Water And Trees Collide

Again, I played CapAp and went first. This time Keelie would use her Nocturne to fetch an Alpine Xamf. With a Weebo and Eebit, she had a good start. Bria would face off against her, fetching a Cloud Sceptre and Orathan Amulet. She played out two Orathans and a Weethan opposite Keelie's forces. Alpine Xamf would attack the Weethan. I certainly didn't want to suffer from impede. This isn't one of my Tiller decks that draws enough to handle it. The Eebit would soften up one of the Orathans. Keelie would play the Eebit back out with a Giant Carillion to stomp the larger Orathan. Orwin's Ring would get the Eebit and the Giant Carillion out of easy target range for the Orathan in play. Orathan would attack the Alpine Xamf. This setup a steal by an Abaquist grown with Submerge. Not wanting to miss out on the benefits of the Alpine Xamf, I would attack it and use Remember Ring to restore it to my side of the field. In the process, Bria was defeated. Blu would take the field next. He would play out an Orathan and Orathan Flyer, along with Orpus and Submerge. Now Keelie would resort to Bythan's Gift and sacrificing her Giant Carillion. However, she got both Orathans and played out a Furok. Undertow would send her Furok away. Keelie answered this with her Eebit and Tap Roots to defeat Blu. Not exactly a power move, but it did the job. Now Quilla would take to the field. She played out Barqua's Bubble and the Orathan Amulet. With another Orathan and Orathan Flyer, things weren't looking to keen for a spent Keelie. However, she would take her best shot with the Eebit and play it back out once again. Submerge would do wonders for Orothe, and Crushing Surf would end the Eebit games. Quilla essentially tapped Keelie. She would play out a Weethan and await the next Naroom Magi. Salafy would stand up next. She put in a valiant effort to prepare to battle Quilla. A Relic Stalker would take out Barqua's Bubble. Alpine Xamf and Furok would become her defenses, and Tap Roots would eliminate the Weethan. Barqua's Bubble would appear again, apparently Quilla had one in reserve, and Quilla demostrated the power of her high energize rate by play Tidal Wave for ten energy. Salafy was defeated. Now, it was up to T'dek. He would have to be cunning to deal with Quilla. He played two Giant Carillion to stomp at the Orathans. His efforts to use Crushing Roots was stopped by the Bubble, but he did get both Orathans by using those two Giant Carillions. Since he had used Remember Ring and his power for one of them, T'dek ended the turn with just five energy in play. One on himself and two on each of his creatures. Quilla would play out a Weethan to defend herself. With another crushing spell in hand, the Weethan was eliminated and CapAp declared "gg." It seems CapAp was trying to build their own Orathan deck. Probably not up to par with another person's deck that I can think of, it was still nice to see someone else giving that creature theme a go. I wonder if CapAp will getting it working to the point that they "shelf" the deck as well because it is just too strong.

Wasperine Blitzed

I played CapAp this past Saturday. I went first with Tiller who drew cards like normal and played a single Balamant. Evu took the field opposite Tiller and it became a battle of Naroom versus Naroom. Evu played a Furok, Plith, and used Grow. Tiller would crush the Plith, play both a Wasperine and Wasperine Stalker so that Evu survived with just two energy. Evu would play a Robe of Vines and a Leaf Chogo for defense. Tiller would finish off Evu and the Chogo on his next pass. To this end, Tiller also played a Weebo and Lumber Hyren. With Orwin's Ring added to the mix, I realized I had made a mistake in my deck construction. Orwin's Ring and Nightmare Channel are not exactly compatible. Ouch! The deck list here reflects the change I made after the game. I swapped out the Nightmare Channels and put in Flood of Energy instead. However, back to the game we were playing. Realizing my deck construction error, I held the Nightmare Channel in my hand were it wouldn't get in the way. Wence took over from Evu and used his power. Then, Wence played a Vortex of Knowledge. He crushed my Weebo after playing out an Arboll. Grow would top it off, giving Wence a good shield. Tiller would use Warrior's Boots to push the offensive. His Lumber Hyren survived by one energy. Wence would return the favor Tiller had shown Evu earlier. A Wasperine and Wasperine Stalker would finish off Tiller. Playing out a Twee, Wence prepared to face Keelie. Keelie would play an Alpine Xamf followed by two Stagadan. Wence would crush one of her Stagadans and attack to eliminate the other. Keelie would use Tap Roots in frustration to eliminate the Twee and attacked to defeat Wence. This is when Eidon would reveal the surprise in store for my forces. Eidon would play two copies of Flood of Energy. With a massive amount of energy now at his disposal, Eidon would play Robe of Vines and use Warrior's Boots to play a Leaf Chogo and a Furok before the attack step. Yes, two creatures summoned with two copies of the Boots. Grow gave plenty of energy with a roll of five, and Yaki's Gauntlets ensured plenty of attacks to come. So far, not too bad. Keelie was looking to be in a bad spot, but she had energized right along Eidon. However, he played out a Wasperine and Wasperine Stalker. With enough attacks to spare from Yaki's Guantlets, Keelie didn't stand a chance. Forest Jile would be icing on the cake for Eidon and make Woot's position very tenous. Woot would take his chances with two Wasperine Stalkers for their free energy. A Wasperine would assist, but the even tossing down a Giant Carillion to use its stomp wouldn't be enough. Vim and Vigor would shrink one of the Wasperine Stalkers down to where it could be crushed. Once it was crushed, Eidon would have the strength to push through Woot in just one turn. I was quite impressed. That was the first time I have seen Naroom played like that. It certainly steamrolled right over me.

