Alright, hopefully you still check your MTGS account because I finished The Crippled God last night.
Ha! Literally just randomly logged on after someone from salvation jumped on a nexus thread of mine overnight.
Thoughts? It's a long ass journey, but TCG is pretty amazing in my opinion.
Nice coincidence! Yeah, it's long but absolutely worth it. I honestly haven't been that satisfied with a series since I read A Song of Ice and Fire almost a decade ago, which is saying something because I read a lot of books. I'm actually a little worried that Malazan's turning me into a book snob - I tried reading one of Mark Lawrence's (who had been one of my favorite authors for a while) newest entries this summer between TTH and DOD and it was just not doing it for me.
Have you read the rest of the Malazan universe? I worked ICE's books a bit into my first read through of MBOTF, specifically NOK, ROTCG, SW, and OST, and I've read one or Bauchelain and Korbal Broach books, but haven't hit Kharkanas or PTA yet. If so, do you think I should next read Blood & Bone, Dancer's Lament, or Forge of Darkness?
Honestly, I hated Mark Lawrence. I read the Broken Empire and just hated every page of it. I thought it was cliched and overwrought, not subtle at all, and just not well written. I understand his writing has improved, but I won't try again. In terms of grimdark fiction though, if you haven't read Joe Abercrombie, you definitely should. He's an excellent writer. The First Law series is top notch.
I have read the rest of the Malazan universe, barring one book which I just ran out of steam with. Here's my thoughts for each, as they do vary in quality:
Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas - dark black satire, which I really enjoyed. Virtually non-related to the main story arc so you don't need to read in any sequence.
ICE - varies in quality, but I really enjoyed ROTCG, SW and NOK. OST was a weird one for me, and I've heard Assail isn't great, but I don't mind ICE's writing, so I do want to finish it. Blood and Bone is good, too, it relates to the Crimson Guard. I know there's folk out there that don't like that one, but I enjoyed it, again.
Kharkanas - these are Erikson's attempt at Homerian epics. They're a VERY different read in terms of writing tone, and they do a lot to give context to the mythos of the Tiste and the early ages. Bear in mind its an unfinished series, which is a massive shame as far as I'm concerned. Nonetheless I thought these were great. I'd definitely give them a go.
What you read next depends on who you want to hear more about - Ammanas/Dancer, go Dancer's Lament. Crimson Guard, go Blood and Bone. Tiste of all varieties, go Forge of Darkness.
I really like your Nexus post and I'm glad you're still waving the Dralnu banner (and thanks for the shout out in your post )
I've been testing Brokkos since he was spoiled and I'll be honest, I think my Dralnu days are behind me. It's sad but the deck had grown around Paradox Engine more than I had realize and the ban really took away my enthusiasm for the deck. Brokkos has breathed new life into the deck for me and it feels similar enough while also feeling fresh and new.
Aw, that's a shame, but I understand. And you're very welcome for the shoutout. This very quickly became my favourite primer on Salvation once I found it. I'm fairly committed to sticking with Dralnu for now, and my post needs a pretty good upgrade at some point, the front page is a bit of a mess. All in good time.
For myself I'm sort of glad Paradox Engine is gone, because my build got to the point of playing 'hold out until you can find Engine', and while it was effective it got a bit boring. So now I have a new plan to diversify the threats in my list a little and get value from a few more places. I'm gonna trial Bolas's Citadel and Dream Halls as value engines, and work in a few ways to untap Dralnu for recurring value (Chakram Retriever, Retreat to Coralhelm, Minamo, School at Water's Edge). Dream Halls I've had for the longest time, and I can't believe I didn't think of using it here. I can definitely make more use of it than my opponents, so I can break the symmetry of it easy enough, I'll just need to make sure I have strong draw to keep a full grip. Citadel should be fun too, and I kind of like the fact that both of them are a bit suicidal in different ways, it adds an element of having to take your shots and make them count, which I find fun.
