OK, before I leave tonight here's the changes and explanations behind them.
-1 Hero Bladehold
-1 Frost Titan
-1 Think Twice
-4 Sphere of the Suns
+4 Oblivion Rings
+3 Steel Sabotage to SB
+2 Sun Titans from SB to Main
+1 Elesh, Elspeth, Venser added to SB
The Hero and Frost Titan were removed to make space for the O Rings. I figured playing a load of threats without decent removal for the opponent's threats felt too simply minded and aggressive. After all, I had no hope against Tempered Steel if they ever resolved their namesake card. The Hero and Frosty felt alright to remove because 3 Heroes means I'll still draw one in good time, and Frosty really did far too little when he showed up, compared to what I had hoped for him to do.
The Spheres are gone because my deck didn't need that much mana. They were most often played against other control decks, who'd allow me the extra mana because they would just play around my threats and extra stuff every turn, counter the critical spells while killing creatures on their own turn. I do envy their black.
Sun Titan came in as a real-big-six, who can obviously return Phantasmal Image to chain together a nice load of power and toughness (with vigilance) for a little cost, ending with an Oblivion Ring hopefully.
The only other changes were some fun one-of's in the sideboard that help the deck as well as being cute. Elspeth can make dorks and be reset with Venser (though this doesn't allow 2 activations in the one turn: watch out for that. Elesh Norn is great against the smaller attacking decks assuming I get to 7 mana, so maybe some Sphere of the Suns could stay in the sideboard, maybe 2.
Having said that, I don't enjoy Ratchet Bomb in the sideboard. I haven't played it to great effect yet, but I don't imagine removing them just to try out Elesh whom I might never want. Blowing up stuff for 2 mana is always quicker and easier then maybe blowing up a load of things (and swinging for heaps) if I get to 7.
So here's the list I am piloting tonight; wish me luck.
8 Island
8 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
---
24 lands
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Hero of Bladehold
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Sun Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
---
17 creatures
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Think Twice
3 Dissipate
1 Gideon Joura
---
19 others
4 Timely Reinforcement
3 Steel Sabotage
2 Day of Judgment
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Jace Memory Adept
---
15 sideboard
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Test Your Brain
This update has two sections. One talking about how the brain works and "short cuts" it will take for itself, and a second section where I briefly discuss my pregame plan, talk, size up etc.
PART THE FIRST
A fantastic show is on Discovery channel right now, talking about the brain and how it works. They run a few games to show this, and one has actress saying "ga", but it sounds like she's saying Ba. The truth is she is "Ba" comes out of her mouth, but the eyes don't see the characteristic "B" bump on the lips. Because of this brain rewires it to believe you are hearing "Ga." After all, it's what you see and it's what's correct, right? What they have done is played the film of her saying "Ga" over the sound of her saying "ba."
It makes sense that the same applies to Magic. What you're opponent is saying (casting, attacking) is what you can hear with your proverbial ears. What your opponent is physically mouthing (what your eyes tell you) is how your opponent sets up their board. If they've got Island Island untapped and it's turn 2, you're expecting a Mana Leak on your play. But if you pass and they don't have it, you were hearing Ga not Ba. Further, you've got no information to verify whether they had Mana Leak or not, they may never have had it.
Another cute trick is where they play a sound that's rather gibberish. It doesn't make sense, but you can imagine it sounds like something. Speech. Then they play a spoken sentence, "she cuts with a knife." Once people have heard that, they replay the original sound. Usually people can't "unhear" the words, now believing that the gibberish now sounds like the sentence "she cuts with a knife." This is amazing once again for Magic tricks. If your opponent lost their round 1, then they've been told already tonight that their deck doesn't work, they're not on the their game, they aren't going to win, etc. This is more commonly known as "tilting", and there's no reason that your opponent won't feel it already. I'm aware you could feel the same, losing your first round, but the sensible player will identify why or where they screwed up, and not make the same mistake.
Knowing a few tricks like this can really help you to carry out your plays with spiced information. It's no secret that players will organise their hand in a certain way. I personally organise my hand Lands, then via mana cost. Once I realise I'm doing this I shuffle my hand after every draw, but I won't always catch myself. Some people like to put the kill spells (Terror, Terminate) in the right of their hand, so you can watch where their cards go as soon as they draw them. Occasionally people draw a land and plop it immediately onto the field, deck to table top. They're happy and relieved that they can finally do something, so they go auto for a second and the brain says "YES, do it!" These moments cost players games, and it's usually the calm and alert opponent who can capitalise on it.
