Well, I recently got into Hearthstone (despite not caring about WOW), but my friends list there is rather anemic. Anyone care to add me? I'm currently maining a Deathrattle Shaman (which I'm slowly making more competitive), as well as slowly building up a Warrior deck.

Here's the current deck. Any thoughts and advice are appreciated.

WELCOME TO DIE! (Shaman)
2x Earth Shock
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Rockbiter Weapon
2x Undertaker
2x Reincarnate
2x Flametongue Totem
2x Loot Hoarder
2x Nerubian Egg
2x Hex
2x Lightning Storm
1x Deathlord
2x Harvest Golem
1x Mana Tide Totem
1x Doomhammer
2x Sludge Belcher
1x Cairne Bloodhoof
1x Sylvanas Windrunner
1x Al’Akir the Windlord

Hi all, sorry I've been gone for so long. Life has been beating the shit out of me lately, and not just because of moving to a new place. Over the past month, both our cats (loyal companions of 13 years) passed away, so I've... withdrawn.

Anyways, I've been trying to get back into writing now that I'm not quite so depressed and overwhelmed, and I also have a small backlog of commissions to post.

Further bulletins as events warrant.


ETA
I also may be looking for any people interested in playing certain games with me on PC/PS3, as single player will only get me so far. Just keep an eye out for any journals.

Eeyup. This time it's official. Been moving my stuff into the new place for the past few days. Bit smaller than where I've been living, but a lot closer to work. Let's see how it goes, then.

Yup, and here I am having to go to work cuz I forgot to ask for the day off ahead of time. Oh, and it's raining. A lot.

So, I'mma just try and Catch Captain America before work, then either play video games or do some RP on F-List when I get home.

Woof, looks like I turn 28 this Friday, April 4th. Not sure what I'll do. Probably catch the Captain America movie before work, maybe eat some Indian Food or something for dinner.

Looks like the guy impersonating that other guy got banned. Whew. At least that's over.

So I went to the second of the two Born of the Gods prereleases in my area (couldn't do the first cuz of work). I chose Red, got some pretty amazing pulls, and made me a fun Red/Green deck. The curve wasn't ideal (too few 1-2 drop cards), but through a combination of luck and having 2 Forgestoker Dragons (a bomb of the highest order) I managed to actually get first place.

Decklist
Creatures (17)
Nyxborn Rollicker
Everflame Eidolon
Courser of Kruphix x2 (1 FOIL, 1 normal)
Fanatic of Xenagos
Kragma Butcher
Opaline Unicorn x2
Reverent Hunter
Two-Headed Cerberus
Staunch-Hearted Warrior x2
Purphoros, God of the Forge (FOIL)
Centaur Battlemaster
Stoneshock Giant
Forgestoker Dragon x2 (1 Promo, 1 normal)

Spells (7)
Aspect of Hydra
Coordinated Assault
Spark Jolt
Fall of the Hammer
Mortal's Resolve
Bolt of Keranos
Time to Feed

Lands (17)
Mountain x10
Forest x7



So, overall a pretty good day. Picked up 2 foils worth about 20 bucks each, so I came out ahead. Hopefully I'll stay lucky tomorrow at the Release day event.

I recently noticed what appeared to be one of my favorite artists on DA start posting here in an FA gallery. At first I think "Oh, cool" but I soon grew suspicious. On a hunch, I noted the original artist on DA to see if the person posting their works to FA was actually them.

Surprise! It wasn't them. The original artist confirmed that the person was a thief, but they weren't planning on contacting the FA mods because "that sort of thing just happens on the internet". A sad, yet rather accurate statement.

Of course, it gets worse. Now the imposter is holding a contest for art involving "their" characters, offering free art as a prize for the winners. Now, it's one thing to pretend to be an artist just for the praise and recognition. It's quite another to impersonate someone in order to scam free art out of people.

I've submitted a trouble ticket with my evidence, including the note conversation with the actual artist, but it remains to be seen just what they'll do about it. I'd hate to see a fraud like that get away with conning people.

In 15 minutes I begin my second Black Thursday/Friday shift as a retail slave. 7:45-4:15am. FML.

So, yeah, apparently my cat and I are going to be moving into my own place come December. Should be... interesting. Just gotta find me a roommate to share the rent, now.

