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.
On the Tabletop

Overdose on Cardboard Crack

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(Editor’s Note: I know that I’ve been heavy on the Magic articles lately, but this is an exciting time for the game right now. I will do something on Diablo III on Friday to prepare for the podcast next week.)

As most of you already know, Pax East was this past weekend in Boston. Since it is the most “local” of these conventions, I made a vow last year to go this year. Coincidentally, I made the same vow this year for next year. I broke that vow and the gaming gods punished me accordingly. Among the constant stream of Twitter and Facebook updates (that I checked in between rounds of the Star City Games GP in Miami), was news of a new Orcs Must Die game, a Hearthstone adventure mode with more cards, and many new spoilers from the latest Magic the Gathering expansion set. They’ve never done a dragon themed expansion before and we quickly learned that they weren’t lying when they said that “Here there be dragons (of Tarkir).”

The block started with a plane on which all of the dragons had been hunted to extinction. Having relatively recently lost big time to Chris’s dragon deck, I thought that this was a great idea. I love my dragons and all of their destructive power, but this loss was especially devastating for some reason. Usually, I take the losses in stride, but I immediately started to plan ways to exterminate that dragon deck. I still haven’t quite finished the planning stages of my “Dragons Be Gone” deck and I’m afraid that it might be too late now.

The second set, Fate Reforged, saw one of the characters travel back in time and reverse the events that led to the deaths of the dragons. It is this set that introduced the dragons, obviously, and started to turn the plane topsy turvy. Five powerful beasts rise from the fray to destroy the puny human clans and take their rightful places as the rulers of Tarkir. Several prominent characters saw their fates changed as a result of what happened. I suppose that’s where the name of the set came from. While somewhat underwhelming to me and Chris, Fate Reforged provided a perfect bridge between past present, and future or alternate past and present…or whatever actually happened.

Truth be told, I lost interest in Magic to such a degree that I had no idea the new set was imminent and that spoilers were about to happen. I remarked to Chris that it felt really early, but then they were happening. A couple of dragonlords, command cards (that let you choose two of four options), new mechanics (like Megamorph, which always makes me think of Power Rangers), and a set that looks to blow the roof off, as I thought it might. Both Chris and I found a renewed interest and excitement for the game as the days passed and new cards were added to the web pages.

Enter Pax East. By the end, we met all of the dragonlords. We witnessed the final destruction of the clans and a refocus on ally 2-color magic instead of the 3-color wedges of the clans. We saw Sarkhan changed by his successful alteration of the timeline, or creation of a new timeline….or whatever happened. Other than the lords, we got new dragons. Lots of dragons. Dragons that breathe fire and those that breathe acid. Dragons that morph, dragons that clear the board. Dragons that buff others, dragons that draw cards, dragons that alter the effects of spells, dragons that don’t really do much…okay, that one so far is a lie. Almost all of these dragons look impressive and no matter which ones I end up pulling from my fat pack and booster box, I will put them into at least one of my decks. I’ve already started. I have a dragon in my Mardu deck and I’m thinking of putting one in my new Abzan deck. As I said to Chris, it is at the point of “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

Crazy as it is, that wasn’t even the best Magic news to come out of Pax East this weekend. They also announced the theme of the last core set in the form of a double sided Liliana card. On one side is a legendary form and the other side is a planeswalker form. More information reveals that the set will focus on five different planeswalkers and tell the stories of how and when their sparks ignited. As somebody who simultaneously liked and hated the core sets, this is exciting and interesting news. I am a fan of the two sided cards even if I haven’t found a way to use them in my decks. The main thing that I don’t like about the core sets is the amount and quality of reprints. Since it is the last core set, they can go one of two ways. They can either go crazy with the reprints to give players one last chance to get some of the cards from the past that are very expensive on the secondary market or they can have one last core set where they showcase their imagination and originality.

Personally, I think that they will lean towards the latter. They might reprint some cards as they always do because they are also taking the occasion to relaunch their Duels of the Planeswalkers series with the same Origins branding. They are making the game free to play to draw in that audience. They also have brought back some of the more popular games modes that they removed in the last version of the game. Making new players feel like they have a chance is key to getting those players to enjoy playing your game, so giving those new players cards to play in a card game seems legitimate. Hearthstone does a terrible job of this, in my opinion, but they report huge numbers of players, so what do I know?

This article isn’t about Hearthstone. It is about Magic and there is still plenty to discuss. There may be reprints in Origins for the reasons outlined in the previous paragraph, but I don’t think that there will be a large number of reprints. My main reasoning is that Wizards also (I know, right?!) announced their new Modern Masters set. I remember the first Modern Masters as an overpriced set of reprints. This appears to be the same, but one of the cards spoiled has me excited beyond reason. Upon seeing the card, I wrote a message to Chris telling him that I was considering an order of a box of the set at $350+. Thankfully, he talked me off the ledge, but that card still speaks to me on a deep level and I’m not sure why. Modern Masters 2015 contains reprints of Tarmogoyf. Widely considered to be one of the best cards for many modern decks, fewer copies of the card exist than maybe should because at the time of printing, not many considered it to be that good of a card. While not on the price level of Alpha cards, it still costs quite a bit. None of that matters to me, though. I just think that it has the most fun name of any Magic card ever created. As I said in my recap of the Star City Games modern tournament, I defy you to find a card that is more fun to say than Tarmogoyf. $300 for a chance at bragging rights on a card that is fun to say? Shut up and take my money! Totally worth!

