And it is entirely because I am fully blocked up when it comes to writing, even running the 10 minute rule is not helping the creativity start flowing.
Not for lack of ideas, considering I have:
Two Marieya stories in the works
A backstory and an in-depth build analysis of an upcoming character
A Blaze story
Literally any of the stupid homebrew subclasses I have created I could talk about
But yeah, I am really struggling to get creative right now and it honestly fucking sucks, cause the ideas are there but I just can’t get anything consistent out, and if I try forcing it out the quality of the work declines and my self-esteem about my work falls too.
Something proper will come out eventually, just need more time to sort things out.
It is currently 8:06pm on Sunday 28th March, and because of a fairly busy work week I have not got anything more in-depth prepared for this week’s article.
And then I realised, I have never really talked about one of my favourite hobbies on this site yet: cosplay.
So, I figured that when it comes to weeks when I am not able to put out something substantial like an original story or a case study on one of my characters, instead I can put my infinitely growing cosplay list into something quick and easy to write as I give three characters I want to cosplay along with what they mean to me.
With that preamble out of the way, let us begin.
KDA Ahri (All Out) – League of Legends
Although I said this will include what characters mean to me… it is actually quite difficult for me to elaborate on that for League of Legends characters, as I do not and have no interest to play the game itself. So, why Ahri?
For a start, I would be lying if I said that I was not heavily into the videos and songs put out under the KDA banner, which forms the minimum amount of interaction I need to feel comfortable cosplaying from something.
Secondly, the entire aesthetic of the All Out outfits is right up my alley. Holographic fabrics and styles, whilst difficult to integrate into an everyday wardrobe, are insanely fun for standing out in the crowd and looking like a glamourous disco ball.
The asymmetry of Ahri’s outfit is also surprisingly pleasing for me. The bodice has the one long sleeve with the crystal decoration on the shoulder contrasted by the short fingerless glove with crystals embedded into it, and the skirt is half of a circle skirt in holographic fabric with a more ruffled translucent piece of fabric adding a nice bit of swish to it all.
Plus, blonde hair with pink ombre? Perfection.
Marnie – Pokemon Sword/Shield
Now I can actually get into a character where there is some emotional investment into them. For all of the continuing issues I have with Sword & Shield, the characters and writing are not going to be one of them.
Whilst I have an appreciation for all of the rivals in game for various reasons, Marnie’s motives really made me feel for her, to the point of pondering to myself: “Can I just let her win the League? She deserves it more than me.”
Simply wanting to bring pride to her slightly neglected hometown carries a lot more weight than most previous rival backstories and gives context to some of Team Yell’s actions. (NB: I’d be remiss to not mention that I’d totally love to do a Team Yell group cosplay one day, either as a Marnie or cheering on another Marnie.)
As for her design, it is mostly simple, but effective. The only really complex part of her design would be her hair, in my opinion. The fringe and pigtails are simple enough, but the spikes atop those pigtails and the dyed/shaven parts on our-left, her-right would be quite difficult to replicate accurately in a wig.
The dress and jacket would be quite straightforward to find, with 3D-printed accessories and bits filling in the decorations nicely (and would mean I could buy a jacket with decent pockets to use).
Though I would definitely want to splash on some nice boots for Marnie, cause every good punk/goth aesthetic character needs boots that are both comfortable and stylish.
Marieya Ebontide – OC
This is a shock isn’t it? My disaster Shadow Fey cleric I write the most and play the most being on my cosplay list?
But honestly, in the short* time I have been playing Marieya she has become a significant part of my downtime. I am constantly trying to write new stories for her, looking into feats, spells, and equipment she may benefit from later on down the line, and every so often I ask my mate bretticus.llewellyn.art to draw her doing something silly. (Go follow this man, he is a fantastic artist, and is responsible for the art of Marieya you are seeing now)
Marieya would definitely be an outfit I commission a professional seamstress for, as there are many aspects of the outfit that would be difficult to recreate in the exact way I would want them to be.
On the plus side though, the way I have Marieya visualised in art means I would not need to employ much grey body paint, as I specifically made it so she is covered from neck-to-foot, including leather gloves to avoid needing to paint my hands/work with imitation gloves.
I would also request that the base outfit be made not too thick, both so if I wear the outfit with armour I am not overheating due to layering, and so that if I do need to be warmer, I can get a design where Marieya has a cute winter coat to wear.
Conclusion
Three cosplans out of a list that grows every single week. Expect more of these in the future, especially as the amount of work I need to do during the week ramps up.
Feats are one of my personal favourite mechanics in Dungeons and Dragons. Whilst the humble Ability Score Improvement is the most practical way to enhance a character, they can often feel boring in comparison to the diverse character building opportunities that feats bring. This is especially true when considering how versatile a feat can be when applied to different character concepts, with some of my favourite versatile feats being described below.
Skill Expert/Practiced Expert
Recently added in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Skill Expert can be an option for those who wish to improve their proficiencies without wanting to commit to the three skills/tools offered by the Skilled feat.
Skill Expert allows a one point increase in any stat, which gives players greater choice over which modifier they may want to upgrade with this feat. They can also gain proficiency in one skill of their choice, which does not have to be specific to the ability score they increased, giving more flexibility over a feat like Resilient.
Finally, the feat allows players to gain expertise (double proficiency bonus) in one skill with which they are already proficient and not already receiving the benefit of expertise, which can be a massive boon in many ways. Those wishing to grapple more in combat can gain a huge advantage by gaining expertise in their Athletics checks, the front of the marching order will always know what is going on with expertise in Perception, or that one player who finds themselves needing to lie the most can protect their sorry behind with expertise in Deception.
A note about the Unearted Arcana feat “Practiced Expert”. It is essentially the same as Skill Expert but instead of being restricted to just skills, you can also choose tools to gain proficiency/expertise in. This does offer more flexibility, but can be quite campaign/character specific depending on what kind of artisans tools characters may be used. And as always with UA, ask your DM first if it is okay to use it.
Resilient
Mentioned previously, Resilient is a very straightforward feat. You pick an ability score to increase by one, and you subsequently gain proficiency in that score’s saving throw.
The limitation of the proficiency being tied to the ability score increase does reduce some of the potential versatility in this feat, gaining proficiency in a saving throw is not to be underestimated.
Casters can have the safety net of improved Constitution saving throws when it comes to rolls made to maintain concentration, frontline characters can strengthen their mental defenses by becoming proficient in Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma saving throws.
And of course, the Wizard who is somehow spending a worrying amount of time needing to roll Dexterity saving throws in regard to avoiding their own Fireballs can reduce the amount of damage they take (but not reduce the amount of exasperated sighs from around the table).
Magic Initiate
One of my personal favourite feats and the entire reason I got inspired to write this article. Magic Initiate offers a multitude of ways to upgrade any character due to the lack of prerequisite required, no need to already be a caster or to have a minimum casting stat of the class you wish to steal from.
