Some recent gaming

Fenland Gamers, Game day, game night, magic, MtG

It’s been a busy week for gaming. Wednesday was the monthly meet up for Fenland Gamers. Friday was the regular fortnightly gaming session. Then Saturday was the start of the final season of Standard Showdown.

The monthly meet up was well attended. But bit of a disaster on the planning games wise.

Earlier in the day Jonathan had posted on the club Facebook page a reminder for members to let who over had set up the event that they were going. It makes planning what games to take along easier.

Sadly after that did Jonathan and I take any games? Not really I took some small games, like Love Letter, No Thanks!. Jonathan had none. Our excuse? Others had said they were bringing stuff.

In the end there were 6 of us. Sadly the games bough were max head counts of 4. We could have split into 2 groups and played. But we didn’t. After a period of chatting and indecision Jonathan nipped back to his car and got Saboteur. One of a small handful of games he still had in his car. He used to have a lot more games stored there.

So the evening was spent playing a few small games that played 6 people.

Games played: Saboteur, No Thanks!, Perudo

Friday was a gaming session Jonathan and myself had been waiting for. We were both looking forward to playing Root that another member was bringing along.

While we were waiting for that person to arrive, we played a quick game of the Archer themed Love Letter. It’d been a while since I’d played this version, and it’s still one of my favourites. I like the mechanic it uses where the card that is removed at the start is used in the game.

Root. What can I say? Did it live up to the expectations and the hype? Kinda, I’m not sure!

This was a learning game for everyone. I do like that there is a manual and sheet that is designed for new players, and takes you through your first couple of turns. I do like this trend that has emerged over the last couple of years or so, that for the more “complicated” games you get a beginners guide and reference guide.

I like the truly asymmetrical factions. It does make teaching and learning I would imagine a nightmare. I think I got lucky in getting the vagabonds. They were an easy faction to get to grasp. I liked the political element of the faction. But despite winning, I didn’t really use the faction to it’s fullest.

Root is one of those games like Cry Havoc, that I think is going to reward you for playing the game multiple times with the same faction, so you truly master the tactics and learn the cards.

I love the meeples used (photo below) they have a cute factor. As does all the art used as well. Which is an interesting design choice. The art style would be attractive to a younger age group. But it’s not a game you’d play with a younger age group.

One thing I did not like about the game was the amount of down time between turns. It’s long. I’m hoping this is explained away by the fact this was a learning game. But I can see this still being an issue once a player knows the game better.

Root is an interesting game. I didn’t dislike it. But I didn’t leave the game raving about it either, or thinking I must play another game straight away. It needs more plays for sure.

Games played: Archer: Once You Go Blackmail, Root

Saturday was the first Standard Showdown in the final season of Standard Showdown.

I managed to get some casual games in before the Showdown started, and tinker with the Simic deck. But I was undecided on which deck to play. The choice was between mono red aggro (the upgraded 2019 Challenger deck) and my Orzhov deck.

I decided to go with the Orzhov deck after seeing that a friend was going mono red aggro (with an upgraded 2019 Challenger deck). I wanted to avoid if we did end up playing against each other a mirror match up.

It was bound to happen sometime that I would face off against Andy Hall in a first round. His Selesnya token deck just walked all over mine. My deck just didn’t get set up quick enough. More annoyingly, Andy threw that deck together quickly before leaving the house to come to the Showdown.

Round 2 saw me playing John and his Simic merfolk Simic Ascendancy deck. This was a good match up for me. And it was a by the numbers game. I got Liliana out in the first game, that gave me the edge to get the win. While in game two Sorin gave me the advantage. Being able to bring back the creatures I had in my graveyard, and the lifelink very powerful.

Round 3 against Kar-Fai was draining. I took our first game. But it could have gone either way. The second game was a real back and forth. The first half of the game I had the upper hand, but ran out of juice just as Kar-Fai started to get answers. Then it was me holding on looking for answers. It was such a long game. Which saw Kar-Fai claw his way to victory just as the time buzzer went off. This was a true draw. Our decks very evenly matched.

