Monthly Archives: November 2015
Magic Monday: A Beginner’s Guide to Magic- Blue
Todays topic- Blue!
Deemed the most unfair color in all of magic’s history.
Blue decks play very controlling magic. Cards that have defined the color include: Ancestral Recall, Counterspell, and Snapcaster Mage. Seeing the picture yet? It’s permission based. Counter what you do not want to deal with and draw cards other times.
I could not find a standard mono blue deck to share, so I throw one together. Its Mono Blue Awaken and you can find it at my Tappedout.net page Here
Mono Blue Awaken(BFZ Standard)
Lands: 21
21 Island
Creatures: 15
4x Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4x Harbinger of the Tides
4x Stratus Dancer
3x Halimar Tidecaller
Spells: 24
4x Anticipate
4x Rush of Ice
4x Clutch of Currents
4x Scatter to the Wind
4x Clash of Wills
2x Dig Through TIme
1x Negate
1x Dispel
There ya have it.
The aim is to control the early game with counters such as Clash of Wills and tap down their threats with Rush of Ice. From there, Harbinger can be used to bounce back any tapped down creature. Once you make it to the late game, cast your spells at their awaken cost to turn your lands into threats. Remember, you use a flipped Jace or Tidecaller to gain back your awaken spells once you have your mana up.
Pros- This deck gives you a bunch of ways of controlling the game and handling your opponents threats. You can counter them, bounce them, or tap them down, rendering them harmless. Your opponent needs your permission to do anything.
Cons- While you can tap down your opponents creatures, you can still run out of gas and just get mangled. Thats why we pack 6 draw spells to try to keep up the ammo. However, you do not have early game threats, so we really need to flip the Stratus Dancer to have a big flyer or land those awaken spells to have a threat for ourselves.
*Tip*- Jace is the money of the deck. Don’t feel like buying him? Just add 4 more spells like draw spells or awaken spells.
Blue is for players who- Want to have a say in what enters the field and what does not. You have access to the best counters, the best draw spells, and alternative removal. You sacrifice speed and ruthlessness for the ability to just deny your opponents every move. Oh, and also for wizards who do not care about losing friends
Next week we go Green!
Until than check out more Magic Mondays!
Scream Queens: Midseason Thoughts
Last time we visited this series Grace and Pete were just starting their adventures in crime fighting and no one else had quite figured out what to make of the Red Devil. Some more information as been given to us and even more dead bodies have piled up. Interested in jumping into the final three episodes? Well it is time to get you caught up as well as lay down some theories and thoughts.
Spoilers: I, in no way, know how this series will end, so spoilers will not ruin the grand finale, but there will be some spoilers if youve missed any episodes(Some will be MAJOR some will be MINOR).
First things first. We know there are two red devils. Heck, we even know who one of them is. The first Red Devil was Nick Jonas’s character, Boone. This was fairly easy to pick out. I knew he was one by the end of episode two(when he supposedly died). This also lead to the very early assumption that this was in fact a group project.
Grace and Pete go on seemingly pointless adventure after seemingly pointless adventure trying to find out who the baby in the bath tub was. Grace believes it is still her. I am pretty sure this theory is seeming more and more less likely which each episode. Their adventures are more mind numbing than Foggy Nelson and Karen’s adventures in the Netflix Daredevil series. There is seriously an entire episode dedicated to introducing a character that cheated on Dean Munch’s Husband. At the end, the girl is arrested for murdering her husband. Which she ultimately did not. Gigi and Dean Munch seem to both set her up. Long story short, Dean Munch wanted this girl gone, and that is what happened. It was a complete waste of an episode and that is a major problem with this show. I, in no way, ever believed Dean Munch had anything to do the Red Devil. I still do not. She is just a wicked human being. We already knew this. Grace and Pete are terrible detectives. We already knew this. We did not need an entire episode dedicated to this. It was enjoyable, but it was a waste.
