Sunday, May 16, 2010

You Are the Next Contestant!

Ok, since choose your own adventure blogging is the future of the internet, here we go . . .


You have worked so hard and studied your ass off on obscure Russian composers and capitals of Eastern European countries and inventors of medical equipment and now you big moment is finally here. You are on Jeopardy!!!  Your two opponents look like pushovers with whiteout sniffing habits and you have your thumb ready on the buzzer as Alex Trebek (or is it Justin with a mustache?) reads of the first answer: Jesus is the answer.

You buzz in and think, OMG! If Jesus is the answer, what is the question? There could be so many correct questions, but how will you find the right one so you can win enough money to fund you llama theme park and night club. So, dear blog readers, what is your question?

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Memorable Magic Moment #2


Fogtastic: (Warning: some details had to be filled in and are probably not totally correct.)

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away known as the Raleigh Nebula, me Phil and Martin we're in the middle of an Epic Wrathless Big Nasty game. This must have been in the days when 4th was still legal either that or Martin was playing outdated cards. I believe Martin had at least 2 Shivan Dragons, a Serra Angel, and a lot of other random weinies, probably Mountain Goat knowing Martin. Anyway, Phil had a ton of big Baddies as well. We think it was his dragon deck. So lets say Dragon Tyrant and a few other huge baddies. I don't think I had anything of any consequence and I was not at all involved in the combat.

So Martin alpha strikes Phil. After much deliberation, as this was important combat, Phil assigns all his blockers. Lot's of math was involved because life totals were low. After Phil assigns blockers, Martin starts doing some more math, adding up firebreathing and trample damage. This all took about 5 minutes to figure out. And then just to be a funny asshole: Fog. I fogged the shit out of that shit. I was not a threat and I still remained to be not a threat since I was playing cards like fog. I'm pretty sure I didn't win that game but it was awesome to totally waste everyone's time. Martin and Phil were like "WTF?"Then we went to the Indian Restaurant.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Why are some people so critical of WOTC?


Scroll down to the bottom of this article and read where it says in other news. The end of this article is one of the most intelligent and sensible pieces of writing on magic I have seen recently. Wizards has been pushing lot of tournament staples at common and uncommon recently and since the creation of mythic rares, if they were as money-grubbing as people assume they are, they would have put all the tournament staples at mythic and rubbed their hands together Mr. Burns style.

Yet, this brings up a bigger question about a porition of the magic playing population. Of course, with every set and every change in magic there are those on message boards and forums that assume this is terrible for magic and will ruin the game forever. I'm not entirely talking about them, because there are many more sensible and rational voices in the magic community, including prominent pro players, that seem to be critical of WOTC more often than giving them credit for what they do right. In general, many people in the magic community seem to be critical of WOTC far more often than they are appreciative of what they do. I understand that magic is a game that to be skilled at requires attention to detail and a critical eye, and I'm not saying that WOTC is above criticism, since only Justin Beiber is.

What I am saying is that I want to appreciate the wonderful decisions and the amazing card game that has brought me hours of comradeship and enjoyment. WOTC overwhemly communicates with their audience and listens to them and are tirelylessly working to improve their game for all of their different audiences; how many other big corporations or games go as far as magic does to do these things? I don't agree with everything WOTC has done, but when you look at the big picture of the number of awesome sets they have made and the number of good decisions they have made, it seems overwhelmingly in their favor.

Finally, there is definitely a place for criticizing and analyzing other people in life, but I don't really want that to be a part of a card game that I play for fun. It requires a lot of energy to criticize and when I play magic I want to appreciate it and have fun. Life is better when we appreciate the good moments and brush off the details.