Howdy gang! I don’t have a clever intro this month so let’s just get right to it..

-It’s funny how playing MTG with competitive players changes how you play the game yourself. I recently joined a group consisting of two other guys who are regulars at essentially every tournament in the area. After a few game nights consisting of MTG, beer and football, we’ve moved past the awkward “trying to kill me as fast as possible” phase and into the MTG mentoring phase. This is a much friendlier phase where they stop me from making misplays and give me advice. For the most part I can hold my own against them at this point and it’s actually slightly renewed my interest in the game. Not in standard though. I’m modern all the way.

-Guess who has two sore thumbs and finally beat Soda Popinski? This guy! Who’s laughing now, punk?…He…he laughs..when he beats you..remember?…No?..Whatever, that joke totally made sense in my head.

-I recently bought a box of Dicemasters Age of Ultron from a well-known gaming company. Found it odd that it looked like the gravity feed had been previously opened. Even more odd was the fact that the box didn’t contain any super rares or chases. Hmmm…that wasn’t very “cool” of them.

-Finally got around to watching Avengers 2: Age of Ultron and I’ll say this; I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I will say if the Avengers present at the end of the film is the line-up they are planning on using for the 3rd movie…meeeeh. Also I hope they do something about the make-up job on Thanos. Homeboy is Easter egg purple.

-I stand behind Shawn’s opinion that the Wii-U is pretty neat. I for one am hoping for a good Cyber Monday deal on one. My girlfriend loves anything Mario and I love anything Zelda. Win win. I’m also looking to pick up a PS3 on the cheap as well. Yup. If you need me I’ll be firmly planted in the last gen of consoles.

-I was pretty bothered by the fact that the next day after the horrific attacks in Paris, CNN actually had a story on The Big Bang Theory on their main page two stories down from the terrorist attacks. What was so important that it needed to share main page space with 130 people losing their lives you ask? Well, Sheldon and Amy will be having “relations” in the new season! Gasp! Whaaaaaat!! How was this NOT the headline story?! In other news Jim Parsons’ jugular vein finally explodes out of the side of his neck next season. Seriously, watch him talk, it’s disturbing.

-I should have a couple of MTG deck lists posted this week for you guys..one is a really cool mono green ramp (well it does splash for red, but only for a couple of cards), that I’m really excited about. Also I reworked the dragon deck that I posted last year into something much faster.

That’s all folks! Thanks for reading and as always we’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave comments below!

-Blond

Hey guys and gals! It’s time for another brilliantly written edition of Rapid Fire! ….. <cough>…moderately well written?

-I really should have bought 2 boxes of Zendikar. Or at the very least, a box and a fat pack. I’ve found out the hard way that Full Art Lands + Expedition Lands = Sold Out. I guess I should just be happy that I was able to walk into Off the Wall games and buy a box without a preorder on the release day.

-As for the box..My notable pulls were: Ob Nixilis, Ulamog (or Newlamog as Shawn is fond of calling it), Canopy Vista, Cinder Glade, Shambling Vent, Greenwarden of Murasa, Oblivion Sower, Bring to Light, Ruinous Path, a foil Omnath, Locus of Rage and a couple of foil full art lands. Not too shabby. I really just wanted the Ulamog for my Tron deck, so I was very happy with the box.

-Has anyone seen the new Heroes series, Heroes Reborn? No? Lucky. Of all of the super powers they could have gone with, they basically copy the original series’ characters’ powers, and then add in some whack-a-doo power where the character draws a sword and is teleported into a video game. Yeah. You know what my power is? Seeing into the future…you know what’s not there? This show.

-Am I the only 35 year old that watches Teen Titans Go? I don’t care..that show is funny as hell.

-Dusted off the Playstation One and started a new game of Final Fantasy V. Forgot how addicting that game is..if I only I had more time to devote to it. Gone are the days of being a teenager with no responsibilities who can sit around playing an RPG for 9 hours a day. Damn real world.

-Anyone see Fear the Walking Dead? Terrible. Just terrible. Spin-off cash grab.

