#Magic 2020 Promo Pack

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Mountain (Magic 2020 Promo Pack Ver) by Piotr Dura

[asketchyperson]

To[o much] Infinity and Beyond…

Section 1: How we got here

Magic the Gathering is an IP with 30 years of established lore that spans thousands of in-universe years with hundreds of legendary creatures and planeswalkers, all with their own stories to tell. The very concept of planes and planeswalkers (although the status of planeswalkers in the lore seems to be in flux) gives room for new planes with unique characters to be visited at any time, and they can even interact with established creatures across the planes, old and new. The possibilities of the stories to be told are limited only by the creativity of the writing team and the direction they want to take the main story. With the already rich and established lore within its own multiverse, it would be reasonable to assume that Magic would be able to stand on its own without the need for bringing in other brands or IPs. That has not been the direction Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have gone in over the past few years, however, with the introduction of outside IPs that eventually evolved into the utter takeover that has become Universes Beyond (UB).

I think the first pebble of this avalanche to fall began with the silver-bordered Hasbro IP crossovers Magic made for Hascon 2017.

Initially, these seemed completely harmless and entertaining. Dungeons and Dragons, Transformers and Nerf are all fellow Hasbro owned IPs, and making non-tournament legal cards with these fourth-wall breaking references made for some really cool collectors items. I remember these coming out and how cool I thought they were, the Sword of Dungeons and Dragons in particular. These were very well received, but we had no way to know where this positive reception would lead.

Two years later in 2019, we received the My Little Pony, Extra Life charity promos.

Following a similar formula, these were non-tournament legal promos with another Hasbro IP. It was not for everyone, but it was for a good cause, and opened up Magic to a potentially brand new fan base. Cute, fun, and a harbinger of things to come the following year.

April of 2020 brought Ikoria, Lair of Behemoths, a brand new plane with new characters, mechanics, and marketing strategies. For the first time, booster packs of Ikoria had had the potential of containing a brand new art treatment borrowing from an IP outside of Hasbro: Godzilla

These cards were essentially just alternate art versions of cards that (except for one exception that was later rectified) would have regular, in-universe versions available in the set. The irony of the Godzilla cards is that they gave a perfect blueprint for the non-Magic IP cards, but this blueprint was not used very well after this set. The next and most controversial domino to fall to this point came later that same year.

October of 2020 introduced Universes Beyond via Secret Lair Drop Series: The Walking Dead, and it changed a lot for how other IPs would interact with Magic going forward.

As opposed to the Godzilla re-skins from Ikoria, the Walking Dead (TWD) cards were mechanically unique, black-bordered and therefore eternal format legal, and exclusively available in the Secret Lair for a limited time. This had the Magic community clutching their pearls for a few reasons, the primary of which at the time was the availability of the cards. If any of these cards were extremely powerful or became a combo-piece in any eternal formats, only being available in a Secret Lair would have caused the price of these cards to skyrocket. WotC did acknowledge this and in August of 2023 finally rectified the issue by printing in-universe versions of TWD cards in Wilds of Eldraine, and the cards from the initial Secret Lair drop ultimately did not had much of an impact regardless.

Ultimately, the larger problem Magic players had with this Secret Lair and Universes Beyond as a whole was simple: many Magic the Gathering players do not want other IPs infiltrating their game. This viewpoint has been expressed since the Godzilla cards, and has been voiced again every time a new UB product is announced. It has only been three years since the announcement of UB and I already could not name all of the different releases off the top of my head. In order of release as of October 2023, the following IPs have been used for tournament legal cards: The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Arcane, Street Fighter, Fortnite, Dracula, Warhammer 40k, Transformers (for real this time), Dungeons and Dragons (twice), The Lord of The Rings, Evil Dead (literally had no clue about this one until writing), The Princess Bride, and Doctor Who. These cards have been printed everywhere and in every form from more re-skins, to exclusive Secret Lair drops, to set boosters, to Commander decks, to entire sets or even all of the above! And more IPs are coming with no end in sight. Jurassic Park, Fallout, Assassin’s Creed and Final Fantasy have been announced for a few weeks now, and just today (10/23/2023) we received news that the Marvel collaboration including multiple sets (similar to LotR) is coming soon as well. The amount of just regular, in-universe Magic product being printed is already incredibly difficult to keep up with, and the speed at which new UB sets are announced and released outpaces it easily.

Section 2: No turning back

Despite objection from the player base from day one, Universes Beyond is not going anywhere. These cards are now an established part of game, going so far as the multiple cards from the Lord of the Rings sets becoming (expensive) staples in both Modern and Commander. Almost every Magic product usually takes a couple of years in development before being ready to release, and with more than 10 UB releases already released in just three years, WotC/Hasbro has clearly been hard at work negotiating these deals with other brands (I have not even mentioned the Hot Pocket, Cheez-it and IHOP collaborations but those are far less consequential so far), and there is no evidence this will be slowing down with no real end in sight. If UB had been limited to IPs set in similar settings to Magic, there may have come a time when they simply ran out of different IPs to use, although even then there would have been plenty to work with for a long time. However, the variety of IPs used has shown there is no limit to what IP they may use, so the only thing stopping it would be the deals happening behind the scenes.

