Final Fantasy + Magic The Gathering: A Coalescence of Nerditude

I subscribe to a subreddit called "/r/custommagic," a group that focuses on amateurs generating their own Magic cards, mechanics, ideas, and even entire sets. I have a lot of fun doing some of their regular activities, such as trying to create a card just from artwork, or creating a mechanic to reflect some aspect of a movie, TV show, or video game.

Anyways, I made a passing comment in one thread about Final Fantasy X, and suggested that one of my fellow Redditors could make a whole set using that game world as a basis. He said something along the lines of, "If you think it's such a good idea, why don't you make it?"

And so, here we are.

I'm embarking on an effort to capture the essence of Final Fantasy X in a Magic set. This means developing 3-6 mechanics, a few tribal features, and one or more over-arching themes, all through the creation of about 240 Magic cards. It's a pretty substantial undertaking, but it's not altogether new for me. You may remember that I assembled a Magic set based on the worlds and characters in the first two Mega Man games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was a massive effort, but it was incredibly fun and rewarding, so I'm excited to try my hand at it again.

Assuming that anyone who's gotten this deep into the post has some level of interest and/or understanding of Final Fantasy X and/or Magic, let's get into the specifics. Here are the aspects of Final Fantasy X that I want to try to capture in some manner, and, if I have any, some of my initial thoughts on how to convey them.

IF YOU HAVE FEEDBACK OR IDEAS, TELL ME.

Summoners & Aeons

At the heart of the story in Final Fantasy X is the battle between Spira's summoners and Sin. In a general sense, I want to make sure that summoners and aeons are broadly represented in the set; I plan on including Yuna and Yunalesca, of course, but also Belgemine, Dona, and Isaru, though probably in non-specific forms, so that I don't have to represent them with Legendary status.

As far as aeons go, there are a couple of aspects that I wonder about. First, aeons don't ever exist in the game without being summoned. So should aeons only be available if you control a summoner? Additionally, if your opponent has summoned an aeon, you cannot summon the same aeon. I'm not sure how to handle that; Magic's updated Legendary rules allow for two instances of the same singular character, so I don't think I'll try to re-complicate things by bringing that confusion back.

Sending Fiends

That's fiends, not friends. The creation of enemies throughout Spira relies on regular folks being "unsent"; that is, not being provided with a postmortem ceremony to control the magical essence that is release when a person dies. Within the realm of Magic, I'm thinking that this could be captured by having creatures with death triggers.

The two possibilities I can think of are:

1. grant a Fiend token or tokens to an opponent when your creature dies, or
2. do the same thing, but allow the prevention of it if you pay some amount of mana when your creature dies, to "send" it.

Flexibility

The main character progression feature of Final Fantasy X was the sphere grid. Using the grid, you could give any character any set of spells or abilities, with enough time and energy. Kimahri was the main beneficiary of this, in that you chose very early in his progression which of four directions he would progress.

The initial way I've been thinking that I might capture this facet of the game is by using hybrid mana in this set. For those unfamiliar, when a card has a hybrid mana symbol, you can use one of two different kinds of mana in order to cast spells or summon creatures. There's also three-color hybrid mana and colored/double colorless hybrid mana, but I have very little personal experience with those features. I'm not necessarily married to this idea, but it does incorporate the concept of flexibility, which is one of my goals for this set.

There are other things I want to figure out. The Al Bhed's contraptions (or "machina") should have a presence, as should the four main magic elements from the game (fire, blizzard, water, thunder). The standard races will be replaced by Ronso, Guado, Al Bhed, etc. I'd like to find a way to mention blitzball if I can. And of course, capturing the essence of Sin is going to be a considerable challenge.

Your feedback is great, and any comments will go straight into the brain bank for processing. In the meantime, I'll be watching some cutscenes and working on getting all the screenshots I'll need to get it done.

2015 Games of the Year

A few years ago, I did my own "Games of the Year" list, where I talked about not the games that were released in that year, but those that I myself played that year. A friend of mine suggested doing the same thing in an email thread that we share with some other gaming buddies, and so a few of us shared our experiences from 2015.

But for those of you who aren't on that email thread, I figure I spent the time writing up everything, so I might as well share it. Here's my list for 2015. Also, you can see on the sidebar that I'm trying to keep track of the games I play this year, in the hopes that I maybe do this kind of post again at the end of 2016.

Honorable Mention: Rock Band 4
The newest iteration of the Rock Band franchise was...fine? I haven't gone through the whole campaign, but after advertising it as a "Rock Band RPG," it strikes me as being pretty similar to Rock Band 2; hardly a role-playing game. If you're interested, I wrote about what I thought a true Rock Band RPG could be like on my blog.

10. World of Warcraft
So here's the thing about World of Warcraft. Before Warlords of Draenor turned it into a glorified smartphone game, it was already a glorified smartphone game for me. I'm not good enough to raid or PvP, and outside of that, it's just gold-farming. I don't dislike gold-farming per se, but as I play it more, I'm realizing that it's less of engagement and more of a habit. I'm thinking 2016 won't have WoW on its list.

9. Heroes of the Storm
If we were considering sheer volume of time, Heroes would rate higher on this list. I played pretty often with Chip and Nick, the quicker matches being less of a commitment than games like CS:GO or League of Legends. The lack of items and summoner abilities takes a layer of complexity off the game, but it does have some unique heroes like Cho'Gall, Murky, and The Lost Vikings. Heroes is good for at least an occasional diversion.

8. Card Hunter
If I had only played the first 5 or 6 levels of Card Hunter by the time I wrote this up, it'd be higher on the list. It's a fun card-based game that functions like D&D. The problem is that the game kind of over-complicates itself over time. While you start out with a weak 15-card deck, as your characters advance in level, the deck gets stronger, but also bigger. Anybody who's played any Magic knows that the smaller the deck, the happier you are. Still, it's fun enough that I'll keep it installed at least.

7. Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal
There were, apparently, two previous Creeper World games, but I never played them. This was an impulse purchase for I want to say like $0.79 during one of the Steam sales. It's not an overly complex game, but it does offer a new take on tower defense style games. I enjoyed playing it as much as I did, and I could see myself getting back into it. Unconventional tower defense games are almost as much fun as...

6. Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten
...conventional tower defense games. Defender's Quest was another game I purchased during a Steam sale over the years. I began playing it before last year, but I jumped back into it when I had a stretch of regular Twitch streaming a little while back. It's a bit of a grind, but my kind of grind. I haven't finished the "new game+" yet, and it's an easy game to stream, so I expect to play it some in 2016 as well.

5. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
There was a stretch there in 2015 when CS:GO was my game of choice. Missions were an interesting addition, and it swayed my focus on a day-to-day basis. As always, I watched for interesting investments, though the time of quick profits has passed. I haven't played it in a while, but it was a huge part of my year, and I'd be surprised if I didn't get back to it at some point this year as well.

4. Magic: The Gathering - The Deckbuilding
So here's the thing about Magic. I didn't play a ton of matches of Magic. But "playing Magic" means different things for different people. For me, deckbuilding is far and away my favorite part of the game. I bought some sealed content and spent time all throughout the year building and rebuilding decks. I love trying to figure out the interplay between the various cards, and talking about it with other people or reading about it. Magic was definitely a big part of my gaming 2015.

3. Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
I remember playing a demo of the original Dead Rising and running out to buy a used copy at GameStop the same day. I played the shit out of it, and I continue to play the shit out of Dead Rising games. I didn't buy Dead Rising 2: Off the Record right away, because it's basically a remake of the original Dead Rising 2 with different cutscenes. Still, it was a lot of fun.

2. NHL '16
I'm always a fan of NHL games. I actually played a fair amount of NHL '13 this year as well, but it seemed silly to include two hockey games. NHL '16 was part of the bundle I got when I bought my Xbox One, because I knew I'd play it. I haven't tried Franchise Mode (or whatever it's called these days), but the Be A Pro, Hockey Ultimate Team, and just exhibition games are all crisp and fun. Hockey is great.

1. Dungeons & Dragons
D&D is the best game ever. I've always liked cooperative games with a lot of freedom, and no game satisfies that hunger like D&D. It's a fun game to play with friends, it's a great environment for humor and creativity, and it still incorporates battle-based challenges. It takes more time to set up a game than other games, and requires coordination with your group in order to make things happen, but with Tabletop Simulator and now (the superior) Roll20, it's a great time to play D&D.

Magic: The Deckbuilding

As you guys know, I'm wild about deckbuilding. If you don't know that, well, I am. Over on the sidebar, you can see a bunch of the decks I've tinkered together over the years. For those of you who've been reading for years, you might remember that I asked for assistance developing them a while back.

Well, I'm back at it. I've got a whole new deck I want to tweak. I've entitled it "Soulcatchers." It is, unsurprisingly, built around Soulcatchers' Aerie. So basically it's a birds tribal deck. Right now, the deck is kind of lacking in non-creature spells. I'm thinking about adding a single copy of Bubbling Cauldron to give myself a beneficial sacrifice outlet, to help make the Soulcatchers' Aerie engine run. I'm open to other ideas as well, of course. I really like Arctic Aven in this deck, but I do see the value of going mono-white as well. Right now, I'm sticking with WU.

Anyways, that's what I've got going on. Sorry I haven't been blogging as frequently as I'd like. I have some other stuff I'm trying to figure out, and the blog gets left by the wayside while that's happening. I'll keep trying to post when I can. In the meantime, decks!

Podcasts: Is there anything they can't do?

Several weeks ago, I decided to watch the Acquisitions Incorporated series from the beginning up to and including the most recent content. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it's a quasi-celebrity game of Dungeons & Dragons. The core group of players consists of three online comic writers: Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, and Scott Kurtz, the writer for PvP. They have rotated in a few other "nerdy" celebrities, including Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame, fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss, and former G4 host Morgan Webb.

As a guy who likes humor and D&D, this is basically right in my wheelhouse. I discovered it by accident some time ago while skittering around YouTube, and I was immediately enthralled. Obviously I enjoy the role-playing and fantasy aspects of the game, but what was most appealing about it was the way the players were able to play off of each other, and create not just a player-character but a true character in their roleplaying. And of course, these are all really, really funny people, so the humor is nigh-transcendent. I find myself laughing out loud more often watching/listening to them than with almost any TV show or movie I've ever seen. It's really, really exceptional.

Anyways, while I could go on and on about how great Acquisitions Incorporated is, there's a second part to this post. Acquisitions Inc. started out as a series on Wizards of the Coast's D&D podcast. The game was/is DMed by Chris Perkins, a longtime D&D creator and all-around nerd badass. So, in order to listen to these podcasts, I downloaded them through the Podcasts app on my iPhone.

Now, I've never been much of a "podcaster," or whatever the appropriate term would be for someone who listens to podcasts. There was always a lot of searching and file management involved, and I didn't want to to spend all that time and then find out whatever podcast I chose sucked. I am, by nature, very risk-averse. But now I had found a podcast that I already knew I would most likely enjoy, so it opened up my willingness to do the necessary work.

When I say "work," I mean such considerable tasks as finding an aux cable for my car, or searching for podcasts on my phone while I'm already sitting on my phone. You know, really challenging stuff.

So now we're circling back to the actual reason for this post: what podcasts am I listening to now? Well, there are four main ones I'm listening to somewhat regularly. Here they are.

Marek vs. Wyshynski
Hockey Talk

Every year, when the Capitals are eliminated from the playoffs, I find myself hungering for hockey discussion. As the playoffs progress, you get more and more invested and focused on what's going on, and then suddenly, when your team is eliminated, you're left with all of this focus and nowhere to direct it. I always end up diving into the upcoming offseason, looking at potential signings, releases, and trades that could fix whatever that year's "one big problem" was. This year, it was "skill right-winger," but that's not really important.

What's important is that there's a vacuum in my attention span, and a hockey podcast is the right thing to fill it. Local sports radio is 90% Redskins, 9% Nationals, and the remaining 1% is split between the Capitals and Wizards and whatever else is convenient that day. Marek vs. Wyshynski is a Yahoo-produced podcast that's run by a couple of die-hard hockey fans who manage to get some high-end guests to join them for reporting and discussion. It's a national show, but that's okay. I like to know what the national take is on the Capitals, and this is a perfect way to get it. They're fairly funny and pretty self-deprecating, a good entertainment combination.

The Dungeons & Dragons Podcast
D&D Talk

This was obviously going to be the first podcast I had exposure to, since it's the one where Acquisitions Incorporated could be found. But the reality is that D&D is one of the things in the world that draws my attention the most. It's cooperative, it's creative, it's got swords and spells and traps and dragons. There's a stigma out there, sure. But I'd venture to say that, with the success of the Lord of the Rings movies, Harry Potter, Felicia Day, YouTube, and Game of Thrones, we're entering a "golden age" for D&D. Or at least, that's what I like to believe.