The 1st-level spell is pretty good though the restriction of only being able to cast it once per long rest does reduce some of the potential in this feat. However that does not mean that thought should not go into which spell is chosen:
Shield of Faith can be a great opening move to a combat or an emergency buff, with the concentration aspect being negligible due to the increased difficulty in getting hit
Magic Missile is good damage in a pinch, either to get a guaranteed kill or to disrupt an enemy’s concentration
Faerie Fire provides a great deal of utility in combat, making any creatures easier to hit with other attacks and giving Rogues more flexibility in how their Sneak Attack is used
Cantrips however are where this feat excels in my opinion. Choosing from the Wizard spell list can give Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters a wider range of cantrips to work from in either offensive or utility contexts, the Ranger can choose from Druid or Cleric cantrip lists without needing to sacrifice their fighting style slot to Druidic Warrior, and most importantly, the Paladin can choose from Sorcerer spell lists to gain access to ranged attacks which are not repeatedly throwing weapons in the hope of hitting something.
Or if you are really feeling adventurous, choose this feat on a Paladin and pick from the Bard spell list. Why? Because using Vicious Mockery and shouting “DEUS VULT” at someone so hard their brain hurts is a wonderful sight.
Conclusion
Feats are awesome, and all of the listed feats above can bring additional interest and development to any D&D character. As always ask your DM if feats are allowed in your game and do not worry if feats do not feel right for you, as mentioned Ability Score Improvements are usually more practical for character progression, but next time you want to do a +1/+1 increase to two stats, go through a list of feats and see if you are willing to sacrifice that second increase for something potentially awesome.
“Situations prompting use of incendiary explosives have been… few and far between,” Blaze said to themselves as they removed the detonator from the aforementioned device, “whilst others may not respect the artistic effort put into these devices, it may be worth deploying a new prototype.”
Whilst the rest of the party slept, being a vect meant all they needed was a four hour recharge period, Blaze was tending to their research notes and bombs, working on preparing new payloads for all sorts of different scenarios.
“If conventional fire-based methods are out of the question, then maybe…”
Copying the written formula for the incendiary bomb, they started changing different values on the flammable compounds, adjusting the strength of the detonation spark that would have ignited the previously used material but would struggle to ignite this less viscous concoction, instead needing a more direct application of heat and/or explosive force.
Pasting this new data into a simulation application on their datapad revealed the results of this breakthrough. The new bomb would disperse a light, flammable oil in the same radius that the previous bomb did, unable to cause any direct damage but enhancing any abilities or weapons that use fire as their primary damage method.
“Well, that’s the issue of direct incendiaries out of the way, but… there’s more potential in the base device, I know it.”
Switching back over to the original explosive, Blaze ran a simulation and watched carefully how the fire interacted around foes hiding in cover. Although the fire was able to eventually spread across the cover if it was flammable, the main reagent was unable to go past any obstacles.
“So, if I take the primary detonation method, and then add… pellets…”
Leaning over some alchemy supplies and reading instructions off their datapad, they were able to synthesise a large number of rubber pellets, bouncy enough to ricochet around any obstacles but still hard enough to deliver concussive force strong enough to render foes unconscious.
“Anita does always say there is no profit in murder.”
And as if on cue, Anita Grimm herself appeared. A Cabal field agent with aspirations of semi-freelance soul brokering, she was often the one needing to clean up the social messes that the others had got themselves into, using her much sharper wit to diffuse situations and work others to her advantage. “Oh, you’re still up?” she said, her tone indicating an initially restless start to her own sleep.
“If I have no need of sleep other than my recharge period, I may as well advance my research,” Blaze said in response, finishing off the simulations of the new rubber pellet bomb, “if you need a pick-me-up there’s a couple cans of Krash in my toolkit.”
The investigator stared at the vect in shock, wondering how this sociopathic demolitionist had survived so long in the universe, “you keep… energy drink… next to your bomb materials?”
“Correct, do not worry yourself though, I have only had one accident where I used Krash instead of a reagent, and all that happened was a smell of burning sugar alongside some wasted Krash.”
“But… but…” Anita said, becoming more incredulous at the situation, “you’re a Vect! You don’t need to eat or drink! Why do you drink so much Krash?”
“Remnant of a past job,” Blaze said, reaching and cracking open another can, “I used to be the sales representative to the Avia-Ra Holy Lands when the Krash company was expanding into that territory.”
There was a pause.
“It didn’t go well, and I was let go from the company. Before I left though they allowed me to take as much Krash as I wanted as part of my severance package.”
Anita sighed deeply, before asking a question she knew she was going to regret. “And how much of that Krash do you have left?”
There was another pause.
“Approximately three-hundred-thousand-and-forty-two cans in multiple safehouses and hidden caches across the ‘Verse.”
A long silence hung between the vect and the human, with the latter completely failing to process both the implications of a construct lifeform getting addicted to a mass-produced energy drink, and the logistics of storing that much energy drink across such a wide area. Blaze continued to work on their final new bomb prototype as a novel idea entered into Anita’s mind.
Consulting her grimoire of rituals she flipped pages until she reached the arcane process of protecting technology: the antivirus spell. Muttering quickly to herself the words of power and weaving sigils in the air gently until the spell was complete, a faint shroud of binary surrounding Blaze for a brief moment.
They stopped their work, staring into their toolkit for a moment, contemplating how much Krash they had drunk over the years and how unhealthy a habit it was. There was a lot for Blaze to think about…
…and they decided to mull these things over with a can of Krash.
Realising that her potential fix had backfired on her spectacularly, Anita sighed before retiring to another part of the ship to finish her infernal paperwork. Meanwhile, the moment of pause had given Blaze inspiration for a prototype.
“Krash is a container of energy, where the metabolic process dispenses this energy over a period of time. If I take this theory and apply it to this…”
Opening up a piece of design software on their datapad, Blaze began going through iterative designs of a capacitor that could be integrated into the detonation mechanism of a bomb, eventually being able to plug this new electrical explosive into the simulation program, revealing the added benefit of the electric discharge numbing the reaction times of any potential foes.
“New bomb designs complete, will fabricate two potions in case of emergency and then I shall retire with the new combat simulation running.”
Unlike the scientific process Blaze uses to develop new bombs, the process for creating potions was remarkably simple and only took about twenty minutes all told to complete the brewing.
Packing away their equipment neatly, they then sat comfortably in their chair and entered into the powered down recharge state, leaving enough power to be aware of the surroundings and to run the combat simulation program. Over the course of four hours the program ran until the in-built criteria were met, and Blaze was comfortable with the weapons training they had received.
“I may have had to temporarily retire the incendiary device… but no one has yet forbade me from using a plasma launcher…”
Inspiration
Blaze recently reached level four in the campaign they are played in (unrelated, this is why the entry number is what it is, 04 for level, 10/03/21 being the date of the session) and this unlocked a lot of great potential for the mad bomber.
Blaze is an Alchemist, which means at level 4 in addition to getting their first Ability Score Improvement they also gain access to the unique mechanic of “Discoveries”. Think of them like Eldritch Invocations for an Intelligence-based class, and you unlock two of your choice at level four.
I knew for definite I wanted to get the “Battle Training” discovery (martial weapon and shield proficiency) right away, not so much for shields, but for all the cool martial weapons that are contained within the Dark Matter book. Picking the second discovery was a bit more difficult, as I originally had my heart set on “Grenadier”, which allows for a bonus action weapon attack if your main action was throwing a bomb.
But, as I looked both through the discovery list and the bomb formulae list, I started to realise I could start to build Blaze towards being a multipurpose character for the time being, and using a greater variety of bombs would allow for this versatility. So, I ended up taking the “Ballistics Research” discovery, which grants me two additional bomb formulae, and gave me the first part of my title.
The other major aspect of this story is adding detail into why Blaze, a Vect with no need to eat or drink, has an addiction to the Dark Matter energy drink called Krash. Initially I started this as a joke with one of Blaze’s many past jobs being an energy drink sales representative, though I eventually went into it a bit more with them drinking it whenever they are idle or needing to work.
And because Blaze is where I roleplay someone a bit more ridiculous, the joke about having these caches of energy drink hidden all over the place came naturally.
Anita did indeed try to cast Antivirus on Blaze in effort to alleviate their energy drink problem, but, it is far too ingrained into the ideal that is Blaze to ever be solved so simply.
So, there is no new actual content today because I started my first ever full time job this time last week.
Won’t go into too much detail (partially for conciseness, partially to avoid potential contract violations by saying too much) but I’m working in functional Quality Assurance (QA) testing for Codemasters. After some difficulty during induction and getting things set up, I was able to properly get into the groove of things and really enjoy my working days.
However, I have gone from being a layabout NEET who writes on impulse to a 40 hour work week, and that has very much acted as a shock to my system in the best way possible. I’m reliably getting up at regular times, I feel accomplished at the end of the day as I start to relax, I’m drinking more water at work which is doing wonders for my skin and system as opposed to the energy drink cocktails I was downing before.
But also, when I’ve been clocking off at the end of the day this week I’ve been so worn out that my creative juices just aren’t flowing, and I’ve preferred to spend my time chilling with a hot drink and a couple of films. Not to say I don’t have content ideas planned, it’s just very difficult to clock out of work and attempt to write the kind of content I want to write.
I’ll be doing my best to keep to my schedule of posting every Monday at 9:30am GMT, but the kind of content that will be outputted is going to vary drastically for about a month or so.
Once I’m fully settled into my routine though, the personal satisfaction I now have from my job will inspire me to greater heights.
Marieya and the party enter into the sewers beneath Donnermark, pursuing the restless dead who were carrying corpses in service of some unknown master…
Oh gross don’t step in that! Oh bugger this place is rank and smells like undead. I mean… this is one of the best places for my magic to work well but that can’t stop the smell these guys give off!
At least Fauna is in her ostrich form which makes it easier for her to get down into the sewers. Being a druid does have some perks I suppose, especially as her normal form would really struggle using that ladder. Having hooves and being shaped like she is could lead to some accidents climbing down it.
I do appreciate having her around though, aside from not taking too kindly to the jokes I make about her supposed blueberry addiction she’s very friendly. Definitely understanding of various things within the party, can heal others if I’m struggling with the task or otherwise bogged down, and her animal forms can be deadly.
Jørgen on the other hand…
Don’t get me wrong, I love this new found family I have come across but out of all of them he’s the one I understand the least. He does a lot of the talking for us, despite being somewhat antisocial in other scenarios, and his sense of urgency definitely runs on a part-time basis, usually only existing if one of us is in real danger or if he wants to cast a stupid powerful spell.
Which is usually just Fireball. Like I know it is one of the best spells a wizard-in-training can get but… it still doesn’t get any easier seeing that explosion again, especially so soon after everyone has seen my phoenix powers.
The newest member to this little group is called Nanukapik. Initially, I was crapping myself when I saw them, y’know on the whole basis of “bearfolk normally want to eat my ripe liver for brunch”, until I saw him and Jørgen talking, sharing stories of the Northlands, leading me to realise he probably wouldn’t irrationally want to kill me.
Good thing, considering he looks like he could cave my head in without much effort. Not only is a war pick something insanely scary to come up against, he looks the pinnacle of strength, able to effortlessly lift, pull, drag, and fight anything that gets in his way. Hopefully this story of his being a “folk hero” holds up.
He was taking up the vanguard position, whereas in the rearguard, like usual, was our disaster kobold, Honesty.
Okay, calling him a disaster is a little rude, especially considering we’ve both got into our fair share of trouble together over the past months. And kinda insensitive given what happened recently. I can’t fault his effectiveness in combat though, able to surprise even the wittiest foes with devastating attacks.
But… yeah, I worry about him. A lot. Losing Vantar was hard on us all, though the rest of us had only known him for a fleeting moment. Honesty had to watch as his lifelong friend died in his arms for a second time. Due to the nature of soul gems I don’t exactly know when he “died”, but the crack in the soul gem combined with the dullness told us everything.
I wish I comforted him more, but obviously not everyone wants to hear platitudes from someone who killed their closest friends… I miss them every day…
Snap out of it Marieya, that doesn’t matter right now. Right now, we need to clear out this crap tunnel of the undead, find out what’s causing this all, then move onto helping Fauna and others.
Then, finally, I have my vision from Seggotan. A personal quest from my father beneath the waves to go to Lake Phandar and seek out a female descendant of his turned heretic. Defeating her will prove my loyalty and award me with an item of great power known as the “Staff of Origin”.
I have no idea what to expect, what trials I may face, but I’m at least glad Seggotan consistently used female pronouns to describe this individual. This means that no matter what comes to face me, I don’t have to see Corvus again!
I hope.
Inspiration
As Rosalia realises it has taken her this long to formally introduce the party of the Midgard campaign she plays in, but considering we had a new member join, figured it was the best time.
With this as well I definitely wanted the main story to focus on how Marieya herself sees her friends and what she thinks of them, hence the first person perspective this time around and writing the story with her mannerisms in mind.
As for the party themselves, I’ll give a quick summary here:
Jørgen, our antisocial wizard with a spellbook that lets them change the damage type of their spells
Fauna, a friendly druid with amazing wild shape forms and formidable spells
Honesty, a rogue/paladin with a particular strong sales technique
And Nanukapik, a warden and our primary tank (dude has 51 hitpoints)
Bit of a shorter article generally really, but it’s nice to do some condensed ones now and again.
The nation of Contabul was one with a strong military tradition. With multiple divisions and specialised forces, there were no other nations that dared to challenge them, leading to decades of peace in the world of Crossjunk.
Despite this peace, the military were constantly evolving and recruiting to ensure they could combat any threat that could occur in the future. And today was the selection trials for the Contabul Special Tactics and Infiltration Forces.
“You have all been brought forward today for one reason,” General Torez said as he began his speech. Torez was one of the most decorated soldiers in the military, and was the chairman of the Contabulese Joint Chiefs of Staff. “All you maggots passed the psychometric tests required to qualify for advancing in this process…”
He raised his voice as the speech continued, “…but that does not matter in this trial! The tests only prove one thing, that all you muppets are able to fill in some bubbles on a piece of paper! Now the real test here is your combat prowess, your ability to run a specialised designed gauntlet whilst choosing your own combat loadout to address said challenges!”
“All you men–”. This statement was cut off by a gentle cough somewhere down the lineup of soldiers. Everyone was outfitted differently, some were in heavy armour and carrying equally heavy weaponry, some were carrying light equipment meant to enhance their combat potential through mobility. But one person stood out, not only for being the only girl in the lineup, but also for having the most unique armour of them all.
“Yes. You are not a man, Captain Cuddlesocks-Squishycheeks, excuse me for such rudeness,” Torez said derisively, leading to snorts and muffled laughs along the line.
