Posts Tagged ‘arena’

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a problem. It seems like every time Cryptozic releases a new game, we get swindled into picking it up and end up disappointed. I don’t know why I keep doing it. Well, I have an idea. With Penny-Arcade: the Game – Gamers vs. Evil, it was my blind faith in Gabe and Tycho that didn’t really steer me wrong, it just had some kinks to work out.

The DC Deck Building game looked like the blend of excellent licensing and Ascension-like game play but it came up short when it came to depth and interesting choices. So when Cyrptozoic announced Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game, I originally was going to pass since it looked like little more than a reskin of the DC game but Rachael was interested in it and we had some extra Amazon dollars thanks to our affiliate sidebar. But I was wrong and the game surprised me in ways I didn’t quite expect. Read the rest of this entry »

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When Zombicide was on Kickstarter the first time, they offered special, optional add-on characters. There were only four in total, which is relatively tame compared to the 17 that got released for Season 2. But here’s where things get weird. The original add-on characters all dove into the deepest part of the copyright infringement pool and were able to come out unharmed. Not everyone here survived in quite the same way.

Two of the figures got changed from the original prototypes, which are fine by me since I knew I was buying them based on prototypes, not finished products. Ivy and Claudia emerged unscathed, but Marvin and Eva underwent some visual modifications.

From a post on Kickstarter, we were told this:

At Miramax’s request, Guillotine Games made some modifications to the costumes for Eva and Marvin – if you ordered them and don’t like what you got, we’ll be happy to take them back, just drop us an email.

For me, the changes weren’t much. Marvin looks a bit less like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. His hair is bigger, his tie is missing and he has a beard – that’s it for changes. Sure, the card shows him in a brown suit but a coat of paint makes him any color I want him to be! Eva was changed about the same amount. Her original design as the Bride from Kill Bill got shot down and her new figure is well disguised… by her wearing a jacket and a hat. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s crazy to think that Zombicide hasn’t even been out for a full year. The first Kickstarter ended just over a year ago and the Season 2 Kickstarter was insane to say the least. But as the original stretch goals mounted and add-ons continued Guillotine Games and Cool Mini or Not realized they wouldn’t be able to send everyone everything at once. So instead they sent out a second package of survivors.

First up is the set that everyone who backed the Abomination package on Kickstarter got: Set #1 Survivors and Zombi’vors. This package is compact (though assembled oddly – the back is upside down) and comfortably holds three new survivors, six zombivors (yeah, we’re dropping the apostrophe already), seven double-sided character cards and seven level trackers. Read the rest of this entry »

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The final piece of the Dragon’s Maze casual and commander review takes a look at the green offers (not much), explores the undead Golgari (so much fun) and unleashes the Gruul clans on some unsuspecting individuals. As an added bonus, I also talk about a land!

Dragon’s Maze Casual & Commander Reviews
White, Orzhov & Selesnya | Blue, Simic & Azorius
Black, Dimir & Rakdos | Red, Izzet & Boros
Green, Golgari & Gruul

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review
Orzhov Syndicate | House of Dimir | Simic Combine | Gruul Clans | Boros Legion
White | Black | Blue | Green | Red | Other

Return to Ravnica Casual & Commander Reviews
Azorious Senate  | Izzet League | Cult of Rakdos | Golgari Swarm | Selesnya Conclave
White | Blue | Red | Black | Green | Gold, Artifact & Lands

Battering Krasis

LAND SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK! A decent little beater, I wouldn’t mind trying out the fish beast in some version of 10-land stompy, but he’s more limited than I’d like.

Kraul Warrior

The newest Invoker, Kraul Warrior doesn’t do a whole lot and is hampered by his creature types. Read the rest of this entry »

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Personally, when it comes to Commander, this entire block has had a lot of disappoints for me. But that’s because I run a monored Jaya deck in the format, so multicolored options limit me a lot. But when I’m not playing Commander, I love basking in all the colors – and Boros is one of my favorite color pairings.

Dragon’s Maze Casual & Commander Reviews
White, Orzhov & Selesnya | Blue, Simic & Azorius
Black, Dimir & Rakdos | Red, Izzet & Boros

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review
Orzhov Syndicate | House of Dimir | Simic Combine | Gruul Clans | Boros Legion
White | Black | Blue | Green | Red | Other

Return to Ravnica Casual & Commander Reviews
Azorious Senate  | Izzet League | Cult of Rakdos | Golgari Swarm | Selesnya Conclave
White | Blue | Red | Black | Green | Gold, Artifact & Lands

Awe of the Guilds

Mostly limited fodder, Awe of the Guilds can make for some interesting plays due to its limitations. But being sorcery speed means you can’t use it to screw combats you aren’t directly involved with.

Clear a Path

Well, you now have a way to stop Wall of Deni- nope, you still don’t. Read the rest of this entry »

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This review takes the darkest color and pairs it up with its two natural allies in a delicious Grixis blend. Black is always fun in multiplayer, but when combined with red or blue, it is a combination of colors that can do pretty much anything. So whether you like the secrecy of Dimir, the recklessness of Rakdos or the selfishness of black, this Dragon’s Maze review is for you.

Dragon’s Maze Casual & Commander Reviews
White, Orzhov & Selesnya | Blue, Simic & Azorius
Black, Dimir & Rakdos |

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review
Orzhov Syndicate | House of Dimir | Simic Combine | Gruul Clans | Boros Legion
White | Black | Blue | Green | Red | Other

Return to Ravnica Casual & Commander Reviews
Azorious Senate  | Izzet League | Cult of Rakdos | Golgari Swarm | Selesnya Conclave
White | Blue | Red | Black | Green | Gold, Artifact & Lands

Bane Alley Blackguard

This is an odd vanilla creature. But Wizards is shifting black into the higher toughness than power bracket with this set. But for me to care about a vanilla creature, it has to do something special.

