Goblin King - MTG 4E

 

He's no David Bowie, that's for sure!

Goblin Balloon Brigade - MTG 4E

 

Gloom - MTG 4E

 

Ahhh, good old specific enemy colored cards. It gave each color much more character and separated them from each other. Not subtly, but with sledgehammers. Magic was raw and untamed then. I miss those days.

[Art] Maiden of Spring

 

Yesterday was the Spring Equinox. I didn't believe it. But that's why I asked Miss Ross to do a Spring drawing. I needed to see to believe. So here we go. Thank goodness for the sunshine rays in the background.

Glasses of Urza - MTG 4E

 

I was never the type of player who could strategize well enough to take advantage of a card like this. Knowing what my opponent had never gave me enough to turn the game to my favor. Black had a lot of cards that would allow you to force your opponent to discard, which this card would synergize with quite well, but I never played black back in the day either, so I was STILL out of luck :-D

Giant Tortoise - MTG 4E

 

Hey look at that, the Foglio's can draw something that isn't all cartoony and jiggly! Color me surprised. I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. Of course, back in the day I never paid attention to who the artists are anyway. That's changing as I'm doing these posts though.

Giant Strength - MTG 4E

 

He'd be a little more impressive if he didn't have that potbelly, you know?

Giant Spider - MTG 4E

 

Gross, gross, gross!

[Art] Tainted Love

 

This is the dark side of love. There are times when the feelings of love simply cannot be. That is when you must decide what is most important to you: your feelings or what you know is right? I feel so bad for people caught in a web like that :-(

Giant Growth - MTG 4E

 

What a great card! Magic cards had varying "speeds" of cards. That basically meant that if a faster card was played, you couldn't play a slower card in response. The speeds were (from fastest to slowest) Interrupts, Instants, Sorceries, everything else. So this was an instant speed, which meant it could be played on your opponents turn (sorceries and slower could only be played on your turn). That set things up for shenanigans during the Combat phase. You could defend with a smaller creature and your opponent would think he'd won and SUDDENLY, OUT OF NO WHERE, your creature gets Instant Growth'd and BAM, your opponent's creature dies and he is left sobbing in the dirt like the chump he really is. Moment's like that are why people like me play Magic the Gathering ;-)

Ghost Ship - MTG 4E

 

Regenerate is a mechanic (game ability) wherein a player can pay the cost (in this case, three blue mana) and at the end of his turn, if his creature was going to die, it won't. It will be on the field of battle, ready to go again. Which fits with the theme of a ghost ship perfectly. Can't kill it, and it just keeps coming back.

But another reason I've been posting these cards and looking back is because it brings into stark contrast the power creep that has happened over the years. This is an expensive card in terms of mana (4 to cast it and then 3 dedicated blue to regenerate it) and by today's standards, it is completely unplayable. That is just sad because Magic's game play was predicated on the idea of new cards being thoughtfully created to synergize with ALL of the old cards and not to simply replace them. Wizards of the Coast hasn't done that. They have simply increased the power of cards and decreased costs because that is an easier way to sell cards than to come up with good, well balanced cards. It takes time and money to do Magic cards right and Hasbro (Wizards of the Coasts' alcoholic abusive stepdad) is only interested in pimping Magic out for the money it can bring in every 3 months.

Gaseous Form - MTG 4E

 

Phil Foglio was the artist for this card. Ol' Phil knew how to draw his women, that's for sure, even the ghostly, insubstantial ones. So to pair his art up with a Shakespeare quote is just eye rollingly bad taste. I'm sure 17 year old me laughed my head off at it.

Love Saves the Day, Chapters 4-5

Chapter 4 is simply a page break, as the story continues like there had been no break at all. The Earl makes an undying enemy of the Greedy Developer by kicking him out of Tiana’s castle, with threats of physical violence no less. Dude gets mega-points for that as far as I’m concerned.

