It's official!

I can now officially say I'm moving out! :)  The estate agent called today to confirm that my credit checks and references have all come back fine, and so I can go in to pick up the keys and put down the deposit on February 1st.  Now that all doubt has well and truly been put out of my mind I can bring some boxes home from work and start packing my assorted bits and pieces.  The priority (aside from the fish tank, obviously, and essentials such as clothes etc) has to be my books, dvd's and Xbox games.  Once I've got those in then it's just a case of taking over what I can until I have a comfortable living space which isn't cluttered.

So while I'm settling into my new place my Friday Night Magic attendance will be taking a dip, and my cosplay efforts will be put on the back burner, but once I'm settled I can get back to my weekly FNM reports and my quest for the perfect Prefect :)

Pop back at the beginning of February to see some photos of my new home!

FNM Result 25th November

Get ready for a mini blogging splurge!  Rather than having one massive and convoluted post, I'm going to make 3 entries about different bits and pieces.  So here's Friday Night Magic to start with.

This week's FNM was pretty good, although a little bit messy to start with.  I took my adjusted vampire deck along with me this week, and I say 'adjusted' because it's no longer pure vampires.  It always had Grave Titan and Sheoldred in there anyway, but I added Skirsdag High Priest, Royal Assassin, and 2 Reaper of the Abyss just to see how they performed.  Sadly the Reapers never made an appearence, but the Royal Assassin did his job well.  The High Priest wasn't too bad, and I managed to activate his 5/5 Demon ability once, but he wasn't consistent enough to justify a future place in the deck.  Definitely a sideboard card though, but in the meantime he'll be dropping out in favour of another low-mana vampire.  It was also the first time I tried the deck with Witchbane Orbs and Norn's Annex, and both of those cards worked nicely.

The evening started messily seeing as I was given a Bye with the first round.  There were uneven numbers and it was just luck of the draw.  Then after I settled down someone else appeared and was told 'you might as well play Rob', so we had a couple of games.  What neither of us realised was that we'd been officially paired up, so we thought it was just a friendly game to pass the time.  As a result we weren't really keeping score, we were sitching decks, and basically not adhering to the rules of FNM at all.  We only found out what had happened when we were asked to record our score and we didn't have one, so it was chalked up as a draw for official purposes.

After that the evening went considerably downhill with a pair of straight 2-0 defeats.  The Vampires at least held their own, and managed to put up a good fight before being defeated.  Now it's been a long time since I left FNM with less than two victories, so having racked up two defeats and a draw from the first three games I was on the verge of my worst performance for months.  I needed two victories out of two, and my Vampires didn't disappoint.

Round 4 was a straight 2-0 win.  The vamps came out thick and fast, and the removal spells in the deck helped me to keep control until I'd got an unstoppable tide of creatures out.

Round 5 was a little more nervewracking, as I was playing against a specifically anti-vampire white deck.  The first game was a devastating loss, my poor little vamps being smashed mercilessly to bits.  But then in the second game they managed to pull together and just scrape a win.  And then in the third they well and truly got their revenge, with a clobbering victory over their human adversaries.

So all in all it was a decent evening.  The simple result breakdown being:

Game 1: Draw

Game 2: Lost 2-0 vs Blue Illusions

Game 3: Lost 2-0 vs Red/White Artifacts

Game 4: Won 2-0 vs Black Vampires

Game 5: Won 2-1 vs White Humans

Overall ranking 16th (out of 31)

I'll probably be taking Vampires again next Friday, but version 1.0 of my Zombie deck is now finished :) I need to playtest it a lot this week, but if it looks alright then I may give it a FNM baptism of fire next week instead.  I think it may be suffering a creature shortage though, so it may need some tweaking and some more low-mana zombies.

FNM Result 11th November

Yes, two posts in quick succession, but I didn't think the little chocolate lament would fit in particularly well with this week's FNM result.

So another experimental week, this time I was using a slightly altered version of the Illusions deck I used at last Sunday's tournament.  A few counterspells have been removed to add a few unsummon spells, just so I have a defence against creatures which are already out.  I had high hopes for this deck, but sadly it still needs an awful lot of work, and completely fell apart on the night, resulting in my worst FNM performance since I started attending.  In one particular game I was killed in 6 turns, and in every turn all I did was play a land.  It was painful, to be quite honest.  The only victory of the night I got was against someone who had only been playing for a couple of months, and was at his first ever tournament of any description.

