"I'm Back!"

Probably the most typical post for a blog, the "I'm back after XYZ period of time, for ABCD number of reasons". It's almost humbling writing this, knowing I'm part of a larger collective now. So yes after many weeks of work, flight training and trying to enjoy summer, I'm back and have decided to make posting here a (at least) once a week goal, so hopefully six months from now, I'm not reading this thinking what the heck happened to my goal of weekly writing or worse yet doing a second, "I'm back, no really this time" post.

Rain Blahs

Well it's been almost a full week here of poor weather, rain storms, snow showers, slush spit, thick mist, heavy haze and when it isn't those things it's scraggly grey clouds (aka scud) flouting endlessly on a sea of grayish milk. Then there was yesterday, a nice sunny day in the middle of all this crap, a totally out of place day, now it's back to milky seas and bone chilling wind... low blow nature (credits to the artist).

full moon.

Today, or rather tonight is the full moon, yet again, beware the moon.

Besides people acting nutty & lycanthropy, I wonder if fear of the full moon simply comes from the fact that it illuminates the land at night. Predators, beast, human or otherwise could possibly see better allowing easier hunting, the full moon exposing prey instead of concealing it like the new moon. Luckily the moon at it's fullest is a sign that it will soon be retreating back into the earth's shadow or umbra, taking everyone's restlessness and anxiety with it (credits to the photographer).

Some Art.

Cruising the web, looking for interesting art these last few rainy days, of course my interest in magic (the card game) often crosses paths with my interest in art, here are a few pieces from the newest set:

I should have warned the viewer these are a bit disturbing, this one is fantastic, the artist handles the negative space so well, uses it to add the the eeriness of whats going on.

Alittle nip & tuck from a cyborg surgeon, the skull like face and whitish body, with the combination of an operation in a dark room remind me vaguely of modern alien folklore, which only bolsters the creepiness! 

   I don't know, when I look at this beast I'm not over whelmed by horror (which is fine as I prefer not to be!), I do however see "The Prawn from Hell", this is what happens when you mix the seafood at Red lobster with toxic chemicals and interesting amounts of radiation. 

I really like the reds and whites with the different shades of grey and light browns in the background, never mind that it's some kind of nightmare toy doll.   

As always, credits to the various artists (keeping it short and sweet today).

Deck Types in Magic.

There are three main deck types in MTG, Aggro, the aggressive type, Control, the defensive type and a third type call Combo, which uses a series of parts to win. There are also a number of different subtypes in magic as well as seen here (nicely listed out):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_deck_types

one to focus on in particular is Midrange found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_deck_types#Midrange

The next pauper deck I talk about will be a Midrange deck, similar in function to the "Rock".

 (a very bad dog, by Nils Hamm)

Crusoe

Here are some arts by N. C. Wyeth for the story "Robinson Crusoe", really fantastic stuff his work. The art captures the feel and emotion in the book, of Crusoe's words as he tells about his life. Here are some fav's:

This first one is of Robinson not listening to dear old dad, gee that sounds familiar....

Out on his own, collecting what he can after, basically, total disaster.

In this scene we have Crusoe realizing the magnitude of his situation, I love this "shot", who hasn't been where he has in this picture? His problems are bigger than he is, manifested in the background.

I like this one because it shows Crusoe in a home of his own doing, relaxed, he's reaping his rewards here. A dry shelter with a solid table and chair, a sturdy fence to keep pests out and a good book (well the good book, ;^} ), what more could a man want?

Robison out and about in a boat of his own making, in a first solo boat trip, anything could go wrong, he's at the mercy of nature and his control is limited. I can really relate to this one well being an amateur pilot, you have only your knowledge to rely on. In this scene, the fact that Crusoe has only his eyes and arms to guide him and no other instruments to help him on his course, makes it all the more frightening.  

And finally robinson teaching a parrot how to be civil and speak like a human, people come up with all sorts of strange things to do when they don't need to make money and have no one to boss them around.

These are just some of N.C. Wyeth's paintings he did for Robinson Crusoe, for more info on N.C. Wyeth look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.C._Wyeth

If you ever have even a small desire to read the story of Robinson Crusoe, do so, recommended.  

Spring.

It feels like spring here finally, at least where I'm at, warmer weather, longer days, birds talking up a storm during the day, actual storms, t-storms included, no-yucky snow showers and of course, my personal spring fav, allergies. Not uncommon to see mornings like the one in the picture above now (credits, to it's photographer).  

Happy April 1st!!

Happy or possibly unhappy April Fool's to all (and yes it is actually april 1st here, no joke)!

I won't pull a prank on you guys n' gals, or maybe, just maybe I have, if your reading this your probably to late (oh dear!), but it really isn't worth worrying about so just go on with your day and forget about this post, it will do no good, no good what so ever to dwell on what horrible joke has befallen you just...this....second! ;^P

but really, for reals, nothing is wrong....   :^I  

Code Name: Zombor!

One of the cool things about having your own blog, is you get to talk about all of your weird little hobbies, todays topic is about Pauper Magic (MTG), the all commons format (which is also my personal fav).

Here's is a deck I cooked up several weeks ago, It's name for now is simply "Zombor" named after the large zombie boss you fight in the SNES game Chrono Trigger. This deck, simply put, is a four color control deck, it's four colors and likes to "control" the board to win, lets have a look at it's guts:

The List:

Rotting Legion x2
Spellstutter Sprite x4
Gravedigger x1
Mnemonic Wall x1

Prophetic Prism x4
Doom Blade x2
Fog x2
Incinerate x2
Mana Leak x2
Staggershock x2
Blightning x2
Firebolt x2
Flame Slash x3
Foresee x2
Preordain x4

Forest x1
Island x8
Mountain x7
Swamp x5
Terramorphic Expanse x2

(Side board incomplete at the moment)

This deck is all about 1-upping your opponent through a mix of direct card advantage (Staggershock, Firebolt, Foresee, Blightning, Spellstutter Sprite), having better cards (Rotting Legion, scry [through "sifting"] effects) and/or having decent answers to an opponents plays (Doom Blade, Fog, any burn, counters).

