Magic: The Gathering Online and Duels of the Planeswalkers

There's been a discussion about Magic: The Gathering marketing and casual players on one of the forums I visit. One of the topics discussed was Magic Online (I'll use MODO as abbreviation because I'm used to it) and Duels of the Planeswalkers (dotp). It seems that people think that MODO will scare new players or casual players and Duels of the Planeswalkers is aimed at computer/video game players that are new to Magic and does not have much to offer to casual players. I personally think that casual players can play casual and fun games on both MODO and DotP.

I used to play on Magic Online from time to time when there was no one around who would or could play paper Magic with me. My experience with MODO at that time was ok. I'm a person who takes ages to assess a board situation in any digital form and that is why I was afraid I couldn't play on MODO. But I could play a game without a problem and finish it in time since the very first game I played. At that time I wasn't trading or buying much but still it seemed pretty straightforward to me. The complexity of 'operating the game' and 'trading' were one of the most stated reasons why MODO scares people.

As for Duels of the Planeswalkers. I bought all the games (that pretty much sums up my Steam account with the exception of Counterstrike, Total War and SolForge) and played them from the beginning till the end. I went through all the content but never really came back to the game after finishing it. No matter what I do not regret paying 10USD for those games. Anyway DotP was the more problematic software for me for many reasons that were later solved or at least partly.

As a Magic player who plays on MODO and played all the DotP games I can actually speak about this matter but I found out that my take on MODO or DotP is different from many people. Anyway I will write something about both Magic Online and Duels of the Planeswalker games.

Well, first MODO is not a game. Most people call it a game but it is not. It is a client that allows players to play a game of Magic (simulation of). Duels of the Planeswalkers on the other hand is a game. So if there is someone who expects MODO to be a game he will soon find out that it is not true. You pay for everything on MODO. It is just a virtual version of paper Magic. You need to get cards and pay for them if you want a deck to play with and you pay to enter a tournament and you win prizes. If you are not good enough to place well, playing on MODO can cost you a lot of money. In some ways though MODO can be easier and take less time to collect cards. You just need to find the right bots and buy the cards. This can be tiresome sometimes but still way less than IRL. You don't need to buy the real cards online or ask players in person if they have the card or not and then argue about the price. (I still understand that for most people having the paper cards is way more appealing than having a digital copy. For many it does not seem fair to pay high prices for digital cards).
Duels of the Planeswalkers (most of the time) is a game. You buy the game, you play the game. Yes, there is content that you can buy but it is not necessary (unless you want to play more sealed decks in dotp15?). The content sometimes actually is special (thus one cannot unlock it during gameplay) By playing the game you unlock a collection of cards that you can use. So if you are a Magic player who does not have others to play against and want some Magic experience you can try DotP out. If this won't be suffiecient you can try MODO. The new Magic Origins (new Magic game) is going to be free to play though. We will see how much F2P it will be in the end^^

