Of Miracles and Soulbonds

So we had our little miracle of life occur on Tuesday, May 1st, at 6:46 pm Central time. Avery Timothy Linn Sullivan entered the world via c-section delivery, due to suspected (though non-existent) placental abruption. At 33 weeks gestation, he weighed five pounds, six ounces and was eighteen inches long. As I type this, he is still in the NICU, but doing better every day.

Being that early, his lungs weren't quite as developed as they ought to be, so his oxygen and CO2 levels were a bit off, and he still needs to get the hang of sucking milk, but he's making progress.

This is my second child, my wife's fifth, and the sixth child in our household. Hers, mine, and now ours. Three boys and three girls, so we're a regular geeky Brady Bunch. Both of my offspring have had to spend some time after birth in the NICU; this trip is significantly less stressful than the first. When my daughter was born two and a half years ago, her biological mother (not my beautiful amazing wife) was, unbeknownst to me, a junkie, and she was born addicted to heroin (the junkie tested positive for heroin, amphetamines, and PCP, the baby tested positive for heroin). Needless to say, I have full custody of the child. But that time in the NICU was awful, because we didn't know what was going on (the addict wasn't exactly forthcoming about her drug use), and as it was slowly figured out... well, it's a pretty awful feeling, seeing your baby go through that. All in all, it was a sixth-month process to ween her off of a regular oral liquid morphine dosage.

So, I guess if my first kid pulled through after dealing with that big mess of terrible, this kid has it easy! By the way, my daughter is doing great now. There are some concerns that she may fall somewhere on the mild end of the autistic spectrum, but she's incredibly bright and clever and I'm sure she's going to do just fine.

We haven't played D&D in months at this point. Once things normalize, and Mama and Avery come home from the hospital, we'll be in a better spot to continue the campaign. The kids and I have continued to play plenty of Magic: the Gathering, and if any of you keep current on Magic trends, you'll have noticed the title of this article is a bit trendy.

"Miracle" and "Soulbond" are the names of two new mechanics introduced in the most recent Magic expansion set, Avacyn Restored. I just thought it was quite appropriate that this new set would be released this week, just a few days after I've experienced a miracle and soulbonding of my own!

Avacyn Restored also marks the first time I attended an in-store pre-release event, on Saturday, April 28th. It was $25, and you got six packs from the new set to open up and use to build a "sealed deck" for the little tournament they had going on there. There were maybe twenty people playing at the shop I went to (the Fantasy Shop in Florissant, MO), and I brought my oldest daughter, Alex. She's 11, and was by far the youngest person there, but she had a blast and was making everyone laugh because she's damn witty. She likes Magic but hasn't gotten terribly into it (although she is more excited about it now, after having such a good time at the pre-release).

Personal side-note about Alex: She's the oldest, and she's been through a lot. She was old enough to really remember (and still has a lot of pain from) her mom and dad getting divorced, and the roller-coaster of moves and everything else that happened before I came along. While my wife's three younger kids took to me pretty quickly, she has been reluctant to really be able to trust that I'm actually going to stick around and be a real dad. Taking her (and only her) to this Magic event (that all the other kids would have loved to go to) really meant a lot to her and was an awesome little bonding experience, even though we didn't spend a lot of time together while there. Just the fact that I took her, and she was able to have fun and be herself and talk to all kinds of different people, meant the world to her.

Anyways, I really like "Limited" Magic. There's a lot to be said about a player's skill when they have to make the best of what they wind up with in the packs they open. Randomization is the great equalizer.

It's kinda like rolling your stats 3d6 in order, when you think about it. You gotta take what you get, and make the best character (deck) you can with what you've been given. Sometimes it makes a lot more sense to run a fighter (aggro deck) instead of a wizard (control deck) purely because of the roll of the dice (draw of the cards), even if you prefer one over the other.

In fact, I liked the idea of the "sealed deck" format so much I decided we'd explore it even further in-house here. Alex and I both kept our cards from the pre-release separate, and today, upon full release, I purchased 18 fresh booster packs, six each for Kanaan, Chloe, and Aiden to crack open and start building their deck for a little league play. Each of us will play each other twice (to start, we may keep it going for a while after we finish the first set of matches) (and I have a full schedule written up, due to OCD). Every time a player earns two match wins, they get a fresh booster pack to open and add to their collection to draw on for their sealed deck. I'm also going to make it interesting, by allowing the kids to "trade out" cards from their sealed pools to the general collection at a rate of two-to-one; for example, they can trade in two of their uncommons for a single uncommon from the household's general collection (Whenever we decide to end the league, all the cards they've opened up will wind up in the "general collection" anyway... Magic cards are pretty strictly supervised in this house, purely because of the terrifying amount of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards I find laying around the house all the time; I would have a come-apart if I found Magic cards under the sofa). Also, whenever they've earned a fresh booster pack, they can instead choose five commons and two uncommon cards from the general collection (so they have control, but get half the amount of cards and no rares, like they would from a booster pack). And finally, they can select a booster pack from any set currently on sale at the Florissant Fantasy Shop (which is pretty much limited to Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored, and the 2012 Core Set).