I'll admit the card counts are a bit awkward, two of this, one of that, four of those, but with a combination of scry (Foresee, Preordain) card drawing (same cards, plus Prophetic Prism) and reuse through card recursion (Mnemonic Wall, Gravedigger, Firebolt), the awkward numbers soon smooth out. The mana base was also another challenge, but Prophetic Prism makes it possible as do again scry effects and to a lesser degree the two Terramorphic Expanses, which there are only two of so as not to draw as many in the mid to late game.  Many of the cards are pretty straight forward, burn kills creatures, counterspells for cards I might not be able to handle with a kill spell, Blightning (discard) to punish an opponent with a low hand size, however there are three cards I'd like to focus on here:

Rotting Legion: the black 4/5 zombie, rotting legion is simply better than most other creatures in the pauper format, it's huge body lets it survive combat, burn spells and lets it ignore most black kill spells. Tapping when it enter's play is rarely a penalty, compare rotting legion to guardian of the guildpact and you'll find legion survives more types of spells (and combats!) for one more mana.  

Spellstutter Sprite: It's no surprise how good this card is, but frankly I am surprised by how little it's used in many pauper decks sporting blue. There are an abundance of one casting cost spells used in the pauper format by a variety of decks and the sprite hoses all of them regardless of color. This made it to good to pass up and after using them as just a four of with no other faerie support, I've found they work just fine, they break all kinds of plays from burn to combos and they put you up a card by giving you a (flying!) 1/1 creature, of course these sprites are the perfect bodyguards for the legion.

Fog: The "alpha strike" the "all in","all chips on the table" play, usually involves a player attacking with all of their creatures with the hope it kills their opponent, I've found this to be troublesome when building control decks as most can't handle an overwhelming attack, sometimes it's not possible to kill all or most of an opponents creatures before they kill you. Enter fog. Fog is truly a delightful card, for a point of green mana, it can stop a lot of bad things, like a mob of attacking creatures, if used cleverly it can also net you extra cards off an opponents plays (boosting their creatures with instants before they attack, for example). One of the best parts about fog in this deck, is that using Prophetic Prism you can "hide" your fog plays pretty well, by leaving a prism untapped and any land open, generally if people don't see the green mana on the board they don't see fog. Fog is a fail safe for when your other spells fall sort.  

I'll probably update this deck more in the future (at least a SB!) but for now it does fairly well and crushes all kinds of archetypes, shines best against aggressive decks though, for an additional resource here's a nifty little website I use to look up Magic cards:

http://magiccards.info/

a nice site, good search engine with excellent scans of the cards (used above). Look for more pauper decks here in the future, as I will be posting them.  

Here's a Tale....

about two frogs (credits to my dad for sending this to me in an email).

This isn't the only version of this story I've heard actually, if you cruise the net you can find many
alternate stories each with a similar message, however this is one of the better ones I've heard:

Two Frogs
By: Author Unknown

A number of frogs were traveling through the woods. Two of 
them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered 
around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they 
told the two frogs that they were as good as dead.

The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out 
of the pit with all of their might. The other frogs kept 
telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead.

Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs 
were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. 
Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the 
pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made 
it out.

When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear 
us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He 
thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

This story teaches two lessons:
1. There is the power of life and death in the tongue. An 
   encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up 
   and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be the 
   push over the edge. Be careful of what you say. Speak 
   life to those who cross your path. Anyone can speak 
   words that can rob another of the spirit to push forward 
   in difficult times. 

It's a pretty interesting story gives a little bit more drama to Thumpers advice, it also reminds me vaguely
this and the alternate versions of a "dangerous (or hazardous) attitude" a term they use in aviation (there are 5 dangerous attitudes), the one I'm thinking of is Resignation, the "I can't do this, I give up (because I have no control)", the other frog clearly had it (with no help from his fellows!).

Speaking of Zombies...

If your ever bored on a rainy day I suggest you go and google Arthur Suydam, the guy that does the covers for Marvel's line: Marvel Zombies, I've never seen in film, TV or any other modern day art the kind of skeletal, bloody, half-eaten looking zombies this guy paints. These "things", these undead freaks are just horrific, road kill with a pulse is being to nice. The art featured here is Zombie Hyperion, hurling a car, very much like Superman (of course Hyperion is Marvel's take on Superman, Marvel Zombie Superman, if you like). More can be read about Arthur here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Suydam  

ZAMN art!

Ah Zombies Ate My Neighbors, beloved early teenage years game, probably one of the best SNES titles ever, here's some ZAMN art I found while, sifting through webpages one day (credit goes to all the individual artists).

Bonus survival advice: the Martian Bubble Gun kills Ants, drinking a Mystery Potion with one bar of health left usually recovers you like a first aid kit (more often then not), the Martians really do hate tomatoes.

Favored Scars Art

For those of you that follow Magic (MTG), the Scars of Mirrodin block has really cranked out some wicked paintings, here are some of my fav's from the latest two (three!) sets (The picture with the myr [google it] actually just come out on the main "mothership" site today, 3-30-11, an instant fav! Somehow totally cute and killer creepy at the same time.), kudos to all these fantastic artists!:

Ok I lied, this is just some of my favored art from Scars....may post more later. :^p

Today's fun fact

What is UNICOM?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNICOM

just a test! blogger UNICOM!