Tag Archives: CCG Corner

Digital Playground

Hearthstone Festival Part 2: Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

Usually during vacation, I find a second (or third, or hundredth, or whatever) wind and write furiously that lasts me a few months before I run into another block. However, I struggled yesterday and last night to write that article. Hopefully I can write my way through it and at least provide decent content over the next month and a half until school ends and figure it out over the summer. Right now, I need to concentrate on Hearthstone Festival Part 2.

The next three classes I need to cover in this article are Hunter, Mage, and Paladin. Historically, I hate Hunter. Both playing and playing against the class. However, I built a jank (because of course) deck that uses both Yoggs and the shattered C’thun card that I like to play for quests. Mage is probably my most played class (maybe Priest) and the only deck I have that could even be considered meta. Finally, Paladin just sort of exists and I play it as a last resort. So, this might be the least fun article to write for this series. Can you stand the excitement?!

Hunter

monkeys
bananas

Decent: Fun as a barrel of monkeys? I’ve got a lovely bunch of bananas? Honestly, I have nothing else to say about these cards. They…do…things…maybe things that some players find useful an consider interesting. None of that applies to me. So, let’s just move on, shall we?

jammer
harmony
naga

Good: These cards also do things. The Arrow Smith and Jammer do things together. I’m sure some degenerate out there already figured out how to abuse the Arrow Smith for a one turn combo kill with the Jammer as additional BM. The soloist is just a solid early minion with upside. Not even I can find anything bad about that.

Big Dreams

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Great: In the last review article (*cough* last year *cough*), Blizzard threw us an easy one with Beast Druid. This time around, they give us a similar soft ball with Beast Hunter. I suppose you might be able to put something together with the “good” cards and Naga supports. Stay tuned. I might just do a follow up article with an alternate deck for each class.

Beast-ravaganza Hunter

Mage

synthesize
keyboard

Decent: Elemental Mage is a tried and true Wild archetype and every now and then they try to make it viable in standard, too. Not knowing all of the cards or potential strategies, I decided against trying to make it work here. Initially, I thought about it, but the heart of the cards pushed me in another direction.

tech
lightshow
soloist

Good: Independently, I like all of these cards. Even in the right deck, they work pretty well together. But, I’m not really trying to win games with the deck I put together. I just want to have fun and actually go infinite with either of my “star” spells. So, I’ll stick these cards here and call it a day.

Lightshow

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Great: As soon as I saw “Infinitize”, I knew they wanted me to attempt to do just that. Then, I saw Manastorm as a card and didn’t even care what the effect was. That card synergizes, lore wise, with a card called “Infinitize the Maxitude”, so in it went. Then I found two other spells that are just dumb and, hey, I can’t pass up a dumb and fun deck.

Dumb Spell Mage

Paladin

maul
down

Decent: These cards do what Paladin does. They summon small dudes and then buffs them. Honestly, that’s the most annoying archetype for me to play against. But, if that’s your bag, you do you.

dancer
disco
funk

Good: I could have included the murloc in my deck, but I wanted the divine shield for my face instead of the buff on the minions. I like the idea of the harmonic/dissonant cards. But, so far none of them impressed me thus far. Lead dancer teases potential with buffs, but again, that’s not what I want to do with Paladin.

Annoy-o-Troupe

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Great: Divine shield. This minion gets a divine shield. That minion gets a divine shield. Those minions lose divine shield and I get a 5/5. I get divine shield! We all get divine shield! Wait, is Blood Knight Standard legal? Time to build my deck. (Note: Blood Knight is not Standard legal.)

The Verdict

Hearthstone Festival Part 2 gives fun cards that make two of the classes I hate playing more fun for me. It also gives me some fun cards to play for my most entertaining class. Two more parts to go. Hope to be finished by Saturday. I want to record Ready Player One episode 2 tomorrow, so hopefully I get both done. For now, that’s it on Hearthstone Festival part 2 and return hopefully for part 3 tomorrow.

Decks built in Hearthstone Top Decks. Not the greatest deck builder, but I like the aesthetics of the screensot.

Digital Playground

Hearthstone Festival Part 1: Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

We last wrote about Hearthstone in the traditional sense of the game during the Barrens expansion. Since then, I meant to write reviews of the Sunken City expansion, but things got busy. And, so, we join Hearthstone nearly a year later with the release of Festival of Legends. Hearthstone Festival Part 1 brings cards from 3 classes; Death Knight, Demon Hunter, and Druid.

