This weekend I got together with some friends again and we did a 9 person Magic: The Gathering Draft Tournament. We were in Shadowmoor again (somebody had a box they wanted to open, and what better way than to draft it?) I ended up drafting White/Blue about half aggro and half control and a splash of black for some decent removal.

We played Swiss style with four rounds, best two out of three. Each turn the lowest record got a Bye which counted as a win.

Here's how I did:

Round 1
I started off each of my hands with a good opening hand having one of each of my colors of mana, and a decent set of creatures/spells to back it up. My opponent was playing a Red/Green stompy deck but wasn't quite aggro enough. Once I got a Silkbind Faerie out it pretty much locked down any defenders he had and I was able to walk thru to victory.

Notable Memory: Using Memory Plunder to cast Traitor's Roar on my opponent's Tattermange Duo that had Runes of the Deus on it. Then following it up with a Consign to dream... I'm such a jerk...
Round Score: 2-0
Record: 1-0

Round 2
My opponent in this game had a deck that I’m not even sure how to describe, I believe it was Green/White/Red.. but it could have been more colors. It was a hodgepodge of a deck, but it worked out well for him. He had some nice cards that really helped him out: Tatterkite, Mistmeadow Skulk, Oracle of Nectars. He pretty much had protection from all of my creatures, and made me fight hard to stay alive. He got some awesome draws against me that perfectly held me off both games.

Notable Memory: Tatterkite = Protection from Shadowmoor
Round Score: 0-2
Record: 1-1

Round 3
This round was pretty intense, I was up against another Blue/White control deck, and was doing quite well, until he had gotten a Pale Wayfarer into play which totally stopped my march on his face. We ended up holding each other off for a while, making our first game take 35 minutes of our 45 minute time limit per round. The next two games went quick, as my opponent got mana screwed twice in a row.

Notable Memory: I HATE Pale Wayfarer!
Round Score: 2-1
Record: 2-1

Round 4
My opponent was playing a Blue/Black deck and even had a Liege to back it up. It was no small feat to take out, but my creature removal really aided this time. I was able to keep him from keeping any blockers and was able to run him over twice.

Notable Memory: Incremental Blight is some awesome removal.
Round Score: 2-0
Record: 3-1


I ended up with a pretty decent record, placed 4th overall, tied for second 3-way. I didn't get a chance to go up against the winning deck, but it had a pretty nasty Kitchen Finks + Heart Mender combo that really rocked for him. We just played for fun, no prizes no rating on the line, But it was a good time for sure. Played some extra fun games at the end and got our caffeine on all night long. Another successful draft!

So, its pretty obvious right now that I'm freaking STOKED about the announcment that Blizzard has made today. In case you haven't heard yet, Its Diablo III.

From what I've seen so far, the game play video and the class info, all I can say is this game will be AMAZING! Now to wait for a release date...

Carry On.

With Blizzcon approaching quickly, and the teaser slowly moving along day by day, anticipation for the sequel to the much loved Diablo franchise is becoming rampant. Over at Diabloii.Net they have been tracking the progress of the Teaser splash screens, and as of yesterday it looked very promising that it could indeed be Diablo 3 that was going to be announced.

Now that day 3 has rolled along, and the third glyph is revealed and it appears to be a Starcraft glyph instead of a Diablo glyph. Which makes it look like they are showing the legacy of their games with the glyphs. Who knows really - none of us. I myself REALLY want it to be Diablo 3, but it could quite possibly be an announcement for a new franchise all together. Which wouldn’t be too bad either.

Sadly though, I'm going to speculate that if they do not announce Diablo 3 this year, we will be waiting a long time for our newest Diablo game (if ever). With all the Diablo clones out there, and Mythos doing its thing, if they don't announce this year, I can see Mythos taking over as the "Diablo" game (though it feels way more like WoW than Diablo) for years to come, and Blizzard will just cut their "losses" and focus on this new property. 

That’s my two cents on the whole thing, I guess we will all just have to wait till this weekend.

No Wammies! No Wammies! No Wammies!

It looks like Turbine is trying to take a page out of the SOE book.

Not nearly as tempting as the Living Legacy promotion. But a good deal none the less. Unfortunately I just didn't jive with LOTRO enough to want to go back.

Okay, I finally got around to picking up a box of Shadowmoor boosters and I’ve decided to share the experience with you all. Well technically I bought a box of Shadowmoor Tournament Packs, but you get the same amount of cards as a box of boosters, but you get a butt-ton of land along side, and it costs the same. Ok, so here are the rare cards I pulled.

(F) denotes a foil card.

• Green
  • Prismatic Omen – x2
  • Spawnwrithe – x2
  • Witherscale Wurm
  • Woodfall Primus
• Red
  • Knollspine Dragon
  • Knollspine Invocation
  • Rage Reflection – x2
• Black
  • Plague of Vermin
  • Puppeteer Clique – x2
• Blue
  • Counterbore
  • Isleback Spawn
  • Savor the Moment
  • Thought Reflection
• Green/White
  • Heartmender – x2
  • Wheel of Sun and Moon
• Red/Green
  • Boartusk Liege
  • Rosheen Meanderer
  • Valleymaker
  • Vexing Susher (F)
  • Wort, the Raidmother
• Black/Red
  • Din of the Fireheard – x2 (1F)
  • Everlasting Torment
  • Tyrannize – x2
• Blue/Black
  • Dire Undercurrents
  • Ghastlord of Fugue
  • Glen Elendra Liege
• White/Blue
  • Godhead of Awe – x2
  • Swans of Bryn Argoll (F)
  • Worldpurge
• Land
  • Graven Carins
  • Sunken Ruins

Quite the list, a few pretty awesome cards in there, some will be taking the journey back to Hobbytown to see if I can get some nice swag in return.

All in all, I very pleased with the turnout of this box of cards, and I highly recommend that anybody that plays magic to pick up as much shadowmoor as they can. It’s definitely a very good set.