Review–Myr of Mirrodin Intro Deck

For those of you not familiar, Scars of Mirrodin is an expansion set for the popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering. If you’re about to say “like pokemon cards” or “like yu-gi-oh”, let me clarify. MtG, as it will be known, predates those card games by many years. In fact, MtG is the original trading card game, the progenitor from which all others were spawned or cloned. I will be looking at one of the introductory decks for the Scars of Mirrodin block; Myr of Mirrodin.

Let me begin with saying that I am fairly new to magic. I started playing a couple of years ago, very infrequently, with a pair of free starter decks I got through the mail. Fast-forward to 2011 and my interest in MtG piqued again, thanks in no small part to two key factors. The first was the proliferation of Magic in desert bus 2011, some of the giveaways and auctions being rare card sets. The second was the release of Scars of Mirrodin, one of the most recent M11 blocks (M11 being the magic set for 2011). Mirrodin is a world of living metal, and is thus populated by living constructs called the Myr. This appealed to me on a very fundamental and set about looking into the block. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that one of the intro decks was a Myr focused white deck. that also contained 2/3 of the cards needed for a very evil strategy, but more on that later.

The Myr of Mirrodin intro deck contains 60 fixed cards, 1 booster pack of 15 random cards, a how to play guide and a Scars of Mirrodin card listing. A complete list of the set cards can be found here.

On first glance, the most obvious card to look at is the foil Sunblast Angel, the rare of the deck.

Although the ratio between summon cost and attack strength isn’t fantastic (6:4), the fact that it’s a flying card (great for bypassing your opponents creatures and going straight for the jugular) makes it a little less painful.
But what really makes Sunblast Angel useful is it’s ability;

“When Sunblast Angel enters the battlefield, destroy all tapped creatures”

At the right time, this could be devastating; taking out several of your opponents creatures. But timing is key, you wouldn’t want to summon this card after your combat phase when you’re most likely to have several tapped creatures yourself.

But in all honesty, I’m not really running Sunblast for any other reason than it was the rare and I’m playing a white deck. What I was really after was these three cards:

Myr Battlespehere is an expensive card to play and its attacking ability will leave many Myr cards tied up should you chose to take advantage of it. But it’s high defencive and ability to bring 4 Myr tokens into play means it’s excellent for setting up a defensive line.
But Palladium Myr and Myr Galvanizer are the real money maker. By combining a Palladium with two Galvanizers, you have something truly dangerous; infinite colourless mana! But how is that possible you ask? Well let me show you:

Say you have the prerequisites; two galvanizers and one palladium, all in play and untapped.

        

Step 1) You tap the Palladium Myr (P from now on) for two colourless mana:

        

Step 2) Now, using one those two colourless mana’s, you tap the first of the two Galvanizers (G1 and G2 respectively.

        

Step 3) This lets you untap P:

        

Step 4) Now you repeat step 1 and generate another 2 colourless mana, giving you three total.

        

Step 5) Now here’s the clever part, spending one of your three mana, you tap G2:

        

Allowing you to untap P and G1

        

You now have two colourless mana and can repeat the whole process, thus giving you infinite mana! It’s good form to simply explain this process to your opponent should (and only when) it occurs, rather than repeating the process of tapping and untapping until you get the desired mana.
Now you may ask what is the point of this infinite mana, you can hardly convert mana into damage. Well, not directly you can’t, but there is a way that effectively gives you an instant win. You simply add this card:

You see, with infinite mana and the ability to infinitely untap this card every time you tap it, you have infinite Myr tokens. And with infinite tokens, you have an infinite defence and infinite attack. Obviously the tokens can’t attack the turn you put them in play, and there are circumstances where you still may lose (say you only have 2 health and your opponent does direct damage, or he plays a card that destroys artefacts, which these count as), but it’s a pretty certain win.

Now there is wiggle room with this configuration, as you don’t have to use Palladium Myr. There are many Myr that generate various coloured mana:

      

Each of these cards generate a different colour of mana, and there is one for each colour (Silver Myr for Blue mana and Leaden for Black), but the only concession you need to make is that you need 2 in play in order to make a productive mana loop, otherwise you’ll just have equilibrium.

