Bookstooge Got’s Sol!

October 18, 2020September 30, 2020 ~ Bookstooge ~ 30 Comments

Earlier this year I gave my A History of …… Magic the Gathering. Since that time, because I’ve pretty much given up on playing, I’ve slowly moved into the collectible side of things.

The above picture features all the Revised Sol Rings I’ve bought since that last post. While they say things can’t buy happiness, these have certainly brought a level of enjoyment that I don’t get from buying groceries.

So if cardboard pictures don’t make you happy, then buy yourself a bag of chips and cry me a river. Because I’m just chock full of sympathy right now!

A History of …… Magic The Gathering

July 9, 2020June 12, 2020 ~ Bookstooge ~ 44 Comments

In which I get on my hobby horse and ride off into the sunset to tilt at windmills.

Back in 1995 a friend down the road introduced me to a new card game he’d discovered at his public school. It was called Magic the Gathering and was this fantastic card game full of math and fantasy, things both of us enjoyed. It had started in 1993 and had several editions already.

I started my collection by buying a 4th Edition Starter Deck. It had everything I needed to start playing and had a wide variety of cards. I bought several of those and then would haunt the local comic/hobby shop spending a lot of time looking through their boxes and boxes of bulk cards that I could pick up for as little as 10cents a card. When you are 17 and a diabetic paying for your own supplies, money isn’t something you spend profligately. I had so much fun that I introduced it to a couple of friends at church and I remember one epic Saturday we had 7 of us all playing in one big group around the dining table. It was a blast!

mirageboosterbox

I remember buying my first booster box. A booster box had 36 packs and each pack had 15 cards. When you measure the cards you own by the 60’s, well, that is a lot. I had to split the box because I couldn’t afford to buy it all by myself. I think it was $75 at the time? They now sell on Ebay for around $1100-1400. Anyway, the cards had a very strong Dungeons & Dragons vibe and one of the parents took a look and decided their kids weren’t going to play that. He also was a regular speaker at our church and one Sunday talked about the game. He didn’t name the game or put blame on anyone but himself for allowing it into his household, but as I sat there in the front row, I knew who had introduced his kids to it and I knew that he knew. When you are 18, devout and taught to respect spiritual authority, it was as good a killing blow for my playing the game as it was for his kids. My parents didn’t care, but I did. So I gave up playing, got rid of all my cards and figured that my memories were all I was going to have from that time forward.

My memories of MTG were anchored on one particular card. Pictured above is a 3rd Edition (also known as “Revised”) Sol Ring. When I thought “Magic”, that picture and the picture at the top of the post were what sprang to my mind. That was the face of Magic to me. It still is in fact.

industries_in_2014_landing_page

Speed down the highway of Life to 2014. I began working with a new coworker and it didn’t take long for us to realize that the way we thought and the way we handled the job was so different that it made life super difficult. To the point where I was ready to push him in front of a bus if the opportunity ever presented itself. Thankfully, for both of us, he mentioned that he had recently gotten back into Magic the Gathering. He brought in 2 decks and we began playing at lunch time.

By this time in history, Sol Ring had gone through various changes and had had special editions and premium versions, etc, etc. I began collecting again so I could play with my coworker and keep the peace. Magic the Gathering gave us a common bond that allowed us to work together when it wasn’t really feasible. He eventually moved on to other companies but we stayed in touch and kept on playing a couple of times a month at a local library. By the end of 2019 I had tens of thousands of cards and over 16 Commander decks (Commander is a variant that has 100 cards in a deck instead of just 60, plus some other rules that make it the best version in my opinion). Then my former coworker’s personal life took a dramatic turn for the bad and he had to retrench and move out of state. Then Covid19 hit and really put the kabosh on finding any new players who I could get along with at the local game store. My interest in Magic was on life support.

The following paragraph is where things get political. After the “Rest in Peace” card is where I go back to non-political stuff.

safespacefinal

Then in June of 2020, Wizards of the Coast, the company that owns and produces MTG (under the auspices of Hasbro) decided that their Social Justice Warrior Virtue Signalling hadn’t been enough. They came out with the statement “we will be removing a number of images from our database that are racist or culturally offensive,…”. What this means is that any card that they deem to be culturally inappropriate they will ban from competitive play and will remove them from their online database. With this criteria being such a moving target, it means that any card, at any time, can be removed “because reasons”. The only people who think that the cards being banned are problematic are the wokescolds who already think everything is racist. This doesn’t make me angry, it makes me sad, because this signals the end of Magic. There is a reason for the quote “Get Woke, Go Broke.”