I will probably be unable to go to next week's FNM as I'll be setting up for the Birmingham Memorabilia event on the Friday afternoon, but if I get finished quickly enough then I will see if I can make it, and this time I will probably be playing Vampires again.  I'm also currently putting together a blue/black Zombie deck, but I've yet to playtest it.  However, given my love of zombies in general, this deck could well become my main deck if it works well.  I have a couple of cards on order for it and will post a decklist when they arrive, and then I'll be updating as and when I get a chance to see how it runs :)

But in the meantime, here's a breakdown of the Illusions' embarrasing performance on Friday

Game 1: Lost 2-0 vs Green Werewolves

Game 2: Lost 2-1 vs Red/Black Vampires

Game 3: Won 2-0 vs Green Werewolves & Tokens

Game 4: Lost 2-0 vs White Artifacts

Game 5: Bye (automatic 2-0 win)

It's the first time I've had a bye for poor performance in FNM, so I'm now feeling more determined than ever to get my Vampires and Elves up to a good fighting standard, and the sculpt these new Zombies into something terrifying.

FNM Result 4th November

Yep, it's Friday Night Magic results time!  And last night was a little different because I finally played with my vampire deck instead of my usual elves.  They do work a little slower than my elf deck, but I have to say they're a lot more fun to use, and I did a lot better than normal with them!  Sorin Markov, Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, and Grave Titan all saw action, so I did quite well with the hands I drew.

There were two downsides to the evening though.  Firstly the traffic was ridiculous so I arrived over half an hour late.  I was given a bye (automatic win), but I'd have rather had a proper game even if there was a chance I would have lost.  And secondly at the end of the night I left early and forgot to stay for the random promo giveaway.  November's FNM promo is a Go For The Throat, which I really like so am a bit annoyed with myself for losing the chance to win one.

But aside from that, I had fun.  Like I said, the Vampires were fun, and even when they lost they certainly put up a fight.  So, the results in full...

Game 1 - Bye (Win 2-0)

Game 2 - Lost 2-0 vs White tokens

Game 3 - Lost 2-1 vs Artifacts

Game 4 - Won 2-0 vs White tokens

Game 5 - Won 2-1 vs Vampires

Game 6 - Won 2-1 vs Vampires

I'm using the Elves again in a tournament tomorrow, but I think they may have to go into a FNM timeshare with the Vampires :) I'll probably use Vampires all month at FNM to see how they do, but at the moment they do seem to be the more powerful deck.

FNM Result 28th October

Wow, what a manic day it was yesterday!  Work was truly ridiculously busy, which meant that I didn't get any breaks at all and still finished 15 minutes late, so that put me struggling for time right from the offset.  So I had to scoot back from Lichfield to Sutton like a bat out of hell in order to pick up my sister, who was attending her first Friday Night Magic :) Then she hopped on the back of the bike, we scooted into Birmingham, and just made it in time for registration.  It's cool that she's getting into the game, at the moment she's using the vampire deck which I threw together for her, but she's started to buy a few of her own cards and is looking at getting a starter deck as well which she can chop and change.

The vampire deck's actually working pretty well.  I've ordered a set of 4 Bloodlord of Vaasgoths (which I plan to put 2 of into the deck), and a pair of Sorin Markovs to make it a bit tougher, so I'm looking forward to seeing those arrive.  I'm hoping that my sister gets her deck sorted soon, as I'm quite looking forward to trying this deck out myself at FNM!

So in the meantime I'm sticking with my elves.  It's been heavily overhauled since I last used it.  It used to be a pure elf deck, but now I've taken out a load of low-cost elves in order to put in 4 Darksteel Plates, 4 Platinum Emperions, and 4 Swiftfoot Boots.  After last night I've got to say the Plate and the Boots pulled their weight, but the Emperions didn't really do too much.  So I'm going to tweak it a little more today and take it in with me to the Innistrad celebration event this Sunday.

