehollow sculler blah blah. Firstly, it is boring to play with; I have tried myeself; everything is already set up and makes the game pretty similar every time. Secondly, it's tribal. That's what it really is: Wizards simply put colours on a lot of artifacts and gave them abilities that would work with them, cause, er, after all, they are artifacts too.

Back drafting - a shards of alara card

Viashino is one of the best cards I have seen for back draft.

That is because: as you might reckon, Viashino skeleton is a card that will mostly never see play, outside of limited. Or not even in limited, really. And back drafting is simply drafting the worst cards for your opponent to make a deck out of.

See, how did they come to this costing? I know that red creatures never are costed 2/2 for 1R, unlike green Grizzly Elves, but they might be 2/1, like Viashino, preferably with a drawback. In addition, Viashino has this regenerate ability, that is usually seen as a positive thing, making the cost 2R or more like 1RR. But with an activation cost that requires you to discard a card, in addition to the mana, it ends up with a CMC of four?
Yes, it is a discard outlet for unearth/flashback creatures in alara-block, but at 4cmc this was intended to be a bad card. In fact, I think the guys at Wizards made this as a joke - its card types is the same as its name!

Even the flavor text backs this up - "creatures long extinct" - the Viashino Skeleton has the power level akin to really old creature cards from way back.

Planeswalkers

One of these days, I discovered the Planeswalkers. I was like -  a new card type, what is this?! (yes, I know it was introduced in Lorwyn, still...).
It is no creature, nor an enchantment, but another kind of permanent that acts like another player. It's a card that plays sorceries - every turn, for adding or removing a certain amount of loyalty counters. Each planeswalker enters game with a fixed amount of loyalty counters.

Planeswalkers are the manifestation of us, players, in a way. Cause in the magic flavourlogy, players are wizards (or from now on: planeswalkers) summoning monsters and Lightning bolts to kill the other wizards. Despite random mana screw and mana flood. Just the fact they are such a new thing makes a large segment of old players opposed to it. By Nature. And nonetheless, they are mythic. Rarity power creep money scheme. So for the people who care for constructed, they will have to get hold of these expensive cards that win you the game.

Maybe I'm just scared for no reason. They can be dealt with, and whenever a planeswalker shows up in a multiplayer game, the others team up against that player. Therefore planeswalkers are justified, or balanced, I feel, in multiplayer games, because you have to make that choice whether it's worth to play it, and if you play it, everyone will be on your watch.

Alara reborn prerelease lessons learned

The Alara Reborn prerelease in the end of May was my first prerelease ever. I had to travel to a nearby city, a journey of an hour.

At first I was repulsed, because I didn't know that in order to enter the event, I would have to pay more than if I had bought the same boosters one week later. I thought that playing in events -buying in lot- you would get a discount. They replied by saying that I payed the extra money for the experience of it. I don't really care for buying new cards, when the value/cost of those cards is the half two years later. Anyway, I doubt I'm ever going to sell them anyways.

But alas, I was a girl, the only girl in the tournament, therefore, they gave me a discount.

I liked cracking the boosters, usually I just feel wrong, but after the third, there was too much to keep track of! See - I didn't know most cards before this event. After piling colours and creatures and instans, I settled for forests, mountains and plains, splashing a island/mountain mythic rare dragon card I never got to use. I noticed Mind funeral is so bad!! I thought...I got two of them! It says to mill target player until four lands are revealed. What an overpowered card, I thought, in limited, it could very well take down half a deck.

Before going to this event, I thought that this lovely vanilla card Woolly thoctar (5/4 for RGW)  was overpowered, but seriously, when you only have basic lands, it's properly balanced, it is really hard to play. It seems everyone manascrewed at least once this tourney. On the other hand, the non-basic lands are what really is overpowered. They destroy the mana management: it is supposed to be hard to play many colours!

And I did'nt include proper mana base in my deck...when I chose to play white, green and red, and most cards had white in their costs, still I had like 7 forests, 6 plains and 3 mountains. I remember counting all mana symbols, thinking I was smart, and concluding that there were most forests, so I needed most forests.

Furthermore, there are these overpowered mythic rares..in sealed they aren't that overpowered, because most have high mana costs, hard to hardcast, but in constructed people will break them. That's what's magic seems to be about: breaking the rules, tweaking and finding the ultimate combination from a million cards :9.