The Chanels are insane. Very insane. They have plotted to kill each other and several other members of the house for stupid reasons. I was curious about rather Chanel 6 could be one of the devils(Still kind of am). Even though that theory seems shot after the conclusion of last week. I do not particularly enjoy their characters. I still reserve the same opinion that they are all good actors and play their roles respectably enough. Though the one Chanel I am most curious in is Chanel #4. She died off scene in episode one and not much more, if anything, has been said about her. They just dismissed her in passing. I would not put it past this show for her to be the helper. It seems like it can only be a student. This potentially rules out Dean Munch, Grace’s Dad, Denise Hemphill, and any other faculty member that might have been introduced. We also know there were twins in bath tub. Boone was the guy. This potentially rules out any of the other guys, like Chad. I am personally ruling out Chanel #1, Grace, Zayday, and Chanel #5. So, assuming character’s do not stay dead so they are not inherently ruled out just for dying . My top candidates are Chanel #4, Chanel #6, and Chanel #3. As mentioned, I would not put it past the show to bring back Chanel #4 like they did with Nick Jonas’s character(I would not even put it past bringing back Chanel #2, though this one seems unlikely because we did see her get stabbed a few times). Chanel #6, while being dead, still fits the style of Boone and I could see her being the twin. I do not personally recall The Red Devil ever attacking Chanel #3, so that is why I find it hard to rule her out even though no real signs point to her.
A closing thought is that a lot is being made of Grace, her dad, Chanel, and Chad’s life. It seems as if they are all on some collision course with fate, but I cannot quite put my finger on their converging point. None of them seem guilty as being the Red Devil. Grace’s Dad knew Gigi. So does he know who the second twin is? Has he been trying to get Grace to go home so she would not get caught up in His and Gigi’s revenge scheme? Chad has slept around with most if not all the Chanels and it seemed like they were trying to tie him to the Red Devil. That theory seems completely mute now that Boone is one of the killers. I doubt Chad knows anything larger than himself. What do we make of Chanel? Could she be purposely be bringing a bad name to Kappa because of the event that happened twenty years. I would not think so, but maybe?
All in all, this show has introduced a lot of characters, and thankfully has killed off the uninteresting ones. It gains momentum so fast, and loses it by lollygagging around. The show is more interesting without the Red Devil on scene, though I do rejoice when the Red Devil is on the scene, because that is one less mouth to have to listen to. I do think the show as a whole has been mediocre up to this point, but I am excited for the last three episodes.
Score: 6 out 10 for now. We will revisit this season once it is all said and done.
Check back than for the final score.
Check out the early thoughts Here
Magic Monday: A Beginner’s Guide to Magic- Red
The first color we will be tackling is red. What does it mean to be a red wizard? and what does a deck look like for a red Wizard? We will be going over all that in todays post(All link lead to Amazon where you can view the cards and purchase them if you like them)
Red decks are super aggressive and would love to win before their opponents even establish a board presence. How to do they accomplish this? Red decks normally have two approaches. Play super fast creatures like Goblin Guide or Monastery Swiftspear. These cards have huge upside such as Haste, lets your creatures avoid summoning sickness, and prowess, lets you beef up your cards by playing spells(Which red loves to do). You can swing on turn one and the cards are so low on the curve you flood the field early and overwhelm your opponents.
The other approach is through burn. Burn is when you play a spell that does direct damage to your opponent such as Lightning Bolt or Wild Slash. This puts the opponent on a clock and makes them play around your spells. They have to constantly worry about how much burn is actually in your hands.
This is the standard Red Deck. It is also know as Atarka Red.
Standard Red Aggro(Atarka Red)- Antonio Castellani pulled from MTGTop8
Lands 21:
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Cinder Glade
1 Forest
8 Mountain
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures 14:
4 Abbot Of Keral Keep
2 Lightning Berserker
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Zurgo Bellstriker
Spells 25:
4x Atarka’s Command
3x Become Immense
4x Dragon Fodder
2x Fiery Impulse
2x Hordeling Outburst
3x Temur Battle Rage
4x Titan’s Strength
3x Wild Slash
Pros- This deck uses small creatures to storm the field and then uses pump spells to beef up their creatures. The deck uses combat tricks to win the game out of nowhere. If your opponent does not declare blockers, Temur Battle Rage can win the game instantly.