Speaking of things getting busy, I’m sure that I will repeat this several times this week during the various projects I need to update. I already discussed it in the finale episode of the podcast. Now, I write about it here. My days over the last few weeks go like this; I wake up, I go to work, I pick up Quinn, take him to play, watch play, come home, maybe work out, cook dinner, take Aiden to soccer, come back home, play around on the computer or watch TV for a half hour or so, rinse and repeat. So, things have been busy.

A Note Before The Review

Having last reviewed Hearthstone cards about a year ago, I went to look at that article. It surprised me how in depth I made the review. I split the cards into the decent, good, and great categories. Then, I built a deck around the great cards. Quite the undertaking, to be sure. But, a good idea is a good idea. Plus, I’m on vacation now, so I have a bit of time over the rest of the week to make it happen.

Death Knight

pit
gorwl

Decent: Both of these cards are pretty good, but situational. Immediately, I think of something like Sylvanas for either or both of them as an absolute eff you to opponents playing big minions. As I look now, I think we can have fun with Saurfang or Cage Head (more on him in a bit) shenanigans.

cage
cultist
metal

Good: Hardcore Cultist is a fun little card. If you pull off the finale (spend your last mana on the card), you get consecration on a stick for one less mana. Harmonic Metal becomes Dissonant Metal every other turn where the numbers swap, which is a cool little effect. Cage Head works very well with the other cards mentioned in the decent category, so maybe I’ll make an extra deck with some deathrattle effects.

Great: As I look at these cards, I think I might have tried to combine two strategies. One involves manipulating health to advance cards and the other uses corpses in a similar manner. In my limited experience playing Death Knight, corpses are plentiful and can be worked into any strategy as a secondary win condition. We all know that whatever I build won’t win you any tournaments. But, hopefully it plays fun and brings joy.

Health/Corpse Manipulation Death Knight

Demon Hunter

security
chaos

Decent: As expected, the finale cards have decent upside. Taste of Chaos is no different. You know I like a discover card, too. Unfortunately, I don’t play enough Demon Hunter to even consider any kind of control strategy, which is where that fits. 2 mana for 2 1/1 dudes and the opportunity for a third with outcast just doesn’t do it for me.

rush
darkraven
snakebite

Good: These cards push you in a definite rush direction. Even while writing this, I considered that direction. After all, I more or less admitted in the last section that I have no idea how to build control Demon Hunter. I know it’s possible. I played a minionless control Demon Hunter through last expansion. I just can’t build it myself. So, why not the rush minions? I don’t know. Too obvious, I guess.

Glaivetar

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Great: After all that crap I talked about not being able to build a control Demon Hunter deck, it sure looks like I picked cards that lend themselves to control. I think my thought process for this article is trying to build around the legendary spell for each class. In this one, I saw a weapon control deck with some lifesteal thrown in. That’s the one thing i always wished for as a rogue when I started playing Hearthstone.

Demon Hunter Weapon Control?

Druid

no images were found

Decent: Well, the druid cards broke the streak of building around the legendary spell. I tried, but there’s just no synergy between the card and anything else that I might want to do with my deck. It’s a fun card with some utility, but just not what I want. Same with Peaceful Piper. A decent card with pretty good utility. So, they both fit in this section.

drum
flower
tambourine

Good: These three cards work very well together. They do what big druid wants to do and make big dumb creatures to wallop your opponent. I think they might find a place in a Prince Highlander Druid deck if that’s even a thing. If not, I might just make it a thing. I know I say these things and then I never follow through. But, let me make a note of it now. Big dumb druid deck and whatever I said for Death Knight earlier. Ha!

Zok Fogsnout

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Great: All of these cards either improve attack or armor or take advantage of that improved attack and armor. That led to an obvious deck idea similar to the Demon Hunter above. You can either use your attack and armor as removal and play more control or just try to race the opponent. Not knowing what the current meta is, I’m not sure which is more likely.