Are you all newsed out after announcements of Dragons, two sided planeswalkers, a relaunched digital game, and reprinted tree zombies? Well, prepare to be severely disappointed because there’s more. After learning of the origins of five of the planeswalkers, Magic is bringing us back to Zendikar. They haven’t announced any more than the name of the first set, but just that one word was enough to send players into either a near orgasmic state of joy (me, for one) or spastic fits of rage (many of the standard players) in a fight that some are calling the “Battle over the Battle for Zendikar”. Not really. I’m almost sure that I just made that up.

So, what (aside from nearly everything) could divide the player base into warring camps? We don’t know how the events on Tarkir have affected other planes, but when we last left Zendikar Eldrazi were devouring it. If you think that a set full of dragons is going to make for powerful decks, wait until the mana consuming Eldrazi make their comeback. Sure, they have huge casting costs, but (and they have big butts, too) the costs are always colorless, they swing (usually at your face) for massive amounts of damage, and they have annihilator to destroy any board that you might have built to try to counter them. I’m not a competitive player and only got to play the Eldrazi in an old version of Duels of the Planeswalkers, so I’m excited for the possibilities of being able to annihilate (haha, get it?) my opponents. Oh, and from a purely Magic nerd point of view, Zendikar was the set of full of art lands. So, that possibility exists. If you give me a chance at full art lands again, I welcome our new Eldrazi overlords.

Wizards of the Coast absolutely crushed it with these announcements. I don’t know if anybody else had the same reaction as Chris and I did. We both considered finding another hobby because we were both so unimpressed by the set. Fickle? Perhaps, but Magic can be an expensive hobby and if it isn’t returning that expense in terms of enjoyment, I can think of many other ways to spend that money. I, for one, am interested in Magic again in a big way. Well played, Wizards. I might not be your white whale, but you will continue to get my hard earned money for at least the next year.

On the Tabletop

Majorly Modern Magic

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(Editor’s Note: I challenge you to find a Magic card that is more fun to say out loud than “Tarmogoyf”.)

StarCityGames.com held their first Modern Open Tournament this past weekend in Baltimore. I watched nearly every (maybe every) featured match on their Twitch stream. I kept chat open. For the most part, I’m glad that I did. The Magic audience seems to be closer to my demographic than the normal Twitch chat.

That’s not to say that chat was a completely positive experience. This is still Twitch, after all. Some players generated intense hate from viewers because of slights (perceived or real), board states (angled graveyards and land in the front as illustrated in the comic), and seemingly no reason once or twice. That has to be the single thing about competitive gaming that bothers me most. It is the same thing about other sports that I don’t like.

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Instead of just being able to enjoy the games, there is so much baggage. We attach all of these perceived offenses to “our” team perpetrated by the “other” team. Very seldom are fans able to congratulate that “other” team on a well fought victory. Adding to their ability to suck any and all fun from the games, every minor detail of the game gets analyze, overanalyzed, and then criticized. Due to the mostly younger demographic, the video games community skips right to the criticism. There is no resolution or nuance in the conversations. Just a constant drone back and forth. What ever happened to simply watching and enjoying the games.

Okay, rant over, now to the event itself. Part of the reason for the outrage in chat is that like many competitive card game tournaments, players brought decks that were a variation on a theme. Maybe part of the reason that it didn’t bother me as much is because I don’t play modern, so I wasn’t as familiar wit the decks and haven’t experienced the frustration of playing against them. Still, I came into this event with no baggage or expectations.

I learned quickly about the intense hatred for the so called “Twins” decks and the card Blood Moon. Many are calling for it to be banned while others defend it to their last breath. It’s the typical conversation that surrounds controversial cards or combos. I made my usual joke on the topic.

“x needs to be banned.” –Every player who ever lost a single game to x.

“x is fine.” –Every payer who has ever abused x‘s broken mechanic to their benefit.

Honestly, though, as a completely neutral party, I didn’t see a problem with Blood Moon. Sure, it can be frustrating to encounter, but it also seems easy to deal with. By my understanding, the decks that run it do so because of an abundance of nonbasic lands being played in Modern. Seems to me that modern players just need to adjust. I don’t know much about the competitive Magic scene as a participant, but isn’t that a part o it? Players adjust to one another, decks, cards, and combos. While one of the blood moon decks was in the final round, they didn’t dominate to a point where it felt unfair. Let’s take a look at the standings to see if this is on the level of Treasure Cruise or Pod.

Two of the top four decks of the open used Blood Moon either in their main deck or sideboard. Four of the top 8 represented a “Twin” deck, the archetype mentioned that led to this discussion of Blood Moon. Only three of them ran the card, but people were calling for the heads of these players all the same. Those calling for a ban are just full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. While the decks might be mostly unoriginal and a pain to face, that is just the nature of competitive card games from what I can tell. All of the tournaments that I watch feature the same decks. If you want innovation, then you need to innovate.

Witness the the other decks played at the tournament. Twenty seven different archetypes were identified in day two of play from Abzan to good old zoo. Even if we look only at the four other top eight decks, we get a Jund with Chandra and Liliana, White/Black tokens with Soren and Liliana, and four color control built around Snapcaster Mage as the only creature. I have simulated a few games with each of these decks and they are fun to play for a player like me who enjoys the control aspect of Magic. So far, I have watched Vintage and Modern and both formats heavily favor control, making me wonder why I haven’t followed these formats more closely before. My main reason, as is usually the case in these types of situations, was ignorance. I heard, and believed without evidence, that the games were dominated by the same decks and boring to watch. While that might be true in Standard, which is a format limited to the last few sets for its card pool, both Modern and Vintage have proven to be interesting and fun to watch.

