I have wanted Twilight Princess ever since it was first announced at E3 2004. It feels like I have been frozen in a glacier for five thousand years in anticipation. I have been waiting for that far longer than the Wii, which I would have gotten after I had had my fill of Twilight Princess. Later, I found out that TP would be a Wii launch title. I dismissed this, knowing that it would still be released for the Gamecube. However, when I found out that the Wii's launch was being shifted forward and the Gamecube version's launch was being delayed, I decided to change my reservation. However, EB Games, a fine game retailer, would allow me to reserve games for the Wii but not the system itself (The logical thing to do ). So every Saturday for the next month or so, I would call the store to ask if they were allowing reservations. One week, I called this fine retailer and instead of hearing what I expected - "No, we're not taking reservations for the Wii yet" - I instead got something worse - "No, we are no longer taking reservations for the Wii. We stopped taking them at 5:00 yesterday". My only hope was to wait in line to get it. However, I have a long history of wussing out on important things...

Long story short, I own a copy of Twilight Princess but no console with which to play it. FISSION MAILED.

From what I understand, the basic premise is this:

Sony gets:

New FF Games (PS3 gets XIII [and XIII vs] and presumably XIV and XV)
Kingdom Hearts
Dragon Quest

Nintendo gets:

Remakes of old FF games (Although they'll be done after VI is released for the GBA - VII, VIII, and IX are being released for PSP)
FF:CC (Which is a great game - I was lucky enough to have 3 friends with which to play it and it was a good experience. I'm really looking forward to it being online which might not end up being a good thing)
The Mana Series (Children of Mana, Tree of Mana, etc.)
Knockoffs of other games/franchises (such as this, this, this, and this)

Microsoft gets:

FFXI
...pretty much left out of the loop.

One word about Final Fantasy III - my only real problem with it is that now I am at a point in the game where I basically have to go through three dungeons in a row and then face the final boss with no save point whatsoever. But aside from that, it's a very solid game.

If you're talking about RE5, that's onle for PS3 and 360. However, there is also word of an RE game for the Wii, though I don't know much else about it. Honestly, I'd just be happy if they ported 4. it would be much easier to have a chainsaw controller.

EDIT: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Coming 2007.

As for Brawl, if anyone could translate the Japanese at the end of this trailer, it would be much appreciated.

This. The basic premise of the storyline is that you get turned into a pokemon in a world inhabited only by pokemon and form a rescue team with other pokemon. Instead of catching them, you have to convince them to join your team (after beating them in battle?). It actually reminds me of the plot of FF Tactics: Advance.

The big new thing (other than story-wise) is that now you can link moves together. For example, you could link a water move to a grass move to deal tons of damage to rock and ground types. You could link a move that lowers your speed with Agility or Quick Attack to compensate. You could link Recover to Light Screen to regain HP and boost defense.

Pokeyman?

For reference, here is the link jro posted again - http://db.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/file/pokemon_fnd_red_dungeons.txt (gamefaqs does not allow direct linking to any area of their site other than the main page so you must do the whole copy/paste thing)

As for Snorlax, who "fuckin' owns you":http://db.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/file/pokemon_fnd_red_pokedex.txt

As for its how good it is, it's gotten a wide range of reviews. Most of the people who think lowly of it don't like the fact that it's a classic pokemon game, where you walk around in tall grass, fight gym leaders, bitchslap Team Rocket, completely humiliate your rival and the Elite Four at the end of the game, then catch Mewtwo (or whatever overpowered pokemon they have in the new versions) and pwn your freinds' teams. However, most people who enjoy the game give it a decent 8/10. I myself have not played it - I'm holding out for FFIII - but it looks quite intriguing.

Oh, and it's Vermillion City, not Viridian.

I got a 23. Probably higher if I had read more of MaRo's design articles.

I don't think they had anything on Extended Zoo at SCG, Matt.

Anyway, Bad Wolf, Zoo is 3+ color aggro. I asked 49cents about the Dutch list and here is what he sent me.