An example from last year would be me against Owen Egan. He's a great player who I often play against in drafts, and for the first time in a while I was winning against him. I drew a nice big 3/3, he had no one that could block well, and I had the 2/1 haste infect goblin. Excited to beat down, I cast the fatty and moved the Strider Harness off the Goblin onto my new fatty and went straight to combat, to which everyone watching and Owen himself said "No, wait. The Goblin dies." In my excitement, I'd forgotten all about the -1/-1 counter on the goblin, and moving the equipment off killed it. Go on auto, lose the game.
Tomorrow night I'm taking my man Rony to FNM at Blacktown, as a birthday gift. I hope I don't play him, and not because I can't beat him. In Limited we're 4-2 in my favour. It's because I've promised to concede to him as a birthday gift. Yah, that'll happen.
What I aim to do is put to use some of these ideas above, that teaching a player something in game 1 will make them "see" or "hear" the same pattern occuring in games 2 or 3. I'm taking my blue/white build [same as last time, though vastly improved] and I'll Mana Leak turn 2 game 1 every time. Then see how my opponent plays game 2. I imagine plenty of the time they'll respect the Mana Leak, whether I have it or not.
PART THE SECOND
My own pre-game is simple enough for me. Appearance is first. A lot of players, especially at bigger events, like to wear the suits. The tie, the shirt, the jacket. It makes a big speech about the player, they are "the business man". For me I imagine myself as much the same, so I don't feel intimidated. I've known other players who do, but I usually just compliment the player and get on with it. I mean, I've got a suit at home too. I could wear it, but am I more comfortable in my jacket tonight, or would I prefer my "I love beer" shirt?
Age also comes into it, as a younger player tends to have a deck filled with their favourite cards that they think are good. And they indeed might be, but often there's a good percentage of the deck that are cute/favourite cards which rather play like blanks against a real/seasoned deck. For a good example, check out my deck from last week. Even earlier then that, it used to have Myr Battlesphere (good) and Golden/Silver Myr to back it up (very bad).
You can try and garner some information from the look of your opponent's face, but I've learnt that this is stupid. For me certainly. People who've looked like stupid, cavemen type opponents have continued to simply crush me into the ground and 4-0 FNM or 3-0 a draft. Plus there will always be stupid luck anyway, so sizing up brains from appearance is rather a waste.
After the image comes the pregame banter. Depending on who it is and how well I know them, I either go through the "So how long have you been playing," routine, or just ask them whether they think they can beat my awesomeness/specific deck contents. With someone like Rony I'd talk about the weather or how soon he expects his Consecrated Sphinx's back, give him something to be distracted by all game long.
Depending on how chatty the person is, I usually tell them I've been playing since 1999. This can be impressive, seeing these days saying "I've played since original Mirrodin," can impress upon players, though someone told me the other day they started in 93, and I was the one going all googly eyed. Time, I imagine, in a trained brain, equals more skill through sheer volume of exposure. Of course that's utter cock anyway. I've been playing since 1999 and to my memory have only won one draft.
After the "how long" question I usually like to drop the "level 1 judge" bomb, to see if that doesn't get a reaction. It might, or might not, but mostly I'm happy to tell players that I judged because I couldn't play. That way, I feel like it conveys an intimidating knowledge of the rules, while still making it sound like I'm not unbeatable. Some kind of balance.
After the banter comes the shuffle and mulligans. I try to do my mulligans after my opponent. I love watching them spy their hand and go "Um." That's the most interesting part. Not an obvious "Keep," but a tentative, "Hmm... I know it's not a great hand," and now they've got to consider going to 6. After that, I'll mulligan but I always watch their eyes and eyebrows when they're peeling their opening 7/6/5/what have you.
Myself, I've never noticed if my opponent has watched me while I mull over a mulligan, but I'm sure some have. I like to keep a blank face, or imagine I do. If I am going to keep a hand, I'll tell myself a story of how the games going to play out using this hand, and I'll know how good my 4-ofs could help get into a better position to win. If I'm happy with either of those (the story of winning, or of the 4-of's getting me there) I feel I can keep.