Cons- Much like the problems with most red decks, you can run out of gas with your burn spells or your opponent can just play larger creatures than you.
Red is for player who- If you want to play super aggressive and never let your opponent have a chance in the fight, Red is the way to go. Burn, aggressive creatures, and just all-around destruction make red super fun to play but a nightmare to play against.
Next Week we look at the color Blue!
Until than Check out more Magic Monday!
Magic Monday: A Beginner’s Guide- Colors
Today were launching a new series within Magic Monday. A nice little beginners guide to the five colors: Red, Blue, Green, Black, White.
We will discuss what each colors goal is, signature cards, why to play them/not to play them, and what a standard deck would look like.
Note: This is not an overly in-depth look at each five colors. If you already have a grasp on the five colors. This guide will not be of much use to you. This guide will serve to help new comers be able to jump into the game by learning the colors. If you know something and want to contribute to each color more, feel free to add suggestions and such in the comments of the respective colors!
Today we will start with Red. Check back at 8pm Eastern for that post!
Update
Small Update.
Double Header Magic Monday coming up Monday. This will be a Magic Monday series that will last the next five mondays!
I begin job shadowing at my local high school this week, I might being doing some more teacher posts, so keep an eye out for that!
I got a job at my local gamestop , but between Christmas presents and all the essentials, I do not know how much will actually go to the blog. Hopefully after the holidays we can make the channel grow.
Expect a big update after my birthday(The 23rd).
As always, follow me on twitter @Dahubbz
Manga Monday! A Silent Voice
Remember how I said Manga Monday would be Neon Genesis? Yeah, slight change of plans. I read A Silent Voice Vol 1 today and decided that is what we will talk about today.
A Silent Voice was written by Yoshitoki Oima and published by Kodansha. It started as a One-Shot back 2011, and has since been serialized. The series ran from 2013 to 2014 collecting seven volumes.
Spoilers: There will be slight Vol 1 spoilers. I do not know how the rest of the series pans out, so I dont know if this spoilers will “give it all away”, but they shouldnt.
Plot: Shoya Ishida is your typical preteen: dumb, reckless, and just all around clueless. He calls himself a daredevil and does stunts with reckless abandon all in the name of winning his war with Boredom. His best buddies grow up and tire of his behavior (they are now in middle school for crying out loud!) Finding himself slowly but surely losing his war, he must think of new ways to defeat his foe without his friends. Enter new girl. Shoko Nshimiya. A deaf transfer student. Shoya gets the idea that he must make her life miserable, and so he does. The rest of the manga plays out as Shoya tries desperately to convey to a deaf girl she is not liked. I want spoil if he is successful.
Characters: This manga has a lot of characters getting introduced quite early in the beginning chapters, but were focusing on two. Shoya and Shoko.
Shoya: As mentioned, his character is relentlessly mean and absent hearted and metaphorically blind. He can be funny and entertaining at times, but at most he is super stubborn and stuck in his hateful ways despite his teacher and parent’s endless attempts to get him to quit. He is also extremely unaware to the situation and what is truly going on at the school and classroom around him.
Shoko: The infinitely cooler one. She is deaf and uses a notebook to communicate to her classmates. She eagerly tries to make friends in spite of Shoya trying to convince everyone she is borderline the devil. One of the ironic moments of her campaign is an exchange between her and her mom and their hair dresser(Shoya’s mom) where Shoko adamantly denies her mom’s wishes to cut her hair like a boy. Her mom believes that will help her stop getting bullied? Anyway, Shoya’s mom refuses to cut because Shoko doesn’t want it. cut Shoko’s mom says “I do not need your opinion or Shoto’s”. This scene is powerful to me, because it shows, in a way, Shoko s getting bullied by her mom. Her mom makes her voice even more mute than it was. The image is super powerful to me. I really respect Shoko’s character because she is tenacious through and through. I cant help but think that her decision at the end of the manga was really her moms idea.