But I have significantly digressed. Myr of Mirrodin is an excellent intro deck with some great cards. I have made very few modifications to it and I already have a deck I’m very happy with. It will need a little more play testing in order to refine, but I do think that Myr of Mirrodin has birthed a very fine Myrcraft deck (the name I’m giving my set up).

Review–Risk Transformers Cybertron War Edition

This is the first in what will hopefully be many reviews of various board games, card games and D&D modules that I will put up on my quite sparse blog here. First we have a review of one of the most recent Risk variants, Risk Transformers, Cybertron War Edition.

Name: Risk Transformers Cybertron War Edition
Manufacture: Hasbro (still in print)
Price: Around £10
Age: 10+
Players: 2-4

Although I have played Risk a few times before, I have never owned my own copy. This all changed last xmas when my girlfriend bought me my first copy of Risk that I can call my own. And it wasn’t just any old Risk, it was Transformers Risk!

Now with added giant robots.

I am quite a big fan of both the game Risk and Transformers (or giant robots in general for that matter) so this was an amazing gift for me. But before I dive into what makes this version unique, let me talk a little about Risk in general.

For those that haven’t played before, Risk is a tactical board game focused around world domination. Players use ‘units’ to conquer and take territories from opposing players. Victory is determined by comparing dice rolls, the number of which is decided based on the number of units attacking and defending a territory.
At the start of each players turn, they are given more units which they can place in any territory that they control, which bonus units awarded for controlling entire continents. This creates a strategic element in not only where you attack, but where you deploy and where you defend. Attack to enthusiastically and you may leave yourself spread too thin on subsequent turns.
Classic Risk has been around for decades and there are many variations, including Halo, mythic gods, Lord of the Rings, and obviously, Transformers. A classic game, where the goal is complete world domination, can last well in excess of 3 hours, with a personal best for a four player game I once participated in lasting 7 hours. There are rules variations that limit the number of turns, reigning in the length of the game.

There are 3 elements that make Risk Transformers unique from classic risk, the most obvious of which being the design of the board.

The layout of the various ‘Sectors’ is vaguely similar to that of a typical risk board, but not identical. For example, it is possible to travel south of what would be South America, and emerge at the top of the board, north of North America. This is the only Risk board I have seen that has vertical as well as lateral wrap around navigation, and this is often overlooked during gameplay, leading to unpleasant surprises for unaware players.

The next noticeable feature is the pieces, with Risk Transformers possessing three types of game piece; firstly the 1 and 3 unit pieces (the game is slightly smaller scale than Classic Risk, so there are no 5 unit pieces)

The pieces are designed to resemble a ‘cybertronian’ and a ‘cybertronian vehicle’ respectively, referred to as ‘robot’ and ‘vehicle’ in the rules. The distinct difference between the pieces makes it very easy to determine, at a glance, the number of units in a given zone (territory in classic rules). Although not clear in the picture, the pieces have a distinctly Transformers feel to them, and the moulding is quite good.

The third type of piece is actually less a piece and more a standee (the term I use for a 2 dimensional stand up image of a player, monster or other game element). These represent the commanders of the 4 armies used in the game.

From left to right; Barricade and Bumblebee (vehicle mode), Megatron and Optimus Prime (robot mode)

There is a reason to using these stand up pieces rather than moulded pieces; one of the game mechanics allows for changing the ‘mode’ of your commander piece, altering their bonus’ in the game. Ergo using a plastic standee that can be flipped back and forth makes more sense than having two different pieces that have to be switched back and forth, reducing any possible confusion that could arise. Transformation does have its limitations, as you must play a specific type of card, as I will explain.

