#you never would have seen a control deck back in the day running a combo engine!

[daleisgreat]

Speed

Today’s entry will mark the first official 4K home video release I am writing about. I already own a few other 4K UHDs, and a couple of months ago, I watched my first 4K video at home with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious. However, I already covered that movie’s BluRay release here several years ago, so I will not be dedicating another entry for it, other than to say that the 4K upgrade pops and makes it look like a new release. Today’s entry is for 1994’s Speed (trailer). Before diving into this movie, I noticed one of the tracks from this film’s score repeatedly used throughout sounds awfully like one of the main themes I primarily associated with the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I have no idea if this was pointed out before, and I just overlooked it all these years, or maybe I am grasping at straws. Click or press here to take a listen and decide for yourself. 1994 was a hell of a year for Hollywood movies primarily transpiring from a highway with The Chase, Speed, and the OJ Simpson Bronco chase….oh wait (although I highly recommend the ESPN 30 for 30 on it, simply titled: June 17th 1994). The majority of Speed has a straightforward premise: serial bomber and local madman Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) planted a bomb on a bus rigged to explode once the bus drops below 55 miles per hour. Police officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) is alerted to this by the bomber himself to exact revenge on Traven after successfully rescuing hostages from an elevator Payne armed at the beginning of the film.

From there, for the middle hour of this nearly two-hour film, the action almost entirely takes place on the bus. Traven makes a grand entrance onto the bus by commandeering a Jaguar and having its owner (Glenn Plummer) take the wheel so Traven could heroically leap onto the bus and save the day. It would not be that easy of a rescue mission as Payne has eyes on the bus, and Traven has to play by his rules and get him his $3 million ransom to disarm the bus. Without question, the middle hour on the bus is the best part of the film. The opening half-hour is an excellent appetizer with the elevator hostage crisis that Traven and his partner, Harry (Jeff Daniels), successfully foil. However, once the action shifts to the bus is when Speed takes off. Shortly after taking control of the bus, one of the passengers freaks and inadvertently shoots the bus driver, and a fellow passenger, Annie (Sandra Bullock), takes over the wheel. Throughout the film, Annie and Traven have wonderful chemistry, and I could not help but root for the duo throughout. Every couple of minutes, there is a new potential conflict to overcome to keep the bus going over 55mph. The film wisely peppers in brief dialog exchanges to let the movie breathe just enough before the next hurdle makes itself present.

The film's standout moment is the major obstacle for the bus to overcome when it encounters a stretch of unavoidable highway under construction and missing a hearty chunk of the road. Traven’s solution is that since that stretch of a road is on an incline, they may clear that gap if they build up enough speed! That epic stunt hits all the right notes, and I got goosebumps all over again re-watching it, and odds are, I bet you did too if you have seen this movie. If you have not, then watch this scene and see for yourself by click or pressing here. A lot of the critical discussion in the aftermath of this movie was if that jump was realistically possible. The best thing I can do is to compare it to another film, Road Trip, which is likely a better indicator of what could happen when attempting such a feat. Once the middle bus portion of the film is over, there are still about 20 minutes left where Traven tracks and chases down Payne in a subway station. The movie felt over once the bus portion had such a satisfying conclusion that it almost feels wrong to keep sticking with the film by this point, but I recommend you do since there is a satisfying payoff in the form of Payne’s demise. I have to share a story now when I first saw this film at around 13 or 14 on VHS. My dad’s VCR had what seemed to me at the time was a revolutionary feature where if I kept pressing the pause button repeatedly, it would slowly, frame-by-frame, play the film in super slow-motion. At that age, I thought this was a fantastic way to get the most out of the biggest stunts in action scenes. My favorite moment exploiting this feature was seeing Traven and Payne wrestle around on the top of a subway train until Payne was not watching his field of vision, and a warning light lead to his sudden beheading. I slow-motion replayed that sequence countless times in my awkward, early teenage years. Suffice it to say, Hopper plays the out-of-his-mind bomber perfectly, going so far as to make sure he receives his appropriate cinematic comeuppance.

The director ensures the many passengers on the bus maximized their minutes to the point I where it feels like you are right there with them!

Two audio commentaries are the only extra features of the 4K disc in this 4K/BluRay combo pack. One is with the director, Jan de Bont, and the other is with producer Mark Gordon and writer Graham Yost. Props are to whoever decided to subtitle the commentary tracks. I very much appreciate it! I first started to bounce back and forth between the two commentary tracks, but Bont was way too relaxed and had too many pauses to hold my attention, and I finished up with his track within five minutes. However, Yost and Gordon are very much engaged from beginning to end and have fun cracking jokes and sharing memories throughout. Some quick takeaways I got from them were how they wanted to film a major scene outside of a sports arena, dealing with critics poking holes at how unrealistic their stunts were, and how watching the movie felt very different at the time of the commentary recording just two months after 9/11. The BluRay disc contains the remainder of the bonus features. Inside Speed is a four-part feature lasting just under an hour breaking down the visual effects, stunts, and location sequences, but half of it also contains an HBO First Look special hosted by Dennis Hopper that hits all the right kinds of cheesy mid-90s EPK nostalgia that it is worth checking out. Aside from 12 minutes of extended scenes and a Billy Idol music video that seems totally off base with the tempo of the film, there are a couple of Action Sequences mini-features breaking down some of the stunts. I highly recommend watching the one dissecting how they did the bus jump, as it shows raw footage of what really happened when they shot it, and showed footage of some of the specific safety measures they instilled to make that stunt as safe as possible and had some eye-opening interviews with the stunt driver before and after.

After watching that old VHS copy nearly a dozen times, Speed wound up being one of my favorite action films I got burnt out early on and never bothered upgrading to a DVD or standalone BluRay. Watching it again in 4K all these years later breathed new life into it for me. I am not an expert at breaking down video quality by any means, but watching the 4K disc on my 4KTV gave the impression of this having far more current production values. The editors somehow managed to remove all the old film grain defects for a smooth 4K upgrade. If you have not seen Speed yet, then it has everything you could want out of a mid-90s action movie with explosions, gripping thrills and stunts, dramatic rescues, plenty of zinger one-liners…..and a Billy Idol theme song. Pardon me while I attempt my best Dennis Hopper impression here, “Pop quiz, hotshot, which 1994 blockbuster that takes place primarily on a bus is a perfect candidate for beer and popcorn movie night at home?” Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Endgame The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve The Clapper Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dirty Work Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Inglourious Basterds Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut) Last Action Hero Major League Mallrats Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Nintendo Quest Not for Resale Old Joy Payback (Director’s Cut) Pulp Fiction The Punisher (1989) The Ref The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT Trauma Center The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

[inventors-fair]

A Brief History of Surprise

I feel that with this first round of submissions, I’m seeing a lot of “complexity for complexity’s sake,” a lot of “what ifs” that rely on clever appearances taking precedent over elegant design. With that in mind, I thought I’d do a little bit of a personal essay on what I found surprising over Magic’s history. I hope that you will learn a little more about what I’m after and maybe relate to some of it yourselves.

So, what surprised me?

Incremental Rewards

My first block ever was the Alara block, and I’ll always have some nostalgia for it, despite the weirdness. Following that, though, was Zendikar. Zendikar was a fast, aggressive set, and yet there were payoffs that I found amazing once you got there. Sadistic Sacrament was pretty mediocre on its own, but once I ramped up to ten mana, I could selectively mill my opponent and they would know exactly what I had taken out. Hopelessness! Fantastic! And then I saw my first brand-new build-around-me card: Archmage’s Ascension. You could build up over time, over specific cards, with specific strategies, and then control to your heart’s content. Tutoring every turn! What power! And all you had to do was work for it. 

Following this, I will say that the Eldrazi surprised me too. Big creatures with massive rewards, sure, they were...something. But there was something off about them, something that I still find strange. I think that their god-like card value was too much for me to handle. I didn’t focus on playing them — I focused on how to beat them. And that wasn’t fun. I was scared. Keyword soup has its time and place, but ability soup has to be balanced.

That New Recursion

The Return to Ravnica prerelease was the first one I had ever been to. Scavenge, Overload, Unleash, Detain and Populate were all fantastic mechanics, and then came along Gatecrash. The fact is, Extort remains my favorite out of all of them to play, but I keep coming back to Cipher. What a messed-up and amazing flavor, complex and strange, nuanced and difficult. Hitting with a creature and creating spells every turn was hard to pull off, but the design remains one of my favorites, and I don’t know why.

I wish they had brought it back for Modern Horizons, honestly. It’s hard to make flavorfully work in every context, because frankly, it almost sounds like sci-fi. And yet it works! It’s shadowy, powerful, strong-get-stronger vibe. And even though it wasn’t really popular, well, I still loved it. I wanted to give other spells Cipher. I wanted to see more than what was there. I wanted to unlock its secrets.

Just my Type

I groked Bestow. Theros as a whole was the set I played the most socially for a good long time. I didn’t like every aspect, but I think that Bestow was the mechanic I was least expecting. Enchantment creatures made sense, no different than artifact creatures. But now, we had creatures that could become auras, creatures that targeted upon casting, beings that engulfed other beings in light and stars and the power of Nyx!

Bestow was the first mechanic I knew I couldn’t have come up with by any stretch of the imagination, not on my own. I had been making custom cards since high school, and this was early in my college career. I was bowled over, blown away, enthralled — enchanted, if you will. I still enjoy Theros limited. It’s no Innistrad, but it’s fun, a swing between battlecruising, aggressive strategizing, and the occasional God.

Speaking of, the Gods surprised me as well. I loved these things. Their lack of creature-dom, the ability to become real and then swing in with cackling precision, was just what I loved about powerful cards those days. You had to work for them. They didn’t just do things on their own. I liked Magic the most when you had to figure it out. Maybe that’s why I’m liking Party so much in this new set.

Coming Together

You know, looking back on my Magic history and personal journey, I find myself pleasantly surprised by two specific mechanics: Party and Historic. These aren’t mechanics per se like Cipher or Bestow, but the batching made sense in a flavorful way that changed the way I build decks in limited. I searched for specific aspects, played my cards to maximize the benefit of playing other cards, and had to make something cohesive that rewarded me for playing right. That’s really all you want out of a game.

I had a blast playing with ZNR and DOM in the drafts that I was able to do, even if I didn’t do the best compared to other players. Utilizing complex mechanics made me feel good even when I wasn’t the best at them. That’s what surprised me the most, considering my lukewarm reception to the cards at first. I underestimated how much I’d enjoy playing with them because I underestimated myself.

Okay, now I’m going to run down a list of surprising cards to me and why I love them. Most of these cards I was surprised upon seeing them, and many played well as well. Let’s get specific.

Mirror-Sigil Sergeant: I get to play my favorite color AND get hella rhinos out of it? Double double, baby!

Thraximundar: I think this is still one of my favorite legends. I want to know everything about him. That name, that flavor... Oh, and a decent card, I suppose.

Ransack the Lab: This is exactly what black should be doing! Great card, you love to see it and play it.

As Foretold: Holy crap, this card. I love it so much. Combo exploitable, free spell increments, great name, great art. I had to reread it so many times.

Vorapede: I always love my Baneslayers, but I pulled this card blind, and the aggression was more than I was used to.

Elbrus, the Binding Blade: Another blind Dark Ascension card! This was the kind of reward I loved working up to.

Gauntlets of Light: I wanted this card and I got this card. Toughness aggro is a beast to beat.

Klothys, God of Destiny: This card surprised me because I hadn’t expected a multicolored God. But she fit well, she played GREAT, and I love her.

Shaman of the Great Hunt: Repeatable multicolored draw? Jesus, what a beast. I felt my stomach turn when this thing hit the table.

Bestial Menace: Oh, an old favorite. Animal summoning never felt so good. I wanted them all to be friends.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope: So simple, so powerful, and she did exactly what she said on the tin. Feels good every time.

The Adventure mechanic: Never before seen, impossible to conceive, staggeringly surprising, and it played great.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: Powerful, yes, but the flavor? Ghostfire, plus removal, and then the inverse of his brother Nicol Bolas. Could not have been better.

Should you play to my favorites? Well, obviously not. Should you push the envelope? Don’t push it off a cliff; it’s not a paper airplane. Should you think about your past and consider how the designers of Magic created your own favorite cards that made you gasp and squeal and swear?

YES. Yes! That’s the whole point of this contest! Delve into yourself! Make something that you love! Do something that’s new and yours but is rooted in the real! You’re not here to show off the possibilities of your custom card maker, you’re here to make something you love! If you don’t love it, start over. If you love it for the wrong reasons, start over. Magic should be for everyone. That’s the thing about all those cards and mechanics and ramblings above there: those are the reasons I love those cards. A thousand other players can love them for a thousand other reasons. Empathize beyond.

We are a community. Never forget that. 

@abelzumi​

[artyrogue]

Blind Date Gaming: Konami GB Collection Vol. 3

Boy, I am WIPED after my date last night. It all started out as it usually does -- a quick visit to PRANG for an introduction to my next potential video game suitor. Who could have guessed that I would served up 4 dates! They all came together at once under the guise of Konami GB Collection Vol. 3.

I was greeted at first by an anime schoolgirl with a huge hand and quite possibly a contender for the weirdest hairstyles I've seen in a while. What is that, a grass-inspired mohawk laid over top a normal haircut?

Is this what the cows that make cowlicks eat?

What happened next was an eventful set of speed dates. This onslaught left me with no down time, thus the exhaustion. However, I did end up meeting some nice games. I'll speed through them each quick-like to keep this from being overly long. Luckily each of the games are pretty short (as expected from Game Boy games)!

First up is Gradius II! Now, I've never actually played a Gradius game, so I can't say if this is a port, some reconfigured version of Gradius II, or what. What I CAN say is that it has tight controls, beautiful graphics, interesting bosses, and some fun gameplay.

Looks like a rocky magic 8 ball

You start off hangin' out with what I assume are your dad and mom starships. Aww, family time! Soon, however, someone decks your old man and blasts your momma fulla lasers. Obviously disturbed, you fly forward and get chased by the perpetrator through a buncha rocks until you escape.

Good thing this guy doesn't feel like firing at me for whatever reason

...Except you kind of don't? You end up going through a bunch of planetary landscapes, shootin' dudes and grabbin' powerups that let you fire lasers and stuff. Pew pew! You eventually get captured, break out, and summarily fly through a ship, an asteroid belt, and I think some alien's guts? I'm not sure; I never went to med school for interplanetary digestive systems. Bosses fight you at every turn, and they are so sweet. Like, I don't always know what I'm attacking, but it just looks so cool that I really don't care!

Ever want to fight a kneeling, fanged alien stuck in a wall with detachable mouthy-brains? Yeah, well now you do, obviously!

In the end you find the enemy ship that assassinated your nuclear family with nuclear weapons, commit your own brand of galactic revenge, and I assume go on with your day in a half-arsed way, never addressing the journey you just went through for fear of sparking up some majorly weird PTSD.

Next up is some Castlevania game! It claims to be Castlevania II, but don't think it's Simon's Quest since it doesn't have slow-scrolling text boxes telling me that night is a poor time to explore the world when suffering from a magical adversary's angry sentiments. Instead, you just go about whippin' junk. Alright, I can be a lion tamer for the undead.

Why do cultists always gotta wear hoods? Can't they wear like a polo and some comfy slacks?

So in this installment, you can apparently shoot fireballs from a fully-upgraded whip, so it's instantly MUCH easier than most Castelvania games. The list of enemies is kind of lacking, but it was enough to feel competent. The level design was pretty spot-on, which is par for the course, though for some reason this game has a love affair with ropes? They're EVERYWHERE, but there's enough variation in the levels to give them pass. For example, some areas have auto-directional-pulling ropes, some ropes are spider webs made by enemies, some require quick sliding to avoid obstacles, etc.

You gotta wonder, does the guy living here have to go through all these traps every day just to get his mail? And how does he carry groceries back to his (probably rope-decorated) kitchen?

The boss fights were definitely memorable. Some of their designs were flat-out brilliant, and they were all pretty fun! Your sub-weapons weren't really that useful here, but that's fine. The bosses, too, were made a little easier with the projectile whip, but the designers struck a good balance between fun and hard.

These guys shoot out vertebrae in an arc, transferring them from one head to the other. I don't have a quip here, it was just a stupidly awesome designed boss that I wanted to gush about for a bit!

Well, perhaps I spoke too soon. The bosses were all fun except for the last 3 in the game. Allow me to whine and complain about them for a bit, if you will! The first was a tunneling snake on a forced scrolling screen that made you take damage unless you memorized where he was going to surface next (I HATE memorization-by-death gameplay). The next was a fellow Belmont who would relentlessly whip the crap outta you, throw swords all over the screen, and would probably be nigh impossible if I didn't have Holy Water. The final was Dracula, who I suppose gets a pass for being hard since he was the final boss...but he, too, was pretty much a memorization-by-death fight, too. The dude has 6 orbs revolving around him that spread out, essentially making 85% of the screen unsafe. Unless you know the specific spot to crouch down for the given position he's in, you get hurt, and you get hurt pretty badly. Oh, and you can really only hit him once per attack, so you'd better learn the safe spots for all 8 of his attack spots and hope you can hurt him and get into your safe position before taking damage.

ouch ouch ouch OUCH

In the end, it was overall a pretty fun time. Konami definitely knows how to make a good sidescrolling action game, which is probably why they're half of the name of the 'Metroidvania' genre. Go team Belmont!