And all this before the first land is even played!
This is just a simple look at how I go about my Magic experience, and I try to do it for every single game. If I were at a GP I'd look (possibly a tiny bit harder) at my opponent's face when they're drawing their opening hand, but even with casual games or silly repack drafts I'll do it. I never let myself take back mistakes, and expect the same of my opponent.
That's it for now. Though I'd like to leave it on the following note. A lot of pro players are just nice people, who aren't playing the game because they must win. If they lose, they do so graciously, and I'm thinking of LSV and Paulo Vitor Dama Da Rosa when I say that. To play like them, I certainly can't, but I can win and lose like them, that is with good humour and a sense of "that's just how it went." Granted there are going to be a lot more mistakes for me to make that they wouldn't have, and they'll play the game how I couldn't have imagined before seeing them do it, but even LSV has tried to Mana Leak Thrun, the Last Troll.
So grapes and all, just shuffle up again.
Thanks for reading,
Fox "Mulligan aggresively, yo," Murdoch.
PART THE FIRST
A fantastic show is on Discovery channel right now, talking about the brain and how it works. They run a few games to show this, and one has actress saying "ga", but it sounds like she's saying Ba. The truth is she is "Ba" comes out of her mouth, but the eyes don't see the characteristic "B" bump on the lips. Because of this brain rewires it to believe you are hearing "Ga." After all, it's what you see and it's what's correct, right? What they have done is played the film of her saying "Ga" over the sound of her saying "ba."
It makes sense that the same applies to Magic. What you're opponent is saying (casting, attacking) is what you can hear with your proverbial ears. What your opponent is physically mouthing (what your eyes tell you) is how your opponent sets up their board. If they've got Island Island untapped and it's turn 2, you're expecting a Mana Leak on your play. But if you pass and they don't have it, you were hearing Ga not Ba. Further, you've got no information to verify whether they had Mana Leak or not, they may never have had it.
Another cute trick is where they play a sound that's rather gibberish. It doesn't make sense, but you can imagine it sounds like something. Speech. Then they play a spoken sentence, "she cuts with a knife." Once people have heard that, they replay the original sound. Usually people can't "unhear" the words, now believing that the gibberish now sounds like the sentence "she cuts with a knife." This is amazing once again for Magic tricks. If your opponent lost their round 1, then they've been told already tonight that their deck doesn't work, they're not on the their game, they aren't going to win, etc. This is more commonly known as "tilting", and there's no reason that your opponent won't feel it already. I'm aware you could feel the same, losing your first round, but the sensible player will identify why or where they screwed up, and not make the same mistake.
Knowing a few tricks like this can really help you to carry out your plays with spiced information. It's no secret that players will organise their hand in a certain way. I personally organise my hand Lands, then via mana cost. Once I realise I'm doing this I shuffle my hand after every draw, but I won't always catch myself. Some people like to put the kill spells (Terror, Terminate) in the right of their hand, so you can watch where their cards go as soon as they draw them. Occasionally people draw a land and plop it immediately onto the field, deck to table top. They're happy and relieved that they can finally do something, so they go auto for a second and the brain says "YES, do it!" These moments cost players games, and it's usually the calm and alert opponent who can capitalise on it.
An example from last year would be me against Owen Egan. He's a great player who I often play against in drafts, and for the first time in a while I was winning against him. I drew a nice big 3/3, he had no one that could block well, and I had the 2/1 haste infect goblin. Excited to beat down, I cast the fatty and moved the Strider Harness off the Goblin onto my new fatty and went straight to combat, to which everyone watching and Owen himself said "No, wait. The Goblin dies." In my excitement, I'd forgotten all about the -1/-1 counter on the goblin, and moving the equipment off killed it. Go on auto, lose the game.
Tomorrow night I'm taking my man Rony to FNM at Blacktown, as a birthday gift. I hope I don't play him, and not because I can't beat him. In Limited we're 4-2 in my favour. It's because I've promised to concede to him as a birthday gift. Yah, that'll happen.
