Other Sides of the Dagger

Monday, April 28, 2014

weekend spoils!

Well, I failed in getting anything Magic the Gathering related, instead I ended up purchasing a new phone namely a Samsung Galaxy S5 and it's an hell of a upgrade over my old Samsung Galaxy S2 that's for sure! More on that later.

I also ended up joint purchasing a new television for my girlfriend as her old CRT tv was about to die and well... I couldn't hook up my gaming consoles to it either... so it's a win win situation.  Tomorrow I will head to the gaming store and see what Magic the Gathering spoils I can dig up in lieu of Journey into the Nyx  being that it hasn't released yet.

Stay tuned!

Friday, April 25, 2014

Long Weekend? Spend on Magic the Gathering

Tis another long weekend here in Australia and I'll be off to my neighbouring city to visit my long suffering girlfriend and visit the local gaming shop to stock up on Magic The Gathering items.  Unfortunately Journey into the Nyx won't be out by the time I get there, so I'll more than likely just pick up a few booster packs from Theros/Born of the Gods and try and finish off this Mono Blue deck I am trying to build...

A small update on my Aggro Mono Black Deck - I have acquired Erebos, God of the Dead to throw in there somewhere... interesting times, any opinions on Erebos?

Once Journey into the Nyx comes out however, I'll more than likely just pick up a Fat Pack, or if some of my Magic the Gathering friends would split a booster box with me that'd be great!, haha.

What kind of Mono Blue?  I haven't decided yet, but was quite impressed with the Fire Surge Magic 2014 Intro Deck (that I mentioned in brief here) so that I may add a bit of Red spice in there for good measure.
Yes, I do realise it was only an Intro deck, but I rarely play Blue or Red for that matter, but how it measured up to a Devotion Black Blue decks astounded me.

I also hopefully want to get back to the 2nd hand/pawn stores as well and try and find me some retro gear, there has to be some somewhere!  If not, I've hatched a plan to strip out a PS2, Nintendo Wii and possibly a PS1 and combine them in one enclosure, I have a frame made up out of angle iron ready to go but just need to find the time to actually figure out how it's all going to go together.

Check back often for updates, with photos, of course...

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Fire Surge Magic 2014 Intro Deck

Ok, Tuesday nights are now becoming a staple night of playing Magic the Gathering with my friends, so I should be updating this blog with Magic info more often now (yay!)

Tonight I played and played my Mono Black Aggro deck (correct me if I am wrong please) which can be found here.  I found I am thinking of adding Read The Bones to it to add a scry 2 feature to add some more control to my draw, especially if I am getting a shitty draw, and possibly add 2 more Pharikas Cure to counteract the 2 life lost using Read The Bones.  Anyways!

I recently bought another Intro Deck, this in particular as the title suggests Fire Surge Magic 2014 Core Set Intro Deck.  Red/Blue being its colours and it really surprised me as it come into its own against a Blue/Black devotion deck.  I won't go into too much detail but if I had played a Chandra's Outrage appropriately I would not lost by one life as that's what it came down too.  I elected to do deal three damage to a two toughness creature, rather than dole out that extra one damage to the player thus losing me the game.

That's all I wanted to say, if you're new to Magic the Gathering, (like me) pickup the Magic 2014 Fire Surge Intro Deck, I picked it up discounted as the new Magic the Gathering stuff is gearing up to be released and I really like it as an intro deck.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Hearthstone Basick Build - Mage

 Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.


Magic Basic Build.



Hearthstone Basic Mage Deck BuildHearthstone Mana Curve Mage Basic Deck Build

This build is great for new players, who haven't acquired or bought many cards or just for the casual player who'd like to start out with a solid deck early on.  This basic mage build is a good all rounder and can handle most situations. E.g. Removal with Polymorph, Flamestrike.  Ranged damage with Fireball, card draw with Novice Engineer, Gnomish Inventor + Arcane Intellect. And a little bit of aggro with the Elven Archer and Gurubashi Berserker (The Gurubashi Berserker can also be set off by your hero power too)





An alternative could be to trade out the Chillwind Yeti for an Ogre Magi.
You get +1 spell damage for 1 health.

