Magic the Gathering: Deck Design: Venser (Flicker) deck

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In Magic the Gathering, 187 or Blink creatures are creatures that trigger abilities when they enter the battlefield (comes into play). The recent Magic Expansion Avacyn Restored have alot of cards that work well with cards that enter the battlefield. Hence I began making a deck that I call the Venser or Flicker deck. The reason why to call it Flicker is because the first card that made creatures go off and onto the battlefield without recasting is called Flicker and since then, this effect has been called ‘Flickering’ creatures in and out of the battlefield. Of course, the deck is based around a Planeswalker card called Venser, which you will read more about below.

Theme:
Like my Persist deck, I like to build decks that are fun to play, yet reasonably powerful. I don’t like decks that are too weak, or too strong. Basically I’m going to exploit the triggered ability of creatures that enter the battlefield repeatedly to create card advantage.

Lands: (20/60)
Every one of my 60 card decks have about 20 land. For this deck, I relied on a blue/white mana base since alot of blinking creatures are in blue and white. Hence I have 8 cards that are blue/white dual lands.

//Lands:20
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
6 Island
6 Plains

Creatures: (18/60)
For creatures, I just put creatures that are blue/white, reasonably cheap, and have a good effect when they enter the battlefield. I also tend to favor creatures that slow my opponent’s board development down. Wall of Omens is a good card drawing engine, and is much faster to cast than Mulldrifter, which I was also considering. Blade Splicer is going to be my card of choice for doing damage, and Gilded Drake is incredibly powerful, stealing opponent’s creatures for free! I also needed a way to gain life. Between Kitchen Finks and Aven Riftwatcher, I chose the Finks, just because its better at beatdown. Riftwing Cloudskate is my last major card, since it can bounce anything back to an opponent for 2 mana and 3 turns, or 5 mana. Man-o’-War didn’t have as much versatility. And of course, the best bouncer in the game, Venser, Shaper Savant because its amazing – it can counter spells and bounce anything back, it’s Riftwing Cloudskate on steroids. I also put a single copy of Restoration Angel in to fit the theme of the deck.

//Creatures:18
4 Wall of Omens
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Gilded Drake
3 Blade Splicer
3 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Restoration Angel

There are other creatures I could’ve considered. Fog Bank and Wall of Denial are amazing cards for defense. Stonecloaker is good against graveyard decks, Glen Elendra Archmage can single handedly wing a game for you if you keep blinking her, and the aforementioned Mulldrifter, Man-o’-War and Aven Riftwatcher are also good choices for the deck. Galepowder Mage is also worth considering, though a bit slow.

Non Creature Spells: (22/60)
The final third of the deck are non creature spells. Here, I mainly focused on cards that slow down an opponent, and focused mostly on defense. The centerpiece of the deck is Venser, the Sojourner. This guy kicks ass. He flickers any permanent you have, and is basically the win condition for the deck. I have 3 copies each of Crystal Shard and Erratic Portal which function for both offense and defense, AND returns my own creatures to my hand so I can re-use their abilities. Parallax Wave has been amazing for this deck because it exiles creatures for free, and can be used the same way as the Shard and the Portal. Umbilicus, Blood Clock and Equilibrium are obscure Magic cards that I put in this deck; nobody expects them and they get really annoyed once I play them. Simultaneously returning my creatures back to re-use their abilities for free while slowing down my opponent? sounds great. I also have copies of Propaganda and Ghostly Prison for slowing an opponents attackers down. I’ve had opponents had to pay 6 mana(!) before just to attack with one creature which I just return to their hand. It’s great. Finally, I have one of the best commons ever made: Rhystic Study. So, every spell an opponent plays costs one more or I get to draw a card? It’s just ridiculously good, especially in multiplayer. So the final decklist:

//Lands:20
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
6 Forest
6 Plains

//Creatures:18
4 Wall of Omens
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Gilded Drake
3 Blade Splicer
3 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Restoration Angel

//Non-Creatures: 22
3 Crystal Shard
3 Erratic Portal
3 Parallax Wave
2 Blood Clock or Umbilicus
2 Equilibrium
2 Propaganda
2 Ghostly Prison
2 Venser, the Sojourner
3 Rhystic Study

