MTG Fanboy Moment

Stone Rain wallpaper.

Sweet.

Magic Set Editor

Speaking of MTG, Magic Set Editor is a fun program that lets you design your own card sets. I was fooling around and made a few cards, including two for a couple of friends of mine (ya know who ya are).




(I don't know what to say about this other than that I was just fooling around with the multicolor settings.)

It's Not Easy Being Green

Okay, time to show my nerdiness.

I found this cool music video tribute to Magic: The Gathering on YouTube. It's just plain awesome. You'll wanna play this with your volume on high because the music is just that good.



Beautiful art + EPIC music = WIN

The Magic is Gone

I hate to say it, but I think it's time for me to stop collecting Magic: The Gathering cards and move on to more productive hobbies.

One problem is that I'm just not playing with anybody. I'll play with my sister maybe once every other week, but she's playing with my cards and I always beat her so there's really no reason to bother. There are no gaming shops within my area, and even if there were I'm too shy to walk into one and start a game with people I don't even know.

But more importantly, this hobby is expensive. I've probably spent close to four-hundred dollars on Magic cards over the last year. That was fine when I was making $200 a week, but now that I've left my job to go back to school, I need to be a lot more frugal with my money. I've been buying cards not to play with but just to own them, and that's an incredible waste of money.

So, yeah. No more cards for me.

The Magic of Years Gone By

Terese Nielsen has a DeviantART page! She's like the best MTG artist there is, along with Quentin Hoover and Wayne Reynolds and John Avon and Rebecca Guay and --

OMG it's Gerrard

he is so beautiful *swoons*

>_>

<_<

-_-'

*ahem*

Seriously though, I miss the good old days of the Weatherlight saga. I understand why a lot of people look back on those days rather less than fondly -- the characters were shallow, the tie-in books were mostly awful, and following a preset storyline detracted from the sense of exploration that made Magic great. But having those characters to latch onto, no matter how shallow they may have been, went a long way in getting me hooked on the game.

Even today, I still miss Gerrard and Squee and Volrath... and Urza, that crazy old bastard... *sigh* Good times, good times...

Worlds Collide

Normally I wouldn't post about this because I'm not sure what level of reference my friends have about these issues, but since Ragnell the Foul has written at length about it (go read it) I think I can safely assume that it's known to the comics blogosphere at large now.

So apparently some guy who calls himself The Ferrett cooked up a scheme to grope women at conventions by offering "yes, you may grope me" buttons at the front door.

Um.

That's creepy.

Apparently some women don't mind that (at least going by the comments on his post), but it seems to me that most of the women who would submit to that kind of bizarre crap would be doing it because they're too insecure to say no or think that pleasing these creeps would get their respect or something. But the real thing that kills it for me is that there would be a lot of teenage fans at these conventions as well, and this kind of shit just isn't appropriate for what should be a family-friendly event.

And really. "The Open-Source Boob Project?" Like someone on the Penny Arcade forums said, why does everything nerds do have to reference something else nerds do?

Anyway, once again, this is not something I'd normally write about if not for the fact that I'm already acquainted with The Ferrett by way of his column on magicthegathering.com. In fact I first read about this story at the MTG Salvation forums, so when it appeared on Ragnell's blog I had a strange "worlds collide" moment. The thread on the subject is mostly full of annoying nerds making excuses, saying how they "don't see the problem with it" and bemoaning the evil feminists who are trying to spoil their fun, but there was one post I really liked:

I'm surprised so many people here are supporting this. Even if you're not supportive, not being directly opposed to it is pretty shocking to me. I've researched into it a bit, and the response from the general public, online and off, is so strongly negative that it's not even funny.

The only people okay with this seem to be guys into the hobbies that would be at these conventions. Once more I am reminded of the social retardation of the Magic fanbase, and sigh at having to game with them.

Seriously, nobody thinks this is anything but creepy except for *gasp* other creepy nerds.

