Writing this one a little before Thursday as I've been ill the past couple of days, and this is one of the rare moments where I can look at a PC screen without getting a headache. So, for this week's entry;
The Thirteen Albums Released This Year, That I Purchased, In Order of Preference.
13. Air - Pocket Symphony
Whilst I love Air normally, even their '10,000Hz Legend' album, this particular album unfortunately comes as the worst I have bought this year. Air went from relaxing, interesting music, to the sort of music you find in elevators or on fancy screensavers. A big disappointment, which hopefully they can improve upon next time round.
12. John Barrowman - Another Side
I'll admit I bought this on the impetus of the John Barrowman 'brand' when I had a spare tenner. However, the man definitely can sing, and the album's good to sit back and relax to. However, being a covers album, I can't justify placing it any higher when there's a wealth of original material in the rest of the list.
11. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Whilst not succumbing to 'dreaded second album' syndrome, the debut album 'Employment' still has more catchy tunes than the latest offering. That doesn't mean it's a bad album however, and definitely shows the band maturing nicely. The third album should be a killer.
10. The Killers - Sawdust
Yes, it's a B-sides album, but it's a darn good one. With only three remixes out of 18 tracks, the rest of the album delivers the same suave electro-rock present on their normal albums, with only the cover of Joy Division's 'Shaowplay' being the only real let down.
9. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Whilst it's not the best album Trent Reznor has created, the album certainly grows on you, with NIN still being one of only a few bands, in my opinion, to play to the 'disenfranchised generation' whilst still retaining a high dgree of musical credibility. A few of the tracks are a bit lifeless, but the rest of the album makes up for it.
8. The Bravery - The Sun and The Moon
Whilst The Bravery may get a lot of negative press, I'm still a fan that's lasted beyond their breakthrough from 'An Honest Mistake'. The second album follows The Killers in moving away from electronic influences to a more rock sound, creating a solid album, which whilst not likely to fill dancefloors, is well worth a listen to hear a band learning from a few mistakes on the debut album.
7. Travis - The Boy With No Name
Another band that dropped out of the mainstream view after an initial buzz, Travis have produced their fifth album of indie perfection. 'Selfish Jean' is one of the best singles released this year, and the rest of the album follows suit. Travis have found their niche, and play it to near-perfection.
6. Calvin Harris - I Created Disco
Whilst everyone will remember 'Acceptable In The 80s' for a long time to come, the real highlights come from the non-singles on the album, with the title track almost being worth the asking price alone. As a debut, the album works well, though it seems to suffer in a few slight regards from being too pop to be electro, and too electro to be pop, and it'll be interesting to see which direction Harris decides to take on the second album.
5. Interpol - Our Love To Admire
Whilst originally seen as the 'new Joy Division' in some corners, Interpol have fine-tuned their sound to create the darkest album you'll hear this year, whilst still being accessible enough to be listened to casually. It's not quite as good as 'Antics' was, but it's a fine album all the same.
4. Justice - Cross
After the letdown of Daft Punk's third album, it seemed that French dance music had hit a rather large brick wall. Enter Justice, to deliver a stonkingly good selection of tunes, that cover both mainstream and underground influences. There's not a single track on this album that could be considered sub-par, with the only niggle being the ommission of 'We Are Your Friends', the single from last summer from the tracklisting.
3. Klaxons - Myths of The Near Future
Thoroughly deserving the Mercury Prize they were awarded earlier this year, the Klaxons released an album of genius, combining rock, dance and electronica, with the end effect being like the after-effect of a Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster. If they can keep this up, then they're going to reach the top, and possibly never come back down.
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
What can be said about Arcade Fire that hasn't been said already? They've created some of the best songs of the decade so far, and there's still time to get a third album out by the end of it. The second album follows the same formula as their debut 'Funeral', with tracks such as 'Intervention' and 'My Body Is a Cage' providing the powerful impact that they've become famous for. I can't recommend this album enough, and every home should have a copy of both.
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
I was originally rather scathing when I did a review of the album when it first came out, as there are a few filler tracks that are just a bit boring. However, the arrival of the second CD in the rather beautiful discbox changes all that, weighing the scales heavily in favour of the good songs. 'Videotape', 'Last Flowers', 'All I Need' and 'Up On The Ladder' are the four stand-out tracks across the two discs, showing Radiohead combinign new and old to create an album on par with their best.