All in all, it was another average performance for the Elves, finishing 12th out of 19, and here was the breakdown:

Game 1 - Lost 2-0 vs White Creature Tokens

Game 2 - Won 2-1 vs Blue/White Control & Artifacts

Game 3 - Lost 2-0 vs Elves

Game 4 - Won 2-0 vs Red/Blue Flashback

Game 5 - Lost 2-1 vs Black/Red Vampires

My sister also won 2 and lost 3, so that was a good performance for a first FNM :) So, time to go Elf-adjusting, and I'll let you all know how they get on on Sunday!  ...unless my sister can't make it on Sunday, in which case I'll be playing vamps!

FNM Result 21st October

Just a quick blog entry this evening.  It's been a rough couple of days settling into my new job.  Today again there was no lunch break and no drink breaks, so by the time I got out of work my brain was feeling well and truly frazzled and I was physically exhausted.  But Friday Night Magic only comes around once a week, so I didn't want to miss out.  I wish there was somewhere nearer to Lichfield that did a FNM, but as it currently stands I have to make the 20 mile ride into Birmingham to play.  As you can imagine, by the time I was there and ready to play, I wasn't in the most tactical frame of mind!

Anyways, this week the Elves had earned a rest from having their asses kicked, and I decided to try out my blue Illusions/Artifacts deck.  It hasn't really been tested, but I've had it for a few weeks now and thought it was time to give it a baptism of fire.  It actually started very well, winning in the first round, but then it lost the next 3 rounds and then just about scraped a victory in the final round.  It was interesting to try out a different play style, but I'm looking forward to returning to normal next week.  Although I'm actually unsure of what too run next Friday.  My Elves have a new secret weapon which I'm dying to try out, but at the same time I'm also eager to give my newly made vampire deck a try to see how it plays.  The most likely outcome will be Elves next Friday, and then Vampires the weekend after :)  I'll probably post a deck list for my new and (hopefully) improved Elves at some point this week.  In the meantime, here is the full breakdown of this week's result.

Round 1: Won 2-1 vs Green & White

Round 2: Lost 2-0 vs Artifacts

Round 3: Lost 2-0 vs White Humans

Round 4: Lost 2-1 vs Black & Red Burn

Round 5: Won 2-1 vs White Tokens

FNM Result

Yesterday was Friday, and that can mean only one thing!  New QI!  No, that's not it.  New movies on Sky Go!  No, that's not it either....  Okay, Friday means lots of things.  But in my case I'm referring to Friday Night Magic!  Having been swept up in the addictive, geeky fun of Magic the Gathering in recent months, I now try to get to our local Friday Night Magic event as often as possible.  For those unfamiliar with Magic I plan to do a brief summary at some point in the next few days (I can sense your excitement), but for those who know what I'm talking about, FNM is a standard constructed deck format, and is a great way to have fun with the hobby, make new friends, and improve your deck through the best possible way - losing!

Seriously though, losing is the best way to find your deck's weak points.  Normally I play an Elf deck, and I've got a few more cards on their way for me to add into it for next Friday, and hopefully make it a bit more formidable.  The optimum number of cards to have in your deck is 60, and sadly my new additions will take mine up to 73, so I think I need to cut back a bit.  I've worked out how I can cut it back to 60, but if I do that then it might be leaving it a little bit too vulnerable.  So the plan of action is to try out 73, and then if I find it's not working out I'll start trimming back a couple at a time until it's running smoothly.

So anyhoos, my results from last night.  Across 5 rounds:

1) Lost 2-0 vs. White Control

2) Won 2-0 vs. Green Humans

3) Lost 2-0 vs. Red & Black Vampires

4) Won 2-0 vs. Green & White Humans & Werewolves

5) Lost 2-0 vs. Red Burn.

So overall I finished 21st out of 28, which isn't too bad.  Hoping my new additions will bump me up into the top 20 next week.  My deck's very inconsistent at the moment, but does seem to be averaging out wins and losses.  I do also have a blue Illusions deck which I'm dying to try out, so I may play Elves next Friday and then switch to Illusions the week after.  The nice thing is that my new cards will fit into both decks, so I can chop and change to find the best combinations.

Stay tuned next week to see what happens!