Random decks

So with Ahmonket out, I was super excited to brew up all the decks but whats funny is that every deck that i was excited to brew up weren't very good. It wast until I decided to take a step back and look at the cards did I see potential in other cards. I knew i wanted to play with Regal Caracal because why wouldn't you want to play a deck with a Cat version of Cloudgoat Ranger. I knew I wanted to play with Plague Belcher because a 5/4 Menace for three is just too powerful to pass up and Approach of the Second Sun was just too awesome not to try. Its a reasonable alt Win-Con and you an easily set yourself up with draw cards in blue

So this first deck was probably the most frustrating to play. I just looks decent on paper...screen...whatever. It looks fine on paper and it just never did what it was suppose to do. I tried to include Channeler Initiate and it was just so underwhelming.  Before you look at Blisterpod and dismiss it, it was actually really really important to the deck. Having a turn 1 play was actually really important, It adds push back against Mardu and gives you some points of damage against control decks. I added Festering Mummy because I was running into a lot of Mono White aggro decks/ RW human decks that would overwhelm the board so i did my best slow them down when i could.

Hapatra was very, very good. So good that she was a lightening rod to removal every single time that she hit the board and if gone unchecked against midrange decks, she would be able to slow them down with Deathtouch snakes.

Nest of Scarabs was pretty much got the deck the wins when I won. I would overwhelm the board and force my opponent to make unfavorable blocks by attacking with tokens and cards like Plague Belcher.

Overall the deck didn't feel too great. It looks like you have the potential to get some really good sized creatures out for cheap and minimal disadvantage but it never happened for me

4x Festering Mummy

4xBlisterpod

4x Exlempar of Strength

4x Nest of Scarabs 

4x Crocodile of the Crossing

3x Hapatra's Mask

3x Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons

3x Plague Belcher

2x Grasp of Darkness

2x Splendid Agony

2x Ruinous Path

1x Decimator Beetle

This is probably my favorite deck that I was playing after the release of Amonkhet and how could it not be the most fun. I won all of my games in the 1v1 Ques and I had a blast doing it. The deck is pretty straight forward. Survive, draw cards, play Second Sun and that's it. The only deck that gave me a little bit of trouble was a BW Gideon Tribal deck that ended up exiling all of the Second Sun copies I had and forced me to rely on the Outburst token and Curators to win. It was annoying but i got there. I have 3 copies of Regal Caracal in the board but i didn't have an issue with exiling my cards in game one. Dovin Bann got some decent play and did a lot of work if he was played early. Had a game where my opponent would rather attack Dovin instead of hitting my life total and I was able to stall enough to get the win. 

PSully said that the appropriate number of Second Suns in the deck is 3 and while PSully has more wins and knowledge about the game than I do, I respectfully disagree. Every time I cast the first Second Sun, i always wanted to draw another one instead of waiting X turns to draw it. Sometimes having to wait X turns isn't good enough and you cant wait that long or you will die. There were several times where if i hadn't had the second or third copy in my hand, I would have died the very next turn. Having a 4th to me feels almost crucial to the deck. 

There are a bunch of cards that I actually really wanted to try in this deck, like new Gideon, Fumigate and Jace, but i didn't want to disrupt the structure of the deck.Also, out of all the new cards that I i managed to get a hold of and try, Drake Haven was actually the most lackluster of all the new cards. And when I say that I mean in this particular deck, not as a card in general. The card is fantastic, just not here. You will be spending your time cycling when you should be or could be digging for Second Sun.

Overall, I had a blast playing this deck. I am always trying to make a control deck work when new sets are introduced into standard and I am really glad i gave Approach of the Second Sun another look at.I was a delight to play

3x Immolating Glare

4x Anticipate

4x Renewed Faith

3x Cast Out

2x Glimmer of Genius

4x Hieroglyphic Illumination

1x Trial of Knowledge 

4x Curator of Mysteries

3x Dovin Baan

2x Planar Outburst

2x Descend upon the Sinful

4x Approach of the Second Sun

This tokens deck was fun, seemed kind of slow, didn't really do much when i needed it. I messed up with the Cartouche and Oketra making 1/1 vigilance creatures which doesn't work with Throne of the God-Pharaoh... yeah oops. 