The World: Not much is made about the world. There is no treasure at the end of the sea, or no dragon balls hiding in the corners of the world. Most of the manga takes place at school or at his house. The rest of the world seems to not exist outside of Shoya and Shoko’s interactions.
Recap:
Action: Barely any.
Romance: I feel like a relationship could be blooming here. It is hard to tell based off the ending of this volume though.
Plot: Shoya is all over the place, but the plot is easy enough to follow.
Characters: Pretty meaty characters for an opening volume. You love and you hate em.
The World: Could be fleshed out more, but I am not entirely sure what that would add to the manga as a whole
Humor: Solid, when used.
Verdict: Good read. It switches scene rapidly, keep that in mind. Altogether, great read if you can sit through poor little Shoto getting bullied for hundreds of pages.
Score: 7 out 10. Mostly because it seems like it has a hard time staying focused. Maybe it’s the authors intent because Shoya is all over the place. Otherwise, it’s a wonderful opening act.
Final Note (There will be spoilers in this part!)
The scene where Shoya arrives at school to learn his classmates had been writing on this desk all a long was a huge scene and maybe one of my favorites in any manga. I teared up a bit, because it makes you reflect on how mean Shoya was, but how Shoto defended him til the very end. A+ to this scene
Check the manga out yourself by purchasing it here
Check out other Manga Monday’s Here
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Anime
Soooooooo, who here hasn’t watched anime? Because it is one of the most beautiful forms of entertainment I have ever had the pleasure of getting to enjoy. Seriously. It is the thing of childhoods, but it is also perfectly acceptable to still be addicted 15 years later. I, like probably most of American children, got into anime by shows we had no idea were animes in the first place.
For me, that anime was Pokemon. Obviously this was heavily influenced by the fact I loved the games. Next, Yugioh. Warner Brothers Saturday cartoon lineup was the best. It is why I looked forward to the weekends(Of course no school was part of it too). But cartoons man, they were great!
I think it was late into elementary school when the heavy hitters came. Naruto, One Piece, Inuyashi, Case Closed. One piece was the one that stuck out to me, even to this day it is still my favorite anime. Now-a-days it’s hard to keep up with One Piece(I am only on around episode 300ish). Naruto was much much much much easier to catch up in large part to do with fillers. I try to watch several different old and semi-new animes, as well as 5 per season(I failed miserably with this summer season.). I also take request on what to watch.
One of the reasons made this blog was for these exact post. I had a wonderful childhood, all things considered. I want to share what made my childhood special with everyone else. I want people of the world to give Pokemon and One Piece a chance(Even though they are popular, there are still plenty of people who have never even heard of them).
What Pokemon and One Piece do so well is they make you care about their characters(excluding Ash). The bond the characters form are unreal(I talked about this in my top five reasons to love Pokemon). The Straw Hat Crew are unforgettable, while the pokemons leave you wishing you could have them as pets. The worlds are massive and you cant help but to get absolutely captivated by exploring the worlds and wanting to know every little inch this new scenery has to offer.
In all honesty, while I consider these to be the top two shows(Pokemon more so up to Johto, the rest are fine, but Johto is the pinnacle of the franchise), its hard to recommend these to newcomers. Simply put, they require a ton of commitment to the show. With so many people living busy lives, its hard to say start here. Is it worth it? Yes, a million times yes. But you might not be able to commit to something like the epic of One Piece right away. That is okay. Work up to it.