“Captain Doctor Romy Cuddlesocks-Squishycheeks, thank you very much!” Romy said in a sarcastic response. Being the only engineer and soldier of the Mechanised Warfare Division led to some looking down on her, with many high-ranking officials seeing her prototyping work being a waste of the military budget, despite the multitude of advances she had made in modifying weapons and armour.
One such prototype she was wearing today, a lightly armoured mechanised exoskeleton with several advanced systems allowing for greater freedom of movement and lightning quick reflexes.
Torez shifted uncomfortably at being stopped in the middle of his speech, feeling unable to resume his flow. “Right, well,” he said, going over and opening the gate to the gauntlet, “let the trial begin I suppose…”
Soldiers attempted the challenge in the order they were lined up, each one coming out the other end, being informed of their time and given “constructive” feedback from Torez.
“Ramirez! You can follow orders well enough, but your technique is atrocious!”
“You have hand grenades for a reason Altman. Use them!”
“If you keep fighting like that Shepherd, we’re going to have to bring you back from the dead!”
Whilst all the feedback varied, all of the soldiers averaged a course completion time of twenty-eight seconds. Then came Romy’s turn, and where all the others had chosen gear to handle a variety of scenarios, the only equipment she was taking into the trial was her exoskeleton, and a customised machine pistol.
As she entered the course and Torez closed the gate, he snickered at her “Good luck passing the trial with that peashooter, Doctor Cuddlesocks-Squishycheeks!” Romy paid no attention to this snarky comment, instead giving her weapon a check one last time and pressing a button on her hand.
A fleeting moment passed before the klaxon to start the trial sounded. Romy accelerated rapidly from a standstill, rushing through the obstacles, darting over barricades as if they were not even there. When enemy targets popped up in front of her the targeting systems in her exoskeleton took over, effortlessly guiding her arms to each target, allowing her to clear a room within seconds.
Charging down a corridor, bullet traps had been set up for her to neutralise, evade, or tank through. None of the guns came ever close to scraping her armour, the heightened state of reaction granted by the integrated technologies automatically allowing her to dodge out of the way.
Then came the final obstacle, one designed to make sure potential candidates had packed the adequate grenades to handle such a large group of enemies. Romy’s pistol however, had several modifications for taking on said scenario, being able to use one burst of fire to target two huddled targets before using a brief moment to realign her aim and annihilate the remaining targets.
The klaxon sounded once more, as the exit gate opened. Torez was standing there, looking in utter shock at his tablet that tracked stats during the trial, only to be greeted with a knowing smirk from the lotlite girl.
“Well?” Romy asked in a singsong tone.
The normally pompous general was completely taken aback by the performance in front of him, saying, “All targets destroyed… no bullet traps hit their mark… clear time… eighteen-point-three-nine seconds.”
Gasps and whispers erupted from the soldiers who had taken the trial, in utter disbelief that such a time had been recorded. “Well,” Romy said, walking off with her head held high, “I look forward to receiving my acceptance letter shortly!”
After the commotion had calmed down, Torez chaired an emergency meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss this latest development, with Romy sitting outside the glass-walled conference room waiting to be called in. Hours passed as the lotlite just watched everyone talk, no sound passing through the thick glass.
Until finally, Torez opened the door to invite her in. He took his seat at the head of the table whilst Romy stood on a box, standing to attention to hear the verdict of her exceptional trial performance.
“Captain Doctor Romy Cuddlesocks-Squishycheeks, we of the–” Torez began once more, before getting interrupted again by Romy.
“What in the fucking hell do you mean “honourable discharge” you uptight bastards?!”
The gathered officials all gasped in shock, both at the language used and getting beaten to the punch. “Oh don’t act so shocked,” Romy said, seething with anger, “I’ve been able to read lips flawlessly for ages, and your entire conversation is known to me. On that note, what do you mean my fucking funding is gone too?!”
Torez shrank into his chair, before a dwarven admiral named Fravan spoke up. “Well, Romy lass,” he began, stumbling over his words in the face of this surprising fury, “out of all the budget allocated to your program, we have not seen many returns on the promise of mechanised warfare.”
“Do you even read my reports? I specify that everything is a pro-to-type, subject to blind testing by other members of the armed forces, which I would love to do if all of you weren’t holding up my test application forms!”
Fravan quickly piped down before Coastal Defence Commander Pip Harding added their opinion, saying, “Yes, we know you make prototypes, but we are also failing to see returns on the innovation programs your department promises.”
Romy nodded, and made some “uh-huh” sounds before launching back at Pip with a brutal comeback. “Tell me, Commander Harding, what is the newest ship in your coastal fleet?”
“The Monument of Fall, why?”
“Tell me, who outfitted the weapons on this ship?”
Pip turned red in an instant, realising that Romy had not only been in charge of installing the tertiary weapon systems on board that ship, but she had also custom manufactured the main gun, a completely new railgun system never before seen on such a ship.
The talented engineer looked across all of the gathered officials, and decided now was the best time to vent her frustrations.
“I get it. None of you like the fact I’m an upjumped weapons tech trying to make my worth as a soldier. You just want me to sit in my warehouse, make innovative weapons for you, and keep my mouth shut whilst collecting paychecks. And y’know what? I could’ve done that, if it weren’t for the boneheaded, arse-kissing, bootlicking mentality of all of you here! When I joined the munitions team all this military had was two sticks and a rock, and all of you had to share the rock!”
Torez slammed his fist on the table, finally getting his own interruption on Romy. “Enough, child!” he said, a grim tone lacing his voice, “I will not sit here and allow our glorious military to be slandered by someone thinking her toys are something of note.”
Silence fell across the conference room. Everyone was in agreement that they wanted Romy out of their armed forces, but for someone to discredit the real contributions she had made to their military strength was bold, even for someone as arrogant as Torez.
Meanwhile, Romy quietly fumed as she stared the general down from across the table, shaking in anger. “Child… toys…” she said to herself, over and over again, quietly at first but quickly increasing in volume before reaching a riotous shout of “These are not childish toys you lobotomised oaf! Next time, if you ever find yourself in need of a weapon, don’t go for a Romy Tech, registered trademark, weapon. Instead, try using that stick up your arse for something productive!”
And with that final insult, she stormed off from the meeting, vaguely hearing them all talking about a court martial as she retreated to her warehouse.
Doffing her exoskeleton, she turned the lights on. Various projects came into view, weapons that had been put into the mod shop for improvements, armour that needed reinforcing, and a whole laundry list worth of build orders for the military. But, in addition to all this, was one of Romy’s most significant pieces of craftsmanship: her Mechanaut Apparatus.
An eight-foot tall upscaled version of her exoskeleton, her Aquatic Ambusher was quite a stocky creation with the cockpit being directly integrated between the shoulders, both of which were heavily plated. The arms were thick and laden with hydraulics, all the better to support the weapons that had been installed.
One arm carried a large gatling gun modified to be an energy weapon that can change the output of its shots, and the other was intended to carry a large drill. The legs were a similar story to the arms, but with numerous shock absorbers that allowed it to fall a distance of approximately one-hundred feet without damage.
Romy looked fondly at the drill sitting on one of her many workbenches, thinking to herself about how she never got the spin speed right for mounting onto the mech. Strewn across other benches were all her research notes, about her breakthroughs, her hardships, and her potential future ideas.
