dbarenzu626-mtg

[dbarenzu626-mtg]

It almost feels like the end of an era. Sure, a month long wait of an era, but it's still something.

I mentioned before on this blog that I had the Secret Lair x MARVEL drops inbound, but they were delayed exponentially by the strike. While that strike went in a rather... unfortunate end, what did happen was those drops? Finally arrived today.

Excelsior.

I've tossed the idea around of getting the Arcane Signet and the Strange promo Counterspell , but for the moment, this is where my deckbuilding journey starts with this set. Mainly 'cuz the 30th Anniversary Signet looks more like the Infinity Gauntlet and fits more with the Avengers deck IMO, and Counterspell would only really add something cosmetically pleasing to a deck, not inherently something these archetypes need. Outta both, Counterspell would be more likely if the price tag wasn't already super high being a convention promo.

For my MARVEL decks, I'm running Cap and Storm as Commanders, namely because Wolverine and Iron Man function as more supporters for their adjacent deck archetypes, Artifacts for Cap and Iron Man, Storm/Cascade for the X-Men. And while that could change and I could make decks based off each hero accordingly, I figure running these as well as Black Panther as a separate deck makes things feel fresh for me and opens up more opportunities with each Commander. Besides, Cap and Storm being three-color Commanders already opens doors.

Even for the messy WOTC sale, it's exciting to hold these in person, even more after the strike and the near month of delays it took to get them into my hands. Sure, it'll also make me feel like one of those "whales" who paid the piper to get these, but in the end, I think that's what makes Magic a fun game to me.

Being able to express yourself and your own playstyle and decks regardless of budget points and of what you're using. You bring you to a Commander table, at least depending on your play group and who you're with. Who woulda thought you'd get sentiment outta a MTG player's blog post, huh? 👏

[dbarenzu626-mtg]

Decided to treat myself this week with something!

I already mentioned that I had four of the Secret Lair x MARVEL drops inbound, but are delayed due to the ongoing post strikes. I decided, upon finding one in the wild at a very solid price...

...to complete the set.

It may be without the fancy Arcane Signet that sold right out, but ultimately, once the other packages finally get moving in my province, I'll have all five drops. Yes, I cooked up a decklist upon me getting him and the adjacent SL cards. Yes, I'm planning on making him "counters matter" as per his motif. And yes...

Wakanda Forever.

[dbarenzu626-mtg]

So I had picked up two of each Foundations and Foundations Jumpstart packs whilst out on a run of holiday shopping. I thought, what was the worst that could happen? I was looking for small deckbuilding supplies for new deck projects after all, it's not like--

SON OF A GUN.

...Yes, these pulls happened today. Yes, I scrapped plans of a deck project to make room for Aphelia, Viper Whisper in its place (said deck project was Arahbo, the First Fang, so I ditched cats for snakes/Gorgons) because I wasn't about to not use a pricey card like this. And yes, of course I slotted Twinflame Tyrant into one of my current projects. In a rare twist, I essentially pulled cards that more than doubled my money back from the pack prices.

Sometimes my luck really works in weird ways~ ✨

[dbarenzu626-mtg]

TFW you have Commander decklists and more ready to go for the MARVEL Secret Lair drops because you braved the storm and actually got four of them in foil... aaaaaand then your local post decides to shutter for a strike just as they managed to buck around the bend into Canada and just as the holidays roll around.

Horrid timing, but at least tracking numbers on 'em do ensure they won't be in the dark once they get moving. Support your unions, folks. This Wolverine GIF below is me ATM, even with the mature head nod of what's going on:

Nonetheless, I should probably share those decklists in the future, shouldn't I? Soon, soon. The best way I can put it is that I hybridized the drops into two decks: one a Captain America and Iron Man-centred deck (since Equipment and Artifacts are equal in terms of their types, they play off eachother well, just without any Sokovia Accords, LOL!) and the other is a straight up X-Men deck, with Storm leading and Wolverine as buffed creature in the 99 alongside the support. It helps the only one that didn't fit with one another was Black Panther and hilariously enough, that was the one I skipped on out of the five. I just wasn't able to gel with the whole "Soldier Proliferate" play style. But hey, four outta five ain't bad!

