All posts by Noob of All Trades

Shawn Lucas is the self identified "Noob of All Trades". He is married and the father of three boys, two of whom help with their own podcast every couple of months. Raised on Atari, Nintendo, and Sega, he enjoys all games and will play all of them to the best of his ability, which is often average at best. Currently, he is most interested in Magic, Heroclix, and other games that he can play with Chris and his sons.
Snap *censored* Pop Culture

December 2022 Hearthstone Battlegrounds Update

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Introduction

As you all know because you read my most recent articles, Hearthstone released a new card set. Blizzard brought us back to Northrend and one of the greatest fantasy story lines ever. The fall of Arthas still haunts my dreams. You all know what a sucker I am for story in video games. I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that this set came with an update to Battlegrounds, too. And, so, I planned to write a December 2022 Hearthstone Battlegrounds update.

Best laid plans, as they say. Spoiler Alert: No major new update to Battlegrounds ever came as a result of March of the Lich King. No new minion types or minions. No new quests. And, no update to the rewards track. I, and I assume most other players since I’m nowhere close to the top time played in this game, finished the track about a month ago. Now, I mainly play to finish the main weekly quest and advance that rewards track.

So, Nothing Then?

Not nothing, no. While I thought that the introduction of the “Undead” keyword into Hearthstone meant big things for the world of Battlegrounds, for now Blizzard kept them out of the game mode. I trust the developers and programmers, so I know they will eventually add them into Battlegrounds, but it’s curious that they didn’t as part of the new set release celebration.

What, then? A new undead hero to serve as a foil for The Lich King? Well, yes and no. Or, rather no and yes. They gave us a new hero. I played him the other day. He’s pretty fun. Technically, he isn’t alive, so you could argue that he fits the theme. Okay, I pulled a muscle stretching that metaphor. Okay, with little further ado, our new hero! *drum roll*

Yes, it’s true. Our intrepid new hero is Enhanc-o-Mechano. *cymbals crashing awkwardly* *a lone cough in the back of the room*

Yeah, a bit of a let down. But, along with this new hero comes a new quest reward. I admit to being underwhelmed by most quest rewards. I had a lot of fun with the one that gives your minions plus seven on stats, but they die after attacking. That took me to a first place finish a couple of weeks ago. Giving a hydra plus twelve stats in your hand every turn is fun, too, and figuring out when to finally play it adds some strategry. But, I think this one might be my favorite.

You can roll the usual bonuses; divine shield, windfury, and reborn are the most fun in that order. There’s also one that gives taunt, which pairs well with Leeroy and poisonous minions. Man, just talking about it makes me want to load up and play Battlegrounds even though I already finished my quest for the week.

The Verdict

Yeah, the December 2022 Hearthstone Battlegrounds update underwhelms for sure. I expected much more. Really, I just wanted them to add undead type to the game mode. That, alone, makes me sad. I hope you’re listening, Blizzard.

Digital Playground

Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior Lich King Cards I Love

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Introduction

Later than expected, but we arrive at the end of our March of the Lich King preview with Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior Lich King cards. As I mentioned more than once in previous articles, my reaction to opening packs from my bundle inspired me to write these articles. Then, as often happens, I found myself much less enamored with the cards when declaring my love for them.

Nevertheless, the articles kept me writing through the last couple of weeks when some of my other activities fell off. I have not worked out more than twice a week over the last month. I thought I might be able to work out more now that I switched jobs, but I still choose other things over working out right now. Oh well, a conversation for another time.

Shaman Lich King Honorable Mention

I’m sure one of the jank streamers out there figured out a way to work this into an OTK combo. When I first saw the Scourge Troll card, I gave it no second thought. Then, I looked at the Shaman gallery and saw they pushed Deathrattle Shaman a bit in this set. Then I saw these two cards and my brain went where all Hearthstone players brains go when they see something like this. How can I abuse this beyond recognition and annoy the entire community?