Druid Attack/Armor Manipulation Deck

The Verdict

Hearthstone Festival Part 1 gives us Death Knight (first time we reviewed the class), Demon Hunter, and Druid cards. Overall, the decks seem fun and decent. The druid deck is a bit of a mess, so I definitely want to revisit the class with another deck, probably in wild. After I finish the series, I will consider coming back to any other ideas that I have. Well, i’ts late, but I powered through to finish the Hearthstone Festival Part 1. Here’s hoping the rest of the series goes quicker and more smoothy.

Digital Playground

Battlegrounds February 2023 Second Impression

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Introduction

I gave a first impression//preview of all of the new stuff in Battlegrounds at the beginning of the month. Even though I wrote it within a week of release, Blizzard still put out an emergency balance patch because the new Undead tribe came out a bit too spicy. At the time, I only played enough to know that much and that, as a consequence, the reworked hero Putricide followed in that OP-ness. So, after having played quite a few more games, I return to give a Battlegrounds February 2023 second impression.

I come into this article without much of a plan, to be perfectly honest. Is this a list of the strongest tribes? Doubtful. When have you ever known us to give tier or meta lists? What about my impressions of the game mode and thoughts about the longevity going forward. Getting warmer and I might include that as a bonus. Let’s just go with the obvious 2 Generations Gaming standby of my favorite new minions.

Favorite New Minions Honorable Mention

I picked these minions as either situational minions or ones that I think might be good if I ever figure out the situation for them. I actually end up taking General Drakkisath often. It gives two triggers for two of my favorite minions, explained below. Twitch chat loves Felemental. I see how repeated triggers might be beneficial. I always feel like I’m losing tempo though when I play it. Maybe the game offers me at the wrong time. We all know that I think these games have it out for me. I only take Deathswarmer when I think that I might go Undead.

Sinrunner Blanchy falls into the category of “haven’t figured out the situation yet”. What makes me laugh is that it should be easy. Beast and Undead both have numerous buffs available. And, yet, I continue to field a 4/4 with reborn and no buffs to be reborn with. Finally, Titus Rivendare only drops into this territory because it requires a very specific strategy. They reworked him so that multiple copies give extra triggers. But, let me show you the dumb build that got me second place.

And there you see in my hand, the horsie doing little.

Favorite New Minions 10 through 6

10 – Ghoul of the Feast – I probably rate this one too highly because I generally like to go Menagerie with my builds and this one ticks that box for me. But, if you’re here, it isn’t for my strategic analysis.

9 Possessive Banshee – This one buffs the Eternal Knight and the Horsie. But, as mentioned, I almost never get to take advantage of the best buffs on the horsie. If I ever get that one to work, though, you all will be the first to know.

8 Eternal Knight – Speaking of Eternal Knight, I always take the first one in hopes of getting the second one or the Banshee. Playing one without either of those cards just feels bad.

7 Blazing Skyfin – I love these minions that trigger based on other mechanics. Murlocs alone have an almost monopoly on good battlecries, so if I see this one early in the game, I pick this one without hesitation.

6 Colossus of the Sun – A larger Bronze Warden with the Undead tag? That fits so nicely in with my menagerie builds. Plus, the few times I run undead, he gives me the warm and fuzzies.

Favorite New Minions 5 through 1

5 Mecha-Jaraxxus – I remember when Chris first encountered Jaraxxus in game. He texted something about his opponent turning into a demon something or another and then he swore. He swears a lot when playing Hearthstone. I never got the Mecha-Jaraxxus skin. I guess I make up for it by picking this card every time.

4 Cyborg Drake – Second only to my enjoyment of menagerie is divine shield build. This card fits right into that build. Not much more needs to be said.

3 Felstomper – Like many of the six drops, I don’t encounter Felstomper very often. But, the couple of times I played him, the game went well and I enjoyed the hell out of it. See the silly build above. Plus, just look at that art. How can you not smile when you see that?

2 Thorncaptain – Dear god, that one drop makes me giggle. I pick it every single time, often double it, and then hold on to both copies for way too long in the hopes of a triple. But, that’s the exact janktastic gaming you come to the page to see.

1 Magmaloc – This comes as no surprise if you read my other article earlier in the month. They nerfed him down to a 4 drop and I think they nerfed his drop rate. But, I still force him into every single build as soon as I see the card.

The Verdict

I think I adequately figured out this Battlegrounds February 2023 second impression article. It truly captures the essence of our page. Just enough strategy to make you wonder. A heaping helping of jank that makes you wonder the other way. Thanks for reading. Another update tomorrow.