Also, having Procession at 4cmc really sucks. if it was at 3cmc, the card would be good...great and i probably would have won more games than i did. at 4cmc you are deciding to either cast Procession or play the Expertise and combo it with Collective Effort or play a Trail of Strength. now Trial of Strength might actually be the 2nd best card in the deck. Combine it with the Cartouche and it was very hard to remove from the board. 

I'm not sure how many Oaths is the right amount. Sometimes id draw too many and more than too many times i wouldn't draw it when i needed it. There were times where i thought i should cut it out entirely but i liked pumping the whole team for 2 mana and was too lazy to find a replacement 

4x Cartouche of Solidarity

3x Immolating Glare

4x Sero Exhibition

2x Oath of Ajani

3x Throne of the God-Pharaoh 

3x Collective Effort

3x Trial of Strength

2x Anointed Procession

1x Oketra the True

4x Sram;s Expertise

3x Regal Caracal 

Yeah, so these were some of the decks that I was playing the first week or so after the set came out. It was a nice run through of some cards that caught my eye and out of all the decks i played, Second Sun won the most and was the most fun deck to play. I really feel like there is a Tokens deck that doesn't just have Gideon and Nissa as the token makers. Also, i realize that Gideon and Nissa make tokens, but i didn't have either of them soooo that was kind of out of the picture. 

Gotta keep'em short

I've noticed that I start to write these big long posts and get bored half way through and stop writing them. There are about 5 of these and they'll felt like a waste of time so I think I'm just going to keep them short like I originally did when I started writing this. Just quick blurbs about stuff that's going on thats going to take more than 140 characters a la Twitter and I think ill do some Hearthstone as well since the new set is nutty and fun and it's gotten my attention again. Not to say that I still don't really really want to play magic, I just am having so much fun with Hearthstone right now. I guess these will be like when I was taking the train to my now ex's place in the city and had about an hour to write down some thoughts on the way.
It's funny,  I actually considered doing blogs to kind of get a YouTube page going. It would be easier for me to put myself out there and explain a little bit better and people could grasp my tone s little better. Apperently my tone through text is a little much for people (QQ little lamb) so maybe seeing a face, a smile and matching a voice would help. I'm not 100 in on that yet bc I don't think people would watch to be honest. It's floating around in my head still.

WHERE I AM AT:
Well currently I'm working at some shit job bc my contract at the other super sweet kick ass job ended. I loved that job and the money and it's something that I really want to do again.  So until I get another contract, shitty job it will be
At this point it's super disheartening bc I have been wanting to be in the tech world for years now but it just seems to elude me ever so slightly. And it feels like I'll be working these shitty jobs forever and it's really heartbreaking.
WHAT I AM PLAYING
I'm playing lots and lots of mtg, hearthstone and overwatch. While i was at Google I was building my computer to potentially stream in the future and I was gearing up to go ham into mtg and as of two weeks ago, hearthstone.  I really feel like i have the discipline to succeed in both of those games at a higher level than most. I just need money to get better cards and time so I can play in events.

Ok, so I ended up stopping this and now im going to finish and post it. Its been about three weeks since I started this and a few things changed, like the decks and Where I Am At portion but when stuff is more concrete ill go ahead and post about it

My thoughts on Standard and bannings

 Well i guess its on the lack of banning this time around. And well, i guess all i have to say is just stop being lazy. Magic players have been lazys for years and i guess i should clarify. When i say Magic players, i mean non pro Magic players. NonPro magic players are so fucking lazy and while its OBVIOUSLY not all magic players a majority of them are complaining about something they could very well fix themselves.
I get that winning is great but if everyone if on the "if you cant beat them join them"train get ready to have a bad time. Instead of  complaining, how about you try something else? how about you try something new? you can still play powerful cards but how about you try out an esper or UW control build? how about you see if UR burn works again? Is mono white humans viable? is there a new color combo that could rise above? we have a vindicate at instant speed...there is a wheel of fortune that deals damage. there are endless possibilities out there and nobody wants to take the time to try something new and if thats the case, have fun complaining about there being 3 decks in the format and playing one of those decks.
Go out there, play and try new things.There are lots of possibilities and stop being fucking lazy about it
also, unban jace, BBE