Five Tips for Battlefield 4

Battlefield 4 five tips to survive

Hello everyone,

I am here today to give you a few simple tips in surviving Battlefield 4. If you play in Hard Core mode this especially applies to you (and Hard Core mode is the only mode I play these days)

Tip #1 - Communicate with your team!

I don't mean to your whole team, but at least your Teamspeak friends and no I don't mean just general banter talking about how much alcohol you drank on Friday night either. Work together in spotting enemies and giving good descriptions of there whereabouts, what their kit is, any scope glints in the distance etc. You hear a chopper or vehicle nearby, report it to your squad! this will ensure your survival percentage goes up by at least %20... well... maybe...

Tip #2 - Have a plan!

In Battlefield 4 Conquest mode, decide before hand what squad is controlling which capture points. There is no point in running back and fourth to points that are spread from arse hole to breakfast, you become easy cannon fodder for the enemy by making these long distance hikes. Just control two or three points nearby and cap them as they become uncapped or defend them if they are all capped and remain vigilante , your enemy will become discouraged and move on to the next point in which you follow them and mow them down as they move on.

Tip #3 - Don't be a hemorrhoid!

You're moving on to the next objective, don't bunch together like dingle berries! fan out but not so far you find yourself on your own and in the sights of an enemy sniper. e.g. one person take the high road, the other the low road. One to go around a building whilst the other goes inside and refer to Tip #1 and communicate! This way you have more eyes spread over the objective and have a better chance of catching your enemy off guard even if your team mate catches some bullets in the process and dies. You'll then have the chance to cap your mates killers whilst they reload or tea bag your dead friend. Vengeance is sweet!


Tip #4 - Play your role!

Playing Assualt? Throw your medic kits out often!
Playing Support? Throw your ammo bags out often!
Playing Engineer? Work in with the Support player in your squad and be a human death conjurer!
Playing Recon? Scout out, report, actually do recon work! not just camp and annoy the shit out of everyone!

Tip#5 - KDR is not everything!

This one is simple... PLAY THE OBJECTIVE! Your kill death ratio means nothing to no one except your self, in other words no one else gives a shit how many times you've lived and not died.
Max it out too far on the Kill count side and you could end being wrongfully associated with using hacks.
Play the objective and reap the rewards of top scoring, top squad and actually winning the round on occasion.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Magic the Gathering Aggro Mono Black Deck

Hello All, I've now pulled apart my deck and had it inspected and now has morphed into an aggressive deck, below you'll find what I had originally and what I changed it out with.  I've battled with this deck three times, winning the first two rounds and losing the last.  Not a bad result but more and testing has to be conducted!

Creatures - x18

REMOVED - 4x Forsaken Drifters - Zombie - 4 drop

4x Servant of Tymaret - Zombie - 3 drop 1/3
Inspired - Whenever Servant of Tymaret becomes untapped each opponent loses 1 life, you gain life equal to the life lost this way.  3 drop: Regenerate.

4x - Insatiable Harpy - 4drop - 2/2
Flying and Lifelink

1x - Mogis's Maruader - 3 drop - 2/2
When Mogis Marauder enters the battlefield, up to X target creatures each gain intimidate and haste until end of turn, where X is your devotion to black.

2x - Felhide Brawler - Minotaur - 2 drop - 2/2
Felhide Brawler can't block unless you control another minotaur.

2x - Warchanter of Mogis - Minotaur - 5 drop
Inspired - Whenever Warchanter of the Mogis becomes untapped, target creature you control gains intimidate until end of turn.

2x - Marshmist Titan - Giant - 7 drop - 4/5
Marshmist Titan cost X less to cast, where X is your devotion to black)

REMOVED - 1x - Felhide Minotaur - Minotaur - 3 drop

1x - Sengir Vampire - Vampire - 5 drop - 4/4
Flying - Whenever a creature is dealt damage by Sengir Vampire this dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Sengir Vampire

REMOVED - 1x Eater of Hope - Demon - 7 drop

2x - Tormented Hero - Human Warrior - 1 drop - 2/1
Tormented Hero enters the battlefield tapped
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Tormented Hero, each opponent loses 1 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.

REMOVED - 1x Disciple of Phenax - Human Cleric - 4 drop

Enchantment Creature - x7


REMOVED - 2x - Nyxborn Eidolon - Spirit - 2 drop

1x - Night Howler - Horror 0/0
Bestow 4 - Nighthowler and enchanted creature each +X/+X, where X is the number of creature cards in all graveyards.