So this is the end of my playing Magic the Gathering yet again. I have the feeling this time it will be for good, mainly because I’m not having any desire to continue. However, MTG is what is known as a Collectible Card Game, or CCG, and that means that acquiring cards is as much part of the business model as playing. In that regards I do plan on continuing. I currently own a complete set of 4th Edition (378 cards) and I plan on collecting Revised Sol Rings and storing them away in a nice binder. My initial goal was 100 but since I’m almost there I think my next goal will be 500. So feel free to blame me if the price goes up to $20 a card (which is outrageous by the way, but considering I’m seeing outliers at $15, it could happen).

bookstooge (Custom)

All My “A History of ……” Posts

MTG: Lands Matter – The Ecology of Magic

March 22, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Bookstooge ~ 15 Comments

Magic_card_back It has been a while since I’ve done a Magic the Gathering Deck List post. I just looked and my last one was back in April of last year. So time to haul out the cards and list out a custom built deck.

This is a Lands Matter deck, and while my post title is jokingly subtitled, the mana base for any deck is very important. For this one though, it matters even more. The point of the deck is to pull shenanigans with lands entering the battlefield and either get Landfall triggers from your cards on the battlefield or amass a large number of lands and burn your opponents to death. I got the general idea from the Commander 2018 precon, which was a disappointment no matter how you sliced it. I’ve also got a secondary “play lands from your graveyard” theme going on as well.

So without further ado, here’s my deck list with some of the more interesting cards in pictures.

COMMANDER: 1

Lord Windgrace

windgrace

PLANESWALKERS: 8

Nissa Who Shakes the World

Vraska the Unseen

Vraska, Relic Seeker

vraskarelicseeker

Ob Nixilis Reignited

Wrenn & Six

wrennsix

Ob Nixilis the Hate Twisted

Domri, Anarch of Bolas

Garruk Primal Hunter

CREATURES: 22

Archfiend of Ifnir

Jaddi Offshoot

Nesting Dragon

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen

Omnath, Locus of Rage

omnath

Oran-rief Hydra

Rampaging Baloths

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Titania, Protector of Argoth

Ramunap Excavator

ramunapexcavator

Gitrog Monster

Multani, Yavimay’s avatar

Mina and Denn, Wildborn

Azusa Lost but Seeking

azusa

Wayward Swordtooth

Ob Nixilis Unshackled

Elvish Piper

Undergrowth Champion

Xenagos, God of Revels

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

dryad

INSTANTS/SORCERIES/ENCHANTMENTS: 25

Scapeshift

scapeshift

Fireball

Lavalanche

lavalanche

Ghitu Fire

Kaervek’s Purge

Clan Defiance

Drain Life

Consume Spirit

Sorin’s Vengeance

Sanguine Bond

Exquisite Blood

Torment of Hailfire

tormentofhailfire

Worldly Tutor

Diabolic Tutor

Polluted Bonds

Splendid Reclamation

Boundless Realm

Pulse of Murasa

Unbound Flourishing

Treacherous Terrain

Repeated Reverberation

Explosive Vegetation

Red Sun’s Zenith

redsunszenith

Wildwood Rebirth

Violent Ultimatum

ARTIFACTS: 6

Crucible of Worlds

crucibleofworlds

Sol Ring

Arcane Signet

Eternity Vessel

Library of Leng

libraryofleng

Pyromancers Goggles

LANDS: 38

Nurturing Peatland

nurturingpeatland

Reliquary Tower

Terramorphic Expanse

Ash Barrens

Cryptic Cave

Taiga

Badlands

Bayou

Lotus Field

lotusfield

Swamps x8

Mountains x7

Forests x7

Blood crypt

Verdant Catacombs

Bloodstained Mire

Cabal Stronghold

Overgrown Tomb

Mossfire Valley

mossfirevalley

Shadowblood Ridge

And this my Lands Matter EDH deck. Hope you enjoyed some of the pictures.

bookstooge (Custom)

Previous Magic the Gathering Posts

MTG: Fight & Flight: Dino Power!

