Weekend Gaming

So its been a bit of a busy weekend that has just passed, but I did manage to get an afternoon in, on Friday, of playing MtG down at Nebula Gaming again. I got some games in with my own decks, and I also managed some pretty decent trades, acquiring Ashiok Nightmare Weaver in exchange for an old Champions of Kamigawa deck I have had kicking around for 10 years. I once again got to try out the Minotaurs in a few games and the deck has really come along nicely, winning most of the hands it played. It isn't having quite the same effect on my regular, break-time gaming at work, however. My workmate has improved his deck (a Red Deck Wins archetype deck) once again and last week it proved remarkably difficult to beat. The introduction of Boros Reckoner and Chandra's Phoenix have made meant that the deck is now fast, lethal, filled with evasion and has a creature with cheap recursion. It is clear that Hellcow's Hammer isn't going to out-aggro it, so I have spent some time this weekend considering ways I can compete with this deck, without spending a large amount of money (preferably by using cards from my collection).

The two new cards that are causing me such pain

 So far my ideas for working around RDW are as follows: a return to a mono-blue deck, but this time make it much more creature heavy. This deck would use a playset of return-to-hand effects (Voyage's End, Aetherize) coupled with some cheap, tough creatures to stabilise the board state (in this case Sigiled Starfish and Frostburn Weird). To aid in attack there are creatures with evasion (Phantom Warrior, Cloudfin Raptor) and then there are some big finishers that benefit from protection of one kind or another (Benthic Giant, Tromokratis). This might work, but it might be too slow, and I think it might still be vulnerable to direct burn. With that point in mind I came up with a second idea: a Green-White deck centred around the idea of efficient creatures that also allow for lifegain. Now lifegain is usually a sub-optimal idea as it does nothing to alter the board state. However against burn it allows me to stay alive long enough to see my endgame through. A card I long ago dismissed as useful, Heroe's Reunion, is what I am looking at, along with others that add life when they come in (Centaur Healer, Alive//Well). The other creatures allow for some nice blocking early on, and there are again some big finishers (Hundred-Handed One). Godsend adds some handy removal and a nifty power boost too, plus its difficult to get rid of it. Both of these decks are with me this week and I intend to give them a go, see how they do. I'm not expecting them to be brilliant, just be the basis of something I can build on. I'll be writing about the results later in the week.

Godsend: a nasty little surprise, and one of my key hopes for this deck.

One other thing I have been doing at the weekend that is gaming related is preparing for a short campaign to be run on Wednesday nights with some friends of mine over Roll20. This will be a Numenera campaign, the new(ish) game written by Monte Cook and released last August after a very successful Kickstart campaign. I backed it at the Kickstart but have only had chance to run a very brief one off so far. This new game will give me chance to try it out some more and get a good feel for the system and the setting. It's something I have been itching to give a go to, and something that should give me some more topics to write about.

The Ninth World should give some fun stuff to write about!

It's Miller time.

So, one of my favourite aspects of MtG is deck building. A friend of mine was very kind when they described me as having the potential to be an excellent player because I am willing to experiment with different play styles and different decks, rather than focusing on one. I spend quite a lot of my time that I dedicate to Magic building new decks, trying to combine the cards I have in a way to build a decent deck. One of my more successful home-brewed decks is one  call Mirkov Miller, a blue-black deck that is currently Standard legal and is built for a more casual style of play than Hellcow's Hammer. I have played it in some single and multi-player games, against a variety of opponents, and its a fun deck to play (perhaps not so much to play against). It isn't really competitive, but its not built as an ultra-competitive deck, due to its aim of going for an alternative win condition (milling my opponent until they deck and lose).

Mirko Vosk, the inspiration for this deck.

