Yuppppp, MTG nonsense to follow, I'll separate this journal up to start with non Magic stuff then put all MTG stuff at the bottom so folks can skip that part if they want =B

So, let's start off...

One thing off the bat?

I'm sorry that the page has been without an update this week, I know by heck you guys have waited longer, but goshdarnit I wanna give you guys more stuff AND BY NO MEANS want any return to previous hiatus levels, so I've managed at least to clear through my inbox, faved and commented a lil, writing here now and tonight at some point have arts that I've already made, but just wanna finish another piece that I'll upload alongside some other works =B

But I wanna make this month a lil more special, even if content wise I'm trying to come up with stuff, I'm trying to imagine up something special because A LOT happens this month art wise to take part in!

Halloween of course! Spoopiest moments of the years to be had, but a lot of people draw stuff in like Goretober and Inktober, dunno so much about the first one, but Inktober? I very rarely ink any of my works, but I HAVE tried my hand at it once or twice =o

So... for this month, whilst I try to think what the heck of what to draw next, I wanna give you guys a chance to vote for any of my recent pics that you've enjoyed and would like to see inked! =D

No idea on when to deadline this, but if inspiration strikes and you guys want a pic that really gets my thumbs up, we'll see what I can come up with!

Also on the 20th of this month we have the National Osteoporosis Awareness day, previous years I came up with something for it and wanna think up something to go along with this too =B

Iunno, I'm drawing a lot of blanks, but creatively I wanna do something special for this one, it feels like a lot has happened this year for me and this date's always a big one in the back of my head somewhere =o


I also wanna take some time to apologise that part of my week or so vanishing is related to me becoming addicted to a videogame. Like, not funny addicted to a videogame. Like, forgetting to eat or sleep addicted to a videogame.

Binding of Isaac, turns out that a 2D platformer with a hell bullet system, BOOKS WORTHS of secrets and items and combinations and a very hush-hush lore can kind of drag you in and not in a good way.

So, got myself in there and, well, trying to make sure I'm not left in a room for any amount of time with that console =_= If I broke my addiction to Ballz, I can do this, darnit. At least I'm trying to be up front on this one, called in some family members to watch me and make sure I'm not backsliding.

So, focusing on positives that I'm recognising this problem and trying to call it out?

With that aside, I'm gonna be able to hopefully focus and keep working forward on everything else, art wise, creative stuff or just any progress at all

A lil sad that I've had to shelf plans to take Jeri to a movie festival due to funds, but we'll come up with something cosy and quiet no doubt =B


Now....

MTG SECTION!

A lot has been happening in Magic world, Guilds of Ravnica has hit the ground, ye olde standard of Kaladesh and Amonkhet is gone, and I am once again saddened at waving goodbye to the egyptian magic world and all it's furry cards, but, eh, they'll live on in my cards and in whatever Commander decks I think up next for them, lol

Seriously need to improve my collection here, trying to organise them better, trying to work out cards I can trade, Commander deck lists using the cards I have myself or such, Iunno =x

I feel like if I could get a handle on that, at least that'd be one thing I wouldn't worry so much about and could enjoy it more

But, yeah, stuff has been happening with Magics, the official release of the new set as I continue to flounder about with no idea what the heck I wanna play in this brave new world of Standard, lol, although possibly considering some Izzet style classic DnD wizards deck, focusing all on the Wizard tribe synergies and just using a slew of cheap spells to rush through opponents =V

It's a bold new world with the old standard cards going away, so who knows what's possible?

The prerelease was hecka fun, I traded in a lot of my cards to cash in and get entry, with luckily a lot of my performances in drafts or Game Day events that I managed to get netting me some good amount of store credit to take part =B

I even took a 'store rep' part, playing in the events but not keeping what I opened just to be able to experience the events and handing the cards I opened back to the store so I could be there and help out new players and such, which is something I really enjoy, it's nice to feel needed or helpful when I'm down now and again

Which, unfortunately brings me to one of my big headaches =_=

The prereleases themselves are an event with a big build up, they are the biggest hyped in store events for Magic the Gathering being all about playing a brand new set before its release and trying to hype players themselves into playing more with one another

So, in the weeks before the Prerelease it looks like a full cornucopia of card game contests:


-GAME DAY EVENTS: Held two weeks before the prerelease, these events give away a single card from the new set to get people interest and offer prizes of mats, deckboxes and other material that promotes the next upcoming set whilst also being a celebration of the previous sets and challenging players to brew up their best decks to come in and play with

-OPEN DAY: Held one week before prerelease. Less of a tournament and more just a day dedicated to opening up stores to welcome new/returning/lapsed players who may not know where to start with Magic and letting them learn/relearn/take part in some games and play with a few small prizes/promos and other stuff to intrigue them =B This is free to enter and stores are encouraged to come up with new ways to do things to attract players to it

-PRERELEASE: This is the big daddi-o of Magic events, the mother of all Magic gatherings and by heck, people usually have a blast at these. People usually have access to full spoilers of sets by now, but while some people may know what cards do? This is their first chance ever opening those cards and trying to play them outside of a vacuum, seeing how they interact with one another, how fast or slow this new draft format is? What's a bomb, what's a dud?