Either way, it's got a fan in me. The D&D Podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at all aspects of Dungeons and Dragons. Obviously this includes stories about the development of the game, the evolution of rules and classes, and general tips on DMing. But it's also got information about miniatures, marketing, cross-product integration, related products, and any other sort of secondary concept you can think of. As someone who likes the idea of board games in general, it's a great window into the minds of the people who made the world's greatest board game. It's very informative, and fairly entertaining.

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
General Nerdy Media

I actually listened to a couple episodes of GGttG a while back, but forgot I had subscribed to it on my phone. Eventually, I had some update come down and my phone said, "You don't have enough storage space to download this update." After some searching, I realized I'd been downloading every episode of this podcast for like two years. So I went through and deleted the ones regarding topics in which I have little-to-no interest, and kept the ones that piqued my interest.

Anyways, the podcast. It's run by two authors who I know nothing about. They apparently do mostly short stories and anthologies, with some other composition mixed in there. They seem to have read most books between them, and obviously there's a lot of overlap as well. They're definitely nerds, and they have a style of laughing and talking that's somehow both awkward and condescending at the same time. It's like if you were to walk into a darts tournament and there were a couple of darts aficionados hamming it up for the general darts fans. It's like, okay we get it, you know a lot about darts. Maybe scale back the insane talk about release angles and whatever.

Anyways, while the guys are a little bit smug on certain topics, the topics themselves delve into a lot of content I love hearing about. From Game of Thrones to Star Wars to Left 4 Dead, there's a lot of stuff that's both nerdy and mainstream, and I enjoy hearing people tackle it. They are able to make a lot of nerdy references, many of which I get, and because it's a podcast, they can approach topics from creative angles if they choose. Overall, I do enjoy the podcast, though I think I'd enjoy it more if it were run by gamer guys instead of book guys.

Drive to Work
Mark Rosewater's Magic the Gathering Podcast

After I started listening to the other podcasts for a while, I knew there was one that I wanted to check out. Spoiler alert, it's this one. Many of my fellow "Good Point Bros" have mentioned the podcast in the past, and now that I was listening to some, it was finally time to check it out.

And I love it.

The basis for the podcast is that you're basically riding with Mark Rosewater (head designer of Magic the Gathering, basically the king of Magic) on his drive to work. He records the podcast literally on his drive to work, so every episode is about thirty minutes. Rosewater's passion for Magic is evident with every sentence, and his gift for working his passionate creativity into the structure of acceptable Magic cards has got to be one of the most important pieces of why Magic has grown so much over the years.

The content of the podcasts (at least so far, I've only listened to a few) focuses on Magic sets and concepts from the past, and talks a lot about the evolution of that particular set/mechanic/card. The second episode (which is when I knew I was hooked) was a quick run-through of the creation of Zendikar, possibly my favorite set. Rosewater talks about the original idea of the set ("lands matter"), and how that idea evolved into Landfall, full-art basic lands, Ally cards, and the specific equipment in the set. It's just amazing fun to hear the process from a guy who was there firsthand, and as someone who dabbles in game development, I find it inspiring.

What Else Should I Listen To?

Obviously I've only begun to scratch the surface of what's out there. A friend recommended RadioLab, a science-ey podcast that touches on a wide variety of topics. Another friend (or twelve) immediately suggested Serial. I know it was a phenomenon, so I suppose I'll check out at least the first episode at some point. And my cousin Mike is always trying to get me to listen to Comedy Bang Bang. From the few clips he's played for me, it does seem pretty funny, so maybe now that I've got the whole setup, I'll finally give it a whirl.

What else should I listen to? If you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears. Leave notes in the comments section below!

Favorite Past Features

I've spent some time of late looking at a variety of my previous posts. I do a lot of self-critiquing and re-reading; I find myself constantly changing old posts that nobody will probably ever read again, but they've got an apostrophe in the wrong spot, or poor word usage in another spot, and I can't let that just hang there.

I also re-read for content, and I've found a few spots that I really enjoyed re-reading, and I enjoyed writing in the first place. As I'm trying to find more topics to write about, and formats within which to write, these old posts are a good first stop. Here are a couple I really enjoyed from the past, and maybe I'll resurrect them in some form.

Is He A Keeper?

Back in the early days of the fantasy baseball keeper league, we had a lot of questions about which players were legitimate keepers, which guys were borderline, and which guys were too unreliable, too unproven, or just too unexceptional. It was a fun little mental experiment for myself to judge a player's potential upside, downside, and general value in relation to other players. It was also a way that I sort of gave my (often unsolicited) advice to my fellow owners about their players, and hashed out some of my own players as well.

The odds of this one coming back are pretty slim, as I think most of my league has caught up to (or surpassed) me as far as baseball knowledge. As a result, I'd be out of order trying to declare what other teams should do. It was a fun exercise, though, and it's a good reminder that little discussion points were a good way to churn out several medium-sized posts.

Twi-Night Doubleheader

For most of one season, I did a little weekly recap on the fantasy comings and goings of the week. Best player of the week, biggest disappointment, etc. I was so tuned in to fantasy baseball at the time, and I had a ton of downtime sitting at a computer at my job, so it was natural for me to kill time by writing about what I was paying attention to.

The Game of Thrones posts I've been doing this season are a reasonable comparison to Twi-Night Doubleheader (though much less readable for cousin Michael), in that they're weekly recaps with quick-hitter topics. I don't foresee getting back into the weekly fantasy baseball recap post game, unless it were with a partner to bounce things off of, work together, and generate fast content. If anybody's got an itch, drop me a message and we'll see what might work.

Magic Decks for Review

It's hard to say this was really a feature on the blog, since I only really got one post up for it. But the idea was that I have all these decks I've thrown together over the years that could use some tightening, some review, and some revision. And, like most intellectual exercises, crowd-sourcing can create inputs from a lot of different angles, which is important considering the sheer volume of Magic cards that exist.

That single post and its follow-up (both regarding my Landfall deck) were actually pretty useful as far as trying to put together possible ideas for how to refine the deck. So in looking back, that's something I could definitely see myself getting back to posting. I still have the decks, and I think I put most or all of them on TappedOut, so they should still be visible to make comments and offer advice. Definitely something I could see revisiting.

Mega Man Magic Set

The Mega Man Magic Set wasn't exactly a "feature," as it had a specific endpoint. Once the set was fully released, that was that, the series was concluded. That said, it generated dozens of posts, numerous comments, and a good deal of discussion, not to mention the enjoyment I had in creating the cards and writing the posts. Overall, I would rate it as one of my most successful blogging adventures.