Though certain decks are favored, as I discussed, the formats are not stagnant. Different types of the same deck play differently. With 60 cards, instead of 30 like Hearthstone, to use to build decks, even the same deck will look different from game to game. The same cannot be said for Hearthstone. Most games can be predicted by even the most novice viewer after only a few games. I admit that I was wrong. Competitive Magic is great to watch and I’m going to follow more closely.

You may have noticed that I’ve only focused on 7 of the top 8 decks at the event. The reason for this is that the deck that took the top spot in Baltimore deserves more than a mere mention. During the event, I jokingly called the deck “Sultai cards that I found in my couch cushions” since SCG only could only identify it as “Sultai”. The decks creator, Gerard Fabiano, ensured that they would not be able to be more specific in their classification. The story behind the deck is that he held an internet pull to choose his deck and “Sultai cards I own” won. I immediately fell in love with the idea, watched all of his matches closely, coined my own pet name for the deck, and kept writing Chris with updates that I’m sure he didn’t care all that much about.

The deck (found here and an absolute blast to play and watch) inspired me to make plans to go to Star City Games events in Providence and Worcester, so look for my in person reports from them in April and May. It has also helped to contribute (along with my discovery of Vintage Super League) to my renewed interest in Magic. I felt underwhelmed by Fate Reforged, but I’m back in and looking forward to Dragons. I might even sign up for a prerelease again.

You may sat that is quite a lot to attribute to one deck. I tend to agree and it might not be completely because of the deck, but have you seen that deck? I’ll give you time to click the link. Back? Not only does it have many Modern staples, but it has cards like Feed the Clan, too. It has everything; counter spells, creature removal, forced discard, peeks at the opponents hand, graveyard manipulation, life gain, the ability to steal creatures that you don’t remove/have already removed, and Tarmogoyf. The entire deck list is like something snatched right out of my fevered Magic dreams after passing out from too many whiskey shots. It is an absolute work of art from top to bottom and Mr. Fabiano has a new fan boy for life.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch the finals match of him playing the deck, you can find it here. It is a thing of beauty. You can actually watch all of the matches on the playlist there, but the finals match was some of the most fun I’ve had with Magic. Hell, I even found myself searching prices for Tarmogoyf and coming away disappointed that I will never own one. Nevertheless, this event looking forward to checking out the events in person in April and May.

Digital Playground

Emrakul is my backup plan

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(Editor’s Note: I cast Black Lotus. I cast Elesh Norn.)

When’s the last time that you heard any of those previous statements in your game of Magic? If you are Mr. Joe Average Casual like me, then answer is “Never.” Until last night when I saw several Black Lotus plays and all three cards in at least one game. Intrigued? Let me explain.

The night started like any other. I watched Guardsmannbob, one of my favorite streamers until about 9:00 when he signed off for the night. There were no other enjoyable Hearthstone players, so I clicked on the only Magic stream that I currently follow. He, too, was in the process of signing off. As he did, though he mentioned the official Magic stream and something called the Vintage Super League.

With nothing else to watch because I was too lazy to move to the living room to watch Netflix, I followed his recommendation. Sure, I could have watched Netflix on my laptop, but I’m spoiled and only want to watch on the television. I know very little about Magic’s pro scene or the various formats, so I had no idea what to expect. Surprisingly, I recognized a couple of names of the players. That was the last recognizable thing on the stream. I saw decks that I never considered possible. They played cards and combos that existed only in my dreams until that point. Kai Budde, one of the names I knew got beat two in a row in very convincing fashion. The first match that I watched ended one game on turn 2 and the other on turn 3.

After that match, I got so excited that I went to Facebook to tell Chris about my discovery. He knew more about vintage than me. He asked about legality of cards and that sent me on a search. I learned that while there is a ban and restricted list, basically the whole of the history of Magic is available to the players to build a deck. That got me even more excited about the prospects of the stream. Suddenly, I started paying attention to the games instead of just having it on as background noise. Holy cow, did he just play a Black Lotus. What is that card in his hand? Emrakul? This is awesome.

Two players played a deck called Omnitell and the announcers kept talking about something called “Shops”. Shops did not interest me much, but I went on a search to find the Omnitell list and some strategy. I will most likely never be able to play the deck, but the blue control aspect spoke to me on a deep level. Then, I saw the full deck and it is right in my wheelhouse. The core deck has only one creature (the aforementioned Emrakul) and plenty of spells to make life miserable for the opponent.

I actually had a brainstorm while in the shower earlier (why is it always in the shower) that there might be a way that I’d get to play all of these cool vintage decks without having to drop tens of thousands of dollars on cardboard. I’m not entirely sure that it is exactly legal, but when has that ever stopped me? Because of the questionable legality, I’m not exactly going to advertise this method. However, I will verify that it worked and I put together an initial list that I found for the Omnitell deck. So far, I have only been able to test it against itself, but I hope to find some other decks to put together those lists and play around with them, too.

The stream had the added effect of renewing my interest in the game. I had been a bit lukewarm about magic since the release of Fate Reforged. I just wasn’t too impressed with a Fat Pack purchase that I made and put the cards away for a while. Watching this stream made me excited again about the prospects of Magic and I can’t wait to try some of the deck ideas that I’ve been considering. So, I say thanks to the Vintage Super League for my renewed interest and dedication to Magic and look forward to the next episode on Tuesday.

Digital Playground

Boredom of Draenor?

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(Editor’s Note: Do I really want to pay 15 bucks a month to play Pokemon?)