Shaman Lich King Card I Love

This is either the best board clear ever, a dead card that sits in your hand for the rest of the game, or most likely both at the same time. After all, Hearthstone cards often toe that line between functional and trash. Having played against this one a couple of times, I can confirm that this one at least works as a frustrating as hell board clear. Surely, when I put it in a deck, it fulfills the trash destiny.

Warlock Lich King Honorable Mention

I like the looks of this combo. Sure, it makes little to no sense to actually run it and looks rather medium. However, think of the possibilities! An entire board full of Walking Dead for free! Free! FREE! Muhahahahah!

Warlock Lich King Card I Love

Three mana to draw two? But, but, you fix your hand. Plus, more potential for walking dead en masse. I’m telling you, sooner or later, I’m getting that board state and posting it on our dead Instagram.

Warrior Lich King Honorable Mention

I tried playing World of Warcraft again a couple of years ago during a particularly long break. I signed up for three months of game time, played a couple of hours, stopped, and never signed in again after that. So, there might be some precedent in the game for Warriors and “fire” spells. As it stand, it surprised me to see such a mechanic in Hearthstone.

Warrior Lich King Card I Love

This thing sucks. It won’t see play in any deck in the top 95% of play. I guarantee that. Of course, now that I said that, some random Twitch streamer got his wings and figured out a way to break this in such a way that everyone will play it. You’re welcome.

The Verdict

For whatever reason, the Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior Lich King cards best capture my thoughts of what Hearthstone cards should be. Silly, fun, sometimes good, and occasionally game breaking. I enjoyed each and every one of these cards and I’m not joking. Be on the look out for Walking Dead Warlock on the ladder.

Disclaimer: All images taken from this page.

Digital Playground

Paladin, Priest, and Rogue Lich King Cards I Love

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Introduction

This article brings me to three for three in writing my review articles for March of the Lich King, the new expansion for Hearthstone. I already reviewed neutral (with two special bonuses!) cards and Druid, Hunter, and Mage in my previous articles. As the title so eloquently states, this one covers Paladin, Priest, and Rogue Lich King cards. (Editor’s Note: While three for three in writing them, I botched the release and pushed these two articles back into this week. I have a new plan to get to the end of the year, though.)

These articles came to me because as I opened my packs from the bundle I bought, I kept saying, “Wow!” “Cool!” and “Neat!” However, as I wrote in my previous article and reiterate here, the initial high seemed to have worn out or I read cards wrong. Because, as I look through the card listing, I find myself saying any of those words much less and struggling to find cards that I actually love.

Paladin Lich King Honorable Mention

The one thing I noticed while looking through the Paladin cards is that they are leaning into self damage as a mechanic. While not new to the game, it is new to the Paladin class. Usually, Warlocks (and sometimes Priests) have this mechanic on their cards. As a potential healing class, it makes sense in the priest context. This could also be fun if they ever end up doing another multi-class focused set like they did in Gadgetzan.

Paladin Lich King Card I Love

Not a great card. Heck you might even argue that it isn’t a good card. But, that’s not why we are here. We pick fun cards and I see this card being a ton of fun. Also, not for nothing, but it can serve some utility functions in the right deck. Phase your own minions against inevitable board clears or phase others to give yourself time to dig for your own.

Priest Lich King Honorable Mention

These cards look like they work well together in my least favorite priest archetype. I despise playing against thief priest. I know it stinks of logical fallacy, but I always feel like they steal the best cards from my deck/class/etc at the best time to counter what I try to do.

Priest Lich King Card I Love

I know what this looks like. But, I promise I’m not just picking Legendary cards for the cards I love. Yes, legendary cards often have powerful effects and lend themselves to being the “best” cards. However, I don’t always go for the “best”. You know that about me by now. I like this card because of the permanent card that you get. When Hearthstone first came out, Chris and I wondered how a digital card game might distance itself from it’s paper counterparts. Cards like this. That’s how.

Rogue Lich King Honorable Mention

I saw the word concoction and wondered why we needed something else when we already had poisons. I should have known that Blizzard’s development team knew what they were doing. Concoctions are like the old Kazakus spells in that they can be combined to do things. See all of the concoctions and combinations here.

