Category Archives: magic

magic

Go ahead and jump!

magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

I’ve not written anything for more than a couple of days. Even with the easing of lockdown, the opening of shops etc, I’m still observing it as much as possible to minimise the risk of bringing anything back that could be passed onto Nan or Mum.

There have been no plans yet discussed about holding club game sessions again. Our hosts aren’t open yet for instance.

So in reality there hasn’t really been much to write about. There is not a lot of gaming going on with others.

Although I did play a couple of games of MtG using a Core Set 2021 Prerelease kit Monday afternoon with a couple of friends using webcams. Or in my case a cobbled together setup of my iPhone showing my play area. And viewing my opponents play area on my iPad. The magic glue was a discord server, and for me two discord accounts!

That almost felt strange writing about MtG. I haven’t done that it a while.

Hitting the UK any day (hopefully, although I do believe WotC may have pushed the date back for reasons) is Jumpstart.

I think the easiest way to describe Jumpstart is WotC do Smash Up! for MtG. Or as WotC describe it “…mashes together themes from throughout the history of the game and lets you skip the deckbuilding part. … Grab two boosters, shuffle them together, and you’re ready to go.” So you can see why I compare it to Smash Up! Which builds its decks in the same way.

So what can you expect in a Jumpstart booster? “Each booster contains 20 cards centered on a theme. What theme each booster contains is randomized, but each themed 20 cards will be sealed inside the pack and labled.” Apparently “One in three boosters includes an extra rare.” But there are nearly 500 reprints, 37 new cards, and it also shares cards with Core Set 2021 but is a separate product. “Every pack includes one basic land with art that matches the pack’s theme. A few of them use thematically appropriate lands from M21, but most of them use brand-new themed land art created for Jumpstart.”

Some Jumpstart packs are out in the wild because they were given away with Core Set 2021 booster box purchases from stores. Reports have the print quality of the cards being poor. I’ve also seen it reported Jumpstart is not a limited run product and that WotC will keep printing it as long as there is demand. So as long as you are patient there is no need to pay through the nose for this set.

I like the idea of this set. It’s great for new and returning players. Buy two packs and play! It makes getting started very accessible. Like ninjas and dinosaurs? But the packs and go. Doesn’t get easier than that. I’m hoping it pushes Rhystic Studies prices down, and I pull one. There are certain themes I’m interested in as Commander deck material.

All I want to now is get some boosters and play some casual MtG.

Core 2021 Prerelease & Chandra Spellbook

magic, MtG

Another pandemic MtG Prerelease is upon us. This time for Core 2021.

Thanks to my great FLGS my Prerelease kit was delivered today along with the latest in the spellbook series, the Chandra spellbook.

I’m pretty happy with the pulls I got from my prerelease kit and the additional 2 packs. I particularly liked how they used the b-side of the deck building advice for a prerelease for a timeline about Teferi. I kind of wished they did something similar in the spellbooks.

For me this is the first of the spellbooks that has been for a Planeswalker I like. I’m a Chandra fan. I’m assuming the next two years are going to be Nissa and Liliana. The other two big name Planeswalkers and part of the Gatewatch. Which I’m happy with this as they are the other two Planeswalkers I like. Although I am becoming a fan of Vivien Reid.

I’ll be glad when prereleases get back to “normal”. At the moment it feels like I’m getting half of the experience. Possibly not even that.

Naturally there is the addictive cracking of packs, and discovering the cards you have pulled. But the whole social side is missing. The excitement, even buzz as people are opening their booster packs and discovering what they have got. The catching up with friends, some that you only see at a prerelease. The deckbuilding with your pulls and playing some magic.

Because of all that it kind of feels a hollow experience.

Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica Extras

D&D, magic, MtG, RPG

With the digital version of Mythic Odysseys of Theros having hit D&D Beyond eight days ago, and the physical release still over a month away. I thought I’d look at the extras WotC released for the previous crossover between D&D and MtG, Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica.

First up is the themed dice set that was released.

I like the overall presentation of this dice set.

The dice set comes in a cardboard sleeve that shares it’s artwork with that of the sourcebook.

The tin is very pretty for a dice tin. I love the lid with the embossed guild symbols, and the artwork on the outside of the main tin.

Inside the tin we have the following dice: 1d4, 4d6, 1d8, 2d10, 1d12, 1d20 and a large d10 with the guild symbols on. You’d only use this to randomly select a guild, for instance during character creation, or for an NPC.