And thats it! Another fun, casual, multiplayer deck to play around with. As you can imagine, this deck takes a while to win, and is incredibly annoying to play against. Imagine paying one mana extra for each spell you cast, then paying an additional 4 mana to attack with each creature, then having mana open in case it gets returned to your hand, which probably will happen anyway because of Venser and Cloudskate. I pride myself on having built such an annoying yet effective deck :) . Of course, cards like Otherworldly Journey and Momentary Blink are one shot effects to immediately gain the 187 effect. Conjurer’s Closet is basically a colorless Venser, which I should test with. To make this deck even more defensive, you can add in more copies of Norn’s Annex, Dissipation Field, Collective Restraint, Parallax Tide, Crawlspace, Teferi’s Moat, Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, and the rest of the cards. You can also add in Jace, the Mind Sculptor, who is really good in this deck, but also very expensive (being one of the best cards in Magic). Tamiyo, the Moon Sage can also work, though not as good as Jace. You can of course add Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and more copies of 2 Venser, the Sojourner. Angelic Chorus can be an alternative to gaining life. Sensei’s Divining Top is good in ANY deck, especially control decks. Finally, to make this deck 200% more annoying, please add in Tangle Wire, Sphere of Resistance, Lodestone Golem, Smokestack, Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst, Static Orb, Mishra’s Helix, Rishadan Port and your usual BS cards that will make your opponent hate you :) .

Analog vs Digital; gradual replacement of daily devices by digital products

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As things become more and more digitized these days, we find more and more of our daily devices being replaced by new digitized mediums. Please note that when I use ‘analog’ I mean the original medium.

Vinyl vs CD:
An example is music players. Back in the old days, we used a device called the record player to listen to music. This device used a medium called vinyl which is an exact copy of the soundwaves pressed into it. What you hear from each LP is the exact reproduction of the music; there are no compressed bits of audio, no 16-bit compression, 320kbps streaming, or whatever. This is as close as music gets to a live performance (which is pure analog because you hear it with your ears at the time it plays). It has since been replaced by CDs and MP3s, which basically takes samples of the sound and compresses them. Whether or not it sounds worse depends on different people. Which would you choose? Vinyl (analog) or CD/MP3 (digital)?

Vinyl and MP3

Vinyl and MP3

Film vs Digital photos:
Back in the old days, we used a film camera to take pictures and record movies. film is available in different mm (35mm, 16mm, 8mm) which represents what kind of film format is used. Similarly, movie projectors depends on the size of the reel and the film its using. Film has been superseded by Digital Cameras, DSLRs, Camcorders, and even phones(!) today. But some still say that old film cannot be replaced. It’s the ‘analog’ medium. There is no sense of megapixels or size of movie in gigabytes of whatever. Light is focused and captured onto photographic films which is developed in a dark room. There is no concept of dark rooms or film negatives in the digital age today. Instead, there is only how many megapixels, what is the storage size, aperture size, lens size, HD quality, etc. In addition, digital photos cannot be physically shared unless they are printed, which may not result in the same feeling as film. Which would you choose? Film Camera (analog) or Digital Camera (digital)?

Film vs Digital

Film vs Digital

Other trends
Although Cameras and Music players are the most prominent, digital products have been replacing almost every product that we produced in the 20th century. Radio has been replaced by Spotify, Last.fm and Pandora. TV is gradually getting replaced by Netflix, Hulu and Youtube. Ebooks using Amazon’s Kindle and Nook readers have been replacing traditional books. iPhones and Android devices have been replacing landline (old school) telephones. How often do you see pay phones nowadays? What about painting a picture using oil or watercolor? Now you can do that on a tablet! What happened to board games? Now we play Angry Birds on the phone. An entire drawer of documents can now be fit onto a small USB key. Shopping no longer needs to be done at brick and mortar stores, just go to Ebay and Amazon. Who needs Encyclopedia Britannica when you have Wikipedia and Google? Asking friends for reviews has been replaced by Yelp. Nobody uses Maps anymore when you have Google Maps. No need to hire expensive stock advisors when you have Google Finance. Who uses typewriters when you have Google Docs? No need to cut out coupons when you have Groupon. Who reads newspapers when you can just go to CNN? What used to be handwritten letters sent across the world to an eager penpal months later has now been replaced by email, typed in an instant and received in an instant. And face to face contact is gradually being replaced by Skype, texting, instant messaging, and Facebook. Heck, I”m even writing a blog post that only two decades ago would have warranted a small diary! (blogging never existed back then, unless you count newspaper articles).