Who knows, lol, the appeal is it's fresh and new and also that it provides a more even keel for new players as existing players are experiencing this at the same time as them, so they have more of a chance of building something to fight back and play with against their opponents than normal events =B


The big emphasis is? (Well, what should always be the emphasis?) Fun.

This is supposed to be all about having fun, none of these are for big cash prizes, but, this time round, there were more than a few bumps in the road, sadly a number of them relating to a single player.

The Game Day was where it started, certainly being the first event where things could go wrong, also the fact that this event has the most riding on it prize wise with the title of store champion in a playmat as well as packs and packs of cards to be won, yeah, people are fairly competitive at this event.

Saaaaaaadly I'd been not concentrating as much on the Standard format of late and ended up just building what I had the parts for instead of having time or money to go build a brew and ended up Red-Black aggro, fast, strong and pressure pushing, this deck either won or lost fast, giving me more time to help out any new players, as well as needing as little time as possible by me to spend having to build/test/practise

And unfortunately, it performed a little too well, getting me through the swiss events of playing round and round the store against other players, including one who was very adamant he was going to make Champion

Sadly I trounced him rather badly and he didn't take it well, commenting through the game about how nice it must have been for me to play the meta and go for such a cheap deck to win with

And then? When I beat the guy, he then gets up and takes offense to the fact how jovial I was throughout the game speaking to people or making jokes or humming or singing, which he didn't mention during the games. My game is fairly loose and I get a lil distracted now and again just trying to have fun. If someone asks me stop something mid game, then all's fair, I'll stop it, straight up, or at least do my best and apologise

But nope, guy never said anything until the end about how frustrating it was to then call me out on all that, storms off for his participation packs and straight up leaves the event and drops out

That did sting a little, I know some of that is just salt in the wounds at losing, but I did feel a little bad myself that my deck was a little too strong maybe for this level of play and wasn't sure what to think

I did manage to make it through the swiss rounds and into the top 4 cut battling it out for the Champion title and playmat

However, that was when I got stomped in the semi finals

BADLY.

One player had dedicated himself to playing a deck that no one in the shop had dared even attempt and by far the most spikiest and terrifying to face:

Bant Turns.

For anyone not knowing much on Magic or the current Meta, this deck focuses around the card Nexus of Fate:

https://img.scryfall.com/cards/larg.....jpg?1534628441

Based on the part of the Magic story of Khans of Tarkir/Fate Reforged/Dragons of Tarkir where the planeswalker Sarkhan goes back in time and changes the history of Tarkir, this card centers around the idea of playing it, then receiving an additional turn.

However, this card is very controversial in the magic community for several points.
-It's incredibly pricey and hard to get copies of, released only as a promo card for buying a full booster box of Magic cards, something Wizards swore they would never do, making it both hard to get a playset and also hurting a lot of trust in the card company
-Its 'Instant' typing means that they can play this card in YOUR turn instead of theirs, netting them a surprise turn you didn't know about and often being a death sentence when they surprise you with it to have to end your turn and they get two turns immediately afterward
-The ability to shuffle into the deck. Normally, 'take an extra turn' cards exile themselves, so, not just gone, super, super gone from the game and not coming back to avoid abuse of cards that could copy its effect or return the card to use again

So, subsequently, the idea of Bant Turns is using a combination of abilities that play this card, then continuously draw or filter cards through your library to find one of the four copies, which will ALWAYS be in the deck as soon as you play one, giving you higher and higher chances to draw it each turn, effectively creating a nigh-infinite loop of turns where they play Solitaire and you're stuck watching from the sidelines

In addition to all of the draw power that Blue gives, the removal white provides, Green allows the deck access to accelerants for more mana that lets them play their cards earlier and also means they have access to 'fog' effects

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?type=card&name=Fog

Fog isn't in standard, but any card with this ability is usually referred to as it, using green fog spells, the opponent will use these to stall and stall constantly whenever you have a rare turn yourself, so you can never inflict any damage on them

The result is a demoralising and heartbreaking deck to try and fight back against, usually only seen at much higher competitive levels of Magic due to the price of the cards involved and also simply due to how powerful the deck is


