Beginner's Weave

I have to say that I don't think the beginner's Weave deck on gatlingEngine is too strong at all. I played a very long beginner's game with Weave versus Weave. I feel sort of sorry for the person learning Magi-Nation. I did recommend that they try Orothe, Core, or Paradwyn since they like control decks in Magic, The Gathering.

The beginner's game could've been much quicker. I was using my restricted Weave deck and Kesia was going to town with a Seaweed Lascinth to eliminate the Speags, a condition I had allowed to happen while Ahdar was still my magi because I needed something big enough to smash my creatures into so I could burn through my energy. I had to stop playing with my Uwamars most of the game. This was one time I wished I had Rayje's Belt, which I have never put in my Weave decks before, however even that wouldn't be legal for a restricted deck. I wanted very much to lock down wait on my Uwamars so I could attack with them and expend their energy in a single blow. As it was, I had to attack as much as possible weaving off the Uwamar but do all this without playing many creatures either or the Uwamar would gain it all back.

I can only hope that the person comes back and gives Magi-Nation another try after such a long game. Though, they seemed to be getting a real good handle on some of the energy mechanics and tricks by the end there.

By the way, why is there not even one copy of Sawgrass in that public deck? Kesia should've been able to come back from under the Speags like she was doing for me, but to have to stop using the reflexes of the Seaweed Lascinth against defensive Weave seemed a bit odd. In fact, I even stopped weaving so I didn't generate tons of energy mechanics as I looked for a way for Kesia to go down and sort of give the beginner another of my magi in defeat. A Sawgrass in that deck could've prevented the turn after turn pain of reflexes on a rather large monster, a spell that even my aggro-Weave deck uses. I think it swallowed a twenty-one energy Speag whole. I really don't think that the learner's deck should be a powerful and overly tweaked deck. Mostly, I thought that one or two Sawgrass could work nice to round out the deck and give a nice feel for what I consider a standard Weave deck.

A Quick Note

I got in my first game tonight on the malovis challenge. Malovis can cover the details. Novelty hinted he would write about the games here. He did suggest that he could've played things differently and gotten my first two magi with Trug using Focus. I am not sure. Very possible. It might've been interesting to see Karse toss down the Sarazen Guard I had in hand.... I kept expecting Ormagons though. I don't know if they were in there or not. He also suggested that he should've done things differently with Strag, though the bit about Strag sounded like he just simply forgot something he had in his hand. Maybe when malovis reports I will find that he was being very kind to me in that game. And, yes, I do agree that the game was closer than some of the observers may have realized, though not for all the reasons some might expect.

I did run into a very interesting problem with my Orlon's Ring deck. I ran out of cards in the deck and discard pile because I actually drew too much and had nothing to trigger purity. I had to change the way I played to try and correct my problem.

The Malovis Challenge

Malovis has been the winner of the past 4 MND tournaments on gEngine. Here's your chance to prove that you're better than him, or to take your revenge, whichever you prefer.

During the whole month of September, you can challenge Malovis to three matches. Win at least two out of the three, and you not only get bragging rights, but 5 copper tokens. If you win all 3 games against Malovis, I'll throw in another copper token. If you play with at least 2 Shadowsfall magi in all 3 games against Malovis, I'll throw in a silver token.

Examples:
Played 2 games against Malovis, won none or one game = 0 tokens
Played 3 games against Malovis, won none or one game, but had 2 Shadowsfall magi in all 3 games = 1 silver token
Played 2 games against Malovis, won two = 5 copper tokens
Played 3 games against Malovis, won two = 5 copper tokens
Played 3 games against Malovis, won three = 6 copper tokens
Played 3 games against Malovis, won three, had 2 Shadowsfall magi in all 3 games = 6 copper tokens + 1 silver token

To make sure Malovis doesn't use his powerful decks, you get to choose which region (except Universal) you would wish Malovis to use. You may request a different region per game if you wish.

Rules:
1. Legal cards = all Shadowsfall Promo, all Elder's Legacy cards, all Traitor's Reach cards on gEngine and all printed cards with the exception of Tony at a Con and Power of the Creators. Tainted Glimpses, Twilight War and Double Jeopardy cards are not legal. Non-Core custom promo cards and Taint are also not legal for this tournament.
2. Rules = official MND rules (deck of at least 40 cards, 3 magi, etc.)
3. You don't have to use the same deck for every game - you are allowed to tweak your deck in between games, as long as #1 and #2 and all other normal rules are met.
4. Novelty's decision on the tournament is final.

Date:
You can start playing the games now. Malovis will report the results here in this thread. If you are using any Shadowsfall Promo magi in your deck, please show them to Malovis, so that he can include them in his report.

You don't have to play all your games in a single day. They can be play anytime from now until 30th September.

What to do:
Play at least 2 games, but no more than 3, with Malovis. You get to pick which region you want Malovis to play. You may pick a (different) region for each game you play with Malovis. Win at least 2 to get tokens.

Prizes:
5 copper tokens for winning 2 games
6 copper tokens for winning 3 games
1 silver token for using at least 2 Shadowsfall Promo magi in all 3 games.

Sign-up:
There is no sign up, just challenge Malovis if you see him on gEngine.

Naroom Trapped Underground

After logging on a few times and getting in no games, I was pleased to see that a couple people had played a game a little bit earlier. As it was, I managed to get in a game with Mdw005. I debated going with a test deck. Mdw005 mentioned that they were going with a normal deck that they were just finishing putting together. As such, I ended up choosing to go with my restricted Naroom deck. It’s a speed deck. Card draw with Tiller and Warrior’s Boots with wasperines for quick hitting.

Mdw005 went first starting off with Myka. They didn’t play any creatures. I grabbed Vortex of Knowledge with Tiller and drew as much as I could. Warrior’s Boots and two Wasperines opened up a quick hit on Myka. Her burrow effect was sure to guarantee a long battle. As it was, Mdw005 tossed down Robes of Ages and began the onslaught of spells. Over the course of the game, Mdw005 played only a very few creatures. The deck was actually an assortment of spells from across the regions. Among the annoying spells was Snare. There was a few times that I could’ve got in a good strike if it wasn’t for that spell. Tiller went down. Salafy battled for a bit and faced off against Emaal. This is when a couple copies of Spirit of Rayje sort of nullified striking with the Wasperine Stalkers. Mdw005 had drawn through their deck with Trogovos and they sacrificed Emaal leaving my last magi, Pruitt, with no energy and unable to energize due to Crushing Fungus. Celebrated Hero only had to play an Ormagon to win the game, although a single Shockwave or some such could’ve done the job against Pruitt’s only creature in play. It was a good game. A good loss for me. I look forward to playing Mdw005 in the future.

The never ending eXodus

Two more eXodus images were finished after I prepared the postscript for eXodus, so I've templated them.

The first one is by Austin Gardner (Windrider) who has been playing with photoshop. He needs to learn how to make objects 3D by giving them depth, but he's learning - the shadow in the image below is a start.

The other image is by Jen Reed (ChaosHyren) who has been finding her own style of art. It's not her best, but it is good. The background is by Holmberg.

The images of both will probably make their way into Exodus Flight. The Uban will probably get a name change though.

Invaders?

What if there were custom Invader cards... would they look something like this?

Both cards with art by Holmberg. Part of Zeelor's background is by yours truly.