Perhaps a short post to prime the pump.
First order of business: I'm online again! http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/13002.html
There's a vicious cycle of not updating LJ. I don't have time to say everything now, I'll have to wait until later. Later: Now even more has happened, and I really don't have time! To break out of the cycle requires something like this:
Life is good. Let's eat. :)
Sukkot Survivor took up a lot of my time, and it went really well. We wanted to raise $5000 ... and got over $7000 in donations! :-D I'm really proud of Hillel, and I'm glad to be able to take a step back ...
...
and get to work on my thesis, which is due on December 1. The bad news: I haven't written any of the actual thesis (though I have ~20 pages in prewriting). Gotta crack down!!
In other news, I'm planning on going to the Virginia States Magic tournament next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it! Potential decklist:
4x Loxodon Hierarch
4x Wrath of God
2x Magus of the Disk
4x Voidslime
2x Cancel
3x Spell Snare
3x Gaea's Blessing
4x Whispers of the Muse
4x Think Twice
4x Psionic Blast
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Simic Signet
2x Azorius Signet
4x Gemstone Mine
4x Azorius Chancery
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
2x Selesnya Sanctuary
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
The idea is to run it kinda like "aggro-control." There are less than 10 counters, plus 4 PsiBlasts, but those are all for the big guns. Loxodon Hierarch goes on the offensive with Magus of the Disk backup. (Hierarch + Magus = !O¿O! ) Lategame, I recycle my awesomeness with Gaea's Blessing, which also serves as card-draw (of which there is a ton here to get to my Akroma and WIN asap).
In theory, I think this deck could do really well against the potential field I've been reading about at Star City (I actually shelled out $5 for a month-long premium membership to bone up on the Standard field since I can't really playtest). Problem decks seem to include burn, Rakdos, and 'Vore. So, a sideboard would look something like:
4x Teferi's Moat (vs. Rakdos or even UG Aggro)
4x Sacred Ground (vs. 'Vore and other LD)
4x Scragnoth (vs. Control and Permission (What Psionic Blast?))
3x Ivory Mask (vs. burn)
Maindeck metagame answers include:
Voidslime = deals with the Storm effect of Dragonstorm and Grapeshot
Gaea's Blessing = deals with reanimation (Solar Flare)
Wrath of God = deals with everything else
In theory, I think this is a good metagame choice, and I think that Loxodon Hierarch could potentially be AMAZING in an otherwise fairly straightforward UW Control deck (it takes the place of Faith's Fetters, especially when there's no more Jitte running around).
If any of you Magic folks want to comment, please do so!
Finally, the COD is out, and here's a first stab at next year's schedule:
Acting III TR 9:30-10:45
Biblical Hebrew TR 11:00-12:15
African Religions TR 2:00-3:15
Mirash T 3:30-6:00
Dante's Inferno in Translation 1:00-1:50 MWF
Modern Hebrew Independent Study
I was hoping for another three-day weekend, but I'm just so excited about Dante that I just might go for it! As usual, the schedule's a little religion-heavy, and I'd like to fit Shakespeare in there ... but it was occuring to me today that I could consider myself as having studied some Shakespeare already in some of my drama-flavored classes, so maybe I don't need to take a Shakespeare class here in school. The first three classes on the above lists are definitely A-list classes (provided I make the audition for Acting III). Modern Hebrew is a must, and that leaves me with two slots. Midrash might get the axe because I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to study that in the future, so I might not want to "waste" my time taking it here. (Come to think of it, I probably will remove Midrash from the list.) Stay tuned for more updates. :)
D&D tonight!
That's all for now - hopefully you'll hear again from me soon!
QotD:
"I did a little in servitude school."
~Sylvester, on acting (Scapin)
SPDWotD:
napiform - shaped like a turnip
There's a vicious cycle of not updating LJ. I don't have time to say everything now, I'll have to wait until later. Later: Now even more has happened, and I really don't have time! To break out of the cycle requires something like this:
Life is good. Let's eat. :)
Sukkot Survivor took up a lot of my time, and it went really well. We wanted to raise $5000 ... and got over $7000 in donations! :-D I'm really proud of Hillel, and I'm glad to be able to take a step back ...
...
and get to work on my thesis, which is due on December 1. The bad news: I haven't written any of the actual thesis (though I have ~20 pages in prewriting). Gotta crack down!!
In other news, I'm planning on going to the Virginia States Magic tournament next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it! Potential decklist:
4x Loxodon Hierarch
4x Wrath of God
2x Magus of the Disk
4x Voidslime
2x Cancel
3x Spell Snare
3x Gaea's Blessing
4x Whispers of the Muse
4x Think Twice
4x Psionic Blast
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Simic Signet
2x Azorius Signet
4x Gemstone Mine
4x Azorius Chancery
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
2x Selesnya Sanctuary
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
The idea is to run it kinda like "aggro-control." There are less than 10 counters, plus 4 PsiBlasts, but those are all for the big guns. Loxodon Hierarch goes on the offensive with Magus of the Disk backup. (Hierarch + Magus = !O¿O! ) Lategame, I recycle my awesomeness with Gaea's Blessing, which also serves as card-draw (of which there is a ton here to get to my Akroma and WIN asap).
In theory, I think this deck could do really well against the potential field I've been reading about at Star City (I actually shelled out $5 for a month-long premium membership to bone up on the Standard field since I can't really playtest). Problem decks seem to include burn, Rakdos, and 'Vore. So, a sideboard would look something like:
4x Teferi's Moat (vs. Rakdos or even UG Aggro)
4x Sacred Ground (vs. 'Vore and other LD)
4x Scragnoth (vs. Control and Permission (What Psionic Blast?))
3x Ivory Mask (vs. burn)
Maindeck metagame answers include:
Voidslime = deals with the Storm effect of Dragonstorm and Grapeshot
Gaea's Blessing = deals with reanimation (Solar Flare)
Wrath of God = deals with everything else
In theory, I think this is a good metagame choice, and I think that Loxodon Hierarch could potentially be AMAZING in an otherwise fairly straightforward UW Control deck (it takes the place of Faith's Fetters, especially when there's no more Jitte running around).
If any of you Magic folks want to comment, please do so!
Finally, the COD is out, and here's a first stab at next year's schedule:
Acting III TR 9:30-10:45
Biblical Hebrew TR 11:00-12:15
African Religions TR 2:00-3:15
Mirash T 3:30-6:00
Dante's Inferno in Translation 1:00-1:50 MWF
Modern Hebrew Independent Study
I was hoping for another three-day weekend, but I'm just so excited about Dante that I just might go for it! As usual, the schedule's a little religion-heavy, and I'd like to fit Shakespeare in there ... but it was occuring to me today that I could consider myself as having studied some Shakespeare already in some of my drama-flavored classes, so maybe I don't need to take a Shakespeare class here in school. The first three classes on the above lists are definitely A-list classes (provided I make the audition for Acting III). Modern Hebrew is a must, and that leaves me with two slots. Midrash might get the axe because I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to study that in the future, so I might not want to "waste" my time taking it here. (Come to think of it, I probably will remove Midrash from the list.) Stay tuned for more updates. :)
D&D tonight!
That's all for now - hopefully you'll hear again from me soon!
QotD:
"I did a little in servitude school."
~Sylvester, on acting (Scapin)
SPDWotD:
napiform - shaped like a turnip