Wednesday, August 22, 2018

My First Blue Tron

Budget for Me

I have some paper pauper decks that I have been making to try and give my friends something they can play with when they visit so I can jam some games and they don't have to spend two weeks remembering how to build a deck.

One of the decks that I built is an Urzatron deck based on the fabled Urza lands to make huge mana fast. It turns out this deck isn't as 'budget' as I thought, but I had all of these cards just lying around. At any rate, here is what I have!

Deck: Blue Pauper Tron {w}{u}{g}
LandsSpellsCreatures
8Island4Chromatic Sphere3Accomplished Automaton
4Urza's Mine3Echoing Truth4Mnemonic Wall
4Urza's Power Plant3Forbidden Alchemy4Sea Gate Oracle
4Urza's Tower2Ghostly Flicker4Self-Assembler
4Prophetic Prism1Tilling Treefolk
1Remember the Fallen
3Scour from Existence
4Take Inventory
20cards24cards16cards
 Display deck statistics

The Urza lands themselves make up about $37 of this $47 deck. I picked up a playset of them in a bulk box for $2 when I was a kid and couldn't figure out how to run them. Now, they are paying off I guess!

How It Plays

To be perfectly honest, it needs work. I know I am not running the best payoff cards like Ulamog's Crusher, but the Automaton lines up better at 7 mana. Really, I need to pull some Scour from Existence and Remember the Fallen/Tilling Treefolk should change to Pulse of Murasa so I can dig out some lands from the graveyard and stabilize after the early game. Against most of the other decks I have though, it seems to be about the right power range.

The blue version I built here is mostly because I just don't have the pieces for the mono green build. I could use some Expedition Maps in either build, but the green Crop Rotation I just don't have. Some day soon though, I might pick some up so I can have a tier pauper deck.

The fact that most of the early game is blue mana with some minor splashes in the later game make islands ideal for supplemental lands. The artifact mana fixing package cantrips and goes for any color needed, which means that there is hardly any turn in which a spell can't be cast. I had tried an earlier run of the deck with Unknown Shores, but having a land filter to blue made the deck at least one turn slower all the time. I put in islands and immediately found that the deck was more smooth from one turn to the next.

There is a big issue with colored mana though. Even after changing to islands, I find that I run out of colored mana sources much faster than I run out of cards I want to cast! I have had turn 4s and turn 5s where I have untapped tron lands making 4 or 5 mana go to waste! I need a better filter into blue than these one time use or tap to filter stones or some colorless cantrips I can play instead of something like Take Inventory.

Final Thoughts

Before anybody goes too crazy in the comments, I have around a dozen paper pauper decks built so I have some on hand. Most of my blue cantrip spells are in other decks that I think need them more or get played more often. I am trying to get some more of these cards, but there just aren't enough Preordain to go around.

I am looking for turn 3 payload cards and I might just switch out to pauper's Crusher king. The Self-Assemblers are like big Squadron Hawks and I think it is fun to get turn after turn of 4/4s on the table.

I am sure I will be updating when I get around to buying some pieces for decks. Next printing on any of those key cards might be when I snag a few, but we shall see. If anyone has other fun ideas for this kind of super size colorless mana fountain, I would probably give it a shot!

As always, happy gaming!
-Zenfall

It Really Is Magic

Standardized Slinging

Recently, I have started playing magic again with my wife. We have played off and on again over the years and I have been trying to get more opponents. I like to brew and build, crafting cunning card combos and recently I have been pursuing the 'perfect' play environment in my pauper cube. I have played some small local tournaments when I was younger, never really placing well and now that I know more, I understand I was usually playing jank.

I have been listening to Mark Rosewater's 'Drive to Work' pod cast [Link to the Wizards Pod Cast page] which is mostly about Magic the Gathering from an R&D perspective. I have listened to some episodes, but I found it when he was in the late 300s for episodes already. I have found that I personally enjoy the technical parts of the game design and have found these types of episodes to be very useful in developing my cube.

The other format I have been trying to get to take off with the folks I like spending time with is Pauper. I thought it was going to get more people in the game with inexpensive cards to build decks from, but I seem to be wrong. What I really could use is a paper version of Penny Dreadful which would really be WAY too much work to track.

(No)Power Cube

My pauper cube gets the most mileage these days. My wife and I play sealed from it regularly and we found a micro sealed format that we also play extensively.  I have been trying to balance it so each of the two color pairs has something solid to play and get some crossover options into other pairings for additional options in case a player gets color cut in the draft.

I have been making some tweaks and changes. Red/White agro is a little pushed right now, but more importantly, I have been having trouble sorting out a solid 'identity' for Green/Blue and for Blue/Black. I think I am also missing finisher cards for mono Blue.