This leads nicely onto the third, and most significant new feature for Risk Transformers, the suitably apt ‘Transform’ mechanic.
As you win zones, you are rewarded with zone cards. Printed on the back of these cards are various special effects that can be played, including the Transform ability. This allows you to either transform your commander between his vehicle and robot mode, altering is special ability, or transform actual zones on the board. These transformable zones come in two varieties, with two of each. Firstly you have the secret war factory:

Before and after a transform card being played

Before a transform card is played, a ‘secret war factory’ is just like any other zone on the map. But once transformed, the plastic piece can be slid back revealing an underneath element. At the start of a players turn, for every unit, up to a maximum of 4, that they have in the zone, they may place an additional unit in the secret war factory.
In order to transform a secret war factory, you must have a transform card and control an adjacent zone or the zone itself. This means it is perfectly possible for an opponent to transform a war factory and close it while your new units are still inside. Should this happen, any units still present in the secret element are ‘crushed’ and lost.
The secret war factory adds a nice means by which you can increase your unit production and adds a pair of nice strategic locations on the map. It can be quite satisfying to crush your opponents 4 new robots with a well timed play of a transform card, but you may find a more pressing need for that card, in the form of rotary zones:

There are two zones on the map that a represented by plastic discs with walled sides. These discs can be rotated on the board, when a transform card is played. This adds what is, in my opinion, the most powerful mechanic to the game. By playing a transform card at the right time, you can either redirect the flow of movement between zones, or in the case of the other zone (not pictured) completely block the movement between two distinct areas of the board. You can even, with good timing, trap an opponents pieces in a zone until they have transform card they are willing to play.

These plastic additions to the board come at a price though, as with any board game where you clip things on:

Although minor at the moment, repeated use could wear the underside considerably.

Finally, here are a selection of some of the zone cards that can be earned by conquering territories:

The first two can either be played for their ability or as a transform card

The ability cards aren’t the most powerful I’ve seen in Risk sets, but they can be used for strategic affect quite efficiently. The transform card doesn’t come up as often as would be useful, perhaps making every card a transform card, such as the first two above, would possibly make the mechanic more dynamic.

Overall, I really enjoy this version of Risk. While not the most complex or challenging, it is very good for a ‘quick’ game and is quite accessible. The rules are written in such a way that it would make an ideal introductory game for someone who hasn’t played Risk before. And it would obviously make a great gift for a Transformers fan such as myself!

Overall, I give Risk Transformers Cybertron War Edition 7/10, with good accessibility and duration, but perhaps feels a little more simplified than it actually is and the Transform mechanic can often get overlooked.

The D Twenty, Inc is Announcing Its Expansion into ‘New Frontiers’

Let me explain something, I am a massive geek. I loving many geek past times, but the apex of these, my passion of passions, is games. Not just computer games, but games in general. I love role playing games (hence this blog), card games, board games, computer games, even mind games.

As such, I think it’s only appropriate that I expand this blog to cover a wider selection of games that will be occupying my time (excluding video games, they will be primarily the prevue of my other blog). This is mainly due to how I spent my awesome Christmas, indulging my geek side with my girlfriend.

You see, she bought me a game. Not just any game, but Risk. And not just any Risk, but TRANSFORMERS RISK! Now this may not be the ‘best’ version of Risk, but it was one of the most thoughtful of gifts I have ever received! (My girlfriend has an innate skill for thoughtful gifts) Additional, I began seriously playing Magic: The Gathering with her as well. You see, about a year ago, I saw an advert in a magazine for free MtG starter sets. You just filled out your details online and they sent you a starter kit, including over 60 cards and cd-rom. I did this twice and me and Viv played briefly once they arrived. Then I put them on my shelf and that’s where they stayed. That was until desert bus 2010.

During the online charity event, they auctioned off several rare sets of cards and this rekindled my interests. As soon as Christmas rolled around, I broke out the decks this time, and resorted them. Instead of two identical, mixed colour decks, I made to very different, bi-coloured decks, and me and Viv started playing. We had a lot of fun, Viv winning the majority thanks to her brutal Blanchwood Armour/ Enormous Baloth combo which finished me off almost every time.

As such, I’m planning on not just covering D&D 4th Edition, posts on the topic of which have wilted somewhat, but I will also cover topics including Magic the Gathering and various board games. I already have my eyes on a copy of Risk 2210 AD, one of the best versions of the game. I think for my next post, I will most certainly take a look at Risk and why I love it.