Aside from never running out of IPs, the reality is that a lot of these products have been incredibly well designed and ultimately well received. The Warhammer 40k Commander decks were excellent in both design and flavor, and the LotR set was everywhere upon release (I think this would have been the case even if the One Ring 001/001 promo did not happen too!). Despite not using art with characters from the Magic universe, these cards are generally just really good Magic from a design perspective, and the product tends to sell well. Ultimately, Magic is a really fun game, and getting new cards that are well designed and unique is going to get people excited and buying cards.

Section 3: The Good

So if UB is here to stay, what are the consequences? I will start with what I feel like are the good. Firstly, using other IPs to bring new people unfamiliar with Magic is a win for the game as a whole. Having more people playing Magic is good for everyone who plays as it just means there is a higher chance of the game continuing to exist. More fans equals more people buying cards which equals more Magic. I can imagine that a large number of new players may not have been interested, but then their friend showed them the new set coming out that was Warhammer or Lord of the Rings themed, so they gave it a shot with a precon and fell in love with the game like so many of us have. Additionally, a lot of the IPs selected are excellent choices that I know I have enjoyed and many others have too. The Lord of the Rings was executed extremely well, and I am excited to get my hands on a Doctor Who precon as well. We may never know if the good folks designing Magic are happy about the amount of outside IPs being used, but regardless of their opinions, they are putting love and attention into the design of the cards themselves, and that shines through in how fun and balanced most of these products have been. Finally, I would like to point out that Magic fans have been making outside IP alters and fake cards since photo editing became possible, so there has always been large portion of the fan base that has wanted this exact thing.

There is true fun to be had sitting down at a table where the commanders are Aragorn, Negan, Eleven partnered with Jim Hopper, and the 11th Doctor! Wanting to deny other people the fun of playing with their favorite fictional characters within their favorite game is not the kind of energy that should be brought to a table. The game is called Magic: the Gathering, and anything that helps bring more people in that are having fun with the game is a net positive.

Section 4: The Bad

As far as the bad goes, there is no shortage of it, most of it is hypothetical. First and most important for me, the endless spoiler season is only made even more overwhelming by UB. I have not truly paid attention to a spoiler season since Double Masters 2022 because the amount of new cards being printed is just too much to keep up with. I fear the game may move past me the same way Yugioh did right around the creation of Xyz monsters and I simply will stop keeping up with it, while remaining a fan.

Another problem UB will continue to create is availability issues. This was a concern from the beginning with TWD, but those cards were not very powerful and therefore the supply has not been an issue. However, the Lord of the Rings set introduced the One Ring and Orchish Bowmasters, both now staples in Modern and Commander and holding prices well above $30.

This is not a problem by itself, there are lots of cards that are in the price range throughout all popular Magic formats. The key difference is that cards printed in-universe are much easier to reprint into Masters or Standard sets, which can drop the price if they start creeping too high. This will likely not be an option for cards that are set inside a non-Hasbro IP. If the One Ring eclipses $100 per copy, will they have to make an in-universe version of it, and if so, where will it fit in a set? These questions have answers, but it took them three years to finally print the in-universe versions of TWD cards, so how long will we need to wait for a problem like this to be solved?

The final problem I am worried about with UB is the dilution of Magic as an IP itself. Magic is a pretty lucrative business for Hasbro, so much so that other companies are trying to get their piece of the trading card game pie. Pokémon and Yugioh have been around for a long time, but they are mechanically far enough away from Magic that the competition is not exactly direct. However, Flesh and Blood and more recently Lorcana are here now to try to dethrone Magic as the most popular TCG.

Both draw inspiration directly from Magic for gameplay and rules, and both are coming for the roots of competitive 1v1 gameplay that Magic has focused on far less over the past few years. There are aspects to gameplay that these games simply are doing better right now than Magic, and players are gravitating toward these games for good reason. What does this have to do with UB? Well, as more and more IPs get involved in the mix, the brand of Magic gets harder to find. In the example I gave in the previous section, you could feasibly play a game of Magic in which not a single card features art from the actual IP, and for the folks that have played Magic because they enjoyed the world, lore and art, this is fading into the background of WotC’s priorities. If Magic as a brand becomes too diluted, the gameplay has to continue to be head and shoulders above its competitors to remain relevant, and that gap is closing quickly for competitive gameplay. If too many players get disillusioned with Magic and move to other games with more appealing competitive play, Magic as a whole will inevitably suffer. This remains hypothetical and completely dependent on these other game companies continuing to put love and effort into their games, but it could ultimately be the issue that finally puts Magic in second place.

