Taught My Wife How to Play MTG

A week or so ago, my wife, Nicole, saw that Steve's girlfriend, Kelley, had beaten him in Magic. She decided that, because this was something couples could enjoy together, and that she knows it'd make me happy to teach her, that I could do just that.

I told her her best bet would be to play the demo of Duals of the Planeswalkers on the 360, because it offers the full tutorial and would allow her to go at her own pace, but yesterday, before heading off to my nephew's birthday gathering, I sat her down and allowed her to use my new Red Sacrificial deck.

When I explain things, I kind of over discuss every little detail and can overwhelm the person, but she got the gist of it. By the second (last, before we had to go) she understood the core mechanics.

I'm sure we'll play more and she will become more confident.

Red Sacrificial (60)	Black Zombies (60)
Lands
20 Mountain	22 Swamp
Creatures
3 Bloodcrazed Neonate 4 Crossway Vampire 2 Flameblast Dragon 4 Goblin Arsonist 4 Goblin Fireslinger 1 Grim Lavamancer	1 Abattoir Ghoul 2 Ghoulraiser 2 Gravedigger 3 Rotting Fensnake 4 Walking Corpse 3 Warpath Ghoul 2 Zombie Goliath
Spells
4 Brimstone Volley 4 Curse of the Pierced Heart 3 Furor of the Bitten 3 Infernal Plunge 4 Nightbird's Clutches 1 Red Sun's Zenith 3 Vampiric Fury	2 Distress 1 Endless Ranks of the Dead 4 Ghoulcaller's Chant 4 Horrifying Revelation 3 Mind Rot 3 Morbid Plunder 3 Night Terrors 1 Zombie Infestation
Sideboard
N/A	N/A

I call it "Sacrificial," because of a few specific card. No card in the deck has a mana cost of more than 3, aside from Flameblast Dragon. Because of the relatively low mana cost of the deck, I figured going at a nice 1:3 ration for my lands would be sufficient.

I put in a bunch of one cost goblins. I figured I could use them mostly as fodder and food for my Infernal Plunge I nabbed from the newly released Innistrad set.

Infernal Plunge allows me to, for one red mana, sacrifice a creature and add three more red mana to my pool. When my Goblin Arsonist dies, I can then ping my opponent for one damage, which would just sweeten the sacrificial offering.

Pumping up my red mana could offer several chances to do some damage: I could get Flameblast Dragon out earlier than turn six, or pump up the damage of his or Red Sun's Zenith's abilities, which deal X amount of damage for X amount of red mana used.

Red Sun's Zenith is a great card, because, unless I somehow have to discard it, It shuffles right back into my deck.

I also have Bloodcrazed Neonate in there, offering up some cards for support. The Neonate receives +1/+1 any time she deals damage to the opponent. When Crossway Vampire enters the battle field, I prevent a creature from blocking, allowing a better chance for Bloodcrazed Neonate to do her thing. Nightbird's Clutches prevents two creatures from blocking, and I can even cast the bird an extra time from my graveyard.

Finally, when all that is said and done, I have a Grim Lavamancer (wish I had more) that takes all those sacrificed creatures and sorceries and instants and whatever else and uses them to send damage to my opponent.

As you can see, I'm also working on a Zombie deck that will revolve around the Zombie Infestation and Endless Ranks of the Dead cards.

Friday Night Magic Part 2

I participated in my second FNM, last night, at Game Emporium. I used my black deck mentioned previously, with, I believe, a few changes.

I had to leave after the fourth (out of five) round, however, to pick up my lovely wife from work; I didn't do horrible, though I did better two weeks ago. This time, I came out 50/50, winning two rounds and losing two.

I had a couple of dramatic plays, though:

One opponent was playing an infect deck that had very few creature spells. I have a large number of cards that involve creature destruction and buffing/debuffing, so those spells can be of little effect against a deck like his. I have a particular creature called tormented soul that attacks for only 1, but cannot be blocked. This card has a cost of only 1, so is quite effective when I can put him out my first turn, followed by my bloodthirst minions.

Bloodthirst allows me to place a +1/+1 counter on specific creatures if the opponent player had been dealt damage earlier in that turn. This is why tormented soul is so handy, as it cannot be blocked.