By the Ancients!

First off, a few random comments:

Doug must be really enjoying his stint as the Arderial card designer for Exodus Flight. He's already finished his first draft of his cards while some others haven't yet started. Here's a preview:



Conscript Vemment
Arderial Dream Creature
[4]
Power - Pull Down: Discard 1 energy from Conscript Vemment to discard 2 energy from all opposing creatures with less energy then the number of Vemments you have in play.
"Come on down!" - Koriko
Art by: Vega/Nov
Card by: Brown/Nov

It's an OK card I think. Somewhere along the way though, I realised that working with Doug was just way too much hassle than was worth it and at the end of the day, I don't think I will be using him to design cards for future expansions, even if he gets his spell-checker to work!

Secondly, I still haven't received a reply from nightlight as to whether I could use his image for the custom cards, so rather than waiting, I think I'll have to change the image. I found one of Whyrl's earlier artwork (shown below) and will be using that instead of the really cool one that she did for nightlight.


So once that is templated, it would mean that all 150 cards have been templated for Exodus Flight.

Third, I have been so caught up with the card design process for Exodus Flight that I'm semi out of the hiatus and have been designing cards alongside the rest of the designers. I've completed one region, but there's still many more for me to go. It has been enjoyable designing the cards though and they should be going up for public review in a couple of month's time.

Fourth, Project Second Chance is still ongoing. Not many people have been posting though. We've already moved through Cald and Arderial. There isn't going to be a third chance for the cards. The first card will probably be going up on gEngine in a month's time (or thereabouts) for the monthly winner of the summer league.

Yes the summer league is still ongoing... the winner this month gets to pick a DJ magi for inclusion on gEngine for "Advance Playtesting". At the moment, it seems bpd9383 will be the winner, but there's still 24 more hours to go, so I guess anything can happen.

And back to the topic of this post - whew there's just so much happening, I could take another hiatus even before I've ended my last one - the expansion after Exodus Flight would be Ancient of Days/Ancient Enemy. Why such a long and weird name? The short form explaination for the name is that AoD/AE will really be two expansion combined into one.

AoD will be a 100 card expansion with the following breakdown:

Arderial/Cald/Core/Naroom/Orothe/Underneath/Universal - 6 cards each
Kybar's Teeth/Weave - 8 cards each
Bograth/Paradwyn - 9 cards each
d'Resh/Nar - 11 cards each

Unlike EF, no new stuff will be introduced in this set, but it will continue to support existing themes and ideas. The power level of the cards will escalate slightly as EF isn't suppose to raise power levels. I have no idea will be in there yet, because the set is just an idea at this point, but that's the rough gist of the expansion.

Now AE will be a different beast altogether. It will not have any of the usual regions, but will instead comprise of one region - Invader. Yes, you heard right, the Invaders are coming! I have no idea how many cards will be going into this set or what the cards will do or even if I'm going to introduce new rules for it as of yet. Those decisions will ultimately have to be made, but not at this point in time. I have already displayed one of the Invader cards a long while back, but here it is again...

Wow, the card was done in August 2005, almost a year back...