Next up: Yie Ar Kung~Fu! What is this? I've never heard of it. It's a simple fighting game where you face off against 5 fighters, each with their own weapons and special moves. You play as a normal weaponless guy who can only kick and punch, because that's fair? Regardless, you must persevere through 4 rounds of these 5 fights, each time with your foes getting slightly harder.

Mmyep, this is fair.

My trademark fighting game strategy of sweeping seems to work for the most part, though as the difficulty ramps up, the other fighters move with ridiculous speed between attacks. Eventually, the game just becomes 100% about approaching a foe with more range than you, which obviously is the main focus of fighting games. What's that? Combos? Pffft, those are lame, just have the enemies fly across the ring like a sugar-high Jack Russel Terrier.

So this guy's power is to propel himself like a missile and look like an absolute goon while doing so

There's also a mini-game where you hit things thrown at you, but like they show up so quickly and your animation speed is so slow that it's impossible to do very well. It was an okay game overall, though, but I can sort of see why it isn't as well-known as Gradius or Castlevania.

Last game: Antarctic Adventure! It's a penguin-based racing game! I think? Does this count as a racing game? Well, you race against the clock, so sure. You gotta move at top speed through an icy wasteland, avoiding sea lions and holes in the ice.

I like how this sea lion looks after getting plastered in the face by a penguin moving at ~120 km/hr. Is he in shock? Is he alive? Should I notify his next of kin?

The lore is actually pretty deep in this game. The world has fallen into ruin due to global warming, and the glacier sheets on Antarctica are slowly melting away. As a penguin trained in espionage and terrorism, you must travel to the different embassies that many countries have propped up in an attempt to stake a claim in possibly the only livable area in the near future.

The french are planning to build replicas of their famous landmarks here, like the Ice-full Tower and Arctic de Triomphe.

You're not exactly racing as much as you are keeping ahead of the authorities pursuing you for planting bombs in the embassies. If you successfully plant your payloads in all of the embassies across all of Antarctica, you destroy their chances of bringing cultural imperialism to the local wildlife. Your customs are at stake! You must cast your empathy aside for the greater good of penguin-kind!

Also, you can sometimes turn into a helicopter? Not sure what that was about.

Okay, okay, yeah, I may have embellished a bit there. No, it's not as cool as that. You just run from one place to the next and heck if I'll ever find out why miscellaneous countries happen to have little castles in a barren arctic wasteland. People's taxes at work, I guess!

Oh right, there's also a fifth option on the main menu. It's Ms. O.C. Anime Girl explaining things about the games to you. I can't read anything she's saying, though, so I can only imagine the shady koala statue in the back has some relevance to her dialogue.

So that ends an exhausting series of dates. Whew! Glad you toughed it out with me. As I've completed all of the games this time, I didn't think another date was warranted. However, Gradius and Castlevania were fun enough to say that sure, I guess, it's worth going on another date in the future. Maybe it'd be better to find the original games, though, instead of this particular port. I can only assume the extra screen real estate, better sound effects, and greater ROM size would only enhance their experiences. And speaking of experiences, grab a Sprite of Passage from the jar over there on your way out! It's mint-flavored and can double as a water purification tab if you're ever stuck somewhere in the wilderness!

Man, I would kill to watch a skeleton ballet

[thegeneralsnotebook]

February Feature: Ten Things Every Metagame Needs

I’m going to start this month’s article by offering a little unorthodox advice. Unorthodox because, as someone writing a blog series about card games, who hopes that readers will take some precious time out of their day to peruse some of the words I’ve written, it might seem unwise for me to recommend other blogs about card games that you could spend your time reading. Especially when said blogs are written by actual professionals who no doubt have much more insight into matters of consequence than I.

For the last few weeks of February, I have been perusing and enjoying the collected works of one Mark Rosewater, a name likely familiar to many of you. For those who don’t know him, Mark Rosewater is the head designer for Magic: the Gathering, a position that he has held for more than 15 years. As someone who has shepherded dozens upon dozens of new sets through that game’s development process, it goes without saying the Rosewater clearly knows a thing or two about game design.

Of particular interest to me as an amateur game designer is his Making Magic series, covering design decisions and processes over a length of years and a variety of topics. But the one article that originally got me interested in his work, and the one that we’re going to be looking at today, is one of his most well-known: The Ten Things Every Game Needs. In this post, Rosewater covers ten bullet points that cover the very essence of game design, the absolute basics of things which no game can lack if it is to be properly designed. It’s a great read, but it got me thinking. About metagames.

In the context of a collectible card game, “the metagame” is generally defined as the swirl of trends and constraints that go into a player’s decision of what kind of deck to bring to tournaments. If you’re expecting a lot of Nightmare Moon at the next Harmony event, what will you do to take advantage of that? If most of the players in your group play aggro (or control, or combo or whatever) then how does that affect the kind of deck you should play in order to maximize your chances of winning? These are metagame decisions.

The word metagame literally means “a game about a game”. Yet, I thought, if a metagame is also a game, as that definition seems to imply, should it not also abide by Rosewater’s ten requirements? It turned out that the answer was a bit of yes and a bit of no, but there were still some useful thoughts that came out of the exercise.

1. A Goal

Before we even really get started, it’s going to be useful to clarify exactly what the metagame is. Because otherwise we’ll fall flat on our face with just this first question. What does it mean to “play” the metagame? And what is the objective of the players?

One interesting thing about the metagame for a CCG is that it’s largely removed from the act of playing the normal game. The metagame is played by building decks and taking them to tournaments. In that sense, if we’re looking for an analogue, a CCG metagame can be thought of along the lines of a simple bidding game. Given some info about what the other players are thinking (the trends), and an understanding of the resolution process (playing the actual game), each player secretly submits their own decks, and then things are resolved and a winner is decided. Then everyone heads home to craft their decks for the next round.

So given that, the goal of the metagame becomes straightforward: in playing the metagame one tries to build the best deck to maximize their chances of winning a tournament. Note of course that that goal is stated in terms of chances. The resolution of each tournament is non-deterministic, since we’re not all comparing decklists and grading them to see who wins the tournament. The games still have to be played, and upsets will happen. But over time, playing well in the metagame will translate to good performance and tournament wins.

2. Rules

One of the things that makes CCGs really interesting as games is that they fall under a category that we might call “living games”. Unlike other tabletop games that are published once and never change for the rest of time, CCGs change because the card pool gets updated. So it’s a shifting experience, and the same is true of the metagame.

Since the metagame is played by building decks rather than by playing the normal game, the rules of the metagame are contained within the OCR. These rules define which cards are allowed to be run at tournaments, and thus constrain the kind of decks that can be built. Of lesser importance of course are the game rules themselves, and the floor rules, as these place some additional constraints on what kind of decks are allowed to be played at tournaments. But the prime point here is the OCR.

What this means is that the rules of the metagame are constantly shifting, making it even more of a living game than the CCG itself. The metagame can be totally different from one set to the next, and indeed that is something a designer may like to shoot for.

3. Interaction

As we get into the middle of the list, we start to hit the really interesting ones. As I said at the start, there is something useful that comes out of this exercise, and one of the things we realize about metagames, and about living games in general, is that attention needs to be paid to them in order for them to be kept fun. A straightforward advantage of fixed games is that once they’re finished, they’re done. They will be fun forever. A living game though needs to be designed constantly, otherwise it can end up drifting away from what its developers originally intended.

One thing that’s cool about these Ten Things is that one can look at them not only as requirements for initial design, but in the case of a living game we can also treat them as metrics to measure our success going forward. If any of them are lacking, it’s a sign that things aren’t healthy in your metagame.

To that point, we come to Interaction: the principle that players should have to react to each other as they play the game in order to play optimally. On the one hand, this may seem to be an obvious strikeout for a CCG metagame, as it is played solo, on Ponyhead often late at night, and the other players are only seen when we come together to play the real game.

Yet even so, the metagame necessarily exists as a push-and-pull between different creators and different decks. What other people are bringing to the tournament is a key piece of info for playing the metagame, and that creates a game of hiding your intentions while attempting to divine everyone else’s. Anyone who has seen the pre-Continentals verbal jousting matches between Bugle and eminently_sensible on Discord can attest to that, I hope.

But to bring this section back to its point, Interaction is also one of the key gauges we can use to judge the health of the metagame. If there is an optimal strategy that means I don’t have to care about what other people are bringing, and I still have a good chance at winning, then that’s a bad sign.

4. A Catch-up Feature

This is another point where it may seem that if we’re thinking about metagames we’re out of luck. A Catch-up Feature is defined as a way for players who are behind to get back themselves back into the game. What does it even mean to be behind in a metagame?

Well, we know what it means to be ahead. The players in the lead are the ones playing the best decks at the moment, so the players behind would be the ones who aren’t doing that. The catch-up comes from two places. First, the players behind can simply build a better deck than the players in front, or at least one as good. Then, suddenly, you’re in the mix, just like that.

Alternatively, and this is again the somewhat more useful point to note, the players behind can look for the counter and build for it. In well-established CCG metagames, there are often broad trends that run across sets and release years. Style A rises to prominence, and the players naturally turn to Style B to counter it. Note that I didn’t say Deck A and Deck B. The decks change, but often the overall winds of style and strategy stay the same. When these counters exist, they naturally serve as the metagame’s Catch-up feature. So thus it’s a benefit to the metagame for those counters to exist.

5. Inertia

Inertia is the tendency of a game to end itself. Systems of inertia are systems that naturally raise the probability of a game ending as it progresses onward. And this is therefore the first of the Ten Things that CCG metagames can’t satisfy. After all, metagames don’t end. There’s always another tournament coming up, or another set that will shake things up. When a metagame ends, it dies, because that means it’s “solved” and there is no longer any question on what decks to bring to the next tournament.

Now, if one was looking for an excuse here, we could decide to break apart the metagame, and say that rather than one continuous metagame, we instead have many smaller ones, consisting of the constraints and trends that exist for specific tournaments. So once a tournament happens, its metagame ends and the next metagame (for the next tournament) starts right away. If this is our interpretation, then the game’s Inertia is simply the passage of time, as tournament dates are fixed and necessarily come along.

6. Surprise

For metagames, surprise is actually a pretty easy one, again covered by the same idea that gave us Interaction up above. A large part of the metagame is trying to guess what other players are going to be bringing, and while sometimes these guesses can be pretty easy, they’re still fundamentally guesses, and that naturally creates the possibility that they can be wrong.

In Rosewater’s article, he makes mention of a concept called Depth of Play, which is simply to say that game states should be complex enough that it’s difficult to know exactly what to do at any given point. The metagame has that solved easily, as there are countless possible decks out there. While it’s true that many of them can be discounted as unworkable, there’s always the chance that at the next tournament someone will show up with something completely out of left field, simply because they thought to try it while you didn’t.

7. Strategy

Counterbalancing Surprise is Strategy. While Surprise dictates that it should never be possible to know exactly what the right move is in most circumstances, there should at least be principles and heuristics that we can use to get an idea of the sorts of moves that might be better than others.

Here again, we can see that the metagame covers this category nicely. Some of the principles of playing the game well are easy: many of us learn the simple dicta of deck construction very early on in our forays into the game. But naturally there’s an advanced layer underneath, where one can learn to think critically about other decks’ styles of play and how to counter them, or which play strategies should be countered and which should be ignored in pursuit of increasing the strength of our own. Since the metagame is a living game, these strategies necessarily will evolve as the rules do. There can never be static analysis as complete as there is for a game like Chess, but that keeps the metagame interesting, as there’s always something to learn.

8. Fun

Don’t worry folks, the end is in sight. Especially as with these last three there isn’t a whole lot to talk about. As Rosewater freely admits in his article, while Fun is bar-none the most important of the ten requirements, it’s also the one that can’t really be talked about in prescriptive terms.

What some find fun others will not, and there isn’t really a way to find out if a game is fun except by letting people play it and finding out. Now, after all of this, I think I can reasonably say that a CCG metagame can be expressed largely as an exercise in problem-solving, with the added spice of a healthy sprinkle of incomplete information. I’m pretty sure that some people find that fun, so it seems we’re probably in the clear on this one.

9. Flavour

Now, here’s a funny thing. CCGs in general are usually dripping with flavour, and our humble MLP CCG is no exception. Yet CCG metagames, almost by definition, have none whatsoever. Because metagames are abstractions, existing purely in terms of optimizing decks. Decks, tournaments, strategies, these things are all abstract concepts defined according to the game rules, and thus can’t really have emotional connections attached to them. We do at least have human narratives that play out over the course of a season; rivalries between players and decks that become famed in their own rights. But I would argue that none of that constitutes flavour.

10. A Hook

And finally, the list ends with quite the whimper, as A Hook is something that Rosewater notes is for people that want to sell their games. For CCGs themselves the Hook is absolutely essential, as it is for all tabletop games. Yet, as it was with Inertia and Flavour, metagames by their definition are not sold on their own merits, and thus don’t need Hooks. One cannot buy the MLP CCG metagame, at least not without buying the CCG that underlies it, and similarly one cannot play the former without first playing the latter.

***

So, at the conclusion of all that, where do we stand? As I said starting out, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. If we take Rosewater’s Ten Things as the fundamental requirements without which a thing cannot be a game, then the metagame necessarily falls short, as it’s missing Inertia, Flavour, and A Hook. Yet that seems like a fairly meaningless analysis, as by their nature metagames don’t need any of those things, and wouldn’t benefit from having them.

I think there is value in looking at and understanding the other seven, though, as they all should be present in a healthy metagame, and a healthy metagame is something that requires work. Some of these properties are fixed: the Goal, the Rules, the Surprise, the Strategy and the Fun will always be present regardless of the design decisions that are made going forward. Note of course that many of these properties will still change as the metagame changes. But their presence is something that the living nature of the metagame has no real bearing on.

Finally, the remaining two properties: Interaction and Catch-up. These are the properties that the living nature of the metagame has the most bearing on, as a poorly maintained metagame can lose these two properties, and their absence is a sure sign that things are not going well. If the metagame has turned into one which lacks Interaction, where there is no need to think about the other decks people might bring to the tournament, then that’s a problem. If there’s no way to assail the top-tier decks aside from copying them, then that may also be a problem.

There’s often a fair amount of talk within the community as to when intervention is required to fix an ailing metagame. Well, these two properties can hopefully serve as nicely understandable metrics to let us know how healthy the metagame is from a more objective standpoint, and thus guide our discussion in more constructive directions.

As a final note, I feel I should perhaps apologize to people who may have been expecting a History of White this month. While I do intend to eventually cover all of the colours in that series, I also expect to interrupt it whenever something more inspiring comes up, as happened this month. We’ll have to see if White can get its due in March, or if sudden inspiration will strike again. Until then, thank you and good day.

[homebrewdtyrant]

EDH Overview: Demigod Cycle

Gonna take a look at the cycle of “Demigod” creatures from the Shadowmoor/Eventide sets and evaluate the potential of each creature in the EDH format and which decks would want them. Keep in mind, yes, I do realize these creatures have 5 hybrid mana in their costs and that can be very restrictive but I’m going to look past this and just evaluate the cards themselves.  Let us begin!

Deity of Scars: A five mana 5/5 with Trample is already off to a good start. Add in the fact that you can Regenerate the Deity twice while growing it each time makes this creature incredibly hard to kill and a big threat. I see this card fitting into Hapatra, Vizier of Poison very well. Upon Deity etb with Hapatra on the field you get two 1/1 Deathtouch Snake tokens right off the bat. Being able to load on -1/-1 counters for repeatable Regeneration and more Snakes is just value-town. 

Ghastlord of Fugue: Five mana 4/4 that cannot be blocked=Great. Said unblockable creature that lets you reveal an opponent’s hand upon hitting them and exile ANY card from it= Very Great. Ghastlord of Fugue is a creature that demands answering before it’s able to attack. Not only can it not be blocked but it will reveal their whole hand to everyone playing and you get their best card exiled from it. It’s also not restricted by “non-land” or “non-creature”, it can be any card that your opponent has been holding onto. I hope they don’t mind it being in exile now. For Commanders that want this card, any deck that needs hand hate and consistent unblockable damage in on your opponents really wants this creature. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow comes to mind. Also any deck that can afford to combo off on their second main phase. Have the Ghastlord eat some removal or let it hit and clear their hand of anything that can stop you. 

Oversoul of Dusk: Five mana 5/5 with Protection from blue, from black, and from red.... So pretty much any spot removal besides the white exile cards can’t touch this creature. Very dependent on your meta but I really enjoyed this creature as a back up beat stick in Sigarda, Host of Herons, Karametra, God of the Harvest and Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist. The Oversoul’s power lies in combat so we need to utilize that, either in the offense or defense. 

Godhead of Awe: Five mana 4/4 with Flying passes the vanilla test. Making all other creatures into 1/1′s is just icing on the cake. Now mind you, this will turn all your creatures into 1/1 creatures along with your opponents’, but the power of this creature can’t be underestimated. In Esper colors you have access to shrivel type effects with black, and let’s not forget our dear Elesh Norn. Nasty. I would run Godhead in any prison style deck that needs to shrink attackers to slow down the tempo of battle to give you time to set up. 

Deus of Calamity: Five mana 6/6 with Trample that lets you blow up a land upon hitting an opponent with more than 6 damage from the Deus... eeehhh. Not bad, needs some work. Giving this creature Flying, Doublestrike and/or Menace makes it much more powerful and impactful. Borborygmos, Ruric-Thar Unbowed, Gahiji, Honored One, Mayael the Anima, Stonebrow, Krosan Hero and Xenagos, God of Revels could happily house this creature. You need Deus to hit with 6 or more combat damage to trigger its land destruction effect. Deus of Calamity will eat chump blockers for days until it is answered or starts wiping your opponents lands out. 

