#anything for keldon!

[jrueships]

KELDON'S BDAY!!!! HIM AND HIS SISSY!!!!!

[talesofthemultiverse]

The Invasion

Dominaria was shaken to its core.

An ancient enemy once thought destroyed seemingly manifested from beyond, ready to exact vengeance for the sins of the past. The halls of history itself had reached out, angry and upset, voraciously taking souls that were initially spared when victory was declared.

A feathered wing brushed past duct-clogged tomes on a bookcase, hurriedly rushing to the other end of the vast library. The sound of her wings carrying her through aisles of shelves paled in comparison to the explosions that rocked the building, a sensation that would have staggered her, were not for being above the ground.

Eccelia called out, "All students to the eastmost classroom on the ground floor!" Whether her cry reached the ears of any survivors was of no import, at least, not now. The students here were capable enough to hold their own, at least until a professor could help dispatch any academy raiders. The most valuable action she could take now would be to go and protect the student body.

As she approached a shattered window, she saw with avian vision the force that had started to come down upon the school. Various amalgams of flesh and metal, contorted in ways that turned the gut and bristled the neck. One figure, a hulking, sickle-handed brute with no eyes drooled as it lumbered on. Another, a small goblinoid, had a mass of ooze and pus on its back, and scurried along the ground on all fours towards its target. No matter the build however, all of them had one goal: to breach the east wall of the Academy.

Opposing them was a set of formidable figures in robes similar to hers. Fellow professors, going through many of the same emotions as she did those two short years ago.

Fear. Anguish. Despair.

Back then it binded her. Crippled her. Brought her low, forcing her to rebuild what it had left of her life. She survived, but just barely. As her eyes fixed upon a younger student of hers, she wondered if they would be meet the same fate she had, or be consumed by disaster.

No. To deign to these thoughts would be to forsake the lives of all these people. She glided towards the front of the group, whizzing by all manner of teachers and students.

Eccelia landed firmly on the ground, and retold the story of the ancient times, when the ground of Dominaria was tainted by Phyrexia for the second time. Perhaps somehow, these vile creatures would remember the cold sting of being bested that their progenitors had felt.

As the various arcs of light from her rune manifested, frost crawled along the ground, towards the invading army.

-

Frost crawled along the ground, towards the invading army, entangling themselves in their legs, pseudopods, and other limbs. As their metallic bodies stiffened, groups of Keldons came forward, driving all manner of clubs and axes, spears and swords, flails and maces, into their targets. It was an effective plan, one that preyed on both the weakness of the Phyrexian constitution, as well as the Keldon passion to beat anything facing them into a fine mist. At this rate, the battle would over and done just in time to eat.

Of course, Solfrid would hardly be able to eat anything after this, not even the greens that she preferred. Even thinking of how the Kelds would messily devour their colos meat afterward gave her a sick stomach. It honestly wasn't unlike how the Tuskeri of her birth home would feast after their daring acts of "heroism," an event she witnessed once too many times.

As the various figures around her either were shattering their foes to pieces or were in turn shattered, Solfrid set her eyes on Riese, an elven woman who was presently beating a poor Phyrexian with its own arms. For most, including Solfrid, seeing someone performing that act would be offputting to say the least. But Riese wasn't just someone. For starters, describing her act of sadistic cruelty as a performance was no err, as her every movement exuded grace. Not in the large ways that most people show themselves, but rather in the small ones. The rhythm of how she rended steel with her bare hands, wound up with the torn-off appendage, and reacquainted it with its owner was a melody all of its own, the patterns and formulae of her violence as symmetrical and though-out as a snowflake gliding to the ground, resting upon a lone blade of grass.

Put together, these minute steps strung all together connected into the perfect storm of ligaments, brackets, and whatever else held together these foes. A crescendoing blizzard of brutality, an avalanche of animosity, carved a path along the battlefield in a way that no-one else could.

As she was thinking of the warrior in front of her a stray phyrexian raptor began a dive for her. But no sooner did she turn around and see a shock of feathers, as the subject of her thoughts grabbed it from the air and slammed it against the frozen earth with a cheeky wink in her direction.

As a lone, oil-slicked feather drifted in front of her, she blushed, the dawning realization slowly flushing her cheeks. It was the same reason that compelled her to stay amongst the atmosphere of violence around her.

She couldn't deny her feelings any longer, she was completely and totally smitten.

-

She was completely and totally smitten. Mea had never seen a cuter animal than the one in front of her. Its narrow, eyeless head looked up at her and tilted. It has a long, serpentine body, and two forelimbs that ended in semi-sharp blades. Based on the size of it, it was only just hatched.

Unfortunately for it, its existence couldn't have been timed any worse.

As the ichor-stained beast tromped on behind her, she looked back, watching as it split through the trees as it walked. She was unsure exactly what it was, but for now she didn't care. She just needed to run.

In a flash, she scooped up the newborn and started sprinting again. There wasn't a moment to waste. Her aquatic form helped her greatly as she passed through vines and roots unhindered, splitting chunks of her just for a moment before reconglomerating with her limbs.

She had to think of a plan. What could she do to try and stop this... whatever it was from getting her, the forest, and perhaps all of Otaria under it's giant stinky feet?

With a snappy hand movement she sculpted a nearby lizard that was scrambling into its burrow into a primordial energy that looked strikingly similar to her form. With a flick of her finger it raced towards her pursuer, shattering on its exterior.

Welp, that wasn't going to work.

If she had more time, she could try and concoct something bigger to fight it with. Maybe a piercing bolt of lightning, or a giant kraken to drag it into the depths of the ocean. But that kind of transmogrification took preparation, and this was meant to be a simple exploratory mission.

Suddenly, she broke through the treeline, before nearly stepping off of the cliff face. Miles below her there were sharp, jagged rocks that broke the waves crashing upon them, much like what would happen to her body if she fell atop them.

It wasn't a pleasant thought.

She turned around, and saw the fanged maw of the beast chasing them, it's unnatural pallor sloughing off of it every few seconds, leaving a mess of ink in its wake that was spreading out from the place it dropped. This was no ordinary beast, and it was making sure that she would die either way.

It was then the newborn, semi-slimy creature, began to vibrate, letting off a braying noise much louder than it should have been. It was then that Mea's gaze fell upon the isle far out from the coast, with a weird, domed structure long since ruined.

It was then the ground shook. Or, shook more than usual for a beast that was of the caliber chasing the odd duo.

A large bladed appendage about three times the height of the building burst from the top of the ruin, and dug into the ground. Another did the same, before dragging a gargantuan creature out of the old ruin that looked strikingly similar to the newborn that Mea held.

After a pregnant pause, the giant-baby brayed back, a sound that staggered the beast coming behind them. As it did, the newborn in Mea's arms began to grow, and it wasn't long until she got the idea, and did what any sane and rational person dealing with a rapidly expanding lizard-snake-insect would do.

She threw it.