I have no idea how the fans will take this idea, but should this concept prove successful, I don't see why future sets shouldn't have more Invader cards... and maybe other new regions? Conversely, should the idea prove unpopular, AE can easily be removed without damaging AoD in any form. Hence the reason why it's named separately from AoD.

All this could be pure speculation though. At the rate things are going 2i might put out official Invader cards before I can get this set online, which would be a good thing. I think...

Overlooking The Mountains

Today I played Cole R with my Kybar's Teeth deck. Yes, that deck I've had on gEngine for a year or more but never played it against anyone. Of course, it is the region that I frequently state that I am not very good at. Oh well, I hope you still believe me on that.

Cole R started off with Trygar. Trygar fetched the Tunneler's Boots and the Pylofuf he starts with. Playing both cards, he was off to a good start. I opted to skip my starting cards altogether. The only starting card I have for Kazm is the Baldar, but I wanted better odds on getting Rockslide. Kazm got what I hoped for. Rockslide took out the Pylofuf before Kazm played some of his own creatures, a Vopok and an Agrilla. Trygar would just draw two cards and left himself wide open for Kazm. Sacrificing a Climbing Staff to the Vopok, Kazm took the opening. The defeated Trygar used his parting effect to leave behind a Freep. Suspecting what was in store, Kazm still took the free energy available from his own effect. He held his own hand. Freep would use its effect to give Trug enough energy to use his cataclysm to defeat himself and Kazm in one quick blow. This effectively ended Trug's turn, so Celebrated Hero would stand up as the next champion for the Teeth. He played out another Agrilla and Vopok. So far, I wasn't seeing much variety in the creatures I was drawing. Gogor would then flip over as the anchor Magi for Underneath. His Gravel Storm rolled a two, so it was up to Thunderquake to eliminate the Vopok the expensive way. At a full ten energy, he also reduced my Agrilla to two energy. Gogor used two of his last four energy to play a Crystal Arboll. This could've bought him a turn of protection from his alternate self, except a simple Jagged Rocks would eliminate the Crystal Arboll and leave Gogor wide open for an attack by the Agrilla. Although the game ended at this point, I still wasn't seeing much of my other creatures in my card draw. In my hand was my third copy of Vopok and no other creatures. Just some spells and relics. That ended up being a quick game. Cole R was suffering from a bad hand it seems. Crystal Arboll was the only creature they had in their hand. Since most of my decks are over half creatures, I would probably be moaning over the lack of creatures if the Pylofuf, Freep, and Crystal Arboll were my only creatures for the game by the time my third magi was facing defeat.

Well, now that I've had a break from Naroom, maybe I'll get to playtesting some more of the TW decks I made. Let me see, I have three more to go. I know that I am so tempted to draft up some more, but I think I really ought to start cycling back through the decks I already have soon and test them some more.

