Boredom

Since Magic the Gathering is having a Great Designer Search, I though that just for the fun of it, I'd try following their challenges (I'm not entered in the contest or anything). I created these 10 cards based on the requirements from this week's challenge. I used the Magic Set Editor from Source Forge if you're wondering. I'm not much of a designer, so most of these cards are probably undercosted and some are probably broken.

The designers were given 10 slots to fill and 10 pieces of artwork. They could mix and match as they chose. Here are my ideas:



This slot was for a whit uncommon that is "an answer to all the token making in the environment. Be subtle." I'm not sure if this counts as subtle or as an answer to tokens, but when I saw this image I thought Flagbearer, and I think it kind of works.



This slot was for a white, rare, "Johnny-style enchantment." I think my selection matches the art, is within white's slice of the color pie, and is at least slightly Johnny flavored.



This slot was for a blue, common sorcery. "No card filtering or drawing. No bounce (aka returning cards to hand)." I'm not sure how well I did with the artwork, but I think the spell is kind of neat.



This one was for a rare "Timmy" creature. As with most of the actual submissions I read, this artwork screamed "Shapeshifter with a Clone type effect." I think my take on it is pretty cool, though maybe a bit broken



This slot was for an uncommon, black aura "you want to put on your own creatures." I think I did a fairly good job here.



This slot was for any black rare. I knew this guy was a zombie, so I put him here. I think the ability matches that art, but is way out of black's slice of the color pie. Oh well.



This slot was for a red common "Instant or sorcery. No direct damage or destruction (artifact or land)." I think I did a good job with matching the artwork to the ability and keeping it in the right area of the color pie, but I doubt it's a common.



This slot was for an uncommon red creature. "Want a build around me for draft (aka something that will encourage players to go down a path or paths he or she wouldn't normally had they not drafted this card early; examples of this type of card are Lightning Rift, Mark of Eviction and Momentary Blink)." I think this one encourage playing sacrificable artifacts and artifact destruction spells, so I guess it works.



This slot was a common green creature that costs four or more mana. I added Morph since it does have one of those morph spider thingies in it. I'm not sure that this would be printed as a common, though.



Green rare. Non-creature spell. Green's lacking in "wow" factor (aka something that will impress the player by how different it is). Trying to come up with an ability that matched an artifact apparently blowing up as it destroys a creature was hard. I decided that the creature had destroyed the artifact and is being killed in the explosion. I don't know if it works well or not.

Anyway, I hope you got a good laugh out of these. Seriously, feel free to offer constructive criticism, mockery, or whatever. If you want to steal these to enter in You Make the Card Four when it finally comes out, feel free. If MaRo, or some other WOTC employee, reads this and decides to steal it for their design files (perhaps because of a recent head injury), be my guest.

My next review should be up later tonight (after Doctor Who) or maybe some time tomorrow.

Slivers

I occasionally like to play the game Magic the Gathering, especially the online version. The latest Magic set, Time Spiral, goes on sale online tomorrow, and I thought that since I'm a bit behind on my reading, I'd review some cards from the set. Specifically my favorite little tribe: the Slivers. I'll pick one from each color and tell you what I think of it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means a tourney level player. So just because I like a card doesn't mean it's a good card to use. Basically, I suck at Magic. Anyway, lets start with this:



I like this one a lot. Really, if your playing a sliver deck you're going to be using a lot of different colors, maybe even all five. This one will help you generate the mana you need.



This is my favorite blue sliver. Sure, If you don't have something to increase your slivers' toughness or to give them protection from blue, this guy will probably cause them to self destruct. Still, I can think of a quite a few neat little combos I could use this guy in. For instance, if you have this one a Sliver Queen, and the next guy I'll review (and something to give slivers haste) that's an instant win (unless your opponent can break the cycle anyway).



See, you tap a sliver to deal damage. Then while the ability's on the stack, sacrifice it for the BB. Then use the BB so Sliver Queen can pump out a new sliver and start over again. Just don't sacrifice Psionic Sliver or Basalt sliver this way.



I know this one is red and black, but I'm using him for my red slot anyway, because he makes an easy slivery way to give your slivers hast and pull off that combo I mentioned. I know it's not that great a combo, but like I said, I kind of suck at this game.



Putting any slivers that die back on top of your life deck is a good thing as far as I can see. Flying is nice too.

I love Slivers. All in all, I give them 5 yo-yos, just because I can.

I'm So Lazy

I’ve been being very lazy lately. Not only have I finished reading Trudi Canavan’s The Magicians' Guild without writing the review, but I’ve also finished Jacqueline Carey’s Banewreaker and Scott McGough’s Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa. So, I’m going to do them all at once.

I liked The Magicians’ Guild. It’s a good book, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. It’s set in the city of Imardin. Every year, the magicians’ guild in that city purges the city of undesirables at the king’s request. This year, a young girl named Cery manages to throw a stone through the magicians’ magic barrier, which proves her to be an untrained—and therefore dangerous—wizard. The guild searches for her, but she hides, fearing for her life. While she’s hiding, she slowly loses control of her powers, putting the city in grave danger.