Divinity of Pride: A five mana 4/4 with Flying and Lifelink (okay, really good stats) that has the potential to become and 8/8 if you’re even just playing Commander. We start the game at 40 life (usually, I know some games and online start at 30 life) but imagine... you’re still at 32 life and for five hybrid white/black mana you get an 8/8 Flying and Lifelink creature... amazing and scary at the same time. As long as Divinity can keep getting in damage it will never drop below the threshold to not be an 8/8. Any EDH commander that cares about life gain will want to run Divinity like Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Karlov of the Ghost Council, Vona, Butcher of Magan, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and Licia, Sanguine Tribune. 

Demigod of Revenge: Uhm... Don’t run this card lol Maybe in some aggro Rakdos colored deck this could be useful as a Flying hasty 5/4. But I wouldn’t run it. If your creatures do get counterspell locked out of the game, this does evade some counterspells if your opponent isn’t mindful of timing with the counterspell. As I have come to understand it, Demigod’s ability triggers on cast. If the opponent counters Demigod before the ability resolves on the stack, the Demigod will go to the graveyard after being countered, then it’s ability will trigger and return it to the field. This can be nullified tho if the opponent says “after the on cast trigger of Demigod resolves I cast ‘counterspell’.” So run this card at your own risk... or if you need to turn on Mogis, God of Slaughter’s devotion. 

Dominus of Fealty: Five mana 4/4 with Flying. We’ve seen this before in the rest of the cycle, it’s good. Free Act of Treason effect during our upkeep is situational but extremely game altering. For starters, Dominus can steal ANY permanent including lands. Don’t worry about missing that land drop, just borrow it from an opponent. And if they tap it in response to you stealing it, you still get to untap it and use it for yourself. Dominus also stops your opponents from playing any threats as no matter what they play, if its a permanent, you can steal it. This creature demands an answer if your opponents wish to play the game. You can also Ghostly Flicker your stolen permanent and an Archaeomancer to permanently steal your opponents board turn by turn... Let that sink in, I’ll wait. 

Overbeing of Myth: Five mana for a */* creature whos power and toughness are equal to the cards in your hand is fair. Delicate but fair. Giving you an additional card draw during your draw step is very nice and powerful. Also being in the colors of card draw means that Overbeing can be a monster in the right conditions. I pair Overbeing of Myth with commanders like Kruphix, God of Horizons, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix, and Tishana, Voice of Thunder. Maybe Riku of Two Reflections just because you can copy the Overbeing for more card draw and beats. 

Nobilis of War: The most aggro of the Demigod cycle. Five mana for a 3/4 Flying creature... meh. Giving a +2/+0 bonus to all attacking creatures you control is what makes this card amazing. Boros has long been the stereotypical colors of tiny white weenie attack attack ATTACK! This card is no different but it gives you a great reward for attacking and pumps your small 1/1 tokens or creatures into 3/1′s and 3/1′s trade with a lot more than 1/1′s would. I run Nobilis in decks that rely heavily on combat like Gahiji, Honored One, Iroas, God of Victory, Aurelia the Warleader, Tajic, Legion’s Edge, and any go wide strategy decks. 

I really enjoyed making this review of the Demigod cycle and had a blast going down memory lane with some of these cards. If I missed anything that you, my followers, would like to share or point out, feel free to let me know! I make these lists and reviews for y’all. I think I’m gonna try and cover the Liege cycles next in my next cycle review. Auntie Sidisi loves you all, and don’t let anyone ever tell you any different. Until next time my sweets, this is BrewdTyrant, signing out. 

[teamcalamity]

Okay, newbie. Let's move!

A new competitive season has started, Opus VIII is about to launch and Team Calamity has a blog... BOOYA!!

If you want to see more variety than a dialogue with Squall, topics that hit harder than Sephiroth into the back of a flower girl and tips more useful than Vaan's point in the story, then this is the blog for you.

In this first article we thought it might be best to introduce you to some of the team who will be regular staples on here. Hopefully this brief insight will help put some of their upcoming content into perspective.

First up is our resident judge - Mitch.

How did you first get into FFTCG?

It was a dark time in my life; I had just finished one of my favourite TV series for the 15th time and worst of all I had a piece of apple skin stuck between my teeth. There was no light at the end of the tunnel.

I received a call from the UK Champion (but not world) Peter Sherratt, he spoke to me like a true champion with grace and honour “you alright dickhead?” he told me that he had just gone to a new comic book shop, the infamous Calamity Comics. Peter knew I always had a creepy girlfriend affection for Final Fantasy and our recent card game was now just an OTK shit show. So we thought let’s give it a go.

Pulled Bahamut legend, fire seems strong; I bet this card will be good for a long time, 10000 damage AND removed. Peter got Foil Light Cloud. This card is also future proof, if there’s one thing I know about card games, is that removal is key and this has it in spades…

From that day I was hooked, scratching at my arms for the next fix of spoilers, tapping the vein, breathing FFTCG and dealing with my new addiction.

What style of play do you favour?

I like to win, but more importantly I like to be a smug prick and to do this, I love my combat tricks. Nothing lifts the table up on my side more than doing something your opponent cannot see coming. I also love removal and drawing cards so if someone could explain to me how to play earth that would be great. Thank you.

Biggest hype of Opus 8?

While all the cards aren’t out yet, I am especially excited for Lunafreya, the stuff that she can enable; it means your opponent will not want to kill off some of your best forwards. That said this will all change depending on the new Garnet, if there is one.

Peter - the 2018 UK Champion (not world)

How did you first get into FFTCG?

I played yu gi oh at the time and I saw FF being sold at Calamity Comics in Hatfield.

Eric the store owner said they were doing a tournament on Friday night's (an attempt to remove the magic the gathering crowd) .

I had played FF7 and I've never liked mtg so sounded like a win win for me. All that was left was to convince mitchell to go with me to hold my hand through it all.

Didn't take long to convince him and off we went to go purchase some cardboard crack. First pack I opened....foil Cloud L!! Wooo

First deck I played was fire ice. We didn't have a clue what we were doing but got it after a couple of goes.

Mitch went home that night to learn the rulings. It became an obsession of his for a while. He would wake up in the middle of the night about illegal plays the night before.

What was even better was we convinced our mates Joseph and Azlan to join also. Fucking great game. Needs more cleavage though.

What style of play do you favour?

I really like all 3 of the main tropes. They all have a special place in my heart because of the decks ive played with.

Mono wind has generally been a control deck. Midrange ice is tempo. Discard ice is quite aggressive.

I'm gunna vote for tempo. After a short amount of set up I do love using dull freeze or discard mechanics for those cheap easy wins. It's like eating 20 mcnuggets. You know it's bad but it feels so good.

Biggest hype for Opus 8?

Sherlotta, Fina, Alexander, Lasswell & Time Mage.

The one I will talk about is Time Mage though because I honestly think it's perfect for what ice needs right now.

Wind earth is an awful matchup where we can't choose Zidane, get fucked by big daddy etc etc. So we're investing 5cp for a huge tempo swing. Huge. I'm a big big fan. It's a multicard too so extra copies may be played.

Mono ice will return with a vengeance!!!

Rich - Team Calamity's synergy specialist.

How did you first get into FFTCG?

I have zero history of playing card games, so my interest in FFTCG was purely as someone who had played nearly every game released under the title, who just fancied trying it out. I bought the starter decks on release date to gauge if it was something that I was going to stick with, and pretty soon I was part of the Opus I stock disaster, hunting the shelves of every Toys'r'Us in driving distance trying to find packs (I'm not proud to admit that). Two and a half years, and many £'s later, here I am writing my first blog post after years of being a lurker on the fan page.

What style of play do you favour?

I have always run decks that I find genuinely fun to build, play and tweak. Sometimes that means I run stuff closer to the meta, and sometimes I run more obscure decks. The vast majority of decks that I run revolve around combo cards such as Yuri/Chelinka/Alhanalem or Seifer/Raijin/Fujin. Nothing turns me on more than the text "If you control card name "X"".

Biggest hype for Opus 8?

Just give me 3 Lasswell in foil. I love that the card has been made with a specific purpose in mind (Fire/Ice deck), and all 3 abilities feed into what those elements want to achieve. I'm not quite sure how best to make Lasswell work, but I'm sure someone much smarter than I am will find a way to make him a beast!

Tom - Blog editor, specialist subject the 'Tombo Combo'

How did you first get into FFTCG?

I got into the game by chance around Opus 4. I'd never played a TCG before but out browsing for a cheap PS4 game in the January sales I spotted Cloud and Squall booster packs in the bargain bin at a local game shop. A Final Fantasy card game, what even is that?! Went home, googled it, rushed back the next day, bought the lot and ordered all the starter sets. I still remember opening my first packs and getting so excited by how many shinys I was getting, like one in each pack, I must be so lucky! Next step a venture to Calamity as the only local place to play. I didn't win a game for about 2 months but was having the best time!

What style of play do you favour?

I like to do things differently so for me I'm all about the meme life and unashamedly so. I like to shy away from the meta (to my own detriment) as I get much more enjoyment from doing things myself and if someone tells me something is shit, it just makes me want to play it more. That said I still believe you can meme and be successful and hope to go someway to proving that this competitive season (here's to 0-X at every major tournament this year)

Biggest hype for Opus 8?

Not seen the full list yet but I'm buzzing for the new FF7 starter deck. I'll probably look to take the Earth parts into an Earth/Fire setup maybe utilising the new 15 characters if space. For me a big part of enjoying the game is using characters I actually know of and love so this should fit nicely. I've also got some ideas for a Fire/Water rush style deck and a new Opus launch wouldn't be complete without me trying to make FF8 work (where are you Cid Kramer!).

I hope this is the set where things really open up and we don't see the same few decklists dominating the circuit.

Team Calamity's OP runs every Friday from 7pm at Calamity Comics in Hatfield (North of London). You can also follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook (teamcalamityfftcg) or contact us on email (teamcalamityfftcg@gmail.com). Alternatively just write anything on the FFTCG Fans Facebook page, Team Calamity's James Stevenson will no doubt comment on it.

[the8x8theory]

Commander 2017 - A Guide - Vampiric Bloodthurst

Vampires are easily among the most popular creatures in all of magic. With each set since Shadowmoor/Eventide containing at least one vampire. They are prolific to the ethos of Magic. However, until now they has lacked a lot of effective tribal support. Make no mistake, there has been a lot of vampires printed in the nearly 10 years since then. However they have been extremely messy and all over the place. Lords printed in 2 colours, while the best legendary creatures were in 1. Cards like Vampire Nocturnus being outrageously powerful inclusions in a deck, but ultimately limit their effectiveness by being tied to one colour. 

Commander 2017 reunited Vampires across all colours, and shifted them into high gear by offering us three new commanders, each in the Mardu range of colours. All varying from heavy Vampire tribal, to fun and goofy shenanigans; Vampires have finally seen the revitalisation they’ve always needed, but have never had. And with several white vampires having been spoiled for Ixilan, the reasons to build Mardu vampires has only grown. And although this deck does not offer a fourth, off colour Legendary Creature, the cards that it pulls from in creating the decks are some of the best Vampires ever printed.

Edgar Markov

Finally, it’s ya boy. Edgar Markov, fresh off the print run with a new card. And with it he brings a cavalcade of abilities. Right off the bat, like all of the headlining Legendary Creatures in commander 2017, he has Eminence. A triggered ability that doesn’t mind whether they are in play or in the command zone. Much to the bane of every playing who forgets their triggers. However, this ability isn’t something you want to miss, as he will happily poop out Vampires for you. 1/1 black vampires to be precise. That’s right. Buy now and get two vampires for the price of one. And as is also the case all of the others, his following abilities get stronger as the first ability is used. As he attacks, you must put a +1/+1 counter on each Vampire you control. Which is amazing. And yes, he puts it on himself. And yes, he does have both haste and first strike, so he’s basically a 5/5 the turn he comes into play because there is never a world where you don’t attack with him first chance you have. And with Eminence triggering from the Command Zone, by the time you do play him, you should have something akin to a small army. Note: He won’t trigger Eminence on himself.

Edgar hits hard and fast, and will likely want to fill out a aggressive Vampire deck. People may be turned off by his high cost, reaching 6 among 3 colours. However, due to the raw power of Eminence, he will make up the difference. Doubling your board state, the preparing the game for his inevitable arrival. At which point it’ll be a quick race to the end. However if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, perhaps his token generation will give you the board support to build a Mardu combo deck. However, I would strongly recommend Vampires to be at it’s core. That is what he cares about most.

Licia, Sanguine Tribune

It’s pretty straight forward that life gain will be the focus of a Licia deck. At least, more than just Vampires. She can come down as early as turn 3, with enough support, and immediately starts posing a threat. Paying 5 life into an attack for 7 with lifelink is powerful. And the fact that she has lifelink makes up for the life paid, and the limitations of the ability to give her counters. You can’t do it constantly, but creating a life divide with that life gain makes the difference. In other words, creating a life total divide of 47 and 33 is far better than just 40 and 33. The fact she also has first strike means that she’ll likely never come up against a creature she can’t deal with.

The only concern is whether paying for 5 life is worth it. For example, although you can’t attack the turn she comes into play, you can activate it. Meaning she’ll be able to swing for 10 the turn she can attack. However that cost may be too great, because you may pay the 5 life, only to see her die to removal. So there is a great deal of risk and reward. If you can swing, it’ll pay off. But if you can’t it may be worth holding off a turn.

That said, if you can cast her for 3, it means you’ve already gained at least 5 life this turn. Meaning that cost will result in, effectively, no loss to you

The decks that will want her are ones already heavy in lifegain that can afford 5 life without hassle. Failing that, a Mardu Voltron deck may just have a new powerful Commander to ride him to victory. The lifegain she provides, plus first strike, will make her very hard to deal with in combat. And a handful of protection spells will mean she’ll never die. 

Mathas, Fiend Seeker

Perhaps the most unique Commander to come out of the entire product line, Mathas will consistently change the way a game is played. And it’s not complicated either. All it does it add one small mechanic, a Bounty Counter with an ability. At the beginning of your end step, Marthas will ‘brand’ an opponent’s creature with a bounty counter. With it, it’ll give the creature the ability “when this creature dies, each opponent draws a card and gains 2 life.”. This ability even after Mathas dies. As a result, the power to put a bounty on a creature’s head will make any political EDH player salivate. Suddenly, you control who lives and who dies. 

There are two things that really make this ability interesting. The first is that you are forced to drop a bounty counter at the end of each of your turns. So, in a sense, you are offered a sort of plausible deniability. You gotta do it, and it can’t be your creature, so it’s more reasonable to just drop a counter on a creature than if it was a choice. The other is that the death effect that comes with the bounty counter affects everyone by the controller of the creature. As a result, no one but the one targeted player will feel the victim. Moreover, because of the nature of this effect, it’s likely you won’t be the one killing the creature. Just making it a nice target. Realistically, you do nothing. But will always reap a reward. This brings back to the plausible deniability as you can continue to mess with the game all you want, without being the one actually changing the game.

Mardu boasts the widest range, and the most powerful range, or targeted removal in Magic. Mathas is tailored to that, and so a spot removal heavy deck will go a long way to help mess with the game. Because it is through that removal, that you can take control of the politics. You can deem which creatures live and die, and when. 

Marthas is the kind of commander that will offer you no clear method of winning. Instead, it’ll offer you a way to mess with your opponent’s and take control of the game. Whether you win will be determined by how you approach him. But while you are in the game it will be a very strange and unusual one. Which is exactly the thing a lot of people want. 

The Commander 2017 deck, Vampiric Bloodthirst offered more than just a series of Mardu coloured Vampires. It offers 3 unique Mardu Vampires that vary wildly in how their decks will function. From a complete Vampire Tribal Commander, to a political powehouse, Commander 2017 is continuing to provide unique Commanders we wouldn’t see anywhere else. Each leading a deck I would personally love to build one day.