A Small Fascination With Furoks

The game I played with BobbyDoc2 with this deck was actually done on the same day as the previous two. We were both cycling through a good number of different decks we had. This time, BobbyDoc2 would start the game with Kazm and his two Baldars. While I was now using my Furok deck, it is fortunate for me that my personal version of a Furok deck only uses the Baby Furok, Furok, and the Firds. This meant that the rest of my creatures were something else. So, Tiller started off with his Vortex of Knowledge and sacrificed the Weeblit to draw plenty of cards. Alpine Xamf would go first, being the same size as the Baldar, it would trigger no energy for Kazm. The Giant Carillion would then have a little extra energy. After Stomping the Giant Baldar and using Tap Roots to shrink the Baldar and grow the Giant Carillion, it looked good for Tiller. Kazm would crush the Alpine Xamf and attack it for free with the Baldar. A very good move. The energy gains of the Xamf does wonders for my decks, which is why I love to use it with the Furoks. Tiller had enough relics in hand to not only use his power to draw cards, but he placed a Robe of Vines into play. Giant Carillion would attack, just barely surviving. With a Furok and Weebo put into play, Tiller went ahead and used the power of the Weebo to restore the Giant Carillion. Kazm would use Warrior's Boots to eliminate the Furok. Again, a very good call. The energy gains of a Furok on the offensive can really fuel a Naroom Magi. This is often how I get Tiller to go so far against opposing decks. Tiller would essentially nudge Kazm with the Weebo after this to defeat him. Ullig came in strong with Warrior's Boots and a Motad. This new Kybar's Teeth creature gained energy fast as Ullig played out Gogor's Spade and several other Kybar's Teeth relics. It was frightening. Tiller would use Bythan's Gift on his next turn to handle the pressure. By the end of his turn, all he had in play to defend himself was a Baby Furok. His other creatures had been lost to attacks. Whether it had been Ulligs impressive offensive, or his own attacks upon her creatures. Vertigo and Ullig's Ring left him in a real energy crunch to play any creatures, which is probably what Tiller would've prefered. Anyways, Ullig would ease off the pressure just a little when the Vertigo expired. So, on his next turn, Tiller would pay the extra for a Giant Carillion to stomp some nasty Kybar's giant. Darge would attack the Giant Carillion as Ullig wasn't going to let Naroom just heal the enemy of Kybar's Teeth. After playing out a Vopok, it was back to Tiller again who was holding on by that same Baby Furok. Tap Roots would make it a little bigger, and opposition just a little smaller. Ullig would find the opening she needed to get through the defense of the Baby Furok and took it. Vopok finished off the Baby Furok and Darge got Tiller. Now, somewhere in there, Tiller had used a Curious Fird. Now, I didn't put that little bit in my notes, so I am not sure where or when that happened. Now, it was time for Salafy to try out some Naroom insanity, or never-ending supply of creatures. The idea was to test just how bad it could be with her effect recurring the Curious Fird and let the Curious Fird salvage the Furoks instead. Well, I would never test that in this game. Something else that had made it into this deck was the Remember Ring. The first Remember Ring would bring back an Alpine Xamf. The second copy would bring back a Gian Carillion, enemy of the Teeth. Salafy would play a number of creatures including one Weebo. I believe she used her effect to get the Weebo from the discard pile back into the hand. As soon as the Giant Carillion was restored, it would stomp out one opposing creature. Ullig responded with Show of Force to eliminate both the Alpine Xamf and the Giant Carillion. Salafy answered with Crushing Roots and was able to attack an undefended Ullig. Krue, Helper, would once again take up the anchor spot for the Teeth. Krue played out another Motad as well as a Stubborn Chogus. Rolling a six on the Chogulith not only boosted the Chogus in play substantially, it also provided a nice way for the Motad to gain some more energy. Bythan's Gift would give Salafy a partial answer to the really big Kybar's Teeth creatures. And from the retrieval of the Furok she had made so big, she found enough energy to play out a Giant Carillion. Stomp was her friend and essentially ended the game.

Anti-Core Versus The Teeth

This is the second game I played against BobbyDoc2 in the same day. I have been going through my Twilight War playtest decks in order so far, so my next choice was my anti-Core deck. I even told BobbyDoc2 so. The idea of this deck was to test Keelie in a starting magi as well with her starting combo of Nocturne and Weebo. For anti-Core, this could be a guaranteed Tillant. For anything else, sicne my anti-Core deck is an Alpine Xamf deck, it would fetch this creature instead to start the energy gains early.