The final round saw me up against another mono red aggro deck (another upgraded 2019 Challenger deck). So I knew what was coming. The first game was close, but the second game with Tibalt out screwed me over. As predicted it shutdown my life gain shenanigans. I destroyed one, only for it to be replaced with a second the following turn.

My casual games afterwards with my friend saw me testing the Simic deck against the dreaded mono red aggro. I was happy how it handled itself. Sadly in our third game I never drew into my solutions for the Rekindling Phoenix, and with 2 of them out I stood no chance.

Casual Games

Paul: Win 3-0

Bob: Win 2-1

Standard Showdown Stats

Participants: 13

Rounds: 4

Round 1: Andy Hall Loss 0-2

Round 2: John Win 2-0

Round 3: Kar-Fai Draw 1-1

Round 4: Simon Loss 0-2

Record: 1-1-2

Final Position: 10th

Prizes: 1 participation pack plus a Standard Showdown pack.

In the Showdown pack I pulled a foil forest basic land, a foil new Jace, and a Rekindling Phoenix. So very happy with that.

I’m now in the process of trading Jace for Orzhov check or shock lands. And I’m also doing the same with the Bolas I have. I’d like to keep Bolas. But the only way to improve the Orzhov deck is to make it faster, and that needs the lands.

Saturday evening I was listening to the Top Level mtg podcast and they were talking about how good Narset was against mono red aggro. It basically shuts down Experimental Frenzy. Luckily I have 3 of these! So I may have to adjust the sideboard once again for the Simic deck. Which at the moment is looking as being a lot of counter spells. Although I may add Carnage Tyrant back in for countrol decks.

Gods and Cycles

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

In War of the Spark there are one or two card cycles. Cycles are a group of cards one in each of the five colours of MtG that have a similar name and theme.

I want to look at the Finale and God cycles in my unique uniformed way.

Let’s start with the Finale cycle.

In my opinion (which we have already established is not very well informed) these are at best ok cards in Standard. But put them in Commander and they become really good.

In Standard it’s really the first part of the ability of the card we are looking at for getting any value. Rarely in Standard will you be casting these cards with an X of 10 or greater. Which means you have 12 mana to cast it. That’s a lot. Almost unplayable if that was the only effect we were looking at. However in Commander casting the card for that mana cost is a possibility.

I like Finale of Devastation and will be adding that to my Big Green Stompy Commander deck. Fetching a card and putting it on the battlefield for free (not really because we have paid for it in the casting), and then being able to swing in with it and any other creatures, and they are all bigger for this turn also. That could be the killing blow needed.

Finale of Promise is a card I don’t like. I’m not big on this type of effect, although it might go well in my wizards deck. So this is a card that I love the art, but not what it does.

Finale of Glory. I need this in my life. At the moment I don’t have a copy. But boy do my mono white Angel Commander deck and the Trostani token spam Commander decks what a copy of this in them? I’m just imagining 10 4/4 Angels out on the field, and if timed right double that with Doubling Season.

Finale of Revelation Horrors from the Deep, and anything I have with blue in will love this. Card draw, and unlimited handsize. Do I need to say more? Just refilling your hand mid to late game is game changing. While others are top decking, you have just drawn 10 cards! You have options, solutions, and you don’t have to discard down.

Finale of Eternity. I have mixed feelings about. The removal part is ok. But I do really like returning all my creatures from the graveyard back to the battlefield. Playing that after a board wipe would be particularly sweet.

The God cycle as I call it is soooo annoying. Each of the Gods in this cycle is nigh on impossible to get rid of. Kill it, exile it, and three turns (or less) and it’s back.

In Commander that’s really powerful if you use them as a mono colour Commander. It gets around Commander tax.

So far I have only really found two of these useful for Standard. The first of those is Oketra in my Orzhov deck. Getting a 4/4 zombie for 1 mana when I cast one of the 1 drops is insane. Sadly my Scarab God Commander deck would love Oketra to join it’s ranks but it doesn’t have white.

I don’t have Bontu and it’s a card I’d like to try in my Orzhov deck. Played at the right time and board state, I’d get card draw, damage to my opponent and life gain that would pump up one or two other creatures.

