CRS - Collection Sidegrades

I will start off by quoting myself. I hate doing it, and it's not the fine way of doing things, but I am in an appropriately unruly mood.

"I‘d hate to reach S3 right now," I said in my last post. And for the most part, I stand by that. Maybe add "...the end of [S3]..." in.

Let's snap this b***h.

CRS - Keep Calm

 I like to spend my weekend by relaxing and playing games, mostly. Which is why I hadn‘t done a post on Orchi‘s Forge, or Asteroid M. But my relaxation last week was soured by something else, and I didn't post this while ai was fuming, but pondered, and decided:

Spicy hot take afoot. Let‘s snap this b***h.

CRS - spittin' hot takes

I was going to do an "after the fact" on Quantum Realm, but then 2nd Dinner revealed the next season and...

...well. In short, Cerebro 2 loves Q.R. to bits, and any card scaling its power (like Devil Dinosaur) is really good fpr breaking the equity. No long answer here.

And now, let's snap.

CRS - but then we got Le High

A blog like this seems to be the perfect spot to talk/rant about new locations, both in advance, and after the fact. Those articles will be shorter, generally, and between a location article, a potential deck showcase article on stuff I play, and some other article, that'll be enough for me to write.

I'll kick things off with "after the fact" by talking about this week's featured location, Camp *Punsworth* Lehigh. Because i now have more articulated thoughts than "boring".

With that - let's snap.

CRS - Into the unknown

A key feature of Marvel Snap are the three locations you get every match. Those are revealed one a round, but you can play into them from the get-go. Unrevealed locations have no effects or restrictions.

But - is it more sensible to play into an unrevealed location, or not? And for what reasons? I'll look at most locations, and some other cases at the end.

Well then. Let's Snap.

CRS - Why Snap, anyway?

Why do I play Marvel Snap, anyway? And what's keeping me around?

I'll start by saying that I picked it up after they announced that Nexus Events were axed with prejudice. It gave me enough hope to try it out.

• I like the simplicity and speed of the gameplay. 

• Every card has exactly two stats that matter. 

• Interactions with the opponent are more limited than usually, which makes positioning most important. 

• The games take a fixed amount of turns, with only two exceptions.

• It's bloody comic book heroes/villains!

• The card collection requires you to play the game and making your cards look cooler. OMFG!

• The card collection has a method to it's madness through the different series. While not perfect - it rewards patience (and playing the game!!). 

• The location variance and diversity really makes every game a different experience, even in the same Matchup.

• 2nd Dinner have repeatedly shown - through their card adjustments, communications, and other decisions - that they are willing to handle things in a smarter manner than the competition.

• International friendly games, without the social hassle of other games.

Now, how about any negatives? Well, there are, obviously, predatory practices being applied (Like the shop button being the first from the left, or the Season Pass always being part of the rotating main page, or buyable bundles showing up at the top of the shop, and more), but - they can be more easily stomached in comparison to other games bc they are less obnoxious about it. And some Season Pass cards had that P2W taste. And the Series system is not only a boon, but also a "curse" - when you first enter Series 3, stuff gets roooooouuuugh.*

And I'm probably very resistant to most of the common strats, thanks Hearthstone.

Next time's topic: Playing into the unknown.

Farewell and remember: it's all fun and games until Scarlet Snitch flips Rickety Bridge.

*I think I'll write about that in the future. Actually, I'm quite certain.

Huh? Free real estate? Updates?

 Well those HS articles aged like spoilt milk!

Should I delete them? IDK, honestly. They're cringe, not really helpful, and merely regurgitating info you could find anywhere else. OTOH, I at least read other articles and put them in my own words.

Which is an ability often disregarded during the last eight years.

<br>

I was really wondering what I should do with this blog - active Warmachine has left my hobby sphere, and I've...lost touch to other players.

So here's an update on my hobbies: it's basically all Wild Rift and Marvel Snap right now. I have picked up and dropped Legends of Runeterra in the meantime.

I still don't want to let go of this hobby/gamey blog - bc if I can keep a 6-minute diary, I can surely also do a blog post regularly.

Wild Rift is too much of a fk'n science for that, ngl. But Marvel Snap is new, popular, and I have some serious thoughts about a lot of aspects of it.

So... yeah, expect some laid back Calamity Research Snaps in this space. Potentially starting tomorrow, certainly next week. I have a bunch of ground to cover, and I guess I'll start with the stuff that sets it apart.

So see you then. Farewell, and remember that it's all fun and games until Scarlet Snitch flips TVA.

Playing without a full deck (14) - Mammoth announcements

Blizzard recently announced a number of things related to the upcoming Year of the Mammoth (AKA the time after Reno).

In this article I want to take a look... er... I wanna put down my thoughts. On it. I'll be dealing with the following points in particular:

1) Lost Secrets of Un'Goro
2) Hall of Fame
3) The end of Adventures
4) Login-Rewards
5) Maiev Shadowsong

See you after the break!

Playing without a full deck (13) - Adventure Resumee: One Night in Karazhan

About a month long time ago, I finished "One Night in Karazhan". Not only on normal... but on heroic as well. Now I've finally found the time to write complete my review of the adventure.

To reiterate, these are the four points I look at everytime:

 > Optics

 > Plot

 > Bosses

 > Cards

See you after the break!

Big and slow?

...or how it took over four year to finish one model.

Hi there everyone, Arides here with a mayor update on one of my oldest huge-based (120mm) model painting projects.

I hereby announce that on Thursday November 17th 2016...

The state of Research...

...or: What if it's the WTC and I couldn't care less?