:(

Just a quick entry going in to say that the first part of ‘Chronicle of Heroes’ will be exponentially delayed as I managed to accidentally delete the draft on my computer. It was 75% complete and pretty well written, but it’s all gone. Windows live writer doesn’t even send deleted drafts to the recycle bin, so it’s completely gone. I didn’t realise that if I opened a draft, then clicked delete draft (thinking I could resave it under another blog, this one) that it would delete everything before my very eyes O_o. Well, you live and learn, and I can remember 90% of it, so it’ll be a good exercise to re-write it.

Of Homebrew and Print – Rules and Artistic License

An issue of some contention amongst my gaming group is that of homebrewed rules verses that which is written in printed media. This arises due to two very contrary opinions within my group on the subject of non-official rules, this is often an issue that must be addressed frequently. I can see both sides evenly, and as a DM, I must tread carefully.

In favour of homebrewing is the fact that it’s the spirit of d&d. Ever since first edition, players have been encouraged to make their own rules to not only make the game a more personal experience, but also to address issues that occur when there isn’t a rule to address a situation. I have found myself making some rules in order to address issues that aren’t covered adequately in the published material. One prime example of this is haggling; originally it was a completely role playing experience. This seemed like a good idea at first, but would frequently lead to exchanges like this:

NPC: This magical item is 300 gold pieces.
PC: I’ll give you fifty
NPC: I can go down to 250?
PC: I’ll give you fifty
NPC: Fine, what about 200?

…and so on, until the player either gets the item at a stupidly low price, or just walked away, making the whole exchange meaningless and tedious. Often as the dm, I would simply just cave and give them the item cheap. As such, I made a set of homebrewed rules regarding haggling that revolve around the use of Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate checks, much like a skill challenge. A PDF of the rules can be found here on my skydrive if you’re interested. I have yet to properly implement these rules, but I have a good feeling that they will work quite well.

Another set of custom rules that I am currently fine tuning is Armour Breakage for the Dark Sun setting. You see, within the Dark Sun Campaign Setting source book, there are rules for weapon breakage, but these don’t extend to armour, which seems a little absurd. How can weapon and armour both be constructed from inferior materials, yet only the weapons be prone to breakage? As such, I began translating the rules for weapon breakage over to armour. These are taking a bit more time to fine tune due to the significant affect loosing your armour can have in the heat of combat. As such, the rules found here, focus on instead lowering the AC bonus and increasing the likelihood of critical hits as the armour takes more damage.

These homebrewed rules are causing a slight upset for my more ‘strict’ who believes that homebrewed rules will ‘ruin’ the game. And in all fairness I can appreciate his point of view. If a rule is drawn up hastily and without careful thought, it can lead to either a broken situation making progression impossible, or possibly a loop hole that can be exploited by the players, ruining the balance and sense of immersion in the game.
I think the main thing to remember when dealing with homebrewed rules is that if the dm comes up with a new rule, it’s not because he’s trying to ‘beat’ the players (or at least he shouldn’t be. A good dm should be focused on keeping the players on their toes, providing fun challenges and a good story, not trying to kill them at every chance. Or so I believe). A house rule should be there to address an area that isn’t covered by the official rules, such as the above examples of haggling and armour breakage. The most important thing is that if a house rule doesn’t work, it can be as easily removed as it was included, if not easier. A good dm shouldn’t be stubborn, adamant that his or her rule is perfectly fine, the players are just playing wrong. If a rule doesn’t work, either because it’s not properly thought out or there’s an unforeseen loophole, it should be removed, and then possibly reworked.

So, in conclusion, houserules are an important part of any role playing game, but they must be carefully thought out. And any dm including such rules should be aware that these rules may not work how they expect, or work at all, and as such the dm must be willing to remove if needs be.

Current Activity

As this is a new blog for me, I thought it would be logical for my first, non-introductory post to be a brief summary of what I’m currently up to with regards to dungeons and dragons, so here’s a few bullet points (fun!)

