Meta-Schmeta!
First, I’d like to say that I have come up with an official name for my weekly blog articles. Drumroll please! *Ehem* Drumroll?? No? Whatever, I am calling my weekly article “Act of Reason.” Catchy huh? Anyway, in this week’s Act of Reason, I’m going to talk about choosing the right deck for your store’s meta.
There is only so much you can do by checking the top decks from tournaments on starcitygames.com each week for choosing which deck you want to play. What was good for that tournament’s meta might not be good for your store’s meta. You really need to sit back, look at your store, see who’s winning, and with what. You also need to look at your own matches and see what you faced. The week before last I faced 3 Jund decks, as the meta was flooded with it. There were zero control decks at our store. That made my decision for FNM pretty simple – play U/W control. Boy did I pick right! I went 3-1 and finished in the Top 4 on the night. The only deck that gave me trouble was a Runeflare Combo deck. Against U/W, Runeflare pretty much dominates. In fact, that Runeflare Combo deck was even more appropriate for our store’s meta than my selection of U/W Control! This completely goes to show you why choosing the right deck is so important.
So you might be asking, “Ok Bob, how do I know what to play?” The answer is not quite so simple and it requires a lot of research on your part. You should indeed research which decks are winning tournaments near and far, but more importantly you need to study their meta. Is Jund cleaning up? Likely the field is running aggro without control. Is Super Friends at the top? You’re likely facing a control dominated meta. At our shop, we see a heavy dose of Naya, Jund, and Vampires. In this aggro heavy field U/W Control was a perfect fit. Being that I was likely to face a lot of removal, I added the element of shroud in my deck to combat the large amount of removal. There were many games where I had dropped a Wall of Denial and my opponent could only shake their head in disgust. I didn’t just randomly decide that Wall of Denial would be “fun” for my deck, no, I needed something that was going to Fend Off an early assault by my opponents without getting Terminated while I dropped Elspeth, Jace and Gideon on the board. This wasn’t exactly where knowing what to play stops however, the other half of this is your sideboard.
I can say from my own experience, I am notoriously bad at both creating a sideboard and actually sideboarding during games. It is very important to once again, not only study the big tournament sideboards, but to study your own store’s meta. This week I got it right for once…erm well, mostly. I was really wishing I had a Mindbreak Trap in my sideboard against that Runeflare Combo deck. But other than that, I can’t say enough about running Hindering Light in U/W Control. Let’s look at all of the cards that this card stops at my store’s meta. It stops Doom Blade, Terminate, Blightning, Maelstrom Pulse, Lightning Bolt, Flame Slash, Runeflare Trap, Consuming Vapors, Path to Exile, and it also cantrips! Let’s bear in mind however that Hindering Light will counter Bituminous Blast but it won’t counter the cascade, so pick and choose carefully on this one. I also threw Deprive into my sideboard as kind of a catch all counter if I faced the mirror; I used it once to counter a Jace Beleren. The rest of my sideboard consisted of extra planeswalkers, one more Martial Coup and an Iona. I only sided in Iona against the Vampire deck I faced. The game dragged out to the point where I had the mana to hard cast her but I never drew her. Overall, I give my sideboard, for last week, a grade of B. There was room for improvement, but it shined mostly where it needed to. This week, if I bring the same deck, the sideboard will be slightly changed. Another quick sideboard tidbit for you is to know what cards you’re siding out and in with your sideboard for which match ups. I was able to side out all of my walls against the Runeflare Trap deck and side in some counter magic. Against Vampires, I was able to drop a land and some Spreading Seas. It’s important to know what you’re siding in and out and against what matchups because, in my experience, siding in something is only half the battle; knowing what to take out is key. The other issue I see a lot with myself is siding in cards that I don’t truly need in a match up. Why do I need to side in X card if I handled the deck fine game 1 and don’t Foresee anything crazy coming in from their board for game 2?
In the end, like I had already talked about, I went 3-1 and finished in the top 4 with my only loss from the Runeflare Combo deck. I was successful, mainly because this week, I picked the right deck to pilot for the store’s meta. So this weekend, when I sleeve up a deck, I need to think about two things 1) What decks are going to make an appearance and 2) what decks are going to be tweaked to beat mine? After all of this thought I’m likely going to give this deck a whirl again. It still feels like one of the best decks to run at the store and I think if I can get things right on the sideboard, I’ll be in even better shape this week.