It also wakes up Tiana to the fact she is in desperate straits and her parents dream, now hers apparently, of restoring the castle is an impossibility. This gives her the courage to ask The Earl if his offer of marriage is still open. He says it is and that she should really take the day to think about it, as it will be a decision to affect her for the rest of her life. He sets dinner plans for later that day so they can discuss things.

Tiana is 19. The Earl is 29. At least he is decent enough to realize what his marriage proposal will do to her reputation and the fact that she’s not lightly making this. At the same time, 29 and 19 don’t seem as far apart as say Marianne and Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility. It’s still a gap though, which means that our cultural differences from now to 1903 haven’t changed in some of our underlying sensibilities.

You know, I have to say, I think I would have fit right into this story. That, or my emotional quotient is just about the same as Dame Cartland’s. Here’s a quote from Tiana as she is getting ready for dinner that night.

‘I always vowed,’ she reflected, ‘that I would only ever marry for love a man I could respect, who would be my friend and partner.
~Chapter 4, Love Saves the Day

That made me realize that both Mrs B and I have been blessed with being able to state that we got all those things when we married the other. We love each other, we respect each other and we are best friends. I know that isn’t the case with every couple, even happily married ones, so I am thankful that I got such a trifecta.

The rest of the chapter deals with one of the servants taking things amiss and planning on going to the Greedy Developer for nefarious reasons. We also get the engagement ring scene and the chapter ends with the wastrel cousin making a surprise entrance just after the engagement.

It is all so simple and trite and cliched. And I am loving every second of it. I can’t believe I wrote that, but it’s true. Reading this is like eating a white chocolate truffle. Just one little bit is enough to go a long way.

Chapter Five sees Tiana immediately having regrets and doubts about the wisdom of her choice. It doesn’t help that the Wastrel Cousin begins talking to her and talking about how “poor” he will become. Of course, The Earl sees them together, immediately jumps to the wrong conclusion and storms off in a jealous rage. Tiana rebuffs the Wastrel, who in turn writes to a former Lady Love of The Earl’s to come back and come between Tiana and The Earl. The Earl escorts Tiana back to her home and on the way they have “relationship” moment where they both realize that yes, this can work. The chapter ends with Lady Lover determining that only SHE can have The Earl and she swans off to England to put Tiana in her place.

Oh, this was one cliche on top of another. From the “old and jealous” reaction of The Earl to the “misunderstanding” to the “other woman”, they are all situations you’d expect to find in a soap opera. If I was just reading through this at my usual speed, I’d be well past this before all the issues caught up to my attention. I’d just enjoy it and blast on through like a whirlwind. That’s one unforeseen consequence of taking just a couple of chapters at a time.

Forest 1 - MTG 4E

Nowadays each set comes with 4 variations on the lands that produce mana, but back in 4th Edition (and earlier), there were only 3 variations. Here is the first “Forest” that you could choose to use. Some people didn’t care and would just grab however many forests they needed for their decks without looking at the art. Others would choose just ONE artwork version and make all 22-24 lands the exact same. Other people would choose 8 of each land exactly and others would do some mix. It always depended on the person making the deck.

I always found it interesting how the various mana cards managed to convey the “sense” of the land they were representing. A Forest is much more than just a bunch of trees all in the same place. As a land surveyor, I know this all too well. Small bushes and rocks and trees all make up what you stumble across when you’re running for your life from a bear, especially if they happen to be angry mutant magic bears! 😉

[Art] The Christmas Witch

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While Santa might drop off the presents for the kiddies, he’s outsourced that whole “coal” thing. So now the Christmas Witch exists and if you’ve been a bad boy or girl, she’ll be dropping coal into your stocking. Or onto your head if you’ve been really bad!

Look at those boots, eh? I just love boots!

Love Saves the Day, Chapters 1-3

The date given right in the first chapter is 1903. And Dame Cartland wastes no time in inundating us with the most purple’ish of prose. The saving grace is that each purple description is so short.