MODO is not for new players. (that is also why it WotC site will redirect anyone who clicks on 'no Magic experience' to the current DotP game) MODO won't teach you how to play Magic so if you don't know the rules enough to play a game of Magic forget about MODO for a while. (see paragraphs above why). But MODO can teach you to play better if you already know how to play. The full enforcement of rules is something priceless. This will help some understand the game better and there is no need to argue with people at your LGS and such. There are many players that don't even know what priority is. But when playing on MODO that is one of the things you discover immediately. Duels of the Planeswalkers though will teach you how to play Magic and won't really make a better player (because it does not enforce the rules fully and sometimes does not do it right). So if you are interested in trying Magic and you don't have a friend who can teach you just try this game (there is actually a demo of Magic that is based on DotP that was for free, might still be around). It has a tutorial (and each player has to go through it in the newer games - for iOS this is for free) which is quite good actually and some challenges that let players find out how certain abilities or rules work (for example First Strike, Deathtouch and Trample). The game will teach the basics and does many things for you. It won't tell you though that in the real game there are many more things going on. For example there is nothing like upkeep or the possibility to stack your own triggers. As far as I remember the first game that allowed tapping lands as you want won't even tell you that you can tap your lands yourself. The game can thus create some misconceptions but there won't be that many of them and you will learn enough to be able to play paper Magic (there is also free mulligan in DotP, that's not how it works in the real game of Magic). I actually met quite some players that started playing paper Magic later after playing DotP for some time. Those players actually had a healthy attitude to Magic. They wanted to explore the game, build new decks and have fun. Such players though will get crushed at tournaments or MODO. Finding out what competitive play is can be very hard for some. This is one of the reasons why people say MODO is not for beginners (the level of competitiveness there is very high). There are many people that just play to win or test their decks to win some other events. Participating in such a tournament can be frustrating for some players (or dotp convertees). Anyway the skill level of players varies quite a lot. If you participate in swiss tournaments the level will be overally lower. BTW there are tournaments organized in DotP as well by certain communities. Still the power level of the decks is nowhere near tier 1 decks of any format but this shows that the community is alive. (I really wonder how people are capable of spending hours and hours on such a game, but they do.) There are similar communities using MODO for their tournaments and such.
EDIT: When talking about MODO with the LGS owner he noted one thing...His first experience with MODO was quite bad. He knew what he could do in the game IRL but did not know how to activate Icy Manipulator when he wanted to because he did not have a stop at 'beginning of combat'. This is one of the things players will need to get used to. If there is something you want to do at a certain point you need to place a stop there otherwise it will just pass that step or phase. And some players don't even know that there is something like Upkeep or Beginning of Combat.

Many people also say that MODO does not look nice graphically and that it hasn't changed since 2008 (the above screenshot is from MODO and DotP15). I agree in a way but on the other hand who cares? Obviously some people do. I use MODO to play Magic and what I need is to be able to recognize the cards and to see when something happens (yes, wotc should solve the card text one day...). For that I don't need any nice shiny animations or cool graphics. DotP has this kind of appeal and it seems that there are many players that actually appreciate that and yes I would expect something cool and nice from a game. It is something one is supposed to enjoy. I guess it wouldn't sell much if it would look like MODO :-). But personally I don't want MODO to look like DotP. I want to play a smooth game and not be distracted by anything else or slowed down by anything else (those animations and such slow the game hell a lot). There are many players who try to compare MODO with Hearthstone. I don't like that comparison much. Even though Hearthstone is somewhere in between DotP and MODO it is still a game. A game aimed at masses even though it has a professional scene (which so far I find really ridiculous - a bot can play and win). It is really nice to look at and play but how much pro players care about how the game looks? Maybe they do, but I highly doubt it (even though I can be terribly mistaken... because the fact that people complain about the look of MODO shocked me)

Is MODO suited for casual players? In my opinion I would say yes (because simply it simulates Magic and Magic can be played casually) even though I can state a 'million' reasons why not (hopefully will be written in the text that follows). If you are a magic player with a paper collection you will find out that on MODO you have to start from the beginning. After you register, pay 12 bucks or so and run MODO you get a starter pack. There are some cards, 5 tickets and new player points and some Planeswalker cards (haven't played that format so I cannot really write about that). But if you want to play let's say Standard you need to get cards for your deck. First you either need to play some drafts to get some cards and packs (so you can trade) or buy the cards right away (if you are not good enough to go 2:1 or 3:0 this might be difficult). When it comes to buying and trading it can be quite confusing to some. It wasn't for me but there were players that came to LGS and asked me how the hell MODO works. There are many bots that sell or buy cards and if you want some help you can check http://mtgowikiprice.com for prices.
BTW If you just want to try out MODO you don't need to pay anything. Just download the client (which can be a bit difficult as always with WotC and their websites) and click on 'Free Trial'. It will let you choose one of five decks to play with against other players trying MODO for free. The chat does not seem to work during that but you have access 'Help'. This is something I would advise people to read (if you haven't looked for something online beforehand). At least read what each shortcut does and use them. Or at least use F2. This will save you a lot of time. You can also set the keys in the settings. BTW DotP also has some shortcuts that come handy and settings that can help (for example setting a stop when priority is passed, I'm not good with playing counterspells in DotP). Unfortunately no F2/F4/F6 and the like.