...which pretty nicely sums up my reaction as well. I don't like being associated with a community that thinks this is okay, just like I hate calling myself a Democrat when a plurality of Democrats are against gay marriage. The Ferrett and his ilk are the people that make me ashamed of calling myself a nerd or a geek.

I do wonder if Wizards of the Coast will see fit to terminate The Ferrett as a columnist. This is a bit like the Don Imus incident from last year, which I think was justified (he seriously pissed off a large number of potential consumers, which is just bad for business), but Imus aired his crap on the job while The Ferrett did it on his personal journal. So I could see it going either way.

All I can say is that I wouldn't miss him, since his writing style annoyed me anyway.

MTG Preview Season!

Okay, time for a fanboy moment.

I love it when preview season rolls around for Magic: The Gathering and I get to check out all the new, weird, and wonderful cards I have to look forward to. Like this sweetie from the upcoming Shadowmoor set...



I am all over this. Not only is that some incredible art by the talented Mark Zug, but she could fit my white kithkin weenie deck like a glove. 80% of the creatures in it are 1/1 to begin with so it's no huge loss, and when all my opponent's creatures are 1/1 as well, all the better! Plus she only makes them 1/1 at their base, so I can still pump my kithkin up with my Wizened Cenns and Burrenton Bombardiers. Sweet. :)

I also really love the hybrid mana mechanic. It simultaneously encourages mono-color and multicolor deckbuilding. I can put cards like her in a blue/white, mono-white, or mono-blue deck and not have to worry whether I have enough Plains or Islands to get her out, or I can put her in, say, a white/red deck and not have to waste space on any Islands.

And really, "Godhead of Awe." That is a seriously kickass name.

I am ready to explore Shadowmoor right now! So bring it on, Wizards!

A Quick Casting Thought at 2 AM...

...that only one or two people reading this will get:

Brendan Fraser as Gerrard Capashen.

I'm just saying.

Yet Another MTG Preview

I promise I'll try and post something of substance in the not-too-distant future, but for now...



Another great preview card from Morningtide. The thing I love about this guy is his synergy with the set's other legendary elf: You lose 3 life each turn with Maralen, then get it back same turn with interest with Rhys. It's like they were made for each other. <3

I'd also like to give it some bonus points for the art. Very dynamic, and I love how the loose clothing shows off his not-quite-human anatomy in motion.

I feel speshul.

For the first time just now I played against someone I don't know on Magic Workstation and totally kicked their butt with a deck I just threw together like two minutes before that.

Lovisa Coldeyes and Phantom Warrior are a match made in heaven. I never would have thought of a red/blue warrior deck:

Warrior's Guile
(Type 2 deck, 60 cards, under construction, no sideboard as yet)

Lands
Island x8
Mountain x8
Shivan Reef x4

Creatures
Amoeboid Changeling x4
Axegrinder Giant x1
Boggart Sprite-Chaser x2
Boldwyr Intimidator x2
Goblin Furrier x3
Lovisa Coldeyes x4
Phantom Warrior x4
Sage of Epityr x4
Shapesharer x1
Turtleshell Changeling x1

Spells
Ego Erasure x2
Ovinize x3
Remove Soul x4
Unsummon x3
Wings of Velis Vel x3

Looking Forward to Morningtide

From MTG's upcoming new set:



Damn. That is badass.

Oh, and Happy New Year everyone!!! :D

10 Answers of Doom!

Here it is! Muahaha!!!

1. Alex P. Keaton (Family Ties)
2. Death of the Endless (The Sandman)
3. Drizzt do'Urden (Forgotten Realms)
4. Filby Pott (me!)
5. James T. Kirk (Star Trek)
6. Lex Luthor (Superman)
7. Mario (Super Mario Bros.)
8. Sauron (The Lord of the Rings)
9. The Scarecrow (The Wizard of Oz)
10. Wonder Woman (her own comic)

Incidentally, in a dance-off between Death and Sauron, Death wins every time.