Looking across the warehouse she sighed deeply, knowing soon all of this will be turned into scrap for boring weapons. But then came a knock, and a figure entering.
“Doctor?” a voice said in inquiry, belonging to a tall, dark-skinned elf wearing a general’s uniform.
“Mane-Wa, what do you want?” Romy said in response, her voice indicating exasperation at dealing with another general, but not as acidic as in the conference room. Mane-Wa was one of the few higher ups that the lotlite actually felt she could get along with, and was often greeted with respect by.
“I have come to be the messenger for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Your chance at an honourable discharge has gone, you are now facing a court martial tomorrow, where you will almost certainly be convicted, after which you will be jailed, and your projects requisitioned for scrap.”
“Gee, thanks for telling me what I already figured out. Are you here to just give me it in an official manner or is there something else?”
“In about an hour, a truck will come by with a barge on it. The men will help load your projects and research onto the barge, after which we will escort you to the ocean, and let you sink it to the bottom.”
Romy turned around, a shocked expression crossing her face. “Wait… what?” she said in disbelief.
Mane-Wa closed her eyes and spoke solemnly, “I know you have not been treated right within this institution, and whilst the others have no such cares, I wish to attain some penance for my part in it. Disallowing your life’s work to fall into the wrong hands will grant me a modicum of peace.”
Normally boisterous and always having a comeback prepared, Romy was now completely unable to say anything, her gills quivering slightly as she agreed to this act of defiance. Going over to a heavy-duty safe located in a dark corner of one of her workspaces, she entered the combination and removed a large object, covered in wires and a detonator.
“Do not worry, the explosives my men are providing should be more than adequate,” Mane-Wa said in an attempt to offer reassurance.
Romy took no such comfort in this, responding with “These are my works, my creations, my value. I refuse to let them die by the hands of this military, I need to kill them, with one last creation of my own.”
The elf nodded, and took her leave to allow Romy to gather everything together at the back of the warehouse. An hour passed, and the truck with the barge arrived. Two uniformed elves of a similar appearance to Mane-Wa helped load everything on, from the mech, to the weapons, to the hundreds of papers and notes. When the warehouse was truly empty, they departed for the Sea of Sunset.
As they reached the ocean, the eponymous time had arrived. The twilight creating beautiful orange hues across the water, gentle waves rippling with the wind. Two more of Mane-Wa’s men were waiting at the beach, ready to help lift the barge off into the ocean. Before they pushed it off into the ocean, Romy planted her homemade explosive charge, and primed the detonator, giving one last loving look at her creations.
Mane-Wa’s men pushed the barge off into the ocean, and Romy watched. “It may be best that you do not look,” Mane-Wa said, offering a reassuring head pat to the young girl, “it will only make it harder.”
Again, Romy did not listen to the counsel of what might be her only remaining ally in this land. She watched the barge drift to the ocean, and mentally counted down the detonation timer in her head. As it reached zero, the barge erupted into flames before erupting into a massive explosion, permanently damaging everything on board and destroying the barge, sinking everything to the bottom.
A few tears escaped her eyes as she watched the flames engulf everything she was leaving behind. “It’s been my pleasure darling,” she said, her voice breaking as she watched the last bit of her prized mech sink beneath the waves, “always was.”
Romy passed her thanks to Mane-Wa and her men, providing each a hefty tip for their services. In return Mane-Wa thanked Romy for her service to the military, and wished her luck that her court martial would not be painful.
*****
Night had fallen, and Romy was taking refuge in her favourite dive, a bar & grill called Bifrost. It started with some beers, then it turned into shots, then it turned into cocktails, then it went back to beers, before finally she found herself in a booth with a massive plate of nachos and an expensive bottle of whiskey on the way.
The bartender, a friendly minotaur named Ozark, brought over the lotlite’s comfort, expressing concern as he set it all down, saying, “You’ve been drinking a lot there frills, don’t you think it’s time to go home?”
Romy looked up from her table, and silently slide a bag of coins over to Ozark as a tip, saying something to the effect of “It’s my last day of being alive, all my creations are gone, I may as well enjoy myself,” slurring all the while from the amount she had drank.
With a solemn nod the bartender left as Romy indulged in her mountain of cheese, carbs, and spicy treats, washing it down with huge glugs of bitter brown spirit. As the plate shrank in size and the bottle neared its end, she stood up, taking what was left of her whiskey with her.
She walked out into the rain. It did not bother her, being amphibious meant she felt at as home in water as she did on land. She looked left, where she could walk home and face her fate when morning comes, and she looked right, where she had never walked before.
It seemed like a good idea to go right tonight, so she did. Stumbling her way across the cobbled road, muttering to herself and sometimes singing a tune. She most certainly did not expect falling into a giant pit that seemed to have no end.
*****
How much time had passed? Where am I? Hey where did my booze go?!
So many questions as Romy came to. Looking around, everything looked strange, weird, and mysterious. The world felt… wrong, almost. But she knew one thing.
This world was her new beginning. A chance to start anew. A chance to improve herself. The life she once had was gone, but that does not necessarily mean her life was over. It would take a while for her to get back up to the knowledge she once had. Although that did not matter.
Romy had been given a chance to craft once more. And she was not going to waste it this time.
Inspiration
Starting things off, yes, I know, Romy is incredibly overpowered, bordering into Mary Sue territory.
However, considering this is her origin story and she has everything taken away from her right at the end to start afresh in a new world, I think it works, as she’ll develop new flaws, ideals, and bonds within this setting. Plus, the game she is in is where a lot of things are expected to be broken.
For a brief synopsis, Romy is intended to be my character in an upcoming D&D game called “Multiverscape”, an idea concepted and that will be run by my good friend and longstanding DM Albert.
The main concept of Multiverscape is the world is broken, and it is up to the party to put it back together. What is the world made of? Various media properties all mashed together into different areas, with several video game mechanics being present throughout the game itself.
With such a massive scope to contend with, this is most likely going to be Albert’s Magnum Opus. They will definitely run games after this, and they may run ever better games after this, but Multiverscape is their most significant work. And they have my utmost faith to pull this off and make it great.
Yes, I did roll for these
One of the main defining traits of Multiverscape is that characters are created using Gestalt rules, where every character starts as a multiclass character, and is able to take simultaneous level ups within their two chosen classes. Romy is a full blown Intelligence character with classes to match.
The first of which is Craftsman, created by Mage Hand Press. The main deal of Craftsman is the ability to work on items during long rests, either creating new items for half their cost in materials, or adding new and wonderful properties to existing items. The specific subclass I chose is the Mechanauts Guild, which gives me access to the Mechanauts Apparatus at Level 3, which, due to my Intelligence modifier, will be the equivalent to plate armour in terms of AC.
The second class is a bit more obscure, Mechanist, created by Danik Shatterspear. Mechanist is essentially Mechanaut Craftsman in a different form, as I get the special armour at Level 1 as opposed to level 3, and I can customise it with upgrades as I go, using a system called “Mech Points” to allocate and exchange upgrades at long rests.
Finally, Romy’s race is a bit of homebrew as well. She is a Lotlite, created by ComradeWalrus. And, in the very unlikely event that you read this… yes, I know I am breaking Lotlite naming convention by calling her “Romy Cuddlesocks-Squishycheeks”, but at the same time, there is an undeniable adorable badassness in a mech pilot with such a name.