Seriously, I can't be bothered this year. Faithful readers of this blog might have already wondered why there's absolutely no coverage of the WTC (like there was last year), or of Warmachine at any rate.
The answer is: Since ClogCon '15, I only touched my models to put them into cases, and those cases into my basement. Between work and two children (the younger of which requiring way more attention than his sibling) there's just not enough time to break out the models, play, and produce content. Also, there was Mk3 rocking the general boat.
They're not gone, though, and once time permits, games will be had, and you will know about it!

On Hearthstone: I've promised an ONiK review, and that'll come, but it was delayed since... I wanted to clear it in heroic mode, and now that that's done, it's coming. I'll start typing today. The post series will, however, be "rebranded" as they say, into "Playing without a full deck", but only the name, not the numbers. This has two reasons: 1) I think that, now that I did my first adventure in heroic, I have a good inkling of what I'm doing in general and 2) that name is easy to translate into German with both versions being as idiomatic as possible. Yes, select posts of the series will be translated, and linked to the Hearthstone Deutschland FB page.

Until next time,
farewell.

Falling up the Stairs (12) - One Night in Karazhan

... or Kazachstan, according to Gaara. Best slip of the tongue ever!

So yeah, I'm doing a review of the cards spoiled for the new adventure "One Night in Karazhan" (ONiK) releasing for Hearthstone today (the 12th, at least in EU). "Review" meaning that I spout my human-sciences, semi-ambitious-casual-on-a-glorified-typewriter opinion onto the internet for you all to read.

If you're looking for a cutting edge gamer review/opinion - you might be wrong here but you're welcome anyways! In all other instances, you're right here, and welcome.

I will go through the list of playable cards (as in: has a mana cost and come into your collection) in the order they appear on Hearthpwn, so by clicking the link you can see the actual card pictures. As used in other places on this blog, I'll use a star-based rating system that is a scale of 0-4.

Also, I'd like you all to tell me the card you're looking forward to the most in the comments!
Spoilers: I like it. I also use the word Niché. Often. And et aliter means "and others".

Let's go, shall we?

Falling up the Stairs (11) - Trying my luck with Warrior Decks... yet again.

I suppose that's true with everybody - there are some some classes you just can't play well in Hearthstone. Whether it's lack of cards or just not having the mindset necessary.

For me, Warrior is one. I can easily get behind the concept of full-on aggro of a Zoo Hunter or Warlock, or the control powers of Magician or Warlock, or the powerful minions of Shaman and Druid. I have issues with making Paladin and Priest work. And don't ask me about Rogue, I can't play that except in premade-deck Tavern Brawls. I mean, I can play it, but I can't really win reliably.

Warrior, even though omitted in the above list, has been particular frustrating. It always felt like it should work, it's not like there was an obvious misbalance in the decks I made... but it just wouldn't work to any satsifiable degree.

It doesn't help when the arguably strongest Warrior Deck at the time is also fittingly labelled "Wallet Warrior". Recently, through an article over at Mana Crystals, I came across a Warrior Deck that gave me another one of those "You know... I kinda have the cards for that..." moments. Read all about it after the break!

Falling up the Stairs (10) - Empirical Research regarding the Lolz of Yogg-Saron (Update!)

THE LOLZ of Yogg Saron!
or: Keeping track of whether my Servant of Yogg Saron does meaningful shit.

At the time of this writing, my Servant of Yogg-Saron cast this for me:

Falling up the stairs (09) - Adventure Resumee: League of Explorers

As I told you last friday, I plowed through the League of Explorers, finally. So today I'll talk you about LoE in the same way I did talk about BRM (in order to create a comparability. It'll come to fruition with the next adventure).

To reiterate, these are my four points:
 > Optics
 > Plot
 > Bosses
 > Cards

See you after the break!

Falling up the stairs (08) - Adventure Resumee: Blackrock Spire

As of this monday, I managed to garner the last 700 gold which would get me the final wing of League of Explorers and, within very few hours of doing so, allow me to finish the last adventure currently available.

And I think that makes for a perfect time for rehashing the particular experiences, an endeavour I want to go about by looking at the following points:
 > Optics
 > Plot
 > Bosses
 > Cards

And I will start with the older of the two adventures I experienced: Blackrock Spi...err...Mountain!
See you after the break!

Falling up the Stairs (07) - Day of the Tentacle

For this post, I want to present a "fun" deck. It's not necessarily good - it may be, though, with some tweaking, I guess.  Maybe. ;-)
It basically came into its own with the "Forbidden Ritual" card and the Tentacle of "N'Zoth"

It's for the Warlock. I call it "Day of the Tentacle".
Yes, I'm that 80's.

Falling up the Stairs (06) - Waiting for C'thun & Lulz of Yogg Saron

As promised in the last posting, I want to talk the deck that - surprisingly, I gotta say - took me to 14(**). I'm still kinda proud of that achievement, even though it certainly was a matter of getting the right games/matchups at the right time.

It's a Magician deck featuring our Lord and Saviour C'Thun! See you after the break!

Falling up the stairs (05) - WotoG deck changes

In this second post on the "Whispers of the old Gods" set, I want to go into which deck changes this has inspired (for me, at least), how I think they fare in comparison to their earlier forms, and how I would evolve them (if the opportunity presents itself).

But before all that, let's have a small break, shall we?

WM/H's long 2015, Part 04 - Mk 3

So, unless you've been hiding under a rock, or in your secret moon base, you will by now have heard about the fact that MK III coming out basically right when this series was supposed to end.

However, I don't see a big point in writing about things that change anyway.

What does it mean for the future? Well, most obviously, I'm at no shortage for topics! I could, can, and probably will, revisit each and almost everyone of them and put them into the current state of things - after MK III is out.

Things are looking good so far, but the Khador spoilers haven't hit yet - so I can't call this the final post of this particular series JUST yet.

But until then, farewell!