Rogue Lich King Card I Love

See? Not a legendary. Hell, this one is even a common. And, no I didn’t simply choose a common to contradict the assumption that I chose only legendary cards for the cards I love. I genuinely think this card is cool. To my knowledge, it is the first Hearthstone card with two different minion types. Does this show the future of the game? Provide for a more diverse and deeper Battlegrounds experience? The possibilities are endless.

The Verdict

I left the previous article underwhelmed by the choices in my cards. I genuinely enjoy all of these cards and plan to play many of them over the next few weeks to see if they wow me as much as I hope they will. Paladin, Priest, and Rogue Lich King cards are truly some cards I love. See you in a couple of days for the rest of the set.

Disclaimer: All images taken from this page.

Digital Playground

Druid, Hunter, and Mage: Lich King Cards I Love

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Introduction

The other day in my review of the March of the Lich King neutral cards (also with two added surprises!), I promised three new articles this weekend to complete my review of the set. Today brings us Druid, Hunter, and Mage Lich King cards. While I played little druid only played hunter to finish quests in wild, I played a ton of mage in all formats. I particularly enjoyed playing questline mage and hero power mage.

The genesis of these articles is that when I opened my packs from this set I continually said to myself, “Wow!” “Oh, cool!” or “That looks like a neat card.” I also wrote a couple of days ago that I finally found my peace with Hearthstone. I went from a hate/hate relationship to a tolerate the main mode/love Battlegrounds relationship. So, when I write these articles, know that I genuinely mean what I say.

Druid Lich King Cards Honorable Mention

Once upon a time, a particularly annoying archetype for druid was armor druid. I played it a couple of times when I thought a quest required me to gain a bunch of armor. It actually wanted honor, so I played the stupid deck for nothing. I never checked to see if they updated the deck with any of these new cards, but Anub’Rekhan seems like a fun card to play with a ton of armor.

Druid Lich King Card I Love

This card feels liek a really cool removal tool in an archetype that I’m calling “Undead Druid”. I have no actual deck in mind and I never actually researched any of this. However, it definitely feels like this card encourages such a build. If I get a quest to play druid, perhaps I will look up a deck and play it.

Hunter Lich King Cards Honorable Mention

This actually ended up being a tough pick and I thought about three cards. There’s nothing preventing me from picking three other than the rule that I set in the last article that I only chose three from each of the classes. The third I wanted to pick was Hope of Quel’Thalas. But, I like the perpetual spell damage and the autoremoval of these two.

Hunter Lich King Card I Love

I just love this mechanic from the other Lich King set. Discover two beasts and jam them together? Heck yeah, sign me up. I’m going to find a place for this in my Wild Hunter deck. Can’t wait to see the crazy shit that I build.

Mage Lich King Cards Honorable Mention

They seem to be pushing the arcane bolt thing in this set. It seems bad to me. It takes 8 mana to get one more damage? But, I’m sure I’m missing something and someone already constructed an OTK deck with this thing, some mana reduction, and spell damage. Stay tuned for when I play that deck. The Prismatic Elemental lets me discover (my favorite!) and from any class. Hell yeah, Casino Mage.

Mage Lich King Card I Love

I generally despise the randomness of Hearthstone. For whatever, reason, I softened my stance for this card. I have a spell mage deck that it seems like this could be a fun card as either a last resort or just for poops and giggles.

The Verdict

So far, none of the cards reviewed made me say the same things that I mentioned in my introduction. Not even the druid, hunter, and mage Lich King cards. Sure, some of the cards look fun. But, none of them wow me like I remember them doing so the other day. Either I felt better about the cards the other day and they aren’t as good as I thought or I’m just feeling more underwhelmed today. In either case, join me tomorrow and Sunday to see if I can find my groove again.

Disclaimer: All images taken from this page.

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.

