Magic 2013: Blue

LSV posted his white reviews so to stay one step ahead here is blue, finally.

archaeomancer

aka "sorry for snapcaster!". if this was printed at 1U it'd be reaaaaally exciting. if they printed this at 1U and left snapcaster red i think that'd be really really interesting. as it is this is just too bad to be hype. B-

arctic aven

uw cycle one scary, can't give the best deck too much more. this is pretty decent for limited, though. i like the flavor too. why is he a wizard, though? B+

augur of bolas

i love this card, i love the powerlevel and effect, i love the flavor... except for the art. he doesn't look like an augur to me with that big stabby staff and armor. he looks like someone who'd say "THE BIRDS SAY FUCK YEAH LET'S FIGHT! WOOOO!!!!" still cool. A

battle of wits

what a weird card to reprint! this actually sees occasional use in legacy, though, eh? in some weird zoo variants i think. weird that they print just one alt-win in the set, though. at least i think that's the only one... B+

clone

this seems too expensive now with metamorph and phantasmal image and splinter twin and probably a bunch of other decent ones i'm forgetting... body double? doesn't feel rare either, but i guess cloning effects aren't really that simple. B

courtly provocateur

woah, weird flavor man, okay, i'll take it. especially since it implies the idea of making your opponent's like scholarly-type creatures... the ability guys, mana dorks, etc... and tempting them "into the red zone". that's cool. A-

divination

the straight card draw curve, especially with instant/sorcery factored in, seems really constantly changing and hard to keep track of. is this better than think twice? i don't think so but maybe?? whatever this needs to exist why is that man wearing nail paint? B

downpour

cool power counterpoint to feeling of dread, flashback for another creature. which is better, i dunno. cool flavorful way for blue to "get in touch with it's natural side" without losing that control feel. B+

encrust

good counterparting with pacifism. creepy flavor. i feel like mio. B+

essence scatter

mana leak is gone so yeah, this could see some use, but cavern of souls seems pretty preemptively hatin' on it though. B

faerie invaders

wotc easing back into faeries by printing some fat french ones first. there should be a pun here but screw it, i won't let that invade upon my productivity. B-

fog bank

neat way to do this, but wouldn't "can block as many creatures as it wants" be more flavorful and you print it at rare at 3UU? this works though. B+

harbor serpent

who runs this, monoblue? you know what they don't run? fat creatures. is this for a metadeck to counter delver that countercontrols to stay alive until it crushes face with this? or more likely it's for limited and shoebox. B-

hydrosurge

neat sort of combat trick, has that natural but mechanically sound natural blue flavor i mentioned, but generally not that good. maybe if it cantripped? B-

index

i like this card but it is far outclassed by other similar cards, especially at sorcery speed. it may be the index, but it certainly isn't #1. B

jace, memory adept

animus jace is back to try to make mill happen! go for it, jace! this is like if superman had a new iteration that went around like, trying to fight villains by bankrupting them financially. hey, did superman ever actually try to do that to stop lex luthor from screwing around? B+

jace's phantasm

okay yeah so this is the overrated card of the set, no, this will almost certainly not see play in uw delver or any other constructed tier 1 deck. but this backlash against hype seems to make some people forget it's still a cool card and worthy of serious limited action. A-

kraken hatchling

lol. i hope you're not hatching any ideas of playing this card. D

master of the pearl trident

GET HYPE, #atlantis2012. what can i say but "go fish!" A

merfolk of the pearl trident

haha get it? go fish!?!?!? soup soup soup, DO YOU GET IT?? B

mind sculpt

i'd need some serious mind sculpting before i thought mill was a thing. D

negate

again, cool to see this, might see play, just glad we're going a step down from mana leak. B

omniscience

whahahwhahhwjhzwghuwshwuhuzwudhuhduwhswu AMAZING, I LOVE IT. HILARIOUS. CRAZY. REALLY SHOULD BE CALLED OMNIPOTENCE, i think. omniscience would be like, 8UUUU: Draw your library. Is that... uh... well, nevermind that. this is insane, though, i love that they would print this. A+

redirect

fun card, fun fun fun. a card i sometimes think was red purely because of the art. doesn't seem like a rare though? B+

rewind

this seems scary to print but i doubt it'll be an actual big deal though. if it does end up being busted, though, woo boy, that'd suck. flavor text is pretty cool i think. B+

scroll thief

another merfolk cool, seems playable, nice flavor, worthy inclusion. steal yourself a copy. B+

sleep

go go turbofog! two turns for one is pretty nice indeed, it's more expensive than two fogs but it does other stuff too, plus it's only one card. i like that they show it even gets the horse, but don't horses sleep standing up??!?!? or is that how we understand that this is MAGIC SLEEP??? B+

spelltwine

this is hilarious, i love it. again has to be overcosted as it is a very fragile, i.e. prone to breaking, sort of mechanic. A