What I aim to do is put to use some of these ideas above, that teaching a player something in game 1 will make them "see" or "hear" the same pattern occuring in games 2 or 3. I'm taking my blue/white build [same as last time, though vastly improved] and I'll Mana Leak turn 2 game 1 every time. Then see how my opponent plays game 2. I imagine plenty of the time they'll respect the Mana Leak, whether I have it or not.
PART THE SECOND
My own pre-game is simple enough for me. Appearance is first. A lot of players, especially at bigger events, like to wear the suits. The tie, the shirt, the jacket. It makes a big speech about the player, they are "the business man". For me I imagine myself as much the same, so I don't feel intimidated. I've known other players who do, but I usually just compliment the player and get on with it. I mean, I've got a suit at home too. I could wear it, but am I more comfortable in my jacket tonight, or would I prefer my "I love beer" shirt?
Age also comes into it, as a younger player tends to have a deck filled with their favourite cards that they think are good. And they indeed might be, but often there's a good percentage of the deck that are cute/favourite cards which rather play like blanks against a real/seasoned deck. For a good example, check out my deck from last week. Even earlier then that, it used to have Myr Battlesphere (good) and Golden/Silver Myr to back it up (very bad).
You can try and garner some information from the look of your opponent's face, but I've learnt that this is stupid. For me certainly. People who've looked like stupid, cavemen type opponents have continued to simply crush me into the ground and 4-0 FNM or 3-0 a draft. Plus there will always be stupid luck anyway, so sizing up brains from appearance is rather a waste.
After the image comes the pregame banter. Depending on who it is and how well I know them, I either go through the "So how long have you been playing," routine, or just ask them whether they think they can beat my awesomeness/specific deck contents. With someone like Rony I'd talk about the weather or how soon he expects his Consecrated Sphinx's back, give him something to be distracted by all game long.
Depending on how chatty the person is, I usually tell them I've been playing since 1999. This can be impressive, seeing these days saying "I've played since original Mirrodin," can impress upon players, though someone told me the other day they started in 93, and I was the one going all googly eyed. Time, I imagine, in a trained brain, equals more skill through sheer volume of exposure. Of course that's utter cock anyway. I've been playing since 1999 and to my memory have only won one draft.
After the "how long" question I usually like to drop the "level 1 judge" bomb, to see if that doesn't get a reaction. It might, or might not, but mostly I'm happy to tell players that I judged because I couldn't play. That way, I feel like it conveys an intimidating knowledge of the rules, while still making it sound like I'm not unbeatable. Some kind of balance.
After the banter comes the shuffle and mulligans. I try to do my mulligans after my opponent. I love watching them spy their hand and go "Um." That's the most interesting part. Not an obvious "Keep," but a tentative, "Hmm... I know it's not a great hand," and now they've got to consider going to 6. After that, I'll mulligan but I always watch their eyes and eyebrows when they're peeling their opening 7/6/5/what have you.
Myself, I've never noticed if my opponent has watched me while I mull over a mulligan, but I'm sure some have. I like to keep a blank face, or imagine I do. If I am going to keep a hand, I'll tell myself a story of how the games going to play out using this hand, and I'll know how good my 4-ofs could help get into a better position to win. If I'm happy with either of those (the story of winning, or of the 4-of's getting me there) I feel I can keep.
And all this before the first land is even played!
This is just a simple look at how I go about my Magic experience, and I try to do it for every single game. If I were at a GP I'd look (possibly a tiny bit harder) at my opponent's face when they're drawing their opening hand, but even with casual games or silly repack drafts I'll do it. I never let myself take back mistakes, and expect the same of my opponent.
That's it for now. Though I'd like to leave it on the following note. A lot of pro players are just nice people, who aren't playing the game because they must win. If they lose, they do so graciously, and I'm thinking of LSV and Paulo Vitor Dama Da Rosa when I say that. To play like them, I certainly can't, but I can win and lose like them, that is with good humour and a sense of "that's just how it went." Granted there are going to be a lot more mistakes for me to make that they wouldn't have, and they'll play the game how I couldn't have imagined before seeing them do it, but even LSV has tried to Mana Leak Thrun, the Last Troll.
So grapes and all, just shuffle up again.
Thanks for reading,
Fox "Mulligan aggresively, yo," Murdoch.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
First, read this!