Unfortunately, I was playing against my opponent in the semi finals who had this deck and it didn't go well, and I can admit my own part in this, I was stubborn

Not once but twice I'd gotten my opponent an inch or two away from defeat by the sheer stubbornness of throwing my creatures and spells at him again and again, pushing through all of his spells by the number of my assualts

But, inevitably both times he found the cards he needed to lock me out of the game

This is when normally Magic players would consider conceding and moving to the next game

But, I decided I was ready to play this out. Chances of my coming back were low, but the combination of cards required isn't guaranteed, so, rather than concede, I kept playing, or rather, my opponent had to keep playing whilst I waited for some chance, some slip up or off card that he'd receive that would give me back a turn and a chance to fight back

Unfortunately, it never came

But immediately afterward, my opponent was unhappy even after winning

Unhappy that I'd made him play the game out and not conceded to him earlier

I've got to admit I was unhappy too, but, certainly anything I say here is sour grapes considering I lost the game, but, the guys attitude stunk to high heavens

Like, we have new players around the table watching because we're in semi-finals and I ask my opponent if he'd like to explain the combination to the new player who doesn't get what's going on, he refuses to do so and I have to instead

I apologise later to the new player about the game being unfun to watch and my opponent then up and blames me for that fact I could have gave up any time I liked


Guy was complaining about me making him play the deck he decided to play with even after winning the whole event when he was talking to friends later

And unfortunately, he of course showed up at the Open Day to take part in the event and make use of the reduced prices and such, including a draft of cards that was free for new players and half price for existing players

And of course, I find out that the guy has not only NOT been helping the new players, he's been exploiting them, instead of helping them learn to play a draft or build decks, the guy has been hate-drafting and taking all the rare cards passed to him by players who didn't understand how much they were worth or how powerful they were

I had my own dilemna with this, there's nothing in the rules that says you HAVE to let them know, but, geez, seriously, is it worth me taking a 20 dollar card when this new player could use it better? I tap the girl beside me and let her know what she pass me, to which her family quickly are happy to see her take it back, while that guy over there is making like a bandit

I am happy to say that outside of that rubbing me wrong the rest of the day went fine, I was actually super happy to see the girl I returned the card to really had fun with the day and was actually really good at the game

Yes, I helped build her deck, but she still piloted it and managed to face me in the final round with it, so I get a little bit out of knowing that she may very well join in again with Magic and join in the community some more


And then came prerelease

One of the events is called Two Headed Giant, where effectively you're a tag team, partnered up with someone against another team and you go from there

Usually it's a lot longer and more grindy than normal play because you have to negotiate with your partner and you take your turns at the same time

Think like any Yugioh multipart episode wherever Kaiba and Yugi ended up working together and you likely have an idea how that went kind of XP

STILL

I most often go to these events without a partner and instead take any players who don't know how to play Two Headed Giant and help them learn and deck build and such

Only thing is? When me and my partner do really well, once again, we bump into the same guy from the Open Day and our new reigning store champion and his friend

And not only is it clear that he's here for the prizes than the fun, the guy just has no patience for the new player here

We're playing and the guy is constantly rushing us, while I'm trying to make it clear without causing an argument that we're playing at a fully acceptable speed - judge confirmed - and trying to explain things to the new player for them to be able to take part better

But nope, guy interrupts, pushes in and rushes everything and sadly I have to say, steamrolls us with their combination of Blue Black dimir control out Dimir-ing me and a real aggressive red-white Boros push


All in all? My partner has fun, but I still feel like it marred the day and the previous ones too

This player just kind of all round stinks at trying to help new players or focusing on fun of the game, although not without reason, this guy happens to be a very, very good player, competitively so

Like, this guys gets invited to Pro Tour Qualifiers without having to go through the initial attendance events good, he's not a name that's on any big Magic website, but he's in that competitive circle, he draws a crowd of his friends to the store and he's certainly a big deal there

But, just, he's not technically doing anything wrong, but, he's certainly not helping out either with anyone else or the game

This isn't the pro tour and these events are supposed to help players have fun

And, just the idea of this guy who can't switch off going full on Skynet Terminator mode when machine gunning his way through newbies is just really, really irking me

I don't know how best to handle people like this guy, I don't know if I feel confident enough to approach this guy over how he behaves because of his presence and stature in the store (by the way, he sold the champion mat on eBay instead of keeping it =_=) and it just feels frustrating

Gaaaaah

Enough Magic related headaches without one who can adjust his level of douche baggery to go with it

Apologies, this one I had to vent some, hopefully I'll think of something before next Prerelease in like January