Typically, this isn’t a problem. I can manage to avoid getting to frayed nerves of rage levels on most days–but lately that’s not been the case. I’m at wits end by ten am and can’t get away to calm down, I spend the whole day with a pounding headache and tingling fists from hammering the wall to avoid snapping my work laptop in half. I’ve spent the last two weeks in either a blind rage or an apathetic slump. By time five rolls around, if I’m actually able to get away from the computer and I’m not being bombarded still. I’m so exhausted from the day that trying to write anything, much less involved stories is near impossible.

I think this is in large part why I’ve fallen off creatively and why I spend so much of my time now just working on things that are half finished instead of creating new things. Editing is a different section of my mind, a part that’s more resilient to the effects of frustration. Editing lets me refine an idea and get out of my head, but is still grounded enough that I can stop doing it on a moment’s notice and come back to it later. Or at least it did, I can’t speak for how I’ve been recently.

That’s actually what I’m trying to figure out, why am I so uproductive of late? Is it really just that day after day is getting blown entirely by being pushed past my frustration limit before it’s even lunch time? Or does the lack of hard deadlines just reveal how little initiative I’m in possession of? Is my depression to blame? Likely, its some combination of the above. Which begs the question, what can I do about it?

The obvious answer is to get another job. Which is, I think, where a lot of my anxiety is coming from. I keep finding myself lacking for any position that might be interested in hiring me. Sometimes by just a little, other times by orders of magnitudes, but I don’t know what to do to fix it. I figure most of the jobs that are entry level won’t hire me because I’m a semester away from finishing my masters and have three years experience. Jobs that are looking for someone with my level of experience in my field typically want an active security clearance since I’d be dealing with classified systems. Other jobs in my grade outside of my field are…well beyond me really. I have a non-zero amount of UX knowledge, but not enough to pass myself off as a designer and don’t really know what to do about getting better on that front. The same can applied to web-design, networking, project management, event planning, teaching, technical writing…the list goes on. It might be easier to find a direction to go if that list had fewer elements, or if I was any better at one thing over the others–but that’s not the case. In fewer words: I need to figure out what I want to do so I can move on.

Failing that, I need to figure out where my burst of productivity came from, harness it in some form or another and get creative again.

Anyway, ’til next time!

Hey! Long time no see! I haven’t really been around much lately and that’s all my fault. I’ve let myself get caught up in struggling to accomplish and I’ve lost sight on getting anything done at all. So I’m going to try and get back to putting up a column once a week–it might not be on the same day, but I need to rebuild my habits.

Also, I want to get back to arting. Part of my process used to be sketching, doing something else creative while I’m stuck on a draft and since I’ve let that slide, my ability to write has dropped quite a bit. I just keep getting stuck and then frustrated and then not sitting at the computer typing lest I snap my keyboard in half. Which, of course, means getting over that my style is abhorrent. I mean yeah, this torso is really long, the legs are laughable, and the eyes are kind of “off”, but I did this in three hours from sketch to CG and I need to realize that’s something of an achievement. Sure I can hardly draw anything else, but the basics are there if I can ever get over being the suck.

Anyway, watching #PTDGM so I’m around. Prolly going to sketch some more and put it up on my tumblr while I try to resolve plot holes in the Curse rewrite.

’til next time!

Needless to say, I am stoked. I loved the split cards first reprinting in Dissention and then the craziness that was Planar Chaos and this new iteration feels like an evolution of a Magic mainstay since Invasion. Granted Fire//Ice and Boom//Bust are probably the only two splits that see any regular play at Comp Rel, but there’s plenty of them that have pretty solid uses–and I’m betting this one will be seeing serious play:

Why?

See, there was this card in Champions of Kamigawa called Glimpse of Nature. For those not familiar, it was a sorcery for G that had rules text to the effect of whenever you cast a creature for the rest of the turn, you draw a card. Sadly, it was banned almost immediately when Modern was first formed because of decks like this one played by LSV in the community cup just before WoTC replaced Extended with Modern. The the main concept was build into an Elf-powered ball of mana and then hardcast Emrakul. It could do this on turn 2. Turn 2.

