Rotting Legion Control

so six (seven) months later... :^)

I find myself fixing up a pauper deck I built a while back, search "Zombor" in this blog and you will find the original list, here it is again new and improved (complete with Side board):

Creatures:

Rotting Legion x2
Spellstutter Sprite x4
Bala Ged Scorpion x1
Mnemonic Wall x1

Spells:

Preordain x2
Gitaxian Probe x4
Fog x2
Staggershock x2
Lightning bolt x2
Blightning x2
Firebolt x2
Doom blade x2
Foresee x2
Manaleak x2
Flame slash x3
Prophetic Prism x4

Lands:

Terramorphic Expanse x2
Forest x1
Island x8
Mountain x7
Swamp x5

Side Board:

Ancient Grudge x2
Manic Vandal x1
Staggershock x2
Incinerate x2
Duress x3
Mind Rot x1
Rotting Legion x1
Firebolt x2
Terminate x1

So not much has been done to the main board, gravedigger got booted for Bala Ged Scorpion, because I enjoy that they both cost the same but the scorpion had +1 toughness and still had some form of card advantage in that it could kill a creature. Incinerate MB was removed and added to the SB, for the cheaper Lightning Bolt. Preordain was bumped down to x2 in favor of Gitaxian Probe, taking a peek at an opponents hand is great when you have discard and counterspells in your deck, plus a first turn probe followed with a preordain is pretty fun.

The side board, I had many great options, but overall I kept the SB pretty straight forward. For swarm or weenie decks I added more Staggershocks & Firebolts, for control decks I added discard in the form of Mind Rot (easier to cast than Blightning) and Duress, with Gitaxian Probe, discard becomes more useful than normal, a single Rotting Legion was added as well as something decent to swap with doom blade vs mono black or near mono black decks. Terminate & Incinerate are both useful vs Regenerators, Terminate is also useful for targeting Guardian of the Guildpact if one is controlled by the opponent. Manic Vandal & Ancient Grudge are just good card advantage towards artifact based decks.

I forget how much fun I have writing this stuff up, I should get more posted, tomorrow is a brand new day and hopefully yours is a good one.

"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.