Section 3: The Ugly

Ultimately, this is the least important point in general but the most important point to me, and it is the aesthetic appeal of these UB cards. I despise the UB triangle symbol and the frames in general are not my favorite either. I will always buy a in-universe printing of a card over the UB, and if a card is UB exclusive, it will never go in a deck of mine unless every other card is also in that frame. Overall, I think the art directors on these cards do a really good job of making sure they still largely feel and look like Magic cards, but that does not mean they hit the mark every time.

I have no problem with my opponents using the cards, but it really does just keep me from wanting to use certain cards when they just do not look or feel like they game I love.

Conclusions

Universes Beyond is not only sticking around, but seemingly speeding up in production. If you play Magic, you are going to see these cards unless you are only playing with a personal cube. However, I think the quiet majority of players have received it very positively, and sales continue to be good. UB will expand Magic’s footprint to more people and bring new players, and that is good for everyone who loves the game. That being said, UB is going to require WotC to be extra vigilant of the impact of these cards on the game and ensuring they remain accessible, while also cultivating format environments that can compete with the up-and-coming card games that are dipping into their market share. There are legitimate criticisms to these cards both functionally and aesthetically, but as long as the same love and effort continues to go into the design of these collections to keep them fun and balanced, I think they will help Magic, not hurt it. (I can’t lie, I am stoked to have a Captain America deck one day soon)

[yoshifawful64]

For the first time since Ravnica Allegiance, I finally went 3-0 at a draft again! Got the Overseer, Altar, and Weaponsmith very early (within the first five picks) so I built around them as much as I could.

Round one was against… well, a pretty inexperienced opponent, really. Not much to say here.

Round two, however, wasn’t exactly easy, since my opponent had a surprisingly cohesive Wolf tribal with the Ambusher. Thankfully, the Demons from Altar still outfight the Wolves, so I came out on top (though not without a lot of nervousness).

Round three was pretty tense… not least of all because it was against the other guy drafting Weaponsmith — he had two of them and plenty more Bows and Vials than I did. We actually had hilariously similar decks.

It did help that he had to mulligan to five in game one, but he still put up a great fight (face-offs with Bows on both sides get… interesting). He also beat me pretty handily in game two, and by the time that ended, we only had five minutes left. Luckily, he struggled to draw a black source, and that allowed me to be at least somewhat in control of that last (very rapidly played) game the whole way through. A sided-in Convolute finished things off by protecting my Demon token from a Sleep Paralysis.

[poisonerspath]

Posted @withrepost • @botanicaobscuraconference We’re stoked to announce creator of the Southern Botanic Oracle @lapantherestudio ! Stacey Williams-Ng Since 2020, I have been focused on creating indie oracle decks with themes surrounding the American South. I am the author of The Southern Gothic Oracle, The Southern Botanic Oracle, with 2 expansion packs that enhance each of these. I’m a multidisciplinary artist from Memphis TN, and my workshop is called La Panthère Studios. My designs center around colorful and evocative themes, in particular the folklore of the American South. I’m interested in storytelling, magical realism, narrative, and the Southern Gothic genre. @southern_gothic_oracle @lapantherestudio We have a lot of presenters to announce and presentation topics! This year is going to be even bigger than last year! Tickets go on sale Dec 21 on Eventbrite link in bio and be sure to keep checking back for updates! Background for promo graphic by Steven Thomas Pearson-Walsh #southernbotanicoracle #plantoracledecks #herboracledecks #plantwisdom #botanicalillustrations #botanicaobscuraconference https://www.instagram.com/p/ClbmkgDr_2f/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[littlehollyleaf]

Had a legit dream about spn last night (can you believe? in the year of our lord 2020...)

I'll summarise

(though some of the details/dialogue aren't exact - I mean, it was a dream! I recall enough to fill in the gaps though)

Dean was in that big house from those promo pics I'm pretending I haven't seen or heard about

It was abandoned and he was there on a hunt investigating... I think just a ghost?

He draws what I think in my mind was a devil's trap on the floor, but it could just have been a salt circle

At one point he gets a call from Sam who asks him how it's going and Dean tells him fine, no problems and asks if Sam's doing The Thing yet

Sam tells him yeah he's about ready and to wish him luck and in my dream I understand Dean is asking about Sam doing some kind of spell to bring Eileen and the other Thanos'd hunters back

Then Dean starts... idk, chanting? Saying an exorcism? My brain clearly confused lots of things ok! Point is he was calling the ghost/demon/whatever out

~SOMETHING appears- it... looked like a human guy, but my dream mind understood it was a ghost or demon

Anyway, there's a fight and Dean is getting thrown about the room and is bloodied up and shit and he starts saying stuff that doesn't really make sense like

'No no, I got it I got this it's fine... no, really I... will you stop? I told you I got it...'