April 27, 2019April 26, 2019 ~ Bookstooge ~ 32 Comments

Magic_card_back So I’m working on my third Commander/EDH deck. One of the recent blocks in Magic the Gathering took place in a world where dinosaurs were a huge part of every day life, for good and bad. Some of those dinosaurs are really, really big and so I wanted to make a deck where I could come out with massively huge creatures and just stomp all over my opponents. I’ve spent the last month creating this deck in a word document. Sadly, with our recent car situation (I’ll be talking about THAT bottle of fun’ness in my monthly roundup next week) this deck is going to go on the back burner.

This time around, I decided to add every single card in picture format. I won’t be loading them as individual pictures because otherwise it would take 5minutes for my site to load and that just isn’t fun for anyone. For each category (in bold) I’ll be showcasing 1 of the cares I think is cool or cool looking and then doing a clickable grouping thing so you can check them all out, or not, as you so desire.

My Good Knight Sirrah deck, while I really like it, just hasn’t performed. I win about 25% of the time with it. The Get Salted, I’m Exalted, while not competitive, has something closer to a 90% win rate and I don’t play it more than once now as it can be demoralizing to someone else to lose on turn 6 in a game that usually last 30+ turns. This deck I’m just hoping to stomp around with big dinosaurs and have fun killing things whether I win or lose.

There are several main parts of this deck. First and foremost, getting a lot of mana out quickly (with artifacts and sorcery/instants) so as to be able to get the big creatures out quickly, use the Enrage mechanic on half my dino’s to help boost me in various ways and then to use the Planeswalkers and the rest of the sorcery/instant cards to fight outside of combat using my dinos hopefully massive power and sweep away the competition. I’ve tried to make all the cards synergize with as many possible other cards so no matter what I draw I will be good. Only a real play test will tell though.

Without further ado, here is my deck list:

Commander:1

Zacama, Primal Calamity

Planeswalkers: 4

Huatli, dinosaur knight

Domri Rade

Samut the tested

Vivien of the Arkbow

Creatures: 27

forerunner of the empire

Kinjalli’s Sunwing

Sun Blessed Mount

Bellowing Aegisaur

Burning sun’s avatar

Etali, Primal storm

Gishath, Sun’s Avatar

Imperial Aerosaur

Majestic Heliopterus

Needletooth Raptor

Polyraptor

Raging Swordtooth

Ranging Raptor

Raptor Hatchling

Regal Behemoth

Ripjaw Raptor

Shining Aerosaur

Siegehorn Ceratops

Silverclad Ferocidons

Sky terror

snapping sailback

sun-crested pteradon

sun-crowned hunters

trapjaw tyrant

wayward swordtooth

Zetalpa, Primal Dawn

Ulvenwald Tracker

Artifacts: 17

Tower of Fortunes

Sol Ring

boros cluestone

gruul cluestone

selesnya cluestone

boros signet

gruul signet

selesnya signet

commander’s sphere

seer’s sundial

staff of nin

Mindstone

Pillar of Origins

Worn Powerstone

Hedron Archive

Thran Dynamo

Dreamstone Hedron

A-tower-of-fortunes — *The Power of Scyenze, errrr, Magic(!!) compels you!*

Sorceries/Instants: 12

Cultivate

Nissa’s Pilgrimage

Skyshroud Claim

Rampant Growth

Kodama’s Reach

Farseek

Dromoka’s Command

Domri’s Ambush

Band Together

Gravitic Punch

Rabid Bite

Thrash

SI-dromoka-s-command — *The first rule of Dino Fight Club is: You Always Pick the Fight Option TWICE!*

Lands: 39

Command Tower

Terramorphic Expanse

Evolving Wilds

Myriad Landscape

Taiga

Wooded Foothills

Stomping Ground

Cinder Glade

Fire-lit Thicket

Savanna

Windswept Heath

Temple Garden

Canopy Vista

Wooded Bastion

Krosan Verge

Plateau

Arid Mesa

Sacred Foundry

Naya Panorama

Rugged Prairie

6 Forests

6 Plains

7 Mountains

So there you have it. A ton of pictures. Please feel free to make suggestions or comments or to ask questions.

bookstooge (Custom)

Previous Magic the Gathering Posts

December ’18 Roundup & Ramblings

December 30, 2018December 28, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ 21 Comments

Raw Data:

12 Books

3338 Pages

3.67 Average Rating (talk about ending the year on a high note. I’m pretty happy!)

The Bad:

Of Mice and Men – 1 Star (ugh, what a waste of talent)