...But I must say, even with the success storythough, WOTC royally screwed up the sale of the MARVEL SLs. Even though I got mine and they're stuck in our province ATM, I'm sitting like:

So many people walked out of the MARVEL drop either empty-handed or just unable to even get on to purchase the darned things. I do wish WOTC would just adopt the "print to order" system again or at least, be prepared for this level of demand, especially with big series coming in the future like Final Fantasy or Spider-Man (seriously betting on a Spider-Verse themed SL drop sometime) or lord forbid, the SpongeBob Squarepants SL much as I'm still flabbergasted to hear about it, but alas... I already know it's a corporate/money thing.

Anyways, rant over, patience is at a high: my heroes will be here soon~

[dbarenzu626-mtg]

Perchance to a Introduction Post!

Artwork by Ryan Pancoast, "Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy", Strixhaven: School of Mages

Ahh, welcome to my humble grounds! If you're a Planeswalker or a fellow fan of the TCG game Magic: The Gathering, welcome!

My name's Dylan, or @dbarenzu626 if you know me from my main blog: Canadian artist, writer and hobbyist. And more recently, MTG player, specifically in the Commander format. I got started this year thanks to one of my cousins, which then spurred me to pick up my first Commander precon in the form of Timey-Wimey from a Wal-Mart. Since then? I have grown my arsenal of decks far beyond, even considering decklists I have in progress ATM.

I love this card game dearly, at a time when my life was entering a strange period, Commander came in and became a bastion of fun for me, whether it have been looking into what cards to build for or even what to add to the 99 of a deck or coming to a table with a new deck ready to just play and enjoy, it's been nothing short of refreshing.

It's worth noting that I'm no TCG newbie either, my first TCGs were Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! back in the day and currently in this day and age, I stuck to Disney Lorcana and Digimon before converging into MTG Commander. To say I always loved collecting cardboard would be an understatement and that obsession has helped me in my deckbuilding!

So why start this blog? To chronicle my adventures with this game, of course!

As this blog starts up, I wanna share what to expect from my cardboard hideaway! So here we go:

Decklists! I wanna share some of my decklists of Commander decks I've built or are currently in the process of building. These decklists may range from being janky to average to even higher power level, but ultimately, I make some of these just to have fun with flavour and build decks I love in the end. Decklists will be talked about with strategies and experiences and I will be sharing lists via Moxfield or ManaBox, to be decided.

Interactions/battles I've had within Commander! The archetype always welcomes new friends and new playstyles and something I love, win or lose, is just the unique energy everyone brings to their deck projects or to battles. It makes my own deckbuilding feel more fruitful and by all means, I wanna talk about experiences like that.

New product unboxings and/or pack results! With Magic, the idea of always getting new cards and/or projects is going to be a reality. So discounting bulk and singles I'm buying, I wanna post about new products I pick up too, whether they be bundles or boxes or even Secret Lair drops and the results that come from them. Sets like Final Fantasy and Spider-Man next year more than invite this for me (these are sets I'm going all in on) and I know with the other original sets like Aetherdrift and Edges of Eternities that I may partake in a few packs or even a Commander deck. Heck, I may even have a few Secret Lairs coming my way already I wanna talk about...

Potentially, a "Card of the Day" feature! It may or may not be daily as I don't think I personally have the capacity to keep up with daily posts, but with so many cards in this game, I'd love to feature some of my favourites, be them for art or for treatments or even for powerhouse abilities. And yes, I may do this at length like with the decklists too, I like talking about certain things or combos you could pull off with a card.

Lastly, questions! These'll be open always, so if you wanna swing a question for me, whether it's a card you want my opinion of or a decklist I'm currently building for or a favourite card treatment or set? You can feel more than free to fire away, this is something I will always respond to (within reason, I probably won't be responding to any hateful comments, be them directed at how I build decks or at my choice of cards regardless of normal or even the hot topic of Universes Beyond sets. Ask and ye may receive!

Hopefully I can meet other players, connect here and have fun with this blog! For now though, let's get his Planeswalking hike going, shall we? Allons-y~! <3