Jamie Wakefield

     Magic Arena has really gotten me back into Magic.      So much so that I started thinking about how far I wanted to take this. I already had OBS set up on my system and had it linked to my Twitch channel. Joshie Trash Talker was willing to do a podcast with me. So, I could jump back into the Magic life with both feet.      I started out doing some streaming and I noticed a few things about myself when I was streaming. We all know I'm not great at Magic. Well, I'm even more "not great" when I'm trying to be entertaining and when I am too aware of the camera. And, I can get pretty salty. Which isn't the image I want to project to the world while I'm streaming. Or ever.      Also, as an introvert, who seems to be getting more introverted as I get older, being "on" for the camera was exhausting.      The last thing that happened was that Facebook popped up a memory where another writer described the appea...

So, Friday I was home sick. I went through a bottle of Dayquil and a box of kleenex flat on my back. Luckily, the Mythic Championship was on. I think the field of yesterday's Mythic Championship was 41% Esper varients. Regardless of how much it was, the entire first day of coverage, bizarrely, chose to focus on the Esper decks, and the number of mirror matches with slight variations was a bit overwhelming. There were other decks in the competition but all I saw on the screen for 8 hours was Teferi activations. I was thankful I wasn't on the broadcast staff. Can you imagine trying to make 8 hours of Teferi activations exciting? Take a look at that screenshot. I had one yesterday with 6 Teferi's on camera between hand, board and graveyard. It's got the twitch chat in it so I used this one instead. I watched coverage all day and I gotta say, little depressed. Not even white weenie or Gruul or anything stood a chance against Thought Erasure and Teferi. Teferi be...

First off, I’m going to give a big shout out to WOTC R&D and to the team that programmed Magic Arena because that program is fantastic. I never thought they would be able to come up with a program that makes playing Magic on a computer so smooth. So, just to see how it goes, I’m going to be streaming tomorrow morning. https://www.twitch.tv/jaedence I’ll be playing the deck below so I thought I would do a quick “State of Green” impression. 4 Llanowar Elves (DAR) 168 24 Forest (RIX) 196 1 Ripjaw Raptor (XLN) 203 2 Territorial Allosaurus (DAR) 184 4 Vine Mare (M19) 207 3 God-Eternal Rhonas (WAR) 163 2 Gigantosaurus (M19) 185 1 Pelt Collector (GRN) 141 4 Steel Leaf Champion (DAR) 182 4 Thrashing Brontodon (RIX) 148 4 Thorn Lieutenant (M19) 203 2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger (RIX) 130 1 Nullhide Ferox (GRN) 138 4 Rabid Bite (M19) 195 Starting with the good: All of the colors have seen some serious power creep since I last played but this hasn’t negat...

This is the message that greeted me when I opened Facebook this evening. “Arena is trash. That is all.” It comes from a competitive friend who has just gone on tilt. I know we have all been there. On Facebook I have a group that until recently was called “Hearthstone” but has recently been renamed “The Attack Phase.” I still play Hearthstone and am working on a Lucentbark deck right now, but thanks to the wonderful new program Magic:Arena, I have been delving into Magic again. In the group are most of the members of Team Quarterstaff and Team Comics & Collectibles. Ira Wonderboy is now a much older Wonderman. Keith Kenyon, aka, “KrankyK”, is older so, even crankier. The “Serra Girl” Michele was down this weekend and I showed her Magic: Arena. Michele remains one of my best friends. This Christmas she gave me a book called   “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life The main tenet is that caring too much is what le...

Big Red is by far my favorite deck right now. The main reason for that? Goblin Chainwhirler. I don't think I have seen a card so likely to make Kibler stop playing Standard since Lifebane Zombie. This card is so broken and every time I play it, I'm just amazed it saw print. If you are playing Green or Bant or anything involving mana creatures, this is just a beating. If you are playing WW it is a beating. Tokens of any kind - beating. Planeswalkers? Remove a counter for all of them. I know it's not that big a deal to say that I made Platinum this morning but that was literally 3 levels with just big red and most of the time it was just pure domination. Plus, sometimes you play a mogg fanatic and your opponent just concedes because burn is the best deck in the format right now. I think the only thing I would change is the Legendary Zombies for either more Bladewing or more Phoenix of which I have neither. 1 Demanding Dragon (M19) 135 23 Mountain (RIX) 1...