So, I got me a copy of Pokemon Y, and I'm looking for people to trade/battle with.

My Friend Code is: 0791-2315-5562

Had the day off Saturday so I went to the Sac Brony Expo. Despite some hiccups getting there, it was a blast. Met an old friend I hadn't seen since 2010, and also got to meet  jrvanesbroek in person and bother him.

Came away with some fun swag. Prints, a button, and a sketch (in progress) by Jay, and a cute sketch from another artist of Fluttershy drinking Big Macintosh under the table. Other stuff too.

Somebody kill me. Kill me now.

Opened up a pretty nice pool this time, and made a Blue/Red deck full of Flying creatures and removal spells.

My rares were:
Windreader Sphinx (singlehandedly won me the night's last game while tapped down by an opponent's Claustrophobia, solely on the strength of his card-drawing ability)
Shivan Dragon (Fuck you, I'm a dragon!)
Goblin Diplomats (AKA the French Goblins. Now go away or we shall taunt you a second time!)
Elite Arcanist (Brutal when I imprinted a Chandra's Outrage on it. Which I did. Multiple times.)
Mutavault (another one)
Archangel of Thune (A big money card. Shame my white pool was weak or I'd have been tempted to use it.)

Ended up going 3-1 because I made some stupid mistakes in round 3. Still a lot of fun, though, and with the two Hydras and the Archangel I ended up making my money back each day.

The fuck. Opened 3 mythics in my pool: Liliana, Scourge of Valkas, and another fuckmothering Kalonian Hydra. Oh, and a Mutavault. Still lost, though, thanks to bad luck mostly.

About to open my packs. Wish me luck.

Hmm. Got a Kalonian Hydra. $30 card, plus it was one of the cards I was hoping to open. Not much else worth mentioning yet.

Well, went 3-1 with a Naya deck. Got 5 packs as prize, but nothing worth reporting was inside.

So,  vivavulpes is having a l'l' story contest revolving around their hero-hunter Sandstalker. Sounds like Malkin's kind of girl. Wonder how she feels about gentleman adventurer/eldritch abominations?

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4829764/

So, my LGS decided to have a draft of Modern Masters today, and I took part. Had fun, and got 4th place (out of 8) with some janky G/W deck full of fungi and saprolings.

That's not important right now. The important part is the three MM packs I bought beforehand. Ended up with a Squee (cool but not worth much), a Pact of Negation (10-12 bucks, I think), and a foil Maelstrom Pulse (~$20). Oh, and a goddamn Tarmogoyf ($90-110).

Yes. All of my yes.

Just got back from the prerelease, and I'm happy to report that I did fucking awesome. Got my first 4-0 at a prerelease, losing only one game in total and getting 1st place overall (apparently the 2nd place finisher had one more game loss than I did).

The format is basically: you choose your main guild, then get a guild pack from that guild, plus one from a guild that shares a color with yours (but not from the same set). For instance, I went with Simic (Gatecrash), and was paired with Golgari (Return to Ravnica). You also get 4 packs of Dragon's Maze in addition to the guild packs.

For those who aren't familiar with some of these new cards, just search for 'em here if you're interested:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Default.aspx

My guild packs were fairly underwhelming (the rares being Biomass Mutation and Underworld Connections), but my Dragon's Maze cards were far more promising. Got Advent of the Wurm and Scion of Vitu-Ghazi (neither of which I used), plus Zhur-Taa Ancient, and a Ruric Thar and a foil Varolz in the last pack. I also opened enough good removal, card draw, and mana fixing to make a Jund deck (Red/Black/Green), with some Blue. I broke the golden rule by having a deck with more than 40 cards, but I think my results justify my choice.

Decklist
Creatures (13)
1 Kraul Warrior
2 Zhur-Taa Druid (These things are nasty. Mana ramp and pinging all in one cheap package)
1 Sewer Shambler
1 Battering Krasis
1 Stonefare Crocodile (Runner up for MVP, interestingly. Lifelink saved my ass in at least two games. In one case, this thing let me come back to win after being down 22 to 2.)
1 Drakewing Krasis
1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped (Didn't come out often, but his Scavenge ability helped fuel a few wins, including the all-important last game. Never ended up needing to regenerate him, interestingly.)
2 Korozda Gorgon
1 Zhur-Taa Ancient (Worked nicely, but led to my only loss. This big dumb brute let my opponent fire of a Debt to the Deathless for 20 to finish me off.)
1 Sapphire Drake
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed (MVP. Hit me a couple times, but I won every game I got him out save for one, and even then he still burned the opponent for 12. Might make room for him in my Mayael the Anima EDH deck.)

