All posts by Darren

Ixalan Prerelease Weekend Incoming

magic, MtG

We are less than a week away from the prerelease weekend for the next MtG set Ixalan. 

(Image above taken from the Internet)

My local FLGS The Hobbit Hole is running several prerelease events over that weekend. The first is a midnight one on Friday night. I like Magic but not that much.   So I’ll be popping along for when the store opens at 10am on Saturday and seeing how tired John the store owner is. But you should be checking with your FLGS/LGS to find out what their plans are. 

This prerelease WotC are also trying to get players signed up for their latest digital version of MtG, Arena and its closed beta. However  signing up doesn’t guarantee you will be selected, but attending the prerelease will increase your chances apparently. I believe the encouragement will be via prerelease players being given a special treasure token (whilst stocks last, stores do not have an unlimited supply).

I think that’s it Magic wise for this blog until next weekend I’d imagine. Which might be a relief for some of you. Ok I might put up a reminder Thursday. But be warned it’s the Empire at War set for Star Wars:Destiny hitting stores in the UK this week. So I will be boring you with that during the week. 

Magic Saturday

magic, MtG

Yesterday was an epic day of playing Magic the Gathering (MtG).

It started off with attending the Ixalan Open House at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole. Sadly the Welcome Decks used for this by MtG were the Amonkhet ones. The only link to Ixalan was the full art foil Walk the Plank card you got for playing four games of Magic with the Welcome Decks. Which was a shame really. But I can see why that’s the case. It would undermine the prerelease abit, plus instead it would swamp the event with current FNM players wanting the early access to Ixalan cards. The focus of the Open House is to teach MtG to new players wanting to learn the game, bring back players that drifted away, not scare them off. 

Was it wise to hold the Open House the week before a prerelease? I could argue for or against this. I maybe wouldn’t have slapped Ixalan on the event. Mainly because I was expecting Ixalan cards in the Welcome Decks. So I was a little disappointed that the decks were Amonkhet based. But I’ve already discussed  why it is as it is. 

(Above image nicked off the Internet)

However the full art foil Walk the Plank card from Ixalan was cool. I felt I knew the card already though because of the Magic Arena game play videos I saw a week or so ago. 

How did I do playing my four games at the Open House? Attrocious is the most positive spin I can put on my games. In the end I was setting my target as getting my opponent to single digit life. I’m going to have to look back at the previous Open House event I went to. But I don’t think I’ve won a game with one of these Welcome Decks yet. 

This time I went with the Liliana Vess Welcome Deck, so black. Which means 30 cards were black, and the second colour WotC added to this blue. So 30 blue cards also, to make a 60 card deck. I believe this blue/black combo is also known as Dimir.

Despite my lack of wins I still had a fun time.

A Fat Pack Opening

At home I opened an Eldritch Moon Fat Pack. 

This comes with the following contents:

  • 9 Eldritch Moon boosters
  • A life counter die
  • 2 cardboard deck boxes 
  • Players guide with card encyclopaedia of cards for the set
  • 70 basic lands cards
  • The card box
  • 10 double faced card checklists


I’m not sure this Fat Pack is good value for money. With 9 boosters costing between £27 – £31.50 if bought separately. £2 for the spindown life die. Plus the two cardboard deck boxes, the card box, lands and checklists. Is this enough value added to justify getting this? I don’t think so. 

What did I pull from the 9 packs?

  • 3 Legendary creatures
  • 1 Planeswalker 

So not bad.

Fenland Games MtG League Day 3

The afternoon was spent playing in our MtG league.

Things started off just like the morning with me losing my first game. I had been hoping that I had got losing out of my system in the morning, obviously not.

I did win my next game against Justin. The card tweak my student made to my deck (yeah I’m not proud I had a student who plays Magic look over my deck and my sideboard in the week, they swapped two cards out) worked well. They replaced Cartouche of Zeal with Cartouche of Ambition. The life link was really handy. Things just went my way in this game.

But Justin got his revenge immediately in our next game when things did work so well. No Cartouche being drawn this time. Plus Justin got to finish me off with his “signature” play using Fling and sacrificing a creature that had been beefed up considerably to an 8 attack!

I then won my next game. Which was my last win of the day. I played one of the strongest decks in the league next. I got off to a blinding start. I Magma Sprayed away my opponents Slither Blade their main way to kill you off. It gets beefed up, made unblockable etc, and the slow drip drip death happens. So I was able to stop that before it started. A big win. My Cartouche was out, using the same one my opponent uses. 


It ended with my opponent winning. But only just it was close they were almost milled. One card left. Sadly I wasn’t able to hold on for one more turn. 

My next game was against Josh who somehow I hadn’t played against before! That’s shocking. But 

My final game of the afternoon was against Jamie. If I’d drawn a second mountain land sweltering suns would have wiped the board clean removing all of his creatures and allowing me to get the win. Sadly that didn’t happen and I lost. 