For some frame of referance, here is what I have been trying to make happen with the colors. Some of the descriptions may seem contraindicative, but I would like each color to be paired with each other color, so I need to keep the options.

For each single color, I have the following themes I try to stick to:

White - Agro and Control
Blue - Card Draw and Control
Black - Graveyard and Control
Red - Burn and Agro
Green - Tokens and Big Creatures

Combinations of colors let me carve out a more niche space. Here is what I imagine my color pairs should be decent at:

White/Blue: Control or Tempo
Blue/Black: Discarding Bounce or Evasive Long Game
Black/Red: Turbo Reanimator or Turbo Agro
Red/Green: Value Agro
Green/White: Enchantments Matter
White/Black: Tempo or Token Snacks
Blue/Red: Cantrips and Burn
Black/Green: Graveyard Value
Red/White: Agro and Burn
Green/Blue: Token Control/Ramp?

For anyone that plays magic, most of these terms make sense. In case my made up gibberish isn't explanatory enough though, 'Evasive Long Game' is small evasive threats and control because these threats will need at least a few turns to get the job done, and 'Token Snacks' is make a pile of token creatures and then sacrifice them to something that has a game changing (even ending) payoff.

At any rate, I am looking for ideas on what I could put in to make Blue/Black and Green/Blue feel more playable. If anyone has ideas, I would certainly be willing to try them out. Right now, I am thinking about trying the mill strategy in Blue/Black which is usually decent in 40 card decks. I also have been thinking about trying the 'Awaken' mechanic from Battle for Zendikar in Green/Blue to make the lands matter from Green and give Blue the control aspect. This mechanic also sort of feels like 'Kicker' in the sense that you can get more out of cards as the game goes on with the alternative casting cost and perks.

Testing and Tuning

My infatuation with exclusively playing pauper has worn off, but this cube has been great fun to play and endless fun to refine. I will definitely be trying out some other projects like a more powerful cube and a Ravnica guilds themed 'battle box' of 10 decks designed to play against each other.

If anyone has ideas for my cube, let me know. I would also enjoy knowing how it drafts/builds on Cube Tutor if you want to give it a shot.

As always, happy gaming!
-Zenfall

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Real Time Strategy (RTS) Games

Remembering the Learning Curve

I was playing some Company of Heroes 2 today with one of my good friends. We have played many Real Time Strategy games together throughout our friendship and this is the latest hit. My buddy really enjoys reading up on World War II, so this series of games has been right in his wheel house. I haven't played much in probably a year by now though, so I am basically relearning the game, which reminds me of all the other times I went through this process.

So Many to Choose From

I play quite a few different RTS games. I started on Warcraft III when I was in middle school and didn't figure out how to beat a computer in 1v1 until I was most of the way through high school. After I got into college, I got Axis and Allies, picked up Ages of Empires II and Starcraft. Now days, I am trying to get my slow reaction times to pick up on positioning for Company of Heroes 2 and sometimes I take it easy on some 8-bit Armies/Hordes/Invaders.

I have played a variety of these games, but I still haven't gotten around to finishing the campaigns in most of them or taken the time to play some of the other classics like Command and Conquer, Warcraft I or II, or most of the Total War games.

Information Overload

There is a HUGE checklist of things a player will have to do in one of these games. There is:
  1. Base building (usually)
  2. Force building
    1. Combat
    2. Non-Combat (usually)
  3. Discovery
  4. Conflict
  5. Force adjustments
Usually, the players start at the top of the list and very quickly add on additional steps. The tough part is that most games you can stop doing some of these actions because one time is enough. The catch with these kinds of games is that they focus on resource management, and there are some critical resources most new players don't consider.

Normally, these games are nice enough to let you know what the in game resources are like money, population limits, etc., but there are two or three others (depending on how you look at it) that need to be managed.

Hidden Resources

The two primary 'hidden' resources are Time and Focus. We can only process information so quickly and we have to respond to it after not only understanding it, but also figuring out a response. This takes Focus to sort out, which is directly impacted by Time. After you make a choice, the action takes Time to finish, and you have to make more choices, and you will likely have to remember to come back to whatever you queued up and spend more time with it to progress.

Really, this all comes down to counting, waiting, reacting, and already knowing what you want or need to do. The first games you play are always learning what the game even has to offer, or if it is your first game ever, just getting your control bearings. As luck would have it, there are things you can do to alleviate the Focus strain: Practice and Plan.

Strategy, Tactics, and Training

I spent most of my earlier years playing these games in blissful ignorance on how to really become proficient at these games. Then, I found Day[9] on YouTube. Now days, he has branched out, but when I started watching his videos, he did Starcraft II strategy, training, and game analysis videos along with my favorite weekly feature: Funday Monday! I highly recommend digging through his backlog of videos one YouTube or Twitch.