A quick explanation. I'm an avid Magic fan, player, judge and writer, but also an avid reader. As such, this blog has (has?) two purposes. To report about my Magic activities, as well as report (lightly) on the books I'm reading as found on the Time Magazines top 100 from 1923 to 2005. So that's why the title reads "Fox Murdoch's Time 100 Novels Review", which I really should change.
This does mean occasionally I'll change the topic to books, but it's very easy to tune out as such a time if you do choose to, or to actually read maybe one or two books and learn something.
If you wanna read good stuff about Magic, check out channelfireball.com. Those guys are my HEROES.
Hope that helps!
This does mean occasionally I'll change the topic to books, but it's very easy to tune out as such a time if you do choose to, or to actually read maybe one or two books and learn something.
If you wanna read good stuff about Magic, check out channelfireball.com. Those guys are my HEROES.
Hope that helps!
Fox Murdoch's first time...
Well it wasn't THAT amazing. The world didn't move until round 3 when I lost against Tempered Steel. It turns out counters are great, but when you need to save one for Tempered Steel itself, they just play a load of guys that don't cost much and don't amaze on their own but over several terms that just get the job done while you can't tap out. My realistic solution would have been to drop a Wurm asap so I could bash and gain life every turn, meaning any combat was atleast against -6 but I didn't think that until after the round. He went on to win the FNM, so fine by me.
Back to round 1. I'm against kid-jo who's brought his favourite deck. I always wonder if it's OK to play well (not go easy, not utterly devastate them) and figure that yeah, it's OK. They usually enjoy just playing, and normally upon the death state just dump their favourite spell onto the field because hey, they wanted to play it. He had a Mana Leak at some point, but that was it.
Round 2 I was against mono black infect, which I wasn't sure about. Game 1 I keep a Ponder/Hero of Bladehold/5 land hand and it works quite well. He just doesn't draw anything, I see an Inkmoth/Plague Myr and he dies as the tokens go 2 4 6 dead.
Game 2 he rises against me and I can't counter his spells that'll matter, while game 3 we have a real game of it, and it goes long and he nearly gets to kill me but I'm only down to 4 when I can swing back for the win that he can't combat. I resolved Sphinx against him which is really rather game.
Round 4 I'm against the Solar Flare deck, and he had a better position on things though I played well enough until Gideon showed up. He's like a Manual when you drive an automatic. The board clutters up with him controlling a Wurm and me having a Wurm (Mind Control'd) and two Solemn Simulacrum's and I make him attack Gideon, then swing in with my own guys... so his Wurm never dies! I die.
Game 2 it's not so close, as he gets his goods out and I realise how he has +8 counters on me, because he can allow creatures to resolve then kill them with Go for the Throat, which rather beats my 4 Mana Leaks. He came 2nd, so also good.
I'm 2-2 and top the 6 pointers. I get plenty of good info about how to improve the deck, and pretty much it is "play the stuff that's already being played by everyone." There is one card I'd love to slip into the main, so we'll how the changes go from here.
Below, the decklist. The sideboard is one million percentage scramble, apart from the Timely Reinforcements and Ratchet Bombs being vs aggro (tho who can even PLAY vamps anymore?)
8 Island
8 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
---
24 lands
4 Hero of Bladehold
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Phantasmal Image
1 Frost Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
---
17 creatures
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Think Twice
4 Sphere of the Suns
1 Mind Control
1 Gideon Joura
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
---
19 others
4 Timely Reinforcement
3 Blue Sun's Zenith
2 Day of Judgment
2 Sun Titan
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Jace Memory Adept
---
15 sideboard
What the deck needs is a better sideboard. 4 Steel Sabotage in the sb (or 3) to combat the artifact heavy decks. 3/4 Dissipates in the main because Mana Leak isn't enough and isn't a hard counter, gets bad really quick. I think 2 Looters in the SB makes sense for the longer games where more cards will be better, and allows me to cycle the Mana Leaks once they're useless.
There is an obv case for Snapcaster being introduced, but what do you think I am, all money!? I would play him if I could, but I'm currently enjoying the fun of the deck rather than the lock downishness.