I have played World of Warcraft since just after the release of the Burning Crusade expansion. My journey began, as I suspect many did, with a free trial account. I started a Night elf druid for potential role playing possibilities. As I read the introduction paragraphs to each class and race, the druid’s connection to nature spoke to me. Having no previous connection to Warcraft, I chose Night Elf because I saw the races of the Horde as evil and I wanted to fight on the side of good. I’m not opposed to evil characters and I even admire many of them from books, TV shows, and movies. I just enjoy games more when I am the hero. I suspect that many others are like me because there are so few games that feature a villain or even an anti-hero as the main playable character. Fewer still become major successes.

I enjoyed WoW greatly and became immersed in the expansive story that felt so much larger than my character, a helpful community that mostly treated noobs like me with respect and a world that was just as massive as the storyline and really pretty in spite of the cartoonish graphics. I remember walking up to the gates of Ironforge for the first time and being awed by them. It was like the AD&D stories of my youth were coming to life on my computer screen. Keep in mind that I had not even experienced dungeons or raids yet. I just wandered the countryside with my PvP flag on (I know this because I unwittingly became bait to catch a stealthed rogue causing havoc in Astranaar) happily completing quests and reading lore to fill in the huge gaps from never having played any of the games.

The community was not a small consideration. There are several reasons that I have not played League of Legends. Gameplay, which I wasn’t sure about, certainly wasn’t one of them. I have since started to play Heroes of the Storm and I rather like the concept of those games. Primary among the reasons is that the only legendary part of the game is the toxicity of the community. I experienced this first hand. In three games (my entire LoL career), I played with exactly one helpful person out of twelve teammates. More than half of them (7 or 8) insulted, bickered, flexed internet muscle, and lamented that none of them were LoL pros because of all the noobs holding them back.

World of Warcraft never felt like that. Sure, there were unhelpful (and downright rude) people in the game, but those willing to answer even the most basic question outnumbered them at least two to one. I vividly remember stumbling upon a hunter during my early days of adventuring. The poor soul was being ravaged by a wild beast and completely unable to defend himself. I did what any honorable hero would. I killed that dirty animal and saved his life…or so I thought. He whispered to me “What the hell?” before explaining that he was trying to tame it as a pet. I apologized and we both had a good laugh about it.

I have run the gamut of noob to semi-obsessed raider before settling on my usual role of filthy casual. My original character, the druid, is still active. He has gone through a name change, several server moves, and a brief consideration of a faction change to be able to play with a friend. Instead, I created a new character (a shaman) who has become a second main. That character is now in the guild that was started by Scott Johnson, the host of The Instance. My account was compromised once and all of my gear got sold or disenchanted. I know that it is often a joke, even among gamers, that WoW is for no-lifers, but I really have experienced so much in game that it sometimes feels like a second life.

After taking another break for a couple of months, the Warlords of Draenor hype got me. I heard about the game getting a graphics update on character models, getting to go back to Outland (sort of) to meet many of the legends of the game, and an overhaul on the game that some were calling WoW 2.0. Once classes let out for winter break, I came back to the game. I enjoyed it for about a month as I leveled to 100 and chased after a core hound mount that I honestly had no chance of obtaining. Ever since, though, I have been in one of my WoW funks and I generally only log into the game to immediately log back out This is the earliest into an expansion that I have felt this way.

I even said to my wife, “I might finally be done with World of Warcraft.” That is a loaded statement because you aren’t ever truly done. Another expansion will get me interested again and I might repeat the process, but what if it is just another month or so and then I’m putting it back on the shelf. I can’t keep justifying the cost for so little entertainment value. There’s nothing wrong with moving on. People and circumstances change and it might just be time. I’d be lying if it didn’t make me sad. I have a history with this game that goes back almost a decade. Even if it is “only a game”, that’s not an ending that you take lightly.

So, you could say that quite a bit is depending on Patch 6.1 of the game. The main problem is that I don’t actually know what I want from the game. In the past, I have fallen back on other pursuits. Most recently, I really started to enjoy pet battling. For some reason, not that has me excited and I haven’t collected a single pet from Draenor other than two crafted Engineering pets. I have also traditionally leveled alts to keep busy, but the story this time wasn’t interesting enough to do again and there aren’t enough dungeons to keep me entertained through another 10 levels.

So, let’s see if 6.1 has anything to entice someone like me to keep playing. Some “no news” is that flying isn’t still prohibited in Draenor. I, personally, don’t mind that flying has been disallowed and flying isn’t something that would make the game any more enjoyable for me. A new raid is being released to some fanfare, but I’m not even geared enough for the current tier of raid content. No, not even LFR. Maybe if I stick around, I will get around to it at the end of the expansion like I did in Pandaria. Raiding just isn’t my thing anymore.

Initially in the expansion, I kept busy with garrisons, but I’ve maxed all that I wanted there. Is there anything new for garrisons on the horizon? Actually, yes. First, and maybe not overwhelming, is customizable music in your garrison. I may not be an obsessive raider anymore, but I do like collecting things in the game and this gives me one more thing to collect. It probably won’t be my first priority, but I will get around to doing it eventually. Actually, now that I read that, I realize that I haven’t even opened my pet building in the garrison.

I once dreamed of being Azeroth’s greatest Pokemon (er, battle pet) trainer. Maybe it is time to put on the old Safari Hat and tackle the tiny beasts of Draenor, especially those bastards that have infiltrated my garrison. After that, I think that I will level my skinning toon to make some gear that might get my shaman closer to LFR ready. So, there are some things that I can do in game. None of them are directly related to the new patch.

This is the first patch of Warlords, so you can’t expect the best content. Still, it is quite underwhelming. The only “new” stuff is for raiders with a few added features for the filthy casual collectors like me. If you left the game before Warlords released, come back to experience some cool new stuff. If Warlords wasn’t quite what you hoped, patch 6.1 doesn’t add enough new to make it worth returning. Maybe the next patch will have more. Otherwise, I might drop out for a break the earliest into an expansion since Cataclysm.

