Today's MLB Game in the Roscoe-verse is joined in progress. The Phillies and Cardinals are playing in the 2nd inning, and the Cardinals are leading 1 to 0. I'm following the game's scores and stats in real time via MLB's Gameday Service where we can also find links to the radio-call of the game provided by announcers of either team we choose.

And the adventure continues.

Today for some reason, I felt terrible.

Don’t know what set me off but it was just feelings of anxiety and a sadness which I don’t know from where it came but it was like just this distraction irate behaviour I couldn’t focus just sat for five minutes, made code, then back and then out again five minutes with the dogs, try to focus 20 min then coffee.

It’s the feeling of something very unspecific being wrong

I really tried

Having spent the workday in this weird state of mind, I went to the neighbours to help their son with his computer and I might’ve fixed it or maybe I didn’t; maybe it’s broken still, but at least it booted

And my black mood lifted too, late now I’m having dinner, watching Supernatural. Without spoiling anything I’ll say that the notion of the soul being tied to the conscience I think it’s spot on.

Tomorrow I’ll go running, it’s to keep the wolves at bay

It’ll prevent me from feeling bad

I used to think that that’s all there was to it, mere chemistry of the brain

Imbalance of the humours I used to think

But now I think that there’s something unhandled psychologically with is making these terrible feelings appear in the first place

And that the training is just a way to handle operating this broken machine in this world, which I love.

My impressions of the pre-release event for The Hobbit set.

The Hobbit is the latest Magic the Gathering set, a sequel to the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) set from a couple of years ago. As the fantasy universe is common to both Magic the Gathering (MTG) and LOTR, the set was quite successful and even left us with some very powerful cards like The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters. Last week, Wizards of the Coast released The Hobbit. The set is on the smaller side, and it's too new to tell what cards will shine and which cards will be quickly forgotten.

One of the best ways to get your hands on the new set and have some fun at the same time is a pre-release event at a local game shop. You get a pre-release kit, which is a sealed box that includes 6 booster packs, a small promo pack, and a 20-sided die. You build a 40-card deck from the 6 packs of cards, and battle other players. Pairings are random, and since everyone starts with 6 packs, one's success comes down to skill, and a little bit of luck too. You play 3 rounds, and each round is best out of 3. I won 1 round and lost 2 rounds, because I am still new to the sealed format and still learning the tricks of assembling the best 40-card deck from a pool of cards I have not seen before. So, I'm OK losing some games for now.

While the gathering part of Magic the Gathering is fun, especially when you go with friends, another big draw for me has always been the artwork on the cards and the fantasy themes of the game. The Hobbit did not disappoint! I am a fan of elves in MTG, so I built and elf deck out of the 6 booster packs. Specifically, I built a green-blue landfall elf deck. I ignored the new mechanics in the set in favor of my preference for elves. I also did happen to have quite a few elf cards to make this work.

The highlights of my deck were Beorn, Reluctant Host, Silvan Reveler, and Thranduil's Company. Silvan Reveler alone won me the games I did win. She gets me a land card upon entering most times, and can come back from the graveyard for 3 mana, which in this deck is a pretty low cost. Beorn's adventure spell, Till and Tend, triggers landfall and helps me ramp. Thranduil let me play yet another land and pumps a creature for the turn, giving it vigilance too. This enables safe attacks without losing a blocker on my opponent's turn. Once ramping is compete, the 5 mana Beorn can come in, and he's a 5/5 with trample, a pretty serious threat even if he's not an elf.

A selection of support cards helped the strategy along. Bilbo Baggins, Burglar is not an elf, but he's a good support character. For one blue mana, Take a Glance lets me decide what my next card will be (Scry 2). Then, when cast, he lets me draw a card. Card draw is so important. Then, Down in the Valley is a saga that ramps on the first turn it enters, then gives you an elf token (or more, if I manage to play multiple lands that turn). Very useful! Wood Elves is a reprint on an older card. The fact that it lets you play an extra Forest untapped is key and significantly better than untapped.

Some utility cards helped me in a few specific scenarios. Confusticate and Bebother is a great option because I was able to use it either as a counter-spell, or as card draw. Mirkwood Nurturer was interesting. I had it return Enchanted River's Grasp to my hand, then cast it again, resulting in 2 enemy creatures being tapped before my attack phase. A great move to end the game and swing for lethal damage with a couple big creatures like Beorn.

Overall, the strategy was to ramp as much as possible, so that the landfall triggers made my board stronger, and the extra mana helped me cast the spells I needed to protect my own creatures and keep the attackers at bay. Silvan Reveler was a very cool card. Between this pre-release and the recent Stixhaven set, I find myself very happy playing blue-green. I always liked green, but I am finding blue adds some much-needed interaction (counter-spells, card draw, etc.). Happy with The Hobbit, thought I don't see myself buying many more cards from this set. The 40 card deck will be enough to provide some fun playing my friends.