I will say my bonus pack for losing has potential. For starters a second Cartouche, and non-basic lands. The first ones I’ve pulled in the packs I’ve cracked open for the league. Yes I will be consulting my deck doctor in the week.

I think in 11 games in total today only one of them did I not mulligan. A couple of times I was down to a starting hand of five cards! Yeah that sums my days play. 

But despite an atrocious win record for the afternoon I had a great afternoon playing. 

Giving in to temptation

I knew that once I got home any unpurchased boosters would not remain unopened. So a weak willed me opened 17 booster packs when he got home. 

Here is the highlights of my pack opening:

  • 1 invocation 
  • 1 foil full art basic land
  • 1 foil creature
  • 1 Legendary creature
  • 5 full art basic lands

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I’m a bit disappointed but on the other I pulled an invocation! 

I’ve had a great day playing MtG. Looking forward to continuing the experience next weekend with the prerelease weekend.

I think my big win of the day though wasn’t Magic related. It was getting my car through its MOT without needing anything extra doing to it to get it passed.

Edmunds Delivery Service 

FEG@WL, Fenland Gamers, game night

Last night an assassin managed to stop Jonathan and Chris attending the weekly Friday evening meet up. Luckily Edmund and I have far superior ninja skills and managed to dodge the assassins attempts on us.

Our first game of the evening was a game I’ve been wanting to get to the table since I purchased it. That game is Broom Service. A game I’ve referred to as Kiki’s Delivery Service the boardgame! 

Seeing as this was our first play and we were learning from the rule book, we played the basic game.

This was despite my loss a nice game.

The pick up and deliver aspect with the correct coloured potions having to go to correct coloured castles. Added to the fact some of the castles once delivered to are blocked for the duration of the game, is fun.  The delivering and blocking a castle does add a kind of take that, foil your opponents plans element to the game.

I really liked the action selection process. Each player has ten cards to choose four from. Those four cards will be the possible actions you take that round. Each card has a brave action and a cowardly action. Then the starting player selects one of their four cards and plays it. When they play the card they select which of the two actions on the card they are going to do. If it was the cowardly one they donthe action immediately. If it was the brace action they may not get to do it. They have to wait and see. Now one player order the other players also have to play the same card if they selected it in their four cards. When they play the card they two have to decide which action to do. If it’s the brave action the previous player who selected brave gets to do nothing that turn. It’s only the last player to play that card and selected the brave action that gets to do it. All the others that played it and selected brace get to do nothing. So you have a push your luck element here. Plus this whole selecting cards trying to choose cards that have actions you want to do, but also having to work out which actions other players maybe selecting. Add in a dummie hand for lower player counts adds even more things to consider. Play an action that matches one of the dummie actions and you lose 3 points. And these change each round. Yeah I like this mechanic a lot.

I also like round cards that add some new condition/rule to that round. These can have positive and negative consequences. Plus these are a great way to track the seven rounds.

The art is a lovely cartoon like style. Lovely counters for the potions and witches. It’s an attractive game. 

Luckily for me Edmund didn’t lap me on the score track, that would be embarrassing. He only nearly doubled my score. 

Our final game saw us slowing the place down, going back to art school in Kanagawa. I’m not going to say much about this. I’ve spoken about it the past. It’s a beautiful looking game, with some lovely mechanics and decisions. Sadly I lost to Edmund again. 

A great evening gaming with a really great guy. 

Nissa, Genesis Mage Planeswalker deck pulls

magic, MtG

You’d think that with all the MtG posts recently that this blog has turned into a MtG blog! Plus MtG has become my “lifestyle” game of choice. 

You already know what I think of the Planeswalker preconstructed decks for value, and what the contents are. I covered those in the recent post about the Nicol Bolas Planeswalker deck. 

I haven’t answered why I buy them. With the Nissa, Genesis Mage Planeswalker deck I’ve bought four in total. So it’s not a thing I do a lot of. I’m a casual player. No argument about it. So I don’t have a massive card base to construct decks with. So things like preconstructed decks are ideal for me, buy and play. I can scratch that  Magic itch without investing in lots and lots of cards. 

Anyway the Nissa, Genesis Mage Planeswalker deck recently arrived. In the two Hour of Devastion boosters I pulled a foil, and that nasty looking scorcery. 

I also gave into temptation and cracked open an Amonkhet booster and pulled a Liliana, Death’s Majesty Planeswalker. Sweet!

Don’t forget your FLGS and the Open House events they are holding this weekend.

Magic Open House Tomorrow

magic, MtG

Are you a new or returning player to Magic the Gathering? Want to learn/try Magic?

Want free stuff? 
Well get yourself along to your FLGS or LGS in some cases, this weekend. Like my FLGS The Hobbit Hole in Chatteris, many are running the Magic Open House.
The Magic Open House is aimed at new and returning players (i.e. Used to play, but haven’t played it in a long time). Where they can go along to their FLGS, choose one of the free Welcome decks, learn how to play Magic, play a few games with their new deck, get a free promo card (which is I believe a full art walk the plank card from the new Ixalan set – there will be a lot of regular Magic players that will want this and will be green with envy).

