Monthly Archives: December 2022

Digital Playground

March of the Lich King Neutral Cards I Love

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Introduction

I got semi-back into the habit of writing on a weekly basis yesterday with my short love poem about Hearthstone. I questioned if I would follow up with my (in the recent past of about a year ago) with my individual reviews of cards for the new set that released this week. Initially, I thought I might just write one review on Friday of the whole set. Then, today, in between working through the Death Knight prologue, I opened my packs from the bundle I bought. After that came the idea to write an article about Lich King neutral cards.

As I opened the pack, I said to myself, out loud, “Oh, wow!” “Cool!” “Nice!” I said them all more than once and must have said them enough that my brain got the idea to start the “Cards I Love” series again for Hearthstone. I guess I lost track of the number of heroes in the game because I only wanted to do Lich King neutrals in this article. But, stay tuned for a special surprise or two at the end.

Lich King Neutrals: Honorable Mention

ell Taunt, Lifesteal, and Manathirst, oh my!

Sanctum Spellbender brings an often requested mechanic to the game. Technically, it already exists, but the other Spellbender is a secret. This one explicitly defines the mechanic and gets us one step closer to a keyword or evergreen mechanic. Maybe next set. I like the San’layn because it made me look up lore. Any card that leads me to a lore rabbit hole is a good card by my book. The third card, as usual, highlights a new evergreen. Manathirst adds functionality to a card if you have that much mana in your pool.

Cards I Love: Lich King Neutrals

You all know how much I love my janky cards that have the potential to break the game. While this one doesn’t quite have that potential, it is one heck of a combo card and I feel like I’m going to have a ton of fun playing this one. Plus, I opened it in one of my packs.

Special Surprise: Demon Hunter Honorable Mention

Minions? We don’t need no stinking minions!

After opening my packs this morning, I downloaded a deck list to finish the special quest for the set release. Coincidentally, it matched one of my daily quests to play as Demon Hunter. They seem to be pushing minionless as an archetype in Demon Hunter. I played both of these cards multiple times in my two games and they both have crazy utility.

Special Surprise: Demon Hunter Card I Love

This one came with the deck list I played earlier. It takes the only three minions in the deck (very good minions) and turns them into spells, thereby unlocking the minionless strategy for the deck. In addition, you get a Fiery Win Axe+. Good deal.

Special Surprise: Death Knight Honorable Mention

Rise, my legion, and serve your king!

The Death Knight class comes with some new and interesting mechanics. One of them comes in the form of corpses. You collect them either by having minions die or through other means. As these cards show, you use them to unlock spells and sometimes minions. I only used these cards in the prologue, so I can’t speak to their actual functionality.

Special Surprise: Death Knight Card I Love

Seemingly an underwhelming card and you’re not wrong. It does have my favorite mechanic, discover, and it teases the concept of corpses and runes. So, while not a “good card”, it unlocks the potential for a ton of fun.

The Verdict

As I looked through the Lich King neutrals, I felt less “Wow!” than I did when opening the packs. But, those cards (and the others here, plus still others coming this weekend) got me to download a deck list and play a couple of games. I enjoyed playing actual Hearthstone more than in recent memory and who knows? Maybe the Lich King will get me to play Hearthstone more just like he did World of Warcraft all those years ago.

Disclaimer: All images taken from this page.

Digital Playground

Hearthstone is a Gift

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Introduction

Regular readers of the page might wonder about that title. Seeing as how most of my articles (except for a recent slate of complimentary reviews), I wrote about a hate/hate relationship with the game, you might wonder how I arrived at “Hearthstone is a gift”. Like most of my changes of heart, it came in stages over a period of time. I kept coming back to finish daily quests. They kept me around by introducing a new game mode. Now, I stay because I genuinely enjoy the game.

I Still Don’t Get It

Blizzard knows how to keep their players on a treadmill. At the height of my World of Warcraft playing, I logged in on a daily basis simply to complete a series of quests. As the days went on, the number of those quests grew exponentially, but they only gave credit for a limited amount. 25, maybe? I don’t remember. You know what else I don’t remember? Why I even finished these quests and what virtual rewards they granted. At least with Hearthstone, they tie the quests into their “Battle Pass”. This gives cards, packs, and cosmetic rewards. The collector in me shudders with glee every time I unlock a new tier. Plus, I can complete the quests in Battlegrounds.