The Good:

To Kill a Mockingbird – 5 Stars (it should REMAIN required reading in schools)

Hogfather – 5 Stars (Pratchett was bitter but he still wrote really funny books)

Seal of the the Worm – 4.5 Stars (what a great ending to a great series)

Manga:

Shaman King is really revving up and I’m excited about continuing to read this series each month. This month I read all 3 volumes in one day and wrote the reviews between each volume (I was feeling in a VERY wordy mood) and then just scheduled the reviews for each monday. Just like in November, that kind of pace worked really well for me. I don’t know exactly why nor do I particularly care, as all I DO care about is it is working. Bring on the FIGHTING!!!

Misc. and Personal:

I totally slacked in reading this month. January is going to have me reading like crazy to get that 3 week cushion back. I used it all up this month 🙂 Of course, with the Parental Pods, Miss Betsy W & her friend and the Bombfunk’s and the Bookstooge’s all together for Christmas, for nigh on a week, I was doing a lot of things besides reading.

Christmas went well but I started getting sick the Sunday before and was flat out by Christmas. Mrs B caught it from me post-Christmas, so there’s not been much going on after Christmas except trying to recover and drinking of lots of herbal teas and hot water.

Thankfully, I was Tagged by Norrie and so had an easy post on a weekend. I also did another 6Degrees post and that allowed me even more breathing room. Thank goodness for people who continually tag and remind me that I can do book related, non-review posts!

A lot of time was also spent on writing up my thoughts on 2018. I’ve got that mostly taken care of by now and my Annual Review should be coming out January 1st.

No Cover Love this month as nothing really stood out to me. I’m not going to throw a “pity” cover love to something that I don’t actually love.

The End.

bookstooge (Custom)

Previous Roundup & Rambling Posts

MTG: Get Salted, I’m Exalted!

December 15, 2018December 14, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ 13 Comments

Magic_card_back My last Commander/EDH post was about my Good Knight to You, Sirrah deck that I was in the middle of constructing. I’ve tweaked it so I have a bit more card draw as I was finding I was running out of cards quickly due to the low casting cost of the majority of my creatures and other spells. But it is done and I’ve used it several times. In a one on one duel, it’s pretty aggressive and can easily destroy the other player quickly.

Anyway, this post is about my next endeavor, an Exalted deck headed by Rafiq of the Many. The main win condition is to make Rafiq unblockable and using the Exalted mechanic, pump him up and win with 2 swings of Commander damage. With Commander Damage, I only need to damage my opponent with 21 points of damage. All by himself, with Exalt and Double Strike, he’s going to do 8points of Commander Damage if he’s unblockable. Even if Rafiq can’t do it, I’ve got multiple ways to make creatures unblockable and hence swing for some serious damage.

Commander: 1

Rafiq of the Many —– ORDERED

Planeswalkers: 5 + Alternate

Tamiyo Field Researcher —-OWN

Jace Beleren

Jace, Memory Adept

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria —— EXPENSIVE!!! (On my Christmas list)

Elspeth Knight Errant

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage —-OWN (Alternate if Teferi stays out of reach)

Creatures: 24

Stoic Angel

Suspicious Bookcase —– OWN

Wall of Swords ——- OWN

Wall of Denial

Wall of Tanglecord ——OWN

Hover Barrier —–OWN

Noble Hierarch —— EXPENSIVE!!! (On my Christmas list)

Nylea, god of the Hunt

Thassa, god of the Sea

Sovereigns of Lost Alara

Giltspire Avenger —ORDERED

Verdurous Gearhulk —–OWN

Torrential Gearhulk —–OWN

Enchantments: 15

Finest Hour —– ORDERED

Eldrazi Conscription —– ORDERED

Steel of the Godhead —– ORDERED

Rancor

Favor of the Overbeing

Unquestioned Authority

Vow of Wildness

Wheel of Sun and Moon

Wurmweaver Coil

Angelic Benediction

Ardent Plea

Prodigious Growth ——- OWN

Mammoth Umbra

Spider Umbra

Armadillo Cloak

Sorcery/Instants: 14

Worldly Tutor

Enlightened Tutor —-OWNED

Crypsis —– OWN

Call the Gatewatch —– OWN

Crop Rotation

Hour of Promise

Reap and Sow

Scapeshift (Borderline)