In my third or first match, a guy played this lord of extinction, me gasped, but I managed to remove him with something. That card is overpowered. It seems to me like wizards is tring to go over the top, always growing, always trying to outdo themselves. Bad. I hate power creep. It's like the economy, mortgages and inflation blah blah blah.

Out of all cards, mostly I got only one copy. That inspired my to the idea of sealed singleton: You construct your deck from whatever pool you like, but you can only use one copy. Furthermore, there's another restrcition, on rarity, simply because boosters are made that way. If you get six boosters you would have 6 rares and 12 uncommons. But remember, you wont ever use all your uncommons or rares, so lets say: 3 rares, 6 uncommons. Seriously, it's so much more fun when you actually get to play those cards in your deck. The deck size helps too, 40 cards.
- > so the format is: deck of 40 cards, singleton, 3 rares, 6 uncommons.

After my second match, I just got all the "junk" cards from my opponent, because he's only after the BEST cards, the vintage playable..he's only after the power...the power...I like that, because it gets me cards, he gets rid of things he wont use, and I don't care about power. There's so much waste in this game...people should be baddrafting a lot more.
_

Well, how did I fare? I was winning due to mana screw and losing due to mana screw, because of the block's implicated mana screw effect of the MULTICOLOURED. There was a guy that manascrewed both rounds we played, for like, unbelievable eight turns...

Eventually, I actually got fourth place of like thirteen or something, that's pretty good, I think, and would have gone to the finals, had it not been for a guy with walkover. I think I got so far due to the guy manascrewing, a good pool of cards of which I chose some good cards, and me not playing completely brainlessly. There were these times where my brain would boil and the nervous system was working at overload, trying to decide what to do. That's what I like about playing this game, heh.

AND:
Now I want to point nose of Viashino skeleton, that is ONE pointless card. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT HIGH MANA COST? USELESS CARD?

Comments on the core set policy changing with M10

Changes brought with the new core set that will be released in june:  
Link to news: Recapturing the magic with Magic 2010 


Decreased set size
Isn't this a good thing? Less cards to collect, less bad/redundant card ideas. Will this earn Wizards less money? Smaller sets will also lead less variety, as common cards make up most of a set's size. BUT: with the introduction of a new rarity, this in practice means that collecting all cards will be harder: booster peasant will have to crack open more boosters to get the cards they want. That equals more money to Wizards. YaY.
 
Core set change
There will be new cards, and not only reprints, making it desirable even for older players. And there will be a new core set every year, as if it was a good thing wizards even call it 'refreshing the core set'. The core set will not have the same cards every year, and there will be new cards - that sounds like an expansion to me. Wasn't a core set supposed to just be there, as a stable supply of staple cards that could always be used?

What is a good thing is card borders be black. That's good on the eye. All that remains now it that I finish painting the old ones.


Set rotation thing
The core set will rotate out with the preceeding block. So all noobs that buy core set cards can't use them in tourneys and games the following autumn (that is, standard games).

New names for old concepts
When cards are in play, they will be on the battlefield. Personally I liked them being in play better, I just think it sounds and looks nicer.
When a spell is played - it is now casted.

Change? Change is SCARY! I welcome CHANGE.

Foils? WHAT, FRAIL CARDS?

....and if you scratched the surface of the front of a foil card, you could see the metallic sheet shining through from under.

I used to collect pokemon cards, and tried to play the game, too. Everyonce in a while, foils would appear in booster packs. Foils with circles and with stars in them. But they were real foils cards, holographic foils, real metallic stuff, they were resistant to ANYTHING. Once, my Ditto (akin to the "Clone" mtg card) foil went through the washing machine, I was devastated - or just a little -  only to find that the card back was a bit damaged, the front and the back of the card had parted, leaving the holographic front totally unscathed! That's quality printing!

I first encountered foils on my first Magic draft, which was a triple timespiral draft (cards piling up at my seat, I drafted UG to hell, maining several Durkwood trackers and an Eternity Snare). In the rare pick at the end, I  picked this weird card (Chameleon Blur! the art = ???), it was kinda darker and shone...and I asked..."what the..Is that a foil? How funny..it isn't like the pokemon ones, it's not real....." At the end of the event, we all got our promo cards, all foil, them too...And then I played with them...Only to discover...

..they rip in the ends! You can peel of the foil tissue! They are easily damaged! WHAT A SCAM!!!! Foils really sucks! - especially when you're a noob who doesn't care for sleeving and unsleeving all the time. The card just selfdestructs!