DemonDragonJ on What Card Should Replace Otherworld …

20 hours ago

I have a copy of Otherworld Atlas in my Atraxa, Praetors' Voice EDH deck, but I am contemplating replacing it with another card, since other users here have said that that card is not a good card, so I would like to ask for advice on what card should replace it.

My first choice was Mindless Automaton, because of how excellent that creature would be, in this deck, but that would be one less card that would synergize with Flux Channeler, so I am also considering Empowered Autogenerator, since that card obviously would be amazing in this deck, although it does enter the battlefield tapped, which I feel is competently necessary, since, even with a Doubling Season, on the battlefield, its controller cannot regain the mana that they spent on it, immediately. I also am considering Tome of Legends, which does require mana to activate, but has amazing synergy with that deck.

What does everyone else say about this? What card should I put into my Atraxa deck, in place of Otherworld Atlas?

DemonDragonJ on Why Do Soul Warden-Type Effects …

21 hours ago

Soul Warden is an iconic card, to the point that other creatures with its ability are compared to it or regarded as variations of it, but I have noticed that recent variations of Soul Warden typically trigger only when creatures enter the battlefield under their controller's control, not when creatures enter the battlefield under the control of their controller's opponents, with that ability being somewhat rarer, recently, so I wonder why that is, as I feel that it is a perfectly valid strategy to benefit from one's opponents' actions.

What does everyone else say about this? Why is it that recent variations of Soul Warden trigger only from their own controller's creatures, and rarely from their opponent's creatures?

DemonDragonJ on What Happened to the Ouya?

6 days ago

Several years ago, in the early to mid 2000's, a manufacturer was developing a new video game console called the Ouya, which, according to their claims, would be completely different from any other console that was released around that time and revolutionize video gaming, but, for all of that hype, the Ouya fizzled out very quickly, made no real impact, and is now largely forgotten, so I wonder why it failed.

For those here who are experts in video gaming history, how would the Ouya have revolutionized video gaming, if it had succeeded, and why did it fail? I certainly would be interested to hear everyone's responses, to this subject.

DemonDragonJ on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the …

6 days ago

This year is the 40th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of the most popular media franchises in the western world. Although the franchise is best-known for its various television and film adaptations, it actually began as an underground comic series, written and illustrated by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and the original comics were fairly dark, compared to the much lighter tones of the various adaptations, as the creators were parodying various trends and tropes that were popular in American comics, at that time, most notably with the franchise's word salad title and the turtles themselves being named after famous painters and inventors from the Renaissance.

The creative and unusual nature of the comic made it very popular with underground audiences, which eventually led to a television series in 1987, which, in turn led to it becoming a massively popular franchise, although the creators continued to write the comics for many years, until they eventually sold the franchise to Nickelodeon, who have certainly made the most of that acquisition by producing further movies and television series.

Naturally, as with any popular franchise, numerous other franchises attempted to emulate the success of TMNT, leading to many other animated series that featured anthropomorphic non-human animals as its main characters, but none of them ever achieved the same level of fame and cultural impact as did the original, and have largely been forgotten, today.

I fully expect that either Nickelodeon or the original creators of the franchise shall do something to commemorate this momentous milestone, as it would be most unfortunate to not do so; what does everyone else say about this? How do you feel about this year being the 40th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

DemonDragonJ on Is Staff of Completion a …

1 week ago

Some users here have stated that I should consider a replacement for Temple Bell in some of my EDH decks, so I need to find a card that is very similar to replace it, and I think that Staff of Compleation is a suitable choice; the staff does require payment of life, so I shall be able to put it only in decks that have methods of reliably gaining life, and its other abilities shall certainly make up for that, as well.

What does everyone else say about this subject? Is Staff of Compleation a good replacement for Temple Bell?

DemonDragonJ on What Was the First Story …

1 week ago

Some stories appear to be set in the past, but then feature a twist in which they actually are set in the present day, or even the future, such as

But what was the first story known to have employed this trope? I attempted to search online for that, but this is a very ungainly query to enter into a search engine, so does anyone here have any knowledge on this subject? What was the first story to employ this trope?