---Max, @commandtower-solring-go

[sneakyhomunculous]

Last PT Report

Day 1: Wake up fresh; shower normally and then turn it freezing for the last 30 seconds. Shadowbox for 5 minutes. Stand on head against the wall for 3 minutes. 20 push-ups, get dressed and shuttle 0.4miles to site. Walking would be better, but it’s a bit cold and I don’t wanna worry about a jacket. Arrive at 8:55, pods go up minutes later. Arrive at the table to see Zvi and 6 others I don’t recognize. Zvi is two to my left. Open my pack Ayara, Edgewall Inkeeper, Slaying Fire, Fierced Witchstalker, and thankfully a Charmed Sleep. Slam the Charmed Sleep. I’m not going to let the way some early packs break determine my fate in the last PT ever. I’m passed clockwork servant and a bunch of mediocre cards like scorching dragonfire scalding cauldron maraleaf rider. Slam clockwork servant. Pick 3 there are no good cards, luckily I’m greeted with a Fabled Passage. Take it easily over middling things (I did briefly consider taking corridor monitor). 4th pick I am greeted with a gift from the gods. A 4th pick Opt!!! One note, at this point corridor monitor is the only blue card I’ve passed. This pack contains no blue cards besides Opt. Many people would panic thinking Blue is being cut. While the chance that is happening are not 0, they are not significantly more likely just because you haven’t seen blue cards in 2-3 picks. The packs easily could’ve just been light on blue cards. But what is certain? No one on my left has even seen a single blue card they can take. Pick 5 no blue cards. I take Jousing dummy over middling cards in other colors. Pick 6 a welcome sight. Corridor monitor! Slam it so fast as I wouldn’t want to give the players on my left a faulty signal. Pick 7 there is a mad ratter that I assume my fellow draft mates did not see in the pack. Pick 8 there are no blue cards but a wicked guardian will do. I already have servant and monitor, to go along with Opt and this mad ratter. Not sure how I’ll cast it but we’ll see I round out with another joustin dummy and that early corridor monitor tables!!!!! Pack 2 I crack open a pack without a blue card. Luckily there is an epic downfall that I may end up playing. Pick 2 I get passed a pack with the best common in the set, draw 3 sry 3. I take it quickly over reave soul and other irrelevant cards. 3rd pick Stolen By the MF Fae. Thanks Worth! 4th Pick Frogify over nothing. They aren’t going to give this draft to me easy. 5th pick No blue cards 😡 take Witch’s Vengeance I probably won’t play. 6th pick SO TINY; The second best common in the set with a run away together and didn’t say please in the pack too. Bad distribution tilt. 7th pick spinning wheel. I can’t wait until they fix these bots and we can get REAL practice in 8th pick Draw 3 scry 3 😂 this is when I knew I had 2-1 at least locked up. Around this pick I notice the player on my right (I’m on the edge so he’s directly across from me) has an opportunistic dragon sticking out of his pack C. So I call a judge and they have to replace the pack with no issues. I round out the pack with dregs. Pack 3 I open Folio of the fancies GG yo I get passed a pack so blank I almost cried but then I noticed a scaulding cauldron, whew. 3rd pick I face the decision of mystic sanctuary vs hate drafting, and sanctuary is completely busted so I take that. Pick 4 I am greeted with another 4th pick Opt!!!! 3 for 3 baby. 5th pick there is nothing great I take a searing barrage I hopefully won’t have to play. 6th pick I get passed a pack with didn’t say please! But there is also a Lochmere Serpent and a Drown in the Loch. I take the serpent 7th pick is blankish if I recall correctly and I got sad. 8th pick another mad ratter, I recall being happy/content. And saying to myself in my head... I think I shall play it all! I do end up playing everything! 4 swamps 1 mountain 1 Fabled Passage 1 Sanctuary 10 Island. My SB is pretty weak but I do have a couple searing barrages, a forever young and a few expensive fliers/jousting dummy type things I can bring. [Insert Picture of deck 1 here] (I’m trying but can’t figure out Tumblr maybe I’ll post all the pics at the end?)* Wouldn’t be a PT without a Round 1 Doozy I’m paired vs someone I don’t recognize. Apparently it is their first PT but I don’t know this at the time. They seem confident but reserved and ready for battle. We both keep 7 and I am on the play. My opponent plays a turn 1 witches Cottage. On turn 2 he plays a swamp and an order of the midnight. It immediately becomes So tiny. On turn 3 I do nothing. My opponent plays a mountain and a redcap raiders. I miss my land drop but put the raiders into a Charmed Sleep. On turn 4 my opponent plays swamp Lochtwain Paladin with Cheese. I untap and draw Fabled Passage. My hand is expensive cards like mad ratter Draw 3 Serpent and something else. I am about to fetch and then I realize his hand is facedown on the table but looking thicc. I just double check how many cards and he picks them up no problem and says 5. And it’s correct it is 5. However my brain says it should be 4. Turn 1 land. Turn 2 land 2 drop. Turn 3 land 3 drop. Turn 4 land 4 drop. This means he started with 7, drew up to 8. Played his land down to 7, and he didn’t miss any land drops so far. So turn 2 his card played should mean he is down to 6, then turn 3 down to 5, and now his Paladin down to 4. He has an extra card!! I count 5 times just to confirm, and sure enough he is 2 cards ahead of me. I call a judge and after a quick count and discussion it is confirmed he has one too many. He is extremely calm but also quiet during all of it. I didn’t get any vibe of him trying to be dishonest or hide anything. At the same time it’s incredibly sketchy of course. How and when did he get an extra card? He is on the draw so he’s already got extra cards, seems like he’d notice if he had 9 to start or something?? The ruling is that I get to Thoughtseize him basically and he has to shuffle what I pick back in his deck. I really hate this rule as its putting so much of the onus on me to always track my opponents hand so vigilantly. If I would’ve noticed he drew 9 to start, it would be hugely beneficial for me to Thoughtseize him. But now I Thoughtseize him and see 5 spells as I’m already behind on the board and want to throw up. Did he just draw 2 cards at once on turn 4 because he needed a land? I’ll never know. But his hand is completely fucking stacked and I can’t find myself ever beating it. He has another lochtwain paladin, Murderous rider, another order of midnight, lash of thorns, and a festive funeral. I take the murderous rider but miss a land again and by the time I can play serpent I am forced to block into his Lash and have no outs so I just concede without showing him. Game 2 I don’t remember a ton of, but I know he plays multiple rimrock knights and order of midnights and I am so close to dying so many times. I had spinning wheel and he made a few small errors, and it let me survive at one life but needing to topdeck a cheap creature/play to survive at all. I peeled a Charmed Sleep and it left me actually in control with mana left over to tap his one other attacker. Well, as in control as you can be with 1 life. Shortly after I find a draw 3 and turn the game around over 2-3 turns before he can find a way to deal me 1 damage. Unfortunately the time is about out in the round and we only have a 7 minute extension. I slam in the 2/1 bloodcrazed wolfthorn guys and both searing barrage hoping to have time to finish game 3. Instead I am on the backfoot and in serious danger of dying. T2 order. T3 rimrock it and play rimrock. T4 rimrock it and play rimrock. I am all the way down to 4 before I have any chance at stabilizing. I play in the only way I think will give me any chance to survive and it involves letting him untap with me at 4 life and him having a Brimstone Trebuchet in play, knowing he has at least two cheap knights he has returned with order of midnight/forever young combo. He did only have 5 mana so I wasn’t that scared (I had witch’s vengeance for walls ready on my next turn). But the prospect of surviving at 1 still seemed grim at the time. Oh yeah somewhere in there he played a murderous rider and pumped it with rimrock knights so he was at 30 and me at 1. I never felt safe until around a minute before time was about to be up. Unfortunately my opponent was still at 30. The judge called time right as I passed so I got turn 1. On my Opp turn 2 I flashed in serpent and untapped and sacrificed two swamps but could only find more lands. I made it unblockable and attacked with it and all 4 of my stolen by the Fae tokens and 8 of my mad ratter tokens leaving back a few more to make sure I wouldn’t die to the swing back from my now 3 life. My opponent took 17 down to 9 so they must have been at 26 at the time. On turn 4 I had a small sweat as I left myself dead to barge in (hadn’t seen one, did pass multiple in draft though) as I really wanted the win and not the draw. Luckily my opp not only didn’t even attack, but they played out their entire hand and were clearly dead on board by 2 points more than lethal. Win on turn 5. Wild start. The rest of the day was a lot smoother. R2 vs ZVI Mono G Zvi Mulligans on the play g1 but leads t1 Goose. I have so tiny and Charmed Sleep draw 3 and bunch of lands so I ignore goose. He plays a wildwood tracker at some point I so tiny and I Charmed Sleep a Fierced Witchstalker. He is hitting me for 1 with gingerbrute when I cast draw 3. Then I cast another. Then I play serpent and folio etc and I’m still above 10 life and he dies in short order. In g2 I get sloppy and lose a game I have no business losing. I turn 3 clockwork servant turn 4 Wicked guardian draw a card, but this was just a mistake. I did this knowing I would take 5 damage this turn but I had no business taking it as I already had everything I needed to win this game. I needed to preserve my life total. On turn 5 I do start preserving life, but when I flash in serpent on turn 6 to block Zvi has Insatiable appetite on his gingerbrute that has counter from weapon rack to kill me from 7. G3 is a lot smoother as I so tiny a gingerbrute, and at some point am up so many cards I decide to use a searing barrage on the untapped gingerbrute with so tiny on it (only 3 cards in Zvi yard) just so I don’t have to worry about losing to double insatiable appetite when I tap out for stolen by the Fae and or serpent. R3 vs GW I play vs the person feeding me and my heart drops. I assume he is blue and will have many secret keepers and didn’t say pleases and I know I am screwed because I have 0 counterspells. Instead he leads forest curious pair food turn 2 the 1/3. Then he misses land drops and eventually beanstalk giants up to 4-5 mana but just plays some medium GW creatures. I win without much resistance and G2 goes about the same. 3-0 and now it’s break time. I immediately start running to subway as I want to beat the crowd on our short lunch break. Unfortunately as I open the door I am greeted by a 50+ deep line. I turned around and dive into the fried chicken place. 30 person line and 1 lady working. GG yo. I am feeling good despite not having any lunch options. At some point in the beginning of the constructed rounds Allen Wu shares his protein cookie with me, and I think that was just enough to save me from crashing too early. R4 JetSki Fires I don’t recognize my opponent but I Open his list and see a Sam Roflo Specialeee. 4 Bonecrusher 1 Shimmer 1 Fae 1 Realm Clock 4 clarion 8 cavalier stock fires. I have a t2 Oko on the play, but otherwise my hand is Shite. Joe Demestrio is birding and brings up my line after the game saying he would have done things differently. That is why Wallace was on the rail and I was in the streets. The point was that my opponent played a turn 2 shimmer. On my turn 3 I made my food an elk and attacked for 3 missing a land drop and said go without playing paradise Druid. The reason being that if my opp has clarion you always want to have a food back to start attacking immediately. This way I could make food with goose in response to clarion untap make it a 3/3 and play Druid. Instead my opponent did nothing, and I passed turn 4 with a lethal attack if I untapped (9 damage from elks and 2 from Druid I just played with opp at 11). But They play 4th land and say go? I am worried about going for it as if they have bonecrusher giant for my Druid and then untap and realm cloaked giant I will have an Oko no food and 2 lands with no plays. But I don’t see any real other options. If I don’t make My 3rd elk and attack with everything I still will die to the realm cloaked. My opponent just concedes when I right click attack all. I sort of forgot what Joe even wanted me to do. Maybe it was not playing Druid T3 he didn’t like, or maybe it was when I turned my goose into an elk the following turn. But that was mandatory as it left me a food back Incase my opp had the t4 clarion or fires/clarion, and left me with a lethal attack if they did not. G2 I play a T3 nissa untap Breeding Pool attack, my opponent plays 4th fires and I Aether Gust it and untap and krasis for 6 or something. I won that one. R5 Jack Kiefer on JetSki Fires. His list was notably a bit cleaner and played less bad cards (except he had a bunch of shimmers I guess, that does qualify as a bad card) This match was really good, but just showcased how good the food deck is. He beat me g1 with no real sweat as I couldn’t pressure him nearly fast enough. G2 and 3 details are blurry to me but I know a surprise brontodon really threw him off in one of the games. He cast fires into drawn from dreams turn 4 and when I untapped and played and brontodonned his fires he seemed frustrated. I don’t know if he could have taken different cards with drawn but his next couple of turns were not good enough and I won. Oh I remember now. I absolutely ravaged him with a casualties of war in the other game killing his 5th land and only white source, his fires, his sorcerous spyglass and his cavalier. 5-0 R6- Oscar Christensen Mirror Oscar had a good list with 2 Casualties and I was a bit worried going into this match as I hadn’t practiced much at all with my deck and I felt he was probably well prepared for these mirrors. That proved to be true as he seemed to play very well in all the games. I think I just ran away with one game on the play, and the other game I won was solely bc I jockeyed myself into a position where he was forced to make plays to keep parity and left himself tapped out and dead to my 1 SB casualties. That 1 card I put in my sideboard at the last possible second after discussing how much I hate duress with Collin is certainly the only reason I made this run. It singlehandedly won me 4 matches. 6-0 R7- Craig Krempels Mirror Craig has a Karn’s bastion in his deck! I immediately screamed judge to get an Oracle as I had no idea what that was. But the rest looked pretty normal. I don’t know Craig well but I knew he was old school and at least a good to great player. I was in the zone this round and I think I got extremely lucky in a few ways. First was the seating arrangement. By the 2nd game a huge crowd was forming and I could sense them around me, but couldn’t really see any of them. He had them over his shoulder but also could see all of the people behind me up close and looking on. He made a few glaring strategical errors (Multiple times in Nissa fights he attacked with a land which let me kill his nissa for free where otherwise I would’ve had to overextend/throw things away to get to it), but he also just literally forgot to activate his planeswalker one turn and also forgot to play a land in another. He ran away with game 1 with a t2 Oko followed by an early Nissa, capped off with a Karn’s Bastion threatening to activate no less! In game 2 we have a bit of a back and forth affair but I am starting to fall behind. I am not giving up hope as on turn 5 I draw the black source I need for Liliana on the following turn. My board is two wicked wolves and a food, and I have 4 forests and a watery grave after playing land this turn. My hand is Liliana and my freshly drawn overgrown tomb. Howver Craig has just deployed Nissa to go along with his Oko on 10 counters, and his own goose and wolf. On his turn he makes an attack after I had attacked his walkers with my wolves. His only blockers now are the lands and one goose but his Oko has so much loyalty and nissa is now at 4 because I hit it with a wolf last turn. Fortunately he says go without even using his Oko. I untap ready to slam Liliana and hope I can fade krasis for a couple turns and claw back from a dangerous life total (I was at under 10 but don’t recall exactly). Instead I draw my 1 casualties 🏆 I kill both his creature lands and his Oko which leaves his nissa at 4 loyalty and him only having a goose to chump. But I have two wolves and a food so he can’t save nissa and chooses to not block with goose. He’s down to 3 lands goose and I end up winning easily with Liliana a few turns later. Game 3 is another back and forth affair but this time I wrestle control in the middle turns and also have my casualties ready. He is fighting back and has a vraska in play for a couple of turns, but I manage a krasis for 3 which will threaten to kill it as its at 1 going up to 3. He does remember to use it and has a goose he can use to jump in front and protect it for one turn. But I have nissa and casualties ready this turn and when I untap I know it’s over. I start by attacking Vraska with Krasis. He blocks with Goose and Bins it. I ask how many cards he has as they are on the table and he spreads them out slowly and it’s 4. As this is happening someone behind me on the huge rail screams Judgeeeeeee. My eyebrows raise and I immediately realize he left his Vraska at 3 but it should have gone to 2 from Krasis Trampling over his Goose. So I tell him this. Craig looks incredulous. I said yeah u chumped with goose it should be at 2. He says well trample is your ability. You have to remember your own abilities. So I said wait what? Did you think maybe I just wanted to go ahead and assign all 3 damage to the goose this time?? Really fuck that goose up good huh??? He kind of shrugged and said something back but I said let’s just call the judge. Lengthy call but I just lead with exactly what happened. I tell them that the person behind me screamed judge after a few seconds and that is what prompted me to scan the board and realize he didn’t tick his vraska down. It’s been 5-10 seconds since binning goose and all I have done was ask how many cards he has. I acknowledge that it wasn’t even on my radar until someone screamed judge (bc I was so happy and knew I was going to win. Also probably bc I suck and can’t seem to remember what my own cards do) They basically rule that trample does not have a default rule, so it’s on me to assign it. And also that someone behind me saying judge seems to have prompted me to realize I missed it. So the vraska stays at 3 I think this rule is kind of BS in the first place. Trample should be automatic default lethal + rest at you. (That’s how it works on Modo and Arena no?) But also barely any time has passed and no actions have been taken here, so I snap back and ask “What if I would’ve just called you over and told the exact same story, but left out the part about someone behind me screaming out judge?” You would rule differently right? “I cannot answer that hypothetical at this time” Ok well when can you?? “After the match” Ok thanks. “You can appeal if you are not comfortable” No it’s all good. Nissa float Gb with overgrown tomb untap casualties your entire board except vraska and a useless wolf go. The crowd goes wild!!!! “Olldddd Schooooooollllll” rings heard throughout the hall. He died the next turn or so. I bring it back up with Craig and I just let him know it’s not 1999 anymore. It’s actually the future now, 20 years later. And almost everyone in the room would just tick their own Vraska down to 2. He didn’t agree with that, but I have faith in the new guard. 7-0 R8 Eli Kassis on GB Adventures I was starting to fade hard at this point. The lights also got to me a bit. Its extremely bright up there and I was actually having trouble even reading what lands/cards he was playing. Game 1 I was feeling the head spin from not eating and having such a long day. I managed to keep it together and I am proud of myself for recognizing what I should be doing in this game. I had a wolf and 2 goose and on turn 4-5 I untapped and could slam nissa, but he had left 3 mana open and had some cards still. And I identified massacre girl as a massive blowout if I didn’t get my food count up ASAP. On top of that Nissa was so likely to just die to Murderous Rider or Grasp as he’s not doing much proactive stuff and I haven’t given him a great window to use either of those cards either. The issue is mostly that I didn’t practice so I haven’t played this matchup. But I totally blanked on Liliana for a few turns. The passive plays I was making left me completely fucked if he had one removal spell (kill a goose) into Liliana make me sac two. I still think I made all the correct plays, but after a few turns of skipping my plays to make food with geese to play around massacre girl and abyss him with my wolf, I realized how big of a threat Liliana was and finished the game off while playing around that as well. I win and he drops his hands of all lands. He played well but literally drew all lands so any plays I made throughout the game probably would have been good enough to win. G2 and G3 I think I play quite poorly. I don’t remember specifics but every time I made a play I felt like I was guessing and second guessing and I would just tell myself to make a play u are thinking but actually not getting anywhere. Go ahead, guess you monkey!!! No amount of thinking can save you. And then I’d just listen to The Oko Devil on my shoulder and make a random play. It all culminated in me scooping when I wasn’t dead. (I was dead as shit, but not technically dead. He had 2 cards and a castle, and any 1/1 or removal spell in the top 4 cards would kill me immediately) but I never would have scooped if I knew wasn’t dead immediately. You see the problem was Lovestruck Beast. Eli had 2 of them, a massacre girl, and a 1/1 human. I had a wolf that could kill the human and now help double block Massacre girl. The bigger problem? I played the entire match as if Lovestruck Beast was just a 5/5 for 3. Totally forgot it can’t attack without a 1/1. There is no excuse as I had the card multiple times in draft, but after a long day it just totally slipped my mind. 7-1 [Happy] One other note. Open decklists. I think this is a massive reason for my success at this tournament. I don’t have much time to practice these days, and there are so many damn formats and they are always changing! Magic is already so hard, but when you don’t have the practice + confidence in what your opponent will have in their list + confidence in your ability to remember and understand all of the possibilities/interactions/situations in the entire format it makes each game so much harder to form your long term strategical plan, which in turn makes all of your tactical ideas harder to execute as well. Knowing exactly what I am working with and against every round makes me 10x as comfortable/dangerous. I know it goes both ways, but I feel like most players at the top level have a huge edge on me without open decklists. I struggle to play around cards/piece together what they might have until it’s too late so often. Mostly because I’m bad at it and scattered, but also because of the lack of reps. I can never remember what set a card was from or how long ago a standard was or all the decks from the old formats etc. I actualy can barely ever tell you what sets are in standard and which cards are in which set! And that’s when I’m actively playing. So yeah. Shoutout to Open decklists. I’m sure many people hate them, but I strongly prefer them. I’m always going to bring caw blade anyway; GG yo. Day 2 & Day 3 Coming soon!