So, this is what the deck list looks like:

Lands:

9 x Island
8 x Swamp
4 x Dimir Guildgate
2 x Temple of Deceit

Creatures:

1 x Consuming Aberration
1 x Phenax, God of Deception
1 x Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
2 x Balustrade Spy
4 x Wall of Frost
2 x Duskmantle Guildmage
2 x Murmuring Phantasm
2 x Phantom Warrior
2 x Doorkeeper

Spells:

4 x Mind Grind
2 x Grisly Spectacle
2 x Doom Blade
4 x Tome Scour
3 x Paranoid Delusions

Other Cards:

1 x Jace, Memory Adept
1 x Elixir of Immortality
2 x Ring of Three Wishes
2 x Chromatic Lantern

Sideboard:

4 x Jace's Mindseeker
2 x Tormented Thoughts
2 x Cremate
2 x Destroy the Evidence
2 x Chronic Flooding

As can be seen from the deck list, this isn't necessarily built around play sets of 4 cards. In fact, four of the best cards are only present as solo cards. However there are some which have 4 cards and those are fantastic for the deck's intended purpose of making you burn through your library: Mind Grind & Tome Scour.

Mind Grind: how to make enemies in multiplayer.

Mind Grind is a great spell for mid game, when it can start to burn through large amounts of your opponent's library, as you can really start to make use of excess mana with it. What's more, in multiplayer, it hits all opponents. Be careful when you reveal you have it as it tends to provoke a strong reaction from all players! Tome Scour is the cheap, early mill card that gets the deck started. If you get it in your opening hand, then you can mill from turn one. It has the added advantage that if you have played it early, and you have got Consuming Aberration early on, you have already fuelled it when it comes into play.

Consuming Aberration: its one nasty piece of work.

The real engine of this deck is the god, Phenax. He turns all of your creatures into mill engines by allowing them to tap and make your opponent discard the creature's toughness in cards (for example Wall of Frost would hit your opponent for 7, hence the inclusion of 4 of them). Once Phenax gets on line, especially with a few creatures it can be game over the turn he arrives. If you have Consuming Aberration on the board, then this really can be a devastating combination.

Phenax, God of Deception: the real engine in this deck and one cool looking god too, I think.

All in all this is a fun deck for me to play. Sure it's never going to win any tournament but then again, it's not supposed to. I quite enjoy making use of MtG's alternative win conditions with some decks and this is one of those decks. Let me know if you have any thoughts on it.

Still poking about in the Moathouse!

So, after the party'd nighttime ambush of the Gnolls, they retrace the Gnoll's steps down the main staircase and start to explore what looks to be a prison of some sorts. They quickly examine one or two of the rooms before arriving at what looks to be a disused armoury. A hint of movement puts the party on alert, and with weapons drawn and spells at the ready they challenge the hidden figure to show themselves... To then be faced with Spugnoir, a wizard and owner of Potions and Elixirs in Hommlet.

The wizard Spugnoir, potion maker and explorer.

Spugnoir had been exploring the Moathouse when he came upon Utrashimmon. After a short battle he was forced to retreat to the dungeon and seek refuge from the inhabitants he found there. Maudriel questioned this story with some disbelief, but Kielle quickly decided he was trustworthy and spent some of her magic patching up the injured wizard and earning a fast friend (as well as a 30% on potions in the shop). Spugnoir offered to show the party a secret exit from the dungeon before he left and so led the party deeper into the complex. The party passed through the dig recovery chamber (the sight of their battle the previous day, at the bottom of the hidden staircase) and on into what looked to be living chambers for a small company of gnolls and others. Adventus pointed out that it would be rude to leave with out at least having a little rifle through the belongings of their enemies, and so the party set about finding what they could. In one ares of the living quarters they chanced upon a chest, and Adventus, being the expert in these things, offered to open it. Every one gathered round whilst the human worked his skills on the lock. After a minute or so of work the gentle snick of a opening lock was heard, and Adventus, flushed with his success opened the chest... to be caught full in the face by a Glyph of Warding, spraying him in acid and making him recoil in agony.

They should have known!

(At this point it must be noted, I did warn the players that this is a Monte Cook adventure, so told them to expect traps. This wasn't just me being a d**k of a DM!).
Once Adventus had recovered from the shock of the acid in the face, the party discovered that the chest contained some useful items, but more importantly, the journal of a priest called Hedrack.In this he ranted about many things but revealed that these priests were excavating at the Moathouse to recover artifacts important to their god. He also revealed that a cell of cultists was present in Hommlet, hiding in the cellar of the mill.