-Finally got to see what a Splinter Twin deck can do..too bad I was on the receiving end of it. Unfortunately for me, total beat-down in game 1. Unfortunately for him, I played a Kilnmouth Dragon and flashed an entire hand of dragons, making it a 17/17 beatstick in game 2. Then game 3 happened and made that beat-down I suffered in game 1 look like a friendly massage. Stupid infinite combo.<Sigh>…I’ll always have game 2…

That’s it for this edition of Rapid Fire! Thanks for reading and as always, feel free to leave us a comment below!

Greetings faithful reader! It’s August and that means it’s been officially one year since we started your favorite (I presume) gaming site and podcast. In the past year I’ve learned a lot about the industry that we all know and love, myself, my gaming brother, and writing in general. Here’s a few lessons I’ve learned before I get to our regularly scheduled program:

-There are more games than just Magic the Gathering and Gears of War.

-Writing for a website that is devoted to gaming sounds like it would be the easiest thing in the world. It’s not. You quickly learn that just writing about Magic or posting deck lists isn’t going to cut it.

-Gaming takes a backseat to writing and podcast production. Obviously you have to game to get material, but you have to balance your time so you are able to produce content.

-It’s a job. A really, really, rewarding job. But without the paycheck. Although that would be nice. Heh.

-To all of our readers out there..I want to say “Thanks”. It sounds cliche, but if we are able to entertain just a small handful of people, then this is all worth it. So thank you for reading and for listening to our podcast. Hopefully you see/hear the improvements that we have been making and stick with us…trust us, the best is yet to come.

Okay, now I return you to Rapid Fire: Random Thoughts Vol.2….

-Nick Fury: Agent of Shield Heroclix set in a word: Meh. I’m really not loving the “construct the Hulkbuster armor” concept. It seems..well..money grab-ish. Although I will say that the Hulk super rare is an incredible (see what I did there?) sculpt.

-If you are not playing Dicemasters, go buy yourself a starter set because you are missing out.

-My keepers from the Theros block after rotation: Thoughtseize, Purphoros: God of the Forge, Erebos: God of the Dead, Mogis: God of Slaughter, Thassa: God of the Sea, Nykthos: Shrine to Nyx, Stormbreath Dragon (I think he will eventually find a home in Modern) and Anger of the Gods.

-On a whim, I bought a box of Khans of Tarkir despite the fact that a buddy was telling me not to, as I would never make my money back. I’m glad I did. I pulled out 4 fetchlands (Woodland Foothills, Polluted Delta, Flooded Strand and Bloodstained Mire), 2 Dig Through Times, 2 Siege Rhinos, 3 Monastery Swiftspears, a Sorin: Solemn Vistor and a playset of Hordling Outbursts that I needed for a new token deck that I’ve been working on. No buyer’s remorse on that box.

-Who has two thumbs and loses a game of MTG when at one point they were up 28-9? This guy. You live and you learn. I for one learned that when you are playing blue control and there are a few Islands untapped on the other side of the board..you don’t play key cards in your deck..you play mediocre creatures to coax those control spells out.

-Dicemasters’ Loki’s Scepter-Piercing is a nasty card..I was able to essentially shut down the other side of the board with it. It definitely makes your opponent trigger-shy.

-Speaking of Dicemasters, I’m astounded by Shawn’s luck when it comes to opening boosters..he had already pulled a Green Goblin-Gobby from some boosters, and when he opened his A.O.U gravity feed, he managed to pull out 2(!) chases; Magneto and Red Skull. I’ve been watching gravity breaks on Youtube and most of the time people are only pulling 1-2 super rares,. Pulling 2 chases is crazy.

-Sports talk for a second here: To all of my Pats fans out there: You do realize that if Tom Brady’s suspension is overturned, then the league can file an appeal right? If they do, then it most likely wouldn’t be resolved until end of November/mid-December. If they win the appeal then the suspension would be served at that time. Would you rather have him suspended at the beginning of the season or on the cusp of the playoffs? I’m biased but I really don’t think he did anything wrong, other than smack talk Peyton Manning via text, but if they are determined to prove a point and sit him, I’ll take the beginning of the season. Plus, Garroppolo isn’t too shabby, I rather have him come in warmed up right after pre-season instead of watching him sitting on the bench for a couple of months and then trying to fill Brady’s shoes.