So what did we learn this week? Meta is very important and you need to have keen observation skills at your store. You likely only play 4 or 5 people at your FNM each week, so you really need to pay attention to what is being played and by who so you can be prepared for the following week. Try to keep in mind what worked for you, what didn’t, what can I do to make things play out to my advantage, what sideboard should I bring, etc? These are all questions that are pertinent each week, but more importantly, they’re only good if you answer them based on your meta.
Oh yeah, I cracked a Gideon Jura out of my prize packs…
Defending the boogeyman
Yes, I know, another post about Jund. It so happens I am a big supporter of the deck type, so I would obviously have a lot to say about it! This time around I want to hit on something I am increasingly seeing across the internets.
More and more I am seeing comments like “People who play Jund are not good players” or “Playing Jund requires no thinking, just playing and flipping cards.” Now, the majority of people who say that tend to fall into the “get beat by Jund a lot” category and refuse to say Jund is a good Tier 1 deck. Well folks this just is not true. While Jund is easier to play when compared to U/W control (or any control deck for that matter) it is far from easy to play. Countless times I have seen people come to FNM with a standard Jund build and fail to win a game while someone with the same exact build places top 4. This is due to the player, not the deck.
I first started piloting Jund back when Zendikar rotated in. My first builds included Madrush Cyclops, Sedraxis Specters and a few other odd cards. My first time out I placed top 4 and introduced that store to the boogeyman. No one was playing Jund before that and no one was prepared. After that I started looking at what the pro’s were playing and started changing my deck. Almost every week I would come in with a different version then I had the week before. After a while the store I played at started getting flooded with Jund builds. They all had the same core cards (Sprouting Thrinax, Bloodbraid Elf, Blightning, Lightning Bolt, etc) with a few odd builds, mine included. Now if the theory “anyone can play Jund” was true, you would expect to see a variety of people placing top 4 with Jund, correct? Well, this wasn’t true. Every week the same Jund decks would be near the top (mine included) and the others would have poor records. I had a few bad weeks myself, mostly when I played with some crazy idea’s that never worked, but when I stuck to the core set of cards that I felt worked, I won. I also noticed I would have a bad week if something was bothering me or if something was going on with my life. Back when my last relationship fell apart, I had a string of poor finishes. Was this due to my deck? No, it was due to the player.
You may ask yourself “Why do you play Jund every week? Don’t you know how to play anything else?” That is a pretty good question and one I get asked every week. I play Jund every week because I feel it has the tools to compete with every deck in the format. I have played many other decks using Magic Workstation and other testing means and I always find myself coming back to Jund. The meta where I play is also Jund friendly, so it makes more sense to run a deck that will do well. There was a time where all the non-Jund decks were stacked with Jund hate and that is when I started changing things up. The standard Jund builds would fall while the innovators would rise.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Shards/M10 rotates out. I am willing to wager you will see the same players who top 4 with Jund top 4′ing with whatever deck they choose to play.
Site (mostly) back on line
I say “mostly” because I am not noticing anything missing right this moment. I took down a few links to older things that I felt were not relevant anymore and renamed the “Automator Actions” section to just “Maintenance.” I am keeping the actual link itself named automator actions so I don’t mess up SEO stuff.
I had to re upload Maintenance 3.8 due to the file still missing. I didn’t want to delay this anymore due to Apple being known for taking links down. Let me know if there are any other issues.
Jund is Dead?? (repost)
Original article by Bob Lanza, reposted due to site issues
…At least not yet. Jund is alive and well, and with the emergence of the Vengevine varieties, Jund is going to be around until most of its core cards rotate out in October. This FNM I was privileged to play not two, but three Jund decks in my escapade with an experimental Esper Conscription deck I threw together. This deck is/was favored slightly against Jund in our testing during the week—except for my teammate Jesse’s deck (which mind you I gave one hell of a run at during the tourney). I ended up going 2-2 on the night. I lost 2 games to—you guessed it; Jund. I’m here to tell you some things about Jund that you may already know, or maybe you don’t.
First, Jund is very much alive, and the main reason for it being alive has been the ever present Maelstrom Pulse. I can’t begin to tell you people how good this card is in this deck. This card is the catch all destroy-a-card. With Bloodbraid Elf, this is just beyond a sick combo. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I had a BBE cascade into a pulse and ruin my plans. I had thought I combatted this by running shrouded creatures, but every time I thought they had run out of removal and I dropped a Baneslayer Angel, bam I got hit with a pulse. Let me elaborate even more as of to why this card is so good. I have not lost one Jund GAME, not match, GAME, against a Jund deck that was budget and didn’t run pulse. This card makes this deck.