We find out that Tiana’s parents (Tiana is the main character, who is 19) died together from a fever they contracted while nursing amongst the local villages. And her father wrote her a letter saying not to worry, because they were so happy together and were happy they both were dying so they could be in heaven together. Oh, and they talk about restoring the dump of a castle they had inherited and been pouring their money into. I mean, your wife has just died, you are about to die and you’re sending your only child of 19 a letter and you talk about the bloody castle restoration?

It was all just a syrupy potion to mask the reality of the sadness of their death. Can’t have sadness in a romance after all. Not even “I” would want that. So I have to give Dame Cartland her due, she writes the situation well.

The scene then immediately changes over to the other main character, Richard, Earl of Austindale. Who has just found out that the will from his grandfather has made matrimony a part of inheriting the estates. If he’s not married by 30, he loses it all. What kind of nonsense is this?!? Not that it exists, because that kind of stipulation seems rather wise to me. If you have to think about somebody else besides yourself in regards to your fortune, you are going to be LOT more careful. No, what I refer to is that Richard is just finding this out 3 months or so before his 30th birthday when this will take effect. WUT?!?! That’s the kind of information his dad should have talked about with him along with the birds and the bees talk at 12. If I were him, I’d immediately fire the lawyer handling this for dereliction of duty. Like a real man, Richard immediately thinks of a solution and realizes it isn’t viable (some chickie boo who he likes and apparently likes him, but prefers gallivanting across the continent to country life). At least Richard is smart enough to realize trying to marry Chickie Boo would be a huge mistake. Good on him for that! And it gets even more drama’y when he finds out that his younger cousin will inherit everything, and said cousin is a confirmed gambler and will spend the accumulation of wealth of three lifetimes in a matter of months, thus destroying the family name, honor and material wealth. Now there’s a conundrum for you.

The chapter ends with the two main characters meeting each other.

Incredible! While the prose is some of the most purple I have ever read, and so generic and vague that it feels like a formula (Duke “insert name” with “insert pants type” walked over to Heroine “insert name” and said “insert romantic platitude”), the intent and the information are gotten across quick as a whip. The setup is completely done in ONE chapter. Man, I wish more authors out there would do things like that.

On to chapter two.

In which we find out that Tiana’s parents were typical pie in the sky dreamers and wasted everything on restoring the castle, to the point where they left no money whatsoever to their daughter. And the castle wasn’t really restored. Oh, that pissed me off. The parents put their dream ahead of their child. If they weren’t already dead, I’d be tempted to toss them off the battlements of Castle Rose. I would say they were typical English idiots without a passing grasp of reality, the kind who squander the little they do have and bring their children to rack and ruin. Shame on them. They aren’t going to heaven now, that’s for sure!

Tiana meets an old Grand Uncle who drops by for just enough time to give her a family heirloom, which she can sell to live on. Of course we know she’ll use the funds for the castle. She approaches Richard and they are both surprised when they discover who the other really is. They met in chapter one and Richard thought Tiana was a visiting townie and Tiana thought Richard was a farmer. Richard is not at all impressed with the Grand Uncle placing the burden of selling the jewelry on Tiana, and I must admit, I am in full agreement with him on that.

The chapter ends with Richard proposing to Tiana, since he needs a wife and she needs the funds for Castle Rose. It comes out of no where, but it fits with the hasty speed of this story. It wasn’t jarring, it simply needed to happen, so Dame Cartland made it happen.

Chapter three sees Tiana being highly insulted at the Earl’s proposal and storming out of the room, just like a teenager, without thinking through the consequences of her actions, ie, Castle Rose aint going nowhere except to the seller’s block without outside money. She accidentally meets the wastrel cousin and is instantly attracted to his youth, blond locks and deep blue eyes. Aye carumba.

I’ve noticed that teenagers tend to group adults into two groups. I vaguely recollect doing this myself too back in the day. There are the adults in their 20’s who are adults but you still feel comfortable with. Then there are the adults over 30 and they are just plain old. They are all the same and a homogenous group and it’s easier to ignore them and go about your own business of living your life. Dame Cartland obviously remembers this too and uses it, albeit as lightly as any other trope to amp up the drama.

