Elimidate

Wait! Dun go, dun-- hey come back.. come bacckkkkk!

Ok, ok, enuff of the Magic: the Gathering crap, im losing social circles fast. Tis week let's hav a gameshow, sounds great? Wifout further ado.. -drums rolling- let's welcome the host, SIR LIONCOURT! -claps n cheers-

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Thank u! Thank u! GRRREAT to see u guys back again after one week, welcome back to ELIMIDATE! -more claps n cheers- Well, the exam period aint much fun wifout my handsome mug, aint it? -flashes a glittering smile. a couple of ladies in the audience faint- Anyway, we're back n tt's wat counts. Tis week on Elimidate, we have 4 VERY interesting contestants. They r none other than the 3 brothers fr the notorious SKOF n their church fren! -the contestants walk onto the stage. the crowd roars- Ok, ok, calm down, we all know how cool these guys r rite, but hey aren't u a bit over-reacting? -a lady flings her panties at the SKOF member wif the shaved head- ...Right.

AND THE CONTESTANTS R:
(NOTE: the contestants do not wish for their off-screen lives to be disrupted n thus we hav to protect their identities.)


The Lamester: Pxxshx
The Idiot: Lioxxl
The Poet: Jxxgyu
The Stoner: Alxx
(Top left to bottom right)

Ahem, ahem.. looks like we slipped wif Jxxgyu's photo but hey, the guy looks better wif thick eyebrows, rite? Hahaha...ha..

Tonite, the guys will try to win the heart of a v special girl. Not only is she a pretty face, she has some pretty hot personal history. -reads fr a piece of note- "Won American Idol season 1. Was supermodel for Vogue. Was Ms Jamaica in 1950--" -pauses- ...Ms Jamaica? ...1950?? -looks at the audience, looks at the note again, n calmly crushes the piece of paper- Hahaha.. who cares bout personal history when the lady has got the looks n the body rite? Take a look a the screen!

AND THE HEART TO MELT TONITE IS:
(NOTE: Identity-protection measures enabled.)

The Sweetheart

Ms Caxxie

Haha.. not exactly v photogenic, eh? Well.. we all hav our MINOR flaws so let's not be too critical.. haha.. Wat was tt? She's fat? -sweating profusely- I guess the paperbag does make her seem a TAD larger on the horizontal side haha.. -boos fr the audience r heard- hey, hey, but she's a pretty face ok! Pretty face! -raising a hand in dignity-

Let's get started already. U all know the rules, the guys will try to win The Sweetheart's heart by coming up wif a pick-up line each n she'll award a point to the guy wif the line she likes most. Tis will carry on for 3 rounds n at the end of it, The Sweetheart will go on a hot date wif the guy wif the most points. Once again, ladies n gentlemen, welcome to ELIMIDAAAATE!! -claps n cheers. the Elimidate theme song blasts in the background-

ROUND 1

The setting is a ballroom, it is the company's annual Dinner & Dance. Ms Caxxie goes out to the balcony for a breather. She sips her champagne while admiring the starlit nite-sky. The guys will take turns to approach her wif a pick-up line, hoping to end up wif a date..

Pxxshx:
Hey babe, wanna get LUCKY!?

Lioxxl:
Bond. James Bond.

Jxxgyu:
Babe, ya beauty makes the morning sun look like the dull glimmer of the moon.

Alxx:
So, you're a girl huh?

The results:
Jxxgyu receives 1 point
Alxx receives 1 sheepish stare
Right on target, Jxxgyu scores. Looks like poetry still does the job in melting the hearts of ladies on romantic occasions, eh?

ROUND 2

It is the great outdoors tis time. Ms Caxxie sits outside her tent n reads a romance novel in the dancing glow of the campfire. The music of nature n a light breeze forms the perfect setting for the guys to approach the lady..

Pxxshx:
Was ya father an alien? Becos there's nothing like u on Earth!