On the Tabletop

Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!

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(Editor’s Note: ‘NERDS!)

I haven’t written about Dungeons and Dragons yet for a couple of reasons that are closely related. ‘Mainly, because Chris doesn’t play, we haven’t made it a part of our monthly game nights. ‘More generally, I haven’t played D&D since AD&D 2nd edition and haven’t even though about the game since moving about a decade ago and putting all those books up in the attic. ‘For some reason, during the summer, I got interested in the state of the game again. ‘ ‘I ‘went in search of the new editions, tried to find some free and relatively quick adventures, and tested out the game.

I went with 3.5 to make my characters and for the rule books. ‘4th editions seemed a like it simplified things a little too much for me and the 3.5 character sheets looked like what I remember as D&D. ‘I rolled a party of five (not the old TV show, but a half-elf fighter, eladrin ranger, human rogue, elven wizard, and a dwarven cleric), wrote some brief personalities and histories for them (just enough to get started), downloaded an adventure, and got to it.

As you may imagine, playing D&D solo was not nearly as much fun as getting together with some friends. ‘I started to wish that I had Wednesday nights off to be able to go to the Encounters nights at the local-ish game store. ‘I tried to think of ways that I could get some of the old crew together (maybe via Skype) to play some games. ‘Nothing came of either of those plans, but my brainstorming led to Roll20 and Meetup. ‘Roll20 is an online community that allows you to play roleplaying games with others. ‘Meetup is more general, but I joined a group of comic fans, gamers, and sci-fi enthusiasts. ‘These ventures haven’t led to anything yet, either, but I will hopefully have the time to dedicate to figuring out how to use either or both of them to my benefit.

One unexpected positive to come out of my resurgence of interest in the game is that I have rediscovered my Dragonlance books. ‘As of writing this article, I have only found the Annotated Chronicles from my collection, but they should be enough to get me started. ‘(Editor’s Note: ‘I have since visited a local used bookstore and picked up 3 more books for my birthday.) ‘I have plan to revisit Dragonlance in an article that I will post tomorrow on the main page, so that will be another hopefully entertaining and interesting trip back to the roots of my nerdiness. ‘For now, though, back to the topic.

A reason for this article is that the 5th edition of the game was released last year. ‘(Mostly self-promoted) hype on my Facebook feed proclaim the update as the perfect time to get back into the game. ‘Let’s inspect to see if it actually is, or we should take the advice of Public Enemy on this one. ‘First impression is that it is D&D. ‘I don’t see much difference in the core elements of the game. ‘All of the races, classes, attributes, spells, and saving throws are still there. ‘This is a good thing since the core of the game has always been strong and the basis of many copycats and clones. ‘To be honest, at first glance, I don’t see any reason to choose this over the others, but maybe I will find something to distinguish it as I take a closer look.

So, let’s start by making a character. ‘My go to first character has always been an elf (or usually a half-elf) magic-user of some sort. ‘I think to change it up, I’ll choose a druid this time. ‘the race and class combination could make for an interesting back story for the character. ‘Given up for adoption by an elven mother to a group of druids because the human father died (killed in war?), left (intentionally? ‘driven away?), he now looks over a spring used by local villagers. ‘Whatever, the beauty of the game is that I can fill in the details later.

More importantly, I posted something on my Facebook about the new edition and how I wanted to find a group again. ‘Because most of us work during the week, it would have to be a weekend group. ‘All of the local stores only run them during the week. ‘However, a friend mentioned that he has been looking for a group, too. ‘We got our families together for dinner the other day and I mentioned Roll20 to him. ‘We both explored the site more and decided that it more that does what we want. ‘He sent out some invites and I sent out a couple to old friends about joining. ‘So far, we have 5 or 6 that are willing to play, so we definitely have the makings of a group.

I probably won’t use my earlier character for that group. ‘I might incorporate him into a series of short stories that I can share on the web page. ‘I was going to do something like that when I first got back into the game and couldn’t find others to play. ‘As I am currently writing him, the druid seems like he would work better in stories than a campaign. ‘Since he is a loner and with little desire to change that status, it might take too long for him to enter civilization and find companions. ‘Admittedly, you can always accelerate time in these games, but I’d rather roll a different character for the campaign. ‘(Editor’s Note: ‘I am falling on the proverbial sword for the group and rolling a dwarven cleric again.)

Well, it appears that the new edition of D&D is not just all hype. ‘It has inspired me to write a little bit. ‘It got me together with new and old friends to plan a campaign. ‘It’s gotten me excited about the prospects of playing the game again. ‘If you’re like me and you used to play D&D, but haven’t looked at it in a while, I would definitely check out the 5th edition. ‘Admittedly, I have not tried any of the other rules for any extended period, but if they are as intuitive as the character creation, then we are going to have some fun with this and you probably will, too.

One final note. ‘As far as I know, we are up to 6 for our Roll20 campaign. ‘If you take a look at some of the materials from 5th edition and like what you see, give a thought to joining us. ‘We can always use more players for greater flexibility. ‘We are mostly born again noobs, but if that sounds like your speed, send an email or leave a comment.

Digital Playground

Does Hearthstone still suck?

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(Editor’s Note: In keeping with 2 Guys Gaming’s attempt at catching up from our insane holiday schedule, I am going to offer a cursory review of the new Hearthstone expansion Goblins vs. Gnomes.)

TLDR: No.