Sylvan Scrying

Verdant Confluence

Artifacts: 6

213

Sol Ring – OWN

Land: 38

Tropical Island—–OWN

Breeding Pool —–OWN

Misty Rain Forest —–OWN

Temple of Mystery

Savanna —–OWN

Temple Garden —–OWN

Windswept Heath —–OWN

Temple of Plenty

Tundra —–OWN

Flooded Strand —–OWN

Hallowed Fountain —–OWN

Temple of Enlightenment —— OWN

Islandx6 —–OWN

Plainx6 —–OWN

Forestx6 —–OWN

Command Tower

Cathedral of War —- ORDERED

Rogues Passage —–OWN

Temple of the False God

Maze of Ith —– Eventually but not essential

Ghost Quarter

Field of Ruin

Strip Mine

Obviously, I’ve done a lot more background work before posting this deck, unlike the Orzhov Knight decklist. Some of the cards I still question. I also question how well this is actually going to work. I just won’t know until I build it and play it. This is probably as close to a finished deck list as I’m going to get though so I don’t plan on publishing an updated version. Maybe some edits if needed, but no whole new post. I figured my Knight deck was going to take until the end of the year and I finally finished it in October, so pretty close. This deck is going to take most of 2019 to assemble, as money will be tight next year due to all our hospital stuff this year.

There is going to be a lot of proxy’ing going on, as I am NOT going to be playing with my actual dual lands, nor with cards like Noble Hierarch or any other $60+ cards. If my fellow player is ok with it, I might use proxy cards for any card I don’t yet own just to test the deck.

Sadly, I don’t feel nearly as inspired about the Deck Name (Get Salted, I’m Exalted just seems a bit braggadocio) as I did with my knight deck. “Exalt” or some form of that has to be in the title since the Exalt mechanic is what everything is based on. I might even have to enlist Mrs B’s creative powers to help me out!

If anyone has suggestions for card changes, feel free to let me know. Cheers!

bookstooge (Custom)

Previous Magic the Gathering Posts

To Sell or Not To Sell, That Is the MAGIC Question!

December 2, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ 19 Comments

Magic_card_back

If you didn’t know, I play a card game called Magic the Gathering. I started playing it back in the early to mid-90’s and then pretty much stopped for about 20 years. A former co-worker got me back into it and now I’m back in. A very casual player mind you. I play what is called Kitchen Table Magic, ie, just sitting around playing when I get a chance with a friend or two. I don’t do tournaments or anything competitive.

The thing with Magic is that not only is it a game, it is also a Collectible card game. This means that not all the cards have the same quantity being released during each set, so the more powerful a card is and the rarer it is, the more money people are willing to pay for it.

The company that produces Magic, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), also sells specialty boxes of reprints so that certain cards don’t get too out of control. Most cards from 2003 and on have a decent chance of getting reprinted if they run above $100 or become super popular due to being used in a winning deck by one of the pro’s. These reprint boxes have a limited supply run but WOTC tends to print things into the ground ever since they were bought out by Hasbro. So “limited” tends to mean they won’t just keep on printing that particular set for a year. 11 months and 30 days, but NOT a full year, thus garnering that feared “limited” title.

I’ve been buying some of these specialty boxes since 2015 with an eye to either opening them and getting some of those expensive cards for myself or to resell the boxes once the price starts to rise. I paid under $200 for each of those 3 boxes when they came out. Now, all 3 are selling for around $300 or so on Ebay. The problem is that a LOT of other people all think the same way I did, plus some scum (who’ll I’ll call magic investors) who buy these things up by the hundreds to induce scarcity, thus raising the price and then said scum sell for a quick profit. So Ebay tends to be flooded with a LOT of options. Realistically speaking, there isn’t much selling going on at that price point.

I’ve tried to sell on Craigslist, but once prices go above the $150 mark, most things don’t sell real well there. People are leery of dealing with cash and meeting up and all that stuff. I don’t blame them, but still, it is discouraging.

241 249

My question thus is this:

1 ) Do I list my 3 boxes separately on Ebay starting at 99cents, to avoid the insertion fee and hope the bidding goes up high enough to make me a profit AND to cover Ebay’s final sale fee (usually 10-15 percent, yeah, that much)

IMG_20181202_094642760 — *Modern Masters 2015*

2 ) Open the boxes and hope I get the cards I want (I have REALLY bad luck in this regard. Almost all boxes I’ve opened through the years have not done me good) and a few foil money cards I can sell individually so as to not lose too much money

IMG_20181202_094626040 — *Modern Masters 2017*

3 ) OR keep sitting on these boxes?