[miraclefusion-blog1]

skylines (read on ao3?) fujiki yusaku + onizuka go ~2.5k; gen / can be read as pre-shippy if you squint. au where yusaku’s a pro duelist.

Because despite the success and the glamour, Yusaku can't shake the feeling that he's missed something, that he's forgotten how to be someone outside of just Playmaker, the pro duelist.

Go reminds him of someone he might have been, once.

Here is the truth: Yusaku can’t remember.

Some of his past stays in solid constants: Shoichi, a solid presence by his side, a reminder of who he might have been. His deck, a physical catalogue of what he'd dreamed of, once. Other remnants come to him in bits and pieces – nightmares, half-forgotten, of forests and wandering and strange, virtual worlds.

The doctors shrug, tell him there’s nothing they can do. Yusaku accepts it, because he has to, and he goes – not home, necessarily, but back to his empty apartment, swallowing down the feeling that he’s missing something, missing someone.

He throws himself into coding, learning all he can about SOL Technology and LINK VRAINS. Across his screens, superfluous data trails in an endless waterfall of assembly code into oblivion, taunting him to do more, to do better.

Still, he can’t find anything, any trace, any clues.

Eventually, he gives up, urged to rest by Shoichi, and throws himself into dueling instead. He signs up for pro league prelims under a half-assed alias: Playmaker, and thinks, maybe, that his success can help him ignore the unerring feeling of having missed something, of being meant for more. Still, something about dueling tugs at the strands of memory that haunt his dreams, so he keeps at it.

Speed Duels help, at first. They’re dangerous, seductively so – the adrenaline of the duels help Yusaku distract himself from the aching boredom that threatens to swallow him whole, and so he gets into the habit of sneaking out late at night to log on, disconnecting without fail to a disappointed Shoichi at his door.

He doesn’t ask, though, and Yusaku appreciates that more than anything. He advances steadily up the ranks of the pro league, and his nights are filled with data streams and the exhilaration of drifting through LINK VRAINS by night, evading patrol droids and prying eyes. He sleeps less and works more, and the dreams, little by little, begin to fade.

Shoichi signs on as his manager, and as he makes it further, the views start to roll in along with the money, match monetization sought after by every major advertising company worth its salt. Despite the publicity, the duels don’t excite Yusaku like he knows they used to, and it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

Still, he moves on, because he has to. He has enough in his past to weigh him down, and –

– and he’s older, now, tired of holding on to fleeting dreams and fading memories.

–

“You have a duel scheduled today,” Shoichi says, as if Yusaku isn’t already aware. He turns, taking the data pad Shoichi hands him with a grateful nod. Yusaku lets his eyes linger before glancing at the tablet in his hands, satisfied with what he sees. Shoichi seems better these days – if not healthier, then more whole, more than Yusaku’s seen him in months. Shoichi crashes with him in his tiny apartment to stay closer to the hospital he visits daily, but Yusaku hears his brother’s in recovery these days, an anonymous donor from SOL sponsoring his treatment. It’s good, seeing Shoichi like this again, watching his smiles reach his eyes.

Yusaku turns his gaze to the screen in his hands, looking over the compiled data.

Go Onizuka, he reads, glancing at his record thoughtfully. Undefeated this season, huh? Impressive. He scrolls down, skimming through the contents of his previous tournament decks placidly. “A Gouki deck that overwhelms the opponent with strong monsters – hardly a difficult matchup.“

“I wouldn’t underestimate him,” Shoichi says, amused.

“Do you think I have a chance of losing?”

“I think,” Shoichi says, carefully, “that Go’s style of dueling might be good for you.” Yusaku’s really not sure what he’s supposed to say to that – he knows Go’s type, the Charisma Duelists who prioritize entertainment more than respecting the duel itself.

Yusaku looks over at him blankly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You could live with having some more fun, Yusaku.”

“Dueling is fun,” he replies, and Shoichi gives him a look that says he doesn’t buy it. “What?”

“Nothing,” Shoichi says, shrugging and turning away. Yusaku frowns, feeling as if he’s missed something.

–

“Playmaker,” Go says. “Let’s duel!”

Onizuka duels with a strange intensity, and Yusaku finds that he at least executes his comebacks with more finesse and strategy than any Charisma Duelist he’s dueled before. While his deck follows the same overdone themes as all the other entertainers, his monsters have solid statlines, enough for his Link Monsters to be truly formidable. For a second, Yusaku understands why Onizuka’s been undefeated. It’s enough to send a tiny thrill through him, and he finds himself getting into the duel, being sucked in by Onizuka’s charm and enthusiasm for the game.

Then, of course, he draws Cyberse Annihilation, and with a triple attack combo, he wins the match.

It’s strange, but he’s almost disappointed that the duel is over. It’s a novel feeling, and – maybe he understands what Shoichi had meant now, he thinks, catching Onizuka’s eye with a small smile.

“Good game,” he says, and he means it, for the first time in months.

“Good game,” Onizuka replies, and cameras flash as they shake hands.

–

“Yusaku.”

“Yusaku,” Shoichi repeats, snapping his fingers in front of the duelist’s face. “What’s with you?”

“Hmm?” Yusaku shakes himself off, glancing up and bringing himself back to attention at the sound of his name. “What do you mean?”

Shoichi frowns, but a thoughtful look paints its way onto his face. “You’ve been out of it since the match with Go.”

“It was a good duel,” Yusaku offers, weakly.

“Your last duel wasn’t?” It’d been a control-oriented deck, centered around locking down the opponent’s Monster Zones and depriving them of options until the deck could summon its lategame threats – an interesting opponent, to be sure, but it’d lacked the thrill Yusaku hadn’t known he’d been missing until the duel against Onizuka.

He stays silent, turning away in thought. Shoichi rolls his eyes, sliding over in front of him.

“Repeat after me,” Shoichi says, slowly. “You were right, Shoichi. I can’t believe I don’t value my best friend. But I’ve learned from my mistakes! I lov–”

Yusaku slaps a hand over his mouth, shooting him a withering gaze. The minute he moves, Shoichi starts talking again, and it’s all Yusaku can do to bury his head in his hands and pretend he’s not listening. Still, it’s good seeing Shoichi back on his feet. It brings to mind better days, summers floating by with the smell of meat on the grill.

“You should duel him again sometime,” Shoichi says. “Make friends, once in a while. It’d be good for you. He’s a good guy, if the tabloids are true.”

“Yeah,” Yusaku mutters. “We’ll see.” He’s read the reports too, knows the rumors just as well as Shoichi. Orphans’ hero, I guess.

“The publicity would be a nice boost,” Shoichi adds, with a smug grin, and Yusaku relents.

–

“Go Onizuka,” a gruff voice says, across the line.

“Hello? This is Fujiki Yusaku – Playmaker,” he says, feeling out of place, awkward.

“Oh, I remember you! Your duel really did give me a run for my money,” Go says, and Yusaku can hear the smile in his voice.

“Yeah, it was a good duel. That’s, ah, kind of why I called today.”

“You want a rematch?”

Yusaku pauses, unsure how to proceed, but Go’s laugh rings across the line, honest and unexpected.

“I’ve been thinking about our duel for the past two weeks, Fujiki. You’re an interesting guy, running a Cyberse deck – really making a name for yourself. Listen, you can turn me down, ah – maybe you could do me a favor? Afterward, we can play a few rounds, or get lunch on me, whatever you’d want.”

Yusaku blinks, surprised. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“See, the kids at the orphanage have been begging to meet Playmaker, right? And after that duel I had with you, they’re convinced we’re pals. I really wouldn’t want to let them down, but–”

Yusaku laughs, startling even himself. “Yeah, okay. Yeah, that – that sounds good.”

“I’m glad,” Go says, relief plain in his voice. “When are you free?”

“I’m clear for the rest of this week, actually,” Yusaku says. Across the room, Shoichi whirls around in his chair, giving Yusaku a strange look.

“How does Sunday sound?” The warmth in Go’s voice is buoyant, and Yusaku hesitates for a split second. It’s been too long since he’d really spoken to anyone besides Shoichi, he thinks, picking up his tablet pen Shoichi sends him another curious look, walking towards him with a mischievous glint in his eye. Yusaku marks the day down on his calendar before replying, juggling the phone onto his shoulder to keep both it and his tablet out of Shoichi’s reach.

“Sunday’s great,” he says, briefly, shooting Shoichi a glare.

“You can meet me here,” Go says, pausing. Pages rustle in the background, and Go curses, softly, before reciting an address sheepishly across the line. “It’s the orphanage, actually.”

“That’s fine.”

“Great! I, um, I’ll see you then?”  Yusaku can hear Go’s shy smile in his voice again, and it makes him wonder. When’s the last time I really smiled like that?

“See you then.” He hangs up with shaky hands, turning to face Shoichi’s dazzling smile.

“Sounds like someone’s got a date,” Shoichi says, cheeky grin glued to his face.

“Save it,” Yusaku says, wearily, but he doesn’t bother to correct him.

–

The remainder of the week passes in a blur of dizzying publicity shoots and stretches of isolation in his apartment, empty and strangely cold, even with the summer haze approaching. The cityscape transforms in the humid heat into a mirage of lights and sounds that leave Yusaku winded every time he steps outside, reporters and photographers never far from his trail.

Sunday rolls around, and Yusaku’s almost – nervous.

“I’m going out,” he says, and Shoichi almost rolls off the couch in surprise, eyebrows shooting up to meet his bangs.

“You’re going out,” Shoichi repeats blankly. “Is this that date you were talking about a few days ago–”

“Bye.” Yusaku slams the door pointedly on his way out, lips quirking up in amusement despite himself.

The city is a living thing these days, huge screens plastered on every available public surface broadcasting the latest and greatest in dueling news. Gleaming new duel disks sit, lonely, on display in every electronics store Yusaku passes, kids gathering in flocks to press their hands eagerly to the cold glass and stare in awe at the newest model. Was I ever one of them?

– but there’s no use dwelling on the past, he tells himself. He’s made his choices.

He speeds up his pace, eager to leave the busy downtown districts behind.

Eventually, he stops in his tracks, eyes flitting upward to read the orphanage’s sign, making sure he’s got the right building before unlatching the gate and making his way towards the door.

It opens before Yusaku reaches it, and he’s suddenly face to face with Onizuka. He’s tall, and Yusaku notes, with a hint of surprise, that he looks exactly the same as his online avatar. In real life, he’s almost imposing, if not for his welcoming smile, and Yusaku suddenly feels out of place, unsure of how to handle himself outside of the comfort of his online persona to fall back onto.

“You must be Playmaker,” Go says. “Fujiki, right?”

“Yes,” he says, and Yusaku looks up in surprise as Go chuckles to himself.

“I’d expected your hair to be – ah, well, where are my manners? Come in, please – the children are dying to meet you.”

“A word of warning,” Yusaku says, hesitantly. “I’m not – not too great with children.” Or people, he doesn’t say. It’s probably implied.

“Nah, don’t worry.” Go laughs, airy and easy. “Trust me, they’ll love you.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

When Go opens the door, the soft hum of noise from the room quiets down, and Yusaku enters to the weight of around twenty tiny eyes, all fixed on him. The silence is broken with a girl’s quiet gasp of wonder, and suddenly he’s bombarded with cheers and questions from all sides.

“Is that your real hair?”

“Are you really Playmaker?”

“Why do you look like an anime character? That’s so cool!”

Yusaku blinks in surprise, frozen in place for a split second before a light tap on his arm snaps him back to reality. Go turns to him, speaking softly. “Sorry, they can be overwhelming, I know –”

Yusaku smiles, slowly, shaking his head. “I – I think I’ll be okay.”

He approaches the front of the room, stuffing his hands awkwardly into his pockets. “Okay, one question at a time,” he says, with a serious voice, and the hands all fly up into the air, eager to ask.

His eyes meet Go’s, and the pleased relief he sees there is enough for him to dive in, nodding at the first child with a deep breath.

–

“Thanks for doing that,” Go says, with a wide smile, once they make their way out of the building.

His smile turns his eyes up at the corners, and Yusaku is suddenly fascinated at the ease with which Go makes any room his own, the effortless liquid charisma that screams look at me. Go balances his entertainer persona and his genuine personality with ease, and – Yusaku is suddenly jealous. Because despite the success and the glamour, Yusaku can't shake the feeling that he's missed something, that he's forgotten how to be someone outside of just Playmaker, the pro duelist.

Go reminds him of someone he might have been, once.

“You don’t do this much, huh?”

“No, I don’t really make a habit out of associating with children,” Yusaku retorts, breaking himself out of his thoughts, and Go snorts.

“I meant, this,” Go says, waving his hand between Yusaku and himself. “You don’t get out much, do you? I don’t mean it in a bad way, but you stare at the city like it’s the first time you’ve ever seen it.”

I know this city better when it’s virtual. Yusaku pauses, because what he wants to say makes him sound like he’s – like he’s some sort of dueling hermit.

He supposes that’s what he is, and he huffs a breath of bitter laughter through his nose before replying. “I guess you’re right,” he says. “I don’t do this much.”

Go hums thoughtfully, shrugging. “Did you grow up here?”

“I –” Don’t remember, he wants to say, biting back his words. “No,” he lies. “I guess in a way, it is all new.”

Go’s eyes sparkle at that, and if he picks up on Yusaku’s pause, he doesn’t show it. “I’ll show you around.”

“I don’t want to trouble you –”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Go says, quickly. “Unless, of course, you’re busy, or – ah, I’d understand, pro dueling schedules and all that.” He’s giving Yusaku an out and Yusaku knows it, knows he should take it. But – something in Go’s tone reminds Yusaku of someone he’d been once, full of wide-eyed delight for the sights and sounds around him, and it fascinates and repulses him in equal measure.

It’s not a bad feeling.

“Okay,” Yusaku says, before he can talk himself out of it, and Go’s grin grows even more.

“Same time next week?” he asks, and Yusaku nods.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

[egyptiansapphiredragons]

DSOD fic (old ciel12, hope it came out OK)

for egyptiansapphiredragons.

inspired by DSOD.

Kaiba winced as he sipped his coffee, the liquid still too hot. He had never had the patience to wait until it was safer to drink, but he needed the hit of extra energy most mornings.

The current situation was another test of his patience. The Solid Vision System had been fined-tuned long ago for all the types of materials Duel Monsters would require - everything from a dragon’s scales to the porcelain horns of unicorns and monsters.

But human hair? Irises that gave the illusion of life? The dozens of tiny mannerisms that made up a person?

They took a little longer to render.

He’d already winced down one cup of coffee and was halfway to pouring another just for something to do other than stare at the progress bar when his computer chimed.

Seto turned and watched as the central computer shone a blue light into the centre of the simulation zone. The mesh of the form appeared first - a blue skeleton of lines and points that created edges, and the edges created the rough shape of a person.

Next the textures were rendered - the familiar blue jacket, the excessive number of belts, the eyes and hair.

Within the space of a minute a holographic version of the Game King stood staring.

Kaiba frowned. He was still completing early tests so he didn’t expect perfection, but there was several things that he could immediately tell were wrong.

Something was off about the hair. It wasn’t…wild enough? That must be it. Or the computer didn’t know how to reconcile that bizarre change from black to red.

And the outfit - he should have spotted it before, but the other Yugi - Atem - didn’t wear it in such a tame fashion.

The resulting effect was a hologram looking more like Yugi, and that was no good.