There are plenty of amazing animes that are super short and easy to knock out. Here’s a few that’ll apply to the new coming watchers (In no order):
Sword Art Online: SAO is like a try before you buy deal. It has multiple seasons and such so you can try out SAO and see if you want to keep watching past it’s original 20 or so episodes. I have heard a lot of praise(Like the same praise Attack on Titan got) and then I heard a lot of hate as well. i am going to be honest, in a world where great anime is everywhere, I don’t care much for it. I only finished the first 8 episodes, so do not take a word as final. I tend to be more partial of Picking up Girls in a Dungeon, but, heck watch both for yourself.
Attack On Titan: This show exploded out of nowhere. It is all over Hot Topic, and got people who do not even care about anime to watch it. It is very solid, very gory(if you care about that stuff) oh, and Eren is the worst main character in an anime. Very good if your into fighting huge monsters and not into getting attached to main characters.
Parasyte: This is an anime after my own heart. Seriously, it is so good! It might be the best anime to only have 24 episodes. It’s gory, it action packed, but goodness if it isnt the most thought provoking anime I have ever seen. This show makes you think its all about big fights, but at it’s core it has an even bigger heart. Must watch for anyone who can handle violence. It is beautiful.
Yu Yu Hakusho- At a 112 episodes, this is the longest I am putting on the list. I promise. This is a beloved favorite of mine. It has a great lesson about not taking life for granted, while at the same time being an awesome super natural action thriller. Definitely check it out if your looking for a solid 90’s anime, or your ready to start progressing to the heavy hitters.
Cowboy Bebop: So this is the only anime I have not seen at least one episode of, which I’ve heard is a sin on my behalf. It’s a cult classic and fan favorite of anime die hards and noobs alike and for that reason I have to put it on the list. It’s high on my “To Watch” list, and I will make sure to watch it, so do yourself a favor, and do the same.
I have also heard the Full Metal Alchemist series is really really good, but I more interested in collecting all 27 volumes of the manga before I bust out the anime. Also Deathnote gets a lot of love as well
If you’ve never watched anime before, just do it. Do not be alarmed when you cant quit watching, you cry your eyes out when a beloved character is just brutally murdered right in front of your eyes, you shout “finally” when the two characters you’ve been shipping for 20 episodes finally have that first kiss moment, or desperately hoping your favorite show is going to get a second season even though the show is all wrapped up and the studio has expressed it is over. It just means you love anime, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!
Happy watching guys!
Raising Awareness: November
Turkey Month is finally here! What are you thankful for? Your good heath and well being? Do not take it for granted. It’s time to give a shout out to the wonderful causes we get to observe this month.
Alzheimer: 
Lung Cancer: 
Epilepsy Awareness:
American Diabetes:
Pancreatic Cancer:
Stomach Cancer: 
Bone Marrow: 
Remember, be thankful you are healthy. Never take that for granted. If you know anyone who is suffering from these, help spread awareness and be thankful you still have them here.
Also Special shout out: Veteran’s Day! Thank your veterans for their service and contribution to your freedom.
Have a great November!
Did I miss any? Give a shout in the comment section!
Manga Monday will be back next week!
This is first in a small little series of updates with some pretty big news coming the closer we get to my birthday(November 23rd) and the new years! I picked up Neon Genesis Evangelion and will read it throughout this week and be ready to talk about it Monday. Yes, MANGA MONDAY(This link and the rest just lead you to their respective catergories on my blog) IS BACK
I got another test tomorrow(They just keep coming). I’ll also try to work on some more Magic Monday so we can get that going again. Still no word on when I might testify, but I might have news regarding a new job, which hopefully means we can get reviews up more often! I am still trying to get caught up on fall animes(Though I have no idea on what I want to even watch this season so suggestions would be great!). I will also try to get some more top 5’s going.
Tomorrow I will give a shout out to all the awarenesses for the month of November
I am slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things. Things keep coming up that keep derailing my momentum.
I am going to try to use twitter more so go follow me Here for more updates! I got a lot of fun stuff I want to do on there, but I need more followers to make it really fun. Help make it happen!
Check Back Tomorrow for a new post!
Da_Hubbz 
