Starting to automate deck lists!

Uncategorized

One thing that has been eating away at me for my deck list posts is that they don’t link to card info on Gatherer.

I did try a plug-in for WordPress. But it wasn’t really that easy to integrate into my editing process. I had to tag stuff by hand. Plus the plug-in didn’t seem to be updating with WordPress releases to make sure it was secure.

So the plain lists with no links has been the default after that brief trial.

That sense of the deck lists could be better stuck with me.

So today I spent some time automating a process that takes a Deckbuilder deck list, and turns that into some HTML for me that I can copy and paste into a post.

Years ago I had a similar process for my “diary” when it first started up using vbscript to generate the HTML for my photos that I’d taken on walks and trips, and the updated menus for the site. All I had to do was take the HTML and copy it into the web pages. Which then got uploaded to the server. This was pre-Wordpress days. What I had was almost a very basic CMS made up of vbscript that I ran.

Today using Pythonista on my iPad I can write a python script that can read in a Deckbuilder deck list, go through the file and build up a line of HTML for each card used in the deck that when clicked takes you to the WotC Gatherer web page for the card.

For those interested or remotely curious here is the code (screen shot sadly, it’s the only way at the mo I can share the code so it is formatted correctly). Push comes to shove email me and I’ll send the file to you. Eventually I’ll put it on github once it’s finished.


The next thing to do with this script is to get it to present the information in the same format as if I’d used the Deckbuilder share deck text option. At the moment the list is ungrouped, no structure.

I hope some found this peek behind the curtain of interest.

#RPGaDAY2019 Day 13 – Mystery

D&D, RPG

So we have time warped on this #RPGaDAY2019 thing and skipped 3 days. In that time I’ve bored you with some MtG stuff instead.

But we are back to that hashtag thing, and today’s theme is …

So what does mystery mean to me in relation to RPGs, and particularly D&D?

From my limited DM experience, the sessions I’ve run so far have all been mysterious in some way. That unknown of what the adventurers will do. How will they react to a given situation? Will they get the clues? Solve the puzzle? Which adventure hook will they follow?

For me that bit of mystery always gives at least one pleasant surprise. Such as when the bard in the group stepped out of the bushes and started singing/playing a song to distract 2 goblin guards. The dice decided that the bard did a really great job doing this. Enabling the rest of the party to get the drop on the guards and take them out.

But there is another interruption of mystery. That being a puzzling crime/murder told through some medium like a book or film. And I’m eager to explore that interruption within my campaign. It is possible and initial research has led me to believe that a mystery scenario is possible but difficult to create and run.

So I’ve tabled that mystery style of scenario for later in the campaign. A time when I’m more experienced as a DM, and more confident that I can create a fun, entertaining and challenging mystery.

From a players point of view, each session is a mystery. With the unknown unfolding before them based on their decisions and actions. Plus a little bit of luck for good measure.

Not great insight I know, but these are just thoughts. Not well thought out or put together. But still.

Commander 2019 Spoilers I Like Part 2

magic, MtG

Welcome back to Darren talks more total bollux about MtG. Especially about cards from the Commander 2019 spoiler season that’s just finished.

So let’s get down to business.

These first 2 cards are definitely candidates for big green stompy. Momentous Fall looks an interesting card to play to get card draw and a little life gain. Especially when you know that your creature is going to die.

Giant Adephage ticks the box of being big and green. But that damage ability. If left unchecked this is going to get out of control exponentially. Dragonmaster Outcast is so going in my dragon tribal deck.


Board wipes are always good. Despite it’s cost Phyrexian Rebirth is nice because after the board is wiped clear you are left with potentially a really big body on the battlefield.

Desolation Twins is a reprint that will go nicely into a colourless deck along side some of the other colourless big hitters like Emrakul and Ulamog. I’m not sure how that deck will work, but with this card and others a target instantly goes on your back at the table.

Geth, Lord Of The Vault is just a nice zombie to try in the Scarab God Deck. I really like the activated ability. Steal an artifact/creature from their graveyard and mill the player. Nice.

Magus of the Balance I like because it’s activated ability is a nice leveller. All of a sudden everyone is on even grounds with the weakest player on the table.

Song of the Worldsoul I like for my mono white angel deck. Not sure it would really work in the token spam. It might. I may give it a try.

Tectonic Hellion, I like this in my mono red aggro deck and the gloves off land hate version of it.

Voice of Many might find a home in the elf deck. The way that deck plays, every player at the table will have less creatures than me.