As it left her grasp, it grew to half the size of the invading beast, before piercing what turned out to be a solid metal hull. As whatever mutation that had overtook it continued, the sound of steel tearing and bending filled the air, before the only thing left was a few thirds of what had previously been knocking down trees while chasing them. In its place stood the same being that Mea had happened upon just a few moments prior, sized up to gigantic proportions, its head now barely looking over the same split trees. As it settled, it gave a long look down to the amorphous researcher and tilted its head in the same cutesy way it had prior.

Mea had found a breakthrough in her research. And Dominaria shook to its core.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Having traveled through the Omenpath, you find yourself in what appears to be an underground bar, with tables and shelving carved out of the brownish-grey stone that comprises the walls, floor, and ceiling. Though the ceiling is far closer to a cavernous roof than a building's ceiling, it is cold in here, but you'll survive you think. The surfaces have been smoothed out and polished to a mirrorlike sheen, even some of the ceiling twenty feet up has been treated this way. Despite being underground, the area is well-lit, by crystals decoratively and strategically placed around the room, all of varying shades of purple, from a deep solid purple to a near white purple, though they seem to barely glow themselves, more an inner glow rather than an external one, requiring vast sheets of them giving an approximate appearance of a tall window which is letting in sunlight on the walls. Most of the whiter ones have been used for this purpose, though some of the other shades have been used to create various depictions and to decorate the tables and ceiling...now that you look at it, the ceiling looks like a night sky with the faintly glowing pinpricks of light above...as for the decorated windows, there are five meticulously crafted appearances there, all humans save for one angel. The angel itself is flanked by two humans who are dressed strangely, the other two humans are separated, creating a sort of triangle with the room and the decorated windows.

Though your very body feels like it is being pulled out of you, the Kaladeshi man tending the bar chuckles as he offers you mana stones to absorb and stave off 'the realm trying to eat the personified clump of mana that you are'. Being an Aetherborn, though gifted, is difficult, especially here it seems.

He explains the basics of the realm before suggesting for you specifically to not stay long if you can help it, voice and visage changing often, a Simic researcher, a Keldon warlord, even looking like a well-dressed starving vagrant from Innistrad once.

You figure that exploring the realm will be more hazardous than not, and there happens to be an all-knowing friendly Realmsoul in front of you. It's obviously not as good as seeing it with your own eyes, but you can feel your time being taken from you despite voraciously absorbing the essence of the mana crystals the Realmsoul offers you.

Credit: Anna Steinbauer

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[gulducock]

Can you explain where those Obsidian Order Keldon's came from?

those things were so fucking crazy i wish we got to see the keldon class used more than the galor even though its hard to see what the difference is between them the keldon class looks so much crazier i think the cardassian cruisers have to be like the coolest alien ship designs next to the romulan warbird. i actually do not know or remember if the keldon class was something that the cardassian military had before or if it was something that they had made in tandem with the romulan empire because its first appearance is the ones used by the obsidian order and the tal shiar. if anything its interesting to think about what goes into a collaboration like that and what changes they made to the galor class that were decided by the cardassians or the romulans etc

[returntosaturn271995]

Sunday, March 3rd: We long for a lifetime, and then it's gone

Today was fresh, lucid, and focused. Walked to Trader Joe's to recreate one of the 100 recipes I've saved from TikTok (much like a squirrel losing its nuts that way- I'm full of the first 4% of ideas that are lost somewhere in the ether of intention and action"). God, always reminding me I'm here for his amusement, magically made TJ's out of a crucial ingredient for the pasts meant to represent me changing my life- so I left with $71 worth of groceries and am headed back tomorrow for a restock dammit.

Comedy: Thought of a great tie-in to my joke about White people who play up their 1/16th Native American heritage and a joke about cheating on my emotionally distant husband. I'll have to wait until Makenna's next workout class to practice out loud.

Family: Called mom today and talked to her and Dixie about men. Dixie told me the best men love Christ and to look around the church next time I'm there. I laughed and told her I'd keep it in mind. Then I asked her to tell me something embarrassing about my mom from her childhood- didn't get anything good though.

Fitness: I felt like Sysiphus carrying those heavy as hell groceries back home, I need to just start driving them already. 22 minutes of yoga while watching Ru Paul's Drag Race. Hydrated as hell.

Cooking: Made Polenta with aspargus, tomatoes, prosciutto and gruyere cheese. Pesto drizzle.

Cleaning: Took out all forms of trash from the household, another round of dishes, laid out bomb-ass outfits for the week.

Weirdness: Got a call from Keldon high as balls on shrooms last night. Good to hear his voice. Boy, does he hate being a doctor.

Reading: Finished XOXO Cody, and diving into book number 9 of the year: "Blonde Identity". It's a silly little spy romp from one of my favorite teen authors from the past who is writing adult fiction: Ally Carter.

Trying: No electronics past 10 pm----11 pm if I'm just really not trying to be America's sweetheart here. I should, I can...but do I really want to?

[college-girl199328]

Two of Canada's biggest telecom providers are raising the fees they charge customers when they use their devices outside of Canada.

Starting March 8, Telus will charge customers $14 a day when they roam on their devices in the United States and $16 a day when they do so internationally, an increase from $12 and $15, respectively. The Telus-owned discount brand Koodo will see a similar fee hike.

There's no indication that Rogers has similar plans to raise roaming rates, but as it stands, customers at Rogers and its flanker brands, including Chatr and Fido, pay $12 to roam in the U.S. and $15 internationally.

CBC News reached out for comment to all three companies for this story, asking for an explanation for the move.

Bell cited Statistics Canada data showing that overall wireless prices have declined in the past year, despite "price increases from our suppliers" and "increasing costs to our business," without elaborating.

Rogers outlined the company's roaming rates but declined comment as to whether they had increased recently or were about to.

Canadians pay some of the highest telecom bills in the world, according to numerous international reports. Federal governments have pressured providers to bring prices down, especially for basic plans with limited data, and while official data shows wireless prices have come down by some metrics, that's not the case for high-end packages.

A recent report by CBC's consumer affairs program Marketplace found that, on average, Canadians pay seven times more for a gigabyte of data than people in Australia, 25 times more than people in Ireland and France, and 1,000 times more than people in Finland.

Wall Communications Inc. publishes an annual report on Canadian telecom services and, while this year's version has not yet been released, on the whole, company founder Gerry Wall says the public perception that wireless prices keep going up is unfair, as providers have created many more low-cost plans targeting basic users.

"At the very, very low level, I think you can say it's relatively affordable in Canada," he said. "When you get up to sort of the mid-level and the higher-level plans Canada doesn't look as good."

A service such as roaming is one of those high-level perks, and prices are rising up because consumers have shown that they want that service, Wall says.

"When I look at [those companies'] annual reports … they do point to the fact that people are travelling a lot more," he said.