And the demon/ghost assumes Dean is talking to him, even though it's all a bit ??

So he's all

'Haha, had enough? You want me to stop?'

And Dean is lying bloody on the floor at the guy's feet

He sighs and says

'OK. Fine. Yes.'

So demon/ghost smirks and crouches down, leaning over

'Alright then. The famous Dean Winchester. Who thought it would end like this?'

At which point Dean actually looks at the guy and scoffs

'Oh, I wasn't talking to you.'

And suddenly Dean's eyes glow and he stands up, straight-backed, sombre, voice no longer breathless from the fight but cool and collected and firm

'He was talking to me.'

And 'Dean' lifts a hand that glows golden, the demon/ghost screams and is smited!

...

We jump to 'Dean' packing up his stuff in the Impala outside, he gets in and glances in the rearview mirror, where his reflection starts talking to him

'I could have handled it'

'Really?'

'Yeah, I had him right where I wanted him'

'About to kill you?'

'Oh whatever, can I have the driver's seat back now?'

'Dean' rolls his eyes. Closes them briefly. Then shakes himself as he opens them again.

'Thanks'

We pan round and see CAS in the passenger seat!! <3

'I coulda handled it' Dean repeats. Protesting too much and they both know it.

'Clearly you couldn't. The plan was ill-conceived, dangerous. You can't always rely on me to save you, you need to be less reckless.'

'Ah, c'mon, reckless is my middle name, you know that.' He looks Cas full in the eye. 'It's why you love me.'

Cas sighs and gives a smile, exasperated but fond. Loving.

Dean reaches across and by a magical quirk of angel possession is able to grasp Cas' incorporial hand.

They hold for a beat, both smiling. Then Dean lets go and turns to the steering wheel.

'Anyway, you wanna pick the music?'

We scroll round again to see the image of Cas has disappeared. 'Dean' tilts his head a moment then reaches out and tunes into a radio.

(my dreaming mind did not supply the music, soz)

Dean blinks, listens a moment, then lifts his eyebrows in a 'eh not bad' kind of gesture

'Ok then'

He starts the car and he and Cas drive off together...

[tohellandbackanthology]

holy crap we’re 51% funded: announcing the Community Book program!

Hi folks! The whole To Hell + Back team has been utterly blown away over the last couple of days by the response you guys have had to the launch of our Indiegogo campaign and the support you’ve shown our little (big) book--we’re 51% funded after less than 48 hours online, which is beyond our wildest dreams for a self-indulgent fan project we dreamed up in a backyard over some chocolate almonds!

(Not sure who we are or what this project is? Check out our Indiegogo page here!)

We are well aware that given current global events, many people are understandably concerned and/or uncertain about their personal finances, and may not have expendable income to contribute to our crowdfunding campaign while it’s running even if they very much want to own a print copy of To Hell + Back: A Destiel Anthology. With this in mind, we’ve had a handful of extremely thoughtful & generous members of our fandom approach us asking how they might be able to purchase additional copies of the print books through our fundraising campaign, and then have us gift them to fellow fans who are experiencing financial hardship. Amazing, right? We certainly thought so. 

After much careful thought and discussion between ourselves about how best to make this happen while remaining totally committed to both fairness and transparency, we’ve worked a little behind-the-scenes magic and would like to present to you the To Hell + Back Community Book Program (or CBP for short)!

Community Book Program? “What is that?” you ask

Essentially, the Community Book Program has been set up as a special set of perks and add-ons right on our Indiegogo page that will allow people to not only buy Community Books to gift to other cash-strapped fans (that they may not necessarily know personally), but to pay for shipping to them as well by choosing a Community Ship add-on that allows the buyer to select whether that book goes to someone in Canada, in the United States, or somewhere else around the world. The Community Books perks and add-ons will be available for purchase until end-of-day Wednesday May 6th, 2020.

For buyers and donators, there are two different ways to provide Community Books:

Number 1: To access the Community Books perks directly, please go here, select either the one or two book option with the gorgeous black-and-white promo art by @kayrosebee​, click “get this perk”, and proceed to checkout! Once you’ve clicked “continue to payment”, you will then be asked to agree to the Terms of Use, and click “continue to payment” again. The next page that loads is where you can choose add-ons. If you scroll down below the pink Checkout button, you will see a section entitled “Perks you may also like”, and you can select “add perk” for your choice of Canadian, US, or International Community shipping for the books you are donating. Please ensure that you are purchasing adequate shipping for your selected number of books! 

Additionally, please note that in order to check out with option 1, you will be asked to put in your mailing address--don’t worry, we will know to disregard these ones for Community Books when it comes time to ship, and we will be creating unique shipping labels specifically for the lucky recipients. They will not ever see any of your information. Your privacy is paramount to us.

