[Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT

[Helios]

Thank you, kindly! Funny you should say that. When I questioned her about it she gave me her best Superman pose. I was tempted to ask for a picture, but I didn't want to do anything that might affect the sale poorly. I don't sell cast-iron often; it's our big ticket item.

I hope to see her again, though. Interesting people make work fun.

Do you know where your cast-iron pots are made? I'm interested in purchasing one, but only if it is Japanese hand-made..

[Kazekirimaru]

Thank you, kindly! Funny you should say that. When I questioned her about it she gave me her best Superman pose. I was tempted to ask for a picture, but I didn't want to do anything that might affect the sale poorly. I don't sell cast-iron often; it's our big ticket item.

I hope to see her again, though. Interesting people make work fun.

Do you know where your cast-iron pots are made? I'm interested in purchasing one, but only if it is Japanese hand-made..

nThey are all hand-crafted by at least seventeen Japanese craftsman.

[Solemn10]

Has anyone played vs the curse of exhaustion possibility storm deck? Counter everything until you get those out...

[Helios]

Bob confirmed in MM, with new (..interesting? Ugly? Thought-provoking?) art.

They are all hand-crafted by at least seventeen Japanese craftsman.

This sounds so much like sarcasm that I can't tell if you're kidding or not

[photodyer]

Still trying to catch my breath after Spectrum...report to follow.

@windstrider - all the best to you and Melissa on your news!!! I regret that we didn't get to hang out more at Spectrum...Saturday was kinda nuts and Tris wasn't feeling great for most of the morning. I'm glad that y'all enjoyed the show regardless.

@SM - glad to hear things are leveling out...I hope things continue on the smooth.

[photodyer]

If you don't care to read my sleepless musing on fantasy art, feel free to skip along...

Just starting to come down off the cloud after an amazing weekend at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2. My ability to process visual data is totally blown…trying to take in bodies of work belonging to so many amazing artists was utterly overwhelming. I also met and got to know more remarkable individuals than I can begin to count…lots of new friends and acquaintances in the world of fantasy art.

I found out early on that my expectations about the conference weren’t even close to what it delivered. I hit the exhibit for the 3-day attendee closed viewing on Friday and was totally knocked off my feet. In 5 hours I may have had 5 or 6 artists sign cards—all the rest of my time was spent meeting artists, learning their stories and sharing our love of and passion for fantasy art and literature.

I started off chatting with Steve Argyle’s
partner/lifemate Kat; as windstrider said, she’s a stunner and she compliments Argyle perfectly. She walked me through Steve’s portfolio piece-by-piece with their amazing book of 30”x40” prints (he works 100% digital). She pointed out all of the amazing details in his work that get lost in the small card images: Admonition Angel features stained glass images of Emeria Angel and [card]Mayael’s Aria[/card], the former of which Kat is currently working up in actual stained glass; Damia, Sage of Stone is a veritable “I SPY” of MtG artifacts; Slave of Bolas has tears running down her cheeks as Bolas is encircling her (look for the scales); the Guul Draz Vampire has a spider in the corner, emphasizing the her spider-like hunting crouch. Speaking of the vamp, Kat takes great pleasure in tweaking guys (who generally comment on the sexy nature
of the character) over her being the model beneath those tribal tattoos…she and Steve are both fun, witty individuals and definitely do a great job of keeping things light.

Steve showed up a bit later (they had just purchased their first serious original work from Gregory Manchess and Steve was working out the particulars) and he was both gracious and fun to chat with. That is actually an apt description of most of the members of this community…they were just amazing, engaging folks. I found myself in an utter state of awe later in the day as I spent a good 30 minutes chatting with Michael Whelan about his impact on fantasy art and on my perspectives of art. This god of fantastic art sat there wistfully musing as he took up one of my old Elric paperbacks, fanned the pages and inhaled deeply of the book, commenting on how nothing electronic will ever be able to equate with the companionable smell of a well-loved paperback. This kind of thing happened again and again throughout the week, and it became
obvious that I had happened upon a remarkable treasure in this group of astounding individuals.

Highlights of the weekend: Chatting with Brom about being about the role of fathers in helping their kids choose a path; watching Donato Giancola prep palette and work his magic with oils; subsequently having him complement me on the color palette I’d chosen in the tie-dye shirt (another hobby) I was wearing; talking Dresden with Chris St. Pierre and his wife and subsequently having him draw for me one of my favorite villains from the series; having Allen Williams show me the pencil original for a card that we will be seeing soon (M14 I think; the card is Nightmare, and the creature befits its name); finding out that rk post’s grandfather was a pharmacist and subsequently chatting about our collections of pharmacy knick-knackery; talking Elric and Michael Moorcock with John Picacio and subsequently obtaining one of his original interior pencil sketches from one of the recent novels; lamenting along with Dan
Dos Santos over the tragic treatment of Firefly and learning that he may soon be drawing a 6-issue run of Serenity; hanging out at The Midland Theatre and sharing barbeque with these folks in prelude to seeing the highest awards in fantasy art handed out amongst them.