The closer to 0% I am, the more 'dedicated to the cause' I am.
| Your Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score | ||
| Category | Your Score | Average |
| Hacklust | 63.21% Enjoys the occasional head-lopping | 53.5% |
| Sensitive Roleplaying | 41.77% "But what's my motivation for this scene?" | 54.7% |
| GM Experience | 100% The power of the GM's screen compels you! | 69.3% |
| Systems Knowledge | 92.94% Played in a couple of campaigns | 90.4% |
| Livin' La Vida Dorka | 56.32% Has interesting conversations in public | 63.2% |
| You are 75.77% pure Average Score: 68.8% | ||
For an explanation, I divert you to Stu's wonderous blog here:
http://fullbodytransplant.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/thursday-thirteen-first-edition/#comments
Thirteen Things I Love About My Life.
1.) Being able to wake up in the morning, and appreciate all the items I've amassed. It may sound shallow, but though I'm materialistic, I'm always grateful for having the things I do. I've worked hard to earn enough to buy most of them, and not a single penny ever feels like it's been wasted.
2.) My education. I know a lot about a little, and a little about a lot, which is more than some people can say. There's those who are unfortunate enough to not be able to receive a proper education, and then there's those who waste the opportunity they've had, and I'm grateful I'm not in either of the other two camps.
3.) My musical ability. I may not be Beethoven when composing or playing, but I'm reasonably good, despite being self-taught on Piano, and nothing quite compares to being able to play a song you love, in private, or to others.
4.) Good friends. Though some have disappeared over the years, others have been there since birth, and even if I eventually drift apart from even more, I'll always be thankful for the good times we had.
5.) Commodore 64. Without this home computer, I'd never have gotten into video games, and thus quite a large part of my personality would be rather radically different. It may be ancient, but it'll still get plugged into the big HDTV we have in the living room for some retro fun.
6.) Science. We wouldn't be where we are today without it, and the announcement every week of a new breakthrough pushes humanity that little bit closer to the future. The idea that things such as time-travel, or teleportation could one day actually happen fills me with the same excitement as if I was still four years old and thought about it.
7.) Some members of my family. Whilst there's certain members of my more-distant family I'd be happy to never see again, others, such as my mother and sister, and my grandparents on my mother's side, have always been there for me, especially my grandfather being like a father-figure to me whilst I was growing up.
8.) The Internet. Without this, I'd never have met such a diverse and entertaining roster of people, some of which have become my closest friends. I'd also never have met the most beautiful girl in the world, which would lead me on to:
9.) Ellen. I met her through roleplaying on an MMO, and finally met her face-to-face a few months later at a player convention. Since then, I've always eagerly anticipated the next time I get to see her, and though our first attempt at a relationship had to be halted due to thinsg going on in her life, I still know there's hope for the future once things are cleared up. I've never felt this strong a connection to someone before, and I won't lose it without a fight.
10.) My passionate personality. I'm not talking romantic passion, as I'll admit I'm not much of a Romeo, but rather the fact that once my mind is set on something, I will work until I achieve it. I'll always stand my ground in an argument, (unless I'm wrong, then I'll concede) and I'll always defend my friends.
11.) Roleplaying. It's fantastic. Being able to act out a completely different person, in fantastical situations, is better than watching a movie, or reading a book, as you're helping to shape and decide what's coming next.
12.) That feeling you get from helping someone. It's truly great. I can't see why anyone would want to do any different, and be anti-social towards others.
13.) Living in the UK. It's not perfect, but I dread to think of all the things I would have missed if I'd been born in a third-world country, and I'm grateful for being in a developed, democratic country.
I love the Insanity keyword. Having added bonus effects at the cost of only being able to have one of any version of a card adds a strategic twist to a game, whether you're playing with or against the deck. With many 'normal' decks, you can be near-guaranteed of certain cards making an appearance. (Mobilize and Enemy of My Enemy are two that spring instantly to mind.)
When playing with Insanity, there's a good chance both of those cards will be there. But that's 2 down, 58 to go. The odds have gone from 1 in 15 to 1 in 60 of pulling out one of those cards at the start of the game. So what gets put in there instead requires some ingenious, and sometimes lateral thinking about how the game is going to play out. A number of Insanity cards are team-stamped to Arkham Inmates, so character cards for them are likely to be in there, along with a second roster of characters to team up with, probably to take advantage of Arkham's exhaustion tricks.