Last summer, the European Union passed a law that will ensure that cellphone customers in the EU are entitled to the same quality and price for wireless service when they travel in Europe as they get from their domestic carriers.

Canada's telecom providers spend billions of dollars every year to grow, maintain and improve their networks, expenditures that have made the country's wireless networks, on the whole, more robust than those in other countries. Users bear the brunt of those costs and improvements in higher bills, but none of those costly infrastructure expenses — on things like cellphone towers and expanding spectrum — are a factor in roaming internationally, when calls piggyback on existing networks for a small fee.

Keldon Bester, an analyst on competition policy and co-founder of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, says it's hard to know if the carriers are facing some sort of cost increase that would justify the rise in roaming rates since the deals that they sign with their international partners are a closely guarded secret.

"[They can say] 'Our partners are demanding this of us and we're trying our very best but we can't really do anything,'" said Bester, "but because we don't have access to these roaming agreements we really can't test the validity of that."

He says it's not difficult to imagine that the major telecom providers may see roaming costs as a way to boost revenue without as much of the scrutiny they face for their domestic plans.

"It's a situation where consumers have even fewer options than they might have at home," he said. "It's like buying food at a sports arena — they've got you … your options are really limited, so there's an opportunity to squeeze more out of the consumer."

On a recent trip to Mexico, she was hit by a roaming charge of more than $100 from her telecom provider, Telus. "From a consumer's point of view, it feels like price gouging," she said. "They're just trying to get as much money as they can out of us."

She has plans to travel to Europe this summer, and given her recent experience, she says there's no way she will use her phone normally while she's there, and will instead get a short-term phone plan from a local provider for a fraction of the cost.

"It always amazes me how cheap it is to get a SIM card over there and just pop it in while you're travelling," she says. "To see that they're not allowing roaming charges while Canada is increasing them just makes the average person's phone bill rise up [by] an exorbitant amount that really isn't necessary."

[neon-dynasty]

Some thoughts on Dominaria United Story (in no particular order)

Spoilers under the jump.

I love seeing the old characters come back and do what they do. Jaya blows things up in new and inventive ways. The Weatherlight crew bickers amusingly. Ajani shows up to save the day.

I love how all of the expectations are subverted, especially because of Phyrexia. Jaya dies horribly. The Weatherlight itself is Phyrexianized. Ajani shows up to save the day... for Sheoldred.

Short story is the wrong format for this. Each chapter is one action scene, completely disconnected from the ones that come before and after it. Sometimes it's an action scene focusing on a different point of view character somewhere Karn isn't.

Because of that, the big heavy moments don't feel like they were earned. The Weatherlight being compleated happened out of nowhere. It's like there were several scenes written where it was slowly happening, but those scenes were cut so that we could jump to it happening. Same with Ajani's turn. Same with Aron Capashen. Same with every other major beat.

It also makes it harder to remember who did what, and when. Dominaria is uniting, but that's almost happening in the background. The New Argivian knights and the Keldon barbarians are in peace talks when this story starts, but they get interrupted. Did anything happen with that between Aron getting kidnapped and then Danitha, Radha, and Meria swooping in to fight off the biggest battle yet? Oh right, the three second fight between Danitha and Aron.

Without character development, it's hard to care about the cast or their actions. I get that we've seen Teferi a lot recently, but why did Saheeli Rai show up without any introduction? What's been going on with Jodah in all of this, or Jaya, or Jhoira, or literally anyone but Karn? Were we supposed to care about Stenn, like, at all? If so, who the heck was he?

I'm being a bit hard here, I know. It's an exciting story, but one that feels like it's missing 90% of what makes something a story. The stakes are there, but only because of what we already know or can interpret from past excursions. As a consequence, the large beats don't feel earned.

In short, I feel that these set stories should have been novels instead of short story collections. The checklist style of big event writing didn't work for War of the Spark, and it's done a little better here, but it's still all key frames and no animation. All meat and no veggies. All flash and no substance. I hope that we can fill in the blanks - or at least take a more relaxed pace - in the coming months.

Finally, I adored Squee's story. I truly hope we follow up on him in a satisfying way. Little dude deserves it.

[inventors-fair]

Shining Stars

So, this contest got pretty wacky and wild. There were a lot of people experimenting with what Characteristic Defining Abilities (or CDAs) could do to a card. I think a lot of people were trying to go as far from the norm as possible without going over, like some card designer’s version of price is right. While I did encourage and appreciate creativity, I wish I had seen a few more people playing it safe and putting new abilities on existing star cards.

But enough of me rambling, let’s get to me talking! If you’re looking for your card, they are sorted top to bottom alphabetically by the name of the entrant. If you were a winner or runner-up, your commentary was on the post marking you as such.

@antmations​ - Keldon Lightning-Slinger

I like what the star does here. If they’re your only shaman (somehow), it’s an aggressive 3/1 that can get in for damage. If you have a board of shamans, it gains enough toughness to be a defensive wall while you use its ability to start controlling the board. As effectively as you used the star, though, the card has two big issue. The smaller issue is that the card doesn’t really seem green at all, but I can understand how the set as a whole would need it to be green to cement the archetype in two colors and encourage splashing. The bigger issue is that the ability is ridiculously strong. Most cards that can repeatably do 3 damage to creatures are either mythics, 6+ mana, or both. At a minimum I think it needs a mana cost or needs to tap itself. As it is now, your opponent can’t play a creature with <4 toughness as long as you have two shamans, and if you have four shamans they’re practically hard locked from playing creatures.

@arakis-selfinsert​ - Krark, Thumbless Gambler

You’ve mentioned that the star is really more of a way to track the activated ability than anything, and I respect that. In silver-bordered land, I also don’t mind as much that one bonesplitter massively changes this guy’s math, because it’s all just coin flips anyway. Also, this card doesn’t NEED to be silver-bordered, since black-border has coin flips, but I doubt this would see print there, so I appreciate the fact you did it preemptively. I will warn you though, I don’t like the last ability. Not only is it fairly weak, it’s really slow and tedious to actually perform, and the phrasing means that all of the damage will go to one target that is picked before you flip the first coin. I don’t blame you for missing that interaction, the rules are pretty awkward when it comes to targeting mid-ability. There’s a reason Karplusan Minotaur and the Battlebond coin-flip guys are phrased the way they are.

charmera - Candle-Wrought Caretaker

I was scared at first when I saw the art the fact that it was a two mana 4 power haste creature, but then I realized it has both a skaab-style additional cost (even if not phrased as one, though it probably should be) and a magmaroth-style shrinking effect. Even so, I think 2 mana is just way too cheap for this kind of effect on such an efficient body. That said, I really like the design of the card, and I love the way it interweaves the downside and upside, and how it has an Endless Horizons type risk where if it dies before it does anything you’re out some important resources. I really like the card, but I wish it cost a bit more mana or was a little less aggressive in some way.