Battlegrounds February 2023 minion pictures taken from the main Hearthstone page.

On the Tabletop

Bant EDH Update #1: Cards I Love

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Introduction

I first leaked my plans to build a new Commander deck in my MTGONE Esper Cards article. I continued to refer to the deck in each one of the other articles of the series. Ever since then, I planned to release a Bant Commander update article during this week. However, instead of the planned big reveal of the deck, I can only reveal my commander (or commanders…that’s what we call a tease in the biz, folks) and some other strategery and deck talk. So, this Bant Commander EDH #1 comes in with slightly less fanfare than anticipated.

Now that I chose my commander and theme, deck building should go relatively quickly. Then, once I buy the cards and play against Chris and Jason, I write an assessment. If necessary, I tweak the deck for maximum efficiency or, more likely, maximum fun. Look for those updates in the coming months. For now, join me as I talk about cards.

The Genesis of the Deck

Mondrak, Glory Dominus

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The first cards that caught my eye was Mondrak, Glory Dominus. I considered building around him as the commander. That meant I could include Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines and even swap her in as commander if I wanted. Then, I saw Tekthal, Inquiry Dominus, and everything changed. I needed a UW commander, got less utility from swapping commanders out, and maybe weakened my deck overall. But, you know me. If it ain’t jank, then jank it. Further research showed me that most of the UW commanders weren’t good for the overall token and counters (not counterspell) theme. Enter, green.

Your power is…GREEEEEEN.

Green practically swims in counters of all types. In fact, writing this article reminded me of another card that I used to build a tiny leader deck. Yisan, the Wanderer Bard with proliferate can cheat out all sorts of stupid stuff. Into the 99 you go, Sir.

Bant EDH Update #1: Honorable Mention

Slurrk, All-Ingesting

Image 1 of 5

In order to find my perfect commander, I searched the Google machine. Initially, I looked for strictly proliferate/token decks, but found few. Either I am on the cutting edge here or I just janked myself into a continued losing streak. Whatever the result, I consider it a win. Then, I just searched Bant commanders and it took me to this page. Kros, Defense Contractor first caught my eye. Being fun police makes me irrationally happy, as you know. The added bonus of giving potential boons to my opponents makes it just the right amount of jank.

Alas, I abandoned the cat for the Angel. Jenara just makes +1/+1 counters ripe for proliferating. But, wait, there’s more! As I scrolled, the page reminded me of partner commanders. First, the Ojutai card and Slurrk also just make +1/+1 counters, but they also fit the jank quota. Second, the Ojutai card and the golem maker fit everything that my deck tries to do. So, it’s settled? Well, not quite.

Bant Partner Commanders I Love

Alharu gives me the +1/+1 counters and tokens that I want. Thrasios gives me card draw and possible ramp. Partner lets me sing Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend” whenever I get a chance to cast them both onto the battlefield together. Really, what more can I ask for from a commander deck?

The Verdict

I overpromised a bit with this Bant EDH Update #1. I think I under delivered a bit, too, but that’s okay. It doesn’t happen often enough around here that once in a while is okay. Now that I picked my commanders, though, the rest of the process will take no time to finish. I already got some ideas of cards to include in the deck. I think the next step after building will be to play around with the deck in xMage to get a feel for it. Be on the lookout for that.

On the Tabletop

MTGONE Miscellany Edition Cards I Love

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Introduction

Friday during the week of our Magic the Gathering previews means that we pick up all of the miscellany; multicolored, colorless, and lands. Can I admit that, secretly, I enjoy this article the most out of the three that I write? When I open packs, I still act like a preteen when I see that golden border. Like Pavlov’s dog, I salivate regardless of how terrible the card. And, artifacts, even though they changed from the iconic brown to silver, it still offers just enough of a difference that I double take to see the card. With all of that being said, join us for MTGONE Miscellany Edition. But, first a story.

It also means that we probably played some of the cards in the set on MTGA. As it happens, I played Mondrak and it feels just as oppressive as I thought it might. My mono red opponent launched two lightning strikes at it, ignoring my face. That’s when I knew I picked a winner. However, I misplayed because the card plays more like a 5 mana drop because of the ability. In that case, one of those bolts most definitely would have found my face instead. So, who knows how the game ultimately played out in that alternate universe.