That all sounds like fun. Now, seeing as my decks are beginning to be focused on the X-Men (hence the renaming of the blog), let's make an X-Men insanity deck.
ParoXysm. *
1-Drops
Harley Quinn <> Mr J's Girl
Shadowcat <> Phase Shifter
Domino <> Neena Thurman
Jubilee <> Mallrat
Multiple Man <> Madrox
2-Drops
The Penguin <> Crime's Early Bird
Havok <> Unstable Son
Jean Grey <> Teen Telepath
Professor X <> Idealistic Dreamer
Gambit <> Swamp Rat
3-Drops
Cable <> Nathan Summers
Wolverine <> Logan
Beast <> Bookworm
The Joker <> Out Of His Mind
Nightcrawler <> Man of The Cloth
4-Drops
Iceman <> Frosty
Batzarro <> World's Worst Detective
Rogue <> Power Absorption
Emma Frost <> Ice Queen
Bishop <> Time Cop
Archangel <> Aeroballistic
Scarecrow <> Fear & Loathing
Catwoman <> Jewel Thief
Psylocke <> Second Skin
Wolverine <> Bub
Jean Grey <> Phoenix Rising
6-Drops
Two-Face, Heads or Tails
The Joker <> Crazy For You
Storm <> Elemental Goddess
Mimic <> Exile
Cable <> Askani'Son
7-Drops
Basil Karlo <> Ultimate Clayface
X-Man <> Nate Grey
Professor X <> World's Most Powerful Telepath
Wolverine <> Bloodlust
8-Drops
Bat-Mite <> #1 Fan
Jean Grey <> Phoenix Force
Jack-In-The Box
Arkham Asylum
Beside Myself
Burn Baby Burn
Money Talks
Pick a Card
Batter Up!
Certifiable
Non-Insanity Plot Twists & Locations
RAT-TAT-TAT
Mobilize
Splintering Consciousness
Finishing Move
Evil Lair
Reset
Genosha
Usual Suspects
Savage Beatdown
Children of The Atom
It's a Hard Life
Xavier's Institute of Higher Learning
Only Human
Marvel Crossover
New Mutations
I will admit I have absolutely no idea how this is going to play...but it's going to be fun finding out.
* Paroxysm;
noun a sudden uncontrollable attack; "a paroxysm of giggling"; "a fit of coughing"; "convulsions of laughter"
I'm working on something, just need to see if I can afford the cards.
Also, got a Christmas temp job at Gamestation, starting next week. Here's hoping it leads on to something more permanent.
Friday 19th October 2007. 10am. I decide on the spur of the moment, I'm going to attend the London Elite Series. The next day. 430 miles away. Cue some intensive searching for train tickets below the £100 mark, and a hotel room. Thankfully, those were booked rather speedily, and so I packed, and set off for the South.
Seven hours of trains, underground and Marillion later, I arrived in Euston, and realised I'd left the location of the hotel at home. And the details for the Elite Series. And my rulebook to brush up on. An hour or so later, with the help of the County Hotel, which coincidentally was where the Elite Series was to be held the next day, I found my hotel, and proceeded to a good night's sleep, after a stupidly expensive casserole.
The next day, I proceeded to the Elite Series location, budged past all the silly MTG players. (Though one girl was rather fine-looking, and was obviously playing the wrong game that day.) There I met Steve, Stephen, Amit and Garry.
And that was it. Five players. Quite possibly the only Elite Series in England that day, and five people showed up. It was a bit of a disappointment, after hearing there had been 16 or so at the last one, but still, I was playing VS, and that's always a good thing.
As my X-Men cards had not arrived in the post, I was playing the Doomed Earth deck from the earlier article, with a slight change of:
-4 x Moloids
+4 x Divinity <> Vampiric General
Due to the low turnout, we decided on a round-robin play, with each person facing each other once, and places being decided on who had the most wins from those five games. I subsequently bombed, due to the fact that, as stated previously, I'd never playtested Doomed Earth before, and thus had no idea how to play the deck. Thankfully, the guys gave me tips as I went on, and by the last two games I was at least putting up a fight, and might have stood a chance against Amit's deck, if he hadn't had that pesky Venom <> Lethal Protector continously exhausting my Dr. Doom before I had the chance to recruit more Moloids with him.