sphinx of uthuun

this saw some play before, i think, right? it's pretty good. sphinxes are usually hype because they're at a cost point where they can have a crazy ability and a good body without it being too good. plus these choice sort of mechanics are a good way to have depth without complexity, a core set must. A+

stormtide leviathan

moooooby dick dick dick! so here's how they make a leviathan really island-centred and huge without it being just obviously terrible. i like how the last ability is both blue-y and big creature-y and the flavor of it seems to be that the leviathan floods the entire battlefield. who cares if anyone will ever play this. A+

switcheroo

hahahahhahahaha, bruv, you lyan? i feel bad for the turtle here, he has a sad state of affairs. good card though, more interesting than straight mind control. B+

talrand, sky summonder

blue's foray into the most hype cycle seems like it was made to excite uw delver players who aren't very good, thereby driving down the perceived power of the deck in casual areas, thus making it less popular in areas where people would complain in large quantities. also seems like it was made to win in limited singlehandedly. either is fine. A+

talrand's invocation

cool cross-card flavor. but sorta boring. and either like good enough to be seen everywhere or bad enough to be seen nowhere, not quite sure which. i love that art continuation and everything though on these "support cycle" cards. B+

tricks of the trade

okay sure. this might be a nice trick in some drafts, but i'd trade it away soon after. B

unsummon

it's this guy, yup, i knew i'd see him. why would you play this over vapor snag? well, you could bounce your own guys to replay them for etb stuff... i dunno, it isn't like it's bad as is... B

vedalken entrancer

haha mill, mill is the setup and joke and punchline of the joke. (inb4 mill top 8 at everything) C

void stalker

woah cool! i like how this works and how it looks. this and the next card are cool new ways for blue to do creatures, not entirely new as to be disorienting, but definitely something i'd like to see more of. A

watercourser

cool, crazy flavor, art is bananas, probably not that good but i could be wrong. B+

welkin tern

this seems really underpowered but i guess wotc doesn't want another storm crow (lol storm crow is imba) (lol why do i still laugh at these jokes, deep down, seriously, why?) C+

wind drake

boring except that the art is bananas. C+

Okay that's that.

YuruYuri S2

I really can't tell you how excited I was to watch this. YuruYuri has earned a place in my heart as an enduring and endearing moe experience, and the availability of new episodes basically amounts to love: the expansion pack. The premier didn't even think of disappointing. Akari's opening fantasy was a hilarious way to introduce new viewers to the old characters and their jokes without feeling rehashed for previous viewers. And we got a glimpse of Akane! The second plot was pretty impressive too, good for them to go for a relatively adventurous plot like visiting onsen... wow, saying that makes me really think about just how mundane moe SoL usually is... anyways, it was a good way to have a lot of good gags while reestablishing relationships between the main characters in a fresh way. Like, you have an excuse to have Chinatsu say stuff about “this trip will bring me closer to Yui-senpai” and you're like, “okay, China x Yui is a thing” (but no one actually ships this, do they?). If they stayed home it would sort of be artificial feeling to have her say that. Right?

Uh other funny stuff... I like the new eyecatches a lot. OP and ED are fantastic, of course. The opening was amazing, too, I loved Akari's cult space goddess costume. Anyways, I can't wait for more. Cutest show airing for sure.

Second episode should be out soon, looking forward to that. There are a few other shows I'm gonna watch this season but I don't remember what they are.

Lil B - Rich After Taxes

This is Lil B's 8th mixtape of 2012. Quite good. Some weird stuff like the huge silence after "Take It Take It". But yeah funny lines, really smooth sort of production. Very inspiring, motivating. "Rich after taxes, music to get you through the night" or something, sure does. I think we're probably at about 10 hours of new Lil B music in the first half or so of 2012. Awesome. I think probably "Dopehouse" is the most hypest track.

New Centipede Hz cover

So on the Animal Collective album release cycle we have a few pieces of news, most notably that we have a new album cover.

Now it looks like this: 

Which is basically the same as the old one but there's more stuff going on.

I think I like it a bit better but I'm not sure if I actually like it yet.

Also it seems the album is actually finished and in the hands of music journalists and what have you so leaks incoming??? Possibly. MPP leaked fully on Christmas Eve, I believe, I think the first leaks were some samples of "Bluish" and "Also Frightened" that came out late Octoberish? And then "Brothersport" leaked in full early November, I think. But then again Strawberry Jam was slated for September and the whole thing leaked in like... July? So who knows.

ANYWAYS, KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED TO AN UNREASONABLE DEGREE.

Also apparently there's some discussion about possible "VIDEO GAME SAMPLES" being used, so far people have spotted one from Goldeneye and one from Yoshi's Island. I find this extremely exciting and I'm not sure if I know why.

I think that's all for this blog post, see you next time when we look at black.