Not Dead In My Heart

When it was announced that Magi-Nation was being taken off gatlingEngine, I was very saddened. I may not have gotten in a game in while, but I was hoping to. Now it has been a little while and I sit here reflecting on all the games I got to play. Ultradoug, Malovis, Novelty, and many others. I got started posting on this blog after Novelty invited me to. My contribution was to write game reports. Not just my tournament games, or playtesting, but any game I got in online. Now my only games of Magi-Nation will be with my own card decks it seems. And yes, I did play Magi-Nation before I found the CCG Workshop.

When I first started playing Magi-Nation, I read strategy tips, deck building, and all sorts of stuff online. Never writing anything in return. Then, I decided I needed to give back to the community. I submitted decks, articles, and game reports to a few of the internet resources I frequented. Not much at first. As time passed I became more active.

Some time ago Magi-Nation disappeared at the local cardshops and I turned to playing online, I met new players. New decks. New strategies. I saw an attempt or two at Grahnna and Pyder combination that I would end up building my own deck around. It was almost a perfect fit my own Bograth decks. I remember using a Furok to beat a Cawh in a single turn, on another occasion it was solitary Giant Carillion that did in a Cawh. And when I played Cald against a Cawh deck,... well that was just a total miscalculation on my part because I was guessing at the rest of the deck's mechanics and ended up overpowering the Cawh deck far, far in excess of what I had anticipated (I had been hoping for a more "even" game). Novelty showed me a mechanic in Sands of d'Resh that I didn't know existed or that it even worked so overwhelmingly (I got crushed). Even a few multiplayer battles.

There is one positive in this. It is easier to focus on job searching with Magi-Nation taken off the list. The only thing still bothering me was what to write as a sort of final blog pending an announcement of good news. Great news would be that Magi-Nation has returned to CCG Workshop. Better news (for me) would be that Magi-Nation is intact as I knew it and has returned to cardshops. The best news would be both, the game is back online and off. I am not holding my breath. I am expecting the game to undergo revisions before being released publicly again, and I have no clue if the property rights owner will consider letting us play the original game online again.

Kybar's vs Core vs Bograth

It has been some time since I last played a game of Magi-Nation. Now, I was hoping in the meantime that I wouldn't have to personally test the Naroom cards from Exodus Flight. Maybe they've been played and tested. However, there has been no such posts on Novelty's Custom Card forums, so I haven't been able to read about it. While I am not looking for feedback on each and every card, I am hoping to find out if a few of them work and what others might think of them in actual play. I started drafting a couple decks last night to give a few of the cards a spin when I had the opportunity to play Soulara and Frosty Ninja. When I saw them chatting online, I didn't know who Soulara was. So when Soulara described having a super Tony deck, it took a hint that they were the same person I had played against back then. I guess they forgot their original account's password.

Anyways, we would start a three-way game last night with Soulara going first. They flipped over Amara, played Inhibitor Band and drew their cards. Frosty Ninja went second with Evil Evu, a Dark Furok, and a Chaos Plith. With a great setup to draw cards, it would be a tough rumble between Evil Evu and Eryss for a few turns. Yes, I decided to go with one of my older Bograth decks for this game. Eryss was able to compliment her early card draw with Great Throne Mushrooms. Eryss would be the first Magi defeated. With Evil Evu taking down Eryss, Amara was left untouched to simply draw cards and gain energy. Olabra would flip as my second Magi, and she went nuts. Crushing Stench placed out a Swamp Hyren and the insanity would begin, including a couple Jile and one Torpar. I don't think I captured any screenshots of that first turn by Olabra. However, you can see here when Olabra took down Evil Evu.



While a healthily growing Torpar would take a few hits on Amara, Frosty Ninja got the final blow on the Kybar's Magi. With Spirit of the Teeth setting things up, we would face a nearly invulnerable Kyg'n Impervious. By the time all the spells and effects stacked up, you would've had to hit for more than seven energy to make the Magi even feel it. With two Pygmy Balamants, it looked like attacks would be far from effective here. As it was, I managed to crush the Floral Weebo and put out my one copy of Poison Baloo Root. I was on my second time through my deck. I totally forgot that I had Vard Stampede in my deck, or Kyg'n might not have been so impervious that first round of strikes.