A more detailed breakdown on the event can be found over at Steve 'Kamiza' 's Watchtower videoblog, Episode 6, found HERE. In all, despite the low turnout, I still enjoyed myself, and managed to get some cheap-priced card+playmat goodness from Stephen.
Afterwards, I headed back home for Worthing, but what happened there isn't for the public. ;-)
So, Doomed Earth was a possible deck choice. Originally, my other two were Heralds Stall, and X-Men Energy Burn. The former, I realised, probably wasn't going to stand up in competitive play, seeing as some of the 'essential' plot twists were missing, as the deck had been constructed out of left-over cards from the HoG deck. (I had focused on Dr. Dr. Doom collecting.)
My X-Men Energy Burn was constructed solely of cards from the X-Men expansion, and after reading up a bit, it seemed that though some strong cards were present, the best way to go from that deck was X-Mental, which I didn't really fancy playing. My main bugbear, was that in an X-Men deck, I really wanted to have Mutant Massacre in there, due to its extraordinary removal of a character from a game permanently. If Quickfate was to show up at my Elite Series, this card would probably be my one shot at getting rid of Quicksilver <> Inhuman By Marriage as quick as possible, before he got 'Fated Up'.
(For those who are still relatively new, this means Quicksilver being equipped with the Fate Artifact cards, and becoming pretty much unstoppable.)
To use Mutant Massacre required the discard of a 'Mutant' card, a trait only really found in the X-Men expansion, and several cards in the sets that followed. The recent Marvel Legends expansion featured a much stronger X-Men team, but due to a 'back to basics' style of gameplay, the 'Mutant' traits were removed. Thus, only three possible outcomes remained:
- Use the Doomed Earth deck.
- Eat my dinner.
- Create a mutant-hybrid of old and new X-Men cards.
I went for the latter, and set to work. I was slightly impaired in my task by the fact that my MVL X-Men cards I'd ordered were still being delivered, thanks to postal strikes, but I was sure I could still sort things out without the cards in front of me.
As such, I required a deck with as many Mutant cards as possible, and for the inevitable Gambit card's Stun effect, they needed to be Energy as well. I began sorting through the possible combinations, when I finally came across one card I'd forgotten about, due to mostly playing mono-team decks; Brave New World. This card, with the price of needing a team-up, has the ongoing effect of making all characters you control Mutants, with a specified type. (Energy, Physical or Mental.)
With this card, I could use Mutant Massacre as and when needed after Turn 3, when Brave New World was allowed to be played. The only problem came in needing a Team-Up, in a deck that was supposed to be primarily X-Men based. I didn't want to add in some random 1-drop just for the sake of getting this card to be effective, and that's where Wolverine <> Skrunucklehead popped in to save the day. Being the only Dual-Affiliated X-Men character below a cost of 5 in the whole Silver Age format, and at the right level for Brave New World to be run at, it was near-vital this Wolverine was added to the deck, for three reasons:
- Brave New World could be used with the Skrull affiliation, thereby making everyone Energy Mutants.
- Wolverine could be searched out with Mobilize, as everyone else is X-Men, and so is he.
- Recruiting a Wolverine at Turn 3, saves me having to use a Bodyslide later on to enable the 7-drop Wolverine's super-crazy stun effect.
Having all characters as Energy-Mutants also meant I could slightly abuse the rather good Drain Essence, in place of Finishing Move. As well as the Stun->KO effect, it allows me to gain Endurance equal to an exhausted character's cost. Using my Fastball Special technique from my earlier X-Men deck would mean that the surrounding characters to the one I had Mutant Massacred would fall easily as well, and give me a small boost whilst they were at it. All that was left needed, was an actual decklist:
"They Came and Mutate Us"
Characters
4 x Multiple Man (MXM)
4 x Multiple Man (MVL)
4 x Jean Grey <> Teen Telepath
4 x Gambit <> Swamp Rat
3 x Cable <> Nathan Summers
4 x Wolverine <> Skrunucklehead
3 x Havok <> Critical Mass
2 x Bishop <> Time Cop
3 x Gambit <> Rajin' Cajun
3 x Jean Grey <> Phoenix Rising
2 x Cable <> Askani'Son
2 x Iceman <> Deep Freeze
1 x Jean Grey <> Phoenix Force
Plot Twists
2 x Bodyslide
3 x Fastball Special
2 x Mobilize
3 x Children of The Atom
4 x Mutant Massacre
3 x Drain Essence
3 x Brave New World
Now the tough part, deciding between the two decks.