Kaiba was startled from his thoughts by his AI. He’d left it running while he worked so it could compare the quality of the human simulation to the usual Duel Monsters, photos and other references.

“Master Kaiba, might I suggest saving this under your demonstration drive?” it asked. “Comparison to the standard of other holograms and resource files suggest that this result provides a satisfactory imitation of a human.”

“No. The result is subpar, especially for the simulation of a duelist.” Kaiba brought up the render again, scanning the specifications. “You know we don’t settle for anything less than perfection.”

“Are there any problem areas you would like me to highlight? The hair again, for example?”

“The hair is a problem, but…” Kaiba went to refill his coffee, making the AI wait as punishment for its cheek. “I want you to narrow the references you use. Find footage of Yugi Mutou from within duels only. No public appearances, and no photographs unless I’ve approved of them. Focus on tournaments only. You can trash any practice or casual duels recorded at Kaibaland after…”

He searched his personal inbox, found the email Yugi had sent him about their trip to Egypt. Since he didn’t give out his personal address, the only reason it had reached him at all was because Mokuba had seen it and passed it on to him. Actually, Mokuba had been such a pest about the trip that in the end Seto had gone with him. He could hardly have let his brother run off to another continent without proper supervision, after all.

There was the date. “7th March, this year.”

The AI paused in a way Kaiba recognised that it was firing some subroutine especially designed to nitpick and disagree with him. He had designed that subroutine, of course, but he wished he could improve the machine’s voice recognition so it would know when not to bother arguing.

“Parameters are in place. Are you sure about applying this filter? There are more recent choices available, and these would make a duelist feel that they were duelling against Yugi Mutou more effectively…”

Kaiba tapped at the keyboard, interrupting its monologue. “I’m saving this current setting for use at Kaibaland. But since duellists may want to relive the famous tournaments, I think it only right to represent the entirety of a duelling career. From now on, let’s keep the new file as a ‘Classic’ mode under my personal drive.”

The AI gave its approval sound. “All immediate tasks at hand have been cleared. Your sign-in hours suggest you have taken significant overtime recently. Might I suggest an early evening for improved productivity tomorrow?”

Kaiba pinched his nose. The machine had been asking him that question nearly every day. “No, I’m staying. And from now on, make an exception: don’t go asking those pointless questions to me.”

He wondered idly if Mokuba had tampered with the settings to take a stricter observation of his work habits. How long had it been since they’d had dinner together?

He texted Isono to see if Mokuba would be home that evening, and got back to work.

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

Kaiba had turned off the automated assistant so he could work in peace. The render was finally looking halfway decent - the new filter for the machine to learn from had seen to that - and Seto compiled the program.

Since the last tests Seto had tampered with the rendering process so he didn’t have to see the layering of the mesh and then the textures if he didn’t want to. It was more efficient this way, he had decided, after noticing how long he’d been staring at the wall each time while waiting for the render to complete.

The light faded and Seto looked across the room to Atem.

The King of Games met his eye, and smirked.

Kaiba approached the simulation zone. He examined the hologram for a moment before asking, “Who are you?”

The hologram paused. “Yugi Mutou.”

Seto shook his head. “Wrong. In front of me, you answer to Atem.”

“Understood.”

Kaiba pinched his nose. “What sources did you use to build your speech dictionary?” When Atem stared at him, Kaiba held up a hand and crossed to his computer. “Hold on. I’m making you the point of control for the learning algorithms.”

Atem tipped his head to one side and folded his arms. “Do you not have a computerised assistant for that?” He ignored Atem, transferring control to the interface behind the hologram. “There. Now, do you see the dictionaries?”

“Yes. They are default dictionaries, used by the Duel Server when giving instructions in practice duels.”

Kaiba gave an impatient grunt. He’d figured as much. “Throw it out. Keep hold of Yes and No, and trash the rest. Got that?”

“…Yes.”

“Good. Now, use the existing film footage from Battle City to redefine your speech dictionary. Have you got that?”

“Yes.”

“How long will it take?”

Atem frowned and Kaiba remembered he’d just told him to throw out the dictionary.“I - never mind, I can check myself-”

He started to move back to the computer when Atem held up four fingers, then ten fingers.

“Forty minutes?”

The hologram nodded, giving him a smile that was mostly a smirk. Kaiba sighed, crossed the room and sank down into his chair. “Let me know when you’re done.”

He had barely started checking his emails when a shadow fell over him. The hologram had followed him, and stood stopped at the very edge of the simulation zone. Kaiba clicked his tongue. He looked up, making no attempt to hide his annoyance. “What? Do you have a question?”

“Yes.”

Kaiba looked down at the pen he was tapping in his hand. “Can you write?” he asked, not looking at the hologram.

“No.”

Kaiba blew out his breath. Sometimes he thought he was crazy to give his machines enough personality to vex him. “Then if you haven’t the words for whatever you wanted to ask, get back to the task.”

He carried on his work, but the hologram didn’t move. Eventually he looked up again, intent on shooing the hologram away.

The hologram was staring at him, an oddly sad look on its face. Seto was suddenly reminded of Battle City, his words to the other Yugi -

‘Can you trample your friends on the way to your destiny?’

Seto had never seen that look on the other Yugi’s face before. He’d seen fear, on occasion. (He’d been the cause of that fear, once…) He’d seen him on the verge of defeat. But he hadn’t seen sadness before. And to think that the cause of it on that day had been that worthless dog?

Seto could understand Atem’s duelling strategies well enough, but what went on in that spiky head of his was another issue entirely.

Kaiba realised he’d been watching the hologram watch him while he reminisced. He snapped to attention and looked down at his screen. “You’re a distraction. Go wait in the zone and tell me when you’re done.”

The hologram almost looked to be scowling as it backed off.

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

It took another few evenings of work, but finally he had gotten the practice duel he wanted. He’d been waiting so long for a decent opponent to play against that it seemed he’d gotten rusty, as he made a few foolish errors.

Or maybe that was just a sign that he had the rival he needed.

Atem smirked as his combo brought both Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl onto the field, and used a magic card to bring down one of his dragons. Kaiba smirked. That dragon was part of a trap he’d been setting up, and now it was gone. Wasn’t it just so frustrating to have an opponent who could slow him down like this?

“My turn!” He drew, chuckling at his selection. He’d never been so in tune with his deck as he had recently. Little wonder. His company was enjoying total dominance not just of the market, but of Domino. This was his city, and this was his duel. “You better be ready for this, Atem!” He managed to improvise a new strategy and bring out Blue Eyes Ultimate in one turn.

He attacked and sure enough, Atem had a trap card ready.

“Negate Attack! Too bad, Kaiba.”

Kaiba scoffed. “So you bought yourself one turn. Little good it’ll do you.” But as he glanced up at the monitors above, he saw his own heart rate was racing a mile a minute.

Whether Atem noticed or not, he couldn’t say, but the smaller duelist gave a knowing look in response. “Draw! First, I sacrifice Dark Magician Girl to summon Catapult Turtle!”

Kaiba frowned. That was a trade down to begin with. Was he planning something using the monster’s type?

“Next, I use Catapult Turtle’s effect and sacrifice Dark Magician to deal direct damage to your life points!” Atem held up another card, a victorious smile on his face. “And with this card, that damage will be doubled, taking your Life Points - ”

“Cease,” Kaiba growled.

The hologram stopped dead. Seto took off his duel disk and threw it on his desk, disabling the duel as he did so. “What the hell was that?”

The hologram stared, puzzled. “The best move, Kaiba.”

“That is not what I meant.” Kaiba gripped his nose, feeling the starts of a migraine coming on. “Why would you sacrifice both Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl on the same turn just to attempt to deal me piercing damage?”

The hologram frowned. “With that piercing damage, you would have lost significant life. My next play was Swords of Revealing Light, which would have prevented you - ”

“I know what the card does. I want to know why you didn’t try something else.”

“This was the most logical choice.”

Kaiba almost laughed. “What makes you think your play style should value logic more than anything else?”

The hologram folded its arms. “Records indicate that Yugi Mutou’s duels have always turned impromptu tactics into a long-game strategy. When this is not possible, the most logical option -”

“Enough!” Kaiba barked. “Take a look over the duel data again. This time, pay attention to behaviours surrounding tributes and damage-dealing. Don’t let me see you tribute monsters that way again, or I’ll throw you out as the cheap imitation you are!”

But the hologram didn’t flinch, merely raised an eyebrow. “I can only follow the instructions you give me, exactly as you give them. But allow me to fill in the gaps.”

And he turned his back on Seto, moving to the centre of the room before beginning the data analysis.

Seto stared. When had the cheap copy gotten so cocky? It ought to know its place.

He caught himself, noting he felt distinctly… odd. His heart rate was elevated, his fists clenched. He actually wanted to yell, which he hadn’t done in a long time. Nowadays executives that wasted his time in board meetings earned a withering look from him, and that was enough.

It stopped him cold when he realised he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this angry.

He glared over at the hologram, and was startled to see it looking back at him.

Seto folded his arms, and scowled. “What are waiting for?”

Atem didn’t answer him. He just turned away.

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

“You’re taking the whole evening off?” Mokuba had gone to the dining table, school books already laid out as if he’d expected his brother to only stay for dinner.

“I can do that on occasion.” Seto had had the wall knocked out a while ago, so that one of the many sitting rooms of the mansion joined onto the dining room. It made talking to his brother on his rare evenings off a little easier. He relaxed into the sofa, body aching from so many hours sitting in his lab chair in his office chair. If he kept up the evening work, he’d have to have a better chair moved into the room. He dropped his head into the comfortable leather, shutting his eyes.

“So…we can have some time together later?”

Seto cracked an eye open. “Sure. We can even order takeout, as soon as your homework is done.”

Mokuba brightened, and went back to scribbling busily.

They were silent for a time. Seto allowed himself to stretch out on the couch, and he lay half-watching the TV with the sound off so as not to disturb Mokuba. Footage from the latest tournament in America was playing. Kaiba had attended the opening ceremony and planned to visit to give out the prize to the winner, but otherwise he’d been too busy with his work with Duel Links to care. They had reached the semifinals now, and Seto could tell already that the participants were inexperienced.

The latest generation appeared obsessed with overreliance on combos that paid off immediately. There was hardly a speck of skill between them. Occasionally he’d see a duelist imitating either himself or Atem (or sometimes they even imitated the deadbeat, which always made him laugh), but usually they never understood the strategies behind the decks well enough to be true contenders. He’d have to focus the next card releases around encouraging young duelists to actually think about strategy…

He was almost dozing off to the coverage when half time was suddenly called. Apparently it was some anniversary of Pegasus’ murder, since they appeared to be taking a moment to pay tribute to him. Seto scoffed and flipped the channel.

“Hey, Seto?”

Seto looked over at Mokuba, but his eyes were still on his work. Seto breathed a soft sigh of relief. He hadn’t seen his former captor on the TV.

“Yeah?”

Mokuba fidgeted for a few moments. “You’ve been working a lot - in the evenings, I mean. Are you doing something new?” When Seto paused, he quickly added, “If it’s a secret, I can wait.”

Seto sat up. “Of course it’s not a secret.” He wanted to tell Mokuba that there were no secrets between them, but that hadn’t always been true when they were growing up, especially when he first took over Kaiba Corp. But at any rate, there was no reason to keep this a secret. “I’m building another hologram. One that can actually give me a challenge.”

“You mean that new one of Yugi? Some of our beta testers have been struggling to defeat him.”

Because they’re amateurs who couldn’t beat a watered-down Atem if they tried, Seto thought. But he just shook his head. “Not exactly, Mokuba. It’s… someone else.”

“Oh, you mean the Pharaoh?” Mokuba said, unpeturbed. He chuckled at the look of momentary shock on Seto’s face. “Who else could it be? He’s the only person who was ever able to beat you, apart from Pegasus.”

“He’s the only one who beat me fairly. Pegasus was a charlatan relying on cheap tricks.” Seto shifted his weight.

Mokuba didn’t seem bothered by the mention of Pegasus, he just shifted forward in his seat. “Can I see?”

Seto turned his eyes back to the television. “What? The hologram?”

“Yeah.” Mokuba’s voice was quiet. There was the soft sound of him setting his pen down on the table. “I didn’t know him altogether well, but I’d like to think that we were friends.”

Seto stared at the TV, not speaking. For some reason his jaw had gone tight. He knew what he should be doing, but somehow he couldn’t force out a single word.

The silence had stretched on long enough to become uncomfortable when Kaiba laid back down on the couch, folding his arms. “Not yet. It’s not done.”

Mokuba went back to his homework. Seto was almost drifting off, thinking his brother had dropped the subject when Mokuba said quietly, “Seems like we haven’t seen the others much since he left.”

Kaiba’s go-to response was normally a snarky comment about how that was a good thing, since the group’s constant natter wore on his nerves. But Mokuba’s tone gave him pause. When Seto looked back at his brother, he realised there was an odd look there. It wasn’t exactly sadness - Seto was sure he’d recognise that.

But whatever it was, it made Mokuba look suddenly older.

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Kaiba frowned as he walked into the lab that evening. Atem was perched on the desk, already waiting for him.

“How’d you-”

“You gave control of the program to me.” Atem crossed his arms and shrugged. “I didn’t feel like processing the data in sleep mode.”

Kaiba didn’t answer, just crossed the room to the coffee machine. When he saw there was nothing in it, he cursed.

Atem chuckled softly. “In a fine mood today, are we?”

Kaiba had his coffee mug in his hand, staring at it like it had let him down by being empty. He set it down, not looking at his impertinent creation. “Have you finished processing the data yet?”

“Of course.”

“Then are you ready to duel?”

“No. There are contradictions within the data that need to be resolved.”

“What conflicts?” Kaiba set his coffee mug down and fixed the hologram with a hard stare. Atem didn’t answer, just kep staring straight ahead. “What duel are you processing from?”

“…The Battle City semi-finals.”

Seto crossed his arms. “…What about that duel indicates a contradiction?”

“There are cards within the deck during Battle City that were not strategically sound choices.”

“Like what?”

“Red Eyes Black Dragon. It doesn’t fit with the theme of the rest of the deck.”

Kaiba snorted. “That card’s never a strategically sound choice. As a power card, it pales next to Blue Eyes, and as a support card, it’s long since been outmoded.”

“Yet it came in useful during that duel.” Atem turned to look at him. It almost looked like he was smirking. “It’s strange. Don’t you think?”

Kaiba folded his arms, giving Atem a hard look. “Let me guess. This is the part where you remind me how it was friendship that helped you win, and it’s because I didn’t have that that of course I lost?”

He hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but there was no sense taking it back now. That duel had been the worst defeat of his life, and Atem’s pep talk afterward hadn’t exactly lessened the blow.

But Atem didn’t snap back like he expected. He seemed to be staring at some point far in the distance. “You remember the last card play, right?”

Kaiba didn’t answer, but he didn’t disagree.

“You tried to match me, strength for strength, because that’s what YOU would have done. But I didn’t beat you with raw strength.”

Seto said nothing.

“All I really wanted then was for you to consider that there might be another way.” Atem looked him dead in the eye. “What you’ve done, with the theme park? It’s very commendable.”

Seto swallowed. “How’d you know about that?��

Atem stared at him. “I accessed the data in the mainframe.”

Kaiba stared back. He found himself stammering, a bad habit he’d been beaten out of as a child. “The - the mainframe. Right. Of course you did.” He turned away, pinching his nose. “You know what? You go ahead and keep learning, I… I need coffee.”

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

A few days past, and each time Kaiba found himself calling off their practice duels. It gave him new appreciation for all the human decision making processes that existed that it was hard for machines to replicate, but it also frustrated him. Some days it felt the only things keeping him sane were the meals he managed to have with Mokuba, and the progress he was making on Duel Links.

Then one morning he walked in to find Atem sitting on his desk. The smaller duelist had his head tilted back and stared up to the sky. Kaiba was about to ask if he thought the owned the place when he noticed something was terribly off.

Atem’s eyes were blank, and staring.

“Atem.” Kaiba marched across the room. “Answer me!”

He got close enough to stand face to face, but there was no response. Weirder still, he could see gold lights moving across his eyes. The lights in the office flickered above their heads.

A second later, he blinked, and seemed to regain focus.

“Kaiba.” He smiled, his voice proud and strong. “Back to duel again?”

“What in the hell was that?”

“I was missing information. So I found an uplink to fill in the blanks. And now I have a perfect replica of every strategy, nuance and characteristic of my deck, up to date from the end of Battle City. If I can get more power, I can get the rest of the missing information.”

He looked so proud of himself, Kaiba had to chuckle in spite of himself. “Oh really? And where did you find the missing information?”

Atem just smiled. “I extended your network to the dimension I needed, and read the data matching the signature I created.”

Kaiba’s grin dropped off his face. “What?”

Atem’s smile just got broader. He slid off the desk and walked over to the whiteboard that was filled with Kaiba’s scrawled notes. “See, you already have masses of power. With a little more refinement you can create a canon, if you can call it that, and extend your available network to the next logical point.”

Kaiba watched as Atem roughed out pseudo code on the board. His heart had begun to pound in his ears as he grasped the implications of what Atem was saying. “And you can - you can make a link to that access point?”

Atem tilted is head to one side, thinking. “In a manner of speaking. I can find the matching signature and read data, but I cannot open a link. That would require more power, and a more advanced approach than my own.”

Kaiba approached him, trying to ignore his racing heart and mind. “Answer me something. What is a true duelist?”