MTGONE Lands I Love

Phyrexian Swamp

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I usually only pick lands because of their jankiness. I know spikes like their fetches and enemy duals or whatever, but I have little use for them. Once in a while, like now, I choose lands with art that simply inspires me. These qualify in a big way. I love every single one of these. Maybe even more than the constellation art from Theros.

Infected Swamp

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Once upon a time, I wrote the Phyrexian language off as a gimmick. More recently, I softened my stance. Ever since I saw my beloved Jace compleated, I went so far as to search if you can cure the infect. It turns out that you can, but things end up grim if you do. Then, I saw these lands. I know they might fetch a hefty price tag, but I want them for my Mondrak deck.

MTGONE Colorless Cards Honorable Mention (Monument to Standard Lands, A Stupid Sword, and Skullbomb)

Monument to Perfection

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Monument to Perfection made me search whether Golos, Tireless Pilgrim got the banhammer. He did. Otherwise, that card, along with the new crucible, are just straight busted. Texting Chris and that one just might be anyway. Maro teased a new sword a couple of days before the reveal and, of course, the MTG community absolutely lost their shit. Other than a stupid name, the card seems pretty good. Not as good as some of the other swords, but every cycle needs the underpowered version. Speaking of cycles, they gave us a skullbomb cycle. I like this one enough to include one or two in the control deck I mentioned in the previous article.

MTGONE Colorless Card I Love (The Filigree Sylex)

Yes, I understand that artifact and enchantment hate abound in every format of Magic the Gathering. With that being said, if I can resolve both the wrath and the “ultimate” of this card just once, I can die a happy man.

The Verdict

Overall, the MTGONE miscellany edition disappoints. But, as I mentioned, with every pack I open that contains a golden or silver card, it takes me back to being 12 years old and thinking that those colors meant something special. Also, those lands are just absolutely gorgeous. Plus, that Sylex gives me something to attempt every time I play my control deck in Arena.

Card Images taken from Mythic Spoiler. Banner image from Hipsters of the Coast.

On the Tabletop

MTGONE Gruul Edition Cards I Love

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Introduction

I wrote about the white, blue, and black cards I love in an earlier article. As became tradition a few years ago, today I review red and green cards. Normally, because I almost strictly cast blue or black spells in the game with the occasional white splashed in, I consider this article the most difficult to write for every set. But, tradition beckons and besides, my fictional (at this point) Commander deck runs green, so time for some MTGONE Gruul edition cards.

By the looks of it, the page gets actual viewers now and not just bots. So, for those of you who are new, first welcome! I hope you enjoy the page. Let me know what you need to make yourself comfortable. Secondly, let me explain this article. I choose cards that I love, hence the title of the article. Often, that means that I choose jank or otherwise “fun” cards. Then again, more often, I am in agreement with others and end up picking the more powerful cards from a set in spite of myself.

MTGONE Red Cards Honorable Mention (A Walker, Act of Treason with a Stick, and a Possible Tiny Leader)

Slobad, Iron Golem

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I know I said I’m not the best at picking red cards, but these seem especially bad. Awaken the Sleeper reprints one of my favorite cards and gives me the versatility to melt some equipment in the process. Other than that, these cards more or less stink on ice. So, I picked a terrible Koth and a possible commander for a Tiny Leader goblin deck.

MTGONE Red Card I Love (All Will Be One)

They named this one after the set or vice versa. Therefore, you know it has to be good. I considered texting this to the group chat with Chris and Jason, but remembered that Jason shuns new cards in the name of crazy shit like playing only cards produced during a full moon in years that are a prime number. I kid because I love. Also, he can’t sue for libel because a judge will argue that no reasonable person would believe that after seeing that he, in fact, texted the group chat a copy of the card. I considered splashing red or going 5 color good stuff to include this in my deck, but that’s excessive jank, even for me.

MTGONE Green Cards Honorable Mention (Thrun, Green Crucible with a Bonus? Holy Shit, and Cankerbloom)

Conduit of Worlds

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Cankerbloom already gives you a grizzly bear plus for 1G. Plus, it adds the bonus of one mana and being able to absolutely wreck your opponent’s day. Thrun has what I called “almost opposite pro” where nothing non green affects it but it still takes damage if you block. Very weird wording on the card. Magic certainly came a long way from Serra Angel. Maybe I see now what Jason means by new cards. I need glasses just to play the stupid game now.