Roc Egg all I’m going to say is look at my words below about the defender/wall idea. This would be a great include.

Another great include for mono red Magmaquake. Board wipe leaving flyers alone. Could work in my favour as long as the other players don’t have flyers. But an ideal include for the dragon deck.

Arla Palani, Nest Tender, I do like the idea of building around this card. Being able to cheat out creature cards for free that’s nice. It even leaves you in a good place after a board wipe. Have some large say colourless creatures like the twins above in the deck. Hmm a deck idea is starting to formulate.

Rolling Temblor another potential board wipe for red. But more a card for keeping those pesky token decks under control.

The thing I like about Purify the Grave is cheap graveyard hate for white.

Cliffside Rescuer is an interesting card. I’m just having second thoughts about it as I look at it writing this post. I like the protection bit, but for the current turn only makes me think meh!

What does a goblin deck need? Ramp. Dockside Extortionist gives that with it’s etb.

Back in Core Set 2019 we got new versions of the Elder Dragons. You know the ED in EDH (the original and still name for Commander). One of those Elder Dragons, Arcades, the Strategist loves cards that have the keyword defender, which a lot of walls have. Wall of Stolen Identity although missing the defender keyword is definitely a card I’d like to include in an Arcades defender/wall commander deck.

Sadly that Arcades deck idea could not have Pramikon, Sky Rampart in it thanks to that splash of Redon it’s casting cost. But I think this is a fun Commander card either as a Commander or one of the 99. I do like cards that changes the game, or causes interactions that enhance the political side of the game.

Green needs more ramp cards! Tempt with Discovery allows that with a little quandary thrown in for your opponents. They may need that land, but at the cost of giving you another? A hard choice for them.

Apex Altisaur a candidate for the dinosaur tribal deck and also the big green stompy deck. It’s big and green, it’s etb is removal, that can be a board wipe with that enrage trigger!

Ok that’s the wrap for the spoilers I like from the Commander 2019 spoilers. What ones caught your eye?

Commander 2019 Spoilers I Like Part 1

magic, MtG

After a week of no gaming and boring you with some posts as my contribution for #RPGaDAY2019, it’s my turn to bore you with some MtG stuff.

With GenCon and now the past week it has been spoiler season for…

In about 2 weeks time we will get our hands on the physical cards. But in the meantime it’s time for me to share with you some of the cards that caught my eye.

But first let’s talk about the elephant in the room. For the second year running we are seeing a price hike in the cost of the decks. A taster of the things to come with the Throne of Eldraine.

If you have seen the Commandzone spoiler season coverage they mention the value in each deck (based on reprints alone) but fail to mention the cost of the deck increase. It’s almost as if WotC asked them not to mention it.

The value is irrelevant really, it’s whether the reprints are any good, and Commander staples that matters. And that’s how they should be judged.

Another factor I take into account about a deck, and it only really comes into play once I’m playing them. Are they fun to play? It’s a hard one to quantify. And it’s very subjective, and personal.

At the moment based on the deck lists I think the deck I’m most excited about, and think I will enjoy the most is the morph deck Faceless Menace.

With the decks that have graveyard shenanigans like the Madness deck I keep thinking ok these decks will be ok when played against each of the other pre-cons. But graveyard hate is a thing. I use it in my decks, these 2 cards go in almost by default these days.

There are other cards that do similar, but I like these. Plus they are cheap and easy to get. Also Leyline of the Void is also a nice graveyard hate card.

Remember when I choose these cards I’m evaluating them for if I think I can i]use them in an existing deck. You know upgrading it (MtG players are known to do that). And if they inspire ideas for a new deck.

So let’s look at these new cards.

Beacon of Unrest get something back from the graveyard, and you get to do it again later. That’s always a neat trick. Dark Withering is a nice removal that with a later cars becomes super cheap with the madness cost. And Faith of the Devoted also combos off nicely with that later card also.


I think I already play From Under the Floorboards in my Scarab God Zombie deck. If I,don’t it needs to go in. 9 CMC for a board wipe seems expensive but In Garruk’s Wake I think is worth it (just). Mainly because it’s a board wipe that leaves your creatures and Planeswalkers alone. Nightshade Assassin now that I’m writing this I’m cooling on. I like it’s etb but not sure how big that X will be unless you can keep cards in hand.