add it to the pile that says mental illness

I dont think i have been this depressed in a really long time. I am just sad, i feel defeated, i feel alone and worthless and nobody wants me. nobody wants to be around me or hang out with me, nobody wants to be WITH ME. i just want someone to love me, i just want to love someone, i want to hold someone and be that someones special something...but i dont think i am good enough for that. Its the feeling like i am defeated part of me that feels that way. I just want to love someone like i used to love someone. My last relationship, i would travel 2 hours, spend 200 a month on travel and it would all be worth it but now, like right now right now... i dont feel like i am ever going to be capable of loving someone that much again.
Today, Co-dependent issues popped in my head on the way home. I never looked into that, i didnt know what it was or what the symptoms are or were, nothing. Well today i looked it up and it sounds like i have a co-depended issue. A lot of what triggers it or symptoms of it are there for me...like a lot. Mostly abandonment issues and feeling alone. Ive been abandoned by my father twice, once when i was younger, baby like and then again when i was 15-16 when i decided it was time to give him a chance. Then i had an emotionally abusive relationship like years ago, where she just grabbed all of her stuff and just disappeared. no goodbye, no reason, no nothing. like that whole year of a relationship was nothing. like it meant nothing, like i didnt matter and the things we did were just a dream. Then I had my last relationship that ended 2 days after my fucking birthday and 2 days before our year together, just end. like...all the struggle and the fighting and the talking and the me changing for her and the me showing her and telling her how much i loved her. me expanding my boundaries and trying new things and getting along with her shitty dysfunctional family and me supporting her and what she wants to do and me trying to help her get herself back on the right track health wise or me trying to get her to get back into her art by constantly reminder that she needed to get up an be creative instead of watching House all the fucking time or getting her to go try a new place to eat with me or even watching something thats out of her comfort zone...that was so fucking stupid, Fargo is an amazing film adventure, why wouldnt you want to watch that.
I poured my heart out to her to let her know about my abandonment issues and just only slightly understood.
People leave me, they just go, no words, no explanations, they just leave.So thats why when im on twitter and i DM or i tweet or i text someone on their phone and they dont respond and i get pissed... its because why am i not good enough to respond to? why can you take the time to hit a fucking like but you can take the fucking time to write 140 characters to me....i take every form of friendship seriously bc its all i have got.if i didnt want to be friends with people i wouldnt engage them or try to build a relationship but there are those that i do try to make something with and its not always good but i feel like they are worth it. but fuck me right, its not always what it seems.
 I am sure there is way more but venting out like this has made me feel a little better, i guess i should write magic stuff on here huh

Lizzy Constance/Kassen, Im so fucking sorry

I loved you. i loved you so much, so very very much and i fucked up twice. BIG TIME twice. Seeing that you are married now, it really brings up old feelings and it makes me realize that i could have had something you with and we could and would have been happy. not telling you was my lifes biggest regret, number 1, right at the top. Elizabeth "lizzy" Contance, i loved you from the moment i met you and i didnt tell you till it was too late and i had already messed up.
I am writing this, hoping that i can just write up my feelings and i can just stop thinking about about this. it isnt agonizing or life ruining but it doesnt make me feel good about not telling her until it was too late. sooo its going to be unedited, sans good grammer and maybe some run ons. its just right from the heart and raw so im just gonna go.
I loved her from the first day i met her and even though high school all over the place, stupid, pressurefilled and just hell to begin with, you made me realize my mistakes, how to care about someone and that i could actually just love someone and they care about me for who i was . Liz was far from the most popular person in school, she was a fucking BRAIN, quiet, and shy but she was open to me. she would ask me to have lunch with her, she would rest her head on my shoulder, she would let me walk her to classes, she would sit next to me in almost every class we had together, she would have me be in her group when we had class projects together. she would share her food with me and vice versa, she would keep me in check from being a jerk and still love me for it and i wouldnt bite back.she would be honest with me...she cared about me. No matter what phase i was in, Jocks, band kids, MTG groups. no matter how many girls i hooked up with, she was there. sure she made fun and called me a man whore but the smile that followed up with it,i always knew she was messing with me and she knew i could take it and that she was right.