Beck is cut from the same cloth. The extra mana cost makes it a bit harder to combo off on turn two with, but it works with ETBs and not on cast. Which makes me wonder if RUG Twin will make a come back over Raka (WUR)–I know I’m certainly going to give it a try–I can definitely see Combo Elves trying to make a come back in Modern with it.

Beyond that, the rest of last night’s spoilers were pretty much around were I expected. Ral’s a solid walker with some neat abilities that are 110% Izzet. Malek is going to be one heck of an EDH general. I am surprised Resto’s ability is staying in standard, albeit at a lower power level.

Can’t wait for tonight to see what new goodies get spoiled. We have 8 guild champions left and who knows what else waiting to see the light of day.

’til next time!~

Testing

Prime Speaker Bant 

Did a couple test hands against Renee’s build for PS Bant. Of course since it was the first hand since either of us put the deck together, game one was going to go to whomever was less mana screwed–which ended up being Renee. Game two was a similar affair, only I won the land screw draw. Game three through, game three showed off. I started with a Faithless looting that put both Unburial Rites in the graveyard. Renee dropped a Smiter  and proceeded to beat down. Lingering souls held the line for a few turns until she got an Angel of Serenity online. A timely ultimate price into Olivia Voldaren seemed like it was going to stabilize me, but a Zaganna ETB got Renee ahead. I stole Zaganna and then I swung…right into an Azorius Charm. Renee got her Zaganna back and killed me.

I realize I lost because of misplay. I should have have activated Vault of the Archangel and gunned down both creatures, but that’s the advantage of hindsight.

GR Werewolves

Hung out at Kaboom down in Va Beach on Saturday while visiting the fam and played a couple games.

My first couple of hands were against a GR Werewolves build that pushed me very hard game one. Post board, with more removal and more rites, I outclassed it and both games two and three went heavily in my favor.

UWR Flash

My second match was with UWR flash and geez did their build have a pile of answers. Game one was what felt like an endless torrent of negate, counterflux, rewind, and snapcaster mages. Game two was a brilliant looting into Rites, Obzedat followed by Lingering Souls and Lilianna of the Veil. Ended up a win off the back of two Boros Charms. Game three was another amazing looting (Rites, Aurelia). Won on Souls, Obzedat and Lilianna.

Knowing that this UWR Flash was more worried about counter and lass about burn, its hard to get a good feel for where I am in the more global match-up. I feel like I shouldn’t have won off of Lingering Souls twice, but its how the games played out. Going to get some more testing tonight and I’ll update when I get back.

But that’s last week. Let’s talk this week.

First off, this deck happened and as a wedge player I can only say it’s about time.

I’m not 100% on the Sideboard, I feel like 4/75 cards being Rakdos’s Return is a bit much, esp. with 4 Liliana of the Veil as well. I’m probably going to run a package that’s more like the following to be better matched up against things like Reanimator, PSZ Bant, or Flash, where I’m just dead if the resolve an Angel of Serenity for value.

3 Ultimate Price
1 Dreadbore
2 High Priest of Penance
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Purify the Grave
1 Rakdos’s Return
2 Rakdos Charm
1 Unburial Rites

Ultimate Price, Purify the Grave, and Rakdos Charm each allow me to respond at instant speed to either their reanimation or Zanganna and Angel of Serenity’s ETB triggers. I won’t catch everyone, but there are definitely times where I’ll get things exiled permanently off an Angel or make them draw one card off Zaganna.

Going to be playing the above build this weekend and will report back on how it does. Not sure If I’m playing over at the Pillage or down at Kaboom in Va Beach, but I’m sure to be having a blast either way with my second favorite color combo behind RUG.

Speaking of RUG, RUG Flash finally put up some tournament results with a top 16 finish at SCGKC. The build is pretty much what I was running pre-GTC with Yeva and Huntmaster doing most of the heavy lifting. Should this Dega build not work out, it’s likely I’ll go back to that. Aggro-Control is my main skillset and these two builds are right in that wheelhouse.

Anyway, ’til next week!