The tin itself is probably twice as deep as need be for the dice included. That extra space taken up with foam padding. Obviously you are not going to use this as a dice tray (which one or two of the later sets could be used for). However as a general dice storage box it’d be ideal.

At over £20 originally this dice set was in my opinion a tad on the expensive side. However in the last few months that price has dropped with some retailers and can be picked up for less than £15. At that price I think this becomes an affordable option that makes it worth considering if you are in the market for another dice set. But not if you only want that guild die.

The next extra is the Maps and Miscellany pack.

Once again the art used for the cover of the cardboard wallet that the contents comes in is the source book art work.

For the money you get 7 double-sided colour maps showing the precincts of the Tenth District with reference information on the back of each for that precinct.

There are also 11 double-sided maps of locations associated with the guilds themselves, and these too also have reference material on the reverse.

The contents are completed with two perforated sheets of cards (18 cards in total) that have character illustrations on one side and descriptions of guild charms on the other.

The guild location maps look like Dyson Logos maps. WotC have been using him for maps. And like many others I like his art style. I’m not sure who did the art for the district maps.

All the contents within the pack are A4 in side. Each map is card with a finish that is meant to be used with a dry eraser.

On the guild location maps the reverse information is made up with a smaller version of the opposite sides map with room labels (these are missing from the other version). A description of the location can be found along side a d10 Adventure Goal table.

On the district and precinct maps we get key location descriptions and a d12 table for people on the street of that district/precinct.

I like the summary information included on both map types. Although if using the location maps with the players if you have to keep referring to the labelled b-side I don’t think it’s very practical. I’m also not convinced about the A4 size for use during play. It seems too small.

The cards are useful for not only a campaign on Ravnica but for any D&D campaign to illustrate NPCs. And the guild charm side of the card a very handy reminder for players to have in front of them during a session.

Once again at £20 plus originally I felt a tad on the expensive side. However shopping around it can be found for a lot less. There are some nice touches. But I have doubts about the practicality of the maps during a session.

Using the DMs Guild it is possible to pick up a pdf of the two adventures that WotC did for two of the MtG Ravnica weekends. These were weekends tied in with the major Guilds of Ravnica MtG sets at the time, and used to introduce MtG players to D&D, and possibly less so D&D players to MtG.

Krenko’s Way is a reprint of the adventure you find in the Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica. Whilst A Zib For Your Thoughts is a new adventure that takes place weeks after the events of Krenko’s Way. And also comes with some pregenerated characters.

These two adventures are $4.99 on the DMs Guild with the money going to the Extra Life charity (something WotC supports each year).

Wizkids also released some painted miniatures for Guildmasters of Ravnica. But I don’t have any of them.

I think that covers everything. Hope you found the summary helpful, if not rather late. But then if like me you are only now just getting this stuff you like me saving money.

Roar! Ikoria lands with a thump

Commander, magic, MtG

Thanks to current events the physical release of the latest MtG block/set Ikoria was a little late hitting your FLGS. But now it is in our grubby hands. FLGS have been keeping the postal service busy shipping out orders of physical product.

My pre-order arrived this morning.

Although I loved the Greek inspired theme of Theros, and the fairy tale, Arthurian legend inspired Eldraine. Ikoria is the set that speaks to me a lot. A land of big creatures. Which is basically four of my Commander decks, Big Green Stompy, Horrors from the Deep, Dinosaurs Tribal and Dragons Tribal.

Thanks to not playing Standard now (I think I’ve documented those reasons enough on here) I can save money by target buying the singles I need. Although it was fun cracking open the packs that came with the Prerelease kit.

So below are some of the cards that caught me eye for various reasons, such as I like the art, it’s shiny, or will go into a deck I have.

Ikoria brings back cycling, keyword counters (I want to know how this interacts with Atraxa), introduces a new keyword mutate and companions (which I believe some are already calling broken).

Pretty happy with my pulls. But I know need to look at a list of all the cards and get the singles I’m interested in.

Just can’t wait to play the new Commander decks with friends. But patience is needed on that front. That day will come, but in the meantime vigilance and safety are the keywords.

Theros Coming To D&D

D&D, gossip, magic, MtG, news, RPG

The website Comicbook is reporting that once more WotC are dipping into the crossover pool between MtG and D&D.