DemonDragonJ on How Can I Put Baylen …

1 week ago

I absolutely must put Baylen, the haymaker into my Ghired, Conclave Exile EDH deck, but I am not certain which card I should remove to make room for him, so I would like to ask for advice on that subject.

Every creature in this deck is too good to remove, so I am contemplating replacing either Commander's Sphere or Temple Bell, since Baylen performs the same functions as them, with additional abilities.

Similarly, I must find a way to to put Glarb, calamity's augur into my The Mimeoplasm EDH deck, and I believe that Baleful Strix is the best candidate for replacement, since Glarb also has deathtouch; actually, I just noticed Glarb's ability specifies "spells with mana value 4 or greater," but I should have a sufficient number of spells that meet that criteria to justify putting Glarb into that deck.

What does everyone else say about this subject? How can I put Baylen and Glarb into my decks?

DemonDragonJ on Why is Liliana’s Animal Form …

2 weeks ago

Bloomburrow depicts several planeswalkers as anthropomorphic animals: Jace as a fox, Nissa as a frog, Ral as an otter, and Tamiyo as a rabbit, but Liliana is a squirrel, which I find to be most ridiculous and not at all in line with how she has been portrayed, since her introduction.

In my mind, Liliana's animal form should be either a raven or a black cat, since both of those animals would suit her personality far better, as they are both predatory animals known for being graceful and mysterious; there is nothing remotely squirrel-like about Liliana.

What does everyone else say about this? Why is Liliana's animals form a squirrel?

DemonDragonJ on Why Does Xavier Sal Have …

2 weeks ago

Xavier Sal, Infested Captain's abilities can be used only as sorceries, which bothers me, but I supposed that he has that restriction to prevent him from being too power, but Cayth, Famed Mechanist does not have that restriction upon her ability, so I wonder why that is; is it because her ability requires mana to activate? What does everyone else say about this matter? Why does Cayth not have the same restriction that Xavier Sal has?

DemonDragonJ on How Do I Explain to …

2 weeks ago

At a game store where I play, a player who is new to the game believes that cards such as Strip Mine or Wasteland are balanced, since their controller sacrifices those lands to destroy another land, a perfect one-for-one exchange, in that player's mind, but I am seeking to explain to that player that those lands are not at all balanced, since every land that can destroy other lands that has followed has required mana to use its ability and often provides the controller of the destroyed land with a compensation for losing the land, so what words of wisdom can anyone here offer to me, so that I can explain to the new player that Strip Mine and Wasteland are not balanced?

DemonDragonJ on Ghostbusters: the 40th Anniversary

3 weeks ago

This year is the 40th anniversary of Ghostbusters, one of the best-known media franchises of all time.

The original film was directed by Ivan Reitman, who had already directed several films, including Meatballs, Stripes, and Heavy Metal, which starred both Bill Murry and Harold Ramis, but this film was his major breakout into stardom, and it, also, starred Murray and Ramis (akin to how George Lucas cast Harrison Ford in three different movies); when Dan Akroyd was cast, Reitman had planned to cast John Belushi, as well, since Belushi and Akroyd had been excellent together in The Blues Brothers, but Belushi's untimely death shortly before filming was scheduled to begin brought an end to that plan. Of course, the film ultimately was amazing, as it was, but I still would be interested to see how the film would have been with John Belushi as one of the stars, as it likely would have been very different from the actual movie. As a side note, when I first saw this film, when I was younger, I never realized how obnoxious Bill Murray's character of Peter Venkman was, but I do, now, although I am glad that he was ultimately shown to be a genuinely nice person, despite his abrasive and sleazy exterior.

Not everyone may be aware of this, but there was a television series named Ghostbusters, produced by Filmation, a studio that was once very influential, but now no longer exists, before Reitman made his film, but Reitman was still able to use that name, so the other franchise is often referred to as "Filmation's Ghostbusters," to distinguish it from the better-known franchise, and that is also the reason for which the animated series that followed the first movie was entitled "The Real Ghostbusters," to distinguish it from Filmation's series.