Lioxxl:
-Lioxxl goes up to the girl n says- Let me tell you a story: there was a frog on tis side of the mountain -places his finger on her left shoulder- N n there was a frog on tis side of the mountain -places his finger on her right shoulder. then he says- Nvm, tt was a stupid story any way. -While his right finger is still behind the girl on her right side, Lioxxl just put his arm ard her n leaves it there..-

Jxxgyu:
Do u hav a map? I jus keep getting lost in ya eyes.

Alxx:
I'm not trying to pick u up. U're like too heavy. Huh huh huh huh. Get it?

The results:
Lioxxl receives 1 point
Jxxgyu receives 1 yawn
Alxx receives 1 tight slap
Damn, tt was cunning! Lioxxl really lived up to the title of "SKOF leader". Oops, looks like The Poet needs a change of strategy, she's getting bored! Haha, gd joke there Alxx, jus not sure wat u're trying to achieve.

ROUND 3

The final scenario. Ms Caxxie is sitting alone at the counter of a jazz pub. One of her hand supports her face while the other stirs the straw of her Aussie Kate in a bored fashion. Its now or never for the guys..

Pxxshx:
U know the more i drink, the prettier u get!

Lioxxl:
Hey babe, how bout a pizza n a kiss? -slap- HEY! Wat's wrong, dun u like pizza?

Jxxgyu:
My love for you is like diaharrea, I just can't hold it in.

Alxx:
Ok, so I came over here to ask you to dance, but I'm kind of concerned. I mean, we could hit it off really well, end up having a few drinks, next thing you know u're giving me ya number becos I'm too shy to ask for it, I finally get up the nerve to call n we take in a movie, hav some dinner, I relax, you relax, we go out a few more times, get to know each other's friends, spend a lot of time tog, then a few months later get married. N finally we hav get past tis sexual tension n really develop tis intense sex life that is truly incredible, decide our relationship is solid n stable, so we move in tog for a while, I get a promotion, u get a promotion, we buy a bigger house. U really want kids, but I really want freedom, but we hav a kid anyway, only to find that I m resentful, the sparks start to fade n to rekindle them we hav two more lovely kids, but now I work too much to keep up with the bills, hav no time 4 u, u're stressed n stop taking really good care of yaself, so to get past our slow sex life n my declining self-confidence I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...................

The results:
Everyone receives a tight slap
Ms Sweetheart storms off the stage
Hey come back! Come baccckkkkk! -Sir Lioncourt glances at the seething audience n forces a smile- Hahaha.. well tt's all for today n-- WOAH! Stop throwing-- no dun hit me, OUCH! Not on my handsome face!! HEEEELP!!

-The curtain falls n the credits start to roll-

THE END

Welcome to the Jungle, Part III

Even the goblins shun tis haunted place,
where the tree limbs twist in agony
n the ground seems to scuttle under my feet...

There is no turning back, I swallowed hard n placed one trembling foot into the dark heart of the wood...

Round 4: Enchanted garden VS Widow-maker

N my first opponent is.. Widow-maker, the deck which was put thru the trials of the Jungle jus 2 weeks ago. It did well, a survivor wif a 12-6 record. Widow-maker is a black-blue combo deck built ard the nightmare card, living death. PS' enchantment deck has faced it 6 times in the past n lost the match on 4 of the encounters. Not v gd news for Enchanted Garden.

First blood was drawn v quickly. Knowing tt no deck has ever faced a resolved living death n recover to win the game, i attacked wif my tundra wolves every turn, hoping to defeat my oppo b4 he can cast his key spell. In return, he hit me back wif bloodpet each turn as well. I was able to get 2 opal champions onto the table later. The game went on wif us dealing each other 1 damage every turn wif our critters. He didnt dare to cast any spells for fear of awakening my slumbering champions but i couldnt cast any spells successfully either due to his interfering counterspells. As the turns passed one by one wifout any of us gaining the upper edge, i began to worry, for the shadow of living death loomed closer than ever.

