Weekend in Review

• Didn't have to go in to work early Sunday after all, but I will have to work next Sunday for a few hours.


• Had the first Sunday edition of Movie Night - went very well and all the regulars showed up for a change. We watched the obscure classic Cast a Deadly Spell.


• Started playing Justice League Heroes. Slightly disappointed in the lack of awesomeness compared to X-Men Legends, but it's easily the best DC-licensed video game I've ever played.


• Engaged in Magic : The Gathering. Spent more money despite assuring myself I wouldn't. That was bad. Actually won several matches. That was good.

The following is for major nerds only. Norms, you've been warned.

One of the Magic decks I've been experimenting with is based on a card called Dark Depths. For those unfamiliar, it is a land card, and when it comes into play, one puts ten "ice counters" on it. One can remove an ice counter for three mana. When all the counters are removed, one can sacrifice the land to put into play a token creature named Marit Lage - 20 power, 20 toughness, with the flying and indestructible properties.

As an aside, Marit Lage is a part of the metafiction in Magic the Gathering - once a mortal sorcerer, she (or he) trafficked in dark magic and was warped into a Cthulhian horror - ultimately to be trapped beneath the ice pack. Marit Lage was first mentioned in the Ice Age expansion, and Dark Depths appears in the Coldsnap expansion, which is a sequel to Ice Age.

The goal of the deck is to get Marit Lage in play and crush the opponent. To this end, I employ a card called 'Aether Snap'. It removes all counters and tokens from play. For five mana, I instantly clear all ten ice counters and then Marit Lage arrives to kill my opponent. To add insult to injury, I have a couple of cards in the deck to make it so Marit Lage cannot be targeted by spells or effects.

I think the name of this deck should be "Marit Lage's Snappy Comeback."