At this add-on stage, you may notice that you have the option to purchase either one or two more additional Community Books, as well as shipping for them. You can purchase up to 4 Community Books total this way, as otherwise Indiegogo will not allow you to check out with multiple regular perks at one time. If you would like to purchase more than 4 CBP books at a time, please contact the mod team directly so that we can assist you with this.

Number 2: If you would like to purchase a perk for yourself but also donate books to the CBP within a single transaction, please go to our Indiegogo page, select the perk you want for yourself, click “continue to payment”, and then follow the instructions above to get to the add-on screen! From there, you will be able to add on either one or two Community books and the corresponding Community Ship option of your choice. Again, please ensure that you are purchasing adequate shipping for your selected number of books! 

If you are one of said cash-strapped fans who would like a chance to get a print copy of the To Hell + Back anthology that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, we strongly encourage you to enter the Community Book draws (US residents link) (Canadian residents link) (International residents link) before Wednesday May 6th 2020! 

Limit of one entry per person please--multiple entries for the same person will be deleted! We will randomly draw names and announce winners on Saturday May 9th, 2020. The number of names selected from each of the 3 draws will be based on the number of Community Books that have been purchased for each of the 3 shipping destinations by the May 6th deadline. If you are the lucky winner of a Community book, we will contact you via email to obtain your shipping information...yay!

Finally, please look below to read a little FAQ we’ve put together that we hope will help answer some of the most common questions we think we will get about the CBP!

Community Book program FAQ: 

Q: Why are the Community Ship options listed as costing $1.00? 

A: For a few reasons--first, because Indiegogo will not allow us to create a perk that costs zero dollars. If we could have, we would have! 

Secondly, we wanted to find a way to make sure the considerable costs of shipping would be covered for Community Books in a manner that would a) not artificially inflate our fundraising total, as shipping costs are calculated separately, and b) not require the person donating to know the name or the address of the person the book will be going to, since they won’t have that information at the time of purchase. The shipping price of the $1.00 perk will be included at checkout.

Q: What if I want to donate a book directly to someone I know and not have them participate in the draw?

A: That is incredibly sweet of you! We recommend that you either:

1. Do a separate transaction: purchase a perk and put in your friend’s address 2. Purchase a perk that includes multiple books, or 3. Purchase a single-book perk for yourself and make use of the “one extra print book” add-on before you complete your purchase. 

Please note that if you choose option 2 or 3, please be aware that all books included in your order will be shipped to your address, and that you will be responsible for any additional shipping costs required to get your donated book to its final destination.

Q: Why can’t I just order a book for my friend and make special arrangements with you guys to ship it to them? 

A: Listen, we totally get how that seems like it would be a simple thing from the outside, but if this anthology project reaches its fundraising goal, we are already about talking 500+ physical books plus merch that our team (who also have full-time jobs! School! Other hobbies! One very cute kid!) will have to sort, pack, label, and ship come October 2020 (fingers crossed!). 

In the best interest of getting our supporters their products in a relatively timely fashion, of our vital need for administrative organization, and of our general sanity, it is very important to us to be able to streamline that process as much as we possibly can. It is our sincere hope that the fewer exceptions we have to handle, the fewer mistakes we will make...and we just want everyone to be happy!

Q: What if I’m looking to donate something in an arrangement/quantity that isn’t covered here? 

A: Please contact us directly to pitch your idea or concern! We are happy to chat, and the worst we will say is, “sorry, no, we can’t do that!” (And then probably say “sorry” three or four more times...have we mentioned that 6 of 8 of us are Canadian?)

Q: What if your anthology doesn’t meet its fundraising goals? Do the CBP draw winners still get books?

A: If To Hell + Back: A Destiel Anthology does not meet its fundraising goals, all money given to the campaign gets refunded directly back to our wonderful supporters, and the print books do not get printed. This means that if that is what happens, then no, unfortunately the draw winners will not receive print books. Nobody will, and we will be sad. That being said, at the time of writing we are already halfway funded! We are very hopeful that our crazy dream of a print anthology will become a reality!

Q: Can I purchase a Community Book without also purchasing Community Shipping?

A: Technically you can, yes. We’d like to strongly encourage you not to do that, and ask you to consider that we want to put these books directly in the hands of as many Dean/Cas fans as possible. Paying for shipping in tandem with the Community Books ensures that we can make that happen, and that more of whatever money is left over after all of the books have shipped and the project’s expenses have been paid can go directly to our charity of choice: WISH Vancouver. If any Community Books end up orphaned (ie, are purchased without shipping), they will likely become part of a giveaway that happens after the fundraiser has closed for good. 

This FAQ may be added to as more questions arise, but in the meantime, your trusty mod @justholdingstill​ has thrown down the gauntlet by purchasing the very first Community Book with International shipping...woo!