From what I can guess, the SB might look something like:

4 Vinelasher Kudzu
3 Naturalize
3 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Pithing Needle
2 Condemn/Engineered Plague/Fire//Ice

As you can see, it is, in fact, insane. The only thing I really strongly feel is wrong with it is a lack of Stomping Grounds.

No there won't. You can't stop Samuel L. Jackson. You can only contain him. On a plane. With some motherfucking snakes.

My prediction was almost the same - Time Walk and Sapphire were switched.

Anyway, the art for Pearl is very nice, but not as good as Lotus and Ancestral, IMO.

Congratulations on qualifying.

I've rethought my initial position about Train of Thought and have decided to run another Weird Harvest in its stead after looking at Akira Asahara's build.

For reference:

12 Forest
9 Island
1 Swamp
//Lands - 22

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Drift of Phantasms
1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
//Creatures - 9

4 Heartbeat of Spring
4 Early Harvest
4 Kodama's Reach
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Remand
4 Muddle the Mixture
3 Weird Harvest
2 Rampant Growth
//Spells - 29

4 Bottled Cloister
3 Shadow of Doubt
2 Gigadrowse
1 Pyroclasm
1 Mountain
1 Invoke the Firemind
1 Crime // Punishment
1 Research // Development
1 Viridian Shaman
//Sideboard - 15

From what I understand, this really beats aggro and the card advantage can be beneficial against control too. The Rampants speed up the deck to the point where it can kill turn 4 more consistently, which I think helps match aggro's speed better than transmuting for Pyroclasm or Twister on turn 4-ish. Of course, I'm planning on moving Invoke and the Mountain into the main.

Also, can we just merge the two Heartbeat threads?

**remembers Murdolont post**

"So much synergy, so little time."

OK, I see what you're saying about the counters now. I guess you're right.

As for how Shadow of Doubt was as a counter, no, I didn't really have trouble casting it. What's you're point? That it's less mana than Voidslime?

For starters, Shadow of Doubt is essentially a counter in this deck since it is almost always used in response to something like Cranial, Weird Harvest, or a Transmutation and it will stop those in their tracks (at most Cranial is reduced to Castigate). In fact, I was running it before I realized Voidslime could stop Mindslicer. So you're really running 10 counters.

The scenario I described assumes that you transmuted for Train on the turn before or ripped it off the top like the mizer that you may or may not be. But for the most part, it is unlikely unless you've done a lot of accelerating beforehand, so you're right in that respect.

I don't see why you'd need 2 counters in addition to Muddle. Can you be a little more clear on that? Did you mean if you're about to play Train or just in general?

As far as it being a sorcery goes, so is Reach, the Transmutations, and the combo itself. Many of the best control options in this deck are sorceries. R/D may be instant speed, but it doesn't actually get you cards in your hand when you need them, it just makes you spin Top more to find them, and that's not something I'd like to do since it means that I may have to let combo pieces go for the time being in order to get a Gigadrowse.

Top is all you need you say? Against control it is possible, but in the mirror I don't think that it can cut it, especially if your opponent is putting pressure on you with Kudzu or drawing twice as many cards as you. Train may not be the right answer, but we definitely need something.

Actually, I consider drawing (and keeping) at least 3 cards to be "massive card advantage". After all, this is only Type Two.

You could just play Train when you're about to go off. Play Train for 3 cards, tapping 6 lands and leaving 3 open for Early Harvest or 5 open for Heartbeat followed by Harvest. Or you could leave extra mana open to counter/bluff a counter. At the very least you have +3 CA, so even if they do kill you you can at least have three more cards in hand.

As far as the mirror is concerned, I don't believe that it's about whoever can go off faster. If I wanted to do that I would board in Utopia Sprawl. The mirror is about whoever can go off safer - ie. with counter backup. In order to get this backup, card advantage is key. In my testing, I have usually waited to go off in the mirror until between turns 6 and 8 as opposed to between turns 4 and 6. The reason is because in that matchup I like to have 2 counters (preferably Remand so that I can use it on my own spells*) backing me up before I go off, and since the deck doesn't really have a draw engine I have to sit around and spin Top for a few turns in order to accomplish this.