Which turned out to not be all that terrible. I got to watch two guys play Android: Netrunner, based on a long lost CCG designed by Richard “always designing things” Garfield which in turn was based heavily on Cyberpunk 2020 a setting very similar to Shadowrun. The asymmetrical deck system had some interesting aspects that I think will help with my own “Dungeon Crawler”. One player plays as a Megacorp, whose goal is to advance agendas. The other player is a runner or hacker and their goal is to break in and steal information. Corps and runners each have their own pool of cards and decks are built from them–which means no mirror matches of Bant Control on Bant Control. While the series is more of a board game format now, with ll you need in one box, there’s still a deck building aspect and, as Fantasy Flight does, there are plans for regular expansions–one of which is up for pre0-order now.

After they wrapped up, there was still time left in the round so I talked with the judge, an L1 named Amelia, about the store and how Fridays normally went. With Pandemonium being only one of a few card shops in the Boston metro area, the game room is consistently packed, that night there were about 100 people there. Not surprisingly, most people drafted, but there was a good number of standard players. What stuck me as odd was that she didn’t have any help, unlike our store where nearly half of the players are at least rules advisers, Amelia is the only judge at the store. She said it was because few players wanted to consistently to give up their Friday night play time to help out and that’s kind of sad. Beyond Friday, we talked about other events that she runs including Casual Sunday, where she has players draft the Store Cube, all the way up to PTQs which are typically held at a nearby hotel. At the point the round was over so she posted pairings.

I sat down across from a guy with flaming red hair, I believe his name was Andrew. We chatted for a bit while shuffling and I won the roll and went first. Two turns in, I literally squeed. We were both playing RUG. The first game was a steam roll in my favor and we went to board–which is when the problems happened. See, my RUG build is low range aggro-control, his was midrange full-control. He got a card drawing engine online and though the second game was close, he pulled ahead with a timely ‘tusk followed by Zagana. Game three was a bit of a misplay on my part, I kept a hand of Strangleroot, Boar, two lands, and three charms. At which point I drew nothing but land. Even so, the game came down to 5-7 before his Deadbridge pushed through with a wolf run.

Match two was against Grixis Delver, but it too wasn’t like any build I had seen previously. The deck hammered me down game one with dual Falkenrath Aristocrats. Game two my deck went off like an explosion and I won in five turns. The highlight of which was a stack war over my Quirion Dryad who ended up a 6/6 by time all was said and done. Game three was super close, but he got another ‘risto online and I didn’t have answers.

The last match of the night was against a guy named Jared who was running Grixis Control. Unfortunately for him, Strangleroot and Pyreheart ruined his sweepers and both games went to me in quick succession with a solid beat down.

1-3 might seem bad, but I feel like more of the games would have gone in my favor had I not played poorly. The deck still needs some tweaking, but I feel like it’s in a good spot. More testing tonight and we’ll see!

OH!

Rei was on Deck Tease last week. The podcast is here or on iTunes.

Oh mine guttes! GP Charlotte…

Friday - Getting there

Leading up to the weekend I was suffering from one heck of a head cold, but I’d lived through worse and, as always, paid the illness no mind. Left on Friday around noon after picking up a couple of other players from The Pillage. The route we drove took us down 81, through the mountains. Had I know what I do know, I would have suggested 95 a bit more strongly. Thirty minutes into the drive, just past Front Royal, I felt like my head was being stuffed with cotton while also being clamped down on. Right after, my hearing went all wonky and I developed quite the headache. This is the state I played in all weekend–and that very well might be a major contributing factor to my subpar GP experience.

We got to Charlotte just after six, just enough time to check in to the hotel and get to the hall for Foiled Again.

Friday – Foiled Again

In my mind a super-sized FNM , there were about 250 people playing Standard, where playing got you an FNM promo and each round you won garnered another. Played Life Bomb after managing to find the last two Sorin’s I needed for the deck. Match One, I drew with UWr Tempo after assembling the combo game one and losing game two. That put my win by combo count to two out of nearly 20 games at that point. Not a good sign, but I’ll get to that later.

Even so, my other two matches were pretty solid outings with Obzedat/Sorin wins. I lost to RDW in the final round to end 2-1-1 after running over to register for the next day. I couldn’t hear shit with the noise from the grinders going on by the main event stage, but eventually the judge and I synced up and I got signed up.