[sierrabinondo]

2020

damn my last tumblr post is the last day of woodland creatures, did i not do a 2019 wrap up?? i feel like i did. oh well lmao

so, arguably the most tumultuous year in modern history (at least, american history- all pandemic and political events considered) is about to come to a close. it was very not fun experiencing a pandemic as millions lost their loved ones to covid. i was part of the 20% of people that became unemployed as a result of the economy taking a huge dump. i would not want to experience this same year again if it meant that every life lost could be saved. with the year i was given, i made the best out of it that i could. 

like every other person on this earth (except for where the virus was already spreading), this year started out normal as hell for me. i was hating my job but chugging through each week, with the occasional show to worry about and then planning our band’s 2020 release plans. despite my salaried job, i was barely making enough to put anything away in savings, forthcoming disney trip aside. i really felt like i was putting in all this work at a full time job just to barely stay afloat and it grated at my soul. i don’t dream of labor, and i only take jobs like this because nothing i am passionate about truly makes money and the marketing jobs i would actually care about are never available to me/never come to fruition after submitting myself for consideration. 

disney was a huge highlight of my year despite being deathly sick. i keep wondering if i had covid (i never figured it out), but it sure as hell felt like it. i feel like if i did have it i would have passed it on to jeremiah and his family but i didn’t. i could still kinda taste, but not smell because i had the worst sinus infection i ever had in my entire fucking life. like i know i get them a lot but really, holy shit. i really had it bad. it started when we were in the studio the 2nd to last weekend of february on the last studio day. i had to go back to the studio several months later because i was that unsatisfied with how the vocals came out. i didn’t want to fuck up these releases and have my performance be mid so i was willing to pay to have to re-do everything. i assumed if this was like any other sinus infection, it would go away in a week.

lmao.

i had that infection for THREE WHOLE FUCKING WEEKS. i played a show with that monster sinus infection, and went to disney with it. i went two weeks without meds because i really was convinced it would go away on its own. before we left for disney i finally got antibiotics at urgent care and couldn’t drink most of the trip which sucked. but that finally did the job, and the infection waned when we returned from disney. despite being physically weak, in pain (there was one friday my body pains were so horrible that jeremiah contemplated taking me to the hospital), and leaking snot all over my sleeves the entire trip (LIKE IT WAS THAT UNCONTROLLABLE. I HAD NEVER GONE THROUGH THAT MANY PACKS OF TISSUES IN MY LIFE. I WAS LEAKING SO MUCH I HAD TO LOCATE THE BABY CHANGING STATION IN MAGIC KINGDOM. IT WAS LIKE A SECRET STERILIZED TROVE OF HAND SANITIZER, WIPES, TISSUES AND BABY OIL.) i had an amazing time at disney. and it was my first time going with a significant other so it was incredibly fun. it was also a wonderful opportunity to spend time with his family. the only very not fun part was missing our nephew in the main street parade because some bozos fucked up the info they gave my sister-in-law and we were out walking around when his high school band had actually marched earlier than we thought.

it’s funny, because that weekend after we returned was the last weekend of “freedom” everyone had before lockdown. we were weary of covid while in florida but still living it up on vacation. at that time, there had only been 3 cases in orlando. 3!!!! i had plans to go to a party once home but i cancelled only because i still wasn’t completely out of the woods and 100% well again. i felt so bad cancelling because it was for my friend’s party and she never really did parties usually :( and i thought it wouldn’t be a good idea considering i may or may not have had covid. 

then... the following week came. 

monday we got a weird email from our CEO saying there was going to be salary cuts and that it was essential for the company to survive a downturn. i pouted but my parents consoled me saying it was better than nothing; maybe look for a new job. and then- i got the nothing! a day or two later, i was let go. and i could tell my manager was absolutely not souped to be giving me this call at all. she literally prefaced it like, “this sucks, but-” and gave me the news. and i was utterly devastated, sobbing controllably, because i was just scraping by on this income to begin with. and i had JUST, finally, received health insurance through this job. i was asked to continue working through friday the 20th, which i would be paid for, and then i would have to return my laptop and any other work materials (like printouts and promo stuff) i had possession of. 

that day and the days following i had coworkers calling me or emailing me telling me they were so sorry. i was the first to be let go, and they were kind enough to extend words of encouragement to me. clients i worked closely with, a couple of them around my age, assured me that i could use them as a reference. many of my colleagues were my higher-ups, but were very down-to-earth people. one call that stuck out to me was from my colleague sarah. 

sarah was candid with me and said, “y’know how i was unemployed for 6 months?” i knew this well though we had only worked together for a year and a half; it was an important part of her path to where she was in her career now and why she chose it. she continued, “those were the best 6 months of my life.” 

and i would come to find out that yes, me too being unemployed was the best fucking time of my entire goddamn adult life.

when i posted i was officially unemployed i had an outpouring of support from my friends, and received enough animal crossing commissions to pay one month’s rent. the first day i finally felt peace was when i was sitting on my porch on an abnormally warm march day playing animal crossing following my last day at my company. it was like the universe was giving me a hug and telling me everything was going to be all right.