MTGONE Green Card I Love (Contagious Vorrac)

Speaking of text creep. Not only does this card have 55 words (not including reminder text), but it also has an ETB trigger, a may clause, and an if clause. In addition, it bears three different creature types. What are you doing to us, WotC?

The Verdict

Even among green cards, I found little from the set to put into my fictional deck. I told you these colors always gave me trouble. But, I still got a kick out of looking at the cards and I look forward, as always to seeing what cards I get from the MTGONE Gruul edition in my booster box and bundle that I ordered. Come back on Friday for the third and final installment that sweeps up all the miscellany!

Card Images taken from Mythic Spoiler. Banner image from Hipsters of the Coast.

Digital Playground

Marvel SNAP in Quantumania

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Introduction

We last covered Marvel SNAP as our mobile game of the year at the end of last year. I think they either just released the new “season” at that point, so we went a couple of months without any real news about the game. Marvel Studios obviously considers the new Ant-Man and Wasp movie to be the launching point for Phase 4?5?6? and worked a deal with the game to promote it. As a result, when I opened it today, the game greeted me with Marvel SNAP in Quantumania.

I struggle with a way to properly preview a game like Marvel SNAP. I see people online sometimes denigrate it for the simple game play as too easy. While I admit that sometimes it puts me off that they took any “difficulty” even from a game like Hearthstone, I appreciate the quick games. But, without an actual set “release” and no way to craft cards yet, the game gives no guarantee that you will play with any of the new cards. Nevertheless, I already bought the season pass plus (14.99, the additional 5 bucks gets you 10 levels on the track) so let’s just dive in.

New Locations

Image from Marvel.com

Love them or hate them, Marvel SNAP remains committed to the concept of locations. Granted, they need something to add another level of strategery and I like most locations, but some are just gamebreaking and, as always, I feel like those ones always favor my opponent’s deck. Enough whining, what do we have?

Camp Lehigh: Gives each player a 3 drop in hand. As someone who already draws 3 drops at an alarmingly high rate, this one is a pass for me, dog.

Quantum Tunnel: Playing a card here swaps it out with one in your deck. This seems hella fun and prime for shenanigans.

Quantum Realm: When you play a card here, set it’s power to 2. Either they have a combo in mind that I haven’t considered, this is troll, or you can steal a win from big decks because they won’t want to play here.

The Sacred Timeline: First to fill this one gets a copy of their opening hand. When played with MODOK (more below), this opens the game for all sorts of ridiculous combos.

Featured Card (MODOK)

Image from Marvel.com

On Reveal: Discard your hand.

Oh great, more disco decks to deal with on the ladder. I now have a dumb trigger every time I see Apocalypse discarded from a hand. I don’t have a reliable way to play around that stupid card. Oh well, time to research control options. I already have Cosmo and Armor in my deck. Might as well go full lock down and find a card that prevents discards.

Other Cards

On Reveal: See your opponent's turn and replay the turn (without Kang)

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I doubt I will ever play Ghost, but who knows? At least in my most played deck, my Ongoing, I need to flip first especially with Cosmo and Armor. Armor made more than one destro deck retreat by himself. Kang seems like an autoinclude in almost every deck. Who doesn’t want a late game do over? Speaking of disco tech, I like Stature. 1 cost, 7 power? Quite versatile, for sure.

The Verdict

In addition, Marvel SNAP in Quantumania give us variants (no more pixels, please, most of those are just bad), bundles (I saw some one person saying the price points in this game are off and based on the first bundle, it seems way overcosted), and some ideas of how to utilize the “Battle Mode” against your friends with weird rules. I love this game and I love what I see from this update. See you out there, SNAPers.

On the Tabletop

MTGONE Esper Edition Cards I Love

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Introduction

We last wrote Magic the Gathering content in December when we named it the card game of the year for last year. Before that, I questioned my commitment to the game, changing my mind in the process of writing the article. I bought new product for the two most recent sets and recommitted myself (not to the nut house, though I appreciate your concern for me) to the game. Now, a new set looms and I actually find myself researching Commander decks to bring to our next play session. I even mention some of those cards in this MTGONE Esper Edition article.