Ok this next one isn’t a zombie, but it generates zombies. And the nice thing is a board wipe will leave you with zombies. It’s expensive but still I like Overseer of the Damned. I can see it being a sweet card in a Kaali (sp?) deck. Zombie Infestation is just a nice card that allows you to get rid of dead cards and get a zombie token. You can guess the deck I’d try those 2 cards in. Now Warstorm Surge is a sweet sweet card for my mono red Commander deck. Basically each time you cast a creature it’s removal or direct damage. Plus any other etb or effects they have.

Another card now that I look at the card I’m not sure about is Flayer of the Hatebound. I just don’t do much playing from the graveyard that involves red. But I do like that it comes with the same ability as the Warstorm Surge. Solemn Simulacrum is a body and mana ramp with it’s etb. A good utility card. Bone Miser is a great card with those activated abilities around the discarding of cards.

Wow do I like Nightmare Unmaking. It’s removal with that rather nice keyword exile. Destroying is ok. But exiling is better, especially those pesky indestructible creatures. Curse of Fool’s Wisdom there is only one player that will get this card. It’s whoever has Rhystic Study out. The last enchantment is such a funny graveyard hate card. Exile their graveyard and then cast it against them. Oh the chuckles I can see coming from this one.

Rogue’s Passage below is a land that definitely will be going into the Ninja deck. Making the ninja’s unblockable once they have been ninjitsu’d out on the next turn very very handy.

Emmara Tandris despite being an elf with a rather nice ability that my elves (would love to benefit from. Sadly it splashes white along with it’s green. So it can’t be there. But in my token spam deck it will be amazing.

Grimoire of the Dead combos with the Bone Mixer very nicely.

Well that’s it for the first part of my look at the new Commander decks. Part 2 tomorrow.

#RPGaDAY2019 Day 9 – Critical

D&D, RPG

Today or tomorrow might see a double post day. Look on it as making up for no post yesterday. Which means I skipped day 8 of RPGaDAY2019.

In the meantime you have a post for Day 9 to suffer. And the theme/inspiration for today is…

This is a toughie. Critical can be interpreted a few ways. It can be used negatively, saying something is bad. It can mean something is of importance. Or finally it can be giving judgement or an opinion.

So I’m going to try and give an answer for each definition below.

Negative – I’m going to be unpopular for this one. My criticism is the likes of Critical Roll with the voice actors, or the one on Caffeine which hired actors that are good at improv. Whilst this may make good viewing, in my experience I don’t think this gives a realistic view of an RPG game. Not everyone does the voice, feels confident to do them, or are that “expressive” or hamming it up. And by that I mean the majority of players.

Important – this is probably the one everyone will go with for their entries for today. It’s the easiest of the three definitions. I’m going to choose a category of magic items for my important. I’m running a campaign that is at sea and island hopping. At some point the adventurers will end up having to go underwater. Maybe visit some merfolk, explore a wreck, or have to deal to rescue some-one from the sahuagin.

However they end up on the sea bed my adventurers will need some way to breathe underwater. This is where magic items that allow them to breathe underwater are pretty critical to their mission. These items could be manta ray cloaks or helms of underwater action. Possibly pressure capsules, or potions of water breathing.

Without these magical items the adventurers would drown, or worse not get to experience the underwater world. That makes them critical in my opinion.

Opinion/Judgement – this is probably the easiest one of these for me. So far after the sessions where I have been the DM, I have written posts that give my opinion/judgment on how I think the session went. In these posts I try and be honest and reflect on the session. These are notes for me to help me improve as a DM.

Ok not a great post. But hopefully though provoking.

#RPgaDAY2019 Day 7 – Familar

D&D, RPG

Today’s inspiring word for RPGaDA2019 is…

I thought I’d look briefly at how my players will experience the familiar in our campaign.

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

My players will be experiencing a bit of the familiar, even deja vu in our session 2 of the campaign when they exit the pirates lair that I created, and have fought their way through to come out in a tomb. A tomb with several sarcophagi in, and a passage leading south in the southern wall of the room.

Hopefully for one or two of the group this will seem oddly familar.

The party will have emerged into the secret burial chamber from the Matt Colville one shot he did that kicked off the whole being a DM series that he does. Three members of the party did that one shot as a taster session earlier in the year.

The only real threat to the party this time though is the skeletons still in the tomb, waiting for one of the party to get greedy and take the sword being held by an effigy of a long dead knight on one of the sarcophagi.

Otherwise as they work their way through the tomb they will come across the long decayed remains of the goblins and bugbear that they fought so valiantly in the one shot. It was their heroic efforts to save the child, and clearing the tomb that allowed the pirates to move in and use t as a secret entrance to their lair.

