General

Still slugging away on a number of side-projects. I can’t say too much, other than what I’ve already stated before; thedevilsyouknow.com is coming. I personally can’t wait to get it off the ground; the failed launch last year was a bit of a let-down, but I think everyone involved was pretty busy. I must be truly terrible at managing my time; I don’t know how my friends with one, or more — in some cases a lot more — find the time to get anything done, let alone entertain the notion of regularly updating a website. There’s probably a lesson, regarding personal motivation, in that.

I’m hoping to have some of these projects posted on this site. I really wish I could say more right now, but I am bad for getting ahead of myself and not following through.

That, and the heat here has been atrocious the last few days; somewhere between 38-43 degrees Celsius. (That’s roughly 110 at the top end, for those of you who still think the metric system is a tool of the devil.) I’m glad I don’t work outdoors; just waiting for my bus and walking to the office has probably helped me drop a couple of pounds. The humidity is so thick, I swear you could spread the air on toast.

Magic

I got two good games in last night, as well as about five more when I visited my parents’ place, so this week has been nice as far as play-time goes. Previous to the Magic 2012 release draft last week, I hadn’t played in a month; something that hasn’t happened more than once in the 6 years since I got back into the game.

My mono-green Commander deck did well; apparently when you draw 20 more cards than your opponents, you tend to have really good odds to win the game. (For those curious, two castings of Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, followed by a Momentous Fall on said Kozilek when someone tried to steal him from me.)

As tends to always happen, my mono-black Commander reminded me that I should listen to my gut when making changes to my decks. I recall cutting Barter in Blood for reasons unknown — although Kevin’s suggestion that I cut it for Black Sun’s Zenith is probably correct — and it came to bite me in the ass. I ended up facing down two Darksteel Colossus; used the Transmute ability of Dimir House Guard, and was promptly horrified to discover I didn’t have Barter in Blood and, thereby, anything to deal with the two Indestructible threats. Even more depressing, was that I had to cast Black Sun’s Zenith for 7, just to shrink the giant robot and not die right away. No, instead it took a couple of extra turns.

I’ll be putting my Commander deck lists online in the near future. I am still working on a format for them, but they should be posted within the next month. I also have some other Magic: the Gathering content to start putting up in the near future. I got a little too ambitious last time; I think I’ve learned from that.