Atem didn’t even hesitate. “A true duelist understands their goals, faces their fears and acknowledges their weaknesses. They duel with pride and with honour, and they live authentically. They meet other duelists as rivals and comrades. There is no line that separates them.”

Kaiba said nothing for a time. Then, very slowly, a smirk spread across his face. “I think you and I’ve got some work to do.” @moophinz @arcatsk @hiramiyugioh @evexe-n Y'ALL, LOOK AT THIS, IT’S PERFECT

[cloudchaserandflitterexplain]

Gyro and Berry Dreams Spoil: Defenders of Equestria

I am merely stating the facts, my dear. We are as well loved as you are intoxicatingly exquisite.

You certainly know how to make a girl feel special even after all these years, hun.

Indeed. And while I would love nothing more to sit here and compose poems about your exceptional grace, we do have a job to do. And today we have something particularly special for everypony.

That’s right, everypony! For the first time ever, we’ve been given spoilers to share with you all!.

Yes, it is quite the honor. We have waited years to be granted such an outstanding privilege. And I do not intend to waste the opportunity. Shall we proceed with the first of our spoilers, my dear?

Sure thing, hun. Let me just open this up and…

Oh, of course.

Is something wrong, my dear?

Maybe you should have a look for yourself.

Don’t those two have enough cards by now? Surely after all the work we’ve put into this game for the devs, they should have seen fit by now to make another version of one of us!

Well, they have done a lot as well.

True, but why should they get all the credit while we get nothing?

There is another card…

Perhaps we’re on that one?

I suppose there is. But first let us dissect this one.

“And two others”?!

Was wondering when you’d see that.

This is positively absurd! The wording there implies you can move any card whatsoever! While there are certainly rules for moving Troublemakers, how does one move a resource? Or a problem?

It’s possible this isn’t the final version of the card…

But even if it’s supposed to be “and two other friends", the power level is rather disgusting. Moving four characters for the price of one? That’s a bit overkill, don’t you think?

Not to mention it doesn’t specify ownership. Is this card really supposed to let you move your opponent’s cards too?

Ugh, I can’t believe they’d print this card.

Actually, once you overlook the oddity of the phrasing “this card and two others,” I find the card to be quite enticing. I’ve got a combo deck that I’ve been fiddling with recently that would love something like this. Perhaps this is the missing component that shall truly make that deck sing.

Especially since if you move something else with 2 or less power, you will be allowed to move this card again as well. Which will, of course, continue the cycle endlessly

Oh, just what we need. A ridiculously overpowered aggro card that’s also an insane combo tool. I refuse to believe this.

I, for one, look forward to crushing my opponents on the back of this card.

Despite the somewhat objectionable choice of characters to showcase the art. Hmph.

Let’s just move on. Hopefully the next one will be—

Oh, by the Sun and Moon. You’ve got to be kidding me.

Don’t tell me it is yet another card featuring our rivals.

Worse.

I’m Berry Dreams. Dreams! Is that so hard to remember? Why does everyone confuse me with Berry Punch? I’m a cheerleader and she runs a vineyard. They’re completely different!

Come now, they never did imply that either of these spoilers was supposed to be either of us. Perhaps they simply thought the card was worth showcasing in our little explanation due to its merit as a strong and useful card?

I suppose you have a point there. I haven’t actually seen what it does yet.

Let’s check it out!

...You’re kidding. All of them? For one Action Token?

Ah! What a potent effect! I can see many a control deck that would simply love this card.

In fact, I might include it in my combo deck as well. 1 AT to ensure the only power my opponent has to meet cost requirements of immediate events is their Mane? How exceptional. Not to mention the side effect of removing most annoying friends so my opponent cannot use them against me.

Why yes, I can see immediately why they would choose to highlight such a magnificent card through us. Well done, devs, well done.

The concepts of game balance and a healthy metagame are completely lost on you, aren’t they?

Hmph. Simply because something is powerful does not mean it is unbalanced. And it is not as though these same cards won’t be available to everypony. One’s a common and the other’s an uncommon, after all.

What? There’s no way that can be—

Simply have another look. See? Plain as day. “C" on this one, “U" on that one.

That’s it, I’m done. This is clearly some sort of mistake, or perhaps some huge joke at our expense, and I’m not taking part of it any more.

Oh dear, she truly is upset. Well, since my normally effervescent companion has vacated the premises with the most cantankerous demeanor I have ever seen her possessing, I suppose that’s all for today. Thank you for joining us today.

And I hope you’re all looking forward to these spoilers as much as I am. I believe they shall granted many of us several outstanding victories. Farewell, all.

[ygoblog-dot-tunglr]

I love how the combo Eldlich mirror literally comes down to who can combo first, or who can get to the Eldlich part of their deck first should that fail them.

[wavering-eyes]

Warm-Up Fun Post: Collective Banlist Re-Review

I need to put an original post on this blog and noticed I had only reviewed two out of five of my previous banlist analyses, so I’m making this post to comment on the remaining three for the first time and to re-review some cards which have seen a change in favor since then.

Let’s get started.

September 2017

Denglong, First of the Yang Zing

Denglong was usually the other part of True King of All Calamities, since you could change his level to 9 by dumping any of the True Kings into your Graveyard. He also led to a 1-card double Quasar negate combo off of one Souleating Oviraptor (or Fossil Dig, or basically any way to summon Oviraptor). I really doubt Yang Zings will be playable after this, but Yang Zing Dinos needed to get hit for sure and I guess this is one way to do it.

I knew nothing about Yang Zings when I wrote this post but the deck has been through hard times ever since. Yang Zing Zefra is alright though. Correct.

Daigusto Emeral

Wait, what the fuck?

…

Seriously? Gusto have a banned card now? Who thought they had it in them.

The Gusto archetype has never made much of a splash competetively, but they eventually got a generic Rank 4 (that they can barely use) in the form of Daigusto Emeral, which was a key part of the Zoodiac Fusion Substitute combo… which was totally wiped out last banlist. The deck still ran two copies for a while after, but eventually once Link Summoning came around, the space just wasn’t there. Few decks run it at all nowadays.

Which makes its appearance here all the more confusing. Seriously, Konami, what the fuck?

I didn’t make any prediction here, but in the interest of transparency, I’m gonna take every opportunity to decry my younger self for the knowledge he lacked. Daigusto Emeral was most likely banned for causing FTKs because it’s a generic Rank 4 that can revive Gaia Saber, the Lightning Shadow, which enables easy spam of multiple copies of Firewall Dragon. I didn’t know this at the time.

Miscellaneousaurus

A monster that gives Dinos protection during the Main Phase, recursion from grave, a free engine to summon a level 1 Tuner from deck, and an easy way to build up a huge Tyranno Infinity when needed. Miscellaneousaurus did all this and more. The OCG hit Oviraptor instead, so I’m surprised this got hit, but either one hurts the deck a lot (although I think Oviraptor is the stronger of the two).

Correct, it did hurt the deck. It eventually saw play again and Misc got unlimited a couple of years later. Oviraptor is the better card.

Dark Hole/Interrupted Kaiju Slumber

This is an interesting one. Slumber was obvious because it was another two copies of Dark Hole that synergized with the Kaijus that everyone would have run regardless, but Dark Hole at 2 has been a thing for a while. For what it’s worth, getting hit by this hurt a lot if your board consisted of the only Link Monsters your deck had the space for, but if that was that huge of a concern, they’d have hit Raigeki too. Hmm.

Slumber was probably a Kaiju Zoo hit since that was a popular variant. Destruction was infinitely better this format than it’s been in the nearly 3 years since. Both of these cards are now at 3 and see no play whatsoever.

BLS Envoy of the Beginning

It is weird to say that this card is now completely irrelevant, but here we are.  BLS Envoy has been power crept. What a game. (It’s probably still fun to play around with, though.)

It eventually saw play in Burning Abyss until it later got cut. I’ll take the L and say this was mostly wrong.

Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer

Luster Pendulum was a free reoccurring +1 after a Pendulum Summon, but that hardly matters now that Extra Deck Pendulum Summons are restricted by the new format. He’ll probably still turn up in Pendulum decks, though; do not take this to mean that the card is bad now.

Luster sucked for a while and eventually saw play in some variants thanks to Guardragons Elpy and Agarpain. I didn’t understand the direction of Pendulum very well at the time since I had hardly played Pendulum decks. Maybe?

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

I have literally only seen this card played in Mermails since its errata. It’s doing nothing at 1 and will do nothing at 2.

T.G. Hyper Librarian

Synchro spam is also more-or-less dead, so this is probably fine coming back as well. Level Eater is still creeping in the distance, however…

Brain Control

Same story as Brionac, has seen no play since its errata.

Correct on three counts. T.G. Hyper eventually got hit again but that required a then-unthinkable rule revision and I’m not counting that.

Preparation of Rites

Nekroz hype? That’s the deck that got this limited, and they’re almost playable now that nearly every other deck has been nerfed. We’ll see.

EDIT: This is for Vendreads, don’t know how I didn’t realize this immediately.

EDIT 2: Vendreads don’t use this card, what am I saying.  This is for other decks.

Said a lotta wrong things here. Vendreads don’t use it and were also bad. Nekroz plays it but that deck sucked hard until they got more copies of Brionac. Gonna say wrong because “almost playable” is definitely incorrect.

Debris Dragon/Dragon Ravine

Remnants from the Dragon Rulers banlist. These haven’t seen play in a while at 2, probably won’t at 3.

I was so bad at this game, holy smokes. Debris has seen no play but Dragon Ravine is an outstanding card that has only gotten better with time. 1 wrong, 1 correct.

Rescue Cat/Witch of the Black Forest

More cards that have seen no play since their erratas.

This skirts by thanks to lack of a prediction, but Rescue Cat eventually saw play in Burning Abyss to make Dante/Cherubini/Naturia Beast.

Rescue Rabbit

Holy shit.

This card is still way too good.

I think this is supposed to tell us to go buy World Chalice, but this is the nuttiest way to go about doing that I could possibly imagine.

Konami, are you feeling alright?

Saw play in Dinos, World Chalice, and eventually Metalfoes, so I’ll say I was correct, but it did fall off hard.

Wavering Eyes

Hardly relevant, since Pendulum mirrors don’t happen much and decks aren’t so focused on popping their own scales. Back in the day, though, Konami made a huge mistake printing this as a common.

EDIT: I could not possibly have been more wrong. This card should not have been unhit, holy shit. Pendulum mirrors are actually everywhere since the deck’s only expensive card is Duelist Alliance and this card is too fucking good.

That’s pretty funny actually. The revision is wrong and the original post is correct, Wavering Eyes saw play for a week and fell off hard immediately after.

EXTRA:  Cards That Did Not Get Hit, Somehow 

I listed Master Peace, Dragonic Diagram, Maxx “C”, and Trickstar Reincarnation as the most problematic cards left in the format at that point. The OCG limited Reincarnation and the TCG has banned or limited the remaining three; Trickstar Lightstage is also limited here. These weren’t meant to be predictions but it’s interesting to see how many of them came true.

EDIT:  Extra 2:  Cards That Did Not Get Unhit, Somehow 

I listed Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk, El Shaddoll Construct, Evilswarm Exciton Knight, and Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz. The last one was meant to be a joke, but for some reason, Cannahawk is the only card here still on the banlist, and its position has not changed since 2015 or so. What a joke.

Current totals are 8-3-1 correct/wrong/maybe. Not doing math on this ‘cause I did a bad job anyways. Moving on.

October 2017

Blackwing - Gofu the Vague Shadow

Opinion on this card has been surprisingly divided.   Opening Gofu is nuts, but every single one you draw after the first is useless unless you’re running Allure of Darkness, since you can’t even Summon it unless you control no monsters.  As it turns out, there’s not really a second turn against good boards of Link monsters, so the advantage is just way too high.  This card also breaks the Crystron link we’ll be getting in maybe three years, but there’s no doubt it would have been hit by then, so better sooner than later.

Gofu was way too good and got banned the following list. We got Crystron Halqifbrax about two and a half years after this prediction, too. Correct.

SPYRAL GEAR - Drone

SPYRAL Quik-Fix

These cards did not serve the same purpose, but they were limited for the same reason: they’re both valid targets for Machine Duplication, which led to insane plusses off of drawing it alongside either of these cards (or any card that searches them), and with a combined nine copies of SPYRAL Resort, you would usually open both, so really the Machine Duplication was the inconsistent part.  Machine Duplication with Quik-Fix gets three searches, and Drone stacks the deck so there isn’t even any guessing involved with the Super Agent effects.  Both combos can immediately make Double Helix with a monster left over.  So why didn’t they hit Machine Duplication?  In truth, it’s not actually that broken of a card for two main reasons.

1. These are basically the only relevant targets for the card, so hitting it would fuck over decks like Deskbots etc, which is totally undeserved (though this hasn’t stopped them in the past, see Emergency Teleport and ROTA.)

2. Ash negates it.  People have been seriously playing Double Summon instead for exclusively this reason.  I wish I was joking.

So that’s that.  Quik-Fix was expected, but I didn’t see them hitting Drone.  Good riddance though, the deck can search both of these cards just fine at one copy.

No other decks played Dupe until Cyber Dragon got new support. SPYRAL ended up being so strong after this it required a second banlist. Correct.

What will the next format look like?  Probably just like the post-Zoo ban pre-CIBR format

Effectively Pendulum-Draco format, which came later. This was still wrong because SPYRAL was still tier 1.

2 correct, 1 wrong. I reviewed Februrary 2018 already, so let’s go over some stuff that deserves further comment.

Firewall Dragon

“But they won’t hit a main character card!!”

The leadup to MR4 had me exhausted seeing a new Firewall loop with every passing week.  The only one that saw competitive success was Dino FTK, but it took no time at all for this to be highlighted as a problem card, and only six months or so for it to finally get hit.  Good riddance.   This card is unfair at any more than one copy per deck.

Okay, me, let me stop you at “this card is unfair.”

SPYRAL Resort

Much of SPYRAL’s consistency is dead outright, since their usual combos involved more than one copy of this, and dealing with it is immensely easier.  Ogre can practically end their turn.  Even if they open it, that means they can’t resolve Master Plan.   Another elegant hit.  

I’m not grading it differently because of this information, but “even if they open it, that means they can’t resolve Master Plan” turned out to be wrong because that combo route uses Knightmare Unicorn to spin your own field spell so you can search it off of Master Plan.

Artifact Moralltach

This card was not $7 a day ago, I swear.  The hype is real.

Artifacts have strong potential for Side Deck play, and possibly in the main with Sanctum as accessible as it is, though that hasn’t been too successful since the days of Artifact Invoked Windwitch.  Keep an eye on this for sure.

Artifacts did eventually see Side Deck play, in the form of a 4-card package of Sanctum and Scythe (and optionally Trap Trick to optimize copies). I was wrong about Moralltach, though.

Thunder King Rai-Oh

I heard about this banlist about an hour into playtesting against Thunder Stun because I had absolutely nothing better to do, and this analysis post was delayed for an entire day because my brain was so fried from the monotony of playing fucking Thunder Stun that I couldn’t actually think any more for the rest of the day.

This card is frustrating, but I guess it’s there to keep you honest.  Droll on a 1900 body that can negate inherent Special Summons is absolutely nothing to sneeze at.  Perhaps it could see Side Deck play in Pendulum strategies?

Rai-Oh never saw play in Pendulum, but Thunder Dragon rarely did, for the sole purpose of making Thunder Dragon Colossus, which similarly locks down searching.

Mind Control

Now THIS is actually an interesting prospect.  This card has not seen an errata of any kind, and is arguably still playable going second.  Taking control of monsters actually breaks Co-links and the card itself doesn’t prevent you from using your opponent’s monsters to summon from the Extra Deck, so this could actually be a strong counter to some strategies.  Mind Control is definitely a card you should keep in mind.

I commented on this already and my predictions have come full circle. Mind Control was so good that it’s back at 1 now.

Bottomless Trap Hole

Another interesting unhit.   Trap cards in general were thought to be powercrept, so Konami has been taking strides in releasing a number of the most powerful ones ever, such as this.  Note: HAT did not have 3x Bottomless.  Also note that HAT will not come back because of this and Moralltach, and that Bagooska is still pretty much a better card than Rafflesia.

I feel fairly confident in saying this card isn’t good enough to be played even at 3, but I feel as though there’s a small chance I could be proven wrong.

BTH saw no play until Traptrix got a Link Monster, and it’s their second best target; Floodgate is usually more destructive.

Onto May 2018.

Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King

Yep, this is Luster Pendulum.  He’s now Zoodiac Drident crossed with Apoqliphort Towers, and naturally he’s on the banlist again.  Feel old yet?

To continue on that analogy, I fully expect this deck to go the way of Qliphorts and continue to see play as a stun variant.  Note that nerfed Draco is still a better deck than Qliphorts, unfortunately.

Nerfed Draco remained a viable anti-meta deck until Diagram got banned.

Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Compulsory Evacuation Device

Fairy Tail - Luna saw no play and Solemn Strike is still at 3.  Who cares.

I only decided to re-review the reviews because of this and the next card. Grand Mole has seen no play, but Altergeist eventually started playing Compulsory and other Trap-based decks soon followed suit. It’s a pretty outstanding card.

Mathematician

This is still a solid card, honestly.  I could see it seeing play again in decks that don’t need a Normal Summon, or if they finally unban Construct.  I don’t think that deck’s in the game right now, but it could be soon.

So Mathematician saw no play whatsoever, but I still think it’s because the right deck doesn’t exist...