@corporalotherbear​ - Treasure Golem

Seeing this card in the discord made me change my example card, because it looked almost exactly like this, except it was a little cheaper, made one treasure, and counted all artifacts. So that’s a good sign! I like how you make it count itself, and in doing so turn it into a treasure, which seems cool and silly to me. I think this card does have two big issue, though: first, it’s colorless ramp, letting you go from 5 mana on turn 5 to 10 mana on turn two in any color. It’s not too much worse than composite golem or gilded lotus, but it could wreak havoc in some formats. Second, and this is what I was going to bring up in my example, treasures are very fickle. This creature wants you to make a bunch of treasures in your precombat main phase so you can attack with a big creature. However, if it gets blocked, you’e put in a really awkward situation in your second main phase. If you sac too many tokens, your golem will die from the damage marked on it. If you mis-tap mana on a digital client, your golem will die and it won’t let you undo. I think this card is really cool but I worry it might be asking a bit too much from the player.

@dubudder - Chandra’s Firemaw

It takes a little more work than I wish was necessary to play this over spark elemental. I like how the last ability combos with ball lightning effects, but I think most decks playing cards like that are going to have pretty empty boards. I’d really need to know what kind of support this card was getting in the set to know how playable it was. I think the card is a good design, but I think it could afford to be pushed just a little more compared to recent cards.

@demimonde-semigoddess​ - Erupting Wurm 

Wood Elemental… is that you? All joking aside, this card is… weird. I think the two directions to go with this card are either A) ramp a bunch then play this as a massive creature or B) use this to bounce a few lands so you can get more landfall triggers. I think the first version is going to be pretty rare, considering devastating summons doesn’t see much play and would usually be the better card compared to the wurm. The second version, bouncing 2-4 lands, might be nice in decks running llanowar scouts or Azusas, and especially as a flash reach creature to block with. It’s a pretty fringe use card, but not every card needs a perfect home, and I wouldn’t mind this card existing out there in the card pool. You’re also one of the only people to enter a card with a set it and forget it star card, so good for you! That said, if printed it’d probably just use +1/+1 counters.

@dimestoretajic​ - Riodan, Nature’s Watcher

Not much to say about this guy. I like his simplicity, I like how trample is green, crusader text is white, and countering is blue, but they all work with each other very well. He’s also got a crossbow, which is playing to the judge but you didn’t know that. The closest thing I have to a complaint with this guy is that he protects your other creatures even though it seems like he’d be the main target most of the time anyway. Having him and Shalai out seems hilarious though. He’s just a solid dude.

@dont-wanna-wanga​ - Extended Ego

I love how much care was put into this card to make it go in the deck that would use it. It needs to go in a deck that keeps cards in hand, which are usually defensive, so it’s a flying defender. It’s also one mana because most control decks need their defenses early, or to leave up mana in the late game. I’m also glad you let players take it back if they accidentally play it after topdecking or get hit with discard. My only gripe is that I wish the death effect were a trigger not a replacement effect, just because it seems like it should be. I also wish the cycling cost were a little higher, since it seems like it’s there mostly to give it a use if you topdeck it, and it might be a touch too strong otherwise.

@driftingthruthecosmos​ - Mura, the Discerning

An enchantment god that isn’t and enchantment creature. Neat. So this card is based all around enchantments, and being black-white, it cares about them in graveyards as well as in play. I think enchantments is a great thing to track since they are on the board and a lot of enchantment decks need good win-cons, and an indestructible */2 is a good way to get the job done. I don’t understand the combat condition, though. All of the Amonkhet gods had activated abilities that let them trigger attack in some way or another, but yours is about what to do after you trigger it. There aren’t a lot of easy ways to get enchantments to enter graveyards, especially pre-combat (since auras and enchantment creatures can die in combat), and I think the card is just weak enough that it’s hard to justify building around. If she were just a mana cheaper I think she’d be great, and if she had a way to sac enchantments she’d be amazing, but even as is I think she’s very good.

@fractured-infinity​ - Verdant Necrophage

This is one of the first cards that count counters on both sides that I really like. It still encourages filling your deck with -1/-1 counter creatures like channeler initiate, but its focus is on your opponents creatures. Thanks to how -1/-1 counters work, there will never be too high an amount on the board so it won’t be too hard to count, and when it goes down it’s usually from something dying so it’s all upside. I like how you got around the 0 toughness issue by putting -1/-1 counters on non-creatures on cast. It effectively acts like +1/+1 counters but could have fringe benefits being thrown on enemy creature lands or guardian idols. Giving two -1/-1 counters to anything on cast / every turn would normally be way too strong, so the non-creature rider is a clever way around that. It’s also a great way to dodge the 0 toughness issue, and has some fringe use against manlands and guardian idol type cards.

@ghost31415926535 - Apex Hydra

What a big hydra! I like how the base rate is effectively just a hydra with 2*X P/T, which is pretty good. With even some moderate building around this guy gets really big and strong. Normally I’d say counting counter on creatures including itself can make for some difficult math, but the fact that it’s just a vanilla creature otherwise helps keep it from coming up too often. I don’t know why you let it count your opponents’ counters, though, that seems like it won’t come up often but will get awkward when it does. Still, I really like the design.

@gollumni​ - Cymede, Claimed by Keranos

Hey, it’s what happened to Cymede! I like the continuation of the demigod cycle, with the implication that there is one for every two color combination. Devotion to two colors might be a little strong, considering Anax already sees play for practically being a vanilla creature, but it’s forgivable. That activated ability also looks like it could be really really strong in the right deck, though it’s awkward that it is at odds with Cymede herself, who much prefers permanents. Also, neither of these colors should be caring about enchantments in graveyard, even if it is Theros. The cards a bit mixed, but I really like it and I’m happy you picked up a trend and worked with it.

@ignorantturtlegaming​ - Towering Brontodon

What a monster he is! Reach and vigilance make this a great defensive creature while slowly accumulating advantage by dropping lands into play. However, players having extra lands in hand after they hit 7 mana is rare, and can make them feel like they’re wasting an ability. I think this card really needed some way to encourage that last ability to become relevant, either by somehow drawing cards or maybe having an ability that bounces lands to your hand. The dino is nice, and it’s big, but I don’t think anyone would be excited to see this in a booster pack.

@joecurryat​ - Tuali, Attuned with the Horde

So it’s a Heedless One but you get to choose the creature type. That sounds like a great deal, but I’ve got two gripes. First, this card essentially makes you discard a card when you play it, and worse yet a creature. It would need pretty good stats to make up for that. Second, it’s not very strong. Unless you have a massive board of creatures, this probably won’t even be a 5/5 most of the time, and if you’re playing it in a tribal deck, it would usually be better just to play a card of that tribe. At 5 mana, this card is just too much for too little. Maybe with some keywords or another zone to imprint from it might be more playable.

@jsands84​ - Kyuss, the Worm that Walks

Ah yes, eminence, the ability that everyone loves. I love the clear top-down design of this card, and the -1/-1 counter synergy is a cool build-around theme for a worm deck. This card has a lot of overlap with Hapatra as a -1/-1 commander, but the eminence ability pulls it far ahead. Too far ahead if you ask me. A lot of commander players consider eminence a mistake, and a free 1/1 every turn no questions asked is too strong, and making one on every player’s turn is ludicrously broken. A commander deck with Kyuss, 50 swamps, and 50 forests could win a surprising amount of games.

@kavinika​ - Eldrazi Gravelurker

Goyf got Eldrazi’d. While I’m not a huge fan of interacting too much with the exile zone, I think this might be the best way to do it. Making it count exile instead of graveyards fix a lot of issues with lhurgoyf; mainly that the graveyard is so volatile. I also like the ability, giving it some corner cases uses but also letting it interact with itself. I do worry that the card might be a bit too powerful, seeing that it counts ALL cards in ALL exile zones, meaning this could be a 4 mana 10/11 with upside in any color. I still think this would be a great fit for a set aimed at modern.

@legs-diamond​ - Spellbane Blockade

Someone wanted to get wacky! Good job figuring out just about the only way to make a card like this work. I like how, if you put a lot of work into getting a lot of spells on the stack, it limits your mana enough that you can’t just spam the ability and murder everyone. My big issue with this card is that it really doesn’t want to be a star card. If it had said RR: deal damage to any target equal to the number of spells on the stack, it would better serve its supposed function. As it is, slapping a bonesplitter on it just seems so much easier. At uncommon, one +1/+1 counter and waiting for your opponent to cast a spell just lets you pick off everything for little to no investment. I really appreciate you shooting for the moon, but I think you may have shot too far.

mardu-lesbian - Yarr-Harmogoyf

Great name, great creature type. So, let me get this out of the way: the adventure is way too strong. It’s Role Reversal with a free Misguided Rage tacked on and no card type restrictions. The creature half by comparison is just tacked on, and I suspect won’t usually be larger than a 5/5 unless you are already handily winning the game. I also think this isn’t a very good star card, and would probably be better off as just saying “this gets +X/+X” but I know this was a tough contest and you wanted to make to work. I think if you would have swapped the mana costs and dropped the 2s in place of the goyf’s traditional */*+1 this would have been a much more solidly designed card. And no matter what, this card is probably the entry that made me smile the most.

@milkandraspberry​ - Orphanage Watchdog

Good boy, friend of the children. I appreciate the attempt to stop the card from bugging out, though hopefully no one plays sakshima the imposter on it. I love the flavor and the cool effect. I think you could have made it a mana or two cheaper, though, considering it’s worse than crusader of Odric 90% of the time, I’d also be worried about this card dying as soon as it enters play. There’s also going to be awkwardness with it being pumped by your opponents creatures, meaning killing then will shrink your dog. I think this card would be really cool if only it’s power or toughness changed, and it checked creatures for the other stat. You were sadly one of the only people to submit a P/T card before the ask came in about the rules not allowing it.

@nine-effing-hells​ - Vengeance

Wow this card packs a wallop! So all you have to do is lose 10 life all at once and you get a 10/10+ with haste for two mana? Well, that actually doesn’t seem that bad. It can always just be chumped, and you are now at half your life or less. Still, it’s got fling and warstorm surge value. This is a really hard card for me to judge, because it’s sort of a death’s shadow for twice as much mana but with +7/+7, but it’s also sometimes a 7 mana 0/0. It also seems off color, since white usually wants your life high, not low. I think only the most dedicated of Jennies would try and make this card work.

@real-aspen-hours​ - Omnath, Hammer of Life

I like the throwback to classic Omnath, back when he had weird cool abilities instead of generic ones. That said, this card’s got issues. This star can get really high really quickly, and has some very unintuitive interactions with effects like prophetic prism. I also think the mana ability, while nice, is not really needed, since every player is already going to have a way to “turn on” the stars. I like what you were going for, but I think you picked something a little too challenging to keep track of and a little too easy to go off the rails with.

@reaperfromtheabyss​ - Eminent Belphagor

Grave Pact as a flyer with upside. I don’t see why not. A unique star value, to be sure, and I think the card does well to support it. At first the “dies” trigger instead of “is sacrifice” trigger seemed odd to me, since any death triggers the grave pact but only sacrifices change the power, but I can understand it as a way to push the card’s power a little. As much as I like the card, I think the mix of counting your creatures dying versus any creature sacrificing makes the card a little too hard to track, and the fact that it is generically good means it will go in decks that aren’t focused enough on sacrificing to keep track of the number normally. A high pick for most unique star value.

@shakeszx - Knowledge Piercer

I started reading the card and got scared but by the time I got to the end I was impressed. This is a really cool Viashino Sandstalker type ability that just gets bigger and bigger and can be a heavy hitter in the right decks. I think that this card might have a few tracking issues, since a player might draw into it in the middle of their turn, and be confused because they can’t remember how many cards they’ve drawn already. It shouldn’t be too bad, because those cards have got to have gone somewhere, but brainstorms and X costs draw spells can make this really difficult in the decks that need it most. However, I think this one is possibly the most helped by digital formats, since it’s almost closer to a burn spell than a creature, so you don’t really need to know the number, you just want it to be big. There’s also already some precedent, if small, to count card draws because of thundering djinn and thought sponge. I like the card, and could see it being printed and played.

@shandylamb​ - Daghatar, Eternal

I still have my daghatar EDH deck, for some reason, so I’m glad to see some abzan rep. There’s a couple of errors in the formatting (“are each equal” not “is equal”, capitalizing the keywards), but I like what you went for. I think you could have been fine doubling his P/T, considering he’s starting as a 2 mana 1/1 and then a 4 mana 2/2, but he makes up for his small size with his very good activated ability, which is a good way to incorporate his green color identity. I’m a little worried about how he will play, though, since most players will end up putting a die on him when he enters so they know his P/T, then might end up putting counters on him and lose count.

@snugz​ - Realmbreaker Demon

Having to sink 29 mana into a creature just to have it turn into a 5/5 flampler doesn’t seem worth it, especially when it starts as just a vanilla 4/4. Having to spend 54 mana to make it a Marit Lage also seems not worth it. If the level up cost were, say 1BB, I think this card could be really cool. I think it’s cool that the stars let you keep using level up as a sort of Carnivorous Moss Beast ability. I like how you accepted the challenge, I just wish you would have pushed the card a little more.

@socialpoison​ - Lurking Replacer

So, that last ability is clearly the focus here, and buy is it weird one. I like how it plays into the first two abilities, and in general I think it’s a cool effect. I will say it’s not clear to me where this card goes. In theory the star would like it to go in mill decks, but the unblockability makes me think tempo decks, and the last ability makes me think… control decks? I don’t know, it’s hard for me to figure out where that ability goes. I like the card, and the flavor is crazy good, but I just don’t know what to do with it.