Uncategorized

Thankful for Thanksgiving 2022

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Introduction

Fear not, faithful reader. This week neither represents a rapid and sudden disinterest in the page nor one of our patented extended absences. I simply had no time this week to post the updates I wanted to post. In the past, I have used my time more wisely by scheduling updates in advance. Not even that happened recently. In a year that I thought we might begin to at least approach some sense of normalcy after Covid, it brought anything but that normalcy. And so, right now, I’m thankful for Thanksgiving 2022 coming up next week.

So Freaking Busy (C’Mon Thanksgiving 2022 Break)

I thought Monday might be a more relaxed day because of no after school meetings. I don’t remember why, but it ended up being just as busy as every other day and I made chicken patties for dinner instead of what I planned. I just remembered that Quinn was supposed to have swim that day, but he didn’t. That’s how crazy things are right now. I went to grab pellets and in the short walk to the back room where we store them, I completely forgot where I was going and why. I went into the pantry completely confused.

I think I came home on Monday and took a long nap because I’ve been feeling under the weather for the last week or so. Staff meeting Tuesday and still feeling sick. Then Nintendo club and Christine and I went for a wine tasting date on Wednesday after she attended Quinn’s parent-teacher conference. Dungeons and Dragons went a little bit over yesterday.

Wouldn’t Trade It For Anything

I rushed home to bring Aiden to try out for a travel soccer team. He took last year off after the chaos of switching schools and Covid. Then, he told us at the beginning of this year that he wanted to play again. We supported him, of course, because he always enjoyed the sport. He only played JV this year as a sophomore and swinger in a couple of games. However, it gave him enough joy and confidence (along with a conversation with a favorite teacher) to inspire him to try to get better and go to college to play, too.

Eventually, he started talking about professional soccer as a career path. Now for the cliche…being a parent is quite difficult sometimes. We tried, as all parents do, to support his dream while still trying to temper expectations. Based on his reactions, we felt (as I’m sure many parents do) that we failed miserably in both departments.

I know all too well the realities of shattered high school dreams. I legitimately thought that I would make a living writing and eventually become the “next Stephen King.”

But, we gave him this opportunity to work on his skills and face some tougher competition with this travel team. He played soccer, on a freezing night, for an hour and half. Well, he actually only ended up playing for maybe a half an hour. As he said when we pulled in, “There are a lot of people here.” From what he told me, he did okay and got to talk to one of the coaches. If he doesn’t make it this year, he’s actually in the youngest group of his league, so there’s two more years to practice and try again.

The Verdict

Linking that old article up above to improve my “SEO Score” reminded me of some of the other traditions that we wrote on the page in the past. Even though nobody reads this, I like having it around. It represents anther type of journal in addition to the other two that I keep. Thanks for anyone who does stop to read and probably more than any other recent year, I’m absolutely thankful for Thanksgiving 2022.

On the Tabletop

Thankful for Pokemon Cube Redux

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Introduction

I meant to write and post this article on Thursday. Regular readers of the page know that is one of the warning signs that I might be falling off on regular updates of the page. I promise you that’s not the case this time. I am cram studying for a placement test for a Master’s degree program in computer science. But, I took a break this morning to update the page with my thoughts about the Pokemon Cube Redux.

The actual sequel here is simply this article. I never actually finished the cube that I started a couple of years ago. What can I say? I searched for the cards on the list and started to put together a cart on eBay. And, I discovered that it’s not just Magic the Gathering cards. People pay quite a bit for these little rectangles of cardboard.

“Planning” the Cube

“Planning” the cube actually went very quickly. I searched “Pokemon Cube” and one of the links lead me to a Google sheet that I then looked through with our cards to see which ones we already owned. Perhaps surprisingly (and perhaps not), our collection included a good amount of the cards. Even so, I still needed to purchase three quarters of the cards to finish out the cube.

A bit on the nose that a nerd like me used a spreadsheet to build my cube. But, it’s incredibly detailed and well organized.

But, as I said above. Collectors know what they have in this day and age of the internet. They charge a lot even for Pokemon cards. So, my inspiration and drive to finish the cube waned and eventually died. What brought back the spark? I’m glad you asked.