what would come was a pretty chaotic couple of months. jeremiah, my roommate and i would stay up until 3 am either watching anime or playing video games, subsequently sleeping until 11 am or noon. pair having fun, drinking (mostly me lmao) and lounging about with the scary realization that thousands of people every day were dying of covid and it could be my high-risk parents. i would cry at night and be so fucking scared. my sibling would tell me my family was being reckless, running unnecessary errands, and whenever my dad showed up to drop off food or necessities i would cry because i couldn’t hug him. i’m even getting choked up thinking about it now. and it was a fear that returned during the second spike around the holidays because it is the loss i fear the most.  

amidst this really horrible time, i would play games almost every other night online with my friends and it was so much fucking fun because all of us were either unemployed, furloughed or working from home. we’d laugh so goddamn hard our voices were hoarse. one of my favorite memories is playing quiplash with the creatureposting gang and then my big friends from college. and a really fun night in particular was SIIE release night, i popped a bottle of champagne and got absoluely zonked lmao. every few days i would have something to look forward to, some sort of virtual plans with my friends. this would continue until july when my friends were slowly starting to go back to work.

most of my early quarantine days were as follows: wake up, watch anime, work on commissions for most of the day, order extremely good food for delivery, play video games, and then bed. at one point commissions became so overwhelming i started to get slower at churning them out. though this became a daunting project, WOW it really forced me to become a better artist. and this year i got to spend so much more time drawing, which was fantastic. 

one thing i DID NOT spend a lot of time on at all? ugh. MUSIC. FUCKING MUSIC. i barely touched my guitar, stopped writing lyrics after july, and barely completed the instrumentals for about 3 songs. the only thing i consistently practiced was singing (because i would literally curl up and die if i didn’t). do you have any idea how much i blabbed to my therapist in 2019 about how much i would get done if i didn’t work full time and could just focus on my creative endeavors? and then life HANDED that shit to me on a silver platter the following year. i really did nothing insane musically with my time. and now i am really kicking myself for it. if i think about it, it was mostly because i was so exhausted from doing AC commissions, and partly because i was really intimidated about the prospect of struggling through songwriting. now i really wish that i had tried. 

one thing i started doing this year was streaming. i originally planned to just do it for fun, because i am horrible at video games and i really didn’t expect much out of it. i thought it would be cool if my friends could watch me play animal crossing. and then i unfortunately learned that this 3rd expensive pasttime is actually really, really, really fun. i started to spend half my week streaming and it led me to either getting closer to some online friends i only talked to a lil previously and making new friends. viewers would ask me if i continue to stream after the pandemic was over, and i enthusiastically assured them i would. and i meant it. even with the difficulties of returning to work and the band playing shows again considered, i really wanted to. i don’t get invited to things anymore anyway, so fuck it if that’s what i stand to lose lmao.

when the curve flattened in jersey i decided to become lenient again and start meeting with my bandmates. we spent the year trying to finish some new material and chip away at what work we have to do for the full length (yes, a full length). we had plans to tour this year and it sucks that fell through. we also had plans to do so much more content during the pandemic and we faltered under the stress of... well, existing in a pandemic. we did finally get to drop a new single though, and the difference in hype now vs when we dropped our last work was incredible. i am so thankful we were able to build an audience with nothing new for two years. i still often beat myself up because god every day i look around me, at our peers, and wonder where the fuck we’ve gone wrong to have such a slow build. and even daily just trying to stand out and prove that we have cut our teeth/deserve a chance is so demoralizing. i feel like it’s even worse than before. i literally have to talk to myself out loud, both alone and during interviews lmao, to remind myself that we truly have accomplished so much. and to take in and appreciate the little positive things. because this could all be over in a second. and this won’t be forever. the older we get the more we are risking for this, both time and resources, and it won’t do to let myself get bogged down over my inner competitive voice. but god it’s hard. like even with new music we still didn’t even TOUCH any of the goal numbers we set for ourselves in may. though we did put out less music than we had planned, and we really hope to change that in 2021 forreal. 

there was a single we were supposed to put out this year that’s on hold due to some pending assets but goddamn. if we really don’t break some sort of ceiling with this one i don’t know what will. i have the strongest gut feeling about the next single and in my opinion, it’s the best one we’ve had to date. when we play it at shows, the air in the room sometimes shifts. i’m eager to see what the response is and i’m so ready to push it with everything i have.

fuck this is getting so much longer than i planned i have to try to wrap this up lmao.