Though I was a bit sad that my 2-1-1 finish meant I only got three foils, I finally have a playset of FNM Gitaxian Probes now and the pack I got for being top 64 had a Domri in it. This was the high point of the weekend, if I’m honest.

Saturday – Main Event

Showed up at 930 expecting to get rolling at ten, but instead Rei and I found ourselves wading through a line the snaked throughout the hall and went out the door. When I had signed up last night, there were already about two thousand people pre-registered and there had to be another thousand standing around to get in. This was not a good sign. Mercifully, my hearing was still off so the din was more of a muffled buzz than anything.

An hour passed. Two. We still weren’t seated for the player meeting. Finally seating goes up and…I’m not on the sheet. So I stand in line at the event stage, with a considerable number of others, until the scorekeeper and I figure out that I had been signed up as Culley and not Gulley. Which of course begs the question: what’s the point of our DCI number if it doesn’t automatically populate such a simple thing? Anyway, I’m the last person to sit down at the table for the meeting, so I have less than no space. Irritated, I crack packs, register the pool, and pass it on. the pool I got was decent, though it was obviously not day two material. Still, my goal was only to make it past the third round x-1 and I figured the list would at least be able to make a good showing in that regard. I had a pair of Hands of Binding and three Deathcult Rogue along with a host of White, Blue, and Black removal and fixing, the deck was consistent, if nothing else. I was starting to feel a bit better about the day.

While the player meeting was going on, they had split the event into two brackets. I ended up in white and as luck would have it, no sooner had I gotten to my seat from Round One, did something go wrong. DCIR crashed and lost the pairings. So we had to be repaired which meant fighting through a mass of players that would typically be a GP all on their own. This of course meant that the error with my name had been fixed. Though be cause it was logistically impossible to tell me, I didn’t realize until after I had fought up to the ‘A-C’ board and not found Culley. Getting out and then finding ‘G-I’ left me with only a couple of minutes before the the round started. I rush to my table, only to not be able to take my seat. To my left was an individual who took up a space and a half. I ended up sitting around the guy to my right, though still a foot from the table, just to get going.

Needless to say, round one was a disaster.

I was already on a tilt after all the delays and hiccups and not being able to fucking sit at the table to play Magic and the guy I’m playing was either painfully new to the game or was being a massive tool. He was playing what seemed like a sixty card pile. His sleeves were all over the place in terms of directions, and I thought about calling a judge on it, but I just wanted to fucking play. So I cut his deck, lost the roll and proceeded to lose to answer after answer. From his lands, he had to be playing all five colors, something he confirmed after the game. I figured the first game was a fluke and shuffled up for game two. This was much closer, but still he always had an answer on time and won out with a timely Holy Mantle.

I told him to fix his sleeves, signed the slip, and got up. I consider it a monumental achievement to have not flipped the table in doing so.

Went out, got some air and came back in fro round two. Only to be paired against the Nuts Boros minus one. I still can’t figure how a deck with Reckoner, Medic, and Legionare was even in  the x-1 bracket. What the hell did he lose to? Needless to say, I was pretty much done. 0-2, pounding headache, and it was already after 5. I promptly dropped and got some art.

Saturday – Side Event

Not even sure if this is worth mentioning. The first game was an utter stomp, as was the second. The kid I was playing always had two Zhur-ta Swine and each game ended before turn four. Went and got dinner shortly after.

Sunday – Side Event

Did some shopping, picked up stuff for Splinter Twin, Zoo, and Hive Mind. Did a draft with Rei and some friends. We were over half the pool and the draft was a riot. I soaked up Esper cards and came away with a deck that was pretty brutal on paper. Game one I milled the guy out, game two was a Shadow Slice kill. Played Rei in round two. Rolled her game one, she never got going. Game two I was totally mana screwed instead. Game three…well Game Three is the reason I play Magic.