The main defining aspect of Romy’s character that is lifted from myself is her desire to create, and how her worth is defined by her creations. A lot of my self-esteem comes from my ability to create, and when I am unable to create or feel I need to force myself to create, this can lead to sadness.
One brief thing to finish off, since Multiverscape is a setting meant to cross over many different properties, I have included a lot of references within the text of the story. Some from video games, and some from anime. Some are very in your face, and some are a bit more subtle/obscure. Let me know if you find any!
Alongside all the different kinds of boosters released with Kaldheim, and continuing what was started with Zendikar Rising, there were two Commander decks released. The one I will be reviewing today is the Green/Black (Golgari) Elf Tribal deck.
For anyone who may be coming in as a Magic player but not as a Commander player, here’s a quick rules rundown:
You start on 40 life as opposed to 20
You have a 100 card singleton deck, with one/two legendary creatures designed as the “Commander” of the deck
The deck must be in the colour identity of the commander (yes, this include hybrid cards, no using a Simic hybrid card in a green deck)
You can cast the commander from the Command zone at any time, paying an n+2 mana cost on top of the card cost, where n is the number of times the commander has been cast this game
Alternate win condition of “Commander Damage”: if a single commander creature deals 21 or more damage to a player over the course of a game, they are eliminated
With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.
Contents
I purchased this deck from the UK based online retailer Chaos Cards (not sponsored, just a fan), and it cost me £19.95. This sealed deck contains the following:
One foil commander card
One sealed 99 card deck
Ten double-sided token cards
One cardboard life wheel (which only goes up to 40 life)
One cardboard deck box able to hold 100 sleeved cards
And one Commander strategy insert
Outside of card value, which will be discussed later on, I think this price point is good for a product to accompany Standard legal sets. Since the decks themselves are not tied to the standard rotation and are instead themed after the set, this provides an avenue for low-medium value reprints to be included for players who may need them.
This price point is also great for players wanting to get into Commander to see how they feel about it. Whilst the ongoing pandemic makes meeting up in groups to play the game incredibly difficult, these being cheaper but less diverse than the annual Commander decks of previous years opens more accessibility to what can be a confusing format. They are almost like the Commander version of Challenger Decks (decks that are built to be standard playable out the box).
Included Commanders
The “face” Commander of this deck is a new card called Lathril, Blade of the Elves. Like a handful of Elf commander creatures before her, she is designed around getting as many Elves onto the field as possible and then using them to activate a powerful ability. Note that her last ability does not count for commander damage purposes. Menace is a good evasion ability to trigger her token generation, and green is not a colour in short supply of buffs or trample to ensure reliable usage of the ability.
However, if Lathril is not to a player’s taste, or if they wish to try something new, there are a couple of other legendary creatures to use instead.
One of these is the recently printed Abomination of Llanowar, from Commander Legends. AoL is one of my personal favourite new legendary cards within the last year, as it provides both an evasion and defensive ability with Menace and Vigilance respectively. Combine this with the fact that its power and toughness will continue to grow as Elves enter and Elves die (minus tokens), and you have a literal Elfball that could oneshot players.
Also included from Commander Legends are the Elf partner commanders, Miara, Thorn of the Glade and Numa, Joraga Chieftain. Miara synergises nicely with Elf token generation, and her ability being a “may” trigger lets players control how much damage they want to take in exchange for cards. Mana is unlikely to be an issue in an Elf deck, both for green ramp and mana dorks.
Numa herself is more focused around this aspect of an Elf deck, as her somewhat steep cost of {X}{X} can give needed buffs to other Elf creatures but will not see massive returns until later on in the game. That said, it can be quite easy to underestimate how much a single +1/+1 for two mana per combat phase can snowball, so keep that in mind as well.
Newly designed cards
Including Lathril there are eight new cards included in this deck, entirely separate from the new cards added in Kaldheim. I will be highlighting a few of the powerful ones and some of the ones I like.
Elderfang Venom is a great card for forcing difficult blocks on opponents using smaller creatures, especially tokens. Either way, an opponent is going to be losing some life out of the combat phase as they will either let the creatures through to their life, or they will be blocking some Elves, killing them off and triggering the second ability.
This lifegain synergises well with Pact of the Serpent, though the main reason I like this card is its potential for versatility. Obviously the intended purpose is sacrificing your life in exchange for cards as a reward for tribal devotion, but it can also qualify as anti-tribal tech, where you play it on another tribal opponent to deplete their life and potentially make them overdraw, forcing them to discard valuable cards.
With a commander focused on token generation, Wolverine Riders provide an incredibly reliable source of Elves to fuel other card’s effects and the generation being on each upkeep keeps a good supply of chump blockers around. Six mana can be quite a steep cost for some but in a deck with a good amount of mana dorks it should not be a major roadblock.
And finally, Bounty of Skemfar is a great alternative to a ramp tutor that integrates well with the tribal theme of the deck. Given the average land composition of a commander deck and the ratio of creature-to-noncreature cards in a tribal deck, it is unlikely that a player would fail to find on either front, and if they do… well, they have my sympathies
Theme booster cards
In a pleasant addition, three cards that would normally be exclusive to Theme and Set boosters are included in this deck, providing an easy avenue for players to acquire them in addition to other high value cards.
Elderfang Ritualist is a great uncommon inclusion, providing a decent power stat on a creature designed to die and allow for high value two-for-one trades. However, the other two cards are of note, especially when compared to other inclusions in the deck.
Canopy Tactician and Elven Ambush are both cards that definitely need to be included in a deck like this. The former is a very relevant anthem effect with an insane amount of ramp in comparison to its cost, and the latter can be used to create chump blockers in a pinch or instant-speed buff something like Abomination of Llanowar.
But then you compare them to Llanowar Tribe and Elvish Promenade, which are also included in this deck. Again, these cards both fit perfectly into a deck like this, especially seeing as Promenade is a high value reprint, but the power creep of recent years is exemplified when you compare them within the same deck, and seeing what cards do more in comparison to mana cost.
Reprints
As mentioned, Elvish Promenade is an incredibly welcome reprint in this deck, with a period of almost seven years having passed since it was last seen (Duel Deck Anthology), and having the reprint being in a widely-available sealed product helps the impact this reprint brings.
Potentially even more welcome is the first-ever reprint of Rhys, the Exiled. Originally printed in Morningtide over twelve years, Rhys is a massive inclusion in a product such as this as he both fits amazingly well within the theme of the deck, and he can potentially act as the commander too.
Arcane Signet and Sol Ring are about as staple to commander as banlist debates but considering both cards average around the $2-3 mark consistently, their inclusion is welcome for players who may need more copies and for players who can use them to make good trades.
And whilst it is nowhere close to being a valuable reprint due how recent its inclusion in Commander Legends was, I do like seeing Path of Ancestry appear. Up until recently it was quite a difficult card to get a hold of at a reasonable price, so seeing a sensible attitude taken to its inclusion in sealed products warms my tribal heart.
Lands
However, such praise cannot be shared for the rest of the land base in this deck. I’d go as far to say that Path of Ancestry is in contention for being the best land in the deck, alongside Command Tower.
