Aperson

I guess during Masuda's tour of the UK they saw a lot of football going on and decided to use that as an inspiration. In some ways, the two have a lot in common. They both are played competitively and each team is built from the ground up either through buying in the transfer market in football's case or catching wild Pokemon in Pokemon's case. On the downside, it sounds like the EXP share is imbedded into the game not as an item in Sword and Shield like in Let's Go.

Took a break from online card games to finally finish Super Mario Maker 2 story mode (Nintendo Switch). I powered through the latter half of building the castle and eventually reached the final boss which had... an interesting execution. Also, this happened during one of the levels. Funny how it took the release of another old school Nintendo game some good three months after MM2 came out to convince me to finally finish Mario Maker 2 even though I'm not getting the Link's Awakening Remake. Now Hollow Knight is the other game I need to finish on the Switch backlog but I'm not too far through that.

Finally finished the Story Mode after taking a rather long break from the game. That ending is such a troll... Haven't really been making many levels since my Switch Online sub ended. I'll probably renew it if I ever get really into Mario Maker again but for now this has kind of had it's peak period of interest pass by which is something I find with games that have a seemingly infinite amount of things to do, you naturally grow away from them after a while even though there's a lot of things still left to complete.

I can't believe they actually gave Fartech'd an evolution after all these years. I think I know what comes next...

I was looking at Niv-Mizzet Parun as a potential boss monster to replace one of the existing boss monsters in the deck but the problem is my definition of "budget" is quite tight knit and I rarely pay over a pound when buying an individual card. I have however finally acquired a new spell lineup for my deck. Four of these Four of these Two of these for additional removal or to take back any boss creatures that get stolen by Thief of Sanity since that is a creature that is played as part of a deck that one of my friends own: Finally, I threw a couple of these into the deck as removal protection or as an option to allow my Shocks and Lightning Strikes to go off. So that's a much cheaper spell lineup which makes it easier to churn out spells, potentially using more in a turn and load the graveyard for a strong Crackling Drake. That being said, in testing on Arena the deck can have some good games, but it can also have some bad games if I'm drawing too much of one land colour and only seeing creatures, so there is plenty of room for improvement. If only there were cards coming out in the next set that could make this deck bet... Oh.

So after a few games against my friends and losing both of them the sheer lack of damage output that the deck was doing became very apparent so I decided to follow @Sméagol 's advice and tailor the Magic deck to include more red spells. I have yet to buy these spells but I have a plan for acquiring them. I now realise why my 4 of most things plan didn't quite work out, because I forgot to take into account mana cost as to whether what you draw is playable or not and that the spells I was using just cost too much mana to make the strategy viable. There was also a lack of consistency. Cloudkin Seer allows you to draw a card, that's cool... doesn't do anything major towards the deck strategy after that. I had one game where I had three cards that all had the same mana cost including the Seer. The other two were instants that would have greatly helped against some powerful creatures on the opponent's side. I played the Seer hoping to draw another land and that didn't happen which makes me think reducing the overall mana cost of the spells I have would be a good idea. This works out well because Shock and Lightning Strike are two cards that would greatly improve the consistency of the deck. For now though, I have bought these cards: Already owned two of this card but yeah,definitely needed another. Since the entire deck only uses Flying creatures, this seems like a good card to include. Given the situational use of the card however I decided I was only going to include 2 in the deck. It is something that can be used either to clear out your opponents' weak creatures early game. I can also think of a use for it whereby you have a really powerful enemy creature whose toughness isn't quite something you can kill by battle but you can still get it within range, then cast this to remove them. It may involve having to sacrifice a creature though... Finally, the card that should significantly improve the deck. Bought 4 of these. Maybe 4 is a bit much considering the card costs 4 mana to cast but this is a card I definitely want to be able to play at some point in the game. This is the natural evolution of my strategy, it directly replaces Cloudkin Seer in the deck due to sharing the same draw a card effect but this time it also bases it's power on all instants and sorceries in the graveyard and in exile. I was originally going to go for the Enigma Drake which is technically a better card, but I decided to go for something a bit more Standard-proof. I have tested this card on Arena with cards I have yet to acquire in real life. In some matchups it can become crazily powerful. Realistically I'm looking at a creature that can be at least 4 power provided the right spells have been used. The deck is still missing some crucial components but I have plans to acquire cards like Shock, Lightning Strike (which is rotating but eh, I have cards in my deck that aren't Standard legal), Unsummon and Negate which creates a low cost spell engine as I look to drop some expensive luxuries like Sleep Paralysis and Sweep Away.