IMG_20181202_094613967 — *Eternal Masters*

This has all been brought to a head by the final Masters Set being released this Friday. Even though the average price for a box is running around $290, it has been selling like gangbusters in a speakeasy with Elliot Ness & his Untouchables knocking the doors down with their specialty sledgehammers. In other words, on Ebay, 1 seller sold upwards of 4000 boxes in a matter of hours. A lot of the cards in the Ultimate Masters box are also available in these 3 boxes. Which means that the price of the boxes I own might start dropping as the high priced cards in them start dropping in value.

This type of situation is exactly why I am a land survey tech and not an investment consultant.

f00

Ok, all good now. Just needed to write and do a little venting to get that off my chest. Cheerio…

bookstooge (Custom)

PSA: Honesty and Book Reviewing

August 4, 2018July 30, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ 101 Comments

PSA

I was browsing WordPress the other day and one of the blogs featured had a Tag, so I figured I’d read through it to see if there was any questions I liked that I could twist for my own fun.

Well, one of the questions was “What was your last 1star book” and the young lady answering it wrote something like “Oh, probably never. If a book is that bad, I just DNF it”, with the assumption being that it doesn’t get rated and I’m guessing, not reviewed. BVT also recently did a post where she talks about Negative Reviews and how she appreciates them.

This led me to think about this whole subject beyond my little comment on BVT’s post. It still comes down to Trust so while I’ll be talking about that, I’d like to talk about some of the other components too.

So, Trust first.

If a book reviewer deliberately with-holds a review because it doesn’t get a particular rating, that is dishonest. Lying by omission is still lying. A blogger might write completely honest reviews about all the fantastic books they read but if they don’t publish the reviews about the crappy books, that is like someone doing their checkbook and showing only the credits and not the debits. It’s honest, but it’s not the real picture. Just ask your bank.

Another reason that I won’t follow people who state they won’t do negative reviews is because it shows a paucity of character and a lack of integrity. If you don’t believe me, this picture from the INTERNET will show you the truth!

Now, there is a difference between being a dick online and calling a piece of garbage a piece of garbage. Exactly where that line is though, that’s a very tough question. It’s also tangential to this discussion so I won’t discuss it further.

Another reason to write negative reviews is to help out other readers. For the record, I want to state that reviews are NEVER for the author. N-E-V-E-R!!!!! They might get something out of them but it was never meant to be for them. Reviews are for other readers. If you are going review books, it is your duty to not only steer your followers towards the books you love, but to also steer them clear from the disasters, the broken bridges and the just plain bad books. If you drive off that bridge, put up a freaking warning sign. Its pure negligence if you don’t. Friends don’t let friends read bad books without warning them.

Another reason that negative reviews are a reviewers duty is that unlike in Magic the Gathering, you don’t get extra turns in your reading life. You read that bad book, that time is GONE! Don’t let others repeat your mistakes. Let them learn from you.

Finally, a book blogger may feel virtuous for not having any negative content on their blog. That shows a lack of understanding of what is virtuous, what is right and is a paving stone far along the path to hell. Yeah, I’m not going to pull any punches here and nothing funny like the ending of the PSA post from last month. I don’t want to follow someone with that lack of understanding, it is just plain dangerous to be around them.

angel-1014564_500_299 — *This fairy is about to burn up in the fire. Good intentions not withstanding.*

bookstooge — *Bookstooge brings the FIRE!*

Previous PSA Posts

MTG: Good Knight to You Sirrah! Part II

April 22, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ 18 Comments

Magic_card_back I know, I said I wouldn’t do multiple posts about this deck. Too bad. Here’s the original card pool:

Good Knight Part I

Trying to create a Black and White Knight deck for EDH / Commander has been a bit more labor intensive than I thought. It is also a LOT more expensive than buying one of the $35 precons and modifying it. If I’m lucky I’ll have this constructed by the end of the year. They don’t call Magic the Gathering cardboard crack for nothing!

I hope to have a post up tomorrow with pictures of some of the more interesting and valuable cards that I get from the new Dominaria set. I have half a box and 2 pre-release kits so out of 30 packs I’m hoping for at least one good card to help pay for all of this. This also serves as fair warning to those of you who aren’t into Magic the Gathering so you don’t expect something else come Monday.