I hoping those players will like this little return to the one shot. Although it doesn’t link directly location wise. I’ve moved the tomb thousands of miles to a totally different location. I thought it would be a fun addition and end to their first dungeon in the campaign.

#RPGaDAY2019 Day 6 – Ancient

D&D, RPG

Ok I didn’t do this #RPGaDAY2019 yesterday whose prompt was Space. Playing MtG and not having anything really to contribute are my excuse for not posting anything. Although when I looked at the hash tag on twitter folks were interrupting it as the gaming space. Although that’s probably the angle I’d take as well. I thought I might have seen more talk about space themed RPG’s. When I didn’t see any, which doesn’t mean there wasn’t. Just that this old man didn’t see them.

Today’s prompt is …

Which is an interesting one. And I’m looking forward to seeing what people’s contributions to this one are.

Here is my contribution…

For me D&D and any fantasy based RPG is a mish mash of many influences. A few of them can be described as ancient.

Let’s start with the easiest and probably the most influential Tolkien. Who as we all know was a renowned scholar in old English. And throughout his work the influence of his subject specialism can be found. Tolkien even wrote an English translation of Beowulf. But as you read Tolkien’s work, there feels a depth and history within the pages. However although that’s the side I’ve discussed so far. Probably the biggest and easiest to identify influences are the races and classes, make up of a party (the fellowship of the ring) and the medieval feel.

The world that the likes of D&D and others are set in are often described as medieval European fantasy. And although it may not have the feudal society. I would argue (over a pint at the pub) that as a point of reference to describe the look, level of sophistication etc of the setting it’s a fair starting point. Especially to those that have not played the game before.

However the influences don’t stop there.

We only have to look at some of the monsters that adventurers can come across to see them. For instance Greek mythology with hydras, medusa, and minotaurs to name ones that spring to mind as I write this post.

D&D goes even further back than what would be considered ancient on the Monster front with dinosaurs. Yeah you can have a T-Rex stomping and running amok in your campaign.

Within my homebrew campaign set within the D&D realm of Faerûn it has been heavily influenced by the Ancient Greek stories of Pytheas and Jason and the Argonauts. Some of the islands my adventurers will come across will be inhabited by people that have a heavy Norse influence.

Definitely within my campaign the boats used to travel between islands and explore the seas are more Norse influenced with the use of long boats. Architecture (depending on the communities main influence) for the campaign on the islands will be either medieval European or Norse.

One thing I have found is that as a new DM, as I get further into the campaign and preparing the upcoming session the more I’m learning about these influences. Like Tolkien I want names whether they are of a person or place to feel authentic. Luckily Gygax wrote a book on names, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything have lists of names that can be used based on ethnicity and race. A bit of google magic helps me find pages to make place names that sound Nordic. So I’m learning history whether real or mythic as I go along, whether it be Medieval English history and legends (which I will include the Norse stuff here) or it’s Greek mythology.

It’s the mix of these ancient influences that help make D&D and any fantasy setting a rich and rewarding world to explore. They definitely provide a gold mine of ideas for campaigns and adventures.

What influences have you noticed within D&D?

#RPGaDAY2019 Day 4 – Share

D&D, RPG

Somehow #RPGaDAY2019 appeared in my twitter timeline this morning. I was curious what this was, so I clicked the hashtag to find out.

In the responses was the image below.

The image seemed to explain it pretty succinctly.

It also seemed a pretty cool idea.

So I thought I’d jump in and write this post for day 4!

What? This post doesn’t count even though it’s technically sharing that this Twitter/internet created thing is a thing?

Ok I get it, you want more.

Well regular readers of this blog will know I’ve only just become a DM/GM. And have been suffering posts where I have been writing about my session prep. Which have been basically me brain dumping and waffling on about ideas and stuff for the home brew campaign that I am running.

So here I present my poor notes for my session 1 of the campaign.

In the wake of Pytheas Campaign session 1 Notes

You will need the map created by Matt Colville (for new readers when I talk D&D I usually try and work in mentioning Colville at some point) for his intro/taster adventure he created. You can pick that up here.

I’ve removed all the copyrighted stuff. Well 90% of it. Although there are some paragraphs that are taken from a D&D Beyond Encounter Of The Week that I altered for use in my campaign left in.

If you have any questions about the notes, leave a comment below I’ll gladly answer them.

So I hope you liked what I shared. I can’t guarantee I’ll do this every day. But I will do more for sure.