BobbyDoc2 went first with Rayje. Rayje played out his construct. For his other starters, it was Elemental Shield and Warrior's Boots. With lore drawing an extra card, Rayje was off to a good start. As planned, Keelie would start off by fetching the Alpine Xamf with Nocturne. She played a Weebo and a Giant Carillion. Giant Carillion would stomp the construct and Weebo restored the Alpine Xamf. Rayje was quick to eliminate the Alpine Xamf by using Warrior's Boots with an Agrilla. Tap Roots would finish off the Agrilla and make it so the Weebo could use its power again. A restored Giant Carillion would take out Rayje. Keelie would now attempt energy gains with Orwin's Ring although she had lost the Alpine Xamf. Kazm was up next, and he would have none of that. He used Shattershards on the ring and eliminated the Weebo. He used his Cleansing on Zungg, then played a Giant Baldar and a Baldar. Topple would take out the Giant Carillion by sacrificing the other giant in play. With Elemental Shield to protect the Baldar, Kazm was looking fairly good. To deny Kazm extra energy, Keelie would play out a Tillant although it offered her no advantages. Kazm would sacrifice his Baldar to the mutual defeat of both creatures. With a Vopok now in play, Keelie would crush it before playing out a Lumber Hyren. She seemed to be hard pressed to keep Kazm from gaining extra energy. Kazm opted to go ahead and play some small creatures to take advantage of the power of a Zungg. With a Sagawal for support, he was looking good. After gnawing at the Lumber Hyren, Topple took out the Lumber Hyren by sacrificing the Vopok. Keelie would smile upon Kazm as she played an Ember Hyren to singe the Zungg. Sagawal would defeat the hyren in an attack, and Kazm would play another Vopok plus a Rock Yajo. Keelie answered with a Leaf Chogo. A weak response, but it was the best choice at the time. The Rock Yajos would attack to eliminate Leaf Chogo. Keelie survived, and so she played out a Robe of Vines and Lumber Hyren to consume all her energy. Kazm would discard a card so his mighty Vopok could attack. In the end, Keelie would be defeated. Yaki would crush the Vopok first to keep Kazm from gaining energy. Once that threat was resolved, Yaki used Nocturne to fetch another Alpine Xamf. During his creature step, he played out his starting Weebo and two Furoks. Kazm had no creatures in play, and apparently couldn't play what he did have in his hand. So, with Yaki's effect allowing two strikes each, Kazm went down in defeat despite all the energy he had stored up. Yaki would add an Ember Hyren to his swarm before Krue appeared. Krue, Helper, would play another cleansing to allow the Chaos Plith in hand to stand up and represent Kybar's Teeth. Krue also tossed out two Zungg, a Rock Yajo, and an Agrilla. Rayje's Belt would lock retrieve from the Furoks. Relic Stalker would fix that back up for Yaki by eliminating the belt. After the hyren singed the opposition and Bythan's Gift returned it to hand, BobbyDoc2 declared "gg." Apparently, BobbyDoc2 had suffered from a severe case of Core cards in hand with no Cleansing to fix it.

Ormagons Beat The Flood

I went first against BobbyDoc2 on Thursday with Tiller playing out just a Furok. Myka flipped over for BobbyDoc2 and played Resonate and then drew her two cards. A Furok and Wasperine Stalker didn't her too hard, but it was a start. Tiller tossed down two more creatures to try and begin some good pressure on Myka. Myka would have none of it and Thunderquaked for ten. This wiped out Tiller's swarm. Playing an Akkar and Crystal Arboll gave Myka something big. Tiller's response was to play a Lumber Hyren and Tap Roots. Topping it with Orwin's Ring would give Tiller something big to match. Myka played out a Crystal Lascinth and the Crystal Goblet. Tiller would Tap Roots again and send his Lumber Hyren crashing into the Akkar. With an Overgrowth attached to the Lumber Hyren, he was hoping to up the pressure a little. Resonate and an attack by the Crystal Lascinth would defeat Tiller. Salafy would take the field next. She played out a Wasperine Stalker before the attack step, then played out a Forest Wudge, Furok, Fird, and Rabbage. She attached Overgrowth to the Furok and tossed down Forest Dew for herself. Crushing Fungus on the Furok would hurt, but the Rabbage still energized on Salafy's next turn. Salafy would attack to defeat Myka. Kistae would represent Underneath next. Ormagon with Crystal Arboll combined to destroy Salafy's swarm. Crystal Saris had a Dream Channel attached to it while Salafy survived by one energy. Salafy's choice at this point was to play another Forest Wudge and use her protege effect. Tap Roots to balance things out a little, and it was time to hope for some luck. Fortune smiled upon Kristae, and Thunderquake eliminated the Forest Wudge and Salafy was sent packing. It would be up to Warrada Simulacrum. Another Wasperine Stalker would slam into the opposing magi. Lumber Hyren, two Forest Wudge, and Forest Jile later, Warrada was set to make her stand. Kristae tore into the Forest Wudge mightily and without mercy. Urhail would enter play and finish the turn. Warrada sacrificed her Lumber Hyren and then played a Weebo and Forest Jile. With the powers of the Forest Jiles, Warrada would try building up some steam. The surviving Urhail would attack the fresh Forest Jile. This left it small enough that an Ormalet would eliminate it. Warrada would press the offensive again. She played her third Forest Jile. With Kristae defeated, Warrada would play first one Flood of Energy to give herself enough energy to play a Forest Well. Then, another Flood of Energy would allow to grow in prep for the third and final Underneath magi. Ulmi would have none of that and demonstrated the Ormagon and Crystal Arboll trick from Kristae once more. In addition, she played a Granas and gave it Dream Channel. Warrada would play out a Lumber Hyren and Furok to defend herself. A Thunderquake for seven energy would open Warrada wide up for defeat. It was a good game. As I told BobbyDoc2 at the end, I had wanted to do the Flood of Energy stuff earlier, but there just wasn't what I felt was a good opening. With Underneath and their Ormagons, I just couldn't find it in myself to risk giving an Underneath magi the energy resources to do the big critter so easily.