Jace could be removed to make space for other impressive Planeswalkers who don't give Solar Flare +2, such as Venser and Elspeth. With the two Elspeth can make tokens, Venser reset her to many counters, then next turn life gain and the turn after go ape. Especially with a Wurm on the board, having some 1/1s and 3/3s sounds good.
Lastly there is a big want also for Oblivion Rings and moving the Sun Titan to the main. Titan's great but I don't feel like I'd wanna play that game, with the obvious Sun Titan > Phantasmal Image > Sun Titan > O Ring gg play. Though it would be bloody fun! So I'll rework the deck and get back to you all.
I feel with better play this could easily have beena 3-1 result, but I didn't feel like I had a good chance against tempered steel, it's just so quick without the as-quick counters.
Ta for reading!
Back to round 1. I'm against kid-jo who's brought his favourite deck. I always wonder if it's OK to play well (not go easy, not utterly devastate them) and figure that yeah, it's OK. They usually enjoy just playing, and normally upon the death state just dump their favourite spell onto the field because hey, they wanted to play it. He had a Mana Leak at some point, but that was it.
Round 2 I was against mono black infect, which I wasn't sure about. Game 1 I keep a Ponder/Hero of Bladehold/5 land hand and it works quite well. He just doesn't draw anything, I see an Inkmoth/Plague Myr and he dies as the tokens go 2 4 6 dead.
Game 2 he rises against me and I can't counter his spells that'll matter, while game 3 we have a real game of it, and it goes long and he nearly gets to kill me but I'm only down to 4 when I can swing back for the win that he can't combat. I resolved Sphinx against him which is really rather game.
Round 4 I'm against the Solar Flare deck, and he had a better position on things though I played well enough until Gideon showed up. He's like a Manual when you drive an automatic. The board clutters up with him controlling a Wurm and me having a Wurm (Mind Control'd) and two Solemn Simulacrum's and I make him attack Gideon, then swing in with my own guys... so his Wurm never dies! I die.
Game 2 it's not so close, as he gets his goods out and I realise how he has +8 counters on me, because he can allow creatures to resolve then kill them with Go for the Throat, which rather beats my 4 Mana Leaks. He came 2nd, so also good.
I'm 2-2 and top the 6 pointers. I get plenty of good info about how to improve the deck, and pretty much it is "play the stuff that's already being played by everyone." There is one card I'd love to slip into the main, so we'll how the changes go from here.
Below, the decklist. The sideboard is one million percentage scramble, apart from the Timely Reinforcements and Ratchet Bombs being vs aggro (tho who can even PLAY vamps anymore?)
8 Island
8 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
---
24 lands
4 Hero of Bladehold
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Phantasmal Image
1 Frost Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
---
17 creatures
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Think Twice
4 Sphere of the Suns
1 Mind Control
1 Gideon Joura
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
---
19 others
4 Timely Reinforcement
3 Blue Sun's Zenith
2 Day of Judgment
2 Sun Titan
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Jace Memory Adept
---
15 sideboard
What the deck needs is a better sideboard. 4 Steel Sabotage in the sb (or 3) to combat the artifact heavy decks. 3/4 Dissipates in the main because Mana Leak isn't enough and isn't a hard counter, gets bad really quick. I think 2 Looters in the SB makes sense for the longer games where more cards will be better, and allows me to cycle the Mana Leaks once they're useless.
There is an obv case for Snapcaster being introduced, but what do you think I am, all money!? I would play him if I could, but I'm currently enjoying the fun of the deck rather than the lock downishness.
Jace could be removed to make space for other impressive Planeswalkers who don't give Solar Flare +2, such as Venser and Elspeth. With the two Elspeth can make tokens, Venser reset her to many counters, then next turn life gain and the turn after go ape. Especially with a Wurm on the board, having some 1/1s and 3/3s sounds good.
Lastly there is a big want also for Oblivion Rings and moving the Sun Titan to the main. Titan's great but I don't feel like I'd wanna play that game, with the obvious Sun Titan > Phantasmal Image > Sun Titan > O Ring gg play. Though it would be bloody fun! So I'll rework the deck and get back to you all.
I feel with better play this could easily have beena 3-1 result, but I didn't feel like I had a good chance against tempered steel, it's just so quick without the as-quick counters.