Now Fiend of Furoks was really quite powerful. Having played two Wudge, then using her effect combined with some Baby Furoks and annoying Firds, she was really making a stand. The only thing that saved Olabra from the worst of it was attaching a Tar Hyren to one of the Wudge. Unable to attack, and gaining energy from all the Bograth and Core Creatures being played, that Wudge wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. A Muck Vinoc finally got the other Wudge and allowed Olabra to escape the pressure. And once Olabra escaped the Wudge assault, Olabra began to rebuild her steam. Of course, a few Rabid Wasperines allowed the Fiend of Furoks to finish off a few important pieces to the Bograth swarm. With another Great Throne Mushroom in play, Olabra was netting plenty of replacement cards. In the end, Olabra would take down Kyg'n and Fiend of Furoks. Frosty Ninja essentially sacrificed Jalex with a couple Warrior's Boots and Shadow Bones. While Jalex survived with creatures in play, Olabra was quite out of hand and fairly easily finished Jalex off with the final blow coming from a Muck Vinoc to prevent any Spirit of Rayje from being used should they be there. Ullig would take a hefty blow being left creatureless right after she appeared. Olabra just couldn't swing the final blow on the same turn as finishing off Jalex. I tried my math this way and that and just couldn't find that one more energy. Without creatures and short on energy even though another Spirit spell had prevented Ullig from taking critical damage, Ullig would end the game by spending her energy on spells so that only Olabra remained.

Cartoon

Frequently Asked Questions - Cartoon General

Will there really be a Magi-Nation Duel cartoon?
Yes. The title has been shortened to "Magi Nation".

Who is in charge of producing it?
A Canadian company called Cookie Jar Group (producers of Spider Riders and Johnny Test). It will be drawn by a South Korean firm called Daiwon.

When will it be shown?
In Canada, it will be shown on the CBC at 10:30am with a premier date of 10th September 2007. See CBC schedule. In the US it will be shown on the WB network, in the block of programming called KidsWB. See Press Release. The premier will be on September 22nd. The cartoon will also be shown in South Korea.

Why is this not in the same style as the 3D-animation trailer that was shown on YouTube?
The 3D-animation trailer was done by Paule Neale for Elliot Animation. Elliot Animation were not successful in obtaining the rights to produce the cartoon.

Who is the star of the show?
The show is going to focus on Tony Jones. He will be assisted by Edyn, a Naroom magi and Strag, an Underneath magi. Their opponents will be the Core magi lead by Agram.

Why is Tony's hair brown in colour? Isn't it supposed to be blonde?
Stupid blonde jokes aside, it has been speculated that Tony's hair colour was changed to a darker shade so that he could be more acceptable in South Korea.

Why does Edyn look like Tryn?
It has been speculated that Edyn is a renamed Tryn. No reasons have been given for the renaming of Tryn.

Who is Zed?
Zed is a Shadow magi and one half of Korg and Zed according to the official site. Based on that fact, it has been speculated that Zed is a renamed Zet. No reasons have been given for the renaming of Zet.

Why are Agram, Korg and Zed all shadow magi now? Aren't they supposed to be Core magi?
It seems that all "evil" magi are now called shadow magi instead of Core magi. No reason have been given for this.

Why is the Furok blue in colour?
Tony's Furok has always been different. In the Game Boy Color RPG, Tony was able to summon the Dream Creature from a piece of Animite just lying on the ground, apparently the same crystal he'd found back on Earth. Pruitt later mentions that this is a "good Furok" and to represent this Tony's Furok is far more powerful than any other of the same level.

Later on, when Interactive Imagination wrote a short story concerning Tony's arrival in the Moonlands, we first learn that Tony's Furok is blue. Eidon explains that Tony had 'magined' the Furok to be a different color, an ability that has not been seen in ages. Tony's Furok is also blue in the original (and unsuccessful) Magi-Nation trailer made in 2002.

In the upcoming cartoon series, Tony's Furok is now not only blue, but can apparently change colors based on it's mood based on the infomation at the official site.

Where can I get more information?
The website www.magi-nation.com contains quite a lot of information. There are also downloads and webgames on the site.

What is going to happen to the card game? Are we getting a brand new game? Will our old cards be compatible?
There is currently no infomation about the card game.

After long struggles with sysAdmins, with php and sql, and with a whole lot of other things, well, the old forum is lost and gone. There's a few things I salvaged and with those, I have put together a new forum at http://novcustoms.forum5.com/index.php . Please come back, everyone. Let's keep the ball rolling. A rolling baldar gathers no moss quidos!

Custom Card Forums are moving

Well, the thing with free forums is that sometimes they stop providing the service. Never fear, the forums for the custom cards are moving to a new host/site. Once everything else has been moved over and set up, the link will be provided on this blog. Until then, keep on dreaming.

Delayed Reporting

These next two games actually took place April 30th. I managed to get in the games, take screen shots, and write these entries on them. Yet for whatever reasons, I would not post them online until now.

When Crymzon mentioned that we were testing a new deck, I thought I would choose one of my decks that can vary wildly in its strength. Going with my Storm of Fishes deck, I would face off against Warrada first. It was a good choice. What surprised me was the application of Warrada. It just came off as weak. Aula Mindseeker would take out Warrada without even giving up a creature to Corrupt. Mostly because Aula had enough creatures in play to swing the defeat using an Undertow to setup the condition right for it. Apparently Crymzon lost connection to gatlingEngine while Aula took the battle forward into Togoth, who's purpose seemed to be to play the Naroom Shadow Geyser to grant extra energy for those Core creatures.