Instants (5)
1 Biomass Mutation
2 Putrefy
1 Turn/Burn (Only ended up using the Turn half once. Still proved quite useful in several games.
1 Far/Away

Sorceries (4)
2 Pilfered Plans
1 Urban Evolution
1 Armed/Dangerous (This baby is a game ender. I wouldn't have won the last game needed to go 4-0 without topdecking this with a Korozda Gorgon on my board and 5 untapped creatures on my opponent's side. +1+1/Double Strike/Must be blocked is devastating on a Deathtoucher. :3)

Enchantments (2)
1 Stab Wound
1 Gruul War Chant

Artifacts (3)
1 Dimir Cluestone
1 Rakdos Cluestone
1 Golgari Cluestone

Lands (19)
2 Island
4 Mountain
5 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Simic Guildgate
2 Golgari Guildgate
1 Transguild Promenade

For my victory, I got 12 booster packs of Dragon's Maze. That's 1/3 of a booster box, so not a bad haul by any stretch of the imagination. The rares I got were:
Ready/Willing
Flesh/Blood
Catch/Release
Notion Thief (Foil. This thing's worth 15 dollars. Might do some inquiring to see if it's likely to go up, then sell it if not.)
Sire of Insanity
Render Silent
Godless Shrine (lands have their own separate slot in this set, so you can get a normal rare with a rare land)
Advent of the Wurm
Varolz, Scar-Striped (nonfoil)
Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
Vorel of the Hull Clade (One of the cards I wanted from this set for my Prime Speaker Zegana EDH)
Plasm Capture (Ditto.)
Blood Baron of Vizkopa (Cool creature, not in my colors. Worth 11 bucks though, so I'll probably trade it off or sell it posthaste.)
Ral Zarek (Whoop whoop. Don't know if I'll keep this. Might just sell it for mad ducats, as it doesn't look like a good fit for my Niv-Mizzet EDH)

Well, tis that time again. The next Magic set, Dragon’s Maze, drops this Saturday. I’ll certainly be attending, but, struck by a bit of perverted inspiration, I’ll also be posting a bit of writing.

I’ve been working on a story idea involving Corina and Bren travelling to Ravnica and falling afoul of its ten guilds. I actually was able to knuckle down and finish up a crappy prologue in time for the prerelease, and hopefully I'll be inspired enough to finish up the rest of it afterwards.

Also, because I didn't really mention it in the post, each of the sisters will be "covering" five guilds. One gets the ones from Return to Ravnica (Azorius/Golgari/Selesnya/Izzet/Rakdos), while the other gets the ones from Gatecrash (Boros/Dimir/Simic/Gruul/Orzhov).

Oh, and to quote Vegeta: I'm back, bitches!

Welp, tis official. I'm 27 now. No idea what I'm gonna do today really, if anything.

So, I randomly got sent $10 free from PSN, and I was thinking I wanted to spend it on an old-school PSX rpg. Right now, Xenogears and Chrono Cross are the frontrunners, as they're both reasonably solid games with good gameplay and awesome music that I haven't really played. I'm just not sure which to go with.

As for other PSX rpgs I could download:
FF7: Already beaten.
FF8: Played it. Hated it.
FF9: Probably a distant 3rd place behind Xenogears and Cross.
Legend of Dragoon: Beat it.
FF5: Don't like the battle/job system.
FF6/Final Fantasy Origins/ Chrono Trigger: Why bother when I already have superior ports on my handheld systems?
Suikoden/Grandia/Vagrant Story: No real interest.
Persona 2: Apparently an option. I don't really care for the series, though, even if you do get to fight Hitler.


Well, between Skype and FA, the votes were in favor of Chrono Cross. Works for me. I'll give Xenogears a try at a later date.

I'll add the review here tomorrow. Too tired now. I only wanted to knock the spoilery journal off the front page.

Sorry, real life intervened. Might post something someday. Might not.