Finally, i managed to get another tundra wolves into play n tt sped up the game. The oppo reacted by casting 3 creas of his own in e following turn, one of which is a man-o-war which bounced back to my hand one of my awakened opal champions (damn!). Not long after tt, things went extremely bleak when he casted the dreaded living death. Of cos, he was grinning ear to ear as he surveyed his crowded side of the table n the empty side of mine.

When all hope seemed lost, i drew an argothian enchantress n an enchantress presence. Both cards allowed me to replenish the creas i lost n enabled me to keep alive. Slowly, i even managed to turn the tide of the battle in my favour. Later, the oppo played a fallen angel, which set me on a one turn doomsday clock as he had enuff sacrifices for the angel. I would hav lost if not for a pacifism sitting in my hand. As it is, Enchanted Garden prevailed n is the FIRST deck to survive a resolved living death!

Final life: 15-0
MVP cards: argothian enchantress, enchantress' presence, pacifism
junk cards: opal champion

The champions were trash.. the whole useless lot of the opal cohort in fact.. im damn pissed tt they sat ard n did nothing. If i had 2 other creas instead of the pair of opal champions, i might hav been able to win the match even b4 living death hits.

On the other hand, the enchantress engines proved to be incredible again. Their ability enabled me to draw 16 cards in total n i won wif a full hand. Perhaps i should add in empyrial armor to utilise my large hand in the future.

Round 5: Enchanted garden VS Merfolk

Man, the oppos jus get tougher n tougher. Tis time Enchanted Garden faced off wif ex-elder legend, Merfolk deck! Merfolk deck hoses a kind of spell which enchantment decks r particularly afraid of. Tts rite, bounce spells. As u know, whenever a crea returns to his/her owner's hand, the enc on it goes to the graveyard.

The action was v intense. By the 3rd turn, both me n my oppo had our trump cards in play. I had an argothian enchantress n a river boa while he had a lord of atlantis plus 2 other merfolks.
VS

Almost as quick as the action began, it ended soon enuff. The oppo casted another lord of atlantis n 2 more merfolk, making short work of Enchanted garden. The first defeat! Oh, how I grimaced at the lost of my perfect record.. but then again, wat can u expect when u encounter an ex-elder legend? Merfolk deck was truly efficient n fast.

Final life: 0-20 (yes, i didn't even scratch him)
MVP cards: ... (like i said, i didn't even scratch him)
junk cards: rabid wombat, opal champion

There were a number of 3 n 4 casting cost cards in my hand when i lost, Enchanted Garden is simply not fast enuff to match the speed of weenie decks. Also, the deck needs more spells which deals wif the oppo's creas. I need to go back to the drawing board.

Round 6: Enchanted garden VS Honden-control

Honden-control is a blue-red deck which splashes black n white for their hondens. Tis deck is a control deck as its name suggests , n a combo deck as well. The heart of tis deck's strategy lies in its jokulhaups-honden combo. Jus like when dealing wif Widow-maker, I mustn't let the game drag.

Early in the game, i tried to enchant tundra wolves wif armadillo cloak but was foiled by my oppo who incinerated my wolves n caused the cloak to fizzle. I had a REALLY bad hand tis match, for i had lands n an opal champion n nothing else. It was hopeless, my opal champion would never trigger for honden-ctrl has no creas. In the end, i did nothing for 7 consecutive turns n watched the oppo set up his game. Tis has got to be the WORST match ever..

In the end, the oppo cleared the table, wif a sweeping jokulhaups, of everything except his 3 hondens. Wif them, he was dealing 3 dam, gaining 6 life n drawing 3 additional cards every turn. Enchanted Garden never recovered fr tt jokulhaups.

Final life: 0-35
MVP cards: none
junk cards: opal champion (again..)

Im so definitely removing the opal army for gd.. if i dun, i aint the handsome leader of SKOF.. Replacing them wif more weenies will help me in matches against control decks.

