Switching gears and coming out of retirement.

Hey gang, haven't felt very bloggy lately. Sorry about that, will try to make it up to you. So, here goes.

Productive member of society is a phrase I hear alot, like, constantly. To alot of people those that don't qualify as such are barely people. So here's a question, what the hell does that phrase actually mean?
Well, just looking at it I guess it means someone who contributes to society in some way but most just use it as 'employed' so to be a productive member of society you must be employed. Which makes a kind of sense, everyone who's employed produces something even if it's just a service of some sort but here's my question:

Why not just say 'people who are employed'? I'd be fine with being called unemployed, my goal is to be employed and I should work for that but when you add a flowery method of saying 'unemployed' it's kind of a slap in the face. Especially with all the disdain that phrase seems to aim at people like myself.

So, chime in, if you're still out there. What qualifies someone as a 'productive member of society' to you?

Broken? But the card's completely undamaged!

Continuing my streak of launching discussions based on commentors, let's discuss what makes something broken. I've heard a few people call this guy busted, and it's true he (She?) seems pretty nuts when you just read her text box. I mean, she does a ton of stuff. But there's a few major weaknesses that keep this ole girl in line, the most glaring is a mana cost of 15. Which means if you don't build your deck around ramping, hardcasting the card (and thus gaining the extra turn) would likely happen around turn 18 or so, by then any competent opponent would have cleaned your clock. 

Ok, well what about cards that put her directly into play? If my opponent cheats it in they don't get the extra turn, but it's got protection from ALL COLORS! Now back up, does it? In reality, it has protection from colored spells, which means that the 2 mana Journey to Nowhere gets rid of her right away, making sure she won't come back for quite some time. 

Now, does that make this particular tentacled monstrosity from beyond time a bad card? No, I love her I even have a deck built around her, but that deck rarely wins because I played her, generally it's because my little dudes with huge cost effects took the game. 

Of course, not everyone here plays magic so let's have a general discussion shall we? What makes something in any game "Broken"? To me it's a single object or strategy within the game with no effective counter outside of it's self, though it could mean something else to you guys.  So let me know what defines broken to you, or give me examples of broken things in any game. The more horrendously busted the better!

Of Magic computer games and general goofiness.

A few commenters talked about how they hadn't seen Magic in years so I thought I'd discuss some of the recent changes to the game, just in case anyone's interested. In many ways Magic began it's current cycle with the launch of Lorwyn, a set that experimented with block design and more importantly added a whole new card type to the game the 'Planeswalker'. These cards seemed underwhelming to some, and confusing to most but were at the very least interesting. Each one represents a powerful mage not unlike the players themselves and are meant to feel in some small way like a new player has joined the game.

Flash forward a bit and the game changes even more, in addition to smaller set sizes and a new rarity level (Mythic rare with a 1 in every 6 pack insertion) They announced that the core sets would
A. Be yearly
B. Contain brand new cards
It was at this point that the magic community gasped, and many veteran players threw up their arms and harrumphed off.
Yet for every grognard lost two shiny new players were gained thanks to the release of the X-box Live exclusive duels of the planeswalkers, a rather limited teaching tool to any serious player, the budget game still helped hype up the new core set and get tons of people into what at one point seemed an impenetrable hobby.

One of the biggest complaints I've heard from old players is "They changed too much." Which to me seems like it's anathema to the game's core philosophy, Magic isn't a game of static strategy like chess, it's meant to be an ever evolving creature all it's own. Don't like this current set? Wait for the new one. Feel like a single strategy is too good? Wait for rotation. If Magic were just a normal boxed card game it wouldn't be half the fun.
Oh, and for all those purists out there, Richard Garfield himself is on the team for the next block, Innistrad. So, there's that.

So, it's been a while.

Been busy job-hunting, just thought I'd pop on and enjoy a little leisure time with. So, Wizards rolled with the punches and posted the full Magic Spoiler on the first day of previews, probably the smartest move they could have made. If only Sony were so good at PR?

There are so many decks I want to build in this new set it's not even funny. Want fast white rush? It's doable. Want mono-black aggro control? Doable. Wanna load up on almost free off color cards and piss everyone off? Double doable.

Noble's Game

It's an old Dungeons and Dragons staple, the party of plucky adventurers are given a task by a local lord to slay the goblins terrorizing his trade routes, in exchange he offers protection and money. So which role are you? The skilled fighter? The sneaky rogue? The faithful cleric? What about the lord? What does he do once the adventurers have wandered off to do to their own thing? What about court politics and earning the gold he's paying the adventurers with? 

If you've ever wondered about this, or if the above questions piqued your interest at all, you're one of the people I'm writing Noble's Game for. Sure being a noble isn't as classically romantic as the sword wielding hero, but with shows like 'The Tudors' and 'A game of Thrones' becoming so popular there has to be a market for being the posh and privileged lord or lady? I'd considered many different systems for the game, maybe adapting World of Darkness or Legend of the Five Rings, but honestly I think the best way to do it is to build my own.

Oh, if you're just looking for a game to get your girlfriend into role-playing, this just might be it. Who doesn't want to play the princess?

About fluff in Magic cards.

So, like many casual players of Magic, I'm a huge fan of the story and art, also called 'fluff' or 'flavor'. The recent leak of the New Phyrexia godbook has one of my all time favorite wonky bits of fluff. Bludgeon Brawl is a card that lets your creatures use any artifact you have as a weapon. Which is only mildly humorous until you realize they can pick up say, the 'Spine of Ish Sah' a miles long metal tendril and use it to bash your opponent to death. Bonus points if you use an unassuming little myr or goblin to do it. Even better if you use a liquimetal coating on the Bludgeon Brawl and allow your guys to pick up the ENCHANTMENT and hit something with it. That's right, I just hit you with a concept. What're you gonna do about it?

As a side note: This Godbook leak must have Wizards absolutely fuming. I mean, steam coming out the ears mad. This is a whole set spoiled in a handy little package all in one swell foop. I can imagine heads are rolling already. (Hence why I'm not posting the full text of Bludgeon Brawl.)

Hello, hello.

So, a little about me? I'm a gamer, recently moved to a new town and I plan to use this blog to post ideas for a roleplaying game I'm working on currently titled "Noble's Game." Other than that I'll be using this space to post  Magic decklists and just general crap. Whatever comes to mind I guess.

So, to all no one that'll read this, Hi!