The route out of the living area led to the south and it was here that Spugnoir pointed out the secret entrance to the dungeons, off in a side passage. With this done he departed to get back to Hommlet, whilst the intrepid adventurers headed off  toward the sounds of voices coming from a chamber nearby. On the way they were surprised by a pair of Gnoll guards who were quickly dispatched but proved to be little more than speed bumps to alert their nearby masters, the priests Geynor Ton and Ysslansh (a Troglodyte). A furious fight erupted around a circular pit in the southern-most chamber, with spells being flung and blows traded. However, for the two priests it was an uneven fight. They were worn down and defeated, but not before one of the was beaten backward into the pit, dropping off into the darkness.

With the immediate danger gone, the party took stock of where they were: the chamber was cold and had the loud sound of running water. Indeed, an underground stream seemed to flow out of the rock a meter or so down from the lip of the shaft and fell down into the darkness. In an effort to see down into the shaft, the armour on the body of the remaining priest was enchanted with a Light spell and pushed off into the dark, revealing a drop of more than 60 ft. Above the shaft was a rickety looking contraption that would lower them down with a pulley system. Being the brave sort, the party mounted this lift and slowly lowered themselves down into the gloom, getting ever colder as they went. Only one of them, Maudriel, had dressed in thick clothing and consequently the unnatural chill was having a nasty effect on the other three.

The shaft opened out into a huge underground cavern, extending off into the dark in all directions as they went down. The floor of the cavern they had seen from above proved to be a strange surface of a black, marble-like rock with odd violet veins in it. It also proved to be around 60ft in diameter, convex in shape, and not the true floor at all, but a platform of sorts. On the far side of it, another lift platform awaited.

The cavern beneath the Moathouse dungeon, viewed from the side.

The party set off across the surface of this platform only to reveal two things: firstly, the violet veins started to writhe and move toward them when they stepped onto the marble. Secondly, they were not alone in this cavern! A strange, floating creature with tentacles and a beak chose that moment to strike.

A grell, an aberration and a down-right bizarre one at that.

This bizarre and unexpected creature made a bee-line for Bronath, striking him and paralysing him with its tentacles. The rest of the party launched into an attack (from back on the lift platform) and managed to free Bronath from its grip. However the party were low on spells after their fight with the priests and were sorely pressed holding off the creature whilst winching themselves out of the cavern. The grell, seemingly unwilling to let it's prey escape pressed its attack, making the party fight with what they had left. Luckily Adventus had an unerring aim with his thrown knives and managed to finish the foul creature off, allowing the party to escape with their lives. With the majority of the party tired, low on spells and lacking supplies, it was decided that they would head back to Hommlet to recuperate before returning to find out what lay at the bottom of the cavern and investigate what the priests were looking for. Plus, this gave them chance to go and visit the mill!

The Hellcows Revisited

So, I have been using my Minotaurs deck for a few weeks now, playing it, testing it and trying to make steady improvements to it. It has played in games against my workmate, it has played in games at Nebula Custom Gaming, and it has played in games against my brother too. In all of these games the deck has held it's own, winning around 50% of the games it has played (perhaps even a little more). Why have I gone ahead and said all of that? Because I want to write about the deck list! So here is the decklist as it stands for my newly christened Hellcow's Hammers:

LANDS

• 4 x Rakdos Guildgate
• 11 x Mountain
• 7 x Swamp

CREATURES

• 2 x Gnarled Scarhide
• 2 x Ragemonger
• 4 x Kragma Warcaller
• 2 x Felhide Petrifier
• 3 x Deathbellow Raider
• 3 x Oracle of Bones
• 3 x Ragebood Shaman.