The verdict

Faced wif stronger decks, the 3-0 run became 4-2, which was more realistic for a rookie deck. Lots of adjustments have to be made, but adhering to the rule i set, i will only change 5 cards at any one time. Wifout hesitating:

-2 opal champion
-2 opal caryatid
-1 rabid wombat
+2 pacifism
+1 tragic poet
+1 tundra wolves
+1 empyrial armor

Im taking out the rabid wombat to speed up the deck. Often by the time it comes into play, most of the enc hav been already used on my other creas. 4 casting cost is simply too much for the wombat's abilities. I would hav replaced the wombat wif yavimaya enchantress except tt i hav none. As realised fr the match wif Merfolk, i need more spells which deal wif creas. Pacifism is a natural choice, it's being an enc means tt i can draw a card whenever i cast it. The addition of empyrial armor was becos i wanted to take adv of the many instances when i hav a large hand. The only doubt i hav about tt card is its 2 white mana requiremt.

Wif these drastic changes, im eager to see how Enchanted Garden does. Within the dark heart of the wood, there r only 2 more oppo left. To go any higher will be to challenge the elder legends themselves.. is Enchanted Garden worthy of tt?

Next up: light at the end of the Jungle

Welcome to the Jungle, Part II

In the Jungle, welcome to the Jungle
Watch it bring u on ya knees, knees..

As Guns N Roses' music filled my head, i shuffled my deck n stared my opponent across the table. Tis is it, the moment we've all been waiting for.

Round 1: Enchanted garden vs Arcbound

Due to an excellant starting hand, i had tundra wolves, river boa n enchantress' presence on my side of the table by the 3rd turn. Wat's more, there were 2 enchantments sitting in my hand, which i could use to trigger enchantress' presence's card drawing ability. The opponent had only arcbound worker n arcbound stinger on his side of the table.

However, the opponent managed to draw tinker later on n using tt, bring a gigantic arcbound overseer into play. Even so, it had no trample n was kept at bay by my regenerative boa. The opponent managed to deal me some damage wif his AB stinger but was eventually defeated by my armadillo-cloaked, holy-strengthened, gaea-embraced 8/8 islandwalking boa.

final life: 10-0
MVP cards: river boa, armadillo cloak, enchantress presence
junk cards: holy strength

Tis match gave me insight of a contradiction in my strategy. I shouldnt be using enchantment which boost the toughness of my creas since most of them have either regeneration or first-strike. Instead, i shd focus on boosting their power. Making a mental note, i moved to the next section of the Jungle.

Round 2: Enchanted garden vs Reanimator

It seems tt the oppo had a bad hand for he did not manage to reanimate any crea within the 1st 2 turns. When he finally got a symbiotic wurm out, i had a river boa to deal wif it. He never did anything else for the rest of the match except duress away a pacifism. I probably would not have been able to deal wif his spirit of the night wifout my pacifism, but as it is, he never managed to get the spirit out. I won the match wif 6 creas in play.
VS
final life: 20-0
MVP cards: river boa

The boa is simply amazing! Wif a casting cost of jus 2, it is the one of the most efficient crea. Moreover, its seemingly negligible islandwalking ability is actually v useful considering the abundance of blue decks in the Jungle.

Round 2: Enchanted garden vs Siege

U probably hav not heard of the Siege deck. It's a red-white deck based loosely ard the combo of orcish artillery n circle of protection: red. It is currently under development at the moment. The Siege deck has a foil to Enchanted Garden which the previous 2 opposing decks do not hav: the ability to destroy enchantments. Tis may be an interesting match btw the 2 rookies.

The action really begin when I enchanted my scryb sprites wif an armadillo cloak. However, before i could launch any offensive, true to predictions, the oppo destroyed both the crea n the enc wif a devestating orim's thunder. Later, i paid back in kind by pacifying his serra angel who's still recovering fr summoning sickness. Of cos, i took the liberty of not suppressing my chuckle.

