Cormyr and the Dalelands

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to post up really quick to let you all know why I've been around less lately and why I'll likely continue to have reduced play time. Firstly, I'm getting back into Magic: The Gathering and Prerelease was this past weekend so that's what I was doing all weekend. I've also been trying to be more social and get out more and away from the computer a bit. I still intend to continue running my events, but I won't likely be able to manage 1/week as I've been doing (this kinda irks me). At a minimum I'll do one every other week and a smattering of ad-hocs when I can. For those who have requests for me as a DM I encourage you to still pm/tell me about them as such requests are actually really helpful for scheduling my play time most efficiently.

I also intend to spend less time in the client and more time writing and posting here on the forums because some people have asked for continuations of journals, stories, and rp posts. So, I'm not vanishing. Just will be in-game a little less...

(Also, this reduction in play time has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Bloodborne released today and I just got a PS4. )

This happens to everyone, so no worries. We will all be here and looking forward to more writing!

Who is going to give my characters angst if your not around? . Have fun on the PS4, I'm a touch jealous!

What did you open up at the Prerelease? How was the set?

And I was at most of prerelease with him, hence my absence. I'm not really going anywhere, though.

That said...PS4 and Bloodborne, not to mention we've reserved MKX for me, so...I may be scarce from time to time.

Dragons of Tarkiir is an interesting set. I did the Iron Man challenge at our local store (that's where you play in 6 prerelease events in a row over the course of the weekend), and did 3 events with Ojutai seeded prerelease pulls and 3 events with Silumgar. As far as first impressions go: the new clans seem to be pretty balanced with no real leader. The new mechanics are all really solid, but if I had to rank them in terms of limited play impact I'd say that Dash is the most impacting with Exploit coming in at a close second. Rebound is as solid as it has ever been, but I feel it will be more relevant in Standard than Limited. Bolster is -much- improved over its first iteration in the block with many fair-bodied creatures having not only bolster 1 but bolster 2 and bolster 3 as well. Lastly, Formidable is really impressive and very easy to get active in Atarka R/G. I don't think it will have a big impact on Standard, but in Limited it's solid.

Dash is incredible in Limited because a large portion of the control/removal is sorcery speed and Dash makes it so your stuff won't stick around long enough to get nixxed. Also, there are a few creatures that actively boost the offense of Dashed creatures or reduce Dash costs. Exploit is easy to abuse with the right pulls due to a sort of slow synergy of casting creatures with ETB effects, sacrificing them to trigger Exploit ETB effects, then bringing them back to your hand with 'When this creature dies' effects. It's a very solid synergy with a lot of cards to support it.

As for my pulls: my buddy in two-headed giant opened a Narset, which was awesome. I opened a Silumgar, 4 Silumgar Commands, and a few lesser rares. No bombs or money cards, though. No Sarkaan or Narset. The set is quite large, but to be honest the two planeswalkers are likely the only really big money cards at least until Standard adapts. I expect Secure the Wastes to be a big one, though, and the new Megamorph Eternal Witness.

*sniffles As SO poofs*

Voss' presence is missed.

That S.O. guy though... he's an ass.  

I'm also waiting for MKX and Tekken 7 for the PS4. USF4 was disappointing with it's stream-to-own format, so I mostly skipped on that.