with our government stimmy money we turned around and got the dog of our dreams. we figured, i’d be home enough to watch him, and it was finally goddamn time. it’s why we moved into a house and not into another apartment. i was so scared meeting the puppy parents, and totally on edge the entire day. we went out to meet the breeder to test my allergies and see how i would react. samoyeds are not 100% perfectly hypoallergenic, but they were often lauded for being so. honestly? i still didn’t feel confident after two hours with the dogs because the pollen out there was bad (one of my WORST allergies) and i had mysterious hives on my arms i couldn’t figure out where they came from. for months jeremiah and my parents had to calm my nerves and remind me i lived with 3 cats before i moved out (i’m more allergic to cats) and that i would be fine. i had to do a lot of work on myself to get out of my own way about being excited about finally owning the dog of my dreams.  

this little fucking boy. i couldn’t believe he was real. neither in the pictures i often looked at about 20 times a day on the breeder’s facebook page nor when we went to meet him. and he was truly, truly perfect. our little shithead. when we went to go pick him out, he sat apart from his puppy pile of brothers, sniffing around the room and trying to rip off his ribbon collar. we locked eyes and he fuCKING APPROACHED ME. i could not fathom any other puppy in the room being brawly. this was the one. we could already tell he was a mischevious smartass, because once he untied his ribbon he proceeded to rip off the ribbons of all the other puppies. but he was the cutest, flopping over on his back when you were near to get belly rubs. 

ever since we have picked him up he has simultaneously been the biggest joy in our lives and the most source of stress lmao. that first week, and the next couple, werE FUCKING ROUGH.  i had a horrible anxiety attack when i couldn’t calm him for bedtime the first saturday he was home and i was loudly sobbing to jeremiah that i couldn’t handle this shit lmao. he was so scared i was having regrets but i am just a fucking anxious wreck and not used to having a DOG!! this is my first dog!!! but while i can remember what life was like before him i cannot imagine going back. the first time he got sick and we took him to the emergency vet i cried so hard. when he is wagging his tail happy to see me and he looks like a fuckin seal because his ears are folded back it is the best feeling. i’m so excited for when he gets older and we’re vaccinated for covid so that we can take him on so many adventures. he is truly the best.

there is so much more i want to say but this is long as shit. this is even painful for me to read lmao. it’s always been for me, a guy with dogshit memory, to remember everything, but so, so much happened. so i’m gonna wrap up the real descriptive stuff with this.

being unemployed allowed me to just experience life. to wake up each day, enjoy the sun in my backyard, have time to try new recipes, go for long walks, GET A DOG, get better at art, get better at singing, spend more time with friends (virtually), bond even harder with my amazing, beautiful boyfriend, create amazing work with my bandmates, improve at video games, connect with people all over the world, and so much more. all my life i let money dictate my every move. i am insanely privileged to have experienced this but when i had to just live within my means off unemployment i did just fine. i once believed i was perpetually indebted to my employer when i was discarded like it was nothing. i can get a job anywhere and be fine. it strengthened my class consciousness and while i have control over my own destiny it is our country that has so royally screwed us of living the lives we should be living. our lives do not revolve around labor. so until we win the fight and get what we deserve, i will be returning to work next month (full time... in commercial real estate.... again), but i will do whatever it takes to replicate the everlasting feeling of joy i felt this year for the rest of my godforsaken life. if that means struggling for 2021 to build up my twitch channel and the band, working 9 hour days and then streaming/writing music for another 4, so be it. i felt from a young age i was not destined to live a normal life and that feeling has stayed with me no matter how much i have tried to play the game of life as i have been told. i finally have the confidence to pave the life i want.

so, if you are here at this very spot because you read everything, thank you. if you are here because you scrolled to see how long this was, here’s the TLDR of my best parts of 2020:

- tapping out cover

- the 2 shows we played lmao, maybe 3 tops

- disneyworld

- ACNH outside on the porch on release day in warm weather

- making banana bread

- learning how to BRINE meats

- watching anime until 3 am, namely the time we watched pokemon journeys until 3 am 

-watching so. much. anime. 

-watching livestream concerts with my friends (the chon one was a real good time)

-playing jackbox with my creatureposting friends, the volcano saga (if u know u know)

-playing jackbox with my big friends

-the first time we ever had panchos and juanchos

-finally having sushi again after painful cravings and being grumpy

-the first time we had chinese food again after the lockdown began

-hitting the punching bag for the first time in forever (my dad bought me one)

-the first time we had ramen in forever

-surprising joe with cake at his doorstep for his birthday (we thought he would be the only one with a pandemic birthday lmao)

-playing monopoly and wheel of fortune on the switch, surprisingly having fun

-jeremiah’s birthday

-getting PAID for my ART

-writing + recording ONE (1) acoustic demo

-finally finishing the singles, fixing the vocals 

-shooting band promos

-unus annus

-meeting samoyeds

-meeting BRAWLY

-streaming except for the times 13 year olds cyberbullied me

-my birthday when my mom got me a terrifying singing birthday candle contraption and my sibling curbstomped the shit out of it (i was literally crying laughing like that kind of noiseless laugh cause you’re laughing that hard)

- getting the stamp of approval from andrew wells and anthony green 

-my friends having their first baby!!!