As a casual player I wouldn't actually mind buying cards for a deck for those 5 tix and play with it. In the Play Lobby under Constructed Open Play there are four different categories - Just Starting Out, Just For Fun, Getting Serious and Tournament Practice. Depending on your deck's power level you can choose one of these categories and host a match. This way you limit the power level a bit. In DotP the card collection is the same for all players (well not always as some people have the expansions and some don't) so the power level of the decks is more or less the same. The sealed pools can differ quite a lot but still it's not like playing crappy draft deck against tier 1 legacy. On MODO you can play against someone with expensive and good cards but under the right category in the most cases you will find games that are actually fun. Or at least that happens to me when I try to play some casual games. It will certainly depend on the format (if the format is not supported by WotC you can save your decklist as Freeform and play that. For example if you and your friend want to play French EDH and the cards you have in your deck are banned in the official EDH). If you want to play casual legacy (or any eternal format with the exception of pauper) it will mean that the power level of opponent's cards can be way higher than yours for example but you need to keep that in mind. Still it can be lots f fun. Some players stated that casual playing is more about a social aspect. In this case playing either 'game' won't be good enough I guess but if there is no other way for your friends to play at one place, you can still use MODO or DotP and have fun (I haven't tried the Invite player in DotP, always played against random opponents, but it supposedly let's you play against someone you want to play).
I have to say that the primary reason why I came back to MODO is that I was fed up with the players at the local tournaments. I just couldn't stand them and that is why I decided to play on MODO so I wouldn't need to listen to them.

In the era of tablets and phones being able to run complex games one would expect the possibility to play MODO on such a device. I wouldn't personally but there are people that actually told me that this is an issue. I personally cannot imagine playing MODO on my cell phone. I need to be somewhere where it is calm and I'm not distracted by many other things. WotC though should make MODO work on iOS (or at least last time I checked few years ago it wasn't compatible). Seriously I sometimes wonder if they test the new sets. Because many times there are bugs that are really HUGE problems. When talking about bugs...DotP is actually even more bugged than MODO. Sometimes it will do something that should not happen at all or just crashes. I played DotP on both computer and iOS and both versions were problematic.

So do Wizards of the Coast want more players playing on MODO? If yes, they really should start to do something about it. Nowadays there are other digital card games that have some kind of player base. In some cases huge (Hearthstone) and in some cases small (SolForge) but well WotC should see that there starts to be a competition. Or maybe they do not care, there will always be few million people playing MODO...

tl;tr: MODO is for those who want to experience the full Magic experience no matter if that is for casual playing or competitive one. Surely most players will be highly competitive. Being good and winning tournaments means that one can play for free. Otherwise it costs a fortune, same way it costs IRL. MODO simulates fully paper magic so it comes with everything from playing different formats casually, competitively, trading (secondary market) or buying product from wotc. It is free to try but otherwise you pay for everything.
DotP is a game that for a small fee (10USD) can allow a player to experience some kind of casual Magic games either against AI or other players from all around the world be it 1-on-1 games or multiplayer. Each DotP has different modes and decks so the variety is actually pretty big (there is Planechase and Archenemy available for example). I honestly like dotp12 the most because of its decks. The earlier games in general have access to more powerful cards or more cards from kinda everywhere than the newer games. The newer games though are more suited for beginning players and allow more 'deckbuilding' experience and the games are more balanced. None of these games though will allow you the real deckbuilding experience (who knows what Magic Origins will be like) but that also avoids the fact that your deck gets wrecked by tier 1 legacy deck. DotP games have expansions and those bring new cards. Those cards are not from core sets usually so they bring more variability.