Ghostbusters was officially a comedy movie, but it had an excellent blend of comedic and serious moments, allowing the movie to appeal to a wide variety of audiences, so it was all but certain that it would become a classic film and staple of popular culture, and it certainly elevated all of the actors who starred in it to new heights. As with many popular movies, it spawned an animated series, a sequel, and, of course, plenty of merchandise; I am sorry to say that I have not seen the animated series, but I naturally have seen the sequel, and I do admit that it is essentially a repeat of the original film, but it still is an excellent film, in its own right, and I did see the second animated series Extreme Ghostbusters, which I feel was a worth successor to the first two movies and first animated series.

As has happened with many classic franchises from previous decades, the studio who owns Ghostbusters has recently decided to revive the franchise, with several new movies, and I have seen two of those three, but I feel that they are little more than cash grabs attempts to capitalize on nostalgia for a beloved iconic franchise, so I doubt that I shall watch them, again, but, at least the original two films are beloved classics, and I do hope that Sony celebrates this momentous milestone, in some way.

How does everyone else feel about this? What are your thoughts about this year being the 40th anniversary of Ghostbusters?

DemonDragonJ on Should I Keep Abzan Falconer …

3 weeks ago

I have a copy of Abzan Falconer in my Atraxa, Praetors' Voice EDH deck, because it is quite awesome to give flying to all of my creatures that have +1/+1 counters on themselves, but since that deck also contains both Akroma's Memorial and Elspeth, Sun's Champion, both of which can also grant flying, I wonder if I should replace that creature with another creature, such as Fertilid, Shapers of Nature, Zameck Guildmage, Steelbane Hydra, or Mindless Automaton, as all of those creatures use +1/+1 counters for various purposes.

What does everyone else say about this matter? Should I keep Abzan Falconer in my Atraxa deck, or replace it, with another creature? I certainly would appreciate your feedback.

DemonDragonJ on Sony Playstation: the 30th Anniversary

4 weeks ago

This year is the 30th anniversary of the PlayStation, Sony’s signature video game console and one of the most successful console lines ever to exist.

Not everyone may be aware that the PlayStation was originally conceived as a collaboration between Nintendo and Sony, but Nintendo withdrew from the project because Sony wished for the system to use optical discs as its storage medium, while Nintendo preferred to remain with ROM cartridges, so Sony decided to produce the console on their own, resulting in Nintendo unintentionally creating one of their greatest rivals, by doing so.

The transition from ROM cartridges to optical discs was a major shift in the video game industry; although ROM cartridges could load their data nearly instantly, they were expensive and had limited storage capacity, whereas optical discs were far less expensive and had much greater storage capacity, albeit at the cost of taking far longer to load their data, but, apparently, the average players cared more for the higher capacity of optical discs, which allowed for impressive graphics, amazing audio, and expansive levels, since the PlayStation was perhaps the most popular console of its generation, outselling even Nintendo's own N64, challenging Nintendo's previously unrivaled dominance of the video game industry, which was a seismic shift, upsetting the previous champion's position and making it clear that they had become complacent after two massively successful consoles, and one of the most significant indications of that shift was how numerous franchises that had previously been on Nintendo systems, such as Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Megaman, Castlevania, Devil May Cry, and Metal Gear, changed sides and began appearing on the PlayStation. Additionally, numerous game franchises originated on the PlayStation, as well, including Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Gex, and so forth, allowing Sony to present itself as a cool and edgy alternative to the mainstream and family-friendly Nintendo (despite the fact that Sega had already done so, several years earlier).

I have never played any games on the PlayStation, apart from Final Fantasy VII, as the systems that defined my younger years were Nintendo and DOS (mainly DOS), but I feel that this anniversary deserves to be commemorated, since the PlayStation is one of the best-selling video game consoles of all time and certainly revolutionized the industry, and I imagine that Sony shall wish to celebrate this anniversary, as well.

How does everyone else feel about this subject? Are you excited that this year is the 30th anniversary of the PlayStation?