Additionally, while I can't generate many(/any?) more posts using that particular content, there are plenty of similar types of posts I can make. Most of them will be pretty hard geeky, but that's how it goes sometimes. I like sports and I like games, and sometimes the games take the lead. Lord knows I don't feel like talking about football anytime soon.

So here are some similar ideas that I've come up with, and I'm thinking I'll try my hand at in the near future:

• Create a D&D monster from other material
• Create a Magic card from other material
• Create another Magic set, this time using a different gaming "world"
• Create, create, create...

In thinking about these ideas, I think that the most fun exercises for me are when I'm trying to be creative using other people's bases. Kind of like a fan-fiction writer, except somehow even nerdier.

Anyways, that's it for this post. Just wanted to reminisce a little about some of our brighter moments, and give you guys a little insight into what goes into developing a post or feature. Until next time!

2015 - The Year of the Blog

Longtime blog-readers will know that 2014 was a pretty solid year for this blog. While it wasn't as prolific as some years, I feel like I provided some of my best content overall in 2014. Between some standard sports posts, a few new feature-style sports posts, and a variety of gaming-related articles, I generated something for everyone. Alright, well, not everyone, but anybody who would've come to the blog in the first place should have been able to find something fun to read.

Still, when it comes down to it, I had higher hopes for the blog than the totality of the year that I had. I wanted to expand the features to include not just baseball stories, but interesting tales from other sports as well. And just on sheer volume, there were extended periods during which I didn't provide any content, and I don't feel great about that.

But, rather than lament about opportunities lost, I'm going to set goals for the coming year. Most of these will be blog-related goals, but I'm going to throw a few other goals up there, just so you know what I've got brewing in my mind, and so that I feel a little more beholden to the goals, since "everyone" will know about them.

Here goes.

1. Publish a blog post at least once every week. There's really no reason I couldn't do this; there have been stretches on the blog when I've posted 2-3 times a week for over a month. Part of what hangs me up is that a lot of my blog ideas are larger posts; the CS:GO trade-up post took me over a month to compose and revise. So, this goal is going to have a couple of sub-goals:
   
   • Plan ahead. Have a couple of larger posts in the pot simmering at all times, and try to schedule posts in advance
   • Find smaller post options. Not everything has to be a six page epic about the adventures of Bret Saberhagen. Some of them, sure, just not all of them.
     
2. Post about the big three at least once a month. My big three topics are sports (baseball), sports (non-baseball), and gaming (board or video). This plan should help me get focused on my bigger posts, and also help give myself some direction for goal #1.
   
3. Get my editing landing page refined and ready to share. Most of you are probably unaware this has been going on in the background, but I've been spending some time trying to set myself up to offer editing services. I've been editing for a website for a few months, and editing for friends, family, and co-workers for years. I'm hoping to turn those skills into a small supplemental income. So as the main part of that, I've been working on a landing page to be able to link for potential customers. My goal is to have that up and running by the end of January.
   
4. Stream more (or at all). Longtime readers will know that a previous role of this blog was to support a regular Friday night Twitch stream by myself and two friends. We streamed mostly Magic, and we generated a small but robust following. Problems with Twitch, changes in our personal responsibilities, a general displeasure with Magic's recent sets, and MTGO's consistent bugs and other issues made us mostly give up the streaming game, but almost any time I've streamed solo, I've still enjoyed it. Whenever I set out to stream again I seem to get distracted from it, but hopefully establishing it as a goal will get me back on the horse. And of course, I'll continue to use this blog to support the stream, when necessary.
   
5. If possible, find ways to monetize the blog that also add value to it. I have an affiliate partnership with Amazon.com, and Amazon has thousands of ways to link to their goods and services. Right now I just have a single banner advertising Amazon Prime, but I'm thinking that with sufficient commitment, I may be able to post timely advertisements of great deals to both provide a useful deal-finding service to readers, and create a small amount of income for myself. I'm sure there are other ways to effectively monetize the blog, but those will take some further research.
   
6. Post something in the Steam Workshop. There are two possible avenues I could use here. The first is posting a CS:GO skin. I've tinkered with the workbench a little bit, and while I'm no expert, I'm definitely more comfortable with it than I was at the outset. I haven't made anything too exciting so far, but I've got some more content to work with, so we'll see if it goes anywhere.
   
   The second possibility is posting a collection on Tabletop Simulator, a recent gift I received (thanks Nick). I've collected a few items and boards from other workshop posts, and I'd like to assemble a kind of "catch-all" collection for a certain tabletop role-playing game I've played with a few friends. (Nerd alert! Just kidding, you knew I was a nerd when I started posting Magic decks.)

So those are my blog/internet goals for the coming year. I'm hoping to increase the amount of content I provide overall, as well as hopefully generating a little bit of revenue.

If you've got any suggestions or naysaying you'd like to offer, feel free to post a comment.

Happy new year!

Magic Deck Review - Landfall and Fling (RG), First Pass

As some of you (probably most of you) will remember, I posted not too long ago regarding the first homebrew deck I wanted to retool. It was a Red and Green deck focusing mostly on Landfall boosts, and using Fling to snipe problem creatures or finish off opponents. In case you don't remember, the full deck is here.

Well, I got a bit of feedback in various mediums, and I've got some possibilities as far as additions/replacements for the deck. Here are the brainstorms I received (not Brainstorms)...

Titania, Protector of Argoth - The biggest (and most expensive) possible addition is Titania. She's a big creature with a distinct lean towards land action. Specifically, she makes Evolving Wilds and Harrow absolute monsters. It's a fairly expensive card though ($6.75 average price on TCGPlayer), so it may not be in the cards...pun intended.

Groundswell - I'm pretty sure I have a couple of these in my vast collection. Although truthfully, if I do, I'm not sure why I wouldn't have included them in the first place. They're simple Giant Growth-type cards, but obviously they fit nicely with the deck's theme.

Gatecreeper Vine - This is a card that probably wouldn't make the cut. It's a perfectly fine card, but it doesn't really solve our creature problem, and we've already got plenty of fixing in the deck.

Vinelasher Kudzu - I like a few things about this card. First, it's a creature, which as I said was something this deck is looking for. Second, it's a low drop. This deck spends a lot of time with lands that have entered the battlefield tapped, so having a minimal mana cost is important. And third, obviously, it benefits a lot from all the land drops this deck offers. Should be less than a dollar to acquire as well, so wins all around.