29 out of 37 lands in this deck are basic Forest and Swamp cards. Path and Tower make up 2 of the remaining 8 nonbasic lands in this deck, and what do players get in the remaining six lands?
A boring tapland (Foul Orchard)
A boring tapland 2: Golgari Boogaloo (Golgari Guildgate)
A boring tapland that gives one life (Jungle Hollow)
A mono tapland found in the main Kaldheim set (Skemfar Elderhall)
A less boring tapland that has nonetheless been reprinted enough (Golgari Rot Farm)
And a tapland I personally like a lot but using the less good art (Myriad Landscape)
Whilst I understand that this is a budget product and the land base is not likely to have cards such as shock lands or filter lands, there are still some cards that would have fit perfectly in a deck such as this and either not break the budget, or provide another needed reprint:
Unclaimed Territory is a great mana fixing card for tribal decks and trends around the $1-2 mark
Darkbore Pathway/Slitherbore Pathway would be a great way to include the modal double-faced cards that Kaldheim places a lot of emphasis on
Grim Backwoods is not a card in need of a reprint, however it would have brought great diversity and interest to a deck that has the potential to sacrifice Elf tokens for great gain
And finally, Gilt-Leaf Palace is crying out for another reprint. Both Lorwyn and Mystery Booster versions are trending around the $10-11 mark so inclusion in this product would have brought a welcome price reduction
Verdict
Whilst the land base is lacking in many areas, it does not detract from the overall value this product provides. With a few high value reprints, well-designed (if power creepy) original cards, and space for more experienced players to upgrade to their desired specifications, this Kaldheim Commander deck is a fantastic purchase at or around the £20 price tag.
One final bit
This isn’t related to the review or anything, but as I was drafting this review out I wrote the contents section and filled it with a few silly throwaway jokes… problem is I find my own joke here too funny for my own good, so I feel a need to include it here now.
Also this time I used the “Gallery” block quite a bit to make sure all the cards looked good/lined up, as opposed to what I did for my pre-release article. Hopefully it is both clear and nicely laid out for everyone.
Kaldheim is the first set of 2021, taking inspiration from Norse Mythology and Viking Folklore to create their major themes. As such backstory is rich in different types of creatures, Kaldheim is a tribal set with ten different tribes, each corresponding to their own colour pair.
Whilst people may not be able to gather currently to play in a prerelease tournament, the boxes are still on sale for people to add them to their collection or to take part in virtual prereleases. The one I bought was acquired from the UK retailer Troll Trader Cards (not sponsored, just a fan).
So, I decided to record what I opened this time and try build a deck out of it. Will I have built a deck worthy of the top prize? Or am I doomed to enter the Milkshake Bracket once more?
Set Mechanics & Quick Review
Returning – Tribal Mechanics: Pretty straightforward, different creature types have bonuses based on other creatures of the same type being in play. Tribes are humans, spirits, zombies, demons, trolls, giants, angels, elves, dwarves, and changelings (all creature types simultaneously)
Returning – Snow Mana: Mana produced by a Snow permanent can be used to pay for other Snow cards or activate abilities requiring Snow mana
Returning – Modal Double-Faced Cards: Double-sided cards that can be played as one side or the other from the hand, cannot shift during play
New – Foretell: Think of it like Morph for all sorts of cards. Foretell cards are exiled from hand by paying two mana, and then can be played for a “Foretell” cost later on, sometimes having additional benefits if a card was foretold
New – Boast: An ability that can be activated once per turn and can only be used after a creature has attacked (note: attacked, meaning this can be used in response during combat)
Being the first fully tribal set since Ixalan block, Wizards of the Coast had a lot to learn from the missteps that set made. (Rosalia’s note: this sentence hurts to write because as much as it is true, this is the set that I got into Magic on, and gave me my favourite tribe of Merfolk. I’m sorry Ixalan T_T)
In my opinion Kaldheim learns from these mistakes and sets up a standalone tribal set on a par with Lorwyn block. Each tribe being assigned to a colour pair allows for less hoarding of one particular tribe during a draft, and the additional of changelings in Simic provides more versatility to change path and/or shore up a struggling tribal deck.
Whilst I appreciate the inclusion of God cards from a Commander perspective, there are some strange design choices around their inclusion. This is especially highlighted in the card “”Forging the Tyrite Sword”, which I find strange for being a card that references a specific card by name. Designs like this in draft are fun to chase after, in theory, but ultimately dilute the pool of usable cards.
Speaking from the commander perspective entirely, there are some amazing legendary creatures in this set, especially at the uncommon level. Whilst it does lead to some power creep in certain areas, having more good legendary cards at uncommon grants more accessibility into commander and expands the potential for budget decks.
Promo Card
Taking inspiration from Yggdrasil itself, the World Tree is a pretty nice card to open as a foil promo. It gives a surprising amount of versatility in a draft environment mainly for the middle ability, as it provides an unconditional mana fixing solution after the sixth land. The last ability is unlikely to see much use, more for the steep activation cost as opposed to the actual effect.
Pack 1
Two major potential bombs right off the bat in the first pack. Both Eskia’s Chariot and Maja, Bretagard Protector are very powerful cards in a limited environment. Maja’s cost holds her back from being massively impactful but both cards ability to constantly generate additional value gives heavy indication towards building Green/White.
Pack 2
Pack 2 brings further indicators towards a green deck. Masked Vandal is a good cheap creature with the additional benefit of potentially removing an opponent’s threat, and Path of the World Tree is a decent pick considering this deck has the actual World Tree and can activate the last ability after a period of time.
Pack 3
Broken Wings is a great piece of green removal to find in Pack 3, especially as it offer more versatility than a Plummet or Naturalise would in the same setting. The Golgari modal double-faced land provides an out into expanding into said colour pair with a great piece of fixing.
Pack 4
In Search of Greatness is… an interesting card in a draft environment. With a focus on low mana creatures it could provide some rapid and aggressive tactics in the right deck, but it would require a very specific sort of deck. Usher of the Fallen is a great aggro pick for a potential green/white deck, being a cheap creature that can be used to generate more value.
Pack 5
Giant Ox and Colossal Plow in the same pack? And a fantastic white rare bomb? That settles it, this is going to be a green/white deck. The Giant Ox and Colossal Plow combo may not even be that good, but the fact they came in the same pack seems almost like a sign for me.
Pack 6
And finally, we finish off with two decent white evasion cards but not a whole lot else. Battlefield Raptor is a great early game card to start putting pressure on an opponent (similar in a way to Healer’s Hawk from Ravnica Allegiance), and Goldmaw Champion can use it’s Boast ability during combat to potentially remove a powerful blocker.
Deck Building
For this deck build, I’ll be running through the BREAD acronym to go through how I built my theoretical prerelease deck. BREAD stands for:
Bombs – Powerful cards, usually at rare, that make an impact the turn they are played
Removal – Cards that are able to get rid of an opponent’s permanent without much fuss
Evasion – Flying, trample, unblockable. Anything that gets past an opponent’s defenses and to their life
Aggro – Cheap, effective creatures that can be played on curve and start putting pressure on an opponent’s life total
Duds – Usable cards, but definitely not the first choice. Normally used to fill up a deck near the end.