Ilharg is the other card I’ve found really useful in Standard and I want to try him with my mono red aggro Commander deck. I do like the idea of using him as the Commander. Multiple attack phases and a handful of creatures he becomes insane.

Rhonas I’m undecided on. He’s in my Simic standard deck. But I’m not sure how good a fit he is. I think he is better as one of the 99 in my big green stompy Commander deck.

For me the weaker cards in this God cycle are the ones that have an ETB. The two with the repeatable on going ability are the more powerful and useful ones in my eyes. Unless you can find a way to blink out the ones with the ETB and make use of that that way. But that seems a lot of effort. I prefer having to avoid all of that, unless I’m already doing that within the deck.

That’s my look at these two cycles. It’s been through my lense and how useful they are to me and decks I play. Your mileage from these cards especially the ones I’m not keen on may differ.

Chains and Barrels

D&D, painting, RPG

The bank holiday weekend saw me experiment with painting one of the barrels that was printed for me by a friend. Plus an attempt to paint the piles of chains that came with the cage I bought.

The end result for the barrel I’m very happy with. The metal was painted with Runefang Steel, and the wood with Mournfang Brown. Then a mild brown wash applied. The groves in the wood didn’t come out dark enough for my liking. So I applied a second layer of the wash just to those groves. Which gave me a result I was more happy with. I do like how the wash gave the metal a rusted/copper look.

The chains are ok. And will do. For those I used the Runefang Steel again, and then a dark tone wash.

I also started a couple of chests, that I think need the wash applying again to darken the groves more.

Now to do the other barrels I have printed.

Upgrading Lightning Aggro Suggestions

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

Last month saw the 2019 Challenger decks hitting the shelves of the FLGS. Last year when the initial ones came out they were a massive hit. They delivered big time on the promise of providing a standard legal deck that would be competitive at a FNM.

Would this years offerings continue to deliver on that promise? IMHO from the 3 I own and have played, the answer is a big yes.

In this post I’m going to look at the Lightning Aggro Challenger deck. It’s mono red. I don’t normally play mono red aggro. So I like that this Challenger deck allows me to try that deck without having to go out and track down all the cards. And like the rest of them it makes a great place to start and make the deck your own.

The WotC article (linked above) suggests that players look at adding Risk Factor and/or Skewer the Critics. They also talk about splashing a second colour and recommend cards in the colours suggested.

However I like the idea of sticking to mono red. So my inclination is to add one or two more copies of Rekindling Phoenix. Or at least having them in the sideboard. I love the card. A 4 CMC 4/3 that is nigh impossible to get rid of. Kill it and it’s back at the start of the next turn. It can be very annoying.

When I first saw Ilharg it didn’t grab me. But then I got this deck and pulled the card. I particular think it’s attacking ability is there to be abused. Chainwhirler and Pyromancer both have etb triggers that this allows us to repeat, a red flicker/blink effect? Plus as I saw at the weekend with Oketra once this is out on the battlefield even if your opponent does get rid of it, it’s back pretty quickly. I’m leaning to having a couple of these in the deck.

Tibalt is a sideboard card. And a situational one. It’s there for when the deck goes up against a deck like my Orzhov deck or the mono white United Assault Challenger deck. Basically any deck that relies on life gain. It switches them off.

Neheb is one to also consider, and could allow you to get Ilharg back even quicker. If I had to say one card I was unsure about then this would be it.

So that’s 6 cards I would consider for upgrading the Lightning Aggro deck. What do you think of these suggestions? What cards would you upgrade in this Cahllenger deck?

Orzhov Aggro Standard

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

I’ve actually enjoyed playing this deck. Yes it’s aggro. But that doesn’t really reflect what the deck does.

It is a value deck really. It uses life gain to get value, it uses creatures dying to get value.

The main value these two things give me is pumping up creatures, or trigger my favourite mechanic in this set proliferate.

Gain life something gets bigger. Creature dies, and something gets bigger, draw a card, do direct damage and gain life, that then triggers the life gain again! That’s a nice loop to get in.