He’re the last couple of turns. I land a Cartel Aristocrat, I’ve got two Deathcult Rogues out, one with a Ciphered copy of Hands of Binding, and a Slate Street Ruffian. She’s got a Ceratok, and a decent number of guys. I swing in and tap down the Ceratok, leaving her with a Snapjaw which hasn’t evolved and a Cloudfin Raptor that isn’t leathal. I pass the turn back, sure that I can block the Snapjaw and then crack back for the win. She untaps and casts Unexpected Results. most of her deck is in the graveyard, but there’s at least one creature left, a Clinging Anemones. She has to flip that to win.

She shuffles up, I cut, and then…

Anemones. Snapjaw evolves and she swings for twice lethal. We’re both rolling with laughter at this point. The whole weekend came down to a 1/4 defender.

She lost the final to a guy who had a suspiciously high number of extort guys and then we went home.

The Monday After — Skipped to Sleep

Our store does Monday Night Standard, but after the GP we were both a bit Magic’d out and passed on going over–especially with projects looming for both of us.

Last Friday — Death of Life Bomb

So we come to last Friday and that went…poorly to say the least. Coming off of a disappointing GP and a frantically finished first draft on the attributes of anti-heroes, I came into Friday wanting to just relax and combo a couple of times. Almost did it game one, but a miscounting of mana, put Obzedat back in my hand and after that, the deck sulked.

Match two was against Humanimator. I won game one pretty quickly, game two took nearly the whole fifty as we both kept digging for combo pieces and I kept killing her Griselbrand. Finally she hit the Angel and my two draws weren’t my own combo pieces. Game three might have been a win, but we went to turns with no conclusion.

My match three opponent was someone I had played with earlier that night and didn’t really feel like playing against BUG control again after losing to Tamiyo Ult twice. No sooner did I get home that Life Bomb was broken up and I went back to tuning RUG.

Last Monday — Return of the Rogue

I’m playing a variation of my original RUG build, this time focusing on Wolf Run and creatures that can grow in combat. It’s still tuning but I went 2-1 Monday Night. There are four cards in the board I’m not too certain about. Right now it’s two Curse of Echoes and two Counterflux, but I can’t decide if I want more consistent Aggression I can board in, like four Hellrider or something; more control pieces, like Garruk, Primal Hunter; or more tempo pieces like Mugging, Pillar, or Skullcrack.

Anyway, this is waaay to long at this point. So I’ll catch you all next week. Hopefully back on time–though with me being at AWP, I may very well not have anything to report.

-til next time!

Always trust my gut, it would seem.

Other than that, there isn’t much to talk about. I don’t get any play this weekend as I was at a wedding with Rei. Going over to The Pillage tonight for some Monday Night Standard so I can get Life Bomb(WB Vizkopia Guildmage+ Exquisite Blood combo) in order so I have something to play in Standard side events should I scrub out at Charlotte.  Hopefully my phone doesn’t die before I even get my cards this time and I’ll actually be able to tweet about the rounds.

For any who are going to be at GP Charlotte, drop me a line here or on Twitter.

See ya’ll next time!

So I’ve got one deck brewing, the one I ended up playing last Friday: Supreme Ooze. It definitely needs some tweaks, but I think the Predator Ooze + Supreme Verdict synergy is worth looking into. Was using Zameck Guildmage and Ooze Flux to turn Undying back on for Young Wolf and Strangleroot Geist, but my 2 drop spot is really croweded so I may drop the guild mage in favor of another undying creature, possibly Stormbound Geist. Cathar’s crusade is definitely out though. I liked the improvised evolve mechanic, but it’s ultimately not worth it since I can’t fake people out into wasting removal on what seems to be an undying creature with a +1/+1 counter on it since the Remove a counter for ooze flux to make an ooze will resolve before the burn does meaning the +1/+1 counter goes right back. Maybe just run a couple more unsummons and simic charms and bounce the guildmage on their turn end and then verdict?