At one point, I had a couple vampires with bloodthirst on the board with power/toughness at 3+1/1+1. I needed to act fast, as my opponent had been poisoning me, and all I had was a card that put a -1/-1 counter on target creature, and allowed me then proliferate. Proliferate means to increase any counter by 1. I decided to place it on one of my vampires, making him a 3+1-1/1+1-1. The +s and -s are separate, so they do not make each pther disappear; therefore, I was able to increase the +s, making him a 3+2-1/1+2-1, and my other vampire a 3+2/1+2, giving me enough power to defeat him.



Another round had a similar play, but, instead of debuffing my own creature, I had an instant spell that destroyed a creature and proliferated. I used him on a creature my opponent was attacking with, which got rid of one of his potential blockers, securing the victory.



I decided To make up a new deck, as well. Staying true to what I am experienced with, I made a Red deck, though I know it needs some tweaks. Particularly, very few people are fond of Scrambleverse.



I like to have randomness in games. In Smash Bros., I cannot fathom how people can find no items/Final Destination to be fun. It takes all of the variables to work around out. This card takes all cards on the board (minus lands), puts them in a pile, and forces you to flip a coin to see who gets control of those cards. It could win the game for me or completely destroy me, and I think that sounds like fun.

I definitely need to get more cards for this deck. At least one more scrambleverse, as I only have one.

            

Black/Red (60)	Black (60)	Red (60)
Lands
3 Dragonskull Summit 9 Mountain 7 Swamp	22 Swamp	22 Mountain
Creatures
3 Blood Ogre 2 Bloodrage Vampire 4 Duskhunter Bat 3 Goblin Arsonist 4 Goblin Fireslinger 2 Grim Lavamancer 4 Stormblood Berserker 3 Tormented Soul 3 Vampire Outcasts	3 Bloodrage Vampire 4 Duskhunter Bat 4 Phyrexian Rager 3 Sengir Vampire 4 Tormented Soul 3 Vampire Outcasts	2 Flameblast Dragon 4 Goblin Arsonist 4 Goblin Fireslinger 1 Grim lavamancer 2 Manic Vandal 4 Stormblood Berserker 2 Volcanic Dragon 1 Warstorm Surge
Spells
4 Doom Blade 4 Incinerate 1 Red Sun's Zenith 4 Shock	2 Dark Favor 4 Doom Blade 3 Geth's Verdict 4 Grim Affliction 4 Spread the Sickness	3 Chandra's Outrage 2 Concussive Bolt 3 Fireball 4 Incinerate 1 Red Sun's Zenith 1 Scrambleverse 4 Shock
Sideboard
N/A	SB: 3 Child of Night SB: 4 Deathmark SB: 4 Horrifying Revelation SB: 3 Mind Rot	N/A

Also, a bit off the subject, but I discovered why I cannot play Modnation Racers online: After many months of searching, I discovered that my router is actually completely incompatible with the game. The Westell 7500 series routers do not work. These are the routers that Verizon rents out to their customers, along with a Gateway router. I called to inquire about switching routers, and they told me there would be a $60 or $70 charge. I asked, "With that price, that of course means it is mine to own?"

No. I would still have to pay rental fees. That's dumb, so, now, I have to go find a new router. At least I have a solution.

Post Friday Night Magic

I participated in my first Friday Night Magic, at Game Emporium, last night. Not sure exactly how many people were there, but I think there were at least twenty. There were five rounds, and each round is best two out of three. I won three rounds and lost two, with none going into the third set. So, I won six sets, lost four, and placed ninth. I did pretty decent for starting so recently, I feel.

I used my Black/Red deck, which was primarily crafted by Steve. However, since this was my first FNM, I had to sign up for my DCI card, which got me a premade thirty card deck.

I decided to go ahead and use these new cards to create my very own Black deck.

See ya, next week, FNM!

Black/Red (60)	Black (60)
Lands
3 Dragonskull Summit 9 Mountain 7 Swamp	20 Swamp
Creatures
3 Blood Ogre 2 Bloodrage Vampire 4 Duskhunter Bat 3 Goblin Arsonist 4 Goblin Fireslinger 2 Grim Lavamancer 4 Stormblood Berserker 3 Tormented Soul 3 Vampire Outcasts	2 Blood Seeker 3 Bloodrage Vampire 2 Caustic Hound 4 Duskhunter Bat 2 Gravedigger 2 Mortis Dogs 3 Onyx Mage 2 Sengir Vampire 4 Tormented Soul 3 Vampire Outcasts
Spells
4 Doom Blade 4 Incinerate 1 Red Sun's Zenith 4 Shock	3 Dark Favor 4 Doom Blade 2 Morbid Plunder 4 Spread the Sickness
Sideboard
N/A	SB: 3 Child of Night SB: 2 Disentomb SB: 4 Horrifying Revelation SB: 3 Mind Rot SB: 3 Warpath Ghoul

My Name is Aaron Miller, and I Will Be the Next PlayStation Tester.