Oketra is insane. Especially in this deck, once out every time I cast one of those 1 CMC 1/1 creatures I have (which there are a few) they get joined by a 4/4 zombie warrior token! That’s insane value. Plus so hard to get rid of.

I like Liliana. Pumping out that 2/2 token is nice. Using her sacrifice ability, removal and feeds into that value loop.

I never got Sorin into play in testing, so can’t really say how good he is in this deck.

Creatures:28

4 Banehound
4 Charmed Stray
4 Healer’s Hawk
3 Ajani’s Pridemate
3 Cruel Celebrant
2 Grateful Apparition
2 Martyr for the Cause
2 Rising Populace
2 Gideon’s Company
2 God-Eternal Oketra

Spells:12

2 Aid the Fallen
1 Finale of Eternity
2 Seal Away
2 Mortify
1 Unbreakable Formation
2 Ixalan’s Binding
1 Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Lands:20

4 Forsaken Sanctuary
4 Orzhov Guildgate
7 Plains
5 Swamp

Sideboard:15

3 Demon of Catastrophes
2 Massacre Girl
2 The Elderspell
1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
1 Unbreakable Formation
2 Kaya’s Wrath
4 Vraska’s Contempt

Ok you have seen the cards. Here is that boring mana curve bit.

I’d love a second Liliana in this deck. If I can trade for her, I’ll add her to the deck. Then again a second Sorin would be nice too. Kaya in the sideboard might get replaced by another Massacre Girl. I’d like a third copy of Kaya’s Wrath and Unbreakable Formation.

Like most of my decks I’m borderline too little lands. Adding a couple more wouldn’t hurt.

The faster shock and check lands would be nice. But the cost of play sets make it not worth it.

Ok let me know what you like and don’t about this deck in the comments below.

Anytime you are out numbered the odds are stacked against you

D&D, RPG

“Anytime you are out numbered the odds are stacked against you.” Sage advice from Matthew Colville to his players.

I was watching one of the Geek and Sundry RPG lite advice videos on YouTube where Santine Phoenix interviews Mr Colville about planning encounters. When he dropped this nugget of advice that he gives his players at the start of a session.

In the video he does briefly explain why this is the case, using terms such as action economy, and the chances to hit as the reasons why.

So what now follows is an attempt to explain as best I can Matts reasoning behind that statement based on his comments in that video and also another video of his about dice and probabilities.

I apologise now if the following seems confused and incoherent.

D&D uses a 20 sided die or d20 to determine if you are successful when attempting to do anything, like for instance hit an enemy.

The probability of rolling any single number, for example a 5, is 1 in 20, assuming that the die is a fair die.

So to roll any number on a d20 we have a 5% chance of rolling it.

In D&D we are not rolling for a single number but a number that is equal to or greater than a target number, like an armour class of an enemy.

So the probability of rolling a 13 or higher is worked out by adding the probabilities of rolling all of the numbers together.

Let’s look at a creature that has an AC of 13. Well I’ve just shown that we have a 40% chance of getting 13 or higher when we roll a die. Which means we would fail to hit our enemy most of the time. That’s not fun.

But what I haven’t accounted for are any modifiers that can be applied. Let’s assume I’m attacking with a sword that gives me a +3 modifier. So instead of having to roll 13 or higher to hit, all of a sudden I need to roll 10 or higher.

Which using similar math to above means that to hit an AC of 13 I’d have a 55% probability of hitting. I am now more likely to hit than miss. Now that’s more fun. And the bigger that modifier is the more likely I am to hit.

Now we jump to the action economy part. And we are specifically looking at combat here.

On a turn a player and enemy can do basically 3 things, with players getting a bonus action as well under certain conditions, that monsters rarely get. Plus a reaction. So players can have between 3-5 actions, while monsters get 3-4.

But in reality that translates to 1-3 actions that players can use to do damage, and 1-2 actions for monsters.

So as you can see on a 1v1 match up, the player has more chances of success at doing damage. And therefore the “advantage” and more likely to kill the monster before the monster kills them.

Any encounter that has equal numbers or less monsters than the party size means that the party has the advantage. They have more actions, and the greater chances to succeed doing damage.