Rampaging Baloths - Baloths is a card that fits with the deck's style, but isn't as clever or exciting as some of the other cards I've mentioned. That said, while it's deliberate, it certainly gets work done. I'm not sure it's considerably better than Baloth Woodcrasher based on how the deck hopes to win, but I'm open to including maybe a one-off of RB.

Scute Mob - I feel like Scute Mob is maybe a card that helps you out when you don't have the action cards like Harrow or Baloth Woodcrasher to make the magic happen. Kind of like an insurance policy for the Landfall blasts. I do have one copy of Scute Mob in one of my other decks, so maybe I'll transition it over to this one.

What do you guys think of the cards I've mentioned? Anything else come to mind? Leave it in the comments below!

Magic Decks for Review - Landfall & Fling Deck (RG)

As I mentioned last week, I was looking for the best way to open up my home-brewed casual decks for comments and suggestions. You spoke, and I basically ignored you. Well, not you. But you, I totally ignored you. Sorry bro.

Anyways, the way I decided to go is using TappedOut to build the decks. The links to all of them are on the sidebar to the right, or you can view them on my profile page on TappedOut. The one downside is that you have to create an free account on TappedOut in order to leave a comment. It's simple, but it is an extra step, and for that I apologize. But I'd definitely appreciate it if you guys would take the time when you have it to review the decks. Some of them need a lot of work; others just need some tweaking.

But, I'm not going to just sit around and hope people chime in on their own. I'll highlight decks over time, asking for pointed feedback at various times with regards to a particular deck. Today's deck is a deck that I think is pretty close to being ready, but has a single definitive weakness.

Deck: Landfall & Fling RG

This deck relies heavily on the Landfall mechanic and Fling (or Soul's Fire, which has a similar effect). The idea is usually to take out the opponent in one huge turn, using cards like Evolving Wilds, Harrow, and Khalni Heart Expedition to provide a bunch of extra land drops. It works a fair amount of the time, but the problem is that the deck, in its current form, only eleven of the sixty cards provide creatures, and that includes those 7/1 Elemental tokens that last only one turn.

So, I'm looking for potential insertions serving that purpose. I could definitely see letting go of the Adventuring Gear in favor of some creatures. And I'm open to any other input you've got.

Go!

How to Frame Upcoming Magic Posts

I've got a series of Magic posts in the works that will (hopefully) provide you readers with the opportunity to share your opinions, correct me where I'm wrong, and help me to refine some personal decks I've created.

Let me backtrack a little.

Several years ago (back before The Good Point Bros were even a thing), I bought a big lot of random Magic cards on eBay. I used to collect baseball cards when I was little, and it was fun to sort through everything, looking for rares and interesting cards.

Since that first batch, I've bought several more, sometimes the same amalgamation of cards from random sets, sometimes repacks of one set or another, and sometimes something in between. One that was really fun was a box of 24 packs from the entire history of Magic. It was neat to see Fire Whip and Evil Twin in the same pack, and it made for a really interesting draft one summer when James was stateside.

Anyways, as I perused cards from throughout Magic's history, I became more and more interested in thinking about how cards from different eras worked together. A natural follow-up to that was that I started to build my own decks. I remember the first one was a tribal Merfolk & Wizard deck, and I remember the first two cards in it were Streambed Aquitects and Sage's Dousing. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of researching possible additions/swaps, checking mana curves, and assessing a deck's win conditions to build as strong a deck as I could.

And of course, through all this work, I'd come across some other card that begged to be highlighted. So I made a red equipment deck featuring Bloodshot Trainee, a green/white enchantments deck featuring Primal Huntbeast and Armadillo Cloak, and a black/white lifegain deck with cards like Suture Priest.

I love the whole process, but there are two hurdles that I have to deal with.

The first is a simple matter of availability. I don't have planeswalkers or Moxes; most of my cards are common or uncommon, and not terribly many of them are new. So a lot of my decks feature pedestrian cards from Zendikar or Lorwyn or 8th Edition. I actually have no problem with this limitation; I feel like it's the same level of challenge as building a deck with boss cards, and since I really only play my decks among the other decks, there's no concern about a wild advantage by one deck because of raw card power.

The second hurdle is what I'm hoping you'll be able to help me with. While I've done my share of research and discussion, I'm still a long way from being fluent in Magic's history. But between me, and James, and Nick, and talbott_matt, and PuresteelPally, and Kouseband, and 0utlier, and Rekanos, maybe we've got it all covered. So what I'd like to do is to provide you guys with decklists, and welcome your input on how to improve the decks, either by incorporating generally better cards, or refining the mana curve, or swapping in cards that better fit the particular intentions of the decks.

The problem I have is this: I don't know how best to share with you the current state of the decks. I have a couple of options, but I'm open to other ideas if you've got them.

First, the simplest option, though it'll probably take the most work: I can just list each card with the quantity in the deck, along with a link to its Gatherer page. This would be easiest for phone browsing, but isn't really intuitive at all, and doesn't take advantage of any particular resources available.

A second option would be to create the decks with the deck editor in Magic The Gathering Online, then upload the deck file and invite readers to download the file to view the deck. This would make for easy manipulation of the current deck and searches of potential alternatives. But it would require that you have MODO available; not exactly going to work for people browsing on their Samsung Galaxies.

A third option would be to create and save the decks using TappedOut.net. This would be similar to the first option, except that the list would be hosted on another site, forcing you to navigate back to the blog to comment on its related post. But, for decks that have several updates (which will probably be all of them), you'll be able to see the process as it evolves, and respond only to the most recent iteration of the deck.

So my question is, to those of you who think you might be up for helping me out, which method sounds the most appealing to you? Or is there something I haven't thought of/am unaware of that would fit the bill even better than what I've mentioned? Leave feedback in the comments, por favor.