Active Stories

• Chronicle of Heroes – This is my first, my original, my baby. This campaign was started over a year ago as my first foray into both 4th edition dungeons and dragons (henceforth, simply 4e) and also my first experience dungeon mastering (henceforth, simply dm’ing), It’s a homebrewed module set in the Tallern Plains, a fairly diverse area of mainly farmland and forests found between the Suneater Mountains to the north and the Abratic Sea to the south. At some point I will post a map, and possibly some historical documents regarding the region. I am also planning on writing a series of fictionalised dramatisations of events of this campaign under the same name.
  The campaign is a full level 1 to 30 module with a complex story, plot twists and revelations, varied settings, antagonists, locations and characters. The players will travel not only the Tallern Plains, but much further afield, including, but not limited to, the Astral Sea, and beyond. Structurally, the campaign breaks down as follows. Several Parts make up a Chapter, where usually parts represent components or alternates paths within a Chapter. 3 to 6 Chapters make up a Volume, where a Chapter represents a distinct element of the overall story of that volume, with a beginning, middle and end Chapter, often the last being a climatic battle. Around 5 Volumes make up a Saga, with each Volume representing a self contained story within a distinct locations. This is not to say that there isn’t an overarching plot spanning many, if not all Volumes, it’s just that each Volume represents a reasonable amount of time to complete a story without any irritating cliff-hangers (unless for suitable dramatic effect). Players usually go up by 2 or 3 levels in one Volume, depending on the difficulty and their various success’ and failures. 3 Sagas make up the Epic, with each Saga spanning one tier; Heroic, Paragon and Epic. As such, from start to finish, the players will go up by 10 levels during a Saga. The three Sagas make up the Epic that is the overall history and life of the players characters.
  Currently my group is at Saga 1, Volume 2, Chapter 4, Part 3 of 4, with one Chapter remaining. Hopefully, once I’ve written the story of Volume 1 – The Clockwork Quest, I’ll be able to publish up the current Volume – Evil in the Dark.

In Development

• Chronicle of Heroes -  Due to the sheer size of this module, and the effect that players actions have on the world in general, this will very much always be an In Dev project until the day they reach level 30. At this moment, I’m currently working on Volume 3 of the current heroic saga, which is set within a dwarven underground city. I’m working very hard to create authentic feeling for this city as I really want to make my dwarf player feel right at home!
• Gladiators of Dark Sun – This is a very different animal. Set within the Dark Sun Campaign Setting (with a few tweaks), this is a more combat, rather than story based, campaign. The players take the roles of freed Gladiator-Slaves who decide to take the only skills they have and use them to pursue fame and fortune, and hopefully stave off death, a fate that lurks round every corner and under every rock on Athas. In this module the players travel from arena to arena, choosing events to fight in. Rather than the usual encounters, which are tailored to the party level to give just the right amount of challenge, this system allows the players to pick their encounter from a roster at each arena. Factor in other elements such as weapon and armour breakage, gambling on (or even against) yourself and the very nature of the Dark Sun setting, I’m hoping it will make for a very interesting game. I’m still looking for players, and also a venue, so this one may be on the burner for a while, at least until the end of the month, when the Dark Sun update is released for the character builder.
• The Modrons – This is a monster class/race that was mentioned in the last d&d podcast I listened to, where they were discussing how to use the new monster creation rules from a recent publications, to update an old monster. The monster of choice was the modron, a construct race devoted to order. It immediately grabbed my attention, so I fired up my Adventure Tools and begun working on the entire hierarchy. I can defiantly see myself posting these guys on here in the near future as part of my Creature Feature.

On Hold

• Thankfully nothing is currently on major hold at the moment, but once my girlfriend goes back to university, I can see Chronicles of Heroes going here until next summer, as she is a member of the gaming group that is playing that module. My philosophy is very much that the party that starts is the party that finishes, and as such I would much rather shut down a module than run it minus a player. This prevents not only out levelling, but the absent player from missing any key parts of the story.

Well, that’s very much everything. Don’t forget to check back or subscribe to get updates on what’s going on.

Welcome to The D-Twenty

Hello there and welcome to my dungeons and dragons blog. Here I will post a mix of house rules, custom monsters, tips on and experiences with dm'ing, fiction based on the events of my various d&d groups and other role playing thoughts. I hope everyone who reads this little blog finds it interesting and even useful!