So, all in all, it should be interesting. I'm really hoping I can help them build up some deck-building skills with this little league exercise, and also introduce them to the concept of the "metagame". I know "metagaming" is a bad word in D&D-speak, but in competitive Magic, it refers to the local "scene", i.e., what types of decks are likely to show up at any given constructed tournament, which ones are strongest, and, most importantly, how to build your deck to compete against those other ones. Often, it's as simple as knowing to sideboard certain cards against certain styles of deck. In this case, they'll get a taste of it because they'll be able to see every match (if they want to), so they'll be able to see each other's strategies as the season progresses and potentially make changes as they see fit (and have access to the cards they need!).

This has been a fairly lengthy post. If you made it this far, thanks! I'm not sure how much time I'll have moving forward to post D&D material, but as soon as we get a session in, you'll get a play-report. If anyone is interested in how our little in-house Limited Magic league progresses, leave a comment and I'll start posting about it as it happens!

I'm Tumbling Now

In an effort to keep A Pack of Gnolls focused on D&D and other RPGs, and not sully its good reputation with all that CCG silliness, I've started a little blog over on Tumblr that will be specifically about Magic: the Gathering.

You can follow me there at Mana Burns.

I'm regularly getting distracted by deck-building, but I am also still working on Hyrulian Adventures, more Microlite material, and more stuff from my kids' game to post as well.

My Gateway to D&D: Magic the Gathering

I've been working overtime through most of this week, including today, and along with a hectic schedule for the gnollpack, I haven't been able to make much progress on much of anything gaming related, but I have had some thoughts brewing. And hey, look at that, I didn't post for a week and just jumped up to over 100 followers here! Thanks people! 

To make up for lack of posting this week, here's a fairly rambling and long-winded one about Magic: the Gathering and D&D, with a little personal introspection to boot. 

I have been playing a little Magic: the Gathering every night lately, a couple games before bedtime with one of the minions. I find myself going further down the Magic rabbit hole these days. Don't worry, A Pack of Gnolls isn't going to morph into a Magic blog; I won't bore you with decklists or strategies or synergies here. 

However, Magic served as my gateway to fantasy gaming. Sure, I'd been playing Star Wars D6 and Palladium's Heroes Unlimited and Robotech with my buddies, but when Padre showed us Magic, my imagination really came alive. The old Dragonquest RPG was introduced to our little group soon after, and we were all hooked. 

I find Magic to be a loving homage to D&D. It is clearly drawing a lot of inspiration from its D&D roots, even to this day. There are dwarves and orcs, goblins and paladins, rogues and knights, devils, demons, skeletons, zombies, necromancers, fireballs, druids... The list goes on. If it appeared in D&D, more than likely it shows up in Magic, too. I've written about this before, but the current expansion, Innistrad, is quite clearly an homage to Ravenloft; its full of vampires and werewolves and zombies and ghosts, and is all about humanity on the brink of destruction at the hands of merciless undead and demonic overlords. And it's a lot of fun to play. A lot of the cards are awesome plays on horror tropes; one of my favorites, purely for its creepiness factor, is Village Cannibals. 

Magic was my gateway to fantasy gaming, so it will always have a place in my heart. I didn't play it for a long time; my original collection contains cards from 1994-1998. I only recently started picking up Magic cards again, when my in-laws gave the minions each a starter deck from the recent New Phyrexia and Innistrad sets. That's a good twelve years! The more I've played with the kids, the more I've gotten into it, and I started picking up boosters, deck-builder kits (220 or so cards for $20!), and Fat Packs. Now we've got a halfway decent collection going. Each of the kids has their own deck, and there are a few others I've put together that they all play with. What's really important is that we're all spending good quality time together. The kids are all pretty sharp and have challenged me on several occasions with their decks. 

I'm not a great Magic player; I'm about as good at Magic as I am at video games. I can do pretty well, but not great. I'm never going to be a pro Magic player; I'm not going to shell out ten or twenty bucks for a single card to perfect a deck. I love opening booster packs, and I'm really liking booster draft-type games. 

What's really ironic is that the things that I love about Magic are basically the same things that drove me away from 4E D&D. Character Generation for 4E is incredibly similar to building a Magic deck. You choose your role and power source, you find synergies within the various available options, and you put it all together in one package. I got sick of all that with 4E, but I'll happily spend hours doing the exact same thing for Magic, looking over the cards in our collection, finding synergies and combos and marveling at the art. 

It's weird, I know. There's just something viscerally satisfying about handling the cards. The same activity in 4E is a major chore on the computer screen with the Character Builder, and even more so with a hand-written sheet with the books open! 

Anyways, I know a lot of grognards out there can't stand Wizards of the Coast for what they've done with the modern incarnations of the D&D brand, and with the way they've treated their D&D customers through the years. I find myself in a funny position here. I thoroughly enjoy Magic, and I thoroughly enjoy old-school D&D. So I'm a bit of a contradiction in terms here, as far as my gaming is concerned. 