Another card that makes this deck still very dangerous despite the advent of Wall of Omens is Bloodbraid Elf—hell, Bituminous Blast has even made a return. So let’s talk about why these cards are so key in a Jund deck right now. The Vengevine varieties rely greatly on Cascade (a mechanic that I maintain has broken the game). If you aren’t running cheap creatures, Cascade can get you that Vengevine trigger far easier. This leads to MAJOR card advantage early. This is something I’m convinced even the control decks cannot do (which is why I ran Kathari Remnant in my Esper Conscription deck this weekend. I’ll tell you what is dead in this matchup—discard. I can’t begin to tell you how much Jund players will giggle when you make them pitch 2 Vengevines. Blightning needs to go bye bye in the mirror, but is still very much a strong Planeswalker removal factor along with more card advantage.
Finally, Jund is where the removal is at. With cards like Terminate, Doom Blade, Maelstrom Pulse, Consuming Vapors, Deathmark, Lightning Bolt, and Bituminous Blast, how can you go wrong?? Did I miss any? Jund runs the most removal in a creature heavy format. I think we might see a resurgence of shrouded creatures to battle Jund in the near future. But in the end, Consuming Vapors sideboarded in, can be a real hoser. I was on the receiving end of a Doom Blade on the stack as Consuming Vapors rebounded. This especially hurt because not only did I PURPOSELY play a Baneslayer because I knew vapors was going to rebound, but I lost a Wall of Denial as well. All this removal may in the end be Jund’s weakness, but at our store…not a chance. In a store filled with Aggro Naya, Vamps, and Jund, there is no such thing as too much removal.
My Esper Conscription deck did what I thought it would when I needed it to. My teammate bluffed his way into a win against me (well played sir) in a matchup that I was typically favored against. My other Jund loss was to a Hyper Aggressive build featuring 4 maindecked Siege-Gang Commanders, Broodmate Dragons, Putrid Leeches, and the coup de grace maindecked Consuming Vapors.
People say that Jund’s weakness is its manabase. My response is: “ freakin DUH!” If you can shut down a single color, Jund sits there and Twiddles its thumbs for a bit while you either set up your control, or beat it down. Seriously, if you don’t have this figured out, you need to go back and look at your blue. Why was spread em so successful months ago in a Jund heavy environment? But this still falls back to my statement about Maelstrom Pulse. Three of my lands are Seas?? Maelstrom Pulse says “hi.”
In the end, I’m going to say to you that Jund is not dead. I think Jund is far from dead and it is evolving into a new powerhouse. Jesse ran Goblin Ruinblaster main deck and totally caught people off guard. There are tons of possibilities for these combos, and we haven’t even scratched up the surface. So now you ask, “Bob, what are you sleeving up for this week’s FNM?” My answer is simple: J.U.N.—naw I’m just kidding, I’m probably going to run control.
Contact form and site Forums back up
Just a quick note, the contact form is back up and working. Please feel free to use it if you have any questions.
The site Forums are also back in full swing. There will be more things added as time goes on, mostly Magic related I assume.
FNM and Vengevine Jund
This past Friday I sleeved up my Jund deck (as always) and went to battle my fellow planeswalkers at Friday Night Magic. The big difference this week was the version of Jund I decided to run. I took one of the many Vengevine versions and tweaked the sideboard to fit my meta. Read more
Losing Sucks…
This week I want to touch on Magic and what you can learn from losing. This past FNM I went 1-3 on the night. It was my worst tournament outing ever. When you lose you can do a couple of things: whine about how you got unlucky with your card draws (which I did), or look at the night and find out where things went south (I casted a Gideon Jura with a Vampire Hexmage on the battlefield). This single misplay ruined my whole night. The game would have likely ended much differently had I not botched up that single play. When all is said and done, you can step back and ask yourself, “What have I learned?”
In all honesty, the night mostly was just bad draws from a deck that has very little drawing power. I found myself behind early on in most of my games due to decks featuring some kind of early removal. Initially, I decided to sleeve up my own version of Mythic Conscription featuring Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Gideon Jura maindeck. Other than those two cards it was a pretty stock deck. Throughout all of my play testing during the week, the deck dominated most of the match-ups. I beat Jund handily; I mopped the floor with Vampires and handled Polymorph pretty easily. The one deck I forgot to test against was Naya. I honestly wasn’t concerned with it based on the fact that I could beat Jund, and shut down Naya’s Basilisk Collar, Cunning Sparkmage combination with Linvala. I was so confident that Jesse, my team member, was really torn on what to play knowing that my deck was so dominant. In the end he sleeved up a version of Jund that we came up with that gave it a good chance against everything in the meta- with my deck being the exception for the most part.