Conquering Galaxies

game night

The draw back of gaming at Spoons on a Friday evening is not only is it busy, but also noisy. However that is the situation Jonathan and I found ourselves in for a bit of light two player gaming.

Naturally the tables at Spoons are suitable for drinking, but not really for gaming. So our gaming options were limited. Which isn’t a problem we have plenty of two player games that don’t require lots of table space in our collections.

Our first game amongst the Friday evening drinking community was Tiny Epic Galaxies. Records show I hadn’t played the game for 2 years.

After refreshing our memories, play commenced. Earlier in the week Gamelyn Games announced there will be a week long Kickstarter soon for Ultra Tiny Epic Galaxies. The second Ultra Tiny game they will have produced.

Where as I could see Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms being suitable for the further miniaturisation. I’m not convinced that is the case for Galaxies. And my main reason for this is the dice. I just can’t imagine rolling little wooden cubes as dice being a pleasant experience. I tried rolling the cubes in the game and it was horrid.

I think Tiny Epic is the smallest this game can and should go. And it’s why I won’t be buying backing or later buying the Ultra Tiny version.

However I still really enjoy this game. It was nice getting it back to the table. Made even more sweet with getting the win.

Our next game of the evening was Hanamikoji. This really is such a nice game. It’s a favourite of both of us.

This game is so underrated. And is so simple and fast to play. We knocked out 3 games in a row. Which were 3 wins for me.

Jonathan and I had chatted, enjoyed some games. But after about an hour of gaming we called it a night. Jonathan hadn’t been feeling great for a large chunk of the day. So I was fortunate that he felt able to come along in the first place. The less than ideal environment didn’t help.

I’m definitely getting old, because some of the young ladies did not look old enough to be in an establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. But it’s so hard to tell the age of some-one these days.

But despite that realisation and feeling my age. I had a brief but great time with a great friend.

Games Played: Tiny Epic Galaxies, Hanamikoji

A pleasant Thursday afternoon gaming

Game day, magic, MtG

Yesterday afternoon was the complete opposite of Tuesday.

My FLGS for starters was much much busier. MtG and games were going on as the owner was rushed off his feet unpacking and checking a delivery. A lot of new Pokemon stuff had arrived, plus that massive Armada Super Star Destroyer model (see yesterday’s post for a photo of it).

I started off playing some 1v1 Commander. My opponent was testing their new deck which was doing some graveyard shenanigans. My mono red deck was still deciding to play hide and seek with it’s lands. Which proved problematic and gave two relatively easy and predictable wins for my opponent. For the third game I pulled out my tweaked Elf deck. That proved too powerful for my opponent, especially when his elves helped power up my deck.

Afterwards I taught Penny Lane to a friend. Who despite losing loved the game. So much so they want to buy the game when it comes out.

I then had a three player game of Penny Lane, with my friend (shows how much he liked it) and the store owners assistant. I’d not played Penny Lane with more than 2 players since getting it. Despite a slow start, I ended up triggering the end of the game. But my friend managed to grab the win. However the assistant loved the game also, and told the store owner that they will be ordering some copies for the store.

I did point out to them the difference between my copy and the one they would get on release. Which apart from a single Kickstarter exclusive building card, the foiled coins were just cosmetic.

But I was chuffed and taken aback by the reaction from both. I like the game. And wasn’t expecting the reaction I got.

As for my thoughts on playing with 3 players. It’s a slightly different experience than a 2 player game. Your tactics have to change, especially if you are third in the turn order. It means you are most likely not going to get one of the actions to get money. So you either take the first player token, or buy a building (assuming there is one you can afford) and try and get a money engine going with completed coin icons and hopefully the building bought. And it was the later approach I took. But either way you are more or less writing off that turn or turns until you get that engine going and become less reliant on the money action. It’s a different problem to solve. But still really enjoyable.

I had a fun afternoon. A nice combo of MtG and playing a game. No stress. No drama. Playing with great people. Some banter with the owner. Some gossip about the games industry. What else could you want?

Well after seeing the Asmodee UK price sheet for the FFG stuff announced Wednesday, a stiff drink.

Here is a taster. The Marvel Champions Core set is £60. The Marvel Miniatures game £90. The expansions for the miniatures game £35 iirc.

Yeah not cheap. I may rant about this in a future post. Depends how I feel and if I want to waste my breathe shouting about something that won’t change. All I and others that don’t like it can do is vote with our wallets.

Games Played: Penny Lane