From Swinebread (whose blog I really need to start reading regularly 'cause he's gracious enough to read mine):
if 7 did a cooking show would 1 like it?

Are you kidding? Who wouldn't like Cooking with Mario? He's the Mushroom Master! He puts the "fun" in "fungus!"

From Ami (who totally made this meme worthwhile -- thanks!!!):
If 2, 3 and 6 were turned into Dinosaurs (they still have their intelligence), what Dinosaurs would they be? Who would be eaten first and who would most likely survive past the initial meteor impact and why? :o

Drizzt would be a dromaeosaur (raptor) of some sort, because they're graceful, deadly, and incredibly overhyped. Lex would be a tyrannosaurus, for obvious reasons. Lex chows down on Drizzt before Death shows up, she being the meteor.

1 wakes up being drawn by Ian Churchill at his worst, is s/he happy about this? xD
So Alex is Power Boy, basically? I don't think he'd mind, though he'd need to do something about that hideous chest-hair.

If 4 and 5 were trapped in a desolate world all by themselves as the last people left, how long would it be until they fell in luff? xD
Um... Jim Kirk might be willing to screw anything with two legs, but I think even he would draw the line at Filby. Like srsly.

7, 8, 9 and 10 play Magic: The Gathering, what colours would each play, what type of decks would each play? :D (this is my favorite question)

Matching their colors up with their personalities, I'd say it'd go thusly:

Mario's deck is white (because of his commitment to duty), with a strong artifact presence ('cause he relies on versatile equipment). He's playing for fun, so his deck doesn't follow any particular archetype.

Sauron's deck is black and white because he's completely self-interested yet wants to rule as the ultimate authority (unlike Yawgmoth, who wanted to destroy his enemies, Sauron wants to rule them). He's playing an aggro deck, maybe something like the "Ghost Husk" archetype, tricked out with lots of expensive rares.

Befitting his great intelligence, the Scarecrow is playing mono-blue. He's got a control deck with lots of counterspells and bounce effects.

Wonder Woman is playing a green deck, because she's both nurturing and super-strong. Her deck is mainly huge creatures, buff effects (Might of Oaks is made for Diana), and maybe some protective effects like high-toughness treefolk and life gain.

(As for the rest of the chars, Alex is white/black, Death is black/green, Drizzt is red/green, Filby is blue/black, Kirk is white/red, and Lex is black.)

Who would be ultimately the best player of all 4 in your opinion? (considering stuff like money to spend on cards, creativity, intelligence, guile, etc) :D

Sauron has the most resources at his disposal and is incredibly, um, guilesome, not to mention aggressive, so he's probably the best player. Diana and the Scarecrow would give him a real run for his money, though.

If they had a 4 way match and 8 could pick one format to play, what would s/he choose?

Sauron would choose to play in Vintage Format, 'cause it lets him use his Black Lotus, set of five Moxen, Demonic Tutor, and Necropotence.

Imagine all of your characters had been turned into babies (this idea was given to me by a friend who wants to be known only as a green dinosaur xD) but retain their general intelligence but are subject to the emotional states and instincts of babies :D

Who is the first person to want to find a "cure"? Who is most likely to be the one okay with staying this way? Does nebody WANT to stay this way?

Drizzt would be the first to set out looking for a cure, 'cause he's that kind of heroic type, while Luthor's pride won't let him stay that way, prompting him to help the elf. Mario would rather be an adult, but given that he's saved the Mushroom at least once while in diapers, he can get along. Death would probably enjoy the time off from her responsibilities, but would want to get back to normal.

Would any try to act like things haven't changed and try to find a way to adapt to their normal life? xD

Baby Alex would continue carrying around a mini briefcase and Wall Street Journal, yes.

Who is the first one to cry? :o

Filby.

Who is the first one spanked? >.>

Filby.