But as soon as the monsters start to out number the party. The number of actions and those opportunities to hit start to sway in favour of the monsters.

So that’s why a group of goblins may not seem dangerous to a party. But they have more opportunities to do damage. More chances of success. And therefore the upper hand. Whilst the same holds true if they knock out/kill a party member.

And that is my understanding of the thinking behind that statement. Obviously there is a lot of mistakes above, and I’ve not explained bits enough. Put your corrections in the comments below.

Testing testing

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

Friday night was meant to be our second Casual Magic the Gathering session for Fenland Gamers.

However no one showed up. Not even the people that had asked we put these sessions on. Which meant I spent over an hour sitting in The Luxe at a table with MtG play mats on, shuffling decks, and looking like Billy no mates.

To say I was not happy was an understatement.

But Saturday I was back at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole for the MtG Open House.

Thankfully I got to try my two new decks. You’ll find the first deck list below, with the second to follow in another post.

The nice thing about this testing was that playing against Michael and Kar-Fai I was going up against decks that I will be facing in the final season of Standard Showdown.

Michaels burn deck is very fast. Too fast for the Simic Ascendancy deck. But my Orzhov deck just edged it. But they were close games.

Kat-Fai also tried out two deck ideas. One of them I think will be the one he goes with for the Standard Showdown. Once again the Simic Ascendancy deck did the worst out of the two.

I knew before hand that the Simic deck would need more work. I’ll discuss those thoughts below. But I was very happy how well the Orzhov deck seemed to do.

I got to see another deck that will be in the Standard Showdown. It’s one of the dinosaur aggro decks with one or two new additions. These decks are lightning fast also.

So here is the first draft of the Simic Ascendancy deck I’ve put together.

Creatures:29

3 Hydroid Krasis
3 Incubation Druid
4 Merfolk Skydiver
3 Pollenbright Druid
2 Evolution Sage
3 Guildpact Informant
3 Frilled Mystic
2 Zegana, Utopian Speaker
2 Biogenic Ooze
2 God-Eternal Rhonas
2 Roalesk, Apex Hybrid

Spells:9

2 Bond of Flourishing
3 Simic Ascendancy
1 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
2 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Vivien Reid

Lands:22

3 Breeding Pool
12 Forest
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island

Sideboard:15

1 Incubation Druid
1 Pollenbright Druid
1 Evolution Sage
1 Guildpact Informant
1 Thrashing Brontodon
4 Essence Capture
1 Finale of Devastation
1 Simic Ascendancy
2 Vivien’s Arkbow
2 Planewide Celebration

Ok here are the stats. I usually put this before the deck list. But thought I’d try and shake things up and try it here.


The sideboard definitely needs a lot of work. My current thinking is that this should be mainly counter spells.

I do like the new Vivien, Champion of the Wilds. That on going ability of giving creatures flash is nice. So a second of her would be good.

Adjusting the Forest/Island ratio I think needs to be done, so that it takes into account sideboarding counter spells in.

The deck needs to be faster. Of if I can’t get it faster, work on a way to stay alive long enough to implement the plan.

In the wake of Pytheas – Session Zero Postmortem

D&D, post mortem, RPG

So Saturday saw my first session zero as a DM.

The players had before hand been given the one sheet about the campaign, albeit digitally (my post about it is here).

I’d created a cheat sheet for creating a character in D&D 5e. Which I had printed out earlier in the week. Sadly when I was printing out that, I should have also printed out blank character sheets. Something I didn’t think about until I was on my way to the session zero. Luckily Jonathan was able to save the day on that front.

Why did I want to go “old school” instead of using something like D&D Beyond which does all the heavy lifting for you?

I don’t mind tools like that, that make life easier. But before you start using one of them I think you need to at least create one character the traditional way. I think it gives a better understanding of the character sheet and how the various stats, modifiers etc on the character sheet are related to each other.

Also a benefit of doing it this way doesn’t rely on everyone having a laptop,tablet or smart phone to access their character. Or everyone has that stuff, or is comfortable using it. Plus a mobile is not the ideal device to use.