While Crymzon was still logged out, I found Levriat in the chat room looking for a game. About the time I was going to start a game with them, Crymzon logged back in and suggested we play a three-way battle. I guess Crymzon is used to playing three-ways were each person is designated a specific person to attack and a specific person to defend themselves from. We just did a free-for-all. Why? Simple, when I tossed down with Bograth, I knew I was going to draw attention if I pulled off my Grahnna-Oyder combination. Which I did. Baa went down easily enough after drawing at least the Pyder. While I would have loved the Swamp Hyren too at this point. It was a good start. Crymzon played the same Core deck, but they chose to start with Lanyx. Against Bograth, not a good choice. A simple use of the Poison Baloo Roots I had made sure the Core Grag couldn't fire off its power quite so easily. On the other hand, Levriat was playing Arderial. Aula started off some powerful card draw with Cloud Sceptre and her power, after playing a few cards of course. With Trade Winds in there, we saw the opening hints of a powerful Xyx combo around the corner.



After suffering from the combined efforts of Crymzon and Levriat, Grahnna would slip away and it would be up to Brog to make my final stand in the group match. At this point, Crymzon was the strongest position on the field. Having stolen two Xyx from Levriat's forces, the Xyx Elder wasn't quite the threat for Crymzon. I would focus my efforts into Crymzon to restore some balance. In the end, the dual efforts of Levriat and myself would do far more than just balance the scales back out. Crymzon would be the first player defeated despite their having had two magi left when Levriat and I were both down to our final magi already. Togoth had been the second magi again. The screen shot above is from shortly before Crymzon was defeated.



After Crymzon was defeated, my only hope was drawing more creatures. While I did draw a couple creatures, it was too little and too late. Brog just couldn't hold out long enough for any sort of comeback.

What's your background?

What's the importance of a background? Very much it seems. OK, I'm not art guru, I just want to note down a few observations (aka points).

A while ago, I posted a picture of Jaylisa in the sky with... not diamonds and although it wowed Joe, it didn't really do much for me. One of the main reasons was the clash between Jaylisa's green dress and the blue sky. Somehow it just didn't match for me. I finally redid the image with a background of trees and a foreground of grass and elicited this response from Joe:

"Wow Nov, this is amazing. You make me leap for joy. (I am leaping for joy). now I want to cry.
(I am crying now.) Tear,... cry,... sob. which cards is the background from."

That's a tad dramatic me thinks. Here are the images - pencils by Joe, colours with blue sky by me, final colours with trees and grass.



A quick glance will show that the eye is more drawn to the final image (with the trees and grass) because it's more pleasing to the eye and probably is soothing as well. So point number one: The background colour scheme is essential and in some cases is critical when trying to make a image look more attractive, eye-catching.

A while back as well, I did an image of a sword in a beam of light. I couldn't seem get the colouring right and at the end of the day, it just seemed very weird to me. Today as I was colouring Nazeri, I played with bands of colours for the background just for the fun of it so that I didn't have to show a blank white background and I realised why the sword didn't work for me.


Shown above is the sword on the left (pencils by Joe, colours by me) and the mid-way point coloured Nazeri on the right (pencils by Joe, colours by me). Notice any similarities between the two? Let's take the sword - the sword is pointing up, and the beam of light is pointing down. The eye gets confused as it tries to make out where to look. The image doesn't say - look at the sword, it seems instead to say - look post the edge of the image. That is why the sword fails for me.

Likewise with the Nazeri image, the horizontal bands of blue and white seems to beg the to look beyond the left and right side of the image, while Nazeri herself seems like an arrow pointing either to the top or to the bottom. In short, the eye does not know where to look and the effect of the image is lost.

So I went back and played with beam of lights and finally finished colouring Nazeri as shown below (pencils by Joe and me, colours by me):


What's different here? Well the horizontal bands are gone, and it's been replaced with a vertical band immediately behind Nazeri. The contrast of colours, with black on the side and white behind the magi draws the eye to the figure instead of away from the page. But what about the top and bottom? Well, lighting is always from the top, so it would seem natural to the eye, but it has to be stopped from leading the eye to the bottom of the page. That's where the rock shelf comes in. It stops the beam of light and brings the eye to focus on the magi instead. And that's point number two: Use the background colours and design to point to the object of the image. Try not to use it to lead the eye away to the edge of the image.

A less subtle reason of why Jaylisa in the sky didn't work so well was the fact that the sky background was too neutral, and instead it forced the eye to use the branch as a reference point which seems to also look weird in the sky. Now the forest setting did two things to the image - the background tree trunks and the foreground grass both pointed to the trunk and of course, the trunk doesn't look out of place in a field of grass in front of trees. So point number three: Make sure your background is suitable for the subject at hand. In other words, don't draw a background that would seem out of place with the subject.

So, what's your background on your image? How did you use it to enhance your image? Is it suitable or relevant? Does the colour scheme match with the object of the image? Does it direct the eye towards the centre of the image? A good background will do all of the above, and not stand out at the end of the day.