I'm also looking at hamming up Mystical Sanctuary for value over turns too. Spamming Cryptic Command seems hilarious, and Citadel makes it easy enough to get decent use from whatever I'm recurring. Other than that, a couple of other storm elements may come in, but all of this is pure brainstorming at present, I haven't made any changes yet. I'm hoping it'll work out well and be fun, but who can say?
But unfortunately, Dralnu might be. I've put this deck through a lot of testing since the Engine ban. That, plus it briefly looking like MTGS was going to close, I sort of forgot about the primer. I haven't really stuck with any Dralnu list post-Engine. I might be scraping the list entirely and using the reanimator core to build something new. Probably add green to the list and build Brokkos reanimator control. It's sad, but Dralnu isn't the same without Engine.
I don't know if Toc is still playing Dralnu.
Neither! Hooray us!
It's been a while since I logged in here at Salvation, I'm usually found over on mtgnexus now, and I have transferred my list over that way too. I'll be honest, it's been a little while since I gave Dralnu any huge thoughts in brewing, but that's exactly why I'm here, to see if Jenn has anything fresh in her build. Paradox Engine was a huge part of making the build really viable. That being said, I'm still running my build, and there's a couple of key pieces I'm looking at working around moving forward, if for nothing else as a nice way to try something new with a deck I really enjoy. I'm managing like 16 lists now, which is a little exhausting for mental rent space and brewing capabilities, let alone publishing the thoughts online. But yeah, I really enjoy Dralnu and I'm not willing to let the deck fade into the distance just yet.
Here is my thread over at Nexus, you're all welcome to swing over and have a squizz at the list if there's any interest.
So, I guess it's announcement time, and none of us should be overly surprised, but http://mtgnexus.com is now live. I've made an account there, and will be moving my lists over.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
The main differences between the websites is that the staff are now able to try all-sorts of different functionality within the MTGNexus website, where as they weren't able to do much at all with Salvation as they didn't actually own it and were limited with what they could try.
MTGNexus is just going to get better and better overtime with new features and functionality, where as Salvation is going to remain stagnate and realistically go backwards, because the staff who were maintaining the website here are now working on Nexus.
Maybe Salvation will get some new staffers to move things forward, but realistically that is unlikely due to the limitations that are already there.
MTGNexus really is a gift to Magic enthusiasts.
While I can't speculate as to the future of salvation, I for one am really happy with the aesthetics, functionality and general vibe of Nexus. Feyd and Cryo and the rest of the gang have been nothing short of incredibly accommodating in giving us the features we've requested, and porting over my threads from salvation has been rewarding - I won't say it's been completely easy, because the coding is slightly different (there's a TON of better coding options on Nexus), but the end results have been really great. For someone who isn't great at coding and has not a lick of graphic experience, my threads have ported over nicely and look streets ahead of how they looked here.
I'd really recommend giving it a look, so far it's been a really great upgrade. For myself I'll be spending most of my time on Nexus moving forward - my threads will still be here but I won't update them on salvation any further.
Yeah. Sad and unjustified imo. But whatever, rules are rules. I’m replacing with Turnabout temporarily, will see how it tests and go from there. Clearly it won’t have the sheer power of Paradox but it might be a thing. You never know.
So, I guess it's announcement time, and none of us should be overly surprised, but http://mtgnexus.com is now live. I've made an account there, and will be moving my lists over.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
So, I guess it's announcement time, and none of us should be overly surprised, but http://mtgnexus.com is now live. I've made an account there, and will be moving my lists over.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
So, I guess it's announcement time, and none of us should be overly surprised, but http://mtgnexus.com is now live. I've made an account there, and will be moving my lists over; this one being the first, purely because it has been the most recently active.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
I mean I think the lack of trample grant probably makes it safe enough. It's very versatile, but having to pour that much mana into it puts paid to doing much else in a turn - at least in the circumstance that you're not already tearing ahead as it is. I can attest to it doing some crazy things. Like, the right choice is almost always to tutor for Craterhoof or Pathbreaker Ibex, but it's not as instantaneously game ending as Tooth and Nail can be.