*There is a benefit to doing this. Let's say an opponent tries to counter one of your spells and you hava a Remand in your hand. Lets see how it would play out if you countered their spell.

NCM plays Early Harvest
### plays Muddle the Mixture
NCM plays Remand (targeting Muddle the Mixture)
### plays Muddle the Mixture

They'd just counter it again. Now let's try something different.

NCM plays Early Harvest
### plays Muddle the Mixture
NCM plays Remand (targeting Early Harvest)
Muddle the Mixture doesn't resolve - no target
NCM plays Early Harvest

If you look at my board, you'll see that when I board in Voidslime I have 12 counters at my disposal. I can afford to lose one of those if it means gaining massive card advantage.

Which brings me to my next point. Card advantage is vital to the deck during matchups that demand it, control and the mirror. I prefer card advantage over the man plan because you retain inevitability. With the man plan your have cards like Kudzu, Meloku, and Dragons which is great and all but it forces the deck's strategy to change from a non-interactive one with inevitability to an aggro-control deck with comparatively less certainty. The man plan was great during its induction when nobody expected it. Now people know how to work around it and it's becoming less and less optimal. themajikguy already said why Caryatid is better than Kudzu against aggro. The man plan gives you tempo, but inevitability is ultimately a more powerful weapon in the deck.

As far as Vore goes, I don't really know how to comment on the matchup aside from just saying "win the coin flip". A man plan could work, at the very least it could be better than Loaming Shaman, but I doubt it would go over well in a general meta. Anyone else have more experience with the matchup care to shed some light on the subject?

B/D does suck, but if your opponent doesn't know how to play around it, it can distract them enough so that they will waste counters on it. Then again I might not be giving my opponents enough credit. Either way, I'll probably cut it.

Turn 4 Zur's Weirding? Who plays Zur's Weirding?

Train of Thought is more geared towards the control matchup and the mirror, but it could be used against BW. I'm boarding in a lot against BW as it is.

I'm comfortable without the beatdown plan (I'm short on time so I'll explain later), but yes it probably is better than Loaming freaking Shaman.

Also, I forgot to post my current board:

4 Caryatid
3 Gigadrowse
1 Train of Thought
1 Boomerang/Punishment
1 Savage Twister (2 main)
4 Voidslime
1 TBD

Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to Regionals, but this is the board I would have run (NOTE: I had 3 Savage Twister and 1 Research/Develpoment main):

1 Loaming Shaman
3 Carven Caryatid
3 Gigadrowse
1 Train of Thought
1 Boomerang
1 Bound/Determined
2 Research/Development
3 Voidslime

Caryatid, Gigadrowse, Train, and Boomerang should be fairly obvious. Bound/Determined is there against blue-based control to distract their counters from what's important and generally just mess with their heads. Voidslime is in there for both the mirror and BW Husk so that I at least have an answer to Mindslicer. Loaming Shaman was originally savage tech against Magnivore but then I realized that if you have 3 mana you're already winning. The real trick to winning that matchup is going first.

About the three-of metagame slots, specifically Twister and R/D: I was first inspired to run 3 Twister main by the deck that took first at a PTQ in LA. His logic behind running so many Twisters is that you don't have to waste time and tutors to grab it. I was very swayed by this logic and it's what I decided to to. However, I am now rethinking that decision and think that a 2 main/x board Twister split would be good. I am also beginning to doubt if R/D is worth it or if I can just increase my counter-base further.

I agree with what Anusien said about Cloister. It's too slow and there are too many ways around it. Same for Ignorant Bliss.

I personally don't like Crime/Punishment. Okay, it deals with Needle. So does Boomerang, Naturalize, and Viridian Shaman. It deals with multiple Needles you say? Zoo and Gruul have no draw engine (unless somebody throws Ninjas in and makes Blue Zoo), BW has enough discard to the point where Needle isn't the biggest threat to you and it's basically the same thing with control, only with counters instead of discard. Magnivore might not even pack Needle if their going first - then their plan will just be to play Ponza for a few turns and then put you on a fairly short clock (4 turns or so) with Vore. Another argument for it that I'm sick of hearing is that you don't have to pay 5 mana to kill Kird Ape. This is true, but if you do play Twister for 3 you also kill Isamaru, Ledgewalker, Ruskala, Dryad, Scab-Clan Mauler, etc. So by using C/P for 1 you're getting less card (and tempo) advantage.