Once my car has been M.O.T.’d tomorrow morning I’m hoping to get along to The Hobbit Hole, play a few games and then shoot back to play in our Magic league.

BGG Hotlist 14th September

Uncategorized

Decided to run my little python stats program to see just how many of the current BGG Hot List I own and had played.

I own 4 of the Hot List
I’ve played 11 of the Hot List
The games I own in the Hot List are ranked as follows:
1 Scythe
12 Mechs vs. Minions
13 Android: Netrunner
81 Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

I really must update the program to tell me which ones I have played as well. There is a major rewrite on the books anyway. Adding this little change won’t make a big difference.

Nicol Bolas Planeswalker Deck from Hour of Devastation 

magic, MtG

WotC when they release a new set of cards, usually release a couple of preconstructed decks for purchase along side the booster boxes, Fat Packs, Gift boxes etc. These preconstructed decks are themed around a Planeswalker and aimed at newer players.

What do we get for our hard won cash this time?

Well we get the following:

  • A 60 card deck
  • A foil Nicol Bolas, the deceiver Planeswalker card
  • 2 Hour of Devastation booster packs
  • A cardboard deck box
  • A strategy insert
  • A quick reference card

In the two boosters I pulled one foil and one full art basic land. Plus this rather nifty board wipe card. 


So the big question is, is this worth the money? Well this preconstructed deck costs £13.99 rrp but you are looking more towards a tenner if you shop around. The two boosters are £6 – £7 of value, for the sake of argument let’s say the account for roughly half the value of this. You do get a cool foil Planeswalker card. But does all the rest justify the rest of the cost? If you are a regular MtG player probably not. I can’t imagine the preconstructed deck has any high value cards in it. If it had the value of this pack would have shot up and it’d be near impossible to buy. For a new player or returning one as a jumping off point I think it’s worth getting. You get a ready to play deck that you should be able to play and have fun with. After a few games, you can buy some boosters and start customising the deck.

September ’17 Monthly Meet Up

Fenland Gamers, game night

It was the second Wednesday of the month last night which means it can only be one thing for Fenland Gamers, yep the monthly meet up.

Our first game of the evening after our little chatter about stuff was a recent arrival in Gavin’s collection that he got in a trade, but a long time favourite, Tiny Epic Galaxies (TEG).

It felt a little weird playing the game without the awesome playmat for the game. But then this was Gavin’s copy not mine. It’s funny really because I nearly threw this plus the expansion, and Tiny Epic Quest into my bag for the evening.

Four player TEG is probably the sweet spot for this game. Five players we found in the past was too many. But then again this was more of a “gamer” group playing this time, unlike the time we played with five, which was mainly casual gamers.

After losing a battle with Diego for a seven point planet, there was no stopping him and his push to victory. By the time it was his turn again, he was able to complete a second seven pointer and trigger the end game. That meant Jonathan and Gavin had one more go to bolster their points, and hopefully steal the victory from Diego. In reality the only one with a shot of doing that was Gavin. Jonathan was way to far behind to do that. Gavin gave it a good shot. He was able to orbit and colonise a five point planet on his and Jonathan’s turns. Pretty impressive. But sadly not good enough to stop Diego claiming the victory. The important thing here is that I was not last. That honour fell to Jonathan.

Our second and final game of the evening was Dice Town. This is a really nice game. I played it aggressively to start with. I was helped by some great early rolls. So by aggressive I mean paying to keep more than the one dice, thus cutting down on the chances others had on building good poker hands, or getting useful dice. I think on the second round I rolled a full house. Four dollars thrown in. The others get one more roll and have to live with it. It was fun to play like this, but back fired when I had no cash, and was denied for several rounds from getting any. Which limits this more aggressive approach big time.

I had an early advantage for sure. But that soon eroded away, and unnoticed by the others Diego seemed to be amassing a lot of cards and possibly victory points. By the end we were all positive that Diego had won. The biggest shock really was that it was by a smaller margin than we thought it would be. The important thing for Jonathan was that I was last.

Dice Town is really nice, it’s just a shame that the expansions for it are so hard to get hold of.

This was once more another great evening of gaming with some great folks.

Star Realms App Update Available 

news, star realms

New major update of the Star Realms app is out. Look at what they have added.

I’m really chuffed about the friends list. More cards is also good. Plus I can challenge a friend to a real time game also. I’m not really a campaign player. All of my play is against friends. 

£3.99 to get the new cards. Which sounds expensive but that includes unlocking the cards across all platforms. That’s the nice thing about the Star Realms app. No matter which platform I play the game on once I buy an expansion I have it available across everything.

Some much needed additions. A must update to download. I think a must buy expansion but your mileage may vary on that.