Towards late game, i had mirri's guile in play n wif tt, i got out 2 card-drawing engines which sped up my game. eventually, i defeated the oppo wif a 5/5 opal champion wif protection fr red n a full hand.

final life: 15-0
MVP cards: armadillo cloak, enchantress' presence, mirri's guile

As it turns out, even if my oppo hoses cards which can destroy my enc, i doesnt really matter as i can replace them wif more enc as long as i hav either argothian enchantress or enchantress' presence in play.

The verdict

Wow, judging fr the 3-0 run, Enchanted Garden sure has potential aplenty. In spite of tis, it is entirely possible the record will go downhill fr now as the previous 3 decks r the weakest in the Jungle. Fr the results of the previous matches, i decided to make the following adjustments to my deck:

-2 holy strength
-2 youthful knight
+2 river boa
+2 armadillo cloak

Im taking out youthful knight becos for the same casting cost, river boa is a much better card as it's regenerative ability enables it to be a hard-to-deal wif blocker. Wif these changes, Enchanted Garden is slower than b4 due to the higher casting costs n ability costs. We shall how it does as we journey deeper into the dark heart of the woods..

Next up: more fearsome opponents!

Welcome to the Jungle, Part I

Wahaha, im gonna turn my blog into a deck clinic for "Magic:the Gathering" for tis exam period. Tt means the stuff i put up here is gonna be meaningless for these few weeks. For u guys who dun play Magic, go get a life then come back. Peishu, tis is for u!

So wat is a deck clinic? Well, here's wat im going to do. Im gonna any-o-how build a deck n put it thru multiple hurdles of play-testing n fine-tune it along the way such tt i'll end up wif a powerful deck. Hopefully, i can thru tis experiment, elevate that deck to an "elder legend" status.

The deck which i will be putting thru tis clinic is an Enchantment deck. Sounds familiar aint it, tt's rite PS, part of my motivation is to beat u at ya own game hahaha.. there's nothing quite as delightful or perverse as the overpowering of an equal. Im gonna play the white-green combi as well. Reason is v simple: white n green r the colours which provides the best enchantments n weenie creas. However, there're some distinct differences btw PS' version of the enchantment deck n mine. While he seeks to awake the dormant abilities of Autumn-Tail the Kitsune Sage and harness the regenerative abilities of various trolls, I will focus entirely on the card-drawing engines which are Argothian Enchantress and her doppelganger, Enchantress' Presence. Furthermore, my enchantment deck will use the "opal" creatures of Urza's Saga. I figure tt their being enchantments n creatures at the same time provides the twin benefits of allowing me to draw a card as i play them n then allowing me to enchant them when they become creatures. I do not really know how well they will fit into the deck but hey, tt's wat the deck clinic is for.

Wifout further ado, here is my take of the enchantment deck:

LANDS
9x plains
10x forest
4x grasslands

CREATURES
2x tundra wolves
1x tragic poet
2x youthful knight
1x monk idealist
1x armored griffin
2x river boa
3x argothian enchantress
2x rabid wombat
1x fugitive druid
2x syrub sprites

SPELLS
2x opal caryatid
1x opal titan
2x opal champion
2x flickering ward
2x holy strength
2x pacifism
2x fertile ground
3x enchantress' presence
1x gaea's embrace
1x mirri's guile
2x armadillo cloak

total: 60 cards

In tis deck clinic, I set for myself a few rules:
1. I will not change any cards in the deck until i have played 3 games at least.
2. I will not change more than 5 cards at any one go.

Alright, before i head to the battlegrounds (or the Jungle as i call it), i wanna give my deck a name. Calling it "the enchantment deck" is jus plain uncreative. Since white n green magic draw their vitality fr the untouched, open plains n lush forests respectively, i shall call my deck "Enchanted Garden". Well, tts an apt name, considering tt my deck contains animals u find in a garden like snakes, wombats, wolves (maybe not) n sprites. Yeah, n now we're raring to go! Oh, we're the road, the highway, the fury tt can never be caged!

Next up: The Jungle!