This new crossover is called Mythic Odysseys of Theros. Which naturally going by that title takes D&D players to the plane of Theros. Which just so happens to be the current set. Although by the time this new campaign book hits your FLGS MtG players will have said their good byes to Theros and moved on to Ikoria.

Theros is heavily influenced by Greek mythology. So it will be interesting to see how they handle the themes and tropes such as heroes, monsters and gods. Plus will they pick up the theme of the current set of the under world?

I’d still like to see a Plane Shift release for Eldraine, and an art book. But now that is just wishful thinking.

Read the original story HERE. (If you want to see the cover of the book they have a link to the archived web page with it on also)

Why so silent on MtG?

magic, MtG

I’m kind of sad that I’m not writing more about MtG.

But since dropping Standard Showdown (WotC stopped this event for whatever reason, although my FLGS kept up the event because it had built up a community) and changing the prize support they give stores to something entirely less generous. I have not played standard. So no weekly games, or building standard decks.

The once a month Commander that I tried getting off the ground (once again) petered out after a couple of sessions. And Commander is my favourite format. So I’m not building or upgrading decks for that at the moment.

Brawl? No-one plays that over Commander when playing paper MtG. It’s a dead format everywhere other than digitally in Arena.

Pioneer is not at the moment something I’m interested in playing. I wasn’t a modern fan. So it’s a solution to a problem I don’t have. Am I tempted? Possibly. But at the moment I’m not seeing any events at my FLGS for it, and modern is a once a month thing for them. O’ve not been to the store since Pioneer was introduced, so I don’t know the likely hood that this is something they will be supporting.

I’m reluctant to try and see if there is any interest in the format locally. My track record in getting a regular MtG thing going within the club has been what can only be described as less than successful at best.

It’s a pity. It’s an amazing game.

2020 The Year of Commander

magic, MtG, news

Wednesday was a big big MtG news day for Commander players.

Some what unusual for WotC they announced their product plans for the format months in advance.

Thanks to the Command Zone I can “borrow” their summary timeline from their announcement video. Ok “borrow” implies I may have asked. And I didn’t I just took it.

As you can see the Commander goodness kicks off in April next year when we get the Commander pre-cons early. Which is nice because they will have arrived just in time for my birthday. This time around we are getting five, yes five Commander decks. Which will be themed around the Ikoria set that comes out at the same time. Not only are we getting that additional deck, but there will be 71 new Commander cards spread amongst the five decks. Plus reprints. Oh and we can buy the new Commander decks prerelease weekend. Sweet.

The third quarter of 2020 sees two more Commander pre-cons released along side the Zendikar Rising set. These will be themed around Zendikar Rising, contain three new cards each. The major difference will be the packaging. There will be no large foil Commander card, and will be packaged more like the Brawl decks (apparently). These decks will replace the Planeswalker decks for this set.

For the last two years we have had Planeswalker themed spellbooks. They have been replaced with a green themed Commander Collection. Eight reprinted cards from the history MtG for the Commander player. I believe there will be a foil and regular version of this if I heard right in the video.

Then a biggie drops in the final quarter of the year (just in time for Christmas I bet) Commander Legends. Apparently this is draft meets Commander! 70 new Legends to build with. A booster box is 20 packs, with each pack containing a foil and two legendaries.

Along side Commander Legends comes two more Commander pre-con decks. Which get the same treatment as the Zendikar Rising decks.

So it looks like WotC are targeting Commander players in 2020. Not surprising it is their most popular format.

So if my maths is correct, over the year we are getting nine new Commander pre-con decks. That sees 83 new Commander cards. Add in the 70 new Legends from the Commander set, and that rises to 153 new cards. And we are not even taking into account any obvious new Commander cards in the regular set releases or any Brawl decks (we know it’s dead). That’s a massive number of cards to add.

I like that the four pre-cons out side of the big annual Commander release are meant to be starting off points, and not part of that designed to be played against each other design of the main release.

It also nice to see that WotC want to make it easier for players, especially new ones to get their hands on Commander staples. Does that mean we will get to see some of the more expensive lands reprinted, or the likes of Cyclonic Rift? I can see the recent Brawl cards that Commander players went crazy over making it into these pre-cons. I don’t think we will see any big reprints in the decks themselves. But Commander Legends is another matter indeed.