Blood Scrivener

The power of this card is absurd. Being a 2/1 zombie for 1B is already solid, but that ability is exceptional. As someone who’s playstyle regularly goes all-in, having a quick way to refill your hand is nice. It pairs wonderfully with Hellbent in a twisted way, but what I really love is that it triggers whenever you would draw a card – not just during your draw step. Read the rest of this entry »

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The second part of our Dragon’s Maze review looks at the color Blue and two guilds: Simic and Azorious! These blue aligned guilds show off just how versatile the color of manipulation can get when paired up. But even mono-color players will want to take a look at some of the offerings.

Dragon’s Maze Casual & Commander Reviews
White, Orzhov & Selesnya | Blue, Simic & Azorius

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review
Orzhov Syndicate | House of Dimir | Simic Combine | Gruul Clans | Boros Legion
White | Black | Blue | Green | Red | Other

Return to Ravnica Casual & Commander Reviews
Azorious Senate  | Izzet League | Cult of Rakdos | Golgari Swarm | Selesnya Conclave
White | Blue | Red | Black | Green | Gold, Artifact & Lands

Ætherling

The new Morphling feels a touch out of place to me for one reason:  where are my white and black lings? We’ve gotten Torching and Thornling! But Ætherling is an interesting take on the Morphling design. The bigger body is nice, and the self-flickering is very powerful. While not a ground breaking card, it certainly is worth considering if you run the original depending on the speed of your playgroup. The only real concern about him is the casting cost. While he costs 6 on paper, he really costs 7 or more since you’ll want to protect him too.

Hidden Strings

Dimir’s new Cipher spell is close to what people wanted. While I had been hoping the Dragon’s Maze would combine abilities across guilds – like Cipher Detain, this is still close. A different take on Hands of Binding, the ability to untap another permanent makes it so the attacking creature has vigilance or can be used to barter deals with unlikely allies at the table in times of need. A solid little cipher spell, it’s what I had been hoping the ability would do. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s the final stretch of Gatecrash! These big sets have a lot to talk about (and making the reviews 11 parts in all doesn’t make it much easier). So here are the last few cards: a lone gold, a handful of artifacts and a single land!

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review
Orzhov Syndicate | House of Dimir | Simic Combine | Gruul Clans | Boros Legion
White | Black | Blue | Green | Red | Other

Return to Ravnica Casual & Commander Reviews
Azorious Senate  | Izzet League | Cult of Rakdos | Golgari Swarm | Selesnya Conclave
White | Blue | Red | Black | Green | Gold, Artifact & Lands

Domri Rade

Like Vraska, Domri is the only unaligned multicolor card in the set. As a three drop walker, he’s cheap and interesting… but all walkers now fall into one of three categories: friendly, ignorable and kill it immediately.

In a Bloodrush centric deck, I love this card. He’s cheap and keeps refilling your hand… sometimes. But when combined with Mirri’s Guile or any of the multitude of rigging your deck, he’s a personal Howling Mine. The second ability is great for removal as an Arena attachment. But the final ability is what will cause Domri to die. It doesn’t matter if you hit 7 or not, your opponents will only read “Creatures you control have double strike, trample, hexproof, and haste.”

To keep Domri alive, keep his counters low.

Armored Transport

I hate playing against this card in limited! In constructed, it can be interesting with an aura or two but a 2/1 for 3 isn’t all that exciting. Read the rest of this entry »

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6
Mar

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review: Red

   Posted by: Jesse    in Gaming, Reviews

I love mono red in multiplayer. Much like blue, it’s a color that just shouldn’t work. The shortsightedness of red is about impulsive actions and not thinking about consequences. If I wanted to care about consequences, I wouldn’t include a bunch of self-destruct buttons.

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review
Orzhov Syndicate | House of Dimir | Simic Combine | Gruul Clans | Boros Legion
White | Black | Blue | Green | Red | Other

Return to Ravnica Casual & Commander Reviews
Azorious Senate  | Izzet League | Cult of Rakdos | Golgari Swarm | Selesnya Conclave
White | Blue | Red | Black | Green | Gold, Artifact & Lands

Act of Treason

Hey, a reprint! A fun card with the likes of Bazaar Trader.

Cinder Elemental

Another reprint! Originally from Mercadian Masques, Cinder Elemental is a nice blend of creature and utility, but it is beyond slow. Read the rest of this entry »

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5
Mar

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review: Green

   Posted by: Jesse    in Gaming, Reviews

Green is a great multiplayer color. Massive creatures and powerful spells make for a terrifying opponent. Add in mana acceleration and a few of the newest Gatecrash cards, and you’ve got a wrecking ball that will destroy your opponents.

Gatecrash Casual & Commander Review
Orzhov Syndicate | House of Dimir | Simic Combine | Gruul Clans | Boros Legion
White | Black | Blue | Green | Red | Other

Return to Ravnica Casual & Commander Reviews
Azorious Senate  | Izzet League | Cult of Rakdos | Golgari Swarm | Selesnya Conclave
White | Blue | Red | Black | Green | Gold, Artifact & Lands

Alpha Authority

When it comes to auras, the easiest question to ask is: will Uril want this? In this case, nope, he doesn’t want it. As an aura, it’s okay but most of the time, you want to cast auras on creatures who already are hexproof.

Burst of Strength

A neat little combat trick, Burst of Strength probably doesn’t do enough to warrant inclusion in a deck unless you have a lot of plans for that +1/+1 counter. Read the rest of this entry »

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