I asked her to a dance, i didnt think it was a serious thing, just two friends going to a dance. it was just a casual thing, to me at least. we danced a bit, they stood around and this girl i knew wanted to dance with me so i went to go dance with her and it was for awhile. Liz and her friends, we kinda wandering around and not dancing and i think they were thinking about leaving. The girl i was dancing with, i thought she was DTF and i was like yeah, i should try to get my D wet, she made plans, she left and Liz was pissed at me. MY ultimate fuck up, i should have stayed with her all night and just danced with her, we could have had a moment and i ruined it. i fucked up so bad.Fromthat moment on she never, ever let me forget that i did that to her which influenced my decision on who to go to prom with. I would have loved to take her but i was afraid she was going to say no and i was going to end up going alone i mean i totally fucked up and bent her trust. SECOND major regret in my life. the first two involve her.


So thats the first one, fucking up and not staying with her at the dance. I didnt realize it was that important to her. she never made a fuss about going to dances and bc it was senior year she decided why not just fucking go to one. and i fucked that up.
The other one is me never telling her how i felt about her...i think as the months of going to school wound down, i was realizing that i might not ever see her again and it was killing me. i cared about her, i figured we would be close forever and that even though she was going to leave, we would stay close. well we didnt, and i hate myself for not sticking with her. During our time writing in our yearbooks, i spilled my guts out everywhere and told her how sorry i was for the dance and that i loved her and that i always would love her and that i hope she was going to have a good time traveling, i think that was it, during the summer and that i hope to hear from here when she was settled in. well School started for the both of us and we drifted apart, we talked on and off for a while and some times not at all. at the point i was was this really hot yet incredibly crazy girl and we had been dating for about a year and a half when stuff started to fall apart.There was a weekend where i went to LA with friends and realized that i fucking missed liz so much and that i really needed to see her and talk to her. so i messaged her on FB and we started to chat and we got our friendship a little back on track. At that point my gf had become my ex and i thought to myself, fantastic i am gonna go up to see liz for the weekend at UC davis and see what happens. sweet, i bought a train ticket up there and we had planned for me to stay with her and that was going on. I mentioned that i wanted to have a nice quiet dinner just the two of us and talk about us and whats up with her schooling and stuff. But then she told me she had been seeing someone and that she didnt think it was a good idea that i go up there... and that was the last time i talked to her. i am sure i texted her a few times but after that, we just stopped talking. I guess it was too late for us and we were both moving on with our lives. yeah it sucked but i had 4 years to be with her and it was my fault for not saying anything to her or showing her how much she ment to me. when i saw that she was this one guy a few months later i just removed her from my TL notifications and just assumed that they would break up and we would or wouldnt talk again. well my life went on, she stayed with that guy and two weeks ago i found out they got married. She married her first boyfriend... I think this will stick unless one of them  becomes unhappy.
Well i feel a little bit better now. There are a lot of details in there that i missed but i just skimmed over me fucking up and not maning up and telling her how i felt...I loved you so much Liz and im sorry i didnt do better and that i was a stupid idiot kid that just let someone amazing slip by. I would have given you the whole fucking world, thats how much you ment to me

Wolves

This is the werewolves deck that i have been playing with the last few days. Right off the bat you will see that i am playing with 4 copies of the Meld card Hanwier Garrison and its a good thing I do bc it adds tons of power to the deck. its like a mini hero of bladehold that gets bigger if it survives until you meld it. Playing the deck is solid but it feels like its missing 2-3 cards and one of this might be Collected company, go fucking figure. i also think that perhaps adding Collective Defiance will give the deck a little more reach. The spot removal and player damage is valuable when you cant quite get there with creature damage but at this point in time you dont really have that problem.i have had turn 4 and turn 5 wins with lots of damage going through.
Arlin hasnt proved herself as much as i thought she would have but then again the games end so fast that she hasnt really gotten a chance to shine. Maybe shes a win more, maybe shes a dud, ill find out when i add one more copy to the deck. Ulrich has been more hit than miss. hes usually the nail in the coffin by adding the +4/+4. At the same time when i have gotten him to transform, its been mediocre at best as i have been wanting a creature thats uncontested to be bigger than a 6/6. if you are going to be uncontested at least have first strike or trample...something. i had to trick my opponent into blocking with his Dromoka just to be able to fight
There are 3 all stars so far with the deck that arent Garrison or Ulrich
1. Incendiary Flow.
yeah we needed this spell, unfortunatly its a sorcery speed but i will take it. I have won a bunch of games with three to the face thanks to this card. Totally happy that this was printed and i am looking forward to burning shit in standard.
2.Spirit of the Hunt
Great card, Gnarled Mass at instant speed that saves your crew from languish, Radiant Flames and Flaying Tendrils. And while you are able to save your team from board sweepers..kinda of, you are also able to stop Grasp of Darkness, Incendiary flow and most of the 2-3 damage spells in standard right now. The 3/3 body is awesome as well as the flash addition to the card. if you play Wolves, you have to play this card with it.
3.Geier Reach Bandit
the real threat from this card is the haste aspect. against control decks, they have nothing on you, you get you 3 in, if you are luck you can transform him and start hitting for 4. turn five with Ulrich is savage as you get to pump and transform clearing the way for lots of damage and at that point you should be close to closing out the game.
The deck seems solid, like i said, its probably missing a few cards, Sylvan advocate, Collective Defiance and something else...but im not sure what. I have beating almost every match up but company and thats because i havent played against it. honestly the grindiest game i have had is against the new burn deck and thats only becuase of the 0/3 ping guy. against humans you have enough firepower to kill their good stuff and you can out scale them with transforming AND spirit of the hunt is invaluable in that match up. they want to trade in thier favor and end up losing more than theyd like leaving you with more creatures on boad

