The Wizard of Kraj

Once again, I think I'm far wittier than I actually am when making titles for these posts. And depending on your pronunciation of Kraj, the pun might not even present itself clearly. But enough of that. I came here today to write of another Magic EDH deck that I recently made. This one, as you might expect, involves Experiment Kraj, but its concept began when I looked at two different cards: Vorel of the Hull Clade and Djinn of Wishes. Vorel I already had, but the Djinn I came across online. The combo potential was immediately obvious, and I wondered what other sorts of unique counters I could manipulate to staggering amounts for otherwise unobtainable effects. I didn't open a lot of Simic cards from the latest block, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I've always wanted to use Kraj in EDH, and so in place of multi-colored cards I mixed in blue wizards and green shamans and druids, or just cards with abilities that I felt had a Simic flavor, which of course can then be stacked on Kraj. Equip a pair of Illusionist's Bracers for extra fun.

News Update 6/17/13

Hey everyone, just dropping in to say hello and give an update. First of all, you'll see the site has a new banner. This is an upgraded version of the one I've had up for the past week. Due to my own lack of skill in the ways of artistry ( I can make even simple clip art into a Lovecraftian horror), I commissioned a friend to design the banner and simple logo. I think she did a great job, and hopefully all of you like it too. Or at the very least it doesn't make your eyes bleed. Hopefully. I can only handle so many insurance claims.

Second, I attended a wedding this weekend and just returned home today, which is why you haven't seen much from me lately. I'll also be leaving again this Thursday for a more lengthy trip. My current plan is to finish up my Tale of Five Empires series by Wednesday, and likely put out another post (subject yet to be decided) by tomorrow. Once I leave on Thursday, I should have access to an internet connection and my laptop the majority of the time, but there will be a period of about 5-6 days starting around July 3rd where I will have no internet access at all. Hopefully during that time I'll still be able to gather material to write 2-3 posts that I can put up when I get back, but we'll see how it goes.

-Arcthos

A Tale of Five Empires, Part 3

I would first like to say thank you to everyone who has waited patiently for the third installment. This one will be shorter (in span of years, anyway) than the other two, but I wanted to highlight my war with the Timurids and the immediate aftereffects. As a result, this series will continue on to a fourth part, where I wrap up the final thirty years (assuming nothing EXTREMELY huge happens).

The Great Syrian Jihad

A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

So as I was checking the Steam store the other night, I noticed a new casual indie game had been published. Having had a lot of good experiences with indie games throughout the past two years, I decided to check out its page. The game is called 7 Grand Steps, and I was immediately intrigued by its unique atmosphere. After watching the trailer and reading through the description, my interest only grew, and for $13.49 (normally $15, but it was on sale for 10% off) I decided it was worth looking into more.

The game is set up in the style of a board game. The board is circular, and you only ever see a quarter of it at a time. You control up to two pawns at a time, a husband and wife that you can spend tokens to move around. Each token has a symbol on it and moves the chosen pawn to the next available tile with that symbol when you put it in the slot below the pawn's picture. If you ever need more tokens, you can take the ingot located at the top of the sidebar and place it in either of your pawns' slots. Depending on their skills, they will have a higher or lower chance to make a given token. And it's important to keep a healthy stock of tokens, as at the other end of the board wait four hungry crocodiles determined to put a quick end to your family's history. Every time you complete a turn (when all of your pawns have used up their action), the entire board rotates, usually by one tile, though  I've seen it do two or three towards the end of a "round", bringing you closer to their snapping jaws of death.

A Tale of Five Empires, Part 2

Wow! I've had quite a few good responses from my last post, and judging by the number of views it was fairly popular. As such, I'm going to continue on with finishing the Tale of Five Empires series (shouldn't be more than three parts in total) before moving on to my next installment. Thank you to everyone who has voted in the Choose a Faith poll, and for those who haven't, it will be left up for another day. And now, for our feature presentation...

Peasants, Revolts, and Adventurers: