As long as there's music, I'll keep on dancing.

Bayonetta is quite simply the best action game ever made. I thought that when i first played it, i thought it when i played it a second time, and i still think it today.

God of War? Don't think so. Ninja Gaiden? Don't make me laugh. Devil May Cry? Sorry, there's a new big dog in town. Bayonetta outclasses them all in nearly every catagory. Today i will attempt to explain why.

I am an action game fanatic. From fighting games to action adventure to basic beatdown games and so on, i am obsessed with the genre. Picking them apart and judging them far more than any genre (except RPG, but thats another story.) has led me to some interesting thoughts when it comes to that style of game.

The genre is absolutely loaded with excellent games. Such as the three games mentioned already plus innumerable others, the genre is stocked to the brim with easy to hop into action games that range from the basic, fun style of gameplay that anyone can hop into (God of War) to the severely complex that only the most die hard of fans will ever truly master (Devil May Cry).

Bayonetta has done many things that alot of the genre has tried to do, but significantly better and in a complete package.

1. Serious game, but doesnt take itself seriously.

Don't let the ads fool you, Bayonetta is not just about fan-service with a busty heroine shaking her ass at every opportunity. It is a legit game with a real story and characters with their own goals and pasts associated with them. But the key thing to note here is despite the story and plot elements, the game never gets too serious or tries too hard. The characters have great personalities with plenty of quirks and humor to keep the game from getting stale like many action games who throw in a useless plot just to have one. Bayonetta is witty, charming, and has a great flair that makes you smile as she tongue lashes those who get in her path.

2. Absurd world scale

This isnt unique to just Bayonetta, but Bayonetta definately does it the best. The plot involves fighting titanic angels and gods and massive tanks and such. But forget gimmicks or other cliche ways to interact, it puts you right in the thick of it. Running along their arms and legs is commonplace as you attempt to fell the behemoths in any method you possibly can. Massive towers seemingly miles tall, time and gravity control add in unique twists and plot fun that most games just dont explore, or dont incorporate quite like this game does.

3. Every weapon and item is useful.

My absolute biggest complaint about action games is there is almost always a go-to item or weapon that simply outclasses the others and the thought of using the other items simply isnt pleasing. For example, in God of War the blades of chaos are basically universally used in the series. you get plenty of other options but none are on the same level as the blades. I understand theres plot involved in the weapon, but it begs the question why give other options at all if they dont match up. In Bayonetta you have the interesting addition of having weapons on your feet as well as your hands, which creates interesting combinations and lets you play her how you want. The best part? Every weapon is good, useful, and is never obsolete. The starting pistols are absolutely useful the entire game. All the trinkets and random items you get are good, everything works and is fun to use.

4. Total Character Control

Bayonetta is one of the most well animated easiest to play action games ive ever seen. The animations are fluid, the controls are tight, and you never feel like you have to work to get her to do what you want. If you get hit, its your fault. If your combo whiffs, its your fault. Each weapon is powerful, responsive, and easy to use. However don't let this fool you, the game is incredibly complex and you can do some truly amazing things with the options given to you. Even better, the game punishes button spamming by assigning transformation toggles to pressing the same button twice rapidly, which will immediately interrupt your combo or foil any plans of doing well in a fight. Precision is rewarded and encouraged by giving you a "bullet time" effect for a couple seconds every time you perfectly dodge an attack. But spam the dodge button and you turn into a panther, making you sure to be hit. Its set up perfectly and feels "right".

5. Perfect Difficulty

My absolute biggest gripe with action games and indeed games of all types is the rather absurd level of difficulty they are throwing at us these days. I constantly hear myself using the term "Nintendo Hard" which basically means theres way too much trial and error and very little actual strategy or challenge involved. This applies to nearly every game on the market, especially in this genre. Ninja Gaiden and Demon's Souls really break this one wide open and utilize Nintendo hard to the fullest. Some people love Nintendo hard, others like myself utterly despise it. I much prefer a game that makes it challenging. not too difficult, not too easy. You might die a couple times, it might take you a few attempts to figure out what to do, but its never unfair and you never feel like you cant win. Bayonetta follows that mentality to a T. The solution might not always be obvious, but it never feels like the game wants you to lose.

6. Just Plain Fun

The thing Bayonetta does best, is it is simply fun. Playing it is perpetually fun and the action and story is continuously varied and fresh. You never backtrack through the same levels (artificial lengthening is very common in the action genre) the combat is always fun and never repetitive, the enemies continue to be different all the way through the game, and theres enough tricks with time and gravity to make the game just flat out enjoyable. The game is never frustrating, never dull, and continues to be enjoyable through to the very end.

Bayonetta thankfully got the recognition it deserves and had numerous game of the year nominations on all the gaming fronts and it was critically and financially acclaimed. I truly hope other developers use it as an example for future games. It is fun, charming, and is thoroughly polished and well made. It is the best action game ever made.

While it's not about video games.....

When the media finds reasons to blame video games for either physical or social problems, I have to laugh.

Example: Woman plays game for a twenty-four hour period of time straight, baby dies, must be the games fault.

Example: Boy fails school subject, parents confiscate xbox 360, boy kills parents to get xbox back, must be the games fault.

Situations like this seem to crop up all too often, and while it is regrettable that things like this happen, I don't understand why the blame constantly seems to be pushed onto the game. The game doesn't force you to play it. It doesn't force you to do anything. I can understand being addicted to games, trust me. I can give an example of what some may consider neglect in my very own life. I used to be hopelessly addicted to Diablo 2. I used to play it nightly, and I NEEDED to play. I was in charge of my oldest son while my wife worked a night job and that was prime D2 time. I used to make what I called a "doggy bed" by my computer chair so my oldest son would have somewhere to sleep closeby while I D2'd it up. Not exactly model parent of the year award material. I made the choice to do that, in some ways I regret even playing D2 because of the amount of time that game sucked out of my life, but it always comes back to me making the choice to do so, the game never made me type in my password.

What do you people think?

Won't someone please think of the children

This may be old news, but whatever. A recent commercial featuring Call of Duty: Black ops entitled "There's A Soldier In All of Us" Link Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pblj3JHF-Jo has been making a splash with a few different columnists out there. Seems a few over at ESPN have gotten excited about the fact that Kobe Bryant is in this one minute long plug for the latest COD shooter. LINK HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59XgWDTi7mI Their claims are that it's not the image he should be putting out there as a role model for children to look up to.

Games are a media outlet, just like newspapers, magazines, and movies. Political, religious, controversial, and any other faction of life can and will be explored and exploited. There are plenty of video games with a message in them, all of them if you REALLY want to stretch and look. I can see the ESPN folks' point, KB is a role model that I'm sure plenty of kids look up to and idolize, however, I'm struggling to see why he is in the wrong for appearing in this particular commercial. First of all, it is after all, a video game. If you are a parent that is opposed to your child seeing this commercial or playing this game, then it is your responsibility to prevent it. Secondly, as a celebrity, he is going to be presented with paid opportunities for product promotion. It's just the simple fact of fame. Why shouldn't he take them up on the offer if the product is something he feels he could promote? Lastly, and I'm sure there are more reasons, but I'm lazy, perhaps KB actually plays that game and felt personally attached to it. Would the ESPN commentators feel the same way if he appeared in a cat food commercial if he were a giant cat lover? I doubt it.

On a side note:

I don't even know where to begin. I just can't imagine this is what they had in mind when they decided that motion control was a good thing. My brother, out of hatred, anger, or just bastardly behavior, linked this to me via IM this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9klfQMM-D9A

This is the reality behind motion control people.

Great Expectations?

So as many of you know, Gran Turismo 5 released recently. This racing sim has been anticipated by many for a number of years. The hypetrain was running full force and of course this game had a critical eye trained on it immediately after it was announced.

I picked up my copy day one. Once placed into the drive, there was a patch, then an install (optional), I chose to install the patch as it stated it would make the load times much less if I did. After that I was able to play the game. First impressions, it is beautiful, realistic feel, and fun. I did have a few gripes. First the menu navigation is slow, and having to back out of everything gets old, however, once used to this, it stopped bothering me. Second, the load times, still JUST SO SLOW even after the 8gig install. No idea why this is, but it is. Of course that's just one persons opinion, and I hadn't really been following the reviews of this game as I had planned to purchase it regardless of score. After playing it a few days and enjoying myself, I decided to go online and see what everyone else thought about it.

Holy crap is this game ever getting torn apart by the critics and the eknow-it-alls. Everyone has something to say about this game, and by some of the media outlets, a lot of it is not good. I wonder if they are even playing the same game at times, as it's getting ripped up about things that I thought were actually fairly fun or looked just fine. Banged on for the graphics, sure it has its flaws and sometimes you wonder why they even put the people that stand along the side of the road cheering you on in the game to begin with (they look like shit if you stop and look at them, graphically that is) and some of the cars are obviously not polished, but those aren't cars you will want to drive anyway, they are step-stone cars, used once maybe twice and tossed aside for an upgrade. Maybe I'm being too easy on this game just because I was excited for it and therefore I turn my head the other direction, but I'm having a damn good time with it so.....

I'm getting to the point where I just don't know if I can even trust the reviews and the journalists that follow the gaming industry. They are super critical of some titles, and then other titles the failures are just put aside and forgotten in the review. I suppose a review just boils down to a matter of opinion in the end, and therefore should be taken as such, but I believe many people put a true value to the number assigned by these journalist and they end up passing on some really great titles because of it. Sad really.

Stupid things done in video games, part 1

When I first got my hands on the NES version of Dragon Warrior, I played that game to the full extent. I maxed out the gold that my character could carry, I fully leveled him up, and I did all the quests that were needed to be done.

One quest that you'd encountered towards the beginning of the game was rescuing the princess of Tantegel Castle. She was imprisioned in a cave to the east, guarded by a dragon. Rescuing her meant you got to carry her back to the castle, have her fall in love with you, and receive an item called Gwaelin's Love. When playing Dragon Warrior for the first time, this was an important piece of equipment. It would tell you what your current experience level was and how far away you were from leveling. It would also tell you your distance from the castle in terms of steps north, south, east or west. This was important for finding several items.

I played the shit out of this game, and several years ago, I got a brilliant idea. I knew where most of the items were, and if I got stumped, the internet was only a few clicks away. Why did I need to burden myself with some whiny broad that doesn't put out for me at all within the game and get a relatively useless piece of equipment that I'd no longer need?

The challenge was set. I would finish the game without rescuing the princess, leaving her to rot in her dungeon. Of course, I'd kill the dragon outside her cell; added experience points and gold were always a bonus. But I wouldn't unlock the door, I wouldn't talk to the princess, I wouldn't carry her home, and I definitely wouldn't get some lameass trinket that would remind me that no matter what happened, she loved me because I was the only guy in the country that could kill a fucking dragon and unlock the door.

As of now, the challenge sits uncompleted. I no longer have an NES as my mother demanded that when she filed for divorce. I may end up having to make myself a purchase of the Retro Duo NES/SNES Game System just so I can complete this. Either that, or find my Game Boy Color copy of Dragon Warrior 1&2 and run the challenge on that.

We are Legion

Yeah, I did it. I bought Call of Duty: Black Ops. Joined the legion of players doing the COD thing, it really is the hip thing to do. I really purchased this game for one reason, and that's the zombie survival mode. Had a friend not introduced me to this mode, I would have never purchased this game. It was never really on my radar as the online component is really what most people buy this game for, and the style of play; run in, spray and pray, die, respawn, and do it all over again, style of play has never really been my thing. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good shooter. I dryhumped the crap out of MAG, and before that Killzone 2 and Gears of War were in my drives for months. I have just avoided COD games due to the style of online play. Zombie mode is great for me, as it can either last a long time; if you're working together as a team and are a reasonably good shot, or it can be over in just a few short minutes.

Of course, I wouldn't be posting if I didn't have a slight problem now would I. I finally got pulled into the REAL online play of this game last weekend. You see, I have a few on my friends list who get sick of killing npc zombies over and over again, and wanted to do some of the “real” online. I went along with it, thinking it wasn't what I had always thought it was. It was. I can't even begin to tell you how closely it matched my expectations. Between people quitting to save their K/D ratio or stats, and hosts leaving the game, which by the way, is such an utter pain in the ass that alone would frustrate you since if the host leaves, its a sixty second wait for a new host to be selected. The “real online” is exactly as I expected, twitchfest central. Not my cup of tea,but it seems to be quite popular, and I've heard some really hilarious conversations (read COD fights) while playing. Price of entry was worth it for the zombies, but don't expect anything above and beyond for online play, its just not there. The conversation is fun though.

On a side note, this article popped up http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=277520 and it made me chuckle. There are people starting a petition for a refund of the PS3 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops due to it lacking in many areas. The refund will never happen, of course, and these consumers would be better off petitioning Sony to get one of their first party studios to make an exclusive shooter..... OH WAIT!!!!!!! HAHA

Bottomline is, I hopped on the COD bandwagon, and I don't regret my purchase, it's a fun game that I'll get my money out of, but the online is not without its (many) flaws.....

-BroodFather

The growth of a backlog

How familiar are you with this scenario? It's Christmas morning, and your ten year old self is running over to the Christmas tree to see what wonderful gifts you've gotten. You rip open your gifts to find that you've gotten a number of video games. You shriek in utter joy, run over to your console and pop one in to start playing it. After a bit, you pop in another one, and another, and another. After doing this for part of the morning, you settle on one game, and play that through to completion over the next few days/weeks/months. Then you start the second one and do the same. By the time the third one is started, it's your birthday and you receive more games. You're still working your way through the last two games you got for Christmas, but now you've got several more that you need to conquer, and by the time you get through them, it'll be past Christmas and you'll have even more games to play and finish.

As a kid, I ran into that problem. It didn't happen so much with the Atari 2600 as most of those games really weren't much for story and didn't have a definite end, but once the NES came out, we started seeing games that rewarded the gamers with an ending and made spending all that time playing worthwhile. As it stands, I still have several NES games that I've yet to finish, but none of them have gone unplayed.

This all changed when I reached adulthood. With stores going ahead and selling used games, I was able to go ahead and get some of those games I'd always wanted when I was younger. My SNES collection grew quite a bit, and because of this I'd started finding myself with games that were going with only a few hours spent on them before I'd get a new game that would distract me.

After that came my N64, the PSX, the GCN, the GBA, the PS2, the PSP, the DS, the Wii, and finally the Xbox 360. I noticed I had more and more games that I'd wanted to play, but less and less time as responsibilities grew. What made it even more challenging was with several games, data carried over from the first in the series over to the second, then the third (I'm looking at you, Suikoden series), and you wanted to make sure that you got all the items and characters in the first so you could kick some major ass in the following games. This all took a lot of time, which also meant that your game library went neglected for a bit as you were concentrating on this one game. But did that mean your library didn't grow? Oh no. That new Final Fantasy game came out, and you definitely needed that. And shortly after that? Oh man, you needed to get your hands on Soul Reaver. What's that? A new console? Let's go stand in line at midnight to get our hands on that!

It's a never ending battle, to be perfectly honest. I've got a number of games that I've yet to play just because they're part of some series, and I need to finish the preceding games in order to have the story make sense (the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver series, the Golden Sun series, the Suikoden series, Baten Kaitos and it's prequel, the Metroid Prime series, the Mass Effect games, and so on). Or I picked them up as part of a package deal and have yet to dedicate some time to them.

But is this truly a problem? Strangely enough, I really don't think it is. While I do have this ginormous backlog of games, it gives me the variety and change that could be needed to liven up my gaming activities after getting weary of the current game-of-choice.

It's ok to quit games.

There's a certain instinct that is in us gamers that forces us to play our games either to completion, or until we forget about the game entirely. Very seldom do we drop a game because we just plain don't want to finish it. Unless the game is really bad of course.

But occasionally a game will come along that truly tests the limits of your patience, either skill wise or there's an issue of fairness, or the game just went downhill from where you started and you weren't interested anymore.

For many people, this instinct will drive us to even further try and beat the game, to prove to it that its not the boss of us and we shall persevere.

To date, i have given up on exactly 2 games, and 1 technicality in a game (green grass and high tides on expert guitar). Tonight was the 2nd game.

The first game:

Prototype.

In prototype you star as Alex Mercer, a mutated human being who doesn't know what the hell happened to him, all he knows is that the government is looking for him and he has a big chip on his shoulder and he is going to exact harsh vengeance on whoever did it to him.

You have a huge array of powers and abilities, and you can travel with an incredible ease. Running up vertical buildings, flying from rooftop to rooftop, throwing tanks at helicopters, and many more fun things are possible.

When i first got into prototype, i really enjoyed it. It was the strongest i ever felt in a video game. The feeling of power and the relative ease made it really exciting and you never felt like the game would beat you.

The quest was OK, nothing special. It was enough to keep me playing in combination with the ridiculously powerful abilities Alex had.

But towards the end, the game took a major turn for the worst. The game hopped massively in difficulty, and threw a brick wall in the way of fun. Despite your ability to cleave tanks in half and disguise yourself as literally anyone in the game, the game became incredibly difficult and ended up "stuck locking" you with rockets. No amount of armor or dodging or stealth would stop these stunlocks, and i got to a point where fun had left the building, and all that was left was straight up frustration.

Despite being literally 3 quests away from the end, i called it quits and uninstalled the game from my computer cold turkey. I never regretted it.

Today i quit the 2nd game of my life.

The Second Game:

Infamous.

Infamous is highly similar to prototype. Both games give you super powers in a world of the super powerless. However there are a few differences.

Infamous has a much stronger story line that is truly intriguing and keeps you drawn into its world. I really enjoyed the storyboard comic art cut scenes and was eager to see the story evolve.

Cole's powers, while significantly more diverse than Alex's from prototype, are significantly weaker and harder to use. While Alex would cut down entire swaths of enemies per swing, Cole requires pinpoint accuracy and multiple shots per kill. Eventually even head shots (or "head shocks" as the game refers to them) take multiple hits to kill a target.

He has some powerful attacks, but they quickly drain energy and the enemies are rather good at avoiding them. Or, more commonly, your too busy running away trying not to die so your not really able to effectively use your powers.

Whereas Alex has the option of being super fast with a massive shield, or slow but completely encased in armor, Cole has pretty much nothing of the sort. Late in the game he gets a shield, but it requires you to aim it specifically instead of being able to use powers. Its also mostly ineffective and i barely used it unless i was fighting specific enemies.

Infamous started out pretty good, the strong story and polished game play definitely had me drawn in from the start. My initial complaint that still occurred throughout the entire game was Cole's weakness. He dies very quickly and his primary attack takes many hits to kill with, and the game throws truly ludicrous amounts of enemies at you which exacerbated that problem.

But, i wasn't really getting beaten down much. I would get hurt and eventually best the enemies and move on. This kept me playing the game and i was doing all the side quests the game had to offer even though they weren't very exciting.

And then the similarities to prototype became even more apparent as yet again it threw a massive brick wall in the way of the fun.

The boss creatures (conduits) would eventually become commonplace and the amount of enemies would increase exponentially in number. Couple this with Cole never actually getting much stronger, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The number of deaths started climbing up rapidly. Many times i found myself in situations where i literally would just let myself die because its so much of a hassle to try and fight my way out of it. The enemies pinpoint accuracy and refusal to die to my barrage of attacks really was taking its toll on me, and i could feel that same feeling of pure annoyance and frustration that i felt in prototype.

I got to the final area of the game, a mere handful of quests away from the end, and simply could not take it anymore.

My radar utterly full of red dots, the screen filled with a hail of bullets coming at me with surgical precision, i let Cole die, and i turned off the game and put it back in its case. I wont be playing it again.

That brings the number of games Ive quit up to 2.

I heard someone in a movie say once "people do not keep doing that which they do not enjoy."

I play games to have fun. I play games to beat challenges and experience something you can share with others.

If you are no longer having fun, its time to move on.

Sorry Infamous and Prototype, you stopped being fun and don't deserve my time to be finished.

But, its OK. Its just a game, its OK to quit games.

You put the Rhythm in Me.

Rhythm games are being thrown at us a pretty steady barrage these past few years, and like the masses, i too have fallen prey to their many incarnations.

Some people don't get why they are so popular, and others eat them up and play them pretty much endlessly for a pretty lengthy period before getting bored, and then simply playing the next incarnation as they continuously get pumped out.

Rhythm games are also culprit #1 for DLC, with releases coming out weekly or even faster. I managed to avoid most of it, but i did download quite a bit of songs when i was seriously playing.

What is it about the game that is so addictive? You bust out your little plastic instruments and pretend like your a rocker, but without the fans, fame, or perks that rockers get. Pretty much the opposite of a rocker, really.

I know for me personally, its the pretty immense feeling of accomplishment that i got from besting some of the most challenging activities Ive ever experienced in a game.

Not only that, it can be truly impressive to those around you to see someone who has mastered their little plastic toy, as if they have defied the odds and overcome something that only few souls can.

I remember hopping online after finally beating the rock band single player campaign on expert, and the amount of compliments i received was great to hear and made me feel like the trek had been worth it.

It was honestly one of the only games in history that i would play time and time again, playing the same song over and over in an almost fanatical sense, trying to get that 5th star or complete some sort of challenge. To the outsider it might seem silly, but i was in the moment and wasn't stopping anytime soon.

Like all good things, it was bound to end. I haven't played rock band in over a year, (though i actually would really like to try rock band 3's pro guitar) but the urge to play does show up from time to time. However, i think Ive finally shaken its stranglehold it has on me.

But i cant honestly say I'm done with those games forever. I'm sure the developers will come out with something that defies all logic and draws me right back in, its just a matter of time.

The Console Conundrum

Video game consoles are on an absurd level right now. A+ releases show up monthly, there are endless libraries of solid titles on the PS3, Wii, and 360. Yet why is it that every time i sit down to play one of these games, i cant?

I am a long time avid video game player, i own hundreds of games throughout multiple consoles, and to this day I'm still quick to hop over to my local Gamestop and pick up the latest over-hyped title.

My primary love has been and always will be PC games, however the PC game market is as stale as Tara Reid's career, so I'm forced to pick up a lot of console-only titles, which sit in a binder pretty much un-touched despite being actually really good games.

Having expressed this conundrum to many friends of mine, i quickly found out that i am far from alone in this situation. Everyone i mentioned it to was quick to point out that they are having the exact same issue as me.

Why is this? Why, despite being great games that are completely worth of investment in both time and money, do some of us utterly fail at playing our console games?

Allow me to paint a picture for you.

My computer room is also my bedroom, i have a nice dual monitor setup on my desk, with a 37 inch HDTV to the left of my desk so i cant watch TV. My computer is hooked up to surround sound speakers i have hung up on the walls in my room. My chair is a basic leather computer chair. The whole place is very comfortable and functional, but nothing special.

Now lets go into my living room. My living room has a 1080p 120 inch HD projector hooked up to my consoles and TV box. My curtains are closed off and sealed shut so no light comes in from outside, allowing for the most clear possible picture to display on my screen. i have a beefy Sony surround sound system hooked up to everything and the couch is very comfortable and has places to put drinks and such. Its a gamers paradise.

I can sit on my computer for the entirety of a day and not thing twice about it. Yet if i go into the gamers paradise living room, i usually am done in 1-2 hours and quickly retreat to my computer room. Buh?

It defies all logic. i have yet to finish A+ titles like Infamous and Metal Gear Solid 4, but i recently spent a whopping 7 hours of my day playing The Sims 3 on my PC.

I cant explain it. My friends cant explain it. What is it about consoles that us old school gamers have a hard time adjusting to, when clearly millions of people on the planet can do without thinking twice?

Its quite a conundrum.

Expanding your horizon.

Let me open with this. What you're about to read may not even be coherent, as it was written with me in a fury, so I was simply pounding the keys.

What is the deal with games releasing, and then just a few weeks later, DLC is released? I'm getting severely tired of this, and it's becoming a more and more common practice. Recently, Fallout New Vegas released. Personally, I enjoyed Fallout 3 quite a lot, and therefore, I was looking forward to New Vegas. I did not purchase any of the Fallout 3 expansions as they came out, and after the game of the year edition released, I refused to purchase them purely on principal. Granted, I should have known they would release a game of the year edition with all the expansions on it, as they've done it with other titles, but I still felt that pang of frustration when it was released. This frustration led me to not purchase New Vegas due to the imminent GOTY release later on. Fool me once, I was dumb and the developers were dicks, fool me twice and I'm just dumb.

Probably the worst part of games that release DLC shortly after their retail launch is the fact that, as a gamer, you know in your heart that they could have just put that onto the disc as it was finished content that was ready to go before the game was released anyway. So the developers are just sitting on the content ready to release it, with no additional work or thought put into it. TAKE THAT FANS! People lap this crap up, and will continue to do so, that's why developers will continue to rape your wallet with expansions that are already finished. It's smart business, but if it doesn't piss you off just a bit you either have money to burn (in which case, send to me) or you are just ignoring it and drinking whatever juice they have at the table. In either case, so long as we (gamers) continue to buy the DLC, they will sell it.

Worse yet, are games that are released as full retail versions, and immediately after opening them you realize it's just a glorified expansion in and of itself. (I'm looking at you Halo: ODST) Every person I know that purchased ODST had the same gripe, it should have just been DLC. Not only is releasing a full retail game that's little more than an expansion a slap in the face to the fanbase of the franchise, it's also a little bit sad. It's as though the developer has just given up trying or knows the fanbase will buy it regardless so long as they slap a certain name on it. Sadly the latter is probably the truth.

Now before you start ripping into me with crap like “X game was so good, I like the fact they increased the amount of game time I got out of it via the expansions” or “expansions keep me from buying a whole new sixty dollar retail version of a new game” or “It's cheaper to buy DLC to add on to an existing game than buy a whole new game” I get the expansion thing. I really do, I have purchased expansions in the past, and will continue to do so as long as I feel they are worth it. I understand games such as MMO's need expansions to keep content fresh and the players continuing to pay that monthly fee. None of this escapes me. I am more frustrated about DLC releasing VERY shortly after retail release, as stated above that crap was already done and ready before they released the retail and therefore belonged on the disc to begin with, and also full retail games being released that ARE just DLC.

Do what you want with your money, after all, it's yours to spend, but I've taken on a whole new way of purchasing games that I know there will be an eventual GOTY edition with all the add-on content. I simply can not justify buying them until the GOTY releases.

Console Game Play Evolutions: ‘Saves’

This article is dedicated to the ‘way things were’ as compared to the standards of today.   Things are usually forgotten because better things come along, but there are also those that never even knew about them in the first place.  For instance, my son who is 6, plays with Lego’s religiously.  Some of them were mine when I was younger and due to the glory of Lego, they are fully compatible with the brand new stuff released today.  Gaming isn’t so fortunate.  The ways of the past are usually forgotten by the technology of today.

The first stop on our trip is the mystical world of game saves.  Now when I was a lad, saving your game meant not letting your little brother get his filthy hands on it so you would have a chance to play again at some point….In other words, saves were not possible on consoles and even on computer required a lot more hassle and hardware than most people were willing to shell out.   Compared to the alternatives of the day, the Atari 2600 was a glorious and for most kids, a glamorous item to use as a bargaining chip for whose house was to be played at.  As a  ‘farm kid’ my ventures to the ‘uppity’ kids houses were few and far between so when it happened I took full advantage of the situation and hogged it from them.  In those days we didn’t think twice about turning the system on and restarting the game from the beginning each time.  It was the way things were done and we ate it up as fast as we could get our hands on the next small black cartridges.

Oh Nintendo, you sly minx you.  It was all I could do to keep myself from drooling on the pages of the “JC Penny” Christmas catalog where you so cleverly adorned the pages.  I remember pulling out all stops to try to acquire one.  I was a new age and technology starved version of Ralphie and I wasn’t about to let Santa boot my tail down the chute on this one.  I think more than one Christmas came and went without the elusive grey box magically appearing, but I was undeterred.  I remember working to mow grass and change irrigation pipe lines to earn money to buy my way into the cutting edge of gaming glory.  When I finally purchased  the little minx It had just dropped in price and I had enough saved for a couple games, one of which was Metroid.   Now those that remember the original Metroid also remember having to purchase the non-standard accessory in order to write down the password.  Yes folks, Nintendo had implemented save points in the form of a 726 (slight exaggeration) character password, and you could share this with all your friends to brag about how far you had gotten.  We didn’t care though, we could start with morph ball and bombs right from the start!  Some NES games had build in batteries where it would save your progress at certain triggers, most commonly by running out of lives.  This was progress my friends.

The way of the battery save file continued through our Genesis and SNES days and even carried over to the last gasps of the cartridges, the Jaguar and N64.  Problem is, carts were dying and with them the battery save was dying as well.  What’s this?  A memory card!?  Oh my goodness what glorious evolution, or was it?  I remember more than once forgetting to manually save some games and being more than a little ticked in those early days of the Saturn and Playstation, not to mention having to purchase them separately and having to keep track of them.  Games such as Final Fantasy 7 combined checkpoint saves into the game and other games didn’t even remind you!  Other games kept the auto-save feature but just transitioned it to the memory card, a handy feature indeed, if you owned a memory card.  With memory cards came the invention of the Dex Drive (anyone remember those?)  I still have the Playstation and N64 dex drive units and I remember e-mailing my save files to different members of an online dex-drive user group and also receiving a few save files in return to try out.  The advent of the internet allowed for such unthinkable transactions between gamers!  

The memory card is still a staple of gaming (as well as tech products) today, but is less common than in years past.  The current generation consoles almost all have a built in memory of some sort for game saving (amongst other things) and you don’t really have to think about game saves in today’s world, unless you are paranoid.  Auto-saves combined with a built in location is handy, unless you experience hardware problems!   I just happened to be unlucky enough to experience the pitfalls of today’s saving trends.  My launch PS3 experienced a ‘warmth'  problem and it just so happens that my power supply motherboard melted itself.  No problem right, just have Sony fix it!  Oh ho!  Not so fast Mr. Frisky.  Apparently the PS3’s hardware is ‘serial number’ specific.  I was informed by Sony that I would lose all data on my HDD due to them having to change hardware or send me a replacement unit if necessary.  If I had backed up my games, this would be mostly moot.  I say mostly because some game saves can’t be backed up.  What?  (I heard you say this out loud)  Yes it’s true; some games are both tied to your hardware serial and to your online ID so they can’t be shared or backed up.  I guess it’s a way to protect trophy seekers from cheating to get trophies.  So I lost a few game saves, I lived and it’s not a problem most people will have to deal with.  My replacement PS3 has been fine for years and I’m no worse for wear.   I do regularly back up the games I can now though.

So in the big scheme of things, we’ve come a long ways in the ways of saving games.  Most gamers today will inevitably take for granted the auto-save feature and the ease of having the massive HDD right there to save to, but those of us who lived through the early days really know the score.   S.O.S. (save often stupid)

-caddad

My dad can beat up your dad.

There have been countless articles written on the subject of “XBOX Live (XBL) versus Playstation Network (PSN).” Mostly they are opinion pieces where the author of the piece goes into either a very deep discussion of his opinion on which service is better and why, or the author simply spits out the same simple answers that have been said again and again. I personally really enjoy reading these articles, I can't explain why, but I almost always get a good laugh out of them. The best part of the articles, for obvious reasons, are the comments made by the visitors of the site. Nothing sparks a fan war quite like this topic this generation.

I truly feel it boils down to one thing. The only question one would have to ask themselves is “Would I pay for this service if I were allowed to have full access to my game, both the offline portion and the online portion?” If the answer is “Yes, there are enough bonuses attached to the service to make me willing to pay.”, then XBL is worth the price of entry. I owned a 360, and was a member of XBL while I owned it, and if you are a 360 owner looking to do much of anything online with your system, it's a must have item. I myself didn't use any other portion of XBL besides the online components of my games, as I bought the system to play the games, so the rest of Live was useless to me. Once I switched over to the PSN camp, I myself never looked back, as I again, was just there for the the games.

No one should tell you how to spend your money, or which of these services is better as it's up to you. I can tell you, from my perspective, if you are out to just play games and not the rest, the price of free beats $60.00 USD any day by my math.

-BroodFather

Can you hear me now?

Ever notice how there are a ton of things that are asked for over and over again in the gaming world, but it seems the pleas fall on deaf ears?

Since the early days of PSN, every firmware revision that is announced, there seems to be this faction of the user base that hangs on the edge of their seats waiting for this one item. You know the one. Cross game voice chat. Part of me believes that that faction only asks for this so it brings PSN one step closer to being exactly like XBL. The other part of me believes that they actually want it, because they'd use it.

I'm torn on it to be perfectly honest. On the one hand, any feature that's added to PSN is winner as far as I'm concerned, whether I use the content or not. (Facebook comes to mind) On the other hand, I feel cross game voice chat is a gross intrusion on single player games. You don't throw in a single player game with the intent to start talking to other people, you toss it in so you can play the damn game. If I had wanted to chat, I wouldn't have turned on a SINGLE player game. Adding cross game voice chat just brings one way I could be drawn away from the game. There are already plenty of ways to be drawn out of the game as it is what with messages, video chat invites, phone calls, text messages, wives, kids, ect...... do we really need to add one more?

I think I'm in agreement with a number of people I talk to on this very subject, I'd like to see Sony bring cross game chat to PSN, mostly so the people bitching around about it would finally STFU. I'd use it on a limited base, but I really believe it would become just one more pain in the ass when I wanted to just be left alone.

-BroodFather

Magic Deckbuilding and Card Evaluation 101 - Building A Deck

Welcome to the last installment of Deckbuilding and Card Evaluation 101. In this we will be building our deck and explaining why we are using the cards we are using, as well as expanding on options for the same slot.

Today's deck will be budget blue/white control. I wont use any card that costs more than $1, and i will guarantee you this deck will easily be up to par with alot of decks that sling rares and such. Why can i guarantee it? Because the deck will be synergistic, coherent, and full of effective cards. A card doesn't need to be $100 to be super powerful and effective.

Part 1: Designing the mana base.

The first thing i do before i ever start choosing cards is set up the mana base. Typically a deck runs 24-26 mana, depending how color intensive the deck is, and how vital it is to have a lot of mana in your opening hand. Control decks typically curve out really easily, so 25 is fine.

Being a dual colored 25 card mana base, i know the following immediately:
1. I need to have access to both my colors on demand
2. I cant stall on lands to play dual colored spells, or i will suffer.

with that in mind, i would first look for dual-colored lands that provide both my colors.

In this respect, a quick land search comes up with the following in blue white:
1. Glacial Fortress - .80
2. Seachrome Coast - 1.15
3. Sejiri Refuge - .15
4. Celestial Colonnade - 4.50

Glacial Fortress is pretty much the best option here. However in a blue white control deck, I would recommend running 8-10 dual lands, so i will be running a full boat of glacial fortresses and sejiri refuges. Seachrome coast is just out of our budget range and colonnade is far above. Sejiri Refuge comes in tapped which can suck, but typically wont be a problem.

Mana base thus far:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge.

So, at the moment we have 8 land out of our 25. I want to be able to access my mana easily, lets say i start with a hand full of one or the other color, well that's no good is it? To lessen the possibility of that happening, I will be running fetch lands to allow me to choose what color i have:

4 Evolving Wilds - .20

Which brings us up to 12 mana out of 25, 8 of which comes into play tapped. I don't recommend going over 8 comes in tapped mana or you risk being too slow.

To note, if you have the money you can get fetch-lands that do not come into play tapped, but those are $6.75 a pop, so i wont be including those in our land search.

At this point its pretty easy to just spread out the rest of your land in basics.

4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Plains
7 Island

Theres a solid 25 land mana base right there. Nothing fancy, gets the job done perfectly in our budget deck.

Part 2 - Deciding our ratios:

Control Decks commonly have more spells than creatures. The idea is generally to get out a couple solid threats while stopping your opponents from manifesting.

In a control deck you commonly have 8-12 solid creatures backed up with 20+ spells. This isn't always the case, but that is the route i will be pursuing in our deck here.

In the spell range, a control deck will commonly be broken up with the following:

1. Counter-spells
2. Removal spells
3. Sweepers
4. Utility
5. Card Draw

With the creatures typically being the following:

1. High power/toughness
2. Evasive (aka flying or shrouded)
3. Multi-purpose (such as a lifelinker)

With that in mind, lets start choosing some cards.

Part 3 - Choosing our creatures

In a control deck its completely unnecessary to have early creatures. We are too busy countering spells and killing things to play small creatures. With this respect in mind, i will be starting my search at 4 mana for a creature, and wont play anything higher than 6 mana, because then it gets too slow.

A search for creatures in the 4 mana range reveals the following:

click here to see all cards in blue white at 4 mana

Out of those cards, a few are stronger than the others.

1.

Lets evaluate this card. Its a 4/4 Flier for 4, which is great! Efficient and cheap. It also has a strange ability on it, that will potentially allow it to draw you some cards every time you swing. Problem is, it can also help your opponent out.

Card cost: 0.08

2.

This card is definitely interesting. It can potentially make you lots of fliers to attack or block with, a great card by any stretch. What is its weakness? 3 toughness means it dies to lightning bolt, the most common kill spell in magic. Can be awesome or fail miserably.

Card cost: 0.40

3.

We are ignoring this guys special abiltiy and focusing on the fact that its a 4/4 flier for 4. Perfectly acceptable beater, but nothing special of note.

Card cost: 2.25 - out of budget!

So, based on the 3 cards in that range, im going to stick to the consistency and our budget, and go with the conundrum sphinx.

Creatures So Far: 4 Conundrum Sphinx

Now lets check out what we can get in the 5 mana slot:

click here to see all cards in blue white at 4 mana

The ones that stand out as powerful are:

1.

This guy is Ok. he doesnt hit as hard as our conundrum sphinx which drops points off its ranking, but he can gain life frequently, which can be handy. Overall not very impressive.

Card Cost: 0.08

2.

I dont think i need to explain why this is one of the best 5 mana cost creatures ever printed, but she is sadly out of our budget at a price of 9.95

3.

A budget beater, This guy is similar to our conundrum sphinx with the added benefit of being vigilant, which means he is offensive and defensive at the same time. Perfectly acceptable budget flier.

Card Cost: 0.04

4.

Now this is more impressive. The 3 power isnt great, but 5 toughness is a solid body to get on the table. Add in the fact that he has a built-in draw function makes this a great option in a deck like ours, where you can play him at 5, draw a bunch of cards and pitch anything useless in your hand.

Card Cost: 0.08

In this instance im going to be going with a split, because you dont always want the draw engine of the sphinx to be in your hand. I will be using 2 Sphinx of Lost Truths and 3 Serra Angel for our 5 mana slot.

Now for the 6 mana slot. This is when titans enter the picture, so you need to be very careful when picking your 6 mana creature:

Click here to see all the options at the 6 mana slot

Holy options batman! the 6 mana slot is definately where our end game is going to be. We need to make this pick count.

1.

This angel is incredible. A massive 6/6 body for 6 mana that exiles something every time you play a land. Very powerful. The only downside is the 3 white mana requirement in the casting cost.

Card cost: 2.50 - out of budget!

2.

Another massive angel, this one can grant your squad indestructability which is pretty solid. Problem is she cant kill a titan, which subtracts her playability a little bit, but shes still perfectly usable.

Card Cost: 0.08

3.

Currently ranking as the 2nd best titan in the game, I would go into great detail as to what makes this guy the best 6 drop we could ever want, but hes severely out of budget at a price of 15.75

4.

A staple control creature, this guy is perfect for any blue based control deck. Having shroud effectively means this guy will only die to a mass removal or untargeted kill spells such as gatekeeper of malakir, which is very rare. Once he hits the board hes pretty much there to stay.

Card Cost: 0.15

5.

Essentially a flying titan, this 6/6 monster grows and draws you cards at the same time! Great! Unfortunately unlike our other friends, his abilities aren't inherent and require a mana investment to use, which lowers his playability level.

Card Cost: 0.10

6.

Great card... for non-control white decks. We cant recur anything with his ability, and he is over budget.

Card Cost: 4.00

7.

A 4/5 flyer with a built in day of judgment. Not bad, not great.

Card cost: 0.25

In this deck i will be going Sphinx of Jwar Isle for its powerful shroud ability. However due to costing 6 mana, i will only be running 2 in our deck. Having shroud essentially means most decks cannot touch him, and our deck can simply ride him to victory unimpeded as you laugh maniacally.

To tally, our creature base is as such:
4 Conundrum Sphinx
3 Serra Angel
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

= 11 slots.

This leaves us with a total cardbase of 36, which allows for 24 spells to fill out the rest of the deck.

Part 4: Choosing our Spells

With our creature choices made, its time to support the cast with a variety of spells. To reiterate from earlier, we will be looking for the following functions to flesh our deck out:

1. Counter-spells
2. Removal spells
3. Sweepers
4. Utility
5. Card Draw

How many of each do you want to run in a deck, you might ask? That typically requires testing to fine tune, however the general consensus is 5-8 counter spells, 4-10 removal spells, 2-4 sweepers, 2-4 utility spells, and 4-8 draw spells.

To start, lets examine our 1 mana cost options:

Click here to see 1 mana cost instants
Click here to see 1 mana cost sorcery

I have selected the following cards based on their playability level for our consideration:

1.

This spell doesnt technically kill a creature, but its pretty close. The major problem is the creature has to be attacking, which means its application is somewhat limited. Still an excellent efficient card. The life gain they get is usually negligible.

Card Cost: 0.12

2.

This is a misers counterspell. It can work amazingly well or fall flat if you draw it too late. Its usually worth running 1 or 2 because it can be used to great effect if you manage to tap out with 1 island open, and catch your opponent off guard.

Card Cost: 0.03

3.

Now thats what im talking about! Filter through your cards, find what you need, and replace itself after! This card is an automatic include in any blue deck, its value is amazing and its never a dead draw.

Card Cost: 0.25

4.

This is an acceptable temporary problem solver, but overall is a niche card that is only effective against certain styles of decks.

Card cost: 0.25

In our 1 mana slot, i will be going with the following:

4 pre-ordain
1 spell pierce
3 condemn
2 spell pierce in side board

Which leaves us at 44 cards selected thus far.

The 2 mana card slot is going to be our most important spell slot, for reasons i will show below.

Click here to see 2 mana cost instant spells
Click here to see 2 mana sorcery spells
Click here to see 2 mana enchantments

And as usual, i will be selecting what i find to be the most playable ones.

1.

Role player card. Great sideboard card, possibly maindeckable.

Card Cost: 0.02

2.

One of the best counterspells ever printed, this is one of the best blue cards you can ever put in a deck. Easy to cast, powerful effect, can really keep your opponent off their game. automatic include.

Card Cost: 0.15

3.

The effect of this card is strictly superior to mana leak, but the fact that you have to return a land to your hand makes it dangerous to draw early. Playable to be sure, but not recommended.

Card Cost: 0.20

4.

A fantastic utility spell, This card is great to either slow down your opponent, or you can even slow down an opponent and draw a new card, thus giving you a solid 2 for one! Great utility card, but you dont need an abundance of them in your deck.

Card Cost: 0.05

5.

At first glance this card seems severely powerful. The ability to make a 4/4 angel for 2 mana is off the charts powerful, but the problem is you have to go a full 4 turns of taking no damage before that is an option. However against control decks this guy will simply wreck them, making it an excellent sideboard card.

Card Cost: 2.00 - over budget!

6.

A fantastic removal enchantment that is easy to throw in the deck. The only problem is it lacks instant-speed, making it slightly worse than it should be. but its still 100% playable and an auto-include.

Card Cost: 0.08

Based on the above cards, i have chosen the following to go in our remaining 16 slots:

4 mana leak
4 journey to nowhere
2 into the roil

with the following going into our sideboard:
2 into the roil
3 negate

this leaves us with 6 empty card slots left in our deck.

The 3 mana card slot is notoriously dull and only has a few options for solid play. However this does introduce us to our first planeswalker option!

Click here to see the 3 mana sorcery cards
Click here to see the 3 mana instant cards

There are only a couple cards here:

1.

Dull as dishwater, but you cant deny its efficiency and simplistic nature. Playable to be sure, but 3 mana cost is steep.

Card Cost: 0.02

2.

Does the same exact thing as cancel, with a bonus of potentially being cheaper than cancel, but that wont come up in our deck.

Card Cost: 0.12

3.

Our first planeswalker option! Jace is a fantastic draw engine. The common way to use him is to throw him down, and use it to draw an additional card every turn for 3 turns, thats a huge amount of value!

Card Cost: 7.75 - Over budget!

The 3 mana slot is dull and boring. Jace is fantastic but not in our budget range. I will be going with 1 cancel, which will leave us with 5 empty card slots to pick from.

Cards chosen: 1 cancel, and 2 cancel sideboard.

Lastly we will be ending at the 4 mana card cost slot. If a spell costs more than 4 mana it needs to be pretty incredible, and theres not much of those in existance worth noting, so i will be stopping at 4.

Click here for 4 mana cost sorcery spells
Click here for 4 mana cost instants
Click here for 4 mana cost enchantments

The cards chosen in this particular batch for our inspection are:

1.

A niche role player, but potentially absurdly strong. This has a face value of making a copy of any creature on the table, which isnt bad, but isnt amazing.

Card Cost: .50

2.

This is an excellent filter/draw spell, and completely playable in our deck.

Card Cost: 0.05

3.

A must-have in any white control deck, this is your catch-all answer-all card that will reset the board to keep you alive.

Card Cost: 0.80

4.

The 2nd most powerful card in all of standard, big daddy Jace is a monster in any blue based control deck. If you are fortunate enough to own them, use them at all costs! However he is significantly out of our price range at a whopping 77.00 price tag.

Cards chosen in this batch:

2 Foresee
3 Day of Judgment
1 day of judgment sideboard

This brings our total up to our 60, and now its time to get that sideboard going.

Lets recap our final deck!

Land:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge
4 Evolving Wilds
7 Island
6 Plains

Creatures:
4 Conundrum Sphinx
3 Serra Angel
2 Sphinx of Lost Truth
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

Spells:
3 Condemn
1 Spell Pierce
4 Preordain
4 Mana Leak
2 Into the Roil
4 Journey to Nowhere
1 Cancel
2 Foresee
3 Day of Judgment

And our Sideboard thus far:
2 Spell Pierce
3 Negate
2 Into the Roil
2 Cancel
1 Day of judgment

which leaves us with 5 cards in the sideboard. I typically focus on something that i know is a deck weakness for sideboard, the obvious being red decks. because of this i will be putting in the following:

3 Flashfreeze - 0.04
2 Kor Firewalker - 0.40

which brings the sideboard to:

2 Spell Pierce
3 Negate
2 Into the Roil
2 Cancel
1 Day of judgment
3 Flashfreeze
2 Kor Firewalker

And to recap our total expenses:

Land:
4 Glacial Fortress - $3.20
4 Sejiri Refuge - $0.60
4 Evolving Wilds - $0.80
7 Island - free
6 Plains - free

Creatures:
4 Conundrum Sphinx - $0.32
3 Serra Angel - $0.12
2 Sphinx of Lost Truth - $0.16
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle - $0.30

Spells:
3 Condemn - $0.36
1 Spell Pierce - $0.03
4 Preordain - $1.00
4 Mana Leak - $0.60
2 Into the Roil - $0.10
4 Journey to Nowhere - $0.32
1 Cancel - $0.02
2 Foresee - $0.10
3 Day of Judgment - $2.40

2 Spell Pierce - $0.06
3 Negate - $0.06
2 Into the Roil $ 0.10
2 Cancel - $0.04
1 Day of judgment -$0.80
3 Flashfreeze - $0.12
2 Kor Firewalker $0.80

TOTAL DECK COST: $12.41

Thats roughly the price of 3 booster packs. This deck is fully playable in the casual deck rooms and can easily compete with most non-top tier decks.

Well there you have it folks, Hopefully this has been informative and will help you make good decisions when building your deck! Thanks for reading!

Magic Deckbuilding and Card Evaluation 101 - Card Evaluation & Practice

Card Evaluation:

Knowing how to properly evaluate a card is the lynch pin in deck design. Cutting out the fat, removing dead cards, and optimizing deck synergy are all skills involved in creating a deck that can stand up and fight against anything that you might run into.

Without further adou, lets get into some direct examples of studs vs duds, and explain why they are good or bad cards to put in a deck.

I will be using the following rating system on the following randomly chosen cards, to give you an example of how the card holds up in a typical game from my experiences.

A - All-star card that essentially fits into any deck using its color.
B - Powerful card that will pretty much always make the cut in a deck, only cuttable in certain situations.
C - Good card, but isnt always viable. Shows up in a variety of decks but isnt staple by any means.
D - Niche card. Usually a sideboard card or in a specific deck style.
E - Almost never performs as expected and is pretty much terrible compared to other options, but might show up in a rogue deck idea to some effect.
F - Unplayably bad. There are either far better options with the same effects, or its just simply a bad card that is outclassed by anything under the sun.

1.

Giant growth is a staple green spell. Cheap, efficient, should be awesome right? Well looks can be deceiving. Lets explain this in a little more detail. Giving a creature +3/+3 sounds like a great deal for 1 mana, but there's a problem with this:

1. You need a creature to put it on. What if you have no creatures on the table and you draw a giant growth? It immediately becomes a dead card.

2. You can set yourself up to be 2-for-1'd. On my last post i explained how getting a 2 for 1 is a great way to get an advantage over your opponent. What if you play this on a creature, and your opponent responds with a kill spell on your creature? You lose the creature and the giant growth, which means you are down 2 cards to your opponents one.

3. There are way better options with a similar effect. For example one of the best green pump spells is multi-purpose:


As you can see, this card has 2 different functions on a single card, making it far more useful than a basic giant growth. It still suffers from the same flaws as giant growth, but having the extra function makes it significantly better.

So whats the verdict? Does it just suck? Pretty much. There are tons of better options to put in a deck than this card.

Giant Growth's Rating: F

2.

Cunning Sparkmage has haste, and tap to deal 1 damage to a target of your choice. How can 1 damage be a big deal? Lightning bolt does 3! Again, looks can be decieving. Cunning Sparkmage is an excellent creature that can fit like a glove in alot of different style of decks for many reasons. for example:

1. Having haste means it is never a wasted card. At worst you are going to do 1 damage to a creature or player of your choice when you play a Sparkmage.

2. It extends your reach of your spells and creatures. It basically means your lightning bolt can now hit for 4 damage, or your 1 power creature can block and kill a 2 toughness creature, etc...