The biggest things I had gotten from his videos were as follows:
  1. Micro and Macro Play
  2. Strategy
  3. Build Order
  4. Muscle Memory
  5. It is a game, have fun!
To get better at any of these things, you just have to put in the time to practice. All RTS games benefit from these core concepts and are much more manageable when you don't have think about every little detail every time you need to push a key to build you tank or quickly build another farm.

I remember most of the concepts, but 8-bit Armies game play doesn't care quite as much about positioning or 'counter' units as Company of Heroes. 

Putting In My Time

As far as tonight's performance went, I was not doing as well as I would have liked. I always seem to want infantry to be better against any kind of vehicle than they ever are. I have only played Russia so far, and conscripts are really not good. On top of that, I can't figure out a good place to put a field gun. I get shot by them enough to know how good they are, but I can't seem to cover their backs to get off shots of my own.

I am pretty sure this game is not going away anytime soon for us, so I need to put in a bit more practice time getting my build order sorted out and quit relying on conscripts to carry me though the whole game. I could always seem to use a T34 or a some T70 go-karts.

As always, happy gaming!
-Zenfall

I Love Gaming

I Do Love Gaming

Like many people, I play games. I use them to pass the time, occupy my brain, and socialize (sort of). At nearly 30 years old now, I am playing games just as much now as I did when I was a teenager. Some games I have left behind while others have been on and off over the years. Naturally, as new games come out, I have been picking them up to play around the table.

The two best things I have found out about games are socializing with good friends and that I have an outlet for my incessant need to always be getting better at something. The need to be better goes pretty well with any part of life it seems, but certain things get lonely. Many games are designed to be played with 2+ people and can be even more fun and exciting when your gaming partner/opponent, and by extension game play, changes.


What I Remember

I assume I started with all the same games that most kids played in the 90's. Some of what I did then I don't even personally consider a game now like that card activity called 'war'. I remember playing Chess against my dad and getting destroyed pretty much every time we played and playing Trouble with my brother and sister. Chutes and Ladders happened, though now that doesn't quite fit the bill of a game for me anymore either.

Naturally, the games I played became more complex, advanced, and some became digital as I got older. I sunk plenty of hours into my PlayStation game console and actually beat Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles on the Sega Genesis thanks to the first true save feature I can remember on a counsel.

The two games that have stuck with me the longest though I picked up around the turn of the century. Both have had a huge impact on my time and what I hope to get from my games.

The first is Magic the Gathering which I had gotten parts for but finally invested the time into figuring out how to make a decent and functional deck when I was a young teenager. I have still not gotten past how expensive some of the cards are, and that is reflected in my card collection now with the more expensive cards being older and some were not worth much when they came out. My collection has swelled with a larger expendable income which means that I now just have too many cards.

The second game is Warcraft III. I still haven't played the first two games in the series and I did play the huge MMO for quite a while, mostly throughout college. Real Time Strategy games always seemed perfect to me as players start with an equal opportunity with victory given to the superior skill and decision making player. This unfortunately breaks down some when the matches are no longer 1v1. My favorite aspect of the game is how you had to make choices quickly, but you had a few seconds to figure out what was happening instead of other games where the warnings really meant that you just lost everything you were not paying attention to.


These Days

I have either stopped playing or greatly reduced my consumption of a few game categories like party games and little children's games, though with a niece, a nephew, and a son of my own, I will likely have to get back into that second set. I have personally found the games to shallow in strategy or victory conditions are subject to personal preference.

I find that I am drawn to games with deeper rule sets and/or configuration variants. Table Top War Games have been very interesting to me lately and I have been getting a little deeper into Magic once again. I have also been dipping my toes into the game design side of gaming by making some custom game scenarios, building my own drafting cube, and working on alternative loot tables.

My wife and I tend to find a game and play for a week or two, I usually start to burn out on it (sorry sweetheart), and then we find something else to pass the time. On top of that, we try to have friends over weekly to play games and we have gotten a chance to play a few games I wouldn't have even thought to get like the Bob Ross painting game.


What I Aim To Do Here

Along with reviews and opinions on games, I will probably try to share some research notes from other parts of the gaming hobbies like miniatures painting research, alternative game scenarios, and maybe some house rules to use with different games. In the long run, I imagine these posts will be as much for me to remember as they are for anyone else to discover.

I will certainly wander though as I feel paint selection and terrain building is just as important as deck lists, new game experiences, sweet new computer hardware, and gaming server settings. I hope I can keep some things grouped together and that any of it makes sense.

Happy Gaming
-Zenfall