However, I won't dismiss it entirely. I'll test it again and see if it works as good as Boomerang. With C/P you need to pay 6 to take out Ivory Mask, but who runs that anymore?

Why exactly did he have Hinder over Voidslime? It seems like thay are both functionally similar but Voidslime is much more versatile and you are almost never without green mana in this deck (if you are then you're either manascrewed or not playing correctly). Sorry, I didn't know when that was.

Oh man, that's so awesome. It's also great that they won't be using any confusing controls via the new controller.

Just one thing bothers me - Is that a friggin' Nintendog? In a fighting game? WTF?

As for Snake joining in, I think that's really sweet. A big problem with unlockable characters is that Nintendo doesn't always have acces to them due to copywright laws. It's really great that Konami gave liscensing to Nintendo to use Snake.

Also, this game will be online. Nintendo has announced that previously.

If you haven't already seen it, watch the video. It's amazing.

JD, this thread reminded me of one important fact.

Should we still call it JD's Desire?

In any case, you shall be greatly missed and it is indeed sad to see you go. Good luck on all your future endeavors.

That thread is a regular lolocaust.

And yes, I post on SCG.  Obviously.

It is clearly inferior to TMD as far as Vintage and Legacy go, but I still use it to catch up on Standard and Extended tech, or just general information on those formats.  Occasionally, there's also something good in the GD.

Did you know that Chuck Norris gave birth to Dave Feinstein in 1970 while fighting off an army of Vietnamese Ninja robots?

TO CHUCK NORRIS!

I think I remember in the It's Raining Men article that Moxlotus has/had a girlfriend (who made cookies), so that's probably out.

GWS=Great White Shark?

Sanitation 101:  How to not smell like ass.  This includes the fine arts of showering and using such highly advanced, cutting-edge, scientific devices as soap, deodorant, breath mints, and car air fresheners (and I don't mean in your car).  Failing students will be dumped in a New Jersey landfill with all the other vile odors of the world.  If we can still smell them from there, they will be sent into space and detonated (though this will have to be carefully done so that the chemical reaction does not accidentally dlow up a small planet or something).

EDIT:  Did anyone else think that because JDizzle started this thread that it was about some new build of Neo-Academy?

When I read that, it reminded me of the episode of ATHF where Meatwad eats a microchip.

Meatwad:  If you want your chip so damn bad, why don't you just shrink yourself down and come in here and find it.
Frylock:  No, Meatwad.  That won't work.
**later**
Frylock:  Alright, Shake, shrink me down with the shrink ray, put me into this seringe, and inject me into Meatwad.
Meatwad:  How is that different from what I said?
Frylock:  Because I said "inject".

Anyway, the deck seems interesting and I want to try it out, especially since I have a history of playing Affinity and, more importantly, Clamp (outside of Type One, I mean).  Once back when I had a Type Two deck based around the Genesis Chamber+Skullclamp+Auriok Steelshaper combo, I was able to combo off and kill three people in a 2-on-2 game.  I know that in actuality this is probably worse than other combo decks, namely Death/GrimLong, but I may build it anyway just for the nostalgia.  Besides, it's not like I can play Disciple in any other format.

I don't have the Premium, but I'm sure it was a great article and I look forward to reading it 3 months from now.

EDIT:  Sorry, I didn't realize you were just complaining.

Congratulations on winning the Taigas!

Move to Humor if possible.

I'm Saddam, yes I'm the real Saddam. All you other Saddams can just kiss my bottom. So won't the real Hussein please stand up?

The sequel:
Guess who's back? Back again? Real Hussein. I'm not dead. Guess who's back, from Iraq, got attacked, then got jacked. It's a fact, I'm the mack, And I'm back.

A (slightly) more convenient option is Gaea's Skyfolk.  It's a 2/2 flier that can be vialed out when vial is set at 2, making it a great thing to have.  Although, the deck is a bit light on counters, so I'm on the fence about cutting Spiketail for it.