2x - Cavern Lampad - Nymph - 4 drop - 2/2
Bestow 6 - Intimidate, Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has intimidate.

2x - Baleful Eidolon - Spirit - 2 drop - 1/1
Bestow 5 - Deathtouch - Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has deathtouch.

1x - Spiteful Returned - Zombie - 2 drop - 1/1
Bestow 4 - Whenever spiteful returned or enchanted creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life.
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1

1x - Archetype of Finality - Gorgon - 6 drop - 2/3
Creatures you control have Deathtouch.  Creatures your opponent control lose deathtouch and can't have or gain deathtouch.

Sorcery - x5

4x - Asphyxiate - 4 drop
Destroy target untapped creature.

REMOVED - 1x Sip of Hemlock - 6 drop

1x - Gild - 4 drop
Exile target creature. Put a colourless artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield.  It has "sacrifice this artifcate: Add one mana of any colour to your mana pool"

REMOVED - 1x March of the Returned - 4 drop

Enchantment - Aura - x1


REMOVED - 2x Weight of the Underworld - 4 drop

1x - Claim of Erebos - 2 drop
Enchant creature - Enchanted creature has "drop 2 and tap: target player loses 2 life"

Instant - x5

REMOVED - 2x - Eye Gouge - 1 drop
REMOVED - 1x - Wring Flesh - 1 drop

3x - Cutthroat Maneuver
Up to two target creatures each get  +1/+1 and gain lifelink til the end of turn.

2x - Pharikas Curse - 2 drop (added one)
Pharika's Curse deals 2 damage to target creature and you gain 2 life.

Lands - x24
24x Swamp Lands

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Noob MTG Mono Black Deck Build



Here we go at building a limited mono black deck from fifty six black cards from the Theros and Born of the Gods sets.  I am yet to test this out against anyone as I only threw this together not long ago. I will test it out shortly and submit a battle report here to let you all know how it went.

The deck in its current state -

60 Cards Total -

I have one Night Howler (not used currently), used in conjunction with the Forsaken Drifters penchant for expanding your graveyard, it could be potentially be a last ditch game changer, if you're lucky to not throw out Night Howler in the process. To somehow control this, the March of the Returned sorcery card can return up to 2 cards from your graveyard back to your hand. So maybe get some more Night Howlers and March of the Returned sorcery cards to maximise your potential for a game ending Night Howler or two.


Creatures - x19

4x Forsaken Drifters - Zombie - 4 drop(tricky one, when they die they take four cards from the top of your library with them)

4x Servant of Tymaret - Zombie - 3 drop

2x Felhide Brawler - Minotaur - 2 drop

2x Warchanter of Mogis - Minotaur - 5 drop

2x Marshmist Titan - Giant - 7 drop

1x Felhide Minotaur - Minotaur - 3 drop

1x Sengir Vampire - Vampire - 5 drop

1x Eater of Hope - Demon - 7 drop

1x Tormented Hero - Human Warrior - 1 drop

1x Disciple of Phenax - Human Cleric - 4 drop


Enchantment Creature - x4

2x Nyxborn Eidolon - Spirit - 2 drop

1x Spiteful Returned - Zombie - 2 drop

1x Archetype of Finality - Gorgon - 6 drop


Sorcery - x7

4x Asphyxiate - 4 drop

1x Sip of Hemlock - 6 drop

1x Gild - 4 drop

1x March of the Returned - 4 drop


Enchantment - Aura - x3

2x Weight of the Underworld - 4 drop

1x Claim of Erebos - 2 drop


Instant - x4

2x Eye Gouge - 1 drop

1x Wring Flesh - 1 drop

1x Pharikas Curse - 2 drop


Lands - x23

23x Swamp Lands


--Unused Cards--


1x Night Howler

1x Blood Bairn

1x Loathsome Catoblepas

1x Champion of Stray Souls

1x Minotaur Abomination

1x Rescue of the Underworld

1x Keepsake Gorgon

2x Sanguinmancy

3x Returned Centaur

1x Grisly Transformation

1x Necrobite

1x Shrivel

1x Asphyxiate

2x Forsaken Drifters

Link to the original Squidoo lense