My night started off with Vampires. I learned a lot about my deck right off the bat in the first game after having my Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch removed without a problem. Mythic has NOTHING if you remove its early threats. After that, I battled through to drop a Baneslayer Angel and took the game. It was game two that I discovered a HUGE flaw with my deck. I had absolutely no removal outside of Celestial Purge in my SB. The purge served me well until my opponent dropped a Malakir Bloodwitch. It then occurred to me that this card was going to be the end of my night when it got played unless I could draw an Eldrazi Conscription. It didn’t happen, and just like that, I was 0-1 on the night. This was also the game where I played my Gideon with a Hexmage on the board in a game where I had complete control.
Match two was against Jund. With confidence I beat my opponent down (with a little luck) in the first game with the Sovereigns of Lost Alara Eldrazi Conscription combo. The second game post SB, my challenger still had no gas. This Jund deck ran very little removal and I was able to run it over pretty easily even after mulliganing down to four during the second game. What did I learn from this win? Honestly, not a whole lot. I had expected to beat Jund in the fashion that I did. If I had to guess, this was a budget Jund deck- there were no Maelstrom Pulses and I didn’t see Sarkhan the Mad. At this point, I was 1-1 and feeling better about myself.
Match three was against my teammate who was 1-1 on the night as well. He wasn’t thrilled at the challenge he was going to face in trying to overcome my deck. It was this match that honestly got me the most upset with myself and really turned everything for the worse. This was the worst luck in a match I had ever had. During game one I managed to pull 1 mana after mulliganing down to five- my hand was Forest, Birds, Heiarach, Baneslayer and Lotus Cobra. I figured I could work with this and that I’d draw some gas along with lands. Boy was I wrong. I didn’t pull a single land, and all of my acceleration was removed early and fast. This game was over by turn six. Game two rolled around and I had to mulligan down to six, but I had a sick draw. I was feeling pretty good about myself. I managed to stick a turn three Gideon, and felt like I had the board locked up. It was then that I had three consecutive Maelstrom Pulses played on me to end my night. Good game, but talk about luck not on my side. Luck is part of Magic, but this loss was hard to swallow. I was now 1-2 on the night, and out of contention for the top four. The good news was that my teammate was primed to make his way in!
Match four was against Naya, and this is where things really took a turn downhill. I won the first game when my opponent got mana screwed. Game two post SB, I got hit with removal and once again, (surprise, surprise), crappy hands. I had to go down to five and was run over by Vengevine. Game three was almost a carbon copy of game two, and my night was over.
Losing sucks…but what can I really take from this? I had a lousy SB for the match-ups I faced. I think in the end if I had had a better SB, I could have taken a game or two, but everybody’s deck was so much better post SB than mine, I didn’t have much of a shot. Luck also did play a big factor throughout my night, so I can’t really learn much from that except to know that if you’re playing Mythic Conscription, you are going to have to do the best with what you’ve got in your opening hand. Luck is a huge factor with this deck because it doesn’t draw extra cards and can lose its momentum VERY fast. In the end, it was a very educational night, I met some new people, and I look forward to going 1-3 again sometime soon. I might also go 4-0, who knows! Until then, remember that losing sucks, but it’s what you can learn from your mistakes and loses that will make you a better player.
Why I Came Back
Wake up world! My name is Bob Lanza, self-proclaimed Magic: The Gathering geek, and collector of cards. I work as an IT Guru during the day, and at night I Sleep. I picked up Magic again around January 2009 and have since had success as of late on the tournament scene. I’m one of the founding members of Team Chaotic. I’ll be writing articles on the current meta, life, and possibly the occasional rant. Welcome, and enjoy!
I can’t begin to tell you how many people out there in the world today play Magic: The Gathering. Every corner I turn, I find someone else who is ready and raring to duel. Magic is a game of strategy, wits, luck, and let’s face it- money. If you don’t have the most recent cards, you don’t have what it takes to reach that next level. But seriously, who doesn’t want to play a game slated in a fantasy world where you are a Planeswalker (a superior being who has not only potent magic, but the ability to walk from one plane of existence to another). At your control are countless spells, creatures, enchantments, artifacts and other tools to show your dominance over man and beast. The trick is combining these abilities into something that will not only make you the victor, but also showcase your smarts. I digress.