Disconcerting Naroom

Yesterday, I played against YT Sno and their Twilight War Disconcert Deck. I went first with Tryn and didn't realize that Tryn's Flute wasn't a starting card for her. After shuffling my hand back into my deck, I didn't get any copy of the flute. Oh, well. Tryn started off with playing a Flame Rudwot and Leaf Hyren. After bouncing and their powers and Tryn's, both were five energy or greater. YT Sno started off with O'Qua and summoned a Sea Barl with conjure. With two Wellisks in play, O'Qua was in modest shape. Except Crushing Roots and Burning Branches from Flame Rudwot setup O'Qua for a quick defeat. Playing a Flying Hinko before using any of the powers to add energy started Tryn into some extra energy gains. Woot rushed in with 2 Wasperine Stalkers and a Wasperine. He struck at Tryn and one of her creatures. The extra two energy on the stalkers required Tryn to pay a heavy price to do some serious damage. Playing a Lumber Hyren helped Tryn in her energy mechanics going on. The Flying Hinko was netting some good energy. Woot played out nothing on his next turn, so it was an easy sweep for Tryn, and she added a Energy Band to my mix of stuff. After Woot went down in defeat, it was up to Keelie to pull off the Disconcert tactics of YT Sno's deck. With a Lumber Hyren and other creatures, Keelie was looking quite good. Unable to add energy to my creatures, it hurt. So, Keelie survived by a one energy Lumber Hyren. Crushing Roots on my Flying Hinko was over due at this point, but it didn't save Keelie. That one energy Lumber Hyren was now a four energy creature just perfect for me to crush in return. It was my first taste of Disconcert. I never did get Tryn's Flute into my hand before the game was over.

A little bit later yesterday, YT Sno and I had a rematch. They had made some changes to their deck, and I chose to go with my second playtest deck. A similar deck, but with some alterations to test some of the same Twilight Cards in a little different way. With Tryn's Flute being a relic, I thought it appropriate to also test it in a Tiller deck, a magi already known for good card draw.

Again, I went first. YT Sno thought this was bad luck. When I put Vortex of Knowledge into my hand, it was not just bad luck. It was double bad luck. Granted, a hand full of relics and spells isn't ideal for Naroom. By the time Tiller used Vortex of Knowledge and scrounged one of the relics, I only had two creatures in my hand. The starting Weebo and a Forest Hyren. A powerful combo to start with. In the hopes of correcting what I considered a bad hand, I put Tryn's Flute into play as well. It left Tiller with two big creatures and little energy on himself. Rayje would start off with his construct and a Nightmare Construct. Rayje's Construct would pound out Tryn's Flute and draw a card. Weebo and Forest Hyren would bounce their powes off each other a second time and then attack to eliminate the opposing creatures. Lumber Hyren would finish off Rayje. So, once again Woot is up quickly. YT Sno stated that the lack of an Ormagon leaves Woot a bit short in what he's supposed to be doing. However, Disconcert would unsettle things for me again. With only a five energy Forest Hyren still in play, and not energizing until the end of the turn, it was easy to sacrifice Tiller. After using his power to scrounge for more cards, the Forest Hyren went away by attacking a Wasperine Stalker. Using the Tomes of the Great Library, Woot played another Disconcert. Tryn flipped over and played out two Flying Hinkos and a Giant Carillion with her starting energy. Giant Carillion stomped the only creature Woot still had. Woot would crush one of the Flying Hinkos and add energy to his fresh new creature. Without another Disconcert hanging over her head, Tryn would use Bythan's Gift to make her surviving Flying Hinko good sized by adding in her own power as well. After attacking and defeating Woot, she played out the rest of her energy into two Flame Rudwot. They bounced their powers to one to each and two energy to Tryn from the hinko. Keelie would use Relic Stalker on Tryn's Flute, play a Book of Life, two Lumber Hyren, a Stagadan, and a Weebo. There was a Robe of the Ages as well. While the Book of Life wasn't used, it was nice to see how the Disconcert lock could be pulled off between that and the Tomes of the Great Library. Lumber Hyren and Weebo would use their powers to net some energy gains for Keelie between her own effect and the basic fact that the combo ends with a three energy Weebo, which is one up from where it started. While the Lumber Hyren did remove the two energy that Tryn had, these Naroom powers triggered the Flying Hinko and restored the lost energy. Two copies of Crushing Roots by Tryn eliminated the Weebo and the Stagadan. With Tryn's creatures using powers and getting very big, it was called as a good game at that point. YT Sno apologized that I didn't get to see the power of the Disconcert lock. And while I did have the flute in play twice this game, it never saw more than one turn each time.