OTHER SPELLS

• 2 x Searing Blood
• 2 x Magma Spray
• 2 x Sinister  Possession
• 2 x Doom Blade
• 3 x Stab Wound
• 2 x Flurry of Horns
• 2 x Shock
• 2 x Fall of the Hammer
• 2 x Lightning Strike

SIDEBOARD

• 1 x Flurry of Horns
• 2 x Felhide Brawler
• 2 x Lightning Strike
• 2 x Drown in Sorrow
• 2 x Minotaur Skullcleaver
• 2 x Duress
• 2 x Pharika's Cure
• 2 x Dark Betrayal

So, there are three things that are immediately obviously different about this deck list from the original:

1) There is now a side board. The original was a 60 card Intro Pack deck, and so did not include a sideboard.

2) There has been significant concentration of cards. The numbers of certain cards have been upped considerably, whilst some that were only present as singles before have been removed.

3) The non creature spell suite has been altered considerably. Several of the previous Instant and Sorcery spells were very expensive for their effect, and some were down right bad cards (I'm looking at you Lightning Diadem).

The creature cards have undergone considerable revision whilst I have been playing the deck. One thing that quickly became apparent was that single cards (like the Fanatic of Mogis, Rageblood Shaman, and others) were not coming out often enough to make them reliable. My choice was either to acquire more copies of said card or cut them out altogether and replace them copies of other minotaurs. In the case of the Rageblood Shaman and the Felhide Petrifier, I upped their counts to 3 and 2 respectively, whilst removing the Fanatic of Mogis, and the Warchanter of Mogis altogether. I found both of these creatures to be somewhat expensive and their tricks too situational for my style of play.

Warchanter of Mogis: one of the cards removed from the deck altogether, as I found it too expensive and it's ability too situational to be useful.

A major change in the creatures was the decision to remove all of the non minotaur creatures altogether. This meant that the foil rare from Voracious Rage, Spawn of Thraxes, has been cut as it was very expensive. Whilst Spawn did give the deck some flying and it made a splash when it came onto the board, it had no real synergy with the minotaurs and so he was cut. Along with the unfortunate dragon, Insatiable Harpy and Pharika's Chosen were also removed: the harpy due to her being a single card that was replaced by minotaur duplicates, and Pharika's Chosen was directly replaced by Gnarled Scarhide in the one drop slot.

The non creature cards underwent a major overhaul whilst play testing. Flurry of Horns and Magma Jet stay as they were (although one more copy of Flurry was added to the sideboard), and Searing Blood was increased from 1 to 2 to make it more viable. However the remainder of the spell suite was removed for various reasons: like the aforementioned Lightning Diadem is just a bad card, over-costed, and weak. Other cards such as Rollick of Abandon or Pinnacle of Rage were just expensive for what they did, and were also only singles, so their utility was limited.

Poor old Lightning Diadem, just plain bad as a card.

There are still some areas for improvement I feel. I want to increase the number of Ragemongers as they really are a very handy card, both for reducing summoning costs and also acting as removal bait. The Boros Reckoner would be an obvious (but expensive) card to add to the deck. The fact it is a minotaur counts heavily in it's favour, but the fact it rotates out of Standard in October counts against it (since it is a £6 card, so £24 for a playset). The spell suite has a number of areas I think I could improve, with possibly getting rid of Sinister Possession and replacing it with something more deadly, such as  2 more Doom Blades. However, I do feel like this deck is nearing completion and is probably 95% of the way toward where I want it to be. Well, at least until Standard updates in October!

Poking around the Moathouse Part 2

To follow up the post from Monday, I thought I would put out the next part of this campaign log. We finished the last one with the company discovering a hidden set of stairs down into the dungeons beneath the Moathouse. Here is what happened from there.