New Home T2 and draft

Disclaimer: this post is more of a rant...

Najada store recently moved to a new location. To celebrate that there were tournaments with better price/prize ratio. One could play type 2 or draft. I participated in one type 2 event and a draft that followed.

My mood was far from being the best one. I got upset easily. I really hate when someone starts to pick on someone or just be rude or something (happens all the time) or that someone just comes to me to watch our match. So I was prepared to leave the store if there would be too high density of people I did not want to play against (lately happens more often then not). I also wasn't really sure what deck to play but in the end I decided for Abzan Control. The reason was that for the high entry fee that there was I wanted to play with a deck I really wanted to play with (I know that playing with a deck I don't like or a deck using a strategy I just don't like much is my worst enemy - learned from playing another TCG named Legend of the Five Rings) and not something I did not really trust much (UW Heroic).

At local FNM I actually played with that UW Heroic because all my other type 2 decks were in my flat and I haven't been there for quite some time. I decided to play with it for the fun of it and to see if playing with the deck is worth 6 tix (and what it can do in competitive environment). To my surprise it was actually quite fun (even 'budget' version was good enough for all those Junks, and RWs). The decisions were quite simple. I either try to win or die horribly. I played with this on MTGO so I had an idea how to play with it. At first I wasn't really sure how much I want to force something but I found out quite soon that one can actually play it from the safe side and that worked well. The deck draws cards and scries hell a lot (even without scry lands, even though I missed those a lot). I came up second somehow...no idea how^_^. So it wasn't bad but do I think this deck is good? I'm not convinced yet. That is the reason why I chose Abzan Control for the New Home Standard rather than UW Heroic even though I knew that cards like Whisperwood Elemental would just kill me.

In round 1 I played against 4c Sidisi/Soul of Theros deck which I really like actually. But I find it having the same problem as Sidisi Whip. It has a really cool cards and can do pretty cool stuff but there is not much control over the game. I really don't like that and even if this deck is quite 'wrath of god proof' it just isn't enough for me. Due to my opponent's misplays I managed to win the match though. Then I lost against mono red hell. I usually cannot win the first game unless my opponent gets screwed somehow. It gets way better for me after sideboarding. Unfortunately I mulled to five and terrible died. I won 4 consecutive games against the same deck and pilot afterwards^^. After this Temur Ascendancy awaited me. My opponent managed a huge misplay once again but unfortunately for me I did not have what I needed and lost. Next I played against Boros aggro that I actually beat somehow. Next I faced green hell^_^... All this does not sound very well for me but I actually ended up in the top 8 and won some packs (not worth much). I'm ready to stop playing Abzan Control...or t2 altogether. (I really wish to play Legacy. But there wasn't time for that due to me being somewhere 'completely' elsewhere)

After type 2 we drafted ktk block. I opened Temur War Shaman so I picked that and wondered what I would be playing. I was passed Pyrotechnics so I decided to go for red. I got mostly red cards from the first pack and good ones. I expected to end up mardu, but these colors were not really coming in pack 2 (so the player to my left was in some or all of those colors). In the second pack I opened Surrak so I picked that. But at that time I hardly had anything green (I had red, black cards and fixation for mardu). Anyway I started slowing picking green cards and occasional blue card. In pack three I had no idea what to pick as my deck was really a hybrid (mono red aggro and something midrange). I ended up in Temur colors and the deck was really insane. I just can't describe it. When drafting this I wasn't prepared to actually play 6 drops so I passed cards I would actually normally pick and play as they win the game on their own (Mob Rule and Flamerush Rider). Those were the cards that killed me in the finals (I expected that) but it was epic nonetheless. The deck needed 18 lands which I realized after the first game. I was usually cutting Ainok Tracker for an Island.