So, Le Paradox is from a long line of thieves just like Sly? And Le Paradox's dad tried to frame Sly's dad for a crime, but failed and got arrested? You know, an evil equivalent of Sly might have been interesting, but Le Paradox is just some bozo.

Recruiting? I like where this plan is going.

To quote Admiral Ackbar: It's a trap!

How did Carmelita get untied so fast. One instant she's bound, the next she's loose. Sly must have very fast hands. :3

Okay, the recruiting isn't quite what I expected. I thought we were getting Dimitri as a final party member. Instead, all the Coopers we've met throughout the game are showing up to rescue Sly in a sort of final exam style of level.

Feh. Le Paradox, you're a bit late to the whole "trying to exact disproportionate retribution against the Coopers" thing. Clockwerk and Doctor M, for their part, had much more panache and gravitas.

A quicktime event. 90% of the entire last boss fight is a goddamn quicktime event. One that's practically impossible to lose. Sure, it shows Sly as more badass than he's ever been in any fight in the series, but given that his opponent is a stinky Frenchman with a tiny sword, the effect is somewhat lessened.

Y'know what the last part of the boss fight reminds me of? The end of the Rocketeer. Fighting the villainous dandy on top of a blimp and all.

Sequel hook, hoooooooo!

Penelope escaped from prison immediately, and is now sending Bentley postcards. Aw, he has his own creepy stalker. How cute.

Despite not getting any spoken lines in the entire game, Dimitri still gets all the ladies, yo. You dig?

Well, despite my making fun of a lot of it, and some utterly stupid decisions, that was fun. Now to get all the treasures and all that and try for 100%. Stand by for final review.

Well, that was crap, story-wise. Fairly fun gameplay-wise, but still, goddamn it, Sanzaru!

Well, looking at the bosses in this game, I've come to the realization that each one is basically analogous to a villain from the first 3 games:
1. El Jefe feels like General Tsao from Sly 3. They're both generals, both utter dicks, both have crazy magical powers, and are both fought in Asia.
2. Toothpick feels like Muggshot. Instead of being a kid who grew up obsessed with gangsters, Toothpick grew up obsessed with Cowboys. Both also had desert-based hideouts with a casino.
3. As mentioned in the level 3 journal, The Grizz is definitely bizarro Dimitri.
4. The Black Knight is obviously the Black Baron. I mean, it's the same fucking person. God DAMMIT, Sanzaru.
5. Miss Decibel feels like Octavio, using music based attacks. The difference being that Octavio had natural talent, while Decibel sucked.

Going back to the task at hand, it seems we finally have some basic guards that are female. Persian cats in harem girl outfits dual-wielding scimitars. Finally, someone fun to sneak up on. :3

That's about the grossest statue release mechanism I've ever seen. Yank on the nose ring so the eyes bug and the tongue lolls out. Why would anyone design something like that?

So, these are our last two villains, huh. An elephant dowager with a sneezing problem and a french skunk who wants nothing but wealth. Going from a drama-filled epic battle level to one with a generic villain we've never met before. Kinda meh. Might have almost been better from a story perspective to have Penelope as the last villain faced before returning to the present, especially given that the whole plot of this game is her fault.

Le Paradox is kind of a lame main villain. I hope someone more epic turns out to be the real villain.

What is your obsession with your own horrible Italian accent, Sly? Seriously, an Arabian delivery boy with an Italian accent? I am thoroughly ashamed that that actually worked.

Salim Al-Kupar apparently has magical genie powers. He breathes fire, summons tornados, has a magic carpet, and can suck enemies inside a magic lamp. Pretty badass for an old man.

"If only I had a magic lamp." Salim, buddy. You DO have a magic lamp. You use it every time you use your stealth takedown. Hmm. Must be a senior moment.

Apparently some guards managed to "destroy some furniture" while partying in the harem quarters. That sounds a bit suggestive.

Oh hey, there's Carmelita's Super Jump. Just had to buy it again.

Carmelita belly dancing to distract the guards? I agree with Sly. BEST. PLAN. EVER.

I repeat. BEST. PLAN. EVER. This almost makes up for the Murray dance sequence in level 1.

How the hell did a 15-foot tall elephant sneak up on us?

Oh hey, Carmelita tied up again. In her harem outfit, no less. Huzzah!