[Quote]Its just not a good comparison to liken Vs to a relationship.
Vs can't cheat on you. Vs can't hump your friends.[/Quote]
My copy of Mobilise did. :-(
The first time I encountered this word was the infamous computer game of the same name on my Commodore 64, back when I was about four years old. I still have that system, and of course, Elite takes a top place in my games collection, enough that I still have the 20-odd year old Ship Identification Chart up on my wall.
The word 'Elite' to my young ears conjured up grandiose images of being one amongst the many, a pinnacle of skill and tactics, and ultimately, having a kick-ass spaceship. Nowadays, the word 'Elite' is enough to get me excited again, as the Elite Series are approaching on the starboard bow for a second barrage of VS goodness.
First time around, back in June this year, the format was a sealed-draft from the Marvel Team-Up expansion. Turnout in my area was unfortunately low, with only the bare minimum needed to run the tournament actually turning up, meaning I automatically qualified for the Top 8, and got my Extended Art EoME.
This time, we're expecting a lot more players, and it's now Silver-Age constructed, so I'm going to need to up my game to actually get somewhere, especially with the more top-heavy prize support from UDE.
Thus, a decision had to be made, play a deck made to win, or play a deck and make it win? Out of my collection, I had three Silver-Age decks available; Doomed Earth, Heralds of Galactus Stall, and X-Men Energy Burn.
The first, Doomed Earth, was taken from a deck-list Augustus over on VS. Realms had posted back in December 2006, and at the time I started VS back in March/April, I got two boxes of the HoG expansion, and happened to have most of the cards needed for this, so decided to build it, not realising it was a slightly prominent force in the competitive scene. The link for Augustus' original thread is here: Doomed Earth
For a quick glance:
Doomed Earth.
Characters
12 x Moloids
4 x Mole Man <> Moloid Master
4 x Elite Doom Guards
4 x Dr. Doom <> Richard's Rival
4 x Doom-Bot Corps
4 x Mr. Fantastic <> Doom's Adversary
Plot-Twists
4 x Doomed Earth
4 x Unthinkable
4 x Doom Needs Only Doom
4 x Mask of Doom
4 x Armies of Doom
4 x Super Genius
Locations
4 x Arsenal of Doom
The main intention of this deck, (taken from the thread linked above);
"Drop as many Doomed Earth as possible and play as many characters as
possible each turn. Cause massive breakthrough to win the game."
It's so simple, and yet, so effective. If you're lucky enough, you can have 4 Doomed Earths in play, giving a whopping +8 ATK to each character. Then with judicious team-attacking, you could probably clear the table at around Turn 4/5. So, a competitive deck made to win. The only problem? I've never had the chance to playtest it. I'd be going in blind, as it's unlikely I'll have time for an informal match-up before the actual event thanks to University work.
The ponderings of the X-Men and HoG decks will have to wait until next time, as I'm about to run late for a roleplaying session.
Not had much of a chance to update the past couple of days, due to being slightly busy, and unfortunately, now I have the chance, it's not-so-good news. The Elite Series in Dundee has had to be postponed for two weeks to November the 3rd, because UDE took so long in replying to my local store's request to run it, that they can't ship out the prize-support in time for next weekend.
The weekend after on the 27th is taken up by some Magic: The Gathering thing, which will probably get a larger turnout than VS will. I still can't see the attraction, other than a cynical view of it being easier than other card games, and people can't be bothered to learn something slightly more complicated. (Our local players of MTG don't appear to be in it for the high-money tournaments, so that's not the draw.)
I'll still be getting a decklist made up, though I'm trying to decide between a competitive Doomed Earth deck, to try and make the grab for the top prizes, or go with X-Men, just because I love them.
All that jazz, and my download speed has dropped to 25 kb/s. Not good when you're trying to re-download everything you've purchased on Steam.