There is no doubt that this stuff will sell. I just hope they print enough to meet demand. To make it accessible for that new player they need product on shelves, selling at the retail price. Yes I know that WotC dropped MSRP, then put up the cost to distributors, and that ripples down the supply chain to the consumer paying more at the till. But let’s assume the set pre-cons should be selling for around £30, then they should not be being sold for £50, £60,or £90 just because WotC got the demand wrong, and didn’t print enough copies. Even if that was the case, and WotC did a large print run that still didn’t meet demand, which is likely. They need a second (even third) print run hitting stores ASAP after the release date. Eliminate that window of scalping, or reduce it to the shortest period possible.

You can read the official post which has the Command Zone announcement video and previewed art HERE.

In other big MtG news. Somehow an individual got their hands on a handful of Theros Beyond Death boosters, and posted photos of the cards.

I’ve had a brief look at the photos that are circulating on line to see what new and returning mechanics there are.

If you liked Sagas from Dominaria then you will be pleased to know that they are returning in Theros Beyond Death. Have to admit they are a bit of fun to play.

The Constellation mechanic is making a return. Does this hint that enchantments will be a bigger thing in this set?

There is an Omen enchantment cycle. Which has an appropriate colour etb effect, and then a 3CMC sacrifice the card to Scry 2, and they have flash.

Escape is a new mechanic being introduced that allows you to cast a card from the graveyard. You exile four other cards from your graveyard and pay the escape cost of the card to be able to cast the card from the graveyard.

One or two of the leaked cards look sweet. But the take home is the above really.

1v1 Brawl experience

Game day, magic, MtG

I just don’t get 1v1 Brawl.

But then again I’m not a big fan of 1v1 Commander.

This afternoon I got to play with the first ever officially released WotC Brawl precons.

Yeah I know I’m late to the party, they came out when Throne of Eldraine dropped a couple of weeks ago. But I wasn’t able to pick mine up until last week. And luckily Diego was gracious enough to play some MtG using them.

As always when it comes to using precons with friends I let them choose the deck they want to play first, and I choose from what’s left.

Our first match up was Knight’s Charge (Diego) versus’ Faerie Schemes (me).

There was some nice synergy in this deck with playing artifacts and enchantments. Stuff happening when you played them, or creatures getting buffs based on the number I controlled. It seemed more cohesive than the other deck. Which I assumed wanted to get get lots of equipment out and equipping those knights with them and swinging in for damage.

I won this match up.

Our second match up was Savage Hunter (Diego) verses Wild Bounty (me).

Ok I was 4 cards away from milling myself. I had all but one land out. Once again this seemed like an uneven match up. Chulane was definitely a Commander I liked the look of, and would like to build a Commander deck round him. Probably my favourite Commander of the four Brawl decks. The Korvold deck just didn’t seem to be generating enough tokens to get the value engine going. Although Diego did get me down to 12 health before I won.

Firstly let’s look at the product itself. These decks are missing the necessary tokens for the decks. Why they weren’t included I have no idea. Maybe they weren’t expecting people to play them, but break the decks up to build Commander decks with.

The Life Wheel is just horrid and cheap. It’s a cardboard wheel. Awful. I’d have preferred the tokens instead.

The cardboard deck box to hold the deck with is a cardboard deck box. I’ll repurpose it’s for something else.

The decks now will be broken up and the land cards used in other decks, and Arcane Signet going into every deck. Heraldic Banner has a couple of mono colour decks I want to add it to.

And that’s the thing I’ve heard stories on the Internet that’s these Brawl decks are going for silly money (mainly in the US I think) and that some of the individual cards are worth more than the original retail price!

I think in a multiplayer game the decks might not seem so one sided. The whole political thing kicks in, alliances forged, everyone coming together to knock down who ever has managed to claw their way to the top of the pile.

And that’s what I don’t get about 1v1 Brawl and Commander. That political element of the game is such a big factor of what makes the formats enjoyable. Although I still don’t see much point for Brawl apart from as a marketing exercise to try and sell more booster packs.

I know why they have 1v1 Brawl online. The multiplayer version is a bit challenging for them to implement. But seriously 1v1 is an ok experience at best. I don’t know why you would choose it over Standard in this scenario. They are going to have to keep a separate ban list for 1v1 Brawl. Which they have done in the past after the failed launch of the format. Just play Standard.

Nah Brawl isn’t for me. But thanks for the Commander cards WotC.