@starch255​ - Spirit of Vigor

I figured I’d see a card like this, and you did it in a really cool way. I like how you recognized that a lot of lifegain comes from lifelink, and tried to adjust for that with the ability that I THINK works. Granting first strike is different than a lot of other keywords because there is exactly one point in the turn phase where it is checked. I think it’s one of the only reasons Kwende works. Anyway, the card is cool! I honestly wouldn’t have minded if you just used last strike, but calling out lifelink at least makes deckbuilding with this card clever. And it needs to be, because this might be the most difficult star to track (that doesn’t break the rules) of all the cards entered this week. Life gain regularly happens in almost every phase of the game, and so does life loss, making it insanely hard to remember how much life you’ve gained over the course of a single turn. I still really like the card, but I don’t think it would ever see print.

@teaxch​ -  Spirit of Discovery

Keyword stone soup. You get a bunch of abilities on your 5/5 but only if you put in the work. You listed Matca Raiders and Tek, but this also gives me a strong chromanticore and woodland wanderer vibe. I think this is a solid card that’s very easy to track and is fun to play and likes being put in the right deck. That said, a 5/5 for 4 with a bunch of keywords is just not that exciting. It will either die to removal immediately or run away with the game, but that’s just what green does nowadays so who am I to say.

@tmstage​ - Fiery Orator

This is a fun, very strong card. A couple slower burn decks might run this as a finisher, and in standard this could wreak havoc. I just don’t think there’s any easy way to track this card’s power. It counts all damage to players, planeswalker, and creatures, no matter how much and whenever it happens, which is going to be an absolute pain if you’re playing anything but the most straightforward of burn decks. I also think this card might just be too strong. Compared to war elemental, it trades off the sacrifice downside with having the power be temporary instead of permanent, but also gains trample and a lot of toughness and triggering off of ALL damage, even to you. Maybe I’m overselling this card, but I think at a minimum it would just be unfun to play against and linear when you are playing it yourself.

@wolkemesser​ - The Marovore

So, I’m pretty sure, as discussed in an ask on Tuesday, that this doesn’t work within the rules. The stars are there for humans playing the game: once they’re in the game, the stars essentially stop existing and the P/Ts are just what they are. Ignoring that, I appreciate that you put effort into turning the contest on its head. I think this could be a fun build around commander. “Draw a card when you do thing” is a tried and true commander formula, and the surveil rider is a cool way to make the card work with your theme. I think it may be a little basic, but I could see it being a fun card if the rules allowed it. Also, I like the name.

-

And I think that’s everyone! Thank you all once again for participating in the fair, I think everyone did a great job. It was fun running the fair for a week, hopefully it won’t be the last time.

-Mod @mistershinyobject​ signing off, for real this time

[fletchphoenix]

pfft time to infodump about my D&D character - sorry for all the character dumps

----------------

BASIC DETAILS

Name : Kye Beckmann

Class : Rogue

Race : Human (Keldon)

Background : Criminal

Alignment : Lawful Neutral

Gender : Trans FtM

Proficiencies :

-> Acrobatics (+8)

-> Athletics (+8)

-> Deception (+3)

-> Insight (+5)

-> Intimidation (+6)

-> Persuasion (+3)

-> Survival (+5)

STATS

Strength : 20 (+5)

Dexterity : 14 (+2)

Constitution : 18 (+4)

Intelligence : 17 (+3)

Wisdom : 15 (+2)

Charisma : 8 ( -1)

APPEARANCE

Hair : White, long, usually in a ponytail or braided

Eyes : Red

Age : 25

Skin : Pale / Freckles / Scarred

Height : 6"7

Weight : 168lbs

Build : Broad shoulders, strong

Extra Details : Wears a mask all the time to stop himself from being recognised by anyone else. A burn mark all along his neck and shoulder and down his back. Wears his father's old crown and cape everywhere he goes which is...a dumb idea for him but L

PERSONALITY

Traits :

-> Despite my birth, I do not place myself above other folk. We all have the same blood.

-> I'm always calm no matter what the situation. I never raise my voice or let my emotions control me

Ideals :

-> I follow my own moral compass and rules because the law is corrupt and wrong

-> I'm loyal to those who show me respect and side with my ideals.

Bonds :

-> I'm running from my past and hope to not be discovered.

Flaws :

-> If there's a plan, I'll usually ignore it and improvise.

BACKSTORY

Kye grew up in a life of royalty, though he didn't agree with anything like governments due to his beliefs with corruption. He was taught how to fight and how to rule a kingdom ever since he was a child, though he hated the lavish lifestyle. One night, he accidentally killed his father, the King, and ran away before he could be exiled, though the villagers attempted to kill him on his way out. After leaving, he appeared in Cereine, though he had no idea how to survive and ended up working as a thief to make money. He became renouned for his skills as an assassin and works for hire. He could never work in a swindling business due to his lack of people skills after a life stuck in the castle with very little human contact.

EXTRA DETAILS

Languages :

-> Keldon

-> Common

-> Elvish

Weapons :

-> Twin Daggers

-> Crossbow

-> Longsword

-> Handaxe

Likes

+ Fighting

+ Dogs

+ Cats

+ Cool Knives

+ His mask

Dislikes

- Children

- Governments

- Corruption

Quirks

-> Always writes in lowercase letters. Like the man has PERFECT grammar but he decides to not use it and write all lowercase for fun.

-> His favourite letter is Q after his ex-girlfriend Quinn

[ballplayersxo]

I have Ben Simmons, Darius Garland, Furkan Korkmaz and Keldon Johnson on my DM's. Whereas lurking on my stories are Melo Ball and Anthony Edwards. Just to add this but Ben Simmons doesn't know how to talk to a girl, he is so dull and basic got me bored. But Keldon is nice...

the way i never hear anything good about ben 😭 he has no redeeming qualities but we MOVE!

[vorthosjay]

What happened to the characters and people that appeared from time rifts in Dominaria after they were closed? I have never read it, was it something as "yes, I met my greatgreatgreatgrandmother when she popped out of nowhere, also my husband came back but he wasn't a warrior that died in the battlefield but a scholar that never met me. Also future me told me to never trust Tim" type of story?

The story and the cards of the Time Spiral cycle didn’t always quite line up, but the implication is that the Gathans (genetically engineered Keldons) in Time Spiral were one such occurrence. They were all still around by the end of the story, so I assume anything that came through the rifts is still there.

All that said, I very much doubt the current creative team wants to devote much time to the implications of all the time displaced creatures. It’s also been long enough that they probably integrated back into some society or another, if they’re even alive.

[jrueships]

GUYS I NEED UR HELP RQ

I NEED SUGGESTIONS TO FILL THE REST

[junker-town]

Immanuel Quickley is fixing Kentucky basketball’s biggest problems

Quickley is addressing every problem that was plaguing John Calipari’s Wildcats. He’s on a tear right now.