This makes for testing on two of my eight TW Naroom decks. Yes, I went a little nuts.

Three Forgotten Games

I was just looking at my notes and I realized that there are three games that I haven't written about. The first one was a game with CapAp.

CapAp went first with Evu. Evu tossed out a Furok and Plith from his starters. Arawan started things off for my Paradwyn deck. Arawan crushed the Furok and searched for a Fog Hyren. After playing a Vine Hyren, Tropical Plith, and that Fog Hyren, the Paradwyn deck was off to a good start. However, Evu had some tricks up his old sleeves. He crushed, used Grow, and attacked in a surprisingly swift blow to Arawan. Arawan would fall to Evu. Ookami would play out five creatures, but skip vitalize on his Hardshell Weebo. This would save it from the crushing blow of the K'teeb Thumper which Evu had used to finish off Arawan. Again, Vine Hyren had started things off, with two Lahalou, another Fog Hyren, and the aforementioned Hardshell Weebo. Evu would direct the K'teeb Thumper to hit one of the Lahalou, crushed the Hardshell Weebo and attacked. Fortunately, Ookami was in good condition and counter attacked with his surviving creatures. I did forgot to make that attack which would've defeated Evu. CapAp and I decided to play it out as if I had, so Wence made his appearance. Another K'teeb Thumper would cause some trouble, accompanied by an Arboll and Forest Jile. This would finish off the Lahalous. A Fog Hyren would net Ookami Scarletsong Trill to enable a fierce attack upon Wence's creatures. Eidon was the final Naroom magi. Unfortunately, this is where my notes end. I don't know if the game ended in a loss or a victory. Or, did one of us have to leave? I suppose it could be any number of things to something as simple as failing to take notes after that.

The next game I have notes on is short bit with Cliff_Burton again. This time he started with Magam, Flamesmith, one of my favorite starting Cald magi... except when I am sitting across the field as her opponent. She played Charge and Arbolit. So, she ended up with one large Charge. Tiller would start off as usual for me. I chose to take the hit from her effect on a Wasperine Stalker. Sure, it only hit her for one energy, but it was now "safe" for me to play my Alpine Xamf, Giant Carillion and Weebo. Giant Carillion stomped the Charge and Weebo restored. However, this is where the game ended. Cliff_Burton had to go and saved the game. It has been long enough since then that I am not sure the saved game is still available.

For the third game I failed to write about it like I try to, it was played against Juno. It looks like this may have been another incomplete game. I wasn't doing too good though from what I saw in my notes. Again, I was playing Paradwyn, but I went first with Arawan. I only played out a Tropical Hyren, so this would've been with my other Paradwyn dreamwarp deck. I have two of them. The differences between them is rather small. One has Fog Hyren, and the other has Staff of Vines. However, I didn't play this particular relic yet. Juno flipped over Marella, Savant, as their first magi. With two Stumbling Junjertrug in play to start off their energy mechanics, I responded by attacking after using Tropical Rain. Then, I dreamwarped down two Taglat and copied the surviving Stumbling Junjertrug. Weave Path and Weave Seed would leave Arawan hurting. A Junjertrug took out Arawan so it would be up to Ookami to hold off Weave. Ookami tossed down a K'teeb, two Lahalou, three Hardshell Weebo, and a Staff of Vines. It was a turn of insane energy gains. However, another Weave Seed really tore into Ookami. Fortunately, Ookami held out with enough creatures and energy to survive the blow. He finally got to take the offensive for Paradwyn. Marella only survived by one energy. And, this is where my notes end. So, I don't know who their next two magi were, and Kiersta was my third magi. Whether the game ever got to any of them, I don't recall.

Taking off?

This may not be news to all, but I thought I'd best mention it.

Exodus Flight design has started.

No, I'm still on a hiatus, I'm not doing much, but the regulars who have been designing cards have been so charged up with card design and was rearing to go, so I gave them the go ahead to go crazy with the cards.