Speaking of awards, the Spectrum Awards made clear just how lucky we are in Magic to have a company committed to bringing the best in fantasy art to the game. Brom received the title of Grand Master—Spectrum’s highest accolade—and Allen Williams, David Palumbo, Allen Williams and Dan Dos Santos all took gold honors in their respective categories of work for the past year. Also of note, Tyler Jacobson—a super-nice and dynamic young artist—was nominated in Institutional (the category that includes Magic) for Ruric Thar, the Unbowed. Seeing scaled-up versions of Ruric, [card]Aurelia’s Fury[/card] and the like made clear that we will see more fantastic cards coming from him.

We picked up
some prints here and there, but the Elric sketch was without question my most heart-swelling acquisition. At a close second, I picked up from Randy Gallegos the original chalk rendering of [card]Ghoulcaller’s Chant[/card]. My great nephew made the best haul though…he ran around today in full 9-year-old enthusiasm mode and managed to get a remarkable set of inked tokens drawn up by many of MtG’s best. That kid is gonna have the most blinged-out decks imaginable.

Assuming they do continue to go forward with SFAL next year, any of you who love the art side of Magic should really look into making a road trip. At $40 for the entire weekend, the show is a steal, and y’all are welcome to come crash and hang at the house.

[zemanjaski]

Blood Scrivener is MUCH better than I thought. It doesn't just trigger on your draw step; so if your last card in hand is, for example, Sign in Blood, that's now a draw 3. So you can be empty handed when you draw (trigger to draw 2) into land plus sign in blood (draw 3 more). That's kinda ridiculous.

Can combine with Dark Confidant in modern to let you draw 3 on upkeep every turn.

[zemanjaski]

Holy moly, Blood Scrivener plus Underworld Connections!

[photodyer]

Elric pencil sketch - John Picacio

Original chalk of Ghoulcaller's Chant

My new playmat from rk post

[hamfactorial]

The rules geek in me wonders if that's true about Sign in Blood.

Blood Scrivener's draw clause is what's known as a replacement effect. It directly modifies the effect of a spell or an ability before it's placed on the stack.

Since SiB has you draw 2 cards at once, I wonder if the Scrivener would check for 0 cards in hand, then replace SiB's entire effect with its own.

I could see a ruling where SiB with BS out would still only get you 2 cards on an empty hand but cost you 3 life instead of 2.

This would also affect cards like Wheel of Fortune or Griselbrand's activated ability.

[LP, of the Fires]

Doesn't combo with Bob I don't think. Bob is a reveal, put into your hand on upkeep making him a nonbo with scrivener. This came up in my friends BUG deck as he thought scrivener and Duskmantle seer worked together. They don't.

[photodyer]

From Gatherer:

Any time you are instructed to draw more than one card, you draw them one at a time. For example, if you control Blood Scrivener and have no cards in hand and you’re instructed to “draw two cards,” your first card draw is replaced by drawing two cards and losing 1 life, then you’ll draw the second card from the original instruction. In total, you’ll draw three cards and lose 1 life.


Each additional Blood Scrivener you control will effectively add one card and 1 life lost. Say you control two Blood Scriveners and would draw a card while you have no cards in hand. The effect of one Blood Scrivener will replace the event “draw a card” with “draw two cards and lose 1 life.” The effect of the other Blood Scrivener will replace the drawing of the first of those two cards with “draw two cards and lose 1 life.” You’ll draw two cards and lose 1 life, then draw another card and lose another 1 life.

[hamfactorial]

Thanks for that Oracle ruling, Jerry. Rules nerd satisfied

[photodyer]

No prob, ham...I keep Gatherer open in a tab all the time for just such an emergency (Foghorn Leghorn voice in full)!

[hamfactorial]

For an extra challenge to the reader, figure out how Blood Scrivener works with Chains of Mephistopheles.

[photodyer]

So, best case/nuts: Scrivener on the field, no cards in hand; draw land and SiB, pay 1 life, play both, then draw 3. Yowsa.

[zemanjaski]

Yeah; I believe that's called a big game. Bonus points for combining him with Sire of Insanity.

[Christen]

For an extra challenge to the reader, figure out how Blood Scrivener works with Chains of Mephistopheles.

I'll have a go at it since I'm slowly studying my way to being a judge. I win even if I get this wrong. I originally had a long post but I got confused in the middle so I'll just answer.

If the player is drawing a card with an empty hand in his draw step, he loses 1 life, draws a card, discards a card, then draws another card.
If the player is drawing a card with an empty hand any time after his draw step, he loses 1 life, draws a card, discards a card, draws another card, then discards another, then draws another.

I'm still confused as to how you treat each card draw as a separate event and still apply rule 614.5. A replacement effect doesn’t invoke itself repeatedly and gets only one opportunity for each event.

