Fun With Triskaidekaphobia (and a note on Shamble Back)

I was playing in the Finnish Championships of MtG this last weekend. Didn’t go too well, but first of the two drafts did go swimmingly. Being at 1-2 after the first three standard rounds, I knew I probably need to spike this thing to have any hope and a middling draft wouldn’t do anything for me, I went for a very greedy plan. I first-picked [scryfall]Anguished Unmaking[/scryfall], then got passed a [scryfall]Drogskol Cavalry[/scryfall] (an excellent card, even if it doesn’t look like it in the beginning), and then a [scryfall]Triskaidekaphobia[/scryfall], twice.

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Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad Preparation (as an Amateur), pt. 1

First of all, I’m not qualified to play, but as my business partner (of Sensei’s Divining Shop fame) and friend, Lauri, is, I decided to join him in testing. It doesn’t hurt that I live in Finland and the testing is going to happen in Spain… Also, I’m currently enjoying my sabbatical (in other words unemployed, with pretty good savings), so why not?

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Love in Innsmouth

Archipelago 3 by Matthjis Holter has become my “go to” game for oneshots. I might have only written one game for it (as it is) but when I get an idea for a story that might work as a game it is usually the first one to pop up in my mind.

Today I was thinking about a Solstice scenario and while listening to H.P.Lovecraft’s Historical Society’s excellent albums I began to wonder how could I capture the feeling of Shadow of Innsmouth in a way that all players could enjoy it. Aaaaaaand I was quite quickly thinking it in an Archipelago way.

I might not be able to write it all but here is the quicky summary (a draft at best) for “Love in Innsmouth” (or something).

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This Week in Magic

I usually do not post about Magic the Gathering. Mainly because Aki posts about it. A Lot. And I rarely have anything interesting or worthwhile to say. This week however was a bit different. I had a small vacation (since my son was with his grandparents and my wife was working). So what could I do? Turns out – nothing much but play through various different types of MtG. So this will be my random rambling about different formats.

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Trying out: Hearthstone

artwork5-fullHearthstone: The Heroes of Warcraft is a collectible “card game” played on computer or tablet. I just installed it on my iPad and tried it out. And by saying “tried it out” I started fours hours ago and are still playing. As advertised it is insanely addictive. At least for someone who has been playing Magic: the Gathering for several years.

I started just to get the feeling for it and quite possibly try it out against fellow Guild members. Weirdly it didn’t let me search for familiar opponents from the beginning but guided me through the simple enough tutorials. The tutorials while informing took quite long to finish and even after that I had to challenge all possible “heroes” to get the whole thing open. But once I did that I got the hang of the game and opened all the options for the game. Continue reading

Limited Fun: Bloodfire Enforcers

Admittedly, I haven’t really enjoyed Fate Reforged draft thusfar. Its seems to be too much of a “prince” format, where you need to get that all-important bomb rare in the first pack and as the format seems to be quite slow, you need to draw that rare to win games. Otherwise, you are mostly just sitting there in a board stall.

However, there are high points.

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