I have talked on the podcast and written here on the website about Blizzard’s digital CCG Hearthstone. Most of the discussion has been mixed and bordered on negative. When the game first came out, I endorsed it to Chris and a few other friends because it was an online card game and initially, it is a fun game. However, like many Blizzard games, sometimes it became more about the treadmill of trying to do daily quests. These games came against increasingly stronger decks built by people who most likely spent a lot of money building their collection. The game just wasn’t fun anymore and I uninstalled the game for about a couple of weeks before the announcement of the first “adventure”.

The concept of an adventure is an interesting concept that is completely unique to the digital card game genre. There’s no way that a table top card game could do what Hearthstone did with Naxxramas. As an added bonus, Blizzard implemented it well and the new cards changed the way that the game was being played with only a handful of new cards. Because of the limited card pool, that change felt brief and temporary and honestly not that much of a change. Hunters and warlocks ran wild and now they has seemingly more tools to dominate. The game returned to the simplistic feel of being a card game version of rock paper scissors and I stopped playing it again after only a month. Honestly, I just didn’t find the game all that fun.

For me, the lifeblood of any card game is the expansions. They bring new cards, new decks, new mechanics, and the promise that the game will provide fun and enjoyment for that much longer. It isn’t surprising then that I started to pay attention again after the announcement of the first full expansion set for the game, Goblins v. Gnomes. The first cards out from the set focused mainly around random effects, making it seem like Blizzard was sticking to their guns on the subject of “RNG as skill”. However, they quickly assured people that was not the case and they only used those cards as the teaser because of the fun effects that would get people talking about the game.

The expansion is focused heavily around random effects that used to bother me. Chris tried to jury rig a physical version of the game because he was less into the digital content of the game, but the effects of the cards is too wonky to play physically. Blizzard actually mentioned this in one of their interviews. They prefer the way Hearthstone is designed because it makes it different from its non-digital contemporaries and therefore it can stand out in a genre that has seen competitor after competitor fall to the might of Magic: the Gathering. However, as I play the game more and start to figure out some of the strategy, I realize that RNG can be annoying when you are counting on RNG to win you a game. It becomes less annoying (and not even RNG) when you use it to your advantage by eliminating the RNG as much as you can. An example is Flame Cannon. If you hold on to that card until there are 5 minions on the board, some of them with 5 health, and you don’t have any choice, you’re going to have a bad day. If, however, you use it on a single minion board and have a follow up in case of more health, then the card is very strong as removal.

So, an expansion that likes to tout the fact that “most of the things fail…or explode” and should have annoyed me to no end has actually had the opposite effect. The relatively few cards released during Naxxramas were enough to shake up the game in a way that some decks that were very strong are no longer being played while some new strategies have emerged. GvG has brought even more new strategies to Hearthstone, chief among them one that I have enjoyed since putting together my zombie deck a couple of years ago. That’s right, mill decks are now a thing (and somewhat viable) in Hearthstone. The game is fun again and I’m actually venturing back into the Arena thanks to the free run that Blizzard gave away at the release. “The first one’s free, Kid.”

That’s not to say that everything is roses. Warlocks and Hunters still rule in constructed and Mages, and now Paladins, still seem very overpowered in Arena. You will get sick of seeing the same decks over and over again. I know that I do. But use it to your advantage. Once you know a deck, you know it and can plan accordingly.

I still would not recommend the game to new “free to players” necessarily because it is very difficult to catch up without paying real money. If you can stand grinding a bit, though, you can get all of the basic cards and there are some good strategy guides for all basic decks. You may not win more than 20-25% of your games, but that will still be enough to finish your daily quests in a somewhat timely fashion. Use the gold to play the Arena (and most likely get destroyed, but again there are good guides to get started), get your pack (and hopefully some gold return), and start building your collection to take on your foes. If you have no qualms about putting aside some of your gaming budget to buy cards or Arena runs in the game, then I would definitely recommend getting in now. The game can be a ton of fun and it seems like Blizzard is really starting to figure out what they want to do and how to do it.

Pros: Makes the game fun with the effects and new cards. Adds some variety to the number of decks that are viable (even if they aren’t being played).

Cons: Warlock and Hunter just synergize so well with their hero power and class cards that they continue to dominate the games that you will play.

The Last Words: I can say that Hearthstone is definitely finally worth recommending that people check out. It can be a grind for players not looking to spend any money, but if you’re willing to put in that grind, it will pay off in the end.

On the Tabletop

Tempting Fate

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(Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for a more in depth look at the set in next month’s episode of the podcast. For now, I just wanted to catch up after a busy holiday season and give a first impression of Fate Reforged.)

I have been keeping an eye on spoilers as they’ve been revealed and Chris and I have kept alive our unofficial tradition of sending cards to one another. Chris is excited that dragons are back (not in a big way, the last set is called Dragons of Tarkir or something like that, so they’ll hopefully blow the doors off with that one) and, as usual, I’m intrigued by some of the mechanics that are being used in the set. One of the first spoilers to be leaked was Ugin and, as happens in this day and age, many thought it was a fake. Some saw a dragon and leaped to the conclusion that, if it was real, it would be from the third set and others just dismissed it outright. It is real and pretty amazing. However, I know that I won’t play that card. If I do pull one, it will most likely be one that I sell similar to the foil fetches and Planeswalkers from the previous set of cards. I’m also pretty sure that I won’t ever play against it, either, so that’s all that I’ll say about it. Better to focus on the cards that will see play in our eternal struggle of two.