Top 5 Modern "Core Set" Cards - Red

Top Five Red Core Cards

1. Fireball (many times, most recently M12) - There's value in Volcanic Geyser of course, but Fireball has such a history in Magic that it makes the top of my list. I also actually kind of like that it's a sorcery spell; the flavor of X mana spells feel like they ought to take full focus, rather than being instant speed. The massive burn available to Red is its calling card.
2. Furnace Whelp (5DN, 10E, M13, M15) - I picked Furnace Whelp when I could have just as easily picked Shivan Dragon. I went with the Whelp because uncommon cards feel more "core" than rares. But either card in this "slot" fits two important roles: dragon, and firebreather. Firebreathing is like Fireball in creature form, and it's probably Red's most important creature characteristic.
3. Lightning Elemental (many times, most recently M12) - Lightning Elemental captures two features of Red. The first is obvious: haste shows up in Red more than any other color. The other is the vast difference between power and toughness, usually with power being considerably higher. Fire Elemental is a classic Red card, but it's not particuarly, you know, Red. You could put the same stats on a card in any color and it'd make some sense.
4. Fling (STH, M11, M12, DKA) - I had initially planned on including Shock or Lightning Bolt, but I came away with the opinion that Fling was perfectly suited to describing Red. It's instant-speed burn, and it depends on building up a creature's power (or, "enraging" them). It also has the added bonus of being exploitable; I've got a Landfall-based deck that's really all about Fling. One of my favorites.
5. Siege-Gang Commander (SCG, 10E, M10) - Red has hundreds of goblins to choose from, so I tried to find one that helped explain a little more of Red. Goblin tokens are in fact a fair part of what Red can do, so that goes in there. Additionally, the sacrifice of any creature, but goblins in particular, for the greater good is a typically Red or Black feature. It came down to Siege-Gang, Goblin Arsonist, or Goblin Grenade. Grenade didn't fit my set rules (and has effect overlap with Fling), and Arsonist is too typically Joe. So Siege-Gang Commander and his goblinburn is the choice to round out this list.

I hemmed and hawed for a while before electing to leave a Threaten/Act of Treason type card off the list. It was a tough call because the effect is definitely Red, but in the end I had to go with the cards I chose above. Just know that #6 would've been one of those two.

So there it is, the last of my top 5 "Core Set" lists. It was a fun exercise, but it feels somehow incomplete. Like, talking about these cards in only the context of each other is insufficient, and there's some other way to take these lists to the next level...

...I'm working on it. Stay tuned.

Top 5 Modern "Core Set" Cards - White and Black

Top Five White Core Cards

1. Serra Angel (many sets, most recently M15) - I don't think there's any other card I could've picked at #1 for White in good conscience. Serra Angel is one of the most frequently reprinted cards in Magic's history, along with Giant Spider. It says something about the card that its power level has remained playable all this time. White has been defined by angel creatures over the years, as has the vigilance mechanic. It's no surprise that Serra Angel has found its way into countless sets over the years.
2. Pacifism (many sets, most recently M14) - I personally prefer Arrest for it's total shutdown effect, but Pacifism is almost as effective. And at two mana, it's a cheap way to neuter most problem creatures. It's also a prime example of how White handles problem creatures: put them on lockdown. It's very Azorius of them.
3. Captain of the Watch (M10, M13) - This is the card that came closest to violating my original rules, as it's in only two recent sets (my minimum). Spoiler alert: this card is why I set that as my minimum. Captain of the Watch is just so perfectly White, I had to make sure I could use it. She creates a bunch of weenies, then acts as a "lord" creature for them, similar to Daru Warchief or Field Marshal of the past. Captain of the Watch is as strongly "core" as cards come.
4. Solemn Offering (M10, M11, M14, M15) - After a couple sets with Oblivion Ring, Wizards must have realized that giving White such a powerful, broadly useful removal card was a little much. So they brought back Solemn Offering, which fits more into their piece of the color pie. Artifact destruction has always felt a little more Green as far as flavor (destroying man-made "blights" upon the natural world), but White has had it since the old Alpha days of Disenchant, so clearly it's a fit. And lifegain fits White as well, so, bonus.
5. Planar Cleansing (M10, M13, M14) - Wrath of God is the more recognizable card, but Planar Cleansing is a better representation of where Magic is today. It's a bit more expensive (a 4 mana wrath card would be exploited in today's Standard), and it also handles other problem cards like planeswalkers and artifacts. The flavor is right, too. White is all about cleansing and order; a planar "reset" is right in their wheelhouse.

I know, I know. How can there be a list of "best anything in White" that doesn't include first strike at all? Especially with how much I enjoy that mechanic, this must be a shocker. I thought about a few knights and lancers, but the truth is, if there's one tribe that defines White, it's soldiers. I'm happy with the list.

Top Five Black Core Cards

1. Doom Blade (M10, M11, M12, M14) - At its heart, Black is about death, and Doom Blade provides that in spades. Wizards still seems to be feeling out Black's prime instant-speed removal slot; they've tried Terror (the first, slightly weaker), Dark Banishing (7th-9th Editions), and Murder (very strong, deeper into Black) over time. Doom Blade seems about right, especially now that they've put it at Uncommon; I remember Murder at Common being a house in limited.
2. Corrupt (5 times, most recently M14) - Corrupt is a great card. It requires only a single black mana, but it rewards you for playing many swamps. I like that it's such a long-tenured card, too; its first printing was back in the mid-90s. The fact that it's still a solid card says a lot.
3. Gravedigger (many times, most recently M15) - Gravedigger is a card I was glad to see return for M15, even though I'll probably never play the set. Raise Dead/Disentomb is the same effect, but really it's not that great of a value. The way you know that is that Ghoulcaller's Chant exists, which is strictly better. Gravedigger seems a better power level than Disentomb, probably about the same as Ghoulcaller's Chant. And purely, purely Black.
4. Bloodthrone Vampire (ROE, M11, M13) - I prefer Vampire Aristocrat as far as cards go, but Bloodthrone is a bit more core Black. The ability to sacrifice other creatures for the "greater good" is exactly what Black is all about. In limited, Bloodthrone was a card that didn't get much love, but I found that in the right deck, it created all sorts of problems for opponents.
5. Mind Rot (many times, most recently M15) - I thought temporarily about using Duress or Sign In Blood for this spot, but I think a straight up and down Mind Rot is the cleanest, purest way to approach this facet of Black. Discard is a featured aspect of this slice of the color pie, and Mind Rot almost always a card that your opponent doesn't want to see. There is the occasional bummer when you draw it later in games when you'd rather have some gas, but overall, it's a good choice.

There ought to be a shade on the list, but I just couldn't find one that felt right. Frozen Shade is the original, but it's underpowered, as is Looming Shade which followed it. Crypt Ripper and Nantuko Shade are very good, but don't have the broad-reaching print presence you need to justify calling it a "core set" card.

Top 5 Modern "Core Set" Cards - Green and Blue

A little bit of Kiora all night long. A little bit of Simic in the sun.

Sorry, I promise I'll never parody Lou Bega again.