While I do like how there are new, more convenient ways of living, sometimes I long for the more meaningful ways that life used to be lived. Living without a phone for a few weeks has taught me to enjoy the simpler things in life rather than commenting on someone’s Facebook wall (like for example, actually going up to the person to wish them a happy birthday). And I kind of miss that, now that digital products have replaced everything. What do you think about this topic? please leave your comment.

I also took the opportunity to take some pictures with Instagram. I wonder if Ansel Adams would be proud of me. Would he have thought that one day, a miniature sized phone in my pocket would be able to take a picture of this quality? and share it without actually handing it physically to anyone?

Sunset at SF's Ocean Beach

Sunset at SF's Ocean Beach

Sakura at Golden Gate Park

Sakura at Golden Gate Park

Why I hate the Hangover part 2

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Today is going to be another one of those days where I hate on Hollywood for making horrible movies. And the Hangover part 2 is one of them. Why do I hate it? Here are the reasons (contains spoilers):

1) It’s not funny

Why is this guy such a douche bag?

Why is this guy such a douche bag?


If the Hangover was supposed to be a comedy movie, then why isn’t it funny? Is it funny to cut off someone’s finger? Is it funny to put a bunch of random animals together in one scene? Is it funny to be shot by Russians? What about Alan? Why does he have to be such a dickhead in the movie? And having sex with a transgender is funny? This is just one of those movies which has pure stupidity and 12 year old humor in it. It’s not worth your time.

2) Racial stereotyping of Asians

Is this guy representative of Asian males?

Is this guy representative of Asian males?


One of the things that really offends me about this movie is that it has an obnoxious effeminate Asian guy in it, playing somewhat of a role. He was in the original Hangover too. Who does this character appeal to? White college kids? Who at Warner Bros decided to put an ugly obnoxious Asian guy with a heavy accent in there? Is that supposed to be funny? I mean, god forbid Hollywood actually decide to cast a handsome Asian guy with no accent, because according to them, they don’t exist. And what about the Asian girl in the movie? The one that Stu (the main character who is coincidentally white) is marrying? How come she is good looking and has no accent? Hmm so yeah, lets have double standards for Asian guys and Asian girls in a film… what a joke.

3) It’s unrealistic

Do you want this guy to marry your daughter?

Do you want this guy to marry your daughter?


Yeah, so the plot involves the ‘wolf pack’ going around Bangkok trying to find Stu’s wife’s lost brother Teddy. When they finally find him, his finger has been cut off (thanks to the gang), and Stu and the rest of the gang ‘borrow’ a boat to crash into the island where Stu’s family is staying. However despite all that, and her family not liking Stu, after one crap line about how he loves her, all is forgiven, and he is allowed to marry his wife with good blessings. How stupid is that? Is it realistic that after all the trouble Stu and his friends have caused, including causing Teddy’s finger to be cut off, that her traditional Asian parents will allow Stu to marry her without saying anything? What a bunch of BS. And not to mention, even on the drunkest of nights you wouldn’t do what these guys did. Its not even possible to do all that in the span of one night. Another reason why you shouldn’t take this film seriously.

So that’s why I hate the Hangover part 2. One of the worst movies ever (it represents everything wrong with Hollywood), and I hate the fact that it made a lot of money. Maybe that’s why Warner Bros keeps making them. Maybe stupidity, Asian stereotypes and unrealistic plot makes for a good draw at the box office. Oh Bruce Lee, if only you knew that 40 years later, Asian stereotypes have only gotten worse.

In other news, I had my cell phone stolen last weekend. I was getting on the bus in Japan town and this black dude comes out of nowhere, takes my phone out of my front pocket and takes off. I was too surprised to react much. Definitely a shock to me. Good thing he didn’t erase my data (my phone auto logs in). Now I’m without a phone, and AT&T is going to charge me $500 for termination of contract + new phone + new 2 year contract. Geez. And iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S2? Hmm not sure yet, but if I’m going to get a tablet someday, I want my phone and my tablet to have different OS. So either Galaxy S2 + iPad or iPhone + Galaxy Tab. I don’t know yet. But I do want to develop some Android apps for tablet (given there aren’t that many Android tablet apps yet).

I also recorded a jam of New Deep a few days ago. I used a Boss RC-2 Looper and created my own backing music, and then added some drum beats in, and improvised on top of that. Enjoy.