Orcust was that deck. Math was sometimes favored over Scrap Recycler thanks to There Can Be Only One (and the fact that Recycler was upwards of $20).

Finally, May 2018.

A - Assault Core

A - Assault Core is a threatening card because it can infinitely loop with itself and Firewall Dragon as long as you can get it off of the board. This can be by linking with it, or by tributing it (as with Cannon Soldier, which causes an FTK). Does that make it a problem card? Sort of. Let’s look at the harms.

ABC can Extra Link you pretty easily already, and Extra Link boards aren’t that impenetrable anymore with Goblin out of the game.

ABC is otherwise a fair deck and has limited competitive results outside of extremely talented and dedicated players.

The Cannon Soldier FTK isn’t consistent without Crystron Needlefiber, which hasn’t been released yet.

Firewall Dragon causes a million more problems than it deserves.

So did A - Assault Core deserve a hit to 1? No, absolutely not. I suppose it had to go so that Firewall could stay, but that card has really, really overstayed its unwelcome.

A got unlimited once Firewall got banned. There’s an implicit prediction here, I think. Correct.

Morphing Jar

Read this card’s effect and tell me that the first five characters don’t remove this card from competitive relevance. I’ll wait.

We have a control deck based around Flip Monsters and it sure isn’t Jar Control. Correct.

Evilswarm Exciton Knight

Going second doesn’t suck as much! This card is certainly going to see play, though there are fewer decks that can make it nowadays, I suppose.

Remember to read this card’s effect five times before you try and summon it–the restriction WILL catch you off guard.

Card saw play, yeah. Correct.

Card Destruction

An interesting sort-of mulligan card. Imagine Magical Mallet or Reload, except with applications beyond Exodia decks. It won’t make any decks by itself, as no unsearchable one-of (Left Arm offering does not work for obvious reasons.) ever should, but I fully expect this to see fringe play–Dangers, Burning Abyss, Phantom Knights, and Zombies are all decks that would absolutely not mind going -1 in order to dump their hand in grave and draw a new one, considering this puts a bunch of combo pieces where they’re most useful.

It is still at 1 and saw fringe play in basically those decks. Correct.

Sky Striker Mecha - Hornet Drones

This was the right hit, but it ends up with a really mixed outcome. Hitting Drones was right because it hits most decks that ran it as an engine and prevents the pure deck from easily making huge Link Monsters by chaining multiple copies to each other. Both of these things were pretty bad for the game. On the other hand, this also means Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage!, which presently commands an $80 price tag, is even more necessary of a card in the decks that do play it, which is also bad for the game. And isn’t that the card that goes +1? Hmm.

Engage got banned a year later due to its use as an engine in Orcust. Not a prediction so no points.

Super Polymerization

The number of decks that would want to play Super Polymerization is limited, and it’s mostly powerful going second in Fusion decks like Invoked or in the fringe decks that change types/attributes along the whole board–Lair and Zombie World (once that comes out) both come to mind.

Targets of interest include Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon, and Mudragon of the Swamp.

Super Polymerization saw fringe play until around Savage Strike, where it became an invaluable asset versus Danger Thunder, Orcust, and Salamangreat alike. It is now at 3 and remained a going-second blowout until Adamancipator came around. The three fusion targets I mentioned were the most common targets which had been printed at that time, and since then, R&D has made it a point to print a strong Super Polymerization target to counter decks that may be too strong going first (Violet Chimera, Predaplants, and the new Fossil Fusions, for example). Correct.

Kozmo Dark Destroyer

It’s been a minute since this deck was even known for scoring occasional tops. Dark Destroyer’s arguably been in a position to come off of the banlist for a long time. I expect nothing from this card or deck; it’s too inconsistent and doesn’t do enough unfair things to pose a serious threat (also Called by the Grave exists), but I guess we’ll see in time whether or not I’m right.

Johnny Nguyen topping regionals in Nowhere, Kansas once every couple of months with random bad decks does not prevent them from being bad decks. Correct.

Called By the Grave

Speaking of which, Called got put to 2. I’m still torn on whether this card is nasty I don’t think 2 is the right number for this card, though; time has shown that 2 isn’t the right number for any card.

Card got put to 3 in the following list. Correct.

Limiter Removal

Fundamentally, this is still a -1 that does nothing to affect board state and might as well actually do nothing if it doesn’t win you the game on the spot. It’s not a horrendous card, but theory doesn’t play with this very well and there’s not a good deck that would want to play it at the moment.

Saw no play. Correct.

Destiny Hero - Disk Commander

People are writing this off, and I can see where they’re coming from, but I’m not convinced that this is totally useless. Demise HEROes (If you’re shocked I said those two words in sequence, I’m amazed you read all of this and haven’t come to the conclusion that I’m a lost cause) is a variant that actually saw a non-negligible amount of success and I think this fits right in with that: opening with Vyon and Mask Change, you can safely send Disk Commander, set your hand, Demise for as much as possible, set whatever you can, discard whatever you can’t. Following turn, flip up Rivalry, Mask Change, and more negation, then in end phase, flip up Back to the Front to bring back Disk Commander to draw two.

Of course I’m presenting an ideal situation here, and it’s obviously creates a stronger board if you put monsters on it that aren’t Dark Law, but I don’t think such a gameplan is totally ridiculous, either. I don’t expect it to see success, but at the same time, I have the feeling it’s in part because nobody thinks that it could.

Though I did have to jump through a bunch of hoops to come up with some reason to not send Malicious instead. I think that’s Malicious’ problem, though.

It saw no success and this suggestion is the pipe dream of a madman.

Burial from a Different Dimension

Zombies go off with this card and brick with it at 3. It wasn’t too strong to be at 3, but I don’t expect it to see play at 3 copies per deck anyways. It also has potential as an extremely niche side-deck card, but I don’t think any deck that this disrupts is shaking in their shoes at this in particular, if such a deck even exists right now.

“any deck that this disrupts” is implicitly supposed to be ABC, if that’s not clear. Burial hasn’t seen that much play, and none at 3 copies, but I don’t know how to judge this for accuracy.

7 correct, none incorrect for May 2018.

[thisisthemadhouse]

3: The Grey Christmas

Dear James,

Charity needs to stop. Since my last letter I swear her and Mia have been on a secret mission to get my goat (not literally of course, Mia is the one with the pet goat after all).

Gryffin is back on his feet (thank goodness) but he is still only taking the night shifts. Charity on the other hand has been having the time of her life. The House has been preparing for the holidays and Charity seems to be doing some hall decking of her own.

This year she has taken up painting. Specifically painting everything in the goddamn House grey.

In one of his few daytime appearances, Gryffin jokingly chastised her for not using black, insisting she was wasting a perfectly golden opportunity to blast Rolling Stones music through the House. She responded with a mournful stare and a choked sob, before returning to her ashen detailing of Meriwheather’s china cabinet.

Meals have become subdued. Even now, in the midst of the holiday season, none of us seem to have any appetite, including Gryffin, who will not usually pass up a holiday meal.

There is still no sign of snow. Little One is very disappointed.

As for Mia, she has been very active in the Control Room lately. She only sleeps for a few hours during the day and her portal is almost always turned on.

I can tell the Girl is agitated by the increase of Mia’s presence. My feedback relay has been going haywire. I had to stop myself from yelling at Charity earlier. You know irrational outbursts aren't like me James. Actually I’m sure you’d say they are exactly like me, and I fear you may be correct, however yelling at Charity never does much good. Mia is seriously affecting my head. I haven't seen her and Charity this strong in a long time. I can see it is getting to Meriweather as well. She is always pretty irritable but with the increase in Charity’s log time she has become absolutely livid.

I can hear her in the Control Room now, shouting at the input stream. And though I can’t hear it, I know Mia is off in her little corner chuckling away. She always finds Meriweather’s outbursts funny. With the back to back Mia/Charity combo days we’ve been having, my relay has been making me feel quite ill. At this point it is hard for me to do anything. The best we can do for now is to put the Girl to sleep as much as possible and hope for the best. Doesn’t really help me but the Girl comes first.

Hopefully the House will do better with a change of pace. There is going to be a lot of activity here in the next few days. I hope Gryffin is able to regain his health in time for all the commotion. I know he would hate to miss it. Besides leaving Little One and Meriweather at the controls during stressful situations can only end in disaster.

I also hope Charity gets bored of redecorating soon. I would love to be able to walk around the House without tripping over paint cans.

As for myself I am actually writing you from Meriweather’s studio. She thought having more things to look at would help distract me from the mess of input running through my head. It was sweet of her to try but the room switch is only a marginal help. It is very busy here though, I will give her that.

Meriweather seems to have an affinity for flying inanimate objects. As I write her room is amuck with soaring coat hangers reorganizing her closet. I sit on a, comfortable if a little stiff backed, floating arm chair. She has also let me use her personal tea set which is equipped with silver pieces each with its own set of wings. My hot cup of earl grey (the only kind the teapot brews) is hovering by my shoulder, supported with wings that resemble a chic-a-dee’s. Though all of this is quite fantastical, it is not out of character for Meriweather’s tastes.

One thing has surprised me though. Her studio is filled with a vast collection of potted plants. I never really pegged her as a gardening person. These plants look a little odd though. Oh, nevermind. I just picked up the potted snowdrop she has on her writing desk. It’s not actually a plant. It’s a to-scale sculpture of one, carved out of crystal. That makes a lot more sense. Meriweather loves anything she can see her reflection in. I bet all of these plants are fake. Yep. I just got up and checked. They are all made of crystal. I do admire her craftsmanship. They are all meticulously constructed. There is evening veining detail on the leaves.   

No luck in the trying to get Mia to stop with the “cutting into my chest thing” by the way. I swear if I didn’t have stunted pain receptors she’d be in deep trouble.

The teapot is flapping at me insistently. It must be getting late. I think I will try and get some sleep. Lord knows I need it. I will write you again soon.

Sincerely,

M                                                                       

[thegeneralsnotebook]

Special: On LL, Print & Play, and My Future With The Game

By now, if you’ve been paying any attention at all to the news coming out about Set 11, you’ll likely have heard the big announcement that is accompanying it. That is, that Friends Forever (Set 10) was the last set that will be officially printed and distributed by Enterplay. From this point on, sets will be designed, tested, released and managed exclusively by Commentary is Magic, in addition to their existing responsibilities with regard to managing organized play and all official rule documents. It goes without saying that this is major news for the game, and in accordance, I felt that it would be a good idea to offer my own commentary on what this means, both for the game now, as well as for the foreseeable future.

It bears pointing out first that while in the past I have worked with Commentary is Magic as a commentator for their broadcasts of tournament events, and will continue to do so, neither I nor any of the groups that I work with are affiliated with them in any way. The opinions that shall be expressed within this article are entirely my own, and come from a few days of honest contemplation, coupled with CiM’s extensive explanation for their actions this past Sunday, in their most recent stream.

To begin with, I should point out that regardless of anything else, this sucks. The end of the printed era and the beginning of the Print & Play era means that this game will never again be what it was before. None of us can say how well it will turn out, and while we hope it goes well, it goes without saying that things would have been better with Enterplay still involved. While there has always been a measure of disagreement over Enterplay’s handling of the game in the past, the fact remains that over the course of the game’s existence they have continued to produce an exciting, novel, and fun experience. I have no doubts that the designers responsible for the MLPCCG would have carried on doing so had the prospect made financial sense for their company. Unfortunately, it would seem that it did not. Whatever I have said in the past, I want to thank them right now, for the skill and devotion they provided in taking the game to its current state, and wish them all the best of luck wherever life takes them next.

That being said, the fact that Enterplay will not be continuing on with the license presents the community with a sobering choice. Ordinarily, the lack of a commercial rights-holder to make the game officially would mean the end of things. It would be, unless the community were to decide to continue on without them. This is not without precedent, and is perhaps most notably exemplified by the more than a decade long run of the Star Wars TCG under a fan development body, after Wizards of the Coast suspended development of that game in 2005. Though the Star Wars story does bring with it another important thing to understand: while CiM has made the initial choice to attempt to carry on with the game, they will not be able to do it alone. Unless there is a community willing and ready to continue supporting the game just as they are, this experiment in fan-run MLPCCG will be a short-lived one indeed.

Make no mistake, while playing the game from Set 11 on will no longer require as much of a monetary investment, it will absolutely require an investment of a different sort. Namely, the effort necessary to obtain the master copies of the cards, and to print them, however you decide to do it. This could be as simple as printing on regular paper and affixing the art to other cards to serve as a backing, right up to crafting acceptable playing cards yourself using an artisan print service. The options present a range of difficulty and investment required, but all of them are going to involve more time and effort than throwing some money at Enterplay and having the new cards show up at your doorstep several days later.

This will be a different game than it was before. People can make all kinds of arguments about whether it’s easier or harder to get into now, about the impact this change will have on the secondary market or the value of past collections. These debates are valid, but beneath them I think is a more important point. The game has fundamentally changed, and it will now no longer appeal to some people that it appealed to before. No one should be held in contempt if they decide that the game is no longer for them, and they don’t wish to participate anymore. Inevitably, the community will suffer some attrition from this change. Likewise, none should be held in disdain for choosing to continue on, as I shall be doing.

The gentlemen that make up CiM are good friends of mine, and I know that they have been the subject of a variety of suspicions and ill-will over the course of the existence of their organization. Arguably, it may have started even before then. Yet the evidence that I can see points to them being dedicated servants to the ideal that this community deserves a fun game to play, and that this game deserves as wide a community as it can get.

CiM is betting that enough people will stick around to make their gamble worth it. They are risking a significant amount of time and resources, never mind potential legal liability, to see this thing through. And make no mistake, this gamble that they are making only pays off if the game stays fun and enjoyable for all of the diverse and disparate elements of the community that plays it, rather than only for an elitist cabal. I have the great personal honour of knowing the members of CiM as friends, and I can say that none of these guys are stupid. They understand, and have always understood, the great authority and responsibility that they have as community leaders. This was true even before they claimed any official responsibility for the workings of the game. It perhaps bears repeating that CiM itself was borne out of a desire to grow the game beyond its extant community and present its best face to the wider world. I have never got the impression that their goals as an organization have changed.

Throughout all of their tenure as community leaders, they have gone to great lengths to dispel any suspicions that may have been cast their way. When they assumed control over the official rules and banlist, they began publishing their decklists in advance of official tournaments, denying themselves the opportunity to sweep the field with whatever tricks or combos they had privately discovered. Through events like CoCo and their sponsorship of increased and well-supported organized play, they have given everyone else the chance and support to grow their own local metas, which gives the entire community more opportunities to build better decks and compete at the major events. While it is true that designing the game while competing in it is a strange arrangement, the members of CiM have voluntarily imposed major disadvantages upon themselves in the hope of assuaging these concerns. And after all, every responsibility they have taken on has been done because they enjoy the game and want to be able to keep playing it competitively. To then not be able to keep playing it would obviously be an unworkable arrangement.

Having said all of that, it should perhaps be obvious that my personal take on this matter is a vote of confidence in the new designers. I could ask you, if this game were to continue being made, how else could it be done? Enterplay has made it known that commercially, the proposition does not make sense. Thus further design and production needs to be performed by the community if it is to happen at all. Again then, who else could do it? CiM has been around since nearly the beginning of the game, they have a network of similarly experienced testers, and even more important than that they have the passion and integrity to ensure that this process is carried out correctly. If what we desire is a future where further development on this game still happens, what reasonable alternative do we have to this one?

This is to make no mention of the fact that all of the members of CiM are functional adult human beings with lives outside of pony cards. As someone who has spent some time doing amateur card and set design, I can tell you that it is no easy process. It takes long hours of volunteer time to see a work of the magnitude of an entire set through to completion. Add to that as well all of their work producing content and organizing tournaments across the continent. I can say with no exaggeration that I’ve found their dedication inspiring beyond measure.

Which brings us to the final point. If you are anything like me, your first thought upon hearing of the move to Print & Play was to go to CiM’s Patreon page and either increase your current donation or start a new one. After all, I was willing to pay Enterplay to keep the game going, why wouldn’t I pay its new wardens to equally show my appreciation for their efforts?

Alas, this cannot happen. CiM thought through the matter extensively prior to taking up this responsibility, and as they’ve mentioned elsewhere, turning their efforts into any kind of commercial enterprise presents an enormous risk given that they have no license from Hasbro for the use of MLP show assets. Even doing this as a non-commercial enterprise presents risk on its own. So they have wisely decided to eschew all compensation for their organized play efforts. The next time that you get the chance to meet them in person, I’d recommend a thank-you. It’s honestly the least that they deserve.

So what does that mean for me? Well, from everything I’ve seen so far, Leaders & Legends looks great. Obviously it’s far too soon to say anything about the meta that will shape up after its release, but the cards at least look fun to experiment with. And, given that we have a fresh set of designers for Set 11, I see a new opportunity for some statistical analysis. Once Set 11 has been fully revealed, I’ll be performing an analysis of how the design of the set works out when compared to the Enterplay-designed ones. Hopefully, this will determine if CiM is bringing any fresh philosophy to the table, and maybe offer some hints of what directions they will be pursuing as they move into Set 12 and beyond.

Set 11 marks a brave new beginning for the MLPCCG. I see no reason to stop playing it, thinking about it, or writing about it, so I’ll keep on. I sincerely hope that everyone else who reads this will join me.

Note that this article will not replace my usual October Feature. That one, containing card ratings for the Friends Forever Core meta up to the Old Money/Portal bans, will be around at the usual time near to Hallowe’en.