***************

I did a fine darn job with my gut instinct of “on the edge”. I suspect money is going to play a part of the chosen cards. I’ll be including the TCG midrange price here. Planeswalkers might be swapped out for creatures if the price is too exhorbitant for the overall deck. Totals are rounded up so to give a bit of a worst case scenario.

The next step after this post is to check each card’s edition and see if I already own it. That’ll help with the overall pricing issue too. If I already own a higher card or two, that will make buying the others that much easier.

The Goal now is:

4 Planeswalkers

30 Creatures

5 Enchantments

6 Instants

6 Sorceries

8 Artifacts

40 Lands

Commander: 1

Athreos, God of Passage – $11

Planeswalkers: 4

Elspeth, Sun’s Champion-$11

Gideon, ally of zendikar-$10

Sorin, Grim Nemesis-$5

Sorin Lord of Innistrad-$8 Iffy

Total: $45

Knights/Creatures: 30 and 26 Alternates

Elenda the Duskrose -$5

Ravos Soultender -$8

Auriok Steelshaper-$1.50

Deathbringer Liege-$12

Eastern Paladin-$0.25

Fiendslayer Paladin-$1

Kabira Vindicator-$0.10

Kinsbaile Cavalier-$1.25

Knight Exemplar-$2.75

Knight of Dawn-$0.25

Knight of Dusk-$0.25

Knight of Meadowgrain-$1.50

Leonin Skyhunter-$0.10

Markov Dreadknight-$0.20

Northern Paladin-$0.40

Paragon of New Dawns-$0.10

Paragon of Open Graves-$0.10

Pentarch Paladin-$1

Southern Paladin-$0.40

Sunweb-$0.20

Thalia’s Lancers-$0.40

Vona, Butcher of Magan-$2.50

Western Paladin-$0.30

Aryel Knight of Windgrace-$0.80

Benalish Marshall-$1.50

Danitha Capashan, Paragon-$0.40

Josu Vess, Lich Knight-$1.80

Knight of Grace-$0.10

Knight of Malice-$0.10

Kwende, Pride of Femeref-$0.10

Total: $45

Plover Knight – Alternate for Sorin Planeswalker – $0.20

~~Black Knight -on the edge~~

~~Crusading Knight -on the edge~~

~~Fortified Rampart -on the edge~~

~~Lightwielder Paladin -on the edge~~

~~Marauding Knight -on the edge~~

~~Mirran Crusader -on the edge~~

~~Shimmering Barrier -on the edge~~

~~Silver Knight -on the edge~~

~~Silverblade Paladin -on the edge~~

~~Steel Wall -on the edge~~

~~White Knight -on the edge~~

~~Arvad the cursed -on the edge~~

~~Benalish Honor Guard-on the edge~~

~~Cabal Paladin-on the edge~~

~~Ageless Sentinels -flying wall~~

~~Angelic Wall -flying wall~~

~~Wall of Omens~~

~~Wall of Reverence~~

~~Wall of Swords~~

~~Knight of the Pilgrim’s Road~~

~~Knight-captain of Eos~~

~~Mirror Entity~~

~~Student of Warfare~~

~~Teysa, Orzhov Scion~~

~~Dauntless Bodyguard~~

Enchantmants: 5 and 5 Alternates

Cathar’s Crusade-$5 Own?

Dictate of Heliod-$0.25 Own?

Shared Triumph-$3

The Eldest Reborn-$0.25

True Conviction-$3.20

Total: $12

~~Anointed Procession-on the edge~~

~~Honor of the Pure-on the edge~~

~~Knighthood-on the edge~~

~~Lich’s Mastery-on the edge~~

~~Marshal’s Anthem-on the edge~~

Instants/Sorceries: 12 and 8 Alternates

Call the Gatewatch-$0.25 Own?

Cast Down-$0.90

Diabolic Tutor-$0.25

Divest-$0.25

Enlightened Tutor-Own. buy alternate at lethix.com $6

Gideon’s Phalanx-$0.25 Own?

Invoke the Divine-$0.20

Pacifism-$0.10 Own?