What would be each one's favourite toy? :D

Alex: Wall Street Journal: Tiny Tots Edition.
Death: Kid's gardening kit.
Drizzt: Toy sword. Two of 'em.
Filby: Jar of paste.
Kirk: Plastic rocket.
Lex: Pastel blue death ray.
Mario: Game Boy of course!
Sauron: My First Artifact of Ultimate Doom.
Scarecrow: Blackboard and chalk.
Wonder Woman: Golden jump rope of truth.

Imagine their first day of preschool, what does each one do? xD

Alex: Convinces the cafeteria to stop taking lunch vouchers. No pinko social programs in his school!
Death: Plays nice with Diana and takes care of the class hamster.
Drizzt: Beats up some bullies.
Filby: Sulks in the corner 'cause Lex gets away with everything and he doesn't.
Kirk: Kisses Diana on the playground and gets slapped three zip codes away.
Lex: Stages a hostile takeover of the principal's office.
Mario: Helps Drizzt out.
Sauron: Starts building his power base to conquer the day care across the street by corrupting nine other kids with cursed pacifiers of doom.
Scarecrow: Astounds the teacher with his l33t math skillz.
Wonder Woman: Plays with Death then joins in with Drizzt and Mario.

4 has a date with 6's mother. Creepy? Not creepy? xD 8 finds out, does s/he tell 6? 8 finds out regardless, is s/he happy about this? 4 marries 8's mother and becomes 8's parent now, how is their relationship? XD

An evil, wrinkly old hobbit dating Lex Luthor's mother. That about sets the bar for creepy.

Sauron tells Lex, yes, because he fucking hates hobbits.

Um... Sauron doesn't have a mother. He's older than the universe. Unless you meant "6" in the second half in the question, in which case Lex is pretty pissed off to have a lame-ass shadow of himself as his pop-in-law, though he might warm up when he realizes how useful Filbs can be in scheming.

1 and 10 are presidential candidates, which party would each run for? (they can't both run for the same party) Out of 3 and 9, who would each choose for their running mate? Out of their supporting casts (of those 4 characters), who would they choose for a potential secretary of defence, attorney general, surgeon general and secretary of state? xD

Alex P. Keaton vs. Wonder Woman? I can see that. Obviously Alex is a Republican. Diana would prefer to run for the Green Party, but would run as a Democrat out of practicality.

Alex chooses the Scarecrow as his running mate, whose rustic ways endear him to midwestern voters while his considerable intellect gives him clout among the Wall Street elite. Given that his family is mostly liberal, he instead chooses his cabinet from among the Scarecrow's circle of friends: Secretary of Defense Omby Amby (he's a one-man army!), Attorney General H. M. Wogglebug, Surgeon General Nick Chopper (any man who can chop off his own limbs and replace them all, including his head, with tin prosthetics must have one hell of a head for medicine), and Secretary of State Dorothy Gale. (We'll pretend that non-Americans, non-humans, and royalty/nobility are allowed to run.)

Diana's running mate is Drizzt do'Urden (who is almost as pretty as she is, natch), who provides Bruenor Battlehammer as Secretary of State, netting Diana both the elven and dwarven votes (heh). The rest of her cabinet: Secretary of Defense Steve Trevor, Attorney General Regis Rumblebelly, and Surgeon General Etta Candy (whose constitution always has room for a few amendments).

Who would win a presidential debate? Who would voters most resonate with and why? :o What would the news media say about them? Would each focus more on issues or attacking the other side? :D

Diana's the better and more charismatic debater, but the fact that she's a pagan feminist turns off a lot of people. Needless to say, Fox News savages her. Alex would be more comfortable taking pot-shots at her, but they'd both stick to the issues for the most part.

Would any of those 4 appear on the Colbert Report or Daily Show? xD

Alex and Diana both have a pretty good sense of humor (though Diana's is more understated), so sure, they'd both go on either show. Scarecrow wouldn't hesitate to go on either, but Drizzt's too retiring to do so.

Ultimately who would win and how close would it be? Would the votes be divided by certain demographics or regions?