The company's first instinct was to send Maudriel's familiar down the steps to check out what lay beneath as he was unlikely to be discovered. This simple plan yielded the fact that the chamber beneath was occupied by humanoids, but little else (with the snake being unable to relay more precise information). To follow this up it was  decided that with Adventous being the sneaky, stealthy sort, he would be the best choice for going down the steps to scout out what lay ahead. With no further ado, he crept off down into the gloom, following the faint sounds of guttural, animalistic voices coming from the bottom. When he reached there he observed two black uniformed gnolls engaged in a game of dice and a human woman in robes meditating. They all appeared to be looking after a number of strange items laid out on a pristine white sheet in the otherwise empty chamber. Adventus decided to return and inform the rest of his companions what was going on and what they should do about it. They discussed who these people might be, and came to the conclusion the best thing to do was go with the diplomatic approach and talk to them. Once in the chamber, the woman leapt to her feet and demanded to know who the intruders before her were, whilst the gnoll guards quickly stood and readied themselves for trouble. Maudriel, speaking for his companions informed her that they were simple explorers who had rid the Moathouse of the dragon keeping those beneath penned in, and that she should explain her presence here. The woman stalked across to the south side of the room, opened a door, looked inside and yelled "Seize them!", at which point an almighty fight broke out, with skeletons pouring out of the southern door and rushing the company as they stood at the bottom of the hidden steps.

The undead rush the party!

 Team work between the company at this point meant that Adventus rushed out and engaged the woman, whilst the 3 other company members dispatched the gnolls and turned on the skeletons. The battle was somewhat longer than expected, with bad rolls on both sides contributing to the length, but finally the heroes gained the upper hand. The fight was finally won by a combination of Maudriel's magic and Adventus resorting to punching the skeletons with his fists to beat them down. With their opponents defeated, the company realised they were near the limit of their capabilities for the day; however there was much more of the Moathouse to explore. It was decided they would camp in the room above, after resealing the secret door, and continue to explore in the morning.

The party settled down for the night in their bedrolls, with a guard posted and rotating every couple of hours, enjoying the rations that Adventus had thought to bring along (this was only supposed to be a stroll out to explore a historic set of ruins after all!). However, unbeknownst to the company, movement was afoot beneath their feet: gnolls working for the robe wearing priests trapped in the dungeons had been ordered to sally forth to discover who had killed the guards who were looking after recovered artifacts (that the companions had pilfered after the fight), and were now moving up the main staircase to explore the ground floor of the moathouse. Maudriel's sharp ears picked up the sounds of the advancing gnolls, and thinking quickly, he cast Hold Portal on the door to the chamber they were in before rousing his companions. The heroes made ready and hid, hoping to ambush the creatures as they entered the chamber, and make short work of them before they could call for reinforcements.

The gnolls burst in.... straight into an ambush!

6 of the fearsome hyena-men advanced into the room, looking round for where the intruders could be, but were taken by surprise as Adventus lept out of the shadows to strike. He was quickly followed by Kielle, who cast Soundburst, stunning most of the gnolls before they could act. Bronath tripped the lead gnoll, and proceeded to dispatch him before he could get back to his feet. With the rest of the gnolls stunned, the rest of the company took care of them before they ever had a chance to act. What could have been a dangerous situation for the heroes turned out to be a white wash for their assailants. The party readied themselves for the day ahead, and stalked back into the dungeon beneath their feet, ready for action.

Poking around the Moathouse

Its about time I gave an update on my new Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign for Pathfinder I reckon! We have now played 3 sessions of this campaign, and have the character roster completed; the company of heroes consists of the following:

Adventus Helios: A human who is an genius with all things poisonous and company "expert" on traps and locks.

Maudriel: An elven master of the arcane arts of Abjuration. He acts as the brains of this company

Rickaard of Axeport: A human priest of the god Pelor. Acts as the company's moral beacon, and patches them up when they inevitably get wounded.

Bronath: One half of the half-elven brother-sister combo in the company, Bronath is the man who hits hardest, using his guisarme to fell opponents. Goes by the title "Champion of Goldensprings".

Kielle: The other half of the brother-sister combo, Kielle acts as party adviser on magic and death, acting as back up for both Maudriel and Rickaard, being a priestess of the god Wee-Jas.

With most of the company assembled in the small town of Hommlet (just waiting for the arrival of the tardy Rickaard) they decided to go and explore the infamous Moathouse located near town. This ruined fort was the site of a famous battle 25 years ago that involved Bronath and Kielle's father and they wanted to see the site of his triumph, as well as keep themselves occupied (before Bronath tried to chat up any more of the locals).