Mike Long is a tad mana-heavy though it's effect is crippling.  Gilded Drake is *savage* anti-Oath tech, but the deck already has a way to deal with Akroma (Wild Mongrel) and Ancient Hydra(/Trike) can shoot you and then itself in response.  Drake can also steal Platz0r, but they can Weld it in response and there most likely won't be anything you can do about it (**cough*Needle*cough**).  Cloud doesn't have enough synergy with Vial to merit a great amount of value.  Kai may be an additional source of counters, but, as mentioned before, there will only be him and no one else.  If you want counters, I would stick with Spiketail.

The changes I plan to make with this deck once I begin testing are as follows:

-1 Black Vise (very random)
-1 Spiketail
+2 Kira

and maybe:

-3 Spiketail
+3 Skyfolk

As for the Standstill v. Brainstorm, look at this thread.  It discusses the issue.

I asked a Smmenen, in his SCG thread, what was essentially the same question.  He said that Seasinger might be a better metagame choice since you are most likely going to see UW Fish and Birdshit as opposed to UR Fish or something similar.  According to him your plan against CS is to resolve Defense Grid, and I'm pretty sure that you use similar plans against Oath and the like (which is better than what my normal plan against Oath is - pop a vein).  However, he also noted that Fish is dying down in popularity so it might not be needed.

Here is some more sideboarding advice from him.

CS:
-2 Rebuild
-1 C. Sphere/Unmask/Cabal Rit.
+3 Defense Grid

$T4CKS:
(Use Rebuild aggressively game 1)
-6 Tings
+3 Back to Basics
+3 Energy Flux

DeathLong:
-4 Tings (probably Rebuild and 2 more things)
+2 Null Rod
+2 Back to Basics

T to the P to the S:
-2 Rebuild (of course, it's an uncounterable way to draw into Ancestral after you've cast DDay, so you could afford to leave one in)
+2 Null Rod

(Combo) Belcher:
-2 Rebuild
+2 Null Rod

UW Landstill:
-1 C. Sphere
-2 Rebuild
-2 Unmask
+2-3 Defense Grids
+3 Back to Basics

Mirror Match:
Go first or disrupt them while their going off.  Other than that, pop a vein.

The French...like Americans?  How odd.  Over here you're men are portrayed as cheese-loving, beret-wearing eletists while your women are depicted as *goddesses*.

Personally, I never understood what was so hot about the french language.  Then again, I have never heard french spoken by a hot french chick, so I guess it's vaguely debatable if you look past the fact that it's completely and totally inexcusable and a crime against humanity that should get me publicly hanged.

I have not heard canadian french but if it's anything like canadian english, there will be more mispronounciations and it will be less attractive.  Don't get me wrong though, I still like being oot and aboot in the Great White North, eh?

Ok, Brittany, you've convinced me to love the french.  I love them so much I'll stop calling them "Freedom Fries" and go back to what I was calling them before (whatever that was).

From here:

Feb. 3: European Region
Feb. 10: Latin American Region
Feb. 17: North American Region
Feb. 24: APAC (Asia/Pacific) Region
March 3: Rising Star
March 10: Resident Genius
March 17: Road Warrior
March 24: Fan Favorite (2)

And here is the Eurpoean Ballet.  This year you can choose from:

Kai
Nicolai Herzog
Anton Jonsson
Team Von Dutch (Kamiel Cornelissen, Jeroen Remie, and Jelger Weigersma)
and the Super Ruel-io Brothers (Antoine and Olivier)

So, yeah.  It looks like they're just doing this from a pro-points standing and I don't think there will be a write-in until the Fan favorite votes.  I hope I'm wrong about that, but it does seem unlikely that we'll get to submit our votes for Zherbus for a while.

I've extended the movement to the SCG forums.  I know they're not exactly the best (and by that I mean "smartest") people to associate with but extra support never hurts.

Oh, apparently 4 people on there want to bear Zherbus's child.

Tonight I'm going to register and tomorrow I will cast my ballot to vote for Zherbus.  The reason I haven't registered in the past is because nothing important as this has come up yet.