Alex would win, mainly because of his greater experience in politics, his "traditional values" campaign, and his down-home image. The fact that Diana is way more progressive than the Democratic mainline doesn't help, sadly; she really only makes strong headway in New England and California.

Do you think the winner would be good for America? :D How long until they're impeached, and why (if at all)? xD

Alex isn't the worst that could happen. Imagine Ronald Reagan without the senility, heartlessness toward minorities and the disadvantaged, fundamentalist rhetoric, and foreign scandals, basically. And a lot prettier. And with a laugh track. But just as many jelly beans. Heck, he'd probably be the best Republican president since Eisenhower. I'd still vote for Diana, though.

Diana goes on to successfully run for governor in Massachusetts, introducing sweeping and widely popular reforms in health care, gay rights, and environmental protection. She plans on shooting for the presidency again in 2012. Or 2016. Or 2020. She's immortal, she can wait.

2 and 5 get into a heated argument about something they believe differently in that comes to blows. What were they most likely arguing about? 7 comes in, does s/he pick a side or try to mediate or just turn around and leave? Who would most likely resort to personal attacks first? xD

I really can't see Death and Kirk getting into a fight like that. They're both pretty easygoing. Mario would probably side with Kirk, though.

From Tricia (who came unlooked-for out of the e-ther!):
All ten enter a dancing competition. Who pairs up with who (given that 4 and 5 are a pairing) and which partnership wins?

Filby and Kirk: Filby's lame in one leg, so they're first to be disqualified.
Alex and Diana: To show there's no hard feelings off the political field.
Death and Scarecrow: He's offbeat, and she likes that.
Lex and Sauron: Great evil minds dance alike?
Drizzt and Mario: They got picked last. :(

Alex and Diana win.

Odds and evens are split into two teams and placed on a deserted island/planet/whatever where they have to make use of natural resources and are told they are in competition with the other team for a fantabulous prize. Who wins?

Team one: Death, Filby, Lex, Sauron, and Diana.
Team two: Alex, Drizzt, Kirk, Mario, and the Scarecrow.

I'd say team one has the best thinkers of the bunch, but infighting between Lex, Sauron, and da Filb tears them apart, letting the more well-rounded team two win.

Thanks guys! That was fun!!! :D

Filby's Wish List

Well, it seems that my pay has been doubled. That means I'll be able to pay off next semester's tuition and driving school by the end of January! Woohoo!

So that got me thinking: Now that I have a singularly disposable income, I really need to come up with something to dispose it on. I don't plan on being a total spendthrift (I'm part Scottish, after all) so it'll be maybe one item per month (two tops), but still...

• Books: The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien.
  
• DVD: Vol. 2-4 of Mobile Police Patlabor (I already have Vol. 1) plus the movies and straight-to-video series, the special edition of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (I have the whole series on my HD but it's good enough for me to want it in tangible form), various Studio Ghibli movies (Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, etc.).
  
• D&D: Hard copies of the 3.5-edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. Screw 4th Edition, I ain't playin' it.
  
• MtG: The complete Lorwyn and Morningtide sets. I practically never play but I'm in love with the art.
  
• Comics: Trade paperbacks of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps from 2005 to the present.
  
• Electronics: Personal computer, scanner, printer.
  
• Art supplies: More of 'em.
  
• Some kind of automosomething.

Can I get any more recommendations?

Happiness Meme

Tagged by my friend Beaupepys on LiveJournal, and I thought I'd cross-post here. We all need to focus on the brighter side from time to time...

The rules are simple. Just create a post about any number of things that have made you happy recently. Then tag any number of people and have them post this meme on their blogs.

1) The Red Sox getting to the World Series and winning 2 games out of the 4 needed to win. GO SOX!!!

2) The imminent end of the Bush administration. Honestly, even if we do get another Republican in office (crossing my fingers we don't), it'll still be better than the last seven years.

3) The "Sinestro Corps War" storyline in Green Lantern. I'm a sucker for overblown cosmic adventures with casts of hundreds where the fate of the universe -- nay, the multiverse! -- is at stake, and the top-notch art and writing is icing on the cake.

