TABLETOP TALES: MTG ORIGINS DRAFT: "BW AURA IMPS"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MAGIC THE GATHERING: ORIGINS DRAFT #1 

BW AURA: IMP PIMPS

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:

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This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to share my experience with Magic the Gathering: Origins.

You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website

This year marks the last core set with Magic the Gathering: Origins, a set covering the origins of 5 of the most prolific Planeswalkers, the planes that transformed them when they got their spark, and the other characters/events of their past. I'm excited for this to be the set where I'm rejoining the fold and can't wait to see what sort of deck I can build by the time Return to Zendikar hits. I have feeling it is going to involve elves!

...but anyway, let's talk about what you get and do in a draft.

In the draft, we had a pod of eight players. In order to draft, each player received three packs. You take a card from the pack and pass it to the right/left with each players taking turns taking a card from each pack until there are no more cards. Rinse and repeat twice. Everybody ends up with 45 cards and uses those materials to create a 40 card or greater deck with available lands. The draft is best of three against three opponents. Based on your outcome, you are placed higher in the standing and the winner gets a prize.

And I wanted to win! So, using my knowledge of the set and lessons from the pre-release, I set out to play a fun and competent deck. This often means turning down cards that seem like obvious picks in order to pick out cards that fit your theme. My theme?

"WHITE AND BLACK AURAS: IMP PIMPS!"

I didn't pull any planeswalkers or money cards. I didn't force an archetype that I knew would be popular-- looking at you elves and artifacts! I chose to pick an unpopular archetype, an underdog, and draft heavily into strong commons and uncommons with decent removal and even more decent combos. The core of my strategy creature base with a full set of Fetid Imps, a couple bombs and auras that overwhelm and control the battlefield. Let's check it out!

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/11/15!

MAGIC DUELS: ORIGINS TRAILER!

origins [ohr-ih-jins]
noun
1. A primary source from which things are derived.
2. The beginning of something.
3. Ancestry or parentage; birth; extraction.

EX. On Steam, PS4, XboxOne, and iDevices, Magic Duels: Origins is Wizards of the Coast's attempt to throw their hat into the free-to-play format of trading card games, in the vein of Hearthstone, and I gotta say that I like it.

The greatest strength of this game is that it is completely free to play and fairly intuitive. You can purchase packs with real money, but, by grinding against bots or real players and completing quests, you will get a collection pretty quick.

The biggest weakness is that the deckbuilder is a little clumsy and I think the packs should give you more cards. But that's my thoughts.

Oh... AND SCREW THE LILIANA CAMPAIGN!

TABLETOP TALES: ORIGINS PRE-RELEASE- "GREEN-BLACK ELVES OF LORWYN!"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

ORIGINS PRE-RELEASE SEALED: 

GREEN-BLACK ELVES OF LORWYN

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to share my experience with Modern Masters 2015.

You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website

This year marks the last core set with Magic the Gathering: Origins, a set covering the origins of 5 of the most prolific Planeswalkers, the planes that transformed them when they got their spark, and the other characters/events of their past. I'm excited for this to be the set where I'm rejoining the fold and can't wait to see what sort of deck I can build by the time Return to Zendikar hits. I have feeling it is going to involve either artifacts or elves...

...but anyway, let's talk about what you get and do in a Pre-Release Sealed Event.

After picking the color of your favorite Planeswalker (I chose Green), you get a box with 6 Origins booster packs, a 7 card seeded pack with a dated foil rare (all of the color you chose), a spin-down life counter, and a small pamphlet with your planeswalker's origin story & tips on how to make a deck. With these materials, you build a 40 card deck and proceed to fight it out in best of three matches against the other players. And, depending on your placement in the competition, we received Origins packs as prizes.

So let's see my deck that, while I didn't place highly with, I came close...

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

ORIGINS PRE-RELEASE SEALED: 

GREEN-BLACK ELVES OF LORWYN

I was, at first, unimpressed by my green pool and actually built a white-red aggro deck that took advantage of my burn spells and creatures in those colors. But, after losing a round, my opponent asked to look at my pool and helped me make a working deck out of Green and Black based on a decent (but not fantastic) pool of elves. I went on to win my next two matches and, if not for coming up against an even better green-black deck, I might've placed!

Still I enjoyed playing this deck so much that I really want to play Green-Black elves in standard (if that can be a thing!).

Let's look at the deck:

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/30/15!

flumph [flumf]
noun
1. Dungeons and Dragons. First published in the 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons book, The Fiend Folio, it is a Lawful Good aberration, from space/outer planes, resembling a glowing jellyfish with eye stalks that floats using air jets that make the noise that gives them their name. Surprisingly intelligent and wise, they live in well-organized and harmonious communities and communicate telepathically with other life forms. They, harmlessly, feed off the emotional energy of other beings and react to their emotions/behavior accordingly; they are attracted to good creatures and repelled by evil. Flumphs are quick to make friends with those that can look past their appearance and, generally, serve heroes in the fight against heroes by warning them of alien threats and assisting them in their own way.

EX. Out of all of the extremely silly monsters in Dungeons and Dragons history, the humble flumphs are my favorite.