Ranting

So a lot has happened. Girlfriend decided that she didnt want to be in a relationship anymore and just quit. Which has resulted in me not doing my writing twice a week during my traveling to San Fransisco. I just listened to the most recent eh team with Scotty Mac and it made me really question if I still want to do this magic thing much longer. I like playing the game and meeting some people but the community at large is just a huge pile of shit and it really makes me not want to be a part of it along side me thinking financially this is just a sink hole. I don't play in events, I'm always changing decks and I asked fucking Frank lepore, someone who I was incredibly excited to meet out of the community. Someone who I really looked up to in this fucking game for advice and not only did I get zero response from him, but after meeting him and hanging out with he and melissa, just doesn't even fucking care to say hey when I do during streams streams anymore or even acknowledge the fact that I exist. There are a handful of people I respect in this game as far as game play wise and strategy wise and he was one of them and...its just disappointing. It would be different if i was some random that was like "oh hey I like your articles and I'm a big fan, look over this deck and tell me what you think thanks" hung out at the go, been on podcasts together a few times, back and forth tweets and I get it... He doesn't owe me anything and I'm not saying he does or that he must answer me as fast as possible BC  a fan... I just thought there was a little more history than with most people that critic or ask him.for shit...
And as for the ex...my brother asked Mr how I was doing and how i felt about the breakup. Last the this happened... It happened three times before, the breaking up and getting back together bullshit, I told her I wasn't going to fight for her if it came to this. I don't quit on relationships, I work and fight for thmr until there is no hope left and we both can't do it anymore. Anyways, he asked Mr if I was upset, last time I was in tears and trying g to figure out what could be done about this relationship and how to work it out. But this time, I honestly felt like the whole year was a waste of time
I changed as much as I could about the relationship to make it work and even though I asked her to change very little, she couldn't even try to make it work and so this didn't work. I made huge strides in our relationship yo accommodate her but it was never reciprocated and that's what the main factor was... Her family has zero chill but to. And when they get overwhelmed they take it out on each other or the nearest person and they get it instead
Her parents are aggressive to one another so I can see where she got it from. But overall I learned and gained a bunch of stuff for me but it was kind of a waste of time. It was never worth fighting for and for some reason I didn't see it. He also asked me of she apogized and asked to get back together, would I do it and I actually had to think about it but in the end its probably for the best. I am flawed, I have anxiety issues and u work at a shit grocery store job when I am qualified to lead people in a management position... Anyways, so now I have free time and I'll probably go back to the gym. I've gotten. Soft and if I am in shape again I'll find a cuddle buddy sooner..I like cudding... And making out yeeeeah :3
So yeah thats me and until I decide on if this magic the gathering is bad for me financially probably keep playing
..oh and I'm playing trash for treasure in modern. Its really fun and consistent for turn three shinanigains.if I keep doing well I'll probably go to the scg event in pacifica in april. Oh I'd probably see ashlen the cosplayer playing rg tron. Shes so fucking dreamy :3 le sigh.
End rant