The designers and the regions they are designing are as follows:

Douglas Brown - Arderial
Christoph Prenner - Bograth
Robert Doktorow - Kybar's Teeth
Mitchell Wyatt - Nar and Orothe
Daniel Burke - Naroom
Tim Kouba - Underneath

I guess I best get ready for the madness that is sure to follow from the antics of the card designs. And I like pretty pictures when I blog here, it makes this place looks less... nerdy. So here's the image I'm trying to get permission to make a card of...



Art by Alison Strom/Whyrl. Image was comissioned for Nightlight.

A revitalised Summer League

First off, if you haven't already downloaded the Desktop calendar for July, you can do so at Novelty's Custom Cards under Calendar. A thumbnail is shown below.



I seem to be on the MND phase of the hiatus, so I might as well roll with it. I've updated the prizes for the MND Summer League on gEngine. Monthly winners now get to pick which custom card to be added to the engine. This month's winner will pick a Double Jeopardy card, while next month's winner gets to decide the first card for Project Second Chance. The overall winner gets a custom card with art drawn by myself. Well, that isn't such great a prize since my art is horrible, like the card below:


That's what I drew yesterday... the background is by Essence though, which is great. I wish I could draw like that. OK, back to adding the rest of the TW cards to the engine!

Hiding under a shell?

I did this yesterday actually, immediately after Spore Xyx, but didn't feel like posting it then. Well, it's only here so that I can show it off.



Art, including background, by myself, although having said that I did trace part of the shell from somewhere else. So that's 148 out of 150 cards for Exodus Flight. I feel a bit guilty getting cards done for EF when not all of TW has been added to gEngine. I'll get all TW cards added as soon as possible.

I also want to take the opportunity to point out that the final text for Double Jeopardy is available for comment. I hope everyone would support the promotion set by providing their comments there. I'm also waiting for Malovis to provide me the text for the Shapers. Those are the two things holding up the text for those cards being added to gEngine. Comments everyone can easily do, but as for the latter, only Mitch can provide it so bug him about it!

Remember I'm still on a hiatus and I think people are getting used to the idea that things are gonna move slower since I'm not dedicating every waking minute of my free time devoted to designing the cards. I did say the hiatus only covers EF and onwards, so there's still the following to do:

1. Add Naroom and Weave to gEngine.
2. Finalise the text of Double Jeopardy and add them to gEngine.
3. Hold a Double Jeopardy tournament to select the winner to design the Double Jeopardy card.

And than beyond that there's the following expansions (or promos):

1. Exodus Flight (150 cards)
2. A Cure for all Seasons (4 cards, Promo)
*. Second Chance Base (MRP of Base Set cards)
3. Ancient of Days (100 cards)
4. Ancient Enemy (?? cards, Promo)
*. Second Chance Awake (MRP of Awakening Set cards)
5. Fallen Hour (150 cards)
*. Second Chance DE (MRP of Dream's End Set cards)

* More info about Second Chance can be found on the forums under Second Chance.

When will I start Exodus Flight? That's a good question of which I don't have an answer. I'm on a hiatus though, so I doubt that it would be soon. People have come up to me to ask/beg/request/whatever about scripting text for a region... as I said when we were doing Twilight War, I'll only be recruiting people, and not the other way round. So I hope people won't be coming up to me asking to "help out" with a region.

What should someone do if they do want to "help out" by designing cards? Well, here's a list of the qualities that I'm looking for:

1. Active in the gEngine community. Well, this should be obvious, they show up and play games online on gEngine.
2. Takes part in card design contests. The card design constests are on the forum and they provide me with a good gauge of card design abilities.
3. Write up playtest reports. I find playtest reports interesting as it gives me insight to that person's mind regarding the type of cards he's (or she's) likely to script and produce. Playtest reports also allow me to gauge someone's skill with the game, particularly with combos.
4. Interact with others on the forums and/or blog. This has nothing to do with one's MND skill. It's just an indication for me to take into consideration if I think that person can work well with me, can take criticism, etc.

And just to end, I'm going to list the designers for TW, and if they don't turn me down, the same people will be designing the same regions for EF.

Bograth - Freigabe/Christoph
KT - BobbyDoc/Robert
Naroom - Dartax/Daniel
Nar - Malovis/Mitch
Orothe - Malovis/Mitch
Underneath - godofchoas/Tim