The Moathouse, located near Hommlet

A pleasant stroll in the early summer sunlight brought them to the Moathouse by mid-morning and after a spot of lunch the company decided to head on into the ruins. No sooner had they reached the entrance when two things occurred to them. Firstly, there were new planks laid across the old, rotting drawbridge; secondly, the reeds were sure moving in a funny way! A short scuffle ensued with some of the local wildlife (a Giant Frog) and after a hairy moment for Bronath, where he was dragged into the water by the frog's freakishly long and strong tongue, the heroes managed to beat back the offending amphibian.

The company's first mighty opponent!

Once inside the courtyard of the ruins, it became apparent that the site was not as abandoned as the company had believed. A long drag mark was evident in the courtyard, leading into the ruins of the Moathouse itself. Proceeding with caution, the adventurous band crept up the steps and into the gloomy interior, where they noticed three things simultaneously: one dead body, one half eaten body and a blue dragon uncoiling as they peered in! This dragon, Utreshimmon, gave them one chance to leave his newly acquired lair or be added to his larder. The heroes, being brave and heroic declined his polite invitation and proceeded to engage him in combat. Adventus got the drop on him, flinging daggers at him, whilst Maudriel hammered him with spells; Bronath flailed ineffectively with his guisarme and Kielle kept an eye on every one whilst swinging her mace. The dragon fought ferociously, but in the end weight of numbers began to tell, and with his strength failing, he unleashed one final crackling blast of electrical energy before retreating, swearing revenge up the impudent humanoids who had dared to tangle with him.

The blue dragon Utreshimmon, now a sworn enemy of the party.

Flush with victory, the company proceeded to claim their spoils, finding an interesting collection of weaponry and minor items on the two dead bodies. What's more the bodies hinted that the Moathouse was not, in fact, abandoned. The party proceeded to explore the ground floor of the Moathouse, finding a large room where in the north-eastern corner of the building where damage from the battle 25 years ago had been crudely, and recently, repaired. A more detailed look in this room revealed a hidden trapdoor in the rubble, and a dark staircase leading down into the dungeons beneath....

Gaming in Walsall

Back in my first post about MtG I mentioned that i wanted to build up to playing at a Friday Night Magic event. One of the problems I have is that I have never played Magic in any other setting than a casual, kitchen table type of game, so I have been looking for a way to rectify this. In to this breach steps my  lovely wife, who pointed out a store to me right here in Walsall that actually has games running in store, every day that it's open. Step forward Nebula Custom Gaming! I popped into the store a couple of weeks back and had a nosey round, liking what I saw and the interaction I had with the staff there. I would come back I promised myself.

However there is one problem in this: I actually find socialising in settings where I know no one really very difficult. I find myself getting nervous and physically clumsy, and it's a great source of anxiety and embarrassment to me. To mask this I normally go in tandem with my brother, but this wasn't really going to be an option if I wanted to get down and game regularly in public. So, I bit the bullet and went ahead and turned up on my own. I needn't have worried! The staff and fellow gamers in the store were fantastic: first time I went I had a couple of great games and spent a good deal of time talking to Lee (one of the regulars there) about ways to improve one of my decks (Mirkov Miller, something i plan to write about in an upcoming post).

I went along again this past weekend, and spent a good couple of hours playing MtG and trying to get to know people. I managed to get involved in a four player game straight off, and my aforementioned deck managed to look just powerful enough to get smacked down pretty quickly! After that I played three more games using my modified Voracious Rage in a three player game (me and two friendly chaps both called Mat). These were pretty good games, in which I managed to carve out two victories before coming a cropper in the third hand (although my good record may have had more to do with misfortune on my opponents part than skill on mine!)  It was a pretty good way to pass a Saturday afternoon, and as my first experience of playing Magic in public, it was great! I am looking forward to getting down to Nebula more regularly in the future, and if they start to run Friday Night Magic, it will be my port of call to get involved in that too.

Thanks very much to he guys and girls and Nebula, and keep up the good work!