Anyway during these two tournaments some players had some remarks about some plays (they were right) and games and it wasn't nice at all to find out that those people are highly competitive and do not understand the aspect of fun not to mention that they weren't nice at all when saying this or that. I had a really great deck which was fun to play with and actually a 3:0 material but I wasn't there to win. I was there to explore and have fun and for the majority of time I managed to ignore all the negativity from other players. But in the end, during the finals, I have to say that those people just ruined my very good mood at that time and it hurts even now. Also for all this money (not the draft but t2) I'm not sure if it actually is worth playing 'for fun'. Because this really calls for 'winning'. It seems that my 'competitiveness' has its limits and no one seems to understand that nor respect that.

Najada Store

Last weekend Najada game store was moving to a new place near Jiriho z Podebrad (Ondrickova 14). I among others helped with moving the store. At 10am we started packing all the stuff, dismantling what could be dismantled etc. I have to say that after two weeks of epic fails and days that I'm glad are over this was an activity that actually felt worth doing.

After several hours we managed to fill one room with boxes full stuff and dismantled tables.

In the afternoon it was time to fit all that into a van. Miro was the one who had the great opportunity to play tetris with very big pieces^_^. One more person was helping him to arrange stuff and the rest of us was bringing all the stuff from the store to the van. As usual when the car was full there were still many many other things still in the store (with other furniture included)

When the van was loaded we seperated and all went to the new location. All of us was like 'wow'.

It was time to unload everything. I was starving by that time and it was my time to eat so I got a great Vietnamese food from nearby and ate most of it. Afterwards I tried to help as well. When everything was in the new place we had to wait till majority of the people would assemble (metal) shelves (max three people at once could work on one rack). I have to say good job to all those who participated because that was a really difficult task to do and it involved gloves and a hammer. (I also have cuts on my hands from that, the edges were pretty sharp). If someone would be listening to the sounds from the room he would wonder what the hell is going on. It sounded like someone was being tortured.

The most heavy items were drawers full of cards...

Assembly of the Najada's counter was very intricate thing as well I have to say....and the drawers were marked with coordinates (^_^).

New tables arrived and were also assembled (and many other things happened during that as well). They are pretty cool! We have a red zone now! (black zone...). There was so many things one could not even imagine that were needed to be done. And for that I admire all those who made that possible.

After all that running around with stuff my step counter was showing this number ->

Competitive EDH - Blue White Control in French EDH?

OR

I used to play The Mimeoplasm (combo) at local tournaments and I usually won those tournaments as well. But I could see that the metagame actually calls for a different kind of deck. One with either more disruption or playing a completely different deck. The majority of decks that place well here are Vendilion Clique decks or Geist of Saint Traft decks. In general blue based decks are everywhere. Also with the printing of Anafenza playing reanimator does not seem the best thing to do. So what should I play?

Some time ago...two months ago? I put together some kind of Grand Arbiter Augustin IV deck. I was trying to find the decklist but it seems that I never wrote it down (I remember writing a report from the tournament but it seems that it is not on this blog). I placed well in the tournament even though playing very badly but I found out that it is actually enjoyable to play even though the games take ages. I chose GAA because it seemed as a good choice. But what does the general do? Well most of the time for me it gave me one more turn to do something. When I managed to play it from time to time I usually had to play some kind of wrath effect the turn later. That is something I did not really like much. But Esper generals are just meh and UWR is something I did not want to play. Because when I tried these colors I found out that the more efficient way to win is by bashing my opponent with creatures.

I wanted to try UW control deck because it would be fair and it would follow a normal game of magic. It wouldn't warp the format in anyway. Would such a deck be good enough? The deck is good enough, that is for sure but sometimes it feels like my deck is not really well prepared against some other generals. This deck cannot counter or deal with Narset, Prossh or Geist all the time. It needs to find a win condition fast in order to end the game. The general itself is not good enough for that and that is the reason I wanted to include Helm of Obedience and Rest in Peace. Before including this I had to draw Elspeth, Jace or Gideon in order to win but sometimes I just couldn't draw it and died to a opposing general.