Thanks for reading!

#story #mtg

#gyushuaabo22yl

Senja kian tenggelam di ufuk Barat. Dengan penerangan yang agak redup, Choi Yido menatap cermin di hadapannya dan wajah yang bak pinang dibelah dua dengan ibunya pun menatap balik. Rambut hitam tertata rapi. Mata gelap yang memukau. Pipi tinggi, rahang tirus, bibir tipis tanpa cela. Paras yang cantik dan tampan sekaligus—androgini. Tubuhnya melesat tinggi ketika pubertas menyapanya lima tahun yang lalu. Sayangnya, ia tetap tidak bisa mengalahkan tinggi badan rival abadinya, Kibum.

Mengesampingkan bayangan Kibum yang membuat lidahnya sepat, Yido mengusak rambutnya ke belakang dengan tangan, mengacaukan tatanan yang telah diusungnya sejak ia memulai hari. Tidak ada kewajiban untuk tampil formal di muka publik malam ini, jadi ia tidak memedulikan penampilannya sama sekali.

Surat telah dilayangkan ke rumah Paman Mingyu. Sang utusan telah melapor pada ayahnya bahwa tugas telah selesai dilaksanakan. Namun, hingga detik ini, tak ada balasan dari rumah keluarga Kim.

Gelisah? Tentu. Bukannya Yido tidak mengetahui bagaimana perasaan Paman Mingyu terhadap prospek dirinya melamar Gyuri. Sejak awal, Paman Mingyu jelas-jelas menentang mereka. Paman Joshua selalu bilang kalau Paman Mingyu hanya orangtua menggelikan yang kelewat sayang pada putrinya (yang mana menurut Yido sangat masuk akal; Toh ini Kim Gyuri yang mereka bicarakan). Tetapi, separuh hati sang Alpha muda gelisah kalau-kalau alasan Paman Mingyu menentang adalah karena Yido dianggap tidak pantas bersanding dengan putrinya.

Ego Alpha-nya terusik. Jika ada yang pantas mencintai Gyuri, maka seharusnya pangeran kerajaan penerus negara ini adalah kandidat nomor satu, bukan? Sedari kecil ia ditempa oleh pelajaran di bidang tata negara, sosial politik, militer dan sejarah kerajaan, selain etiket dan budaya. Dirinya lah yang paling paham apa yang dibutuhkan negara ini beserta masyarakat di dalamnya. Ayahnya tidak mengajak Yido turut serta dalam pelaporan para warga setiap paginya sejak ia remaja untuk menjadikan pengetahuannya sia-sia belaka. Ia bahkan berhasil mengimplementasikan taktiknya dalam mengenyahkan potensi pemberontakan di sisi Utara dekat perbatasan beberapa bulan yang lalu.

Semenjak Kak Seongso menunjuk Kak Nara sebagai pengantinnya, orangtuanya telah mempersiapkan Yido sebagai penerus utama tampuk kepemimpinan.

Tapi kenapa Paman Mingyu masih saja merasa itu tidak cukup?

Apa lagi yang harus Yido lakukan agar Paman Mingyu bersedia memberi tangan Gyuri kepadanya??

Pikirannya kalut oleh berbagai suara yang saling bertentangan. Sekali lagi, pemuda berusia sembilan belas itu menghela napas. Kemeja putihnya yang terbuat dari sutra kualitas terbaik itu kini nampak acak-acakan, hasil kebiasaan buruknya yang suka berjalan kian-kemari ketika tenggelam dalam pemikirannya sendiri—mengelilingi peraduan, bahkan satu istana, tanpa sadar. Ibunya bahkan pernah menyadarkan putra tertuanya itu dengan menepuk kepalanya kuat-kuat, mengejutkan ayahnya yang tak sengaja menyaksikan kejadian itu.

Setiap detik terbuang tanpa jawaban dari keluarga Kim adalah setiap detik keyakinan akan bobot dirinya tercungkil mengenaskan. Ia perlu tahu reaksi Paman Mingyu dan Paman Joshua atas surat itu dan berdiam diri di istana tidak akan membawakannya jawaban yang ia cari.

Tugasnya sebagai pangeran kerajaan untuk hari itu sudah selesai. Saatnya Choi Yido menyelinap keluar dengan memanjat tembok istana dan mengganti mahkota emasnya dengan topi pet sederhana yang senantiasa dikenakan anak penjaja koran di jalanan tengah kota.

Ah, ya, lihat kan?

Bagaimanapun, Choi Yido adalah anak ibunya.