Three Horse Race?

magic, MtG, news

I would loved to have been in the WotC offices Monday when the news dropped of a new entrant into the digital CCG arena.

All of a sudden what they thought was a two horse race between themselves with MtG:Arena and the 800lb gorilla Hearthstone by Blizzard, looks like becoming a three horse race with the addition of Riot Games and Legend of Runeterra.

I suspect WotC were hoping in the current climate that they would be picking up a shed load of new players as those disenfranchised with Blizzard and Hearthstone look for a viable alternative.

Although I would imagine that the number of engaged players would drop drastically once the new arrivals realised they can only play on their PC, and not on their mobile device of choice. Although to be fair to WotC, Mac owners will be getting Arena hopefully sometime before the New Year.

However that was before the sign up for early access to new kid on the block Legends of Runeterra (LoR) was opened up on Monday. Like Arena LoR is only available on PC. However the button is already on the website for the Apple App Store. Which would imply that they plan to release LoR sooner than later on mobile.

The scary thing for WotC with Riot Games entering the fray is that Riot Games know this arena. All those years of experience developing the online behemoth that is League of Legends. All the experience that this has got them in the e-sport arena. The customer base they have to market to. A customer base that trusts them, and is highly engaged with them, and is more at easy using a digital product.

WotC are not generous with their in game economy in Arena. It stinks, and is the major reason why I won’t play the game. Close second is it’s not on iOS/iPadOS.

If Riot Games get the game play correct, and they get the in game economy correct, then they will have a hit on their hands. As soon as I get my invite to play (yes I did sign up for early access) and had sometime with the game I’ll post my thoughts.

In the meantime it will be interesting to see just how WotC and Blizzard react to the new guy on the block.

Once Upon… A Five Room Dungeon Adventure

D&D, magic, MtG, RPG

One of the things I love about the Throne of Eldraine set for MtG is the theme, and it’s take on fairy tales. It really is a fantastic mash up of fairy tales, Arthurian legend and the MtG universe. Did I say how gorgeous the art is?

It’s very inspiring. Especially the twisted take on fairy tales. And I love anything that inspires ideas for adventures for my campaign or even a one shot.

I’ve been meaning to create a one page dungeon (although this years competition has ended, and next years is along way off). I want to create a few and share them on here. After all practice makes perfect. I also want to combine the one page dungeon with the 5 Room Dungeon. It seems a natural fit.

The three cards that I’m using for inspiration for this adventure are Gingerbrute, Flaxen Intruder and Trapped in the tower.

Although there are some great cards to inspire objects to populate the adventure with also.

I’ve also been reading The Curse of Strahd campaign book recently and think that this twisted fairy tale idea would fit in nicely with the Barovia setting.

So based on my initial inspiration, A Goldilocks and the 3 bug bears comes to mind, as does rescuing a princess/maiden (could be a prince or some other being) from a tower that is guarded by those 3 bug bears. With the gingerbrute being the main bad guy. I also like the idea of using something like the corridor monitor as a roaming guardian in the tower.

With that brainstorming I have three locations, a cottage, a tower and the space between them. The tower can break down to another 2 locations, the stairs and the room at the top. Finally that room at the top can be split into 2. Which by my count gives me five locations.

The tower itself is surrounded by a wall of thorns. That is only broken by the cottage. So to get to the tower you have to pass through the cottage.

This poor attempt at a map is how I envision the layout.

Tarokka cards are used in Curse of Strahd “to randomly determine key aspects of the adventure.” I’d like them also to be used in this adventure. But at the moment I just can’t get that to work.

Sadly after writing the 5 Room Dungeon in Scribe, and then transferring the words into GoodNotes. I just couldn’t make it fit without cutting a lot of text. I suppose I could do that. But for the time being I’m going to put out the initial version of this as a 5 Room Adventure. When I get time I’ll try to fit it onto a single page.

The adventure is aimed at a tier 1 party. Apart from one instance I try and avoid giving quantities for monsters. I like to give a bit of wiggle room, and allow for the DM to adjust on the fly based on how the party are doing.

You can get the draft pdf of the adventure by downloading that link. I’d love some feedback. I’ve not tested the adventure. So if you get a chance to try it I’d love to hear how you got on.

UPDATE: Once Upon v2 – updated with feedback from Scott and Jacob.

Once upon v3 – updated with feedback from Duncan.