Helm/RIP takes up some slots (because I need to find the combo pieces as well) but does that matter? Or rather how much does that matter? The first time I came to play with GAA deck I wasn't really sure what kind of counterspells or card drawing cards I want in the deck. There were about ten cards I did not consider good and played them and even though they were not really good in the deck the deck in general worked fine...so I tried swapping those with some other cards (and I messed that up once again, the decklist is not ideal yet and won't be for a while).

Instants
1 Remand
1 Absorb
1 Miscalculation
1 Disenchant
1 Exclude
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Negate
1 Force Spike
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Force of Will
1 Spell Snare
1 Cryptic Command
1 Mental Misstep
1 Mana Leak
1 Impulse
1 Memory Lapse
1 Repulse
1 Condescend
1 Into the Roil
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Dissolve
1 Forbid
1 Dismiss
1 Dig Through Time
1 Spell Pierce
1 Logic Knot
1 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Counterspell
1 Repeal

These are the instants I played the last time. There are cards I would not normally play in a highlander deck - Exclude, Jace's Ingenuity, Dismiss and Repulse. Exclude and Repulse hit a creature and in a game of EDH each of us has a general that is usuallly a creature so I thought that these cards would actually be ok. But after staring at Cliques and Geists in play/command zone I might reconsider this and play Dissipate/Hinder or something like that instead of it. I don't want to play Daze because it usually makes no sense to play it for its alternative cost and 2 mana Force Spike is not something I want. Even Rune Snag would be better in that case. Mana Tithe is a card I might actually include but I never missed it. Muddle the Mixture is there to tutor Rest in Peace primarily.
One of the cards that I'm not really convinced about is Cyclonic Rift. In 99% of the time I'm not happy seeing it in my hand and many times I need to bounce something of my own and this card just can't do it. The overload mode seems nice, but well...I used it once? Against an opponent that should have killed me no matter what I tried to do? This card will get few more chances but I will most probably cut it in the end...

Sorceries
1 Preordain
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Wrath of God
1 Serum Visions
1 End Hostilities
1 Terminus
1 Ponder
1 Day of Judgment
1 Fabricate
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Portent
1 Supreme Verdict

This deck runs white so it means that it can run global removal. I added End Hostilities and do not regret it. I'm not sure about Serum Visions. I never liked the card but in german Highlander this card is better than many others because it just costs 1 mana and it still allows some kind of library manipulation. I decided to try more expensive spells next time. One of them is actually Jace's Ingenuity that I added. I cut Deep Analysis but I might try to put that back in and cut something else (Fabricate). I do not want to play sorcery speed card draw but I might play Compulsive Research and Think Twice is coming back in too if I find place for it.
There is one more sorcery that could actually make it in - Armageddon. This card just wrecks everything and is usually efficient in a completely different decks. But certain decks will just kill this one when they reach a certain amount of lands and if this can land a walker and play geddon it can win. I don't really like the thought of me playing Armageddon in this kind of deck, but I see it's worth even in such a deck.
I hardly killed anyone with Entreat the Angels. Even though Mystical Tutor -> Entreat the Angels look sweet in reality it does not work that much probably because of the starting life total.

Artifact [2]
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Helm of Obedience
Enchantment [3]

1 Oblivion Ring
1 Rest in Peace
1 Detention Sphere

As for artifacts and enchantments I don't know why I play Shackles. The card was always good in a control deck but with all those wrath effects and generals with shroud or some that I can hardly steal (because they can become way bigger or kill themselves) why play them? I will keep the combo in probably. I'd like to include Future Sight and see if I can manage to play it. The card is just too good. I wanted to keep this deck relatively fast but against all those other blue decks the games usually take ages and this is something that can simply win the game. The other card I was considering playing was Oblivion Stone but I think that the deck does not need the card.