Then the drama amps up again and I must say, I actually loved it! A developer, an EEEEEEEVIL developer shows up and he owns all the bills that Tiana’s parents never paid. Apparently, they were even worse than I initially thought. They not only spent all their money on the ruin of the castle, leaving their daughter destitute, but they also spent well beyond their means and left debts amounting to “a lot” (money from that time period means absolutely nothing to me, so whenever an amount is named and the form of currency, I just translate it as “a lot” or “a little” in my head). Said developer is described just how you’d expect an “evil greedy” developer to be described and he’s a complete ass. The chapter ends with the Earl threatening to toss him out when he refuses to leave at Tiana’s request. That’s how a man should act. Good for the Earl!

And thus ends this particular update for the first three chapters of Love Saves the Day by Dame Barbara Cartland. I have to admit, I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would (ie, not at all). Cartland’s writing, while formulaic and generic, gets the point across very well. There is no mistaking who is who, who is good, who is bad, who is supposed to end up with who. It is a comfort read I would say. I’m no longer dreading the rest of these updates 😀

Force of Nature - MTG 4E

This was my favorite card ever since I first laid eyes on it. A monster that just delivers the punch, right to your face. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Of course, the recurring cost every turn makes it a beast to maintain, and the 4 forest pips means only mono-green decks would have enough green mana to even cast this. Of course, nowadays this card is complete garbage. But that’s how Magic has changed over all. Besides Sol Ring, this card is enshrined in my mind as the Epitome of Magic the Gathering.

[Art] Happy Thanksgiving 2024 /Updated

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The last several years I have done pretty much the same thing for Thanksgiving. The things I have given Thanks for have remained pretty steady. If you’d like to see that list, feel free to visit last years post, Thanksgiving 2023.

I wanted to do something slightly different this year. So the first change was including an Art piece. That visual change helps me change my mindset about the whole post. I wanted to give thanks this year for the little things that I might usually take for granted.

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Our world is chockful of little things to be thankful for. I immediately think of grass. I like how grass looks. It’s soothing and calm. Seeing a little patch of green in a sea of pavement or concrete can bring a moment of peace. I am thankful such opportunities exist.

I am thankful for leaves (I suspect the fact that I don’t have to rake them up affects that 😀 ). From their brilliant green in the spring and summer, to their wonderful colors in the fall, to the fact that their death replenishes the nutrients in the ground. We live in a wonderful created world, with each part doing the job it was created to do. I am thankful for that.

I am thankful for such small things as Rockstar energy drinks. I just have to be careful not to be TOO thankful and imbibe more than is safe 😉

Finally, I am thankful for all of my fellow bloggers, from those who write multiple times a day to those who write once a month. My blogging experience wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there. My world would be a poorer place if you weren’t in it. So thank you for fighting the good fight and pushing out those posts and comments.

Cheers to you all!

UPDATE:

It is now approximately 9am and Mrs B and I have already had our Thanksgiving Dinner, for breakfast. I absolutely love having the day off.

Fog - MTG 4E

I tended to be a defensive player until I was familiar with the deck I was facing, so whenever I played green, I always jammed in a couple of Fogs to protect myself. Let your opponent attack with all his creatures, thus tapping them and then don’t block any of them with my creatures but play a Fog. Then on my turn I sweep in with my horde of creatures and because his are all tapped, he can’t block and I either do a massive amount of damage or I kill him. Once someone knows that you play Fog a lot though, it changes how you play the game. Which is the whole point of Magic, every game should be different.

Flying Carpet - MTG 4E

Some cards looked cool, were spot on thematically, and were absolutely terrible, so much so that nobody used them. Then you had “bad” cards that somebody with a slightly twisted mind could find an ingenious use for that nobody had ever thought of. Sadly, I was not one of those players, so I just looked at Flying Carpet, said it was a bad card and moved on.