Definitely interested in getting Slay the Spire sometime. Only problem is that I still need to finish Mario Maker 2's Story Mode... But in my current mood it seems like a game that would be right up my alley. Meanwhile, on Magic Arena (PC) I've been testing a new decklist that would be in line with my real life deck except with a few changes based on intended purchases. These came after playing a few games against friends and the deck's inherent weaknesses showed itself, also because of the advice of a certain Dutchman... I've realised that anything that isn't a creature needs to be low cost in this kind of strategy, that way you can use multiple spells in a single turn and that there also needs to be a creature in the deck that benefits permanently from using them, not just "until the end of the turn". So I came up with this: I replaced some cards with their functional equivalents on Arena, since I built the deck off of a 2016 Starter Deck but only really added through Standard since that was the cardpool I was becoming familiar with playing on Arena. So the two Sure Strikes and the Storm Strike are Brute Strength in real life and Citywatch Sphinx is Sphinx of Magosi in real life. The big addition is Crackling Drake, who's power is determined by how many instant and sorcery spells are in the graveyard or in exile, so the intention is that it keeps getting stronger.

There are only two Spitfires in the deck at the moment because I only actually have two. Shock is a card I'm looking to purchase at some point. Also looking at Negate as a possibility to counter removal spells. As for why I'm running 4 of many things my logic is that the more copies of a card you have in the deck, the more chance you have of drawing it. However, I suppose in the case of the card mentioned you can use it in the graveyard so you don't need so much of it. I think mana cost should also be a factor in how many are in the deck if you want playable cards which is why the better creatures are lower in quantity. Anyway, this is more of a thread about purchases than card discussion so let's try and put it back on track.

I've never heard of that card so probably no. Expanded is B/W onwards though so if it came out in those sets then it could be something for an Expanded deck. As for new Magic cards to improve the deck, I'm thinking of going to the Throne of Eldraine pre-release draft and if I get any cards from that which improve the deck then that's what I will add. Risk Factor looks good, might be a bit out of price range for now though especially since I would want to have 4 copies of the card.

I do test these cards beforehand on Magic Arena (which is the effective successor to Magic Online and a much better client (although it only has cards from the last 4 years), think like Hearthstone) and in the deck I was playing I found Befuddle useful for not falling too far behind and it can also help destroy the opponents creatures since all my creatures are flying, therefore the opponent can't block me with powerful land based creatures. And yes, I'm only interested from a casual level, I don't tend to buy many cards that are more expensive than £1 apart from the Planeswalker, so within my own extreme budget definition this was a card I was willing to play without being forced to discard anything. There probably are much better cards for this same price range but my unfamiliarity with the entire card pool and just discovering what exists through looking on Arena and seeing what cards others are using is how I'm discovering what to watch out for. I'm playing a Blue/Red flying deck so the playstyle of using noncreature spells to make the creatures stronger is very much ingrained in the deck. Befuddle was bought to replace Catalog because I wasn't keen on having to discard any cards from my hand. That and Catalog isn't even Standard legal anymore so having something that is Standard legal is helpful. I am essentially building off a starter deck from 2015/2016 though at this point most of the cards in the deck are ones I've bought myself. https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/budget-deck-izzet-flying/?cb=1567809175 I know of some cards that I think could definitely improve this deck, Wee Draconauts would be a good addition to the creature lineup and the Izzet boss monster Niv-Mizzet Parun would be a lot better than the Sphinx. Without the restriction of paying real world money, the Arena version of this deck is naturally a lot better.

So yeah, the Salandit I got in the Battle Mind theme deck isn't very good imo. Just 1 attack for 10 energy with a situational secondary effect of discarding Grass Energy only. The one that came out in the newest set is even worse. But I need Salandit in the deck because of Salazzle. So I decided to look at cars in Standard and buy a new Salandit. Yes, this is going to be extremely prone to rotation and the Dragon Majesty one is arguably better because it can help you get the Pokemon you really want out but in situations where I am forced to start with a Salandit, this is a good option. The deck was also lacking a good attacker that doesn't discard energy when you do a lot of damage so I bought this card. 100 damage is not the greatest amount of damage when compared to the Turtonator that came in the deck but crucially this card doesn't discard energy to use its attacks so it can put out bigger amounts more often. Plus I can make Psychic Energy useful with an attack that can KO a Pokemon that is building up a ton of energy on the bench for later use. Finally I've also bought some new cards for the Magic deck. I like this, you actively prevent your opponent from doing damage do you or saving your creatures from getting destroyed AND you get a free card out of it. Of course, it only really works if the opponent has any creatures, I know some blue decks only run one creature in the entire deck and just play disruption to stop you from overwhelming them.

While I think there will be a lot of expectations going into this Direct, I'm going to make a prediction that is slightly more reasonable. A bunch of JRPG trailers or trailers for anime style games will be shown that confuse some people,

Well with all the speculation building I think we may be getting the 4th DLC character announcement in this Direct. I guess a lot of people were expecting one though considering there usually is a Nintendo Direct in September or around Autumn time.

So it's basically a TCG crossed with a roguelike then?

So yeah, paying for TCG stuff has been something of a regular thing over the last two months. Here's some of the things I've bought... (no GX cards in there unfortunately) I'm trying to reign it in a bit more and not buy any more cards but when playing these games there's always the feeling of "Oh, this part of the deck could be better" or "this doesn't work so well." I am considering buying another deckbox and set of sleeves for the Magic deck but then again the cheaper option would simply be to move them all over from the Pokemon deck since the cards are the same size.