I started playing Magic when I was about 13-years-old, circa 1994. Magic was young and new, and some of the kids at school started playing. I found this new card game fascinating and being the geek that I am, (seriously, if you play magic you’re a geek- embrace it) I was full on hooked from the first time I tapped a forest for this magic called “mana.” Back then there weren’t nearly as many cards as there are today, and having certain cards gave you a flat out advantage. Being only 13 at the time, it was difficult to procure money to buy booster packs, boxes, starter packs and other accessories. Every chance I got, I scraped together a few bucks here or there for some cards, never knowing what a “rare” was let alone today’s “mythic rares.” I knew what I liked and what worked for me. I thought that cards like Craw Wurm were amazing because of the sheer power. I ran the Channel Fireball combo for a bit, and then everybody stopped playing me. But for the most part back then, I kept things simple: Green Stompy and Red Burn, both of which led me to mild success. When the Ice Age block came out, I had begged and pleaded for a booster box from my family. I don’t recall how much these boxes cost back then, but I know they were not too thrilled that this was my latest obsession and it was EXPENSIVE even then! Needless to say, I got the box and with that came new cards and new ways to beat my friends.
High school rolled around shortly after, and my cards disappeared into The Abyss that is my closet. There they sat for 14 years. Jokingly in my last year of college (last of 7) I had talked about my geeky tendencies and how I used to play Magic: The Gathering. I couldn’t believe that one of my good college friends used to play when he was younger, and better yet, he still had his cards! Just like that, the addiction started all over again. However, now I’m older and smarter (I think), and more in tune with the way things work.
After trying to find new techniques to beat my friends, I decided that I needed a new edge- that’s right, cards from the new sets. I started by buying a box of Conflux. After opening them, I remembered the thrill of pulling a rare card. Shortly thereafter, I learned about the tournament scene and what was legal for each format. It was then that I decided I was going to become a Standard Legal kind of guy. Hell, I just spent 80 bucks on a box of Conflux, how much could it cost to go back to Shards of Alara and then just keep up with everything afterwards? Man it’s expensive, but oh so worth it! The game to this day still keeps me thinking, “how can I play better- no, perfectly!”
As they say, the rest is history. I currently have found many more people to duel, and I have since formed/joined a team of experienced players from both way back in the day and the present time. I have had some recent luck as a deck builder and player in some tournaments lately. Limited is something completely untapped for me, and yet I’ve won the last three Sealed events in which I’ve participated. In the end, this hobby of mine has cost me big bucks, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, except maybe a foil Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
Rise of the Eldrazi Pre-Release roundup
This past weekend I attended my first pre-release (and Limited) event at my local shop, Numbskullz. I am usually a Constructed player so switching gears to Limited was a challenge. No longer could I build a deck and test it for weeks before I brought it to FNM, I was on the spot and I had to get a deck together within 30 minutes. 24 players showed up and the event lasted about 5 1/2 hours. We played 5 rounds and then the top 4 decided to split because of the time. Over all I went 2-3 which I consider to be fair since I never attended a Limited event before. My deck started out as a tri color (black, blue, green) that won me round one. Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief was hands down the key card for me both of the games we played. I used her ability to kill off all the creatures my opponent had out and attacked for 10+ two turns in a row. With no creatures to block, thats game over. I only had one copy of this card, but I managed to draw it both games. Round one was the highlight of the day unfortunately, with things going downhill fast. Rounds two and three I lost 0-2, both within 15 minutes. I kept drawing single color land which totally crippled my hand. After the third round I decided to switch my deck completely. I ended up with a white green deck that was smaller (45 cards) and faster. I won round four 2-1 and lost round five 1-2. Round four was somewhat frustrating to me because the player I was facing jumped down my throat over every little thing I questioned. I have been playing for many years but I do not consider myself all knowing when it comes to the rules. Factor in the new set with new mechanics, I was questioning/reading every card in play. Just because you thought out the card and what you are going to do with it doesn’t mean I will as soon as it drops into play. Overall the event was a great learning experience and I am considering attending the release event as well.
As for the new set itself, it plays very slow in Limited. It seemed to be a race to see who can get out the first Eldrazi and attack with it. I don’t remember a player who lost a match with an Eldrazi on the table first. Ironically, I never played a single Eldrazi (I had 3 in my deck) so maybe that was a flaw in my deck building. I am looking forward to seeing what impact this set makes on Standard. I have a few ideas floating around for my Jund deck (Vengevine anyone?) and I also am thinking about changes to my Vamp/Mono White decks. Green seems to be the big gainer with ROE so I might start a Mono Green Eldrazi deck. I have most of the cards already and a deck like that is dominating FNM week in and week out. I have 2 booster boxes pre-ordered so I should get some good pulls.