Kentucky always knew it wanted Immanuel Quickley. The Wildcats became the first elite program to offer a scholarship to the 6’3 guard out of Maryland as he made his initial ascent up the class recruiting rankings at the onset of his junior year of high school.

Quickley mulled over the offer as he flew to Egypt in the summer of 2017 to play for John Calipari in the U19 FIBA World Cup with USA Basketball. Though the team would eventually get upset by R.J. Barrett and Canada in the semifinals of the tournament, Quickley knew he had a strong rapport with his head coach. He would commit to Kentucky shortly after he got home, giving the Wildcats their first pledge in the 2018 class.

At the time, Kentucky was still going hard after Barrett and Zion Williamson on the recruiting trail. They would end up with Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, and E.J. Montgomery instead. As a consensus five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American, Quickley appeared set to inherit the team’s starting point guard spot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a true freshman, hoping to follow the same path to the NBA so many Kentucky guards had taken before him. The only problem was that Calipari wasn’t done building his roster just yet.

Just a few months before the season started, another five-star point guard recruit, Ashton Hagans, announced he was bypassing his final year of high school to join the Wildcats immediately. Quickley’s starting spot was gone just like that. Hagans and Herro would establish themselves as Kentucky’s starting backcourt by Dec., relegating Quickely to a bench role where he never truly found his footing. He ended his freshman year averaging just 5.2 points per game.

If Quickley questioned his place in Lexington at the onset of his sophomore season, he never showed it publicly. With Hagans returning and another elite guard in Tyrese Maxey entering the program, Quickley knew he wasn’t going to have the full-time point guard role he had been preparing for all his life.

Kentucky needed him off the ball. It needed him to be more of a scorer than a facilitator. More than anything, it needed him to space the floor and knock down outside shots.

Instead of sulking or transferring, Quickley embraced his role. It might have ended up saving Kentucky’s season. As the calendar prepares to turn to March, Quickley isn’t just Kentucky’s leading scorer — he’s the front-runner for SEC Player of the Year, too. In the process, the improvements he’s made in his game have directly addressed the Wildcats’ biggest problems.

It wasn’t long ago that Quickley felt like an afterthought at Kentucky. Now no one around the programs wants to think of where they’d be without him.

Quickley has been on a tear for the last two months

It’s no coincidence that Quickley’s emergence as Kentucky’s leading man has coincided with the team playing its best basketball of the season. As the Wildcats have won seven straight and 11 of their last 12, it’s Quickley who is carrying the offense and giving the team the go-to perimeter scoring option it desperately needed.

Over his last 10 games, Quickley is averaging 20.6 points per game on 47.4 percent three-point shooting while making 91 percent of his free throws (on 6.9 attempts per game). On Saturday, he scored 22 of his 26 points in the second half to help the Wildcats beat Florida.

22 points in the second half! That escalated ... Quickley pic.twitter.com/xYXzlmBgw3

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 23, 2020

Quickley was even better two days later, dropping 30 points on Texas A&M that included 8-of-12 shooting from three-point range:

Quickley is now at just about 60 percent true shooting on the season while sporting a 23.3 usage rate. That is remarkable efficiency for a player who had trouble finding or creating his own opportunities as a freshman. This year, Quickley is thinking less and playing more on instinct. He owes it all to the major strides he’s made as a shooter.

After hitting 34.5 percent of the 87 threes he attempted as a freshman, Quickley is now hitting 43 percent of his 133 attempts (and counting), blossoming into a quick-trigger shooter from three-point range who combines volume and accuracy. It’s boosted an offensive profile that now looks as impressive an any in college basketball this season.

Quickley is scoring in the 93rd percentile in all half-court possessions. He’s been incredible at the end of the shot clock, scoring in the 89th percentile with under four seconds remaining. He’s also been excellent at shooting off the dribble, ranking in the 98th percentile on 26 possessions. His floater grades grades out as “very good”, as well.

Factor in that Quickley is also great from the foul line, and there simply aren’t any holes in his shooting profile. Calipari and Kentucky thought he could be a capable shooter. Did anyone think he could shoot like this?

Quickley’s development has addressed Kentucky’s biggest issues

You aren’t going to believe this, but the current Kentucky squad isn’t a great outside shooting team. In what seems to be an annual issue under Calipari, the Wildcats are again struggling to beat defenses from the perimeter.

Right now, Kentucky ranks No. 348 in DI in percentage of field goal attempts that come from three-point range (26.9 percent). Kentucky is getting less than 21 percent of its points off three-pointers, per KenPom. When the Wildcats do shoot from deep, the shots go in 33.7 percent of the time.

Imagine how bad it would be without Quickley?

Kentucky has a skilled facilitator in Hagans and a guard who can break down the defense and do a little of everything in Maxey. What they were lacking is a spot-up threat off the ball and someone who can run offense in a pinch when their primary actions break down. That is exactly what Quickley has given them.

This is far from Calipari’s best team, but they could still make noise

Kentucky has a glistening 23-5 record, but the statistical models aren’t as impressed as human voters in the polls. Kentucky is just No. 27 in KenPom’s efficiency rankings vs. No. 8 in the AP Poll.

Right now, Kentucky ranks No. 29 in offensive efficiency and No. 41 in defensive efficiency. Those are the lowest marks on either end of the floor the program has seen since 2013, the Nerlens Noel-led campaign that saw the Wildcats miss the NCAA tournament after their star center went down with a knee injury. Calipari has designs on accomplishing much bigger things this year, and it’s only possible because of Quickley’s late breakout.

It’s not just shooting where Quickley has improved: Calipari has praised him for getting better defensively, and finding his way to the rim more often. Like P.J. Washington a year ago, Kentucky’s hopes rest on a breakout sophomore who made meaningful strides after an underwhelming freshman campaign.

Right now, it feels like Kentucky will go as far as Quickley can take them. That’s a much happier storyline than anyone would have thought a year ago.

[housebeleren]

Dominaria Draft Format Review

As I wrap up Dominaria, and jump forward to Guilds of Ravnica, I want to do a quick post-mortem on the Dominaria draft format, since it was one of the best in recent memory.

When I evaluate draft formats, I look at the following four aspects:

Speed - Consisting of its Tempo, Aggression, and Explosiveness

Variety - Consisting of its balance between the Colors/Archetypes, Threats to Removal, & Deck Strategies

Depth - Consisting of the depth within individual cards, within archetypes, and within the metagame as the whole

Fun - Consisting of the Flavor & Theme, the Gameplay itself, and the amorphous “X-Factor”

Additionally, I look over the themes & mechanics, review noteworthy decks, identify strategy, and eventually give it a grade.

Art: Zack Stella

With that in mind, let’s get to it.

Speed

Tempo - Slower than average. While there are some decent early drops, most of the mechanics favor defensive strategies. It’s perfectly fine to spend the first few turns ramping, playing support spells, and otherwise durdling.

