MTG Salvation

Five games a night for thirty weeks is quite the dedication! My appreciation for the Legacy format is strengthened by reading about your new found devotion to it! I wish you luck!

Note to self: replace all "I"s with "we" and add "Clan Mono Blue Presents:", assuming enough contribution is provided

Note to self: Decklist gets manascrewed far too easily. Need to rework the number of basics.

Thanks

What books are you reading? Hmmm I should go watch Knowing..

I like the mana curve, lower vulnerability to "name that card" effects (Pithing Needle, Meddling Mage, Cabal Therapy, etc.), and threats. However, I think your deck would greatly benefit from mana acceleration, and Noble Hierarch sings to me as a prime candidate, especially in allowing your Tarmogoyfs to win vs enemy Tarmogoyfs due to the exalted ability. You may want to even consider running Qasali Pridemage over Disenchant.

Also, due to your well-spread manacurve, Counterbalance looks very fitting. How has it worked for you, assuming you've playtested with it?

I know of Second Life, but I never tried it. I tried World of Warcraft for about four months back when it was just released, and ever since then decided MMORPGs and the like are not for me. I should choose my next words very carefully, else I risk getting in an argument about MMORPGs with those who play them... I find them.. inheirantly mentally harmful the more you lose yourself in one, and that damage is reflected onto those who care about your wellbeing.

Oh man I miss Hughes so much, and it's been forever since I watched that episode. I never thought I'd get so attached to a secondary character, but he was really something. The only other time I've felt almost as sad when watching an anime is in Death Note, but I'll check first and see if you've already watched it before spoiling it by saying what I'm referring to, though if you have watched it then I'm sure you know what I'm referring to, heh.

R.I.P. Hughes

This was a rather enjoyable read

I love the chimeras! And licids! I've never made a licid deck though, but now I think I will; your blog has inspired me. Hmm maybe I'll include a few indestructible creatures so the licids can jump on their backs and survive wrath-esque effects...

Pretty much, every time they print a new batch of slivers, I like slivers less.

I completely agree.

You are right in pointing out that assigning keywords to an ability can help a set appear more innovative and flashy. I still feel like they are overdoing it by a long shot.

I think that assigning some form of the artwork to help represent a thematic mechanic rather than a keyword like "Sweep" is far more intriguing. I like what they did with the art on Split Second cards, and I think that they've been doing an alright job with representing such mechanics visually so far, but could certainly delegate more focus in that direction.

While I agree with you on Ravnica being a very successful set, I personally think that most of that success can be attributed to the set's character and storyline; ten warring guilds, each one unique, each one with its special lands and badass legendary dudes to duke it out with each other.

That's another thing I forgot to mention in my original post- I really *Really* miss how magic, and the sets, used to be much more about storyline. They've gone a long way to distance themselves from it, and it saddens me. I want Urza, Yawgmoth and Karn back... sigh...

Assuming this is not a hypothetical situation and rather a personal experience, injected with a clever affinity for MTG (pun!), I understand completely how you feel. When one has a relationship, a connection on such a level with another, well, we often make the mistake of trying to sever our connections completely when the relationship ends. While the action of doing that may seem wise at the time, I definitely think it is something we almost always end up regretting; it's like severing a broken finger rather than giving it time to heal.

An ex-boyfriend or an ex-girlfriend has several derogatory terms in today's society that seem innate; it's almost as if there is no getting around the past of a relationship with said person, as if you're suppose to wear it on your arm like a scar. But that person and you had a connection, and there is no denying that. I fully believe that after a break up, the two should still be friends. Sometimes it takes an intermediary period of emotional healing, but to lose someone like that from your life forever is truly painful. While it is ultimately my advice that you seek to amend your situation with this female to the point where you two can be acquaintances if not friends, again, I know it is far easier said than done.

So I wish you luck.

As per your advice, I think I'll go see Inkheart, even though I know nothing about it

While creating a habitable enclosed group that is detached completely from the people and machinations of the outside world may sound incredibly tempting if not daring, I do think that it is probably not the best course of action.

Even though the society we live in may be a mire of immorality and degradation, more so or less so for some than others as we of course do not all live under the same government and with the same groups of people, there are things that one can appreciate in such societies; there are diamonds in the rough. Unfortunately, that rough surrounds us no matter what we do; it is part of us because we are all people, seeking to survive.

I think that the best solution to a dilemma like this is to start by providing ourselves with a place within the lives we know, not beyond. A place to feel warmly welcomed; a new home, but not a new world. It is not a manner of complete escapism, but it would certainly be close.

That place can start with a forum, an online community, and grow from there. Who knows, it could blossom into many things; an attic or basement of a house for new found friends to meet once a month to a rented out community center for a growing group to gather once a week to a completely functional housing area for such people to live together to a new village of sorts... Of course, none of these ideal results are concrete in nature, but it all starts some way, some where. I think what matters more than anything right now is a desire to make that first step, to plant that first seed, and the hope for it to grow into a garden over time.

I don't understand how this is a problem.

It inflates the Magic market. I speak from over ten years of experience in this regard. I remember playing when they released between two and three sets a year. It was ideal. Ever since they moved to four, it has been difficult for me to keep up with it financially, it has been less and less appealing with each new set that comes out (that "new-set-excitement" from the previous set often has not even worn off as rumors of cards in the next set start to appear), and it of course has become much more of a financial burden for those who play Type 2 to continue to do so competitively. The Standard format rotates much faster now, and players are constantly required to purchase new cards to keep up, while their old cards get left out of the loop, and unless they move on to more eternal formats, that alone can serve as a great deterrent to one's desire to play the game.

This also seems like nothing to complain about. And reading from your later comments, you don't have a problem with "new product ideas" itself. You have a problem with reprints.
Collectors really have a tough time recently, I can imagine, but what do your propose: A new Reserved List?

Mini Booster Packs aren't exactly a problem as long as you stay away from buying them.

My previous response answers some of your points here, too. Way too many new products, and honestly, who would you not consider a "collector"? I'd argue that the majority of the magic playing community both likes and values the cards they own.

Sweep is no keyword. And I bet if we go by what "need[s] to be keyworded", then you lose also one or two you like.

Technically, it is. Any word assigned to have some sort of connotation that involves more than one word of description is a keyword. While Sweep, Chroma, are more abstract in fashion as they rather describe a character of actions than what actions you should do yourself, they're still very awkward and I definitely think the cards would make much more aesthetic and literal sense without Wizard printing them as keywords.

And how would that be better for you?

It would be much less silly? My reasoning here is pretty much identical to my reasoning against them keywording mechanics with cards like Sweep and Exalted.

Jealous? It's like complaining about Wizards paying their employees.

No, it is not. "It's like complaining about a company printing 50-dollar-bills and using those to pay their employees" would be a much more adequate comparison.

Mostly painting, oil on canvas, though I've done mixed media, pencil, ink, and digital.

I'm working on building myself a website (no easy task, never done it before :(), most of it is under construction, but it has about eight of my paintings up:
www.tomhaid.com
my paintings are in the "2008" link of the Portfolio section.

I feel your pain. The way you described the architecture and comeliness of this Another World sounds very genuine. It reminds me of a store I used to go to as a kid, which was rather short on table space for us kids to play on, so we would go and sit in the aisles of comic books and play on the floor, and the manager never complained, heh. Ah well, good times. I stand by my dream to recapture that feeling and hopefully some of yours as well by opening my own gaming store one day down the road. Perhaps you share a similar dream?