I hope everyone likes the new theme and good luck with your release events this weekend!
Alive
I guess I should start by apologizing. Its been close to a year since I put up anything new here and up until recently, it didn’t concern me much. The last year of my life has been one giant roller coaster that I had a hard time dealing with. Every single aspect of my life has changed, for better or for worse, and I am finally getting to the point where I have enough sanity to write a bit.
I never liked getting into personal matters here so I will try and keep that stuff brief. That side of my life has been the hardest. I have lost a lot in the last year but I have emerged gaining more I feel. Things seem to be more stable than ever and all the pieces are falling into place. I met an amazing woman a few months ago and she is the reason things are on the upswing. I have some great friends who have also helped a lot. I don’t know where I would be without them. I am working in a new building, 40 miles south of where I live. The commute sucks ass, but I will be moving in with said woman come summertime which will be closer. I haven’t decided if I like working where I am yet. I will save that judgment till after I move.
Enough of that stuff, lets move on.
Site Related
I just renewed my hosting for the year and I plan to get this place going again. My focus will still be where it is now, but more toward Magic, music and technology. I still have a Mac and I am still an Apple fan. The fact is, I work in a Windows world. All the computers I support, all the servers I administer, they are all Windows. I do support 2 Macs, but the amount of work that requires is minimal. I plan to talk about everything technology that strikes my fancy and that will cover a very broad area. I am looking at new designs for the site to kick off the semi-transition. Right now I am looking at Joomla for the back-end, but I will still consider WordPress since I have been using it for years. I am not sure how long this will all take since my life is very busy. I seem to have very little free time to devote to the site these days.
Maintenance
Maintenance is still going strong. It still gets downloaded about 2000-3000 times a month even thou the current version is over 2 years old. I do have a lot of ideas on where to go with the program but again, finding time to research and code is an issue. I mentioned before that I wanted to bring the program over to the iPhone format and that is still an interest. I am not sure if it can be done, but with the launch of the iPad, I see more of a use for it.
Magic
Magic has become a very big focus in my life. I regularly attend Friday Night Magic at a local spot, I play Dual of the Planeswalkers on my Xbox and I play Magic Online from time to time. I currently run a variation of Jund and a buddy of mine uses my cards running either Vampires or White Weenie. I do a ton of research throughout the week before FNM so I can be prepared for what I might see. I feel I am becoming a very well rounded player even thou most people seem to think I can only run Jund. With Rise of the Eldrazi about to be unleashed on us, I am already thinking about what might replace my Jund deck come October when most the cards are rotated out of Standard. Vampires seems to be a good choice, but its very hard to know before the other sets are released. M11 and Scars of Mirrodin are still to be seen and those sets might change the face of Standard completely. I know things will be different just with the Shards block rotating out, but what else might happen is a mystery. I would love to start getting into Extended as well, but the learning curve for that would be steep and I don’t have the cards. So that might have to wait.
Music?
I haven’t talked about music that much here, but it is a huge part of my life. I have been playing guitar for about 10 years now and I consider my guitars (all 3 of them, 4 if you count my girlfriends) to be life savers. I currently own a PRS SE Custom 24, an Epiphone Black Beauty and an old Epiphone acoustic guitar. The acoustic says “Epi” on the headstock so I assume it was made before Gibson got the rights to Epiphone? I really have no idea. I currently use a Fender FM65DSP 65 Watt amp with a Danelectro Black Coffee distortion pedal. I mostly play rock and metal stuff but I tend to experiment with a variety of sounds depending on my mood. I listen to the same kind of music as I play. Rarely will you see me sitting by without some kind of music playing.
Gaming
I still play games quite a bit (when I have time). I recently purchased a nice 55 inch Samsung LCD TV and my wonderful girlfriend got me an Xbox 360 for my birthday (gamer tag Sharvan if you wish to add me). I am trying to get back into World of Warcraft, but having that big TV sitting idle in my living room seems to be a crime. Sitting down to play Fallout 3 on the 55 inch TV with surround sound is pretty damn sweet.
Well that is all I can think of right now. I can’t give any time frame for when the site will change or when I will start posting more, but I will. As always, feel free to contact me.