B – Bombs
Sigrid and Eskia’s Chariot are definitely my most powerful cards here, with Sigrid being a removal bomb with First Strike and a relevant protection ability in this set, and Eskia’s creating more value as time goes on. Clarion Spirit and Maja are less potent, but the amount of value each can generate in addition to the anthem effect of Maja can lead to extremely powerful boards.
R – Removal
Bound in Gold is your expected Pacifism type card in a set, with the very relevant point of it being unable to crew vehicles or activated abilities, completely locking a creature down. The potency of Broken Wings has already been discussed, but Struggle for Skemfar is a Hunt the Weak with a potential discount if it is able to be foretold.
E – Evasion
Sigrid appears again for her First Strike and protection ability, but aside from the cards discussed during pack opening there is very little else. Goldmaw Champion can tap something down but this cannot be used on an opponent’s turn due to the limitations of boast, and Battlefield Raptor is a good early start but can be quickly outpaced.
A – Aggro
It is not a good combo, but Giant Ox and Colossal Plow is something I want to run in this deck, and Ox is a decent early game creature that can hold up as a blocker for a good part of the early-mid game. Story Seeker is the best card here, as a two mana 2/2 with a very good keyword ability, Lifelink providing a bit of longevity as it attacks or blocks.
D – Dregs, Duds, or Da Rest
As we come to the final five cards, we find some usable cards but nothing entirely great. Path to the World Tree provides some function due to the fixing The World Tree provides. Ravenous Lindwurm is a decent stat body with a reasonable ability, but it is no Colossal Dreadmaw. And finally Arachnoform can be used to enhance a strong blocker like Giant Ox, or to give a bit more aggression/pressure on Battlefield Raptor.
Final Deck Evaluation
This is… not a great deck honestly. There is a handful of good cards that would provide an impact on the field when played but there is very little in the way of solid core cards to provide a decent early game to give way to those cards. If this was in a four round prerelease tournament at my FLGS I reckon I would go 1-3, not exactly Milkshake Bracket territory but still far from how I have placed before. Let us see what my consolation prize packs would have been then:
Prize Pack 1
Prize Pack 2
End Step
This was honestly a really fun project to try undertake, though it was slightly rushed due to having a day delay on receiving the prerelease kit, so, apologies for the messy photos (taken on a not great phone) and for some of the analysis probably not being entirely logical.
This was done as a way to get the prerelease experience I have almost gone a year without now (if any of my MtG friends are reading this, know I miss you greatly right now) at home, and to create a more unique piece of MtG content on my site. It was a bit disappointing to find no mythic rares in both kit and prize packs, though I reckon that foil Snow Covered Island is worth quite a bit to the right person.
After a period of time, sometimes it is best to go back to the core of what made a game great in the first place.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is an arcade flight combat game and was released in 2019. Developed by the Project Aces division of Bandai Namco could the team capture what made their previous works great, and provide a gameplay experience as a generation of consoles entered their twilight years?
Gameplay
The no-frills core gameplay of previous Ace Combat games is intact, with every plane feeling both tight and responsive to player input while also including enough distinction in how a plane rolls, pitches, and yaws. Adding onto this gameplay are three major control tweaks to give players plenty to master:
Flares, allowing players to deflect imminent missile hits that they may not want to manoeuvre to dodge
High-G Turns, quick responsive turning to conquer obstacles easier and to bleed speed in a dogfight
Post-Stall Manoeuvres (PSMs), advanced mobility techniques on certain planes, allowing for unbelievable manoeuvrability at low speeds
Rather than aircraft being available to unlock after certain milestones, the game now utilises a system called the “Aircraft Tree”. Points are earned after each mission which can be used to buy planes or parts (upgrades to improve mobility, weapons, or provide passive buffs). Unlike previous AC games, planes are unable to be sold to buy new ones, but the addition of Free Mission not requiring campaign completion allows players who wish to push themselves to one particular plane or weapon to earn points by playing the game.
Missions are diverse and well-designed, with the majority of them being built as “easy to clear, hard to master”, giving plenty of replay value for both new and old players alike. Level gimmicks are (mostly) introduced safely to players to allow them to adjust to what is required, and then ramps up their integration as time goes on. None overstay their welcome and can provide needed relief after more intense sequences. The much needed addition of checkpoints also punish players less for making mistakes in the endgame of a mission.
There is online multiplayer in this game. And whilst it is a little disheartening to see that there are no co-operative ground based missions, this fact can easily be overlooked by how powerful multiplayer can make a player feel. Work with up to three other pilots in team deathmatch, coordinating a response against an enemy ace to knock someone down a peg. Stand your ground in an all-out air battle royale, fighting to be the top pilot, all the while missiles are whizzing past in all directions.
Presentation and Sound Design
Built on Unreal Engine 4 the developers put great effort into making sure everything looked spectacular as the previous generation came to a close. Even on a standard PS4 the game looks absolutely beautiful in areas, with advanced lighting providing a fitting mood to each mission. Special mention goes to Simul’s trueSKY plugin, handling clouds, lightning, and god rays coming through said clouds.
Years worth of experience provide an unrivaled level of authenticity to the sound design. Engines, guns, and missiles all have the raw feelings of power that comes from piloting a fighter jet, allowing for full immersion during dogfights. One particular sound design of note I wish to highlight is the Electromagnetic Launcher (EML). The sound of the gun discharging, the whoosh of the high-speed projectile, and the loud bang it creates on impact all work together to provide cathartic feedback to firing a railgun.
And of course, the signature music of Ace Combat remains as fantastic as ever with Keiki Kobayashi acting as lead composer once more. Whilst Kobayashi most certainly carries his weight with some of his best work yet, the track I wish to highlight here is “444” by the wonderfully talented Mitsuhiro Kitadani. To me, this is a perfect amalgam of modern Ace Combat, classic Ace Combat, and fits the mission at hand beautifully.
Again, my thanks and admiration goes out to Zaptroxix. You do amazing work my dude, keep it up.
Plot
Taking place once more in the world of Strangereal (the term for the Ace Combat alternate reality) the game begins with the Kingdom of Erusea declaring war on the Osean Federation, with the former seizing a valuable land asset on their continent, the International Space Elevator. In doing so they also seized control of two superweapons called the “Arsenal Birds”, sweeping airborne aircraft carriers armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry.
Whilst some may claim that it is difficult to understand the story of Skies Unknown without playing previous Ace Combat games, the themes are written well enough to convey their intent to all audiences.
Osea can quickly be deduced as an analogue to the USA, being a large federal nation that has a hand in peacekeeping operations around the world. The Erusean’s declaration of war on Osea being justified by the Space Elevator infringing on the sovereignty of Erusea brings further analogues to countries resenting the heavy hand the USA can have in international matters.
Between mission cutscenes, pre-mission briefings, and mid-mission radio chatter all helps towards world building. Providing alternative insight on events just witnessed by players, giving indirect updates on how the war effort is going and what players are doing to impact it, and how your other squadron members view different situations, providing everything from snarky banter to near-speechless horror.
Debriefing
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown has everything for anyone who may be interested. Whilst some minor flaws hold the game back from true perfection, there is enough content for new players to ease themselves in and for veteran players to be welcomed back with open arms.
It is easily my favourite game in the franchise at this current point in time, and I intend to revisit for years to come.
Rosalia Rambles 