This card is good because it give you easy recurring etb value. This card is amazing because it hoses things like persist entirely by accident.
It doesn't at first glance look as strong or versatile as it is. Really great card in that it does a couple of things quite well. Its pseudo grave hate where needed, insta-defense where needed, insta-ETB where needed. Favourite recent play was imprinting a Noxious Gearhulk and just spamming it with wanton disregard for the board state. Great card that often gets unjustly overlooked.
Pre banning Leo was like $80. He's dropped a lot since then obviously, but apparently he still sees some play in other formats here and there.
With a relatively short print run, the Conspiracy 2 legends kind of all got up there at least a little. I remember picking up Queen Marchesa for like $6 initially and now she's close to $40 NZD. Selvala is probably the only one with a significantly skewed supply/demand ratio post Leo banning, purely because she's crazy good and there's not a lot of copies of her around, but the others there's not really a lot to justify their price.
I was surprised to see original CNS has a $32 regular rare in exploration. Now I kinda want to crack those packs, I could use another exploration. And I don't feel like dropping $30+.
It's where I picked up my 2 copies of Vedalken Orrery too. There were some great reprints in that set.
Fair enough! I guess it just comes across that way in a summary article because there are so many guilds to track through ~1-2 pages of information. I always thought the nephilim would play more of a part, too, considering how unique they are.
Thanks so much Jay. This is the last bit of lore I've really wanted to know for a while. Teferi being one of my favourite characters and wanting to know more about the Mending and 'modern Bolas', this was a great read, and well timed coming into Dominaria.
Great article. Long but not unnecessarily. I can pretty well agree with the conclusion too. My first thought was Leshrac, but not knowing a HUGE amount of older lore (I started playing at a young age), Leshrac seems unlikely. Lim-Dul fits the bill. It would be a great twist at some point too.
What are the odds the reveal happens in the upcoming Dominaria set next year? Fingers crossed.
Honestly, I hated Mark Lawrence. I read the Broken Empire and just hated every page of it. I thought it was cliched and overwrought, not subtle at all, and just not well written. I understand his writing has improved, but I won't try again. In terms of grimdark fiction though, if you haven't read Joe Abercrombie, you definitely should. He's an excellent writer. The First Law series is top notch.
I have read the rest of the Malazan universe, barring one book which I just ran out of steam with. Here's my thoughts for each, as they do vary in quality:
Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas - dark black satire, which I really enjoyed. Virtually non-related to the main story arc so you don't need to read in any sequence.
ICE - varies in quality, but I really enjoyed ROTCG, SW and NOK. OST was a weird one for me, and I've heard Assail isn't great, but I don't mind ICE's writing, so I do want to finish it. Blood and Bone is good, too, it relates to the Crimson Guard. I know there's folk out there that don't like that one, but I enjoyed it, again.
Kharkanas - these are Erikson's attempt at Homerian epics. They're a VERY different read in terms of writing tone, and they do a lot to give context to the mythos of the Tiste and the early ages. Bear in mind its an unfinished series, which is a massive shame as far as I'm concerned. Nonetheless I thought these were great. I'd definitely give them a go.
What you read next depends on who you want to hear more about - Ammanas/Dancer, go Dancer's Lament. Crimson Guard, go Blood and Bone. Tiste of all varieties, go Forge of Darkness.
Ha! Literally just randomly logged on after someone from salvation jumped on a nexus thread of mine overnight.
Thoughts? It's a long ass journey, but TCG is pretty amazing in my opinion.
Aw, that's a shame, but I understand. And you're very welcome for the shoutout. This very quickly became my favourite primer on Salvation once I found it. I'm fairly committed to sticking with Dralnu for now, and my post needs a pretty good upgrade at some point, the front page is a bit of a mess. All in good time.