[zemanjaski]

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthre ... 813&page=4

Achievement Unlocked: Incredible Stupidity

According to Kamahl, Jace is only good with Squadron Hawk and the Stoneforge Package and would be completely fine in standard. My brain hurts.

[zemanjaski]

Bored.

[deck]Immortal Junk[/deck]

Probably going way too deep; but I imagine it would have a good aggro matchup (trade 1-for-1 with all your 2 power guys, gain some life, cast a Servitude and win), and some games Lotleth Troll just gets there I suppose.

Sign in Blood could be Altar's Reap which may be better/worse.

Control could be a bit tricky, but you have some resistant threats I suppose; and you in the right colours for hate cards post game 1.

Start of a sideboard:

2 Abrupt Decay
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Tragic Slip
2 Underword Connections

[Christen]

It looks similar to the Immortal Servitude deck that placed high recently. Wouldn't you want Voice of Resurgence in that list?

[zemanjaski]

HOLY GOD HOW DID I FORGET VOICE.

[zemanjaski]

On your bike Syndic of Tithes.

[deck]
4 Blood Artist
4 Blood Scrivener
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Tithe Collector
4 Voice of Resurgence

4 Altar's Reap
3 Immortal Servitude
3 Tragic Slip

4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Temple Garden
4 Woodland Cemetery
[/deck]

16 black sources / 14 white and green sources

Now we're cooking with gas.

[Christen]

Altar's Reap looks better than Sign in Blood that's for sure. If the mana-base would allow it, maybe a singleton Vault of the Archangel? It does look ambitious though given the number of double-colored CMC's in the deck.

[Christen]

This looks like an interesting card:

M14 Game Day card?

---

[zemanjaski]

It would need to be the 23rd land, which I don't think is necessary?

So, Random Access Memories. Finally listened to it all the way through unaffected by substances. Solid B+. Top 3 tracks:
- Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas)
- Giorgio by Moroder (feat. Giorgio Moroder)
- Contact (feat. DJ Falcon)

Don't let "Get Lucky" put you off getting the album either, it's possibly the worst song on the album.

Thoughts?

[zemanjaski]

http://youtu.be/2fuOVWJol1s

Mozart vs Street Fighter? Yes please.

[photodyer]

Ogre Battledriver
Creature - Ogre Warrior Rare
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.
3/3

This with Exava seem to suggest that Dos Rakis-Hasty can be a thing, particularly after rotation; of course it would be better if this dude was hasty himself...Hound would certainly be fun to drop following this guy, and gee wouldn't it be fun to Spear your own Hound the turn after that before combat.

Black is getting some tasty cards...black-based control may be viable from M14 through rotation again this year.

[zemanjaski]

Battledriver looks great in any red variant honestly.

[photodyer]

Yeah...I edited as I thought about his interactions with Hound and such. Much fun to be had in red...

[zemanjaski]

Sadly, only for the briefest window on account of rotation.

[redthirst]

I'm not too worried about the state of R Aggro post rotation - decent 1 drops, great 2 drops, Chandra's Phoenix, probably a good Planeswalker - I think we'll be okay.

On another note: Bant is the shit. The interaction between Auger/Snapcaster and Advent of the Wurm is broken - I'm lovin' it.

[photodyer]

Oh yeah...and guess what black planeswalker is getting reprinted?

Black:
Grim Return
Instant Rare
Choose target creature card in a graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn. Put that card onto the battlefield under your control.

Liliana's Reaver
Creature - Zombie Rare
Deathtouch
Whenever Liliana's Reaver deals combat damage to a player, that
player discards a card and you put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield tapped.
4/4

Rise of the Dark Realms
Sorcery Mythic
Put all creature cards from all graveyards onto the battlefield under your control.

[zemanjaski]

All the Llorwyn 5 are being reprinted.

[redthirst]

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthre ... 813&page=4

Achievement Unlocked: Incredible Stupidity

According to Kamahl, Jace is only good with Squadron Hawk and the Stoneforge Package and would be completely fine in standard. My brain hurts.

Told you. Kamahl is a solid contender for "Fuckingest Wad".

Also, Dark Confidant and Blood Scrivener don't interact.

[zemanjaski]

Huehuehuehuehue.

[redthirst]

Huehuehuehuehue.

[Alex]

Hellrider Sliver seems pretty awesome. As does the Goblin that makes dudes attack. Seems really fun so far. Most people think core sets are bland and uninteresting, but I find that I generally enjoy the limited formats in core sets a lot more than I do the 3-set block drafts. I enjoy coherency.

[zemanjaski]

Haha= English
Kekeke= Japanese
Jajaja= Spanish
Huehuehue= Brazilian

[TubeHunter]

Zeman: agree on the Album assesment. Heard Get lucky and was like What the fuck?

Photo: Sounds like a great time!

Card wise: Ogre Battledriver looks sweet, R/x aggro looks good for the future, and depending on future sets (1 drop + new R/B land) , Dos Rakis could be a thing again. Although it would probably be more sligh that before. Really Need another 1 drop to replace Noble