Top Five Green Core Cards

1. Llanowar Elves (many times, most recently M12) - My pick for the top of Green is a card that's actually been cycled out of play. It's been replaced by the functionally identical Elvish Mystic. Regardless, it's a great Green card for two reasons. First, it's ramp, which is obviously Green. But more subtly, it's a spell effect that got morphed into a creature. It's exactly how Green does business. I choose Llanowar Elves over Elvish Mystic because I appreciate history.
2. Giant Growth (many times, most recently M14) - Another card that's been around since Alpha, Giant Growth is Green's style of removal. Combat tricks are the name of the game, and it's a big pump for a small price. I prefer it over Titanic Growth because all you need is the power of a single forest to wreck someone's day.
3. Acidic Slime (4 times, most recently M13) - Acidic Slime is a creature I took a long time to appreciate. But when I realized I was often considering playing Bramblecrush as a supplementary card, Acidic Slime really shined out. The utility of its enter-the-battlefield effect can't be overstated, especially if you find a Roaring Primadox in your set. Adding a 2/2 deathtouch creature is just gravy. And again, it's a creature that does a spell effect.
4. Overrun (10E, M10, M12) - I chose Overrun over Rancor or Duskdale Wurm as my representative for the "Trample" mechanic, but I wonder if Overrun is actually too powerful for today's Magic. Enlarge is a similar card, sorcery speed, pump and trample, and the same CMC, but often not as powerful. It'll be interesting to see if it gets printed again anytime soon. Regardless, great Green card.
5. Giant Spider (almost every set, most recently M14) - Giant Spider has been a definitive Green card since Green started having cards. Green doesn't normally get flying creatures, but it's always got a couple ways to deal with flying creatures, and often that takes the form of spiders. Deadly Recluse is a stronger card because it's a low drop, but Giant Spider fits flavor perfectly. And its value is still pretty solid as a 2/4 with Reach for four mana.

Green sometimes seems "simplistic," but hey, somebody has to be the guy who leaves it all on the table and asks you to find a way to beat him.

Top Five Blue Core Cards

1. Unsummon (many times, most recently M13) - If you know me at all, if you've read my previous posts or watched the stream, you know I love Unsummon. It also happens to be one of the definitively Blue cards. It's used as an answer to removal by bouncing your own creature, or to buy time by bouncing an opponent's creature. Additionally, you can use it to destroy auras or token creatures. Flexible, frustrating to play against, elegant. Yep, that's a Blue card.
2. Essence Scatter (M10, M13, M14) - Speaking of Blue cards, counterspells are a calling card of any good blue deck. I could've put Cancel or Counterspell on this list, but I like Essence Scatter's character a little more. It's a card that specifically tells you one of the other ways blue handles problem creatures. Blue never relies on out-and-out battle; it's subversion that bring their opponents to their knees.
3. Mind Control (M10, M11, M12) - Some form of a Mind Control card has been in play since well before M10. Control Magic was the original, but the casting cost of taking an opponent's best creature seems more suited to five mana than four. Domestication has a more limited effect. I debated for a while before deciding to use Mind Control over Clone. They're both a means of taking advantage of your opponents' best creature, but when I think about Jace, I don't think about cloning vats. I think about him dominating weaker minds.
4. Inspiration (5 times, most recently RTR) - I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for choosing Inspiration over Divination, so let me explain. Divination is a great card. But, it's so simple. How many cards are there in all colors that have the effect of drawing a card at sorcery (aka creature summon) speed? I'll give you a clue: many. But a spell specifically for drawing cards at instant speed, so you can leave open mana for potential counter magic? That's Blue.
5. Wind Drake (many times, most recently GTC) - There have been a few different iterations of this kind of card, but in the end, it always comes back to Wind Drake. Blue has always had access to flyers, whether it be a Storm Crow or an Air Elemental. James has always liked Wind Drake more than I have, but I have to admit, dropping a 2/2 flyer onto the battlefield does a lot of good things for you. Not a top 5 card, but very, very core.

One note I want to make is that I think much higher of Welkin Tern than I do of Wind Drake. That single lower mana cost is well worth the loss of a point of toughness and the ability to block non-flyers. But Wind Drake is more "core," so it got my pick.

Next time: White probably? And maybe black. Red's not ready though, I'm still torn on a couple points.

My Favorite Core Cards Intro + Colorless

Recently I talked about Wizards of the Coast's impending departure from annual core sets. At the end of that post, I mentioned that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do as far as a follow-up to that post. I mentioned my longtime affection for core sets, and I enjoy discussing/investigating all Magic sets. So, naturally I would use this opportunity to do some mental exercises regarding core sets.

While I don't think this will be the only post I'll make in this vein, I wanted to talk about some of my favorite cards from core sets. Is there a better way to delve into recent history than to make a good old fashioned top 5 list?

Well, yeah: make a whole bunch of top 5 lists.

So I'll be posting my top five "core" cards from each color. A couple rules I gave myself:

• Each card has to be a definitive card for that color. Part of what I'm thinking here is that you could look at these five cards and say, "I know what this color is all about." Knight of Glory is a fantastic card, but solo attackers isn't really white's style. So no deal.
• Each card has to have been featured at least twice in any full set since M10, or three times in core sets of all time. If Wizards hasn't seen fit to print the card at least that much, I'm not comfortable designating the card as "core."

I was going to put them all into a single post, but as I started writing I realized that the post would've been insanely long. While I'm not totally against insanely long posts, I want to give people some quick hitter stuff as well. Variety, spice, etc.

I will, however, offer a little bonus in this post: my top 5 favorite core colorless cards. Artifacts and lands are a little harder fit into the rules, since there's not exactly a color identity for colorless cards, but a lack of color can be an identity. These cards fit the bill. I've always been a big fan of colorless cards as well, so I get a little extra pleasure out of reviewing all these grey-bordered cards.

1. Evolving Wilds (4 times, most recently M15) - I love Evolving Wilds. I'm also a fan of Terramorphic Expanse, but Evolving Wilds has had a greater presence of late. I obviously enjoy that it allows players to do some mana-fixing, which is great in limited situations. But I also like how it's quietly a strong card in any Landfall-based deck. I love me some Landfall.
2. Juggernaut (M11, M15) - I was initially worried that I'd have to look at Phyrexian Hulk when it comes to heavy artifact creatures, but Juggernaut was brought back for M15, and my life is complete. I love how heavy Juggernaut is, and I love its casting cost. I love how it attacks every turn, and the flavor of how it ignores Walls.
3. Primal Clay (5 times, most recently M13) - Primal Clay is just another reason that M13 was so amazing. While none of its options are individually great, it's hard to put a price on the flexibility you get out of A) being able to choose when you cast, and B) being able to play any color mana for it. Well, no, actually, I guess it's not. It's worth about four colorless mana.
4. Elixir of Immortality (4 times, most recently M14) - Elixir is another example of a card that doesn't fit one single category. The lifegain is generally not worth including the card, but the lifegain on top of protecting against decking yourself, particularly in limited formats, can be a life-saver. I should be clear here: I don't particularly love Elixir, definitely not nearly as much as the other cards on the list, but it's a very good core artifact.
5. Howling Mine (many times, most recently M10) - Howling Mine is definitely a more valuable card than, well, than any of the others on this list. But that's what makes it #5 on my list rather than #1. A core set card isn't defined by its power; it's defined by its identity. Howling Mine is a good card with a fairly universal effect, so it makes my list, but just barely.