In keeping with the multicolored theme, hybrid mana is back. I only see it in casting cost of abilities instead of as a way to cast spells and creatures. Maybe in the next set they will have hybrid mana creatures and spells like they did in the earlier multicolored sets. The Return to Ravnica block had a huge number of multicolored cards and especially more hybrid mana cards than I could imagine. I suppose that it keeps with the theme of that block. While Khans is three colored clans, the focus seems to be more on making those colors interact with one another in unique ways instead of attempting to fuse them together into a whole new strategy. Therefore, I can understand the decision to not have hybrid mana casting costs for creatures and spells. Thanks for joining me as I talked myself through that one.

As I mentioned above, Chris is excited that some dragons are in this set. He’s infamous for his dragon deck that once got me to utter, “That is bullshit” in response to him playing it once. This is noteworthy because our games are generally friendly and there isn’t much in the way of grumble unless one of us is having particularly bad luck with the mana screw or something. I made the observation that it looks like they seem to be trying to make dragons similar to slivers. There are a new class of legendary multicolored dragons that all have an ability that affects the board in some way. Instead of triggering on play, though, the new dragon abilities all trigger when a dragon attacks. That adds an interesting wrinkle to EDH. The other dragons also have similar abilities, but they are more localized to one creature in most cases. Again, this seems like a bit of a teaser for the last set where they will most likely unleash the dragons in a big way. Maybe it will even inspire me to make a dragon deck.

Being the type of player that I am, the mechanic that has me most excited is manifest. I am enamored with Morph and even though I haven’t quite figured it out, I am determined to make a morph deck that works consistently enough to frustrate the opponent as my decks often are designed to do. I mentioned in the missing Episode 2 of the podcast that I hoped that they would either have more morph creatures or at least more mechanics that work with morph. While manifest isn’t that, it does share some DNA with morph and makes me even more excited that a face down deck will work in some shape. I’m going to get to trying to build my Temur morph/manifest deck as soon as possible.

Overall, this set seems like the calm before the storm. The last set in the block is a big one like Khans and it is named for the other big players on the plane, the dragons, so I think we’ll see some really huge things out of that set. Fate Reforged isn’t a great set but there are definitely some cool cards and I can’t wait to pick up my box in a few weeks.

On the Tabletop

RIP WoW: TCG

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(Editor’s Note: This is the same editor’s note as on the main page. I had been working 3 jobs and had precious little time to devote to the pages. However, two of those jobs are on winter break, so I have more time and will be updating the pages on a more regular basis.)

(2nd Editor’s Note: Playing a few rounds of this game has only increased my anger that Blizzard killed it in favor of Hearthstone. I understand the decision, but it still makes me mad.)

After fits, non-starts, and a fried hard drive (2 actually) that took episode 2 of the podcast, Christ and I got together for a couple of game nights. We didn’t record, but we are going to this weekend, so be on the lookout for the triumphant return when we push the reset button on the show. As part of these game nights, in addition to the usual games of Magic and Gears, we played some WoW: TCG. This isn’t our first experience with the game, but it was our first attempts at deck building and strategy. Overall the games were a success and both of us mentioned that they inspired us to find more cards and build new decks or solidify the ones that we already have. For me, at least, the games were more fun than the recent Magic games.

The first reason is the “new”ness of the game. I am always really excited when I discover or rediscover something and it has that feeling of being new. Since we had not played WoW very much, it was a brand new game whild Magic is the old and faithful game, always there for us. Sure, Khans made it new and exciting for a couple of months, but it’s time for a new expansion again. Also, because Chris had more time to tweak his decks, the Magic battles were not very competitive this round. WoW was much more balanced between us. I don’t care if I win or lose, but I do want the games to be interesting or entertaining.

Secondly, WoW has some definite advantages over Magic. There is no mana and therefore no mana screw unless it somehow works to your advantage. Let me explain. You build resources to cast creatures and spells. The more powerful resources are quests because they allow you to draw cards and perform other actions. However, any card can be played face down as a resource. Doing so removes it from the game for its intended purpose, so you can trade a less powerful creature or spell in order to cast a more powerful one or vice versa. All of this adds to the strategy and complexity of the games. I generally try to build my decks so that I don’t have to use cards other than quests as resources, but it is nice to know that the option is there.

Chris and I toyed around with some kitchen table rules to make Magic more like WoW and to remove (or at least reduce) mana screw and make our decks play more like the way we intended. Chris posted the article last year and you can find it on the page here. I was trying to think of other ways to counter mana screw, but honestly it has gotten to the point where it isn’t that big of a deal in the games that we play. Still, it might be nice to have options for people learning the game, so I’ll keep brainstorming.

The only con against WoW is that it is no longer supported by Blizzard, as I mentioned above. Therefore, the shelf life of the game is very limited, especially if we don’t get out there and buy more cards before they are not on the market any more. Chris has picked up some cards, but I don’t feel compelled to do so because I’d rather spend my money on the new Magic expansions coming out and expand into other formats in a game that is still alive and growing.

WoW: TCG was (and still is for a limited time) a great game that got put to the side in favor of the push to digital content. The most unfortunate part is that as I did research into the game, it felt like it got killed right as it was starting to reach its potential. I don’t hate Hearthstone as much as I used to, but every time I see a card that uses art from the WoW: TCG (like the Leeroy card above) it gives me a twinge of anger and sadness that both games can’t coexist and that digital content wins out again. If you get a chance to pick up some of the starter decks for relatively cheap (which shouldn’t be a problem for the near future) you should definitely check out the game. You could also get a lot of 2000 cards for fairly cheap, but those are more random and if you are going to do that, maybe get both the starter decks and the random cards to swap them out for stronger decks. If you are looking for a slight change from Magic, WoW: TCG is absolutely a strong contender and I, for one, will miss it greatly and wish that I had paid more attention when it was around.