Creatures is something I wouldn't bother playing but in the end I played Venser, Shaper Savant and Snapcaster Mage. If I would play any other creature it would be Vendilion Clique.

Planeswalkers
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Gideon Jura
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace, Architect of Thought

Planeswalkers is what usually kills my opponent. Jace Beleren is on the watch list to go out. I would replace him with a more expensive card - Karn (or just a card draw). I considered Ugin but in all the games I managed to play it Ugin was more or less useless. I don't really like Jace, AoT but he showed to be actually quite good and I really like Elspeth Tirel. I never thought that I would play this card anywhere but she's good.

I played 39 lands and I have no idea if that number is ok, good or bad (I usually had enough lands). I would include Flagstones of Trokair and probably added a land or two. I ran quite a lot of utility lands (Maze of Ith, Wasteland, Tectonic Edge etc...and I should not really take those in account).

I came back from the last tournament convinced that this deck would do better with Geist in its lead even though the deck is not built around it (I might actually try that). What I don't like about Geist of Saint Traft is that he warps the format. The card is simply too good. Same goes to other cards or generals but this one annoys me quite a lot because it reminds me of Delver of Secrets. So that's about it...for now. ^_^. Maybe it is time to play Geist as well and see what it can do in a control deck^_^.

Looking after cats part 1 - Day 1 to Day 4

For a relatively long period me and my sister should be taking care of my mother's cats Dr. Sheldon Cooper and Leontyna. My sister got the first shift and I have the second one now. I went through a lot of stress lately and I was quite depressed in the past week. It was really difficult for me to do something...but now I hope to regenerate a bit here with the cats. Plans for the upcoming two weeks:
Play some DDR (every day if possible)

relax

play some Magic (I plan to try some THS block sealed and FRF/KTK drafts)

play the piano (oh I figured out the notes in The Great Giana Sisters...but well not the rhythm) and learn something new if possible...

alter some cards (Tarmogoyf, Force of Will, Abrupt Decay, Life from the Loam, Swords to Plowshares) or at least finish Tarmogoyf and prime Force of Will with some coats of red paint so they would look like more or less this ->

and then try to figure out how to fix some problems and update all the tables I was supposed to update ages ago...

So how were the first four days here?

The very first day I came here and I was wondering which bowl belongs to Sheldon and which one to Leontynka. I did not figure it out. I put food for one cat in one bowl and food for the other in the other one. They ate what they were supposed to eat. The day after they switched the bowls^_^ when the contents were the same. I hoped for some instructions here, but they were not left here for us to see. After those few days there were few things I shouldn't have done...

Rule no.1 - Do not let Sheldon enter the bathroom. He attacked the toilet paper roll, totally destroyed it and started eating the paper o_O

Rule no.2 - No food should be left alone, not even for a few seconds. Sheldon ate my breakfast.

Rule no.3 - No drink containing milk should be left alone. I left alone my lovely looking coffee for a while and then turned around to find Sheldon drinking it....

Rule no.4 - Do not shuffle cards if you don't want your hands to bleed all over... I started shuffling my deck to do some test draws (which were really scary) and Sheldon grabbed my hands and started scratching them...aw that was painful.

Rule no.5 - Do not leave any clothes on a surface on which one can lie down on (if you still want to wear them the next day). Leontynka confiscated my t-shirt...(she really liked it)

Day 1 - After their meal they happily slept but during the night I could hear them fighting each other.

Day 2 - Leontynka, capable of sending messages to several people at once!

Day 3 - Sheldon eating a dance pad...

Day 4 - Sheldon vs Fate Reforged Booster Pack. I tried to play with him but he wasn't really interested in that blue bird so instead he was biting Ugin. He got through the wrapping...

Day 4 - Sheldon tired and me playing FRF/KTK Draft. I was glad I could caress him during the games^_~

So I wonder what the next days will bring?