What I find most interesting about this book it the theme of class struggle; all of the magicians are members of the nobility, but Cery is a slum dweller. Many of the magicians—and presumably other nobles—view the slum dwellers as criminal scum. The slum dwellers look at the magicians as a guild of jack-boot nazis. This creates a good deal of tension, and makes for some very different viewpoints between the main characters.

This is a book that’s well worth reading. I give it 4 yo-yos.




Banewreaker is a magnificent book. I had previously read Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series, which I thought was very good, but not as good as Banewreaker.

The plot is rather complicated. A long time ago there were Seven Shapers, who created the world. The first Shaper was called Haomane, who gave thought to the world. The third was Satoris who gave desire. Haomane created an immortal race called the Ellylon, and refused to allow them to accept Satoris’ gift. The second Shaper created man, who accepted the gifts of Haomane and Satoris, but they grew numerous and Haomane demanded that Satoris take back his gift. This started a war and Satoris was reviled as the lord of evil. The war ended in a stalemate, and the world was sundered.

The book begins as an ancient prophecy begins to be fulfilled. This prophecy may mean the end of Satoris, so he does everything in his power to thwart it. Meanwhile, mankind and the other allies of Haomane try to aid it.

What I like best about this story is that there are no villains. In most fantasy stories of this type, the dark lord is an evil monstrosity bent on destruction. In Banewreaker, Satoris is not evil; would you want to have your desire taken away? The other side isn’t evil either; they believe that Satoris is a stereotypical dark lord bent on destruction. Both sides are acting out of fear and ignorance. This makes for a very intriguing story.

I definitely recommend this book. I give it 5 yo-yos




Now, Heretic is the sequel to Outcast, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. This is also a good book, though I don’t like it quite as much as I like the first volume.

In this volume, Toshi Umezawa must rescue Princess Michiko from her father’s tower. Then everybody head to the Minamo School to find out the true cause of the Kami War. While everyone is there, the ogre Hidetsugu attacks the place in revenge for the death of his apprentice.

Really, this book isn’t as interesting as the previous one. Toshi has gained so much power from his kami, the Myojin of Night’s Reach, that he never really seems to be in any danger. The Princess also is never in any real danger, since Toshi, or her father, is always there to protect her.

Really, there isn’t much conflict in this book, but it still is interesting. I give it 3.5 yo-yos. Up next, I’m finishing of Flight to Thlassa Mey.

Another Foray Into The Realm of Magic

I’ve been a fan of Magic: The Gathering for several years now, but—as you probably know—I only recently started reading the Magic novels. I just finished my second one, Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa . It’s a good book.

It’s a story that could stand on it’s own, even if all the Magic references were removed. It tells the stories of Princess Michiko and the thief Toshiro Umezawa. The princess is on a quest to discover why the kami have declared war on her father’s kingdom. Toshiro is on a quest to find out why the kami are after him. Eventually, the two of them meet up and discover the horrible secret of Lord Konda, the princess’ father.

There were a few things I didn’t like. One of the kami is referred to as shooting like a cannon despite the fact that the pseudo-feudal Japan world of Kamigawa doesn’t seem to have cannons. I also wasn’t entirely happy with the way some of Magic’s legendary creatures were portrayed. From his card, I’d expect Marrow-Gnawer to be a fairly brave creature, but in the book he’s a total pansy.

Over all, I’d have to say this book is good and I’d recommend it to you even if you aren’t a fan of Magic. I give Outlaw 4 yo-yos. Up next, I’ll write a review of Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors. I’ve actually finished reading it, but I don’t have time to write up a review right now.

The Brothers' War

Okay, I know I promised to review Code of the Woosters, but I had the opportunity to get some new books, and, rather than reread something (even by as great a master of the English language as Plum Wodehouse), I decided to put that book on hold and try reading my new books first. Sorry, but that’s life.

Anyway, the new book in question is new only in the sense that I haven’t read it before, as it has a copyright date of 2001. It’s The Brothers' War by Jeff Grubb. It’s in the Magic the Gathering series of books, based on the popular card game. I know what you’re thinking, “A book based on a card game? Ugh, sounds like pure drivel.”

Actually, I thought it was a good book. It tells the story of two brothers, Mishra and Urza, who come into possession of two halves of a mystic gem. Each one wants the other’s half, and, as brothers do, they squabble over it. Eventually, the squabbling turns to fighting, and the fighting turns to war. In the end, the war lays waste to an entire continent and unleashes an ancient evil on an unsuspecting world.

The thing I like most about the book is the character development. Mishra starts out as the more likable of the brothers; he’s friendly, talkative, and seems to take a genuine interest in people, but by the end of the book, he’s become an inhuman monstrosity. Urza, on the other hand, starts out as fairly reclusive and somewhat unlikable, but by the end of the book, he is revealed to genuinely care about people, and to want nothing more than to end his brother’s reign of terror.

There is another thing about the book that I find slightly interesting, its references to cards in the game. A casual reader who is unfamiliar with the game will miss it, but there are references to numerous cards that were current in the game when the book was written. We se ornithopters, Urza’s Avengers, Clay Statues, Yotian Soldiers, etc. This sort of thing makes the book more interesting to those who love the game.

If you’re a fan of Magic, or you just like good fantasy, this book is well worth looking at (and I suspect the others in the series are as well). I give it 4 yo-yos.


Coming soon, Wizard of the Grove by Tanya Huff.