As a post script (postmortem?) to the game, Chris and I were first talking after the announcement that the game had been cancelled and I tried to come up with some ideas to extend the life of games that have been taken off of the market. The one idea that I thought would be easy to modify is to give people the chance to make their own cards for the game. There are already web pages that let you make Magic and Hearthstone cards. It wouldn’t be that difficult to make one that does the same for WoW cards, both heroes and the other cards. I don’t know how much support there is for such an idea, but it is definitely something that I’d like to see implemented and not just for WoW.

Do you love WoW: TCG? Is there another defunct TCG or other table top game that you would recommend as an alternative when Magic becomes stale again? Let me know in the comments. Thanks, as always, for reading!

On the Tabletop

Gotta Draft ’em All

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(Author’s Note: Apologies for the weeks of no communication. I’m still trying to figure out a writing schedule with my new job. Hopefully, things return to normal soon.)

Liam’s birthday–number 10, which is considered a big one–was this past weekend. He wanted to have a sleepover with a Pokemon theme. That gave me an idea. Pick up some booster packs and let them have a draft tournament. I’ve never done a draft for any of the games other than Magic Online, but that ended in disaster. We want to put together some Youtube videos for the web page that show how to conduct a Magic draft with us and the boys, so this was good practice.

What you need

  • Some players – Generally, each group should have at least four and no more than 8 players. We decided to keep the group small for this first time. Only Liam and three of his friends played in the tournament.
  • Some packs of cards – The suggested number of packs per player is six. Since it felt gauche to require admission to a birthday party, we had to come up with at least 24 packs. At three to four dollars per pack, that can get expensive. We lucked into an open box of packs for relatively cheap. If we want, we have 12 extra packs for prizes.
  • Schedule – Depending on the size of your group and the time available, you could go with a round robin. Since we only have four, that’s how we organized it. Whether you have a round robin or not, you can use this link to help put together and print your schedule.
  • Non essentials – Snacks, prizes, some other games for in between rounds. We gave the snack funny Pokemon themed names like Charizard fireballs for cheese balls, Charmander chips for potato chips, and Squirtles’s Squirt for the juice boxes. The boys all got a kick out of the names. We didn’t end up having games in between rounds because they went quickly, but we did have a game for them to play when they woke up after the sleepover. We hid plastic golf balls painted to look like Pokeballs around the yard and they had to find them like an Easter egg hunt. That was a huge hit, too.

Okay, we’ve got it all. What now?

There are a few ways to do the draft. I was going to have them each open one pack, pick a card, and then pass the pack on to the next person. Repeat this process until all cards are picked from those packs. Then, do the same with the remaining packs. The boys thought that this was too confusing, so I allowed them to draft like we do at the prerelease tournaments we’ve attended. They took 9 packs each and built their decks from the cards that they got in those packs. I tried to convince them to do 40 card decks, but they insisted on 60 card decks. I tried to get them to play best of 3, but they only played one game rounds. My ideas got shot down left and right. Everything worked out well for them, so they knew what they were doing. I just got out of the way and let them do their thing.

They took turns and played each other in a round robin tournament. As I mentioned above, we didn’t need any entertainment for in between rounds since the rounds went quickly and the two that finished early just watched the game that was still in progress. We also had no need for prizes since the boys were so excited about their new cards. Liam came out the winner and there weren’t any major bouts of poor sportsmanship during the whole tournament.

Overall, this one went well and they were able to figure things out with minimal (actually, no) intervention. Now that I’ve done it once, it will go easier and more smoothly when we sit down to put together the instructional videos. Have you ever participated in a Pokemon draft tournament? Do you have any ideas to make it slightly more organized (other than the participants not being 10)? Let me know in the comments.

On the Tabletop

Graveyard Shift

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(Note: I am continuing the Entertainment Compendiums week-ish long Halloween celebration with a themed deck list. I’ve already posted my zombie deck, so here is my first attempt at graveyard/deck manipulation in the form of Sultai.)

Spells (16)

Bitter Revelation (2)
Diabolic Tutor (2)
Dutiful Return (2)
Reclaim (3)
Strength from the Fallen (2)
Taigam’s Scheming (3)
Wreath of Geists (2)

Creatures (26)

Abomination of Gudul (2)
Bant Sojurners (3)
Dreg Mangler (2)
Drudge Beetle (2)
Embodiement of Spring (3)
Kheru Dreadmaw (2)
Nemesis of Mortals (4)
Sanctum Plowbeast (2)
Shambling Attendants (2)
Sluiceway Scorpion (1)
Sultai Scavenger (2)
Thrashing Mossdog (1)

Land (23)

Dismal Backwater (4)
Evolving Wilds (4)
Forest (2)
Island (2)
Opulent Palace (2)
Plains (2)
Svogthos, the Restless Tomb (2)
Swamp (2)
Thornwood Falls (3)

The deck is a bit beefier than the standard 60 cards. That’s only because I didn’t want to cut it down to 60. Also, the Evolving Wilds are sort of like a bonus. They are there both as ghetto fetch lands and also as a way to power the “delve” cards without exiling creatures. I ultimately don’t care that much about creatures except for the Nemesis and tried to grab some with deathtouch so that their trades will clear minions from the board. Nemesis can be such a tough card to remove and there are four just in case it does eat some removal.

The Bant cards came as luck would have it from a flea market purchase and I thought to drop them in there as blockers and also to cycle the deck/hit the graveyard as Nemesis food. So far I have only goldfished with the deck, but it has played well in this latest iteration. Have fun working the graveyard shift!