Yes, You Mentioned a New Game Mode

I can’t explain the appeal of Battleground. You use gold to buy and sell minions. If you collect three, they become golden. You can use that golden minion to discover another new minion. These minions run into each other until one or both boards are empty and then you do damage to your opponent. It all sounds so ridiculous. And, yet, I play the mode on a daily basis. I even log in and play Battlegrounds when I have no quest to complete. Hell, a couple of years ago, I watched streams of the game.

What, even, is this?

The Verdict

I still swear profusely when playing the traditional mode of Hearthstone. I still wonder how and why my opponents luck seems so perfect in nearly every single game. But, honestly, it’s that way with all of these CCGs. MTGA, Eternal, and Hearthstone cause me emotional damage on a scale incalculable. However, I play every single one of those games on a daily basis and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Keep giving me skins, packs, and card sleeves and I’ll keep playing your stupid game. Because, truly, Hearthstone is a gift.

Uncategorized

Thankful for Nintendo and D&D Club

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Introduction

As you can see, I themed the page for the Christmas holiday season. Right now, I plan to use this for December and January, but I might change my mind when Christmas is over as this is a very December focused theme right now. Eventually, I want to have a rotating theme for each month, so what better month to start with than January? Okay, with all of that being said, I also wanted to write one last thankful post for Nintendo and D&D Club.

I gave my notice the week of Thanksgiving at my current job. I start my new job next week. So, this is my last week in charge of the two clubs. Now is as good a time to look back, think about the positives from the clubs, and express thanks for the opportunities they provided. If this entry becomes too personal, I apologize. It’s been about a month since I wrote in any of my journals.

Thankful for Nintendo Club

This year, I started with several stipend positions already.. I continued running Dungeons and Dragons club for the high school and picked up the middle school club, too. I became a LINK leader. LINK is a nationwide club for high school seniors to essentially “adopt” high school freshmen and help them in the transition from middle school to high school. Later, I became STEM team leader (mostly by default) and was supposed to run an eSports team. That never materialized due to time constraints.

The point of all that is wrapped in the first sentence of the paragraph. I already picked up more than my share of extra work. So, when one of the students came to me with the question, “Mr. Lucas, will you do Nintendo Club?”, I went to the school activities director and asked, “Does nobody else work here?” Then, of course, because I’ve only recently started to consider my own physical and mental health above that of others, I said, “Yes.”

Like most extracurricular clubs, this one started out chaotic. Eventually, we settled into a regular group and set some boundaries for everyone to follow. Two groups asked to use my projector in the room, which then became strictly a Smash Bros. station. I enjoy the interaction between all of the students, even when they require intervention because start to get out of hand. Tough they asked me once or twice to play Smash Bros., I never played any of the games with the kids. I gave them my standard answer of, “I’m trash at that game.”

Given more time at the job, I planned several improvements to both my classes and the clubs. One thing I wanted was to purchase large screen monitors for the students to use in the club. Alas, an abrupt end always brings some measure of regret.

Thankful for D&D Club

I took over the high school D&D club two years ago in the aftermath of Covid. The faithful group of 4-6 met on a weekly basis with others popping in every now and then. I always laughed during their sessions, which became ever more absurd as time went on. It reminded me of the times in high school when my friends and I gathered in my friend Kenny’s or Damian’s basement and played ourselves.

The group grew after the immediate dangers of Covid faded. Last year, they increased to a regular group of about 8 with as many as twelve dropping in some weeks. Then, I took over for the middle school club and things exploded. I can’t take all of the credit for it. Stranger Things definitely increased interest in the game.

And, now, this is one of only two sets I can’t afford to buy because it is a collector’s item. Oh well, I found the PDF online.

At any given time this year, there can be as many as five different groups running an adventure. I stepped in a couple of times to run a group for Curse of Strahd and then again this past week started a Dungeon of the Mad Mage adventure for a couple of kids who couldn’t find their way into one of the other groups.

The Verdict

While they took free time away, I am absolutely thankful for Nintendo and D&D club. Nintendo brought me joy and got me looking for my copy of Hades (I can’t find it and will end up ordering it again, I’m sure) and bringing home a Switch for the family to play. Dungeons and Dragons brought me fun and joy in the form of a game that I enjoyed as a kid. I will miss them both, but maybe I can get involved at my new school.