March Madness

Muffins were out for Magic!

Matt was there....

Jack was there...

Andrew stopped by late to finish off the food...

The rest of Tuesday was missing in action...

We did have a rules question on Ugin's -X effect

and his ability to effect the Hex Proof Fleecemane Lion.

We ruled that FL would be exiled because he was not targeted.

Quickstart Guide for Players

Crisis of the 12

The Bake continues it's Digital D&D Adventuring

This week Fiddenmar was murdered

DM James and Cameron seemed to understand what was going on--but I was exhausted after a long day at work.

And spent most of the night staring at the worlds greatest dice bag

Actual Play Elemental Evil--D&D Encounter S20 S2

Elemental Evil--D&D Encounters S20 S2

Another week of D&D Encounters at Comic Quest. This week, because of truck issues, Andy & I carpooled down with Brian & I shot this time lapse photography of the trip mostly to make East Coast Gamers jealous.

This week was First Week of Season 20 of D&D Encounters! We are playing Princes of the Apocolypse which is part of the Elemental Evil story line.

Energy at the shop is off the charts! People are totally stoked to be there:

And there are lots of people showing up--this session has ~5 tables running [two are outside! welcome to CA]. Two tables of Princes of the Apocalypse, Two tables of Rise of Tiamet, and one table of Adventure League--this week they ran the Defiance in Phlan.

Inside, Jack was in strong form with his Svirfneblin Bard

Chase had a Elf Ranger

Rockhide & Chalula were also at our table & were completely awesome

Greg had a Half-Orc BARDaraian--it was a barbarian with an entertainer background that he tried to pass off as a Bard.

I had a Svirfneblin Sage--Brian is playing at Spencer's Rise of Tiamet table.

The shop was packed!

Jack continues to use the worlds ugliest dice--and a very hideous mini as well

Chase has an amazing dice rolling box--of course, he Storked his Survivor roll off against Greg!

Jack and I had a great Japanese Tourist trip and enjoyed the ride home in Chase's car

Post Prerelease Planning

Tuesday morning is here again & that means 8th Graders playing Kitchen table Magic. Jack was ready for school.

I had my coffee ready

My Dice

And my cards

The boys posted up--Jack is still working to break the meta on the post Dragons of Tarkir world. Andrew has the story down better than anyone else these days.

Derek played a few massive monster games against Andrew that were fun to watch.

 Preston crushed me with his Deck--my Abzan team just could not close.

Even with the Emo King on my side
  

Always sad when Garruk ends up in the yard.

It was another fun week full of great Magic Fun--we are in the planning stages for Release FNM & a Game Day event at Monsters and Magic.

Rolling in Adventure League

One of the most common comments I get when I do Character Creation is: 

Are you guys not playing the the Adventures League?  You're rolling for stats. The Adventures League only supports Point Buy or Standard Array.

Which is 100% accurate--and I do not disagree.

The characters we are randomly creating in my character creation videos will need to be modified to be Adventure League legal, and all D&D Encounters characters must be Adventure League legal.

When the AL was first announced with the Epics, Expeditions, and Encounters legs I was totally excited--organizing the Organized  Play structure around the way in which public play actually happens seemed like a totally brilliant idea. New players could start at weekly Encounters, move to "convention-style" play in Expeditions, and occasionally kick off new rules in Epic style games. 

Simple. Elegant. Awesome.

The Expeditions players needed to ensure that all of the characters used in Organized Play were balanced and thus they had to create character creation guides. 

AL Character Creation guides are regularly revised to ensure things stay balaned with Expeditions. These guides then had to be used in Encounters. Thus no rolling dice for character creation in Encounters.

An unforeseen consequence of the Adventure League structure, but completely acceptable to ensure that the Expeditions games are 'fair'.

I would guess that Epics will largely be exempt from the Adventure League guides since the vision for Epics seems to be one off adventures. I assume that these will ideally include new rules, pregen characters, and the like--things we have always seen included with Event Driven games, but only time will tell.

So back to the original question, I am playing D&D Encounters, which is a part of the Adventure League. I will clean up my character using the Point Buy system now that I have a 'working sketch' of what I think Waynemeth the Male Svirfneblin Sage's stats should be...

Game--Dragons of Tarkir

Silumgar--Dragons of Tarkir

Dragonlord Silumgar bestows wealth and power upon his subjects--but only a select few. The Silumgar vie for their dragonlord's favor by proffering lavish gifts and making sacrifices, sometimes even sacrificing other in the clan. Ruthless beyond measure, the Silumgar use the dragon's fang as their clan symbol.

The Silumgar are as ruthless as their dragonlord. Use the exploit mechanic to sacrifice your own creatures for greater gain. Some creatures give you an added benefit when they die, making them ideal sacrificial offerings. As a bonus, creatures (and other cards) festering in your graveyard can be put to yet another use as fodder for spells with the delve ability from the Fate Reforged set.

Silumgar decks are typically slower and more controlling. You'll often strive to trade your resources for your opponent's over the course of the game, and then, when the time is right, seize the advantage with powerful spells or large, evasive creatures.

Your deck must have at least 40 cards, and it's advisable to stay as close to that minimum as possible. You'll want about 17 lands and 23 other cards, including 14-20 creatures. You'll generally want to choose your clan's two colors to be your focus, perhaps "splashing" a few cards of a third color if they'r particularly powerful.

Ojutai--Dragons of Tarkir

Dragonlord Ojutai is known as the Great Teacher to his clan of martial artists, mystics, and wandering warriors. The clan believes that Ojutai and his brood are the wisest living sages, and that the ultimate honor is to "ascend" on death and be reincarnated as one of these skywise. The clan values cunning, and is represented by the dragon's eye, which signifies awareness and the pursuit of wisdom.

Those who follow Ojutai pride themselves on their cunning. Use the rebound mechanic to cast instants and sorceries twice, making them doubly dangerous. And couple rebound spells with creatures from the Fate Reforged set that have the prowess ability to get twice and added benefit during combat.

When building an Ojutai deck, aim for a balance of creatures, instants, and sorceries to outmaneuver your opponents on all fronts. The path to victory is paved with crafty combat tricks, especially those that can disrupt your opponents' plans and open up room for deadly attacks.

Your deck must have at least 40 cards, and it's advisable to stay as close to that minimum as possible. You'll want about 17 lands and 23 other cards, including 14-20 creatures. You'll generally want to choose your clan's two colors to be your focus, perhaps "splashing" a few cards of a third color if they're particularly powerful.

Dromoka--Dragons of Tarkir

Dragonlord Dromoka leads a clan of honorable desert warriors who proudly don armor made of scales shed by the dragons they revere. Dromoka encourages her followers to trust in each other as well as in the dragon scalelords who fight alongside them in battle. The Dromoka's symbol is the scale of the dragon, representing the clan's ability to endure anything.



Those in the Dromoka clan work together to endure and conquer. Use the bolster mechanic to put +1/+1 counters on your creatures with the least toughness, thus ensuring your army will never have a week link. Look for cards with this ability in both the Dragons of Tarkir set and the Fate Reforged set.

A Dromoka deck's success depends on having a strong board presence with lots of big creatures in the late game; thus it's important to include some defensive cards to help you through the early turns. When you've attained a critical mass of large creatures, you'll be able to overwhelm your opponent with devastating attacks.

Your deck must have at least 40 cards, and it's advisable to stay as close to that minimum as possible. You'll want about 17 lands and 23 other cards, including 14-20 creatures. You'll generally want to choose your clan's two colors to be your focus, perhaps "splashing" a few cards of a third color if they're particularly powerful.