Righteous confluence-$0.20

Waylay-$0.20

Wretched Confluence-$0.75

Yawgmauth’s Vile Offering-$1.10

Total: $11

~~Allied Reinforcements-on the edge~~

~~Annihilate-on the edge~~

~~Aura Blast-on the edge~~

~~Cruel Tutor-on the edge running roughly $25-30~~

~~Infernal Tutor – on the edge – running around $15-20~~

~~Primeval’s Glorious Rebirth-on the edge Only if get in my dominaria box~~

~~Settle the Score-on the edge~~

~~Utter End-on the edge~~

Artifacts/Equipments: 8 and 4 Alternates

Door of Destinies-$4

Helm of the Host-$2.30

Herald’s Horn-$6.50

Orzhov Signet-$0.25

Sol Ring-$3

Spear of Heliod-$1 Own?

Staff of Nin-$0.50

Vanquisher’s Banner-$2.50

Total: $20

~~Akroma’s Memorial-on the edge~~

~~Blackblade Reforged-on the edge~~

~~Executioner’s Capsule-on the edge~~

~~Kormus Bell-on the edge~~

Lands: 40 and 2 Alternates

Command Tower-$1.25

Concealed Courtyard-$6

Everglades-$0.30

Fetid Heath-$10

Forsaken Sanctuary-$0.25

Godless Shrine-$13 Real Iffy

Isolated Chapel-$3

Karoo-$0.25

Mortuary Mire-$0.20 Own

New Benalia-$0.10

Orzhov Basillica-$0.25 Own

Orzhov Guildgate-$0.10

Scoured Barrens-$0.10

Shambling Vent-$2 Own?

Tainted Field-$0.10

Temple of Silence-$2

Temple of the False god-$0.40 Own?

Unclaimed Territory-$2.50

Vault of the Archangel-$3

Zhalfirin Void-$0.50

Plains x9-$4 a piece for full art from lethix. or use my own

Swamps x9-$4 a piece for full art from lethix. or use my own

Evolving Wilds-Own already

Terramorphic Expanse-Own already

Total: $43

~~Maze of Ith-on the edge $11~~

~~Sandstone Bridge-on the edge~~

Grand Total: $180 w/ a $20 possible downturn.

bookstooge (Custom)

MTG: Good Knight To You Sirrah!

April 7, 2018April 15, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ 30 Comments

Ok, this post will be dealing with a lot of Magic the Gathering cards. It will be at a level of detail that even I wouldn’t care enough if someone else were writing this, so please, feel free to skip this entire post and don’t even bother liking unless you like MTG or something.

A new set is coming out, called Dominaria. I have already pre-ordered a box from my local gamestore and am seriously thinking of playing my first public pre-release. Anyway. I was perusing Scent of a Gamer’s post about MTG: Art and one of the pictures was of a Paladin, aka, a Knight. We got to chatting and before I knew it, I was seriously thinking of creating a Knight based Commander Deck. The reason I mentioned Dominaria is because it looks like there will be a lot of knights and things that help knights in this release. I’m pretty stoked to be honest.

I’ve spent the last 2 days going through Gatherer, Wizards of the Coasts online database of every single magic card, looking for cards I can use to create a 100 card deck. I didn’t think it would be real hard, as I wasn’t aware of a lot of knights or things that helped them out. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up with over 180, and that was after weeding out cards that I knew I simply couldn’t afford. One card was close to $90, so that was out. And as the release date of Dominaria gets closer, more cards are going to be officially spoiled and I bet we’ll see even more knights and stuff. So this list will be changing even after I figure out what I want to weed out.

Here is my list. Roughly organized, linked to Gatherer.com and to Mythicspoiler.com. I wish I could figure out how to make a link show the card when you hover over it. I’ve seen that at several forums, but it might have something to do with the forum hosting all the pictures. I’m sure not going to add 200 pictures just for one post. That would add a lot to my media and 3 gb is not an infinite amount. However, if any of you know how to do such a thing, let me know would you?

I’ve got a lot of work to do to cut this list down to only 100 cards. I’ll probably go through and weed out any $25+ cards first (goodbye Tutors I suspect). I am NOT spending 1K on bloody cardboard. Next step will be to see what mechanics are global versus individual and include more of the global. Then I’ll just see what mechanics I don’t care about and get rid of cards focused on them. Next will be to winnow out the creatures that have more powerful existing counterparts already on the list. I figure this is going to be an ongoing project for most of the year as I slowly build it up.

I’ll be updating this post as I remove cards or add them. But it shouldn’t keep appearing in your feed, so no worries! Thankyou for your forbearance.

bookstooge