For myself I'm sort of glad Paradox Engine is gone, because my build got to the point of playing 'hold out until you can find Engine', and while it was effective it got a bit boring. So now I have a new plan to diversify the threats in my list a little and get value from a few more places. I'm gonna trial Bolas's Citadel and Dream Halls as value engines, and work in a few ways to untap Dralnu for recurring value (Chakram Retriever, Retreat to Coralhelm, Minamo, School at Water's Edge). Dream Halls I've had for the longest time, and I can't believe I didn't think of using it here. I can definitely make more use of it than my opponents, so I can break the symmetry of it easy enough, I'll just need to make sure I have strong draw to keep a full grip. Citadel should be fun too, and I kind of like the fact that both of them are a bit suicidal in different ways, it adds an element of having to take your shots and make them count, which I find fun.
I'm also looking at hamming up Mystical Sanctuary for value over turns too. Spamming Cryptic Command seems hilarious, and Citadel makes it easy enough to get decent use from whatever I'm recurring. Other than that, a couple of other storm elements may come in, but all of this is pure brainstorming at present, I haven't made any changes yet. I'm hoping it'll work out well and be fun, but who can say?
Neither! Hooray us!
It's been a while since I logged in here at Salvation, I'm usually found over on mtgnexus now, and I have transferred my list over that way too. I'll be honest, it's been a little while since I gave Dralnu any huge thoughts in brewing, but that's exactly why I'm here, to see if Jenn has anything fresh in her build. Paradox Engine was a huge part of making the build really viable. That being said, I'm still running my build, and there's a couple of key pieces I'm looking at working around moving forward, if for nothing else as a nice way to try something new with a deck I really enjoy. I'm managing like 16 lists now, which is a little exhausting for mental rent space and brewing capabilities, let alone publishing the thoughts online. But yeah, I really enjoy Dralnu and I'm not willing to let the deck fade into the distance just yet.
Here is my thread over at Nexus, you're all welcome to swing over and have a squizz at the list if there's any interest.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
While I can't speculate as to the future of salvation, I for one am really happy with the aesthetics, functionality and general vibe of Nexus. Feyd and Cryo and the rest of the gang have been nothing short of incredibly accommodating in giving us the features we've requested, and porting over my threads from salvation has been rewarding - I won't say it's been completely easy, because the coding is slightly different (there's a TON of better coding options on Nexus), but the end results have been really great. For someone who isn't great at coding and has not a lick of graphic experience, my threads have ported over nicely and look streets ahead of how they looked here.
I'd really recommend giving it a look, so far it's been a really great upgrade. For myself I'll be spending most of my time on Nexus moving forward - my threads will still be here but I won't update them on salvation any further.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
My thread is active here, so feel free to follow. I won't be updating my list here any further, and once my lists are fully ported over I will be asking the mods here at salvation to lock these.
I wish all here at salvation and those who choose to stay the best of fortune into the future, and hope to see at least some of you over on Nexus in due course.
It doesn't at first glance look as strong or versatile as it is. Really great card in that it does a couple of things quite well. Its pseudo grave hate where needed, insta-defense where needed, insta-ETB where needed. Favourite recent play was imprinting a Noxious Gearhulk and just spamming it with wanton disregard for the board state. Great card that often gets unjustly overlooked.
With a relatively short print run, the Conspiracy 2 legends kind of all got up there at least a little. I remember picking up Queen Marchesa for like $6 initially and now she's close to $40 NZD. Selvala is probably the only one with a significantly skewed supply/demand ratio post Leo banning, purely because she's crazy good and there's not a lot of copies of her around, but the others there's not really a lot to justify their price.
It's where I picked up my 2 copies of Vedalken Orrery too. There were some great reprints in that set.
Congrats! And congrats on your career as a pro Commander player