3. It combos with Basilisk Collar to kill anything it points at.

4. It keeps planeswalkers in check by stopping them from gaining loyalty.

Pretty amazing what a reusable source of 1 damage can do. The only problem comes when it doesnt have anything to point at, which means its not very good against some deck styles, such as control.

Cunning Sparkmages Rating: C

3.

Holy crap, 8 life for 2 mana! How can you go wrong?! 8 life is a huge percent of your starting life value! Well it turns out you can go very wrong. Life gain is the most deceiving mechanic in all of magic. On one hand you would assume having tons of life would be a good thing, and while that means yes, you wont be dying as quickly, it has the major problem of not actually HELPING you in any way. After all, if you win the game with 1 life left, you have still won the game. its no different from winning with 9023 life left.

1. If you are losing, life gain wont help you win.

2. Life gain does not directly effect the board or your position

3. Life gain gives you no inherent benefit.

4. Life gain does not effect your opponent.

Cards like this are truly deceiving. The only reason i wont give this card an F is because it is a useful to have life gain against mono-red decks who try to snuff you out right out the bat, it can heavily slow them down.

Rest For the Weary's Rating: E

4.

Well this card certainly looks amazing. You get a 6/6 flying trample creature for only 4 mana! Thats insane right! Yes, yes it is in fact! However its easy to forget the little claus on the card that says "you can't win the game and your opponents can't lose the game."

That means as long as this guy is in play, you cannot win. Does that make this card bad? Hell no, this guy is incredible. With alot of decks its very easy to get this guy into play on turn 3, which is an incredible clock on your opponent on a huge hard to remove body. Just remember that you need to be able to remove it from play, which means he doesnt just automatically fit a black deck.

Abyssal Persecutors Rating: B

5.

Mana leak is currently in almost every blue deck on the planet, and for good reason. Mana leak is incredibly easy to cast at 1U, and it can counter any type of spell, not just specific ones. Granted this card can eventually become obsolete when enough mana is on the table, it is still incredibly powerful for the majority of games, and is almost uncuttable from a deck. A basic counterspell might not seem like a big deal, but given how efficient and easy it is to use, its a fantastic card that should be in every blue deck, with little exception.

Mana Leaks Rating: B+

6.

Wow talk about destruction, this spell effectively wipes the board of everything but lands and artifacts. This is one of those cards that treads a fine line between great and not great.

1. costs colorless mana, which means any deck can run it. awesome!

2. wipes out everything, so its only used in absolute emergencies

3. Is unfortunately very expensive, it might be too late once you finally get to cast it.

4. if your playing alot of colorless cards, this can be one-sided in your favor.

Its hard to evaluate a card like this, and heres an easy rule of thumb: if its hard to evaluate, its probably a niche or sideboard card.

All Is Dust's Rating: D

Hopefully things will be at little clearer now when you see a card, and hopefully you will think about its usage and practicality on a broader spectrum than you previously did.

In my next section i will create a budget deck, and explain why im using the cards im using, so stay tuned for that!

In the mean time, i have homework for you new players, here are 6 cards, Evaluate them and post what you think about the cards and ill let you know what i think in response! Feel free to use my rating system to make it easier

Magic Deckbuilding and Card Evaluation 101 - Theory & Strategy

Theory:

In this lesson we will be covering magic theory and how it effects deck-building, and deck evaluation when your on the other side of it.

To properly evaluate your own deck, you need to understand what stage the deck is expected to reach, what stage your deck is supposed to be at, and what stage your deck is weak at.

Stage 1: The beginning stage. Typically when the game starts most players are simply playing lands, maybe playing a weak creature or minor spell, and not doing alot that impacts the overall game. Some example of stage 1 cards are:



Stage 2: The mid-range stage. This is when spells start becoming powerful and have major impact on a board. At this stage its not unexpected to have someone wipe the board clean, drop a powerful creature, or attempt to get a combo online. Examples:



Stage 3: The end-game stage. At this point you want to play cards that directly effect the winner of the game. Exceptionally strong spells, creatures, and other win conditions come online to end the game at this point. Examples:



There are typically three main styles of play that all decks follow: Aggro, Combo, Control.

Aggro:
Aggressive decks (aggro) are typically fast, creature heavy lists that are specifically designed to beat your opponent as quickly as possible, so they dont have a chance to get the game to the stage they would like it. Aggro decks absolutely do not want the game to progress to Stage 3, because this is when they are weakest. Ideally they want the game to end in Stage 1 if possible.

Some staple aggressive cards are:


Combo:
A tougher deck style to play, but potentially the most powerful. Combo decks typically require two or more cards to come together to create an exceptionally powerful effect. Some decks are built around combos, some simply include basic combos in their deck to gain an advantage.

For example, an entire deck can be built around this card:

This is a perfect example of combo. Once this card is online, all of your spells are cast twice, meaning a single lightning bolt will hit for 6 damage, which is substantial.

Another example of combo is the following two cards:

If the Basilisk Collar is equipped onto the Sparkmage, he will be able to tap and kill any creature he points at. Truely a powerful combination that some decks simply cannot overcome.

Control: Why bother trying to deal with threats if you can simply stop them from ever existing? Control's entire mentality is that if you aren't being threatened you wont lose. Counter spells, kill creatures, stop combos before they occur, etc... is the name of the game with control. Some example of control cards:



Knowing how your deck is supposed to play is absolutely vital. For example, mixing aggressive and control typically doesn't work. If you are running a deck full of cheap creatures, it doesn't make much sense to also have some random big monsters in it, because your goal is to win fast and early.

When Theory and Strategy merge:

Knowing how to use your cards can directly impact a game. So you have your hand full of cards and you think you know what the best play is with said cards, but what do you consider when using them? When is the proper time to use that lightning bolt? Do you tap out to play a creature or keep up a counter spell? I will attempt to explain in this section some things to consider during the course of play.

Card Advantage and The 2 for 1:
One of the most important things to understand in magic is called "Card Advantage." What this is, is essentially how many cards you are using to accomplish a task. For example, your opponent has 4 creatures on the table, and if you dont kill them you will die. Would you rather play 4 Doom Blades or a single Day of Judgment? The answer to that is fairly obvious. One card vs four should be a no-brainer.

Playing cards that provide more value than you invest can be a really efficient way of gaining an advantage over your opponent. Some cards do this inherently, some cards do it in a more subtle way. The Day of Judgment example above is one of the best card advantage cards in magic. You play one card and destroy potentially infinite amounts of creatures. But what about things more subtle then that?

Take this card for example:

This card here is interesting. On first glance its a Draw 2 for 1U, which seems incredibly powerful. However, the fact that you have to shuffle back a card, and you are also using a card to turn on the effect, means you are actually gaining nothing in terms of card advantage by using this card. You are doing a 1 for 1.

Now lets evaluate a different card:

This card is a direct example of a 2 for 1. You are using 1 card to gain 2 effects. By playing this card with its kicker, you are generating a 2/2 creature, and killing an opponents creature, all for 1 card investment.

In a strong deck its not uncommon to see multiple cards that generate more than one effect or do more than their face value suggests.

So in relation to what i said at the introduction to this section, its typically a good idea to hold onto a card until you vitally need it. Just because you have 2 doom blades in your hand doesnt mean its a good idea to use one right away on something insignificant. Evaluate your hand, think about whats in your deck, remember what your deck is designed to do, and act after that.

In the next section we will be discussing card evaluation, why some cards are better than they look, and why some are worse. See you next time!