Aggression - Attackers are advantaged as long as they’re well stocked with good equipment or auras, but the mechanics overall favor defense and building a strong board presence before going on the offense. The few exceptions to this are cards like Pegasus Courser, which very clearly favors an aggressive strategy.

Explosiveness - There are some cards that can run away with the game if left unchecked, but mostly at higher rarities. There are sudden wins possible, usually by setting up a couple big turns in the mid to late game. (I’m looking at you, In Bolas’s Clutches) 

Variety

Balanced Colors/Archetypes - All the colors feel viable. Every time I heard that one color or archetype was better than another, the meta would change. That said, with the right payoffs, B/G Saprolings was considered a clear front-runner, but it was also easy to miss the mark on without opening one of the Uncommon power cards. Many archetypes turned out to be great options.

Balanced Threats to Removal - The removal stacked up against the threats really well in this format. Thanks to Kicker, a lot of the good early removal stayed relevant into the late game (Shivan Fire & Vicious Offering), and the a lot of more costly removal was versatile, with different modes (Fiery Intervention & Blessed Light), reducing the need to sideboard in narrow answers. Control was definitely well-served in the format.

Balanced Deck Strategies - Very few pure aggro decks exist in this format, but several midrange and control decks are completely viable. And tempo decks like R/U Wizards served as a sort of aggro to keep the format feeling somewhat balanced.

Depth

Individual Card Depth - This is one of the best formats on this count in years. There are a few constructed-only cards (see. Damping Sphere), but otherwise, the cards are incredibly deep and varied in their application. Every card has multiple uses, and it felt like you could take the draft many different directions. Very few truly dead cards.

Depth Within Archetypes - The archetypes are mostly deep and contain many strong cards to combine together, though there are some clear best options.

Metagame Depth - Lots of variety in the gameplay, decks match up against each other in interesting, varied ways, so matches rarely felt stale.

Fun

Flavor & Theme - Great flavor and theme. I was skeptical of a return to Dominaria, yet they found a fantastic way to capture the feeling of history & nostalgia without it being an “inside joke” like Time Spiral. Each card tells a story, and opening packs was always a joy.

Gameplay - Gameplay was interesting & unique, though games often came down to bombs in the end. The format is fun, but with the occasional unfun win here and there.

The X-Factor - Dominaria was a really fun set with a lot of great card combinations & incredible flavor. Games were fun, even when lost. Mostly.

Themes & Mechanics

Sagas - Sagas played well, though I wish there was a little more interaction with them. Maybe next time around. They leaned the format a little slower and more prone to big swings rather than consistent aggression.

Historic - As a bucket keyword, Historic isn’t a particularly exciting mechanic, but it got the job done. It was the synergistic glue that held the format together, and it did a good job of it.

Kicker - Kicker is always excellent. It allows cards to play early & late game, and helps prevent any hand from being dead. Having Kicker as a mini-theme for one of the archetypes was a nice way to weave it deeper into the set.

Legendary Sorceries - Appearing only at Rare, these didn’t make much of an impact on the format.

Knight, Wizard, & Saproling Tribal - These were some of my favorite archetypes to draft, and the synergies were well executed & flavorful.

I liked Sagas quite a bit, and would love to see them again in future sets. They work well in a format with support like this, but they also could work standalone as well. Kicker is always welcome to me, and I’d love to see Wizards & Knights revisited. Historic was good for Dominaria, but doesn’t seem like it will have much application in further sets. Legendary sorceries were a cool idea, but I don’t think the execution was great and could pass on them in the future.

Noteworthy Decks

U/G/X Tatyova Ramp - 3+ color deck based on drafting Tatyova, Benthic Druid and a variety of color fixing cards to be able to ramp into & play the bombs of every color.

G/B Saprolings - Focused G/B deck picking up all the Saproling enablers & payoffs that no other deck wants. Slimefoot, the Stowaway was the linchpin of this deck.

W/U Historic Flash - Deck focused on Historic payoffs and operating at Instant speed to control the board & tempo. Raff Capashen, Ship’s Mage and Sentinel of the Pearl Trident were key parts in this deck.

U/R Wizards - Tempo based deck with Adeliz, the Cinder Wind at the helm. You want as many Academy Journeymages as you can get your hands on, as well as just about any Wizard that you can, since this archetype is so focused on synergy. This is one of the only archetypes that can win without any clearly definable bomb.

B/R Destroy Everything - Control deck based on drafting as much removal as possible, plus ways to churn value out of your graveyard like Garna the Bloodflame and Whisper, Blood Liturgist. Outlasting the opponent was the strategy here.

Strategy Notes

Dominaria is a format determined both by bombs & strong synergies. Prioritize strong individual cards first, and unconditional removal over situational (i.e. Eviscerate over Vicious Offering). Let the powerful cards you open draw you into a deck without trying to force anything. Once your first few picks are established, start looking for synergistic picks to maximize them.

Every color is playable, but some archetypes are more synergy-dependent than others. If you find yourself deep in Saprolings or Wizards, you can play some less-optimal cards that fit into the creature types, such as Tolarian Scholar, but skip those cards if you don’t have the synergies. Goblin Warchief implies that Goblins are a viable archetype, but Goblins are a trap. Don’t don’t fall for it. Lastly, don’t get distracted by the Saga text on Keldon Warcaller. Play it if you need a bear to fill your curve, and not otherwise.

Overall Grade & Final Thoughts

Dominaria is an overall excellent format with a lot of deep interactions and powerful cards. The slower speed and strength of removal was a welcome change of pace from the hyper aggressive formats in recent past. The theme and flavor of the set was phenomenal, and the games were lots of fun. My only quibble is that the power level of the bombs was so far and above and beyond the rest of the field that it could be hard to compete if you didn’t open or get passed any bombs. But, it’s a pretty minor quibble at that. Draft Dominaria & have fun.

Overall Grade: A-

[ballplayersxo]

has Keldon Johnson been discussed on here? what’s tea on him?

i don’t think he has. any anons know anything?

[disingenuouslydressed]

Simple Sass

I'm trying to have more fun styling everyday. While this outfit looks really simple, I really love it. I drew inspiration, mildly, from We Wore What with a black turtleneck and a button down tucked into some high waisted jeans. It's a bunch of really simple pieces put together in a way that's a little unexpected. 

The unique simplicity of this outfit made me feel sassy. And actually one of my favorite feelings in the world is the confidence, even sass, a new outfit can bring. In fact, in my attempt to have more fun playing dress up that feeling is my biggest propellant. When I’m wearing an outfit where I think I look great, I feel great. So for probably the hundredth time- I really love playing dress up and I’m going to try to do it more frequently and not care what others think. AND I recommend you give it a shot too, because who doesn’t want to feel great?

- Disingenuously Dressed 

Thank you for the photos and always being up for anything Keldon. 

I’ve also been posting daily on my Instagram so follow me there... I mean if you want.