The angle of appeal with these alien creatures is they look like some sort of random alien creatures that would swarm heroes and take part in something out of a bad Japanese hentai but, instead, are some of the nicest and most helpful creatures you will ever meet! These mini Flying Spaghetti monsters are like the pugs of D & D-- ugly, adorable and a little bit tragic. After all, most heroes would just assume they're horrible monsters and cut them down without giving them the opportunity to explain themselves. And that's a shame because, unlike many outer beings, Flumphs are not complete and utter tosspots.

My adventuring party in the Fifth Edition game I am currently playing in, as my human cleric of Lathander, Geth Dawnbraker, we met a Flumph! The pitiful creature seemed a little young, a little lost, and very distraught. It couldn't fly or, rather, it was afraid to fly! Immediately taking the little creature under his wing, Geth Dawnbreaker gave him an encouraging speech and, with a little divine intervention, sent the creature on it's way. And, with Geth making all sorts of deals and alignments with outsiders that might not have his best interests at heart, he'll need friends without ulterior motives that owe him a favor.

And a flumph is a good friend to have.

WORD OF THE DAY! 6/5/14!

TINY GRUMPY ARMIES TRAILER!

BUY TINY GRUMPY ARMIES TODAY!

grumpy [grump-ee]
adjective
1. Surly or ill-tempered; discontentedly or sullenly irritable; grouchy.

EX. Tiny Grumpy Armies is the latest fancy bit of fun from Human Person games and my old friend
pugfarts AKA Mapp Pears etc. (he has lots of aliases). The game combines his adorable art with his wicked sense of humor and just the right amount of game crafting to provide an experience that deserves to be on your game shelf. I got my copy a few days ago and I can't wait to play it and give it a proper review.

So, until then, I recommend you check out his blogs and videos to see what you're missing and what you should be investing into with your disposable income.

TABLETOP TALES: MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE: "WHITE & GREEN AURA VOLTRON!"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE PT. 1

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to share my experiences with the Theros pre-release.

You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website

It cost $25-$30 bucks to signs up and, for that fee, each player received 6 boosters packs, including two Born of the Gods packs, three Theros packs, & a special booster pack for their chosen hero's destiny,-- Lead (White), Outwit (Blue),  Dominate (Black), Conquer (Red), & Thrive (Green)-- and a promo card for your path (which you could use in the event) and with the materials each player was expected to build, with all the lands they need, a minimum 40 card deck. There was six one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds, and the ranking in these matches landed you more packs (with the top player getting a box) and the Top 20, after those who got more than a pack, recieved a "pity pack". Then, at my event, everyone from the bottom up got to pick a prize from the "swag box". In the end, I think everyone, including my two friends (one of which who has played longer than me and the other was attending his first event), had a good time.

Let's take a look at the new mechanics of Born of the Gods:

INSPIRED- Activates an effect every time the creature card containing the keyword is untapped.

TRIBUTE X- Whenever a creature with Tribute X enters the battlefield, an opponent of the creature's controller's choice may choose to either put X +1/+1 counter on it or, if the "the tribute is not paid", another effect will activate.

To check out the other mechanics features in the Theros block, make sure to check out my article on the Theros pre-release HERE.

The story, this time, has a horde of minotaurs threatening the peoples of Theros and Elspeth rising to the occasion to lead them to victory against the murderous marauders. But all is not as it seems, as Xenagos put the situation in motion so that the victory would result in a riotous celebration and he could use the emotions/spirit of these celebrations to empower his quest to become a god. Achieving his new status as a god, the satyr has rocked the heavens and challenges the other gods for supremacy amongst the worshipers below. Can Elspeth stop Xenagos from pursuing the rest of his plans to achieve his cruel & secret plot?

The will of the gods is slowly turning in my favor because, with this event, I broke my lousy streak and went 3/3. I think I would've gone 4/2 if not for a poor hand I should've mulliganed. While I didn't stress myself out, I still took this event rather seriously to try to place. At the very least, I was in the Top 20 of over 50 combatants. The most interesting part of this pre-release is that I had a fairly interesting pool and could've played anything but red. The best colors I had were white and green, which was my build through the most of the day and that's the subject of this article. The other deck I built for the last round involved abusing two Ordeals of Erebos and lots of discarding.

Let's talk about...

MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE DECK

"WHITE/GREEN AURA VOLTRON!"

I chose white as my pre-release color and found an awesome batch of green creatures in my limited pool. My green pool provided me with three ways to get card advantage through drawing cards and even a way to mill my graveyard back into my deck. Then, my two Sedge Scorpions and a Bow of Nylea gave me a lot of aggressive removal. My white pool brought in some removal but, more importantly, a ton of white creatures, including flyers. But what brought the two colors together were all of the bestow creatures that, thanks to the strong early game, could hit the battlefield as enchantments with pretty good regularity. What sort of scenarios does this deck pull off to help you win the day?

There were several games won by simply pecking away at my opponent's health until I could net a bomb to finish them off, but the best case scenarios involved Bow of Nylea and/or my creatures getting enchanted until they were big enough to just be nearly unstoppable. Nothing quite feels as awesome as swinging a 10/10 trampling flying creature with deathtouch.

MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES REVIEW! TICKET TO RIDE!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS

TICKET TO RIDE REVIEW!

Designers: Alan R. Moon
Artist: Cyrille Daujean & Julien Delval
Publishers:  Days of Wonder
Type: German-Style Board Game
Themes: Train-Themed, Transportation, Travel
# of Players: 2-5
Ages: 8 & Up
Time to Play: 30-60 min.
Approx. Price: $40-50