That feature was introduced in Sun and Moon. It got mixed reactions at the time of it's reveal.

The sad thing is, Sky Sports News were treating it like "Transfer Deadline Day" with seemingly no sentiment or remose... shows where their priorities really lie! Truly dark times for football in general.

In non card game video game related news I have been recording a custom character tournament on Youtube for Soulcalibur VI (PS4). The first episode went up recently and I've already finished the second episode, waiting for a clear time when bandwidth isn't an issue to upload.

Super Mario Maker 2 and Hollow Knight remain on the backlog due to a continued card game obsession. So video game wise this means I'm still sticking to the likes of Pokemon Trading Card Game Online (PC) and Magic the Gathering Arena (PC) along with YGOPRO Percy but that is a fan client so not really an official game. On PTCGO I have built many different types of decks Though, this is my main deck right now for the format ****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ****** ##Pokémon - 19 * 1 Stufful GRI 112 * 1 Stufful SUM 111 * 1 Bewear GRI 113 * 2 Zorua XY 72 * 2 Zoroark-GX SLG 53 * 2 Turtonator DRM 50 * 3 Litten UNB 27 * 1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX UNB 20 * 2 Torracat UNB 28 * 2 Incineroar UNB 29 * 2 Mewtwo UNB 75 ##Trainer Cards - 19 * 1 Cherish Ball UNM 191 * 1 Pal Pad UPR 132 * 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130 * 2 Switch CES 147 * 1 Fisherman CES 130 * 2 Judge FLI 108 * 3 Hau CES 132 * 3 Welder UNB 189 * 1 Blacksmith FLF 88 * 1 Pokémon Center Lady FLF 93 * 2 Kiawe BUS 116 * 1 VS Seeker PHF 109 ##Energy - 22 * 17 Fire Energy SMEnergy 11 * 1 Double Colorless Energy FCO 114 * 2 Burning Energy BKT 151 * 2 Psychic Energy SMEnergy 5 Total Cards - 60 ****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ****** Meanwhile on MTG Arena I haven't built as many decks by myself but I have mainly only been playing with one deck of two different colours. Might try and build a different kind of deck soon. The one I've mainly been using is "Flight Deck", so called because all the creatures in it are Flying. 2 Shivan Dragon (M20) 335 11 Island (RIX) 193 4 Unsummon (M20) 78 9 Mountain (RIX) 195 4 Sleep Paralysis (M20) 75 4 Shock (M20) 160 4 Windstorm Drake (RNA) 60 4 Cloudkin Seer (M20) 54 4 Sky Theater Strix (WAR) 67 4 Chandra's Spitfire (M20) 132 2 Drakuseth, Maw of Flames (M20) 136 4 Swiftwater Cliffs (M20) 252 1 Chandra's Triumph (WAR) 121 1 Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer (M20) 68 2 Ral, Storm Conduit (WAR) 211 Drakuseth is awesome. If you can keep him on the field he basically wins you the game because he can get rid of your opponents' threats before he even launches his main attack and unless the opponent has Flying or Reach they aren't going to be able to block his attack. Sleep Paralysis and Shock are also awesome and the base low cost creature in the deck gains additional attack every time you use one of these.

Fair enough. Though, as someone who voted Sun/Moon top of his list I cannot say that I was bothered by issues that other people had with the game. The only thing I really didn't like was the call for help mechanic after all. That and the fact that there was no National Dex so the game was consigned to the shelves aside from an occasional multiplayer game after the Local Dex was complete. Then again, I was on a massive Pokemon high during that year with the 20th anniversary coinciding in the same year as S/M which as perhaps turned me into a bit of a shill as I look at the modern games and the TCG in a slightly different more forgiving light. Also some of the franchises that did make the top 10 just didn't appeal to me for whatever reason.

I think this is the first time a mainline Pokemon game hasn't charted in the top 10 in the handheld department since this series started. That either speaks volumes about the depth in quality that the 3DS has on it or people's opinions on the series since it jumped into 3D. In fact I've only ever played three of the games on this list and my 3DS collection sits at 12 boxed games. Then again... some of them are Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Metroid Prime Federation Force so maybe not the wisest of investments

Nice idea to hold the first Galar Pokemon Worlds in the country it's based off of. Masters final was a close match, but I don't think it quite lives up to the Seniors one. That Togedemaru will forever go down in legend. Also people aren't too happy over the TCG final result...

Togedemaru won Worlds. Japan always seems to find a way to make these Pikachu clones competitively viable.

I was rooting for the guy packing Togedemaru on his team. Unfortunately there's a good reason nobody plays Togedemaru and that's because it's weak to Fire. I don't know how hard getting a Litten with Intimidate is though considering that the usual ability for Litten is Blaze and Intimidate is the Hidden Ability.