Since our last preview article came all the way back during the Forgotten Realms set, let me explain the process. I break the set into three subsets. As you can see from this article, I first review white, blue, and black cards. On Wednesday, the Gruul edition brings red and green cards. Then, to finish on Friday, I pick up all of the miscellany. Join me now for MTGONE Esper Edition.

White Honorable Mention (Elesh Norn, the White Sun, and Vindicator)

White Suns Twilight

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Vindicator finally gives us a white “brother” to Obliterator. I hate that card. While Vindicator seems less annoying, it still gives you another way to stonewall your opponents and/or ping off their threats.

I just texted Chris to talk about some investment strategies. Since I also have this article open at the same time, I mentioned to him about the Bant counters/tokens deck I plan to build. White Sun’s Twilight works perfectly with that strategy. Plus, poison really tilts Chris, so I get that added bonus from the card.

I love the original Elesh Norn. I draft the card every time I see it and splash white, if necessary to play it in my deck. People say that this one breaks Magic in fundamental ways, so I want a chance to play it before the ban hammer inevitably comes down.

MTGONE Card I Love (Mondrak, Glory Dominus)

This card immediately caught my eye when I first saw the spoiler. I think I even texted Chris and Jason and said that I wanted to build around this card. Then, I saw a blue card that doubles proliferate and I researched UW options for proliferate. Not finding many, I branched out into green, too. Green is lousy with counter generators. And that’s the story of how my first non net decked Commander deck is coming into shape.

MTGONE Blue Honorable Mention (A Drake, A Mermaid, and Jace Walk Into A Bar)

Jace, The Perfected Mind

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Jace got leaked before being spoiled as we now seem to have leak season (that sounds messy) and official spoiler season now with Magic the Gathering. Initially, I thought Jace might be nice, but not my favorite iteration of the character. I might put one in my deck as an alternate win condition. However, milling 100 cards takes a while.

The drake can get out of hand pretty quickly with the right combination of counters and proliferate cards. The mermaid gives me the opportunity for all kinds of silly blue shenanigans that no doubt will have my opponent flipping the table at some point in the game.

Blue Card I Love (Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus)

Here’s the card I mentioned earlier that put me on UW and eventually Bant for my new deck. With this, Mondrak, and Elesh Norn alone, win conditions abound in the deck. I need to get onto xMage and start building this deck. The new cards aren’t implemented yet, but I can at least start to get the shell of the deck and add the new cards when they release on the program.

MTGONE Black Honorable Mention (Feed the Infection, Sheoldred has an Edict, and the Black Sun)

sheoldredsedict

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Since black no longer fits the theme of the new deck, I looked for cards that I might include in my UB control deck that I build on MTGA. Black Sun’s Zenith might take the place of flunk because of the added ability to bring things back from the graveyard. Edict is just a good removal card with versatility. I’m not 100% sure that Feed the Infection fits. I like the draw card I already have in there, but maybe I will test 2/2 or 3/1 to see which I like better.

MTGONE Black Card I Love (Not Really. Rats Piss Me Off)

I featured this one because as soon as I saw it, I thought, I’m going to start seeing this stupid card in those rat decks that people sometimes run. Way back when they released the Sanctum cycle, I wrote about a jank deck using all of them. Periodically, I see that deck and wonder if it just entered the zeitgeist or if I inspired it. The first opponent to play this stupid thing will have me thinking the same.

The Verdict

MTGONE Esper edition inspired me to plan and build my first non net decked Commander deck. Be on the lookout for the update posts over the next few weeks. As soon as I press schedule on this article, I plan to open xMage and start building the shell. See you on Wednesday, when I release the Gruul edition of the set!

Card Images taken from Mythic Spoiler. Banner image from Hipsters of the Coast.

On the Tabletop

2023 Collectible Card Game Preview

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Introduction

Christmas break ended yesterday and we all went back to work and school today. Well, most of us. Quinn stayed home because he is sick with something. We tested him for Covid and it came back negative, but he’s still blowing gross snot all over the place. Sorry, bad image there. In spite of all of that, I return with our 2023 Collectible Card Game Preview.

News moves fast in this day and age. Our mobile game article is already outdated. I discovered yesterday, after paying for their stupid battle pass, that Valve discontinued support for Underlords. Good news? I guess I have like 8 or 9 years to finish out the five dollar battle pass. Hopefully, nothing goes out of business after writing this article.