Today starts the voting process for the next PlayStation Tester. The Tester is a reality show put on by PlayStation that awards the winner with the opportunity to work for Sony in Quality Assurance (game testing) for an upcoming game.

The producers will pick most of the contestants, but the community is allowed to pick one special user.

So, you should all sign up and vote for me!

I Entered Into the Gathering

Growing up, I had always wanted to get into Magic: the Gathering, but never had the means to dive into the culture:

If prices have stayed roughly the same, I would have had to save three weeks worth of allowances to just buy an intro pack to have enough cards to play with. That definitely was not going to happen. Likewise, I doubt I would have been "mature" enough to fully comprehend the gameplay mechanics and effective deck building theory.

Recently, though, Game Emporium had begun selling MtG merchandise, which reinvigorated my friend Steve's love for the strategy card game. Needing a more social hobby, I had decided to finally purchase my first intro deck.

With Steve's help, I (mostly Steve) turned the M12 Core Set Black/Red Intro into the following deck. I hope to be able to amass a decent collection to fully utilize all kinds of decks.

// Deck: Proto Deck (60)
// Lands
3 Dragonskull Summit
10 Mountain
7 Swamp

// Creatures
2 Bloodrage Vampire
4 Duskhunter Bat
1 Flameblast Dragon
4 Goblin Arsonist
4 Goblin Fireslinger
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Tormented Soul
2 Vampire Outcasts

// Spells
4 Doom Blade
2 Fireball
2 Incinerate
4 Shock
2 Tectonic Rift
1 Warstorm Surge

Borderlands 2 Confirmed

One of the best games of the first decade of the new millennium is getting a very well deserved sequel.




Borderlands 2 will release sometime after this current fiscal year ends, which is post March 2012.

Which means it could theoretically release just before my birthday, and that would be stupendous.

Oh, Sad, Sad Sadness

My Modnation Racers is faulty, and I do not know how to fix it. This is terrible.

Several months ago, MNR received an update to help combat loading times, which were admittingly long. Instead of being forced to go into the Modspot (the main hub or menu, where you drive to separate areas for your career, creations, online racing, etc), you would be given the option of going to Career Central, the Modspot, or Creation Station. If I were to attempt to enter the Modspot, the loading screen would cease to load at 71%. However, I could freely enter the other two options.

I googled the issue shortly after noticing it, and found someone who had the same issue; no one replied to his or her querry, so I gave up and stopped playing. I thought that, even though there was another, separate account of this issue, it may be my disc.

Recently, though, I had an MNR itch and decided to continue creating Mods and Karts. I wanted to race, again, and found out my library had the game.

I checked the game out, and, to much dismay, the problem persisted with the new disc. This indicated, definitively, that the problem was not my disc; I regoogled the problem. I found, on the official Playstation forums, some more people having the same issue. One of the posters made me realize it happened after the update. I deleted, redownloaded all nigh 4 gb, and reinstalled it, because this is where the various updates laid.

No luck.

There are hundreds and hundreds of items to be collected, and some of the challenges are, indeed, quite challenging. INCREDIBLY challenging. Sadly, this meant, to me, that my save file was somehow corrupted.

I backed up my save file, just in case, and then realized I could simply hop onto another profile without a save for the game.

I did so.

The load still failed.

This is with a separate disc.

I do not know how to fix this. This is incredibly sad, to me, because I really do believe this is the best PS3 exclusive (it has much more replay value than Metal Gear Solid 4, you see). I am sad.

UPDATE: There may be a solution: the only thing I have yet to try is another console. The HDMI on my console is nonfunctioning. I received the system for Christmas, which would mean it was purchased, probably, just before (this was a replacement for my original that bit the dust 2 weeks prior to Christmas) the holiday. This means it is still under warranty, and can be replaced for free. So, I test it out in a different PS3 (while still downloading all the updates - bleh). I think I shall try this. I mean, I'd get a PS3 with a working HDMI if nothing else.