Actually, now that I think about it, that's how I've been my whole life. I was a gifted athlete who played at the top local levels in my chosen sports, but eschewed jock culture for sci-fi and fantasy geekiness. I was a liberal working-class kid who went to high school with a bunch of upper-class conservatives. Now I'm a union construction worker, and the people I work with all have hobbies that primarily include either firearms or automobiles, while I'm playing D&D and Magic with my kids. 

Yeah, I never made much sense to me either. 

Saturday Night Magic in Florissant, MO

I've never really been one to do a lot of gaming at gaming stores. I played the Neverwinter season of D&D encounters at the St. Charles Fantasy Shop, but that's the extent of it. Since I've gotten back into Magic: The Gathering, I started looking at going to a Friday Night Magic event at the same shop, but it's a bit of a drive and the atmosphere at those events can be pretty hyper-competitive. 

However, about a week ago, I was getting some Magic cards at my much more local Florissant Fantasy Shop, and the clerk asked if I'd be interested in playing Magic there on Saturday nights. I was a little apprehensive, but the Florissant shop is a lot more laid-back, so I decided tonight to give it a shot. It was the first night they've organized it, and the turn-out was slim, about seven people altogether, but it was definitely pretty chill. More of a meet-n-greet, let's hang out and play a few games of Magic type of night. 

I brought my ten-year old son along. He did pretty darn well, and the other guys there were awesome about playing with him. He pulled off a very surprise victory in a rather ridiculous, drag-out game at the end of the night. 

So, if you're in the Florissant, Missouri area and like Magic, and are interested in a laid-back environment to meet some gamers and throw some cards around, I highly recommend Saturday night Magic at the Florissant Fantasy Shop. It's on North Lindergh, about a mile north of I-270, next to the Schnucks. We're in the back from six til ten! 

Sunday Game Day

We were short a player, so instead of playing D&D yesterday, we played a bunch of different games with my father-in-law. 

We played:

Magic: the Gathering. My nine-year-old son is getting better and better at this one. He's getting pretty good at finding synergies between cards and using them in-game, though I'd like to see him be more aggressive. He tends to build up a lot of creatures before launching any attacks. So far it's worked, but I'll have an answer for it soon. 

Munchkin. My gnome bard won it what turned out to be a nailbiter. I only won by calling in my doppleganger reinforcement. 

Poo, which is a very silly game about monkeys flinging their poo at each other. I got covered in poo very quickly and was out first. 

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer is a deck-building game. The primary goal of the game is to collect the most "Honor", which is earned by defeating monsters and collecting certain cards. 

Quarriors is similar to deck-building games, but your "deck" is comprised of different dice that you then have to roll. 

Thunderstone is yet another deck-building game, with a very D&D type of theme to it. You can either buy stuff in town, weapons, characters, items, spells, or you can go fight one of three monsters waiting in the local dungeon. 

These deck-building games are pretty interesting. I wasn't too keen on them at first, but they've definitely grown on me the more I've played them. My oldest son has grokked them pretty well and tends to win. They don't require the massive time investment of Magic: the Gathering and deliver a fun competitive experience. I probably won't pick any up, as my father-in-law has an extensive library and we typically only play them when we go over there. We have been playing a lot of Magic at home, though, and I'm very much enjoying getting back into that whole thing. 

Reminiscing is Magic

On Saturday, three of our minions returned home after spending Friday night with my in-laws, and the oldest boy, K (who I recently began teaching to play D&D), had a brand-spanking-new starter deck of Magic: the Gathering cards, along with a half-dozen booster packs. The children had been playing with Pokemon cards for a while (much to my consternation, as they would often leave them all over the house), but my father-in-law convinced K to try Magic. 

He was thrilled. So was I. 

Now, I'm sure many of my readers from the OSR probably don't care much for Magic or other CCG's, but for me, that game was a core part of my formative gaming years, in middle school in the mid-90s. We had already been playing Star Wars, Heroes: Unlimited, and Robotech when the priest at our parochial school introduced us to Magic, and soon after, DragonQuest. I hadn't played Magic in years and years, but I still had a nice-sized box of my old cards, which I immediately got out of the basement and me and the boy started building up some decks so I could teach him the game. 

Our other D&D kids wanted to learn as well, and for some reason I was woefully short of lands (except Islands. Tons of goddamn islands. Where the hell did all my Plains and Forests go?) so I made a run to the Fantasy Shop and picked up the Magic Deck Builder box, which included about 250 or 300 cards, including 125 lands and a number of booster packs, to get started. 

So I spent the weekend teaching my three oldest minions to play Magic, and had a great time reminiscing over my old cards. They're still in pretty good shape, and seem mostly competitive against the new cards. It's all in how you build your deck, really. We all had a blast playing, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the kids start developing strategies and building decks. And of course, the fantasy feel of it all is like crack for my D&D imagination space. 

Life is good. 

But don't worry, I'm not gonna start talking all-Magic, all-the-time here. This blog is still going to be primarily about 4e D&D. It was just nice get back to my roots a little bit, and share that gaming goodness with my family. And I may have found a new source of inspiration, so there may be some Magic-based 4e D&D thoughts in the near future.