Chris got married a few weeks ago. I even shouted out the website during my best man speech. Don’t worry. I promise it was sincere and not tacky. Anyway, in the months leading to the wedding, we put together a couple of text chains for the groomsmen. One of the guys in the chain actually has a history here on the page as part of a night out where Chris and I went over to his play to play some MTG. He talked about ordering a bunch of proxies for his own cube (possibly inspired by my talk of a Pokemon cube) and then I felt like a huge idiot. Circle of life and all that.

Building the Cube

Even ordering the proxies (which admittedly are of good quality) from the web page that he mentioned would be somewhat cost prohibitive for me. And so I went back to Google and searched a for a page that offered even lower cost, or free, proxies. I found Limitless and started typing cards into the search bar. I made it about two-thirds of the way through the list of cards before I needed to take a break.

From now, I need to finish the list, print out the cards (this will be tricky since we no longer own a printer again) maybe at Staples or one of the University libraries. I don’t want to misuse the resources at work for this project, obviously. Once I print everything out, I want to do a test run with the boys.

The Verdict

The only thing I worry about in this Pokemon Cube Redux is that I’ve chosen grey scale cards to save time and money. Just looking at them on the screen, some of the cards look like they might be difficult to read in that format. That’s not a deal breaker, but it is something to consider. Ultimately, though, come back in December or January for my report on our experience with the cube.

Digital Playground

Thankful for Multiplayer Mario Games

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Prologue

On my other page (currently defunct with no ETA on a return), I structure my posts like stories with a prologue, a story, and an end. As I drove to work this morning, I got the inspiration to do a similar thing with this post. Originally, I only wrote Mario Kart on my schedule, but then expanded it to include other multiplayer Mario Games like Mario Party. Let’s begin.

Once upon a time, a young man of 12 or 13 sat in an uncomfortable bench in front of a video game. The marquee read “Vs. Super Mario Bros” and featured a man clad from head to toe in red. Our intrepid young hero placed a quarter into the coin slot and the game began. As I remember, I only lasted to the first Goomba before dying. Okay, another quarter and then another and I’m going to be honest. I doubt that I even cleared the first level of that game after five dollars.

Leveling Up

We went without the new hotness video game system for quite a while. My parents never saw a reason to upgrade from our old Atari systems. Eventually, they relented and bought us a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. Finally, I owned a copy of the game. No more quarters. I used this newfound power to finally beat that first level and, in due time, the entire game.

If I’m being honest, it wasn’t until we owned a Super Nintendo (that I purchased for myself and my brothers) that I beat the game. If my parents noticed little difference between Atari and Nintendo, then putting a Super in front of that Nintendo did little to persuade them to upgrade. That notwithstanding, my brothers and I playing together finally defeated the evil of Bowser.

And, y’all, we are always pissed every single time this happens, even today.

A Reason to be Thankful

Unfortunately, as you all know, our victory was short lived and Bowser returned again and again. I often say that all Nintendo has to do is release a new Mario, Zelda, and Metroid game on their console for me to buy it. I thought having kids might give me a built in play group for the various games that I play. While that proved mostly untrue for things like Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, they all quickly became Nintenerds.

I took what life dealt me and cultivated their love of video games. We almost burned down our hose playing Mario Kart. And, so, began our enjoyment of multiplayer Mario games. Okay, time to come clean. I admit to taking some creative license with this article. I don’t remember my parents’ exact attitudes towards video games. I remember my father played Atari with us and even watched when we played Nintendo. Also, Christine and I hosted a few Mario Party get togethers with friends and roommates over the years.

Epilogue

With all of that being said, we found great joy in the most recent Mario Kart on Switch last year during Christmas. We may or may not have made some inappropriate comments during those play sessions. But, it was all in good fun and we’ve been meaning to do it again. Perhaps over Christmas break during this year. An annual tradition?

Who knows? It might happen earlier. Liam bought Mario Party a couple of weeks ago and he and Quinn played a round. He asked me to bring home some joycons from our school’s Nintendo club so we could play as a family. I told him I would over Veteran’s day this weekend and then again over Thanksgiving break. Here’s to hoping that it leads to some Mario Kart, too.