Anyway, I have another deck idea I want to play with RWB control. Why those colors and control? Well, I want to play Aurelia and she’s RW. Now, for six mana there’s three places she goes. In a midrange deck, in a reanimator deck, and in a control deck. Now, as a midrange threat, she’s kind of weak in comparison to Huntmaster, Thragtusk, and Restoration Angel and she’s probably too much for RUW flash to pay for. So that leaves reanimator and control. With Angel of Glory’s Rise and Humanimator being thing, maybe Aurelia is a worthwhile include, but honestly the deck doesn’t have much space that it isn’t using for the combo.  In a more conventional reanimator, there are better fatties to grab between Craterhoof and Griselbrand. Which leaves control as the last place she can feasibly be played.

So what combinations can we play?

• Boros Control — with Blind Obedience this seems like it could be a possibility, but there’s not really a method of gaining card advantage
• RWU — Just no, Flash is a better build
• RWG (Naya) — Again, no. Aggro and Midrange is where Naya is king
• Which leaves RWB. So what’ve we got?
• Well…how about some super effective flyers to attack with?
  • Desecration Demon
  • Olivia Voldaren
  • Vampire Nighthawk
  • Thundermaw Hellkite
  • Restoration Angel
• And some solid sweepers
  • Rolling Temblor
  • Bonfire of the Damned
  • Mizzium Mortars
  • Magmaquake
  • Merciless Eviction
  • Divine Reckoning
  • Terminus
  • Killing Wave
• Great Burn
  • Skullcrack
  • Boros Charm
  • Searing Spear
• And all the removal, ever
  • Dreadbore
  • Pillar of Flame
  • Searing Spear
  • Mizzium Mortars
  • Tragic Slip
  • Devour Flesh
  • Ulitmate Price
  • Human Frailty
  • Victim of the Night
  • Angelic Edict
  • Murder
  • Tribute to Hunger
  • Barter in Blood
  • Killing Glare
  • Death Wind
  • Orzhov Charm

“So why not play Jund then? This seems like you’re just trying to do something different for the sake of difference. In fact, this is worse than Jund or Naya because no Farseek, Huntmaster, or Thragtusk.”

Because while those lists above are available to each they’re tied to Green and thus Thrag and Huntmaster, they can not get away from them lest they be overrun by the Aggro decks. With Extort and Nighthawk we’ve got most of the lifegain we need and Tribute to hunger isn’t a bad backup tune–and we can always side in Faithmender.

As for me, my weekend was quite the enjoyable Magic frenzy. Played sealed on Friday night at Epic Loot in Deleware City. Played a BUG build that was powered by Crypt Ghast and evasive dudes. Then, when we got back from DE on Sunday, we picked up our box of Gatecrash and cracked that. Got a few good pulls to add to the Prerelease haul. Somehow though We’ve managed to not pull any Godless Shrines…

Anyway, just got back from my store’s slowly growing Monday Night Standard event with my rebuild of RUG Flash. I shifted a bit more into control and away from the flash aspect, and the deck’s still not in quite the right place. I’ve been looking at modern and legacy builds for RUG, but they both rely pretty much on Delver and Tarmagoyf for the beats and while Delver’s still a thing in Standard, I don’t know what I can do to replace ‘goyf. Flinthoof Boar? Strangleroot Geist? Should I find a solution, there’s still the issue of Delver not having the best chances of flipping. Is index a viable solution? I mean sure it doesn’t do nearly everything that Ponder does, but they’re the same cost and the same speed.

Let’s put Delver aside, and focus on more reasonable options. If we run Strangleroot Geist, Zameck Guildmage, Young Wolf, and Talrand we have a solid suite of creatures that provide a draw engine and decent pressure. So then, what do we do with the rest of the card slots? 25 Lands and 11 creatures leaves 24 spells. Obviously we need some disruption..and some pump…and probably some burn and draw. So its really just a question of what.

I”m thinking a list like this: (thought it’s currently 63 cards)

• 3 Izzet Charm
• 3 Simic Charm
• 4 Searing Spear
• 3 Spell Rupture
• 4 Think Twice
• 4 Rancor
• 4 Experiment One
• 4 Strangleroot Giest
• 4 Young Wolf
• 4 Zameck Guildmage
• 3 Talrand
• 4 Steam Vents
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Stomping Grounds
• 3 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 3 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Forest
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Island

Well then, I’m going to head off for now. I’ll figure out some things to cut and be ready for Friday with Undying RUG