4) Speaking of cake, my dad's birthday earlier this week. Even if we had a bunch of unwanted visitors bursting in uninvited. :P

5) And speaking of my dad, if all goes well, within a month I'll be receiving a paycheck from the state for looking after him. It won't be a lot of money, but anything is something.

6) For the first time in my life, I don't hate algebra.

7) OMFG I got a hobbit deck for Magic. And it rocks! Joy!

8) '80s music. Specifically Electric Light Orchestra's "Twilight." And also Journey's "Don't Stop Believing."

9) Shortpacked!

10) Drawing, like usual. Too bad I don't have a scanner.

I tag Ami Angelwings, DJ Black Adam, and Zhinxy.

You Learn Something New Every Day

Much to my surprise, I've just learned that fantasy artists Ron Spencer...



...and Terese Nielsen...



...are twin siblings.

Who'd'a thunk?

I have to say I like the latter a mite better. Mr. Spencer is great at depicting action-packed scenes, heroic figures, cool monsters, and attractive people of both sexes, but his artwork often comes off as far too busy, not to mention extremely "kitsch" -- like a poor man's Boris Vallejo, I think. Ms. Nielsen, on the other hand, is good at all those things as well, but her artwork also has a much more realistic, natural, and sometimes sensual feeling, conveying not just action but emotion.

Not that I know anything about real art. *shrug* Just a spontaneous thought.

Well this is pretty interesting.

"Plainswalkers, huh? Well I guess Graceful Antelope was kinda cool, but a Great Wall can stop 'em in their tracks..."

Urza, Plainswalker
Casting Cost: W
Legendary Creature -- Human Townsfolk
Plainswalk (this creature cannot be blocked if defending player controls a Plains).
"No relation to the other Urza, honest."
1/1

Seems that for the first time since the game's inception in 1993, they're adding a new card type to Magic:The Gathering -- planeswalkers. This fascinates me; up until this point, the premise of the game was that planeswalkers, near-omnipotent wizards with the power to move between worlds and summon creatures with a thought, were represented by the players, never any cards. This represents a huge change to game play; I can't wait to find out more.



Information I have gleaned:

• Apparently, rather than the usual summoned creatures you play with in MTG, planeswalkers represent allies or subordinates you call call upon.
  
• Your opponents' creatures can attack a planeswalker you have in play, and creatures attacking your planeswalker can be blocked by your creatures.
  
• For each point of combat damage dealt to a planeswalker, it loses one loyalty -- presumably the "5" in the corner. I have no idea yet how the loyalty score goes up and down aside from damage, or how the other numbers ("+1", "-2", "-8") are used or activated. If I had to guess, I'd say that you can only use one ability each turn, and when used it increases or decreases the loyalty score by the noted amount; when the loyalty score is at 0, the planeswalker leaves play?

All in all, I'm pretty excited about this new turn of events and hope I can get my hands on a planeswalker card of my own. :)

I think it's kinda corny that her name is an anagram for "villainess," though.

It's in the Cards...

I've been in a fairly cranky mood lately. I'm out of school and missed my opportunity to enroll in June summer classes, my job hunt keeps coming up short, and my bus pass expired and I haven't had a chance to get a new one yet so I've been cooped up in the house for a couple weeks.

So I decided to cheer myself up today. Since my sister got me back into the game recently, I went out and bought myself some new Magic cards for the first time since 8th grade (up 'til now I'd been using my old 10-year-old cards and some my sis' gave me). I don't plan on doing so often 'cause it's an expensive hobby to keep up, but I thought it would be fun to indulge myself for once.

And I got a Hobbit card!!! OMG! It was the one card in the set I wanted the most, and there it was right when I opened the pack!

I'm so happy, I could eat lunch. :)

SQUEEEEEEE!

Aww, tha'ss just adorable. *huggles teh Squee*

I Don't Friggin' Believe It

Holy shit, they fixed the Black Lotus.