The Old Gray Lady: Magic the Gathering

I wrote more than once that MtG no longer holds the same place in my heart. Yes, I enjoy the game and play daily on Arena. Chris also just mentioned yesterday to try to get together for another day of Commander or whatever other crazy shit Jason convinces us to try. However, I wonder if I am done with collecting. I bought product for neither Brother’s War nor Dominaria United. I must say that in the past, Phyrexia got me back into the game on more than one occasion.

And, just like that, I’m back in.

According to this page, after that we travel back to Eldraine and then Ixalan. I don’t care all that much about either of them, but Quinn enjoyed Ixalan because of the dinosaurs. Amazing. I went from completely out to back in for the rest of the year in only half an hour. So, look forward to my previews of all of those sets.

The Precocious Adolescent: Hearthstone

Unlike Magic the Gathering, little information exists on the Hearthstone front. We know from previous years that the new year drops sometime in the early spring. Until then, we get three months of an increasingly perverted meta as players scream for a new expansion. Maybe we get a broken card or two from a mini set related to the Lich King. Otherwise, they can make it up to me personally by updating Battlegrounds to make up for not doing so with the most recent expansion.

The New Kid on the Block: Disney Lorcana

Normally, I wouldn’t mention this game. I’d file it away as another game with potential that never realized that potential. I mean, the landscape is littered with them. But, the game came up in the group text with Chris and Jason. I figure, if it is popping up on the radar of a guy who considers himself an MtG purist, they must be doing something right. Join us here for world exclusive content about this game.

The Verdict

Other than Lorcana, I don’t see myself straying from the games I played in the past. I picked up Legends of Runeterra again, but haven’t worked it into my daily rotation. I enjoy the game but just haven’t developed that same attachment to it that I have with the other games. Hell, even Lorcana makes me think of Kingdom Hearts and that game still gives me goosebumps when I think about it. Thanks for reading our 2023 collectible card game preview and come back around tomorrow for the PC article.

Digital Playground

2022 PC GOTY: Yeah, About That…

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Introduction

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I wrote 2022 PC GOTY in my calendar for this week. I knew that I’d be home the whole week and able to write every day. Definitely, I wanted to fill the week with posts. Surely, I had an idea for this when I put the plan together, right?

Right now, goodness only knows what that plan was. While I have a laptop and recently accessed my Steam account again, I played little to no games on the PC. I loaded up 1 Screen Platformer a month ago to write an article and keep the page active. But, to call it the game of the year is a stretch.

No Time to Game?

When I set up the two computers in the basement to work on my IT stuff, I played some Magic the Gathering Arena and Hearthstone. Mostly, this year, I messed around on CodeWars and W3Resource to practice my coding because I thought I might go back to school for computer science focusing on data analysis.

More recently, I wrote a few programs for Raspberry Pi Pico W.

That still may happen. However, I found a new job that so far I enjoy much more than my previous teaching job. So, I postponed my enrollment in the Master’s program until next year. I will revisit it again over the summer depending on how the rest of the school year goes. Right now, though, things look positive.

I suppose I could take the cheap way out and name Magic the Gathering Arena or Hearthstone as the 2022 PC GOTY. Actually, now that I say that, I think my plan was to give the award to Hearthstone. So, let’s go with that one.

Congratulations? Hearthstone

Now this just feels weird. I mean, technically, Hearthstone is available on the PC and I played it on the PC. I probably played it the most of any other PC game this year. But, I played it mostly on the phone and consider it a mobile game at this point. Okay. Let’s make this work.

So, what’s the big deal with Hearthstone this year? Well, they are getting almost as bad as Magic the Gathering with the expansion releases. I count three major set releases plus 2 mini set releases in the calendar year. For some reason, I don’t feel the same fatigue, though. I think it might be for a couple of reasons, actually.

First, Hearthstone has varied game modes. The one that I play the most is Battlegrounds, but I also messed around with Mercenaries some this year. I never play Arena, Tavern Brawl, or Duels anymore, but they still exist. Also, since Hearthstone is only digital, I just have to buy the set digitally, where in MTG I buy online and in real life. That’s exhausting.

The Verdict

So, while Hearthstone brings me the same amount of joy and, more accurately, stress and anger as Magic the Gathering, I follow in the footsteps of the previous article and give this infuriating game an award for 2022. What this tells me is that I need to play more games on my computer next year.