One card I think ought to find its way into regular rotation is Trusty Machete. It would've definitely made my list except that it's only been printed once. I also love Haunted Plate Mail, but it's so new, it feels wrong to call it a "core" card. However, perhaps these cards might find a use in another little project I'm working on. Stay tuned...but, like, for a while, because this is going to take some time.

The End of the Beauty That Was The "Core Set"

About a month and a half ago, Mark Rosewater made the most important Magic-based blog post in recent memory. In it, he revealed Wizards' plans for sets going forward. Instead of one core set and a three-part set each year, Magic will now offer two new two-part sets each year, basically one each season.

There are parts of this revelation that other people will find most interesting. A concurrent change involves the variety of sets available for use in Standard play; the lack of a core set means that three different sets of content will be in play, as opposed to the two sets plus core set previously active.

But the most relevant change to me is that 2015 will offer the final core set in Magic's (foreseeable) future. Rosewater makes a compelling case about the problems with the core set. It pursues two audiences, but only pursues each of them halfway. New players enjoy the simplicity of most of it, but each core set brings back a legacy mechanic to appease the experienced players. Neither group is wholly satisfied, so the set leaves each group with something to be desired.

That said, it was perfect for what I'd like to call the "intermediate player," aka myself. I know a bit of Magic throughout its history, but I haven't delved deeply into any one set. My fellow "Bros" were deep into Innistrad, and another friend of mine was all-in on Scars of Mirrodin, but I never got enveloped by a particular set such that I knew the ins and outs of its play at all levels (Limited, Standard, Block Play, etc). I could've seen myself getting into RTR if I had unlimited funds for it, but when you don't feel comfortable putting in the time to play tons of matches, you just don't get that level of immersion.

Core sets are easier to work with, because they draw on a lot of repeat cards from the past. When you see Serra Angel or Giant Growth or Mind Rot, you know what the card does, its general power level, and what kinds of cards you want to play it with (except Serra Angel, which you want to play with all cards). Being able to draw from a base of knowledge while incorporating a new concept (Scry, Exalted, Slivers, etc) was exactly my level of interest/expertise. So, it saddens me to know that I won't get annual core sets to look forward to.

Now, there is some cause for hope. Mark Rosewater has a quote in his blog post that makes me think we might be getting something interesting to "replace" the current core set model, while still appealing to new and casual players. The exact line is:

"This would mean we'd have to solve the problem of what to do with new players, but there had already been talk of creating a product line solely for them, anyway."

My imagination is taking me to a few different places. There's still one core set to be released, which presumably will fit into previous molds of supplementing the block sets with simple, highly functional cards. So that's something for which we can hold some excitement.

But, either for the 2015 core set, or going forward beyond that, I'm imagining something like "the core set to end all core sets." That is, a core set that will endure for the foreseeable future as the definitive set that Magic offers to new and casual players. It's the "getting to know you" greeting that can be easily picked up, difficult to master, and can stay the same over a longer period of time, so casual players who don't want to have to learn a hundred new cards every time they play can come and go with the game as they please.

I think something like this would welcome new players into the fold on a casual level. Maybe the "core set" doesn't have any particularly valuable cards, so maybe it's only a $30 investment to get the entire set (with a reasonable number of duplicates for deck-building). Thirty bucks isn't that large a price to pay for people to augment their board game collections with a known quantity that a lot of people play. I know I have several friends who might be more open to the game if it came in a box and had distinct features and components.

I haven't decided for sure how I want to move forward with this discussion. I know I want to go through some sort of exercise on it, but that's yet to be determined. If you have any suggestions or discussion points you want to make, feel free to do so in the comments. I read them all.

Full Mega Man Magic Set Gallery (Finally!)

Alright gentlemen, after a long delay, I've finally gotten the full Mega Man Magic set posted for you to view in all its glory. I'm also going to make the source file available here, in case you want to sort the cards by color, cost, rarities, etc. The album is below. Thanks for all the help along the way bros!

Mega Man Magic Update

I promise I'm not ignoring the Mega Man Magic set upload. It turns out, Imgur only allows like 220 pictures to be uploaded to a free account. They obviously allow you to pay for more, but I'm debating on whether or not I want to do that, or post them myself somewhere else. In the end, I think I'll probably just get the upgrade, but I don't want Imgur to think I did it because they tricked me into it. Let 'em sweat it out.

Mega Man Magic - Spoiler 36

So here we are, the final spoiler for the Mega Man Magic set. And as is wisest, we'll go out with a bang.

 

The scene from the beginning of the game, with Mega Man atop a large skyscraper, overlooking the city he's about to protect. Perseverance is maybe the best word to describe Mega Man, so I'm pleased to have it represented in my set.

This set ended up with like three different clone-type cards, but each has its own little twist. This actually is probably just straight up worse than Clone, but at least it's flavorful. At least that.

This is another card that got some rare playtesting, and it turned out the card was way more powerful than I had anticipated. So I bumped the mana cost and the rarity. I may have overcompensated, but in a set with a looter and various other discard cards, this guy can do some work.

Ahh, the password. Kind of missing from today's gaming world, but in the old days, the password was your only chance to preserve your progress in difficult games. I'm happy with the flavor of this guy, though I have a hard time judging its power level in a vacuum. Hopefully it's not too far off.

Which leads us to our last card...

The final image from the game, or close to it. The last screen actually just has "Presented by Capcom U.S.A., but I needed Thank You for Playing on the screen for it to make sense. Anyways, big black swamp-based life drain. I'm on board with the card, even if I'd probably never play it.

So that's the end of the list. In a couple days, I'll link to an Imgur album with all of the cards posted, so you can browse through them at your convenience. And then it'll be on to the next project...as yet undetermined. I'll keep you in the loop, of course.