Ta for reading!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Videos, finally!
Hey hey, everybody! I have my first video up, and it's an M12 Sealed.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFFE26868D1E16316
That's the link, takes you from the build through all four rounds. Enjoy!
@LuisScottVargas @conley81 hey guys, when you get a chance can you critique my vid? Ta for your times' http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFFE26868D1E16316
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFFE26868D1E16316
That's the link, takes you from the build through all four rounds. Enjoy!
@LuisScottVargas @conley81 hey guys, when you get a chance can you critique my vid? Ta for your times' http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFFE26868D1E16316
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Videos up, constantly!!
And here we go! A first, chilling dive into a new era of online Magic videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFoxMurdoch
There's 5 videos to that play list. Let me know what you think!
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFoxMurdoch
There's 5 videos to that play list. Let me know what you think!
Monday, March 21, 2011
What's all this about then?
Hello, I haven't updated in ages but you don't seem to mind. I've had uni lately, and other online things to write (I play a fantasy cardgame in my spare time and write articles for that too).
At the moment, with the list, I'm stuck in the middle of several books. Neuromancer is still being read, as is the Adventures of Augie March, which honestly feels like a watered down version of a child Henry Miller. I'm sitting in the library where I borrowed Naked Lunch and should be doing uni work but oh wells. I consider this kind of writing out an article idea much more rewarding to my future career choices, as it's actively performing my later job NOW, instead of studying to maybe be good at it later.
I was watching 1984 yesterday, and knew I was watching John Hurt and female lead. It isn't the same as the book, certainly not Winston telling me his sad story. It feels more like John Hurt wants to tell us this frightening story himself, and he does so wonderfully. It's just a shame so much of the world of 1984 wasn't there, as with the words used. "It's doubleplus good!" from Symes just doesn't seem to work well. He's being expressive when the idea of Newspeak is to be less expressive. Surely someone who enjoys a good chat will one day revolt against the idea of having two words for response, good or ungood.
Regardless I'm about mid20s through the list now, but I need to get cracking on the titles I have opened at the moment. The trouble there is casual reading, as I still have to finish Harry Potter 7 [I bought in the day it was released, started and lost interest half way through. There's no point in reading it, you know it'll go "And then Harry won" at the end!] and Ulysses, which I got for christmas. I need a good day set aside to just read, but my house doesn't really lend any room to "good for reading."
There's also At Swim 2-Birds which I enjoy showing to people, as the cover is a table top but there's a few water stains from a glass rim, which actually disguise two birds in the classic "m" style as seen in children's paintings.
There's something to be sad for Clockwork Orange, that Alex D'large is just such a character.
At the moment, with the list, I'm stuck in the middle of several books. Neuromancer is still being read, as is the Adventures of Augie March, which honestly feels like a watered down version of a child Henry Miller. I'm sitting in the library where I borrowed Naked Lunch and should be doing uni work but oh wells. I consider this kind of writing out an article idea much more rewarding to my future career choices, as it's actively performing my later job NOW, instead of studying to maybe be good at it later.
I was watching 1984 yesterday, and knew I was watching John Hurt and female lead. It isn't the same as the book, certainly not Winston telling me his sad story. It feels more like John Hurt wants to tell us this frightening story himself, and he does so wonderfully. It's just a shame so much of the world of 1984 wasn't there, as with the words used. "It's doubleplus good!" from Symes just doesn't seem to work well. He's being expressive when the idea of Newspeak is to be less expressive. Surely someone who enjoys a good chat will one day revolt against the idea of having two words for response, good or ungood.
Regardless I'm about mid20s through the list now, but I need to get cracking on the titles I have opened at the moment. The trouble there is casual reading, as I still have to finish Harry Potter 7 [I bought in the day it was released, started and lost interest half way through. There's no point in reading it, you know it'll go "And then Harry won" at the end!] and Ulysses, which I got for christmas. I need a good day set aside to just read, but my house doesn't really lend any room to "good for reading."
There's also At Swim 2-Birds which I enjoy showing to people, as the cover is a table top but there's a few water stains from a glass rim, which actually disguise two birds in the classic "m" style as seen in children's paintings.
There's something to be sad for Clockwork Orange, that Alex D'large is just such a character.
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