-Back to gaming…I was happy to see that Evolutionary Leap was in the spotlight in Modern. It cycled through an elf deck and Emrakul showed it’s ugly face on turn 2. Effin’ amazing combo deck. This card is a value at $2.50 a piece (at the time of this article), if you get a chance grab a set of them…

-Rumor has it that the villain for the upcoming Batman/Superman flick is Doomsday. Yawn. Was Gorilla Grodd busy? I don’t think this will be the death of Superman but it will be the death of the attention span. Heh. That rhymed. I’m way too proud of myself right now…

That’s it for this edition of Rapid Fire, as always thanks for reading!

-To all of the players still finger-wagging at Pascal Maynard for taking the foil Tarmogoyf in the Top 8 GP draft. I can see the green in your eyes from here. You would have done the same thing, you’re pissed that pack didn’t end up in your hands.

-It’s a good time to be a gamer..Dice Masters:Age of Ultron, Dice Masters: War of Light, Heroclix: Nick Fury, agent of Shield and MTG: Battle of Zendikar all in a 90 day period.

-To all of the players who screamed in unison at Wizards announcing that there wouldn’t be any enemy fetchlands in Zendikar: Creativity is better than reprinting and recycling. With that said, I’m fairly certain they will be reprinted at some point soon. Nothing is safe.
My apologies to the guy/gal who’s holding 5 Scalding Tarns…also, you need to sell those puppies now.

-MTG Origins in a word: Disappointing.

-Dice Masters: Age of Ultron in two words: Eff Yeah. (I’m well aware “eff” isn’t a word..Shawn’s kids read these articles too you know.)

-Mono Red,
Please go
away.

Sincerely,
Actual Strategy

-My Heroclix booster pack good luck streak continues. One pack of Avengers Assemble. One chase. Granted, it’s the mediocre one of the bunch, Giant Man,but still a chase. Too bad it was mispainted with his entire face being red instead of just his mask. Where’s quality control when you need it?

– Speaking of quality control..

Hey Wizkids,
Could you please find a solution to the warped card issue that plagues the gravity feeds? Great game, great price point, but gets a little annoying when you pull a rare card that looks like it’s been living in the spokes of a bike. My nerd cave is starting to look like a damn library from all of the books being used to flatten them out.

– Who else is as stoked as I am about the new Zendikar set once you saw the new Eldrazi, Oblivion Sower? 6 colorless for a 5/8 that can
give you an instant ramp by stealing your opponent’s land! Almost makes me want to buy the dual decks, Eldrazi vs Zendikar, just to get my hands on one. Ah, Eldrazi, how I missed you..

– I really need to find a better piece of armor for my D3 character’s noggin..tired of running around wearing Leoric’s Crown. I look like
the goddamn burger king. I can’t strike fear into the hearts of demons when my character looks like he should be trying to sell them *****ing Whoppers.

– While we are on the subject of D3; Nothing worse than stumbling upon a piece of legendary equipment that isn’t meant for your character.

– Anyone else completely underwhelmed with “A Million Ways to Die in the West”? Just watched it a few days ago. I had been looking forward to seeing it and even bought the blu ray. I knew that since it was produced/written/directed by Seth McFarlane it would be fairly low-brow humor, but this was just corny d***/fart jokes. Also, I
like to curse as much as the next guy (probably more actually) but it felt forced in the movie..almost like the scene had no joke written in so the main character swears constantly for no reason. I also noticed that he gave himself all of the monologues in the movie, also the funny(?)lines. Plus, the ending was crap.

– I had free time yesterday so I picked up the Marvel Civil War tpb. I forgot what a great story it was..until I got to the end. Amazing story, disappointing anti-climatic ending.