I did have to poo poo a couple of character choices. No goblin characters, and there was something to do with a ranger, that was detailed online (I think the person was looking at D&D Beyond). I had to remind them of the line from the one sheet that pointed to what was valid for our campaign. If it wasn’t in one of the books listed, they couldn’t have it.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Financial overhead for players. I know eventually I’ll pick up Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. And if I listed them as also valid some may feel they would have to purchase them as well. That’s a pressure that I didn’t want the players to have. And this goes double for D&D Beyond. I know there is a free part to it. But access to the majority of stuff costs.

Another reason is simplicity. The Players Guide can seem overwhelming as it is. I know I added in the Swordcoast too for players to use if they wished. But that added a little more to consider. But not a big overhead. Juggling between these two will be bad enough I think for new players, adding in more books would just be too confusing I think.

I really should have looked up advice on running a session zero. I was there giving advice when needed. Early on I tried to get people to talk about their character, so at least they had an idea what others were going for. That might have influenced their decision on what to play. I wasn’t going to say “oh you need a healer, fighter, etc”. If at the end of this they all had decided to play bards then that’s the decision we would have lived with, and I’d adjust the campaign to cater for that. Which makes it sound like I have it all planned out. I don’t. I’m working on the initial dungeon, and that is the extent of the planning so far.

But I feel I could have run the session better.

I think the cheat sheets helped.

I should have supported the usual suspect better in creating his character. I should have noticed earlier that he was struggling. Which is a major failing on my behalf. I did keep checking in during the session, and each time I was told they were fine.

At the end I took photos of the character sheets. So there are copies if things get lost between now and our first session. Plus I can pull off the info I need for my session prep.

So my first session zero I think I’d grade could do better.

Scythe Modular Board Announced

news

At the end of the month (29th May) fans of Scythe can preorder the final expansion for the game, the Scythe Modular Board from Stonemaier Games.

It’s not a well kept secret Scythe is my all time favourite game. So having the ability to shake things up even more. Wow. The replay ability goes through the roof. And it already scores high on that front with the other expansions.

The question I have about this is would it work with the neoprene mat? I suspect not.

But I’m excited about this. Can’t wait for it to hit. And if the Wingspan preorder is anything to go by, this will be in players hands before the end of June. But that’s a major assumption on my part. Naturally if you want to get it from your FLGS it will be in for a longer wait. It’s late Summer apparently.

War of the Spark Standard Deck Thinking

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

It’s time for more thinking aloud about new deck ideas for Standard.

I’ve got a couple of deck ideas that have been kicking around my noggin recently.

The first is a black/white or Orzhov deck using lots of cheap 1 CMC creatures.

That was the original thinking. There are a lot of 1 CMC creatures between these two colours. Some have deathtouch, or can be given deathtouch and come in as 1/2 instead of a 1/1.

So my thinking for the initial version of this deck was to go with creatures that had lifelink, and have other cards that gave me a benefit for gaining life.

But because these small creatures will die easily I wanted to get a benefit from that as well.


Having a couple of chances to proliferate is also handy because that will allow me to pump up those creatures like Ajani’s Pridemate even more, and push up any Planeswalkers I have out.

God-Eternal Oketra is the “big hitter” for the deck. But sideboarding one or two of the black 6/6 flyers might be an option also.


I’ve not decided what removal spells to use. But at most that will account for 10 cards of the deck at most. Plus sideboard cards naturally. I’m thinking the sideboard will be mainly spells like duress or removal.

My main drawback at the moment is I don’t have any of the check or shock lands for this deck.

The second deck is returning to Simic to create a Simic Ascendancy deck.

An early if not the first version of my Simic deck had Simic Ascendancy in it, as did John’s merfolk deck. John tried to get it to work more than I did. If my memory isn’t failing me, I don’t think it made the cut into my second version of the deck. Eventually John also gave up on the card. The issue was it was too slow.

However with the re-introduction of the proliferate mechanic, I think it might just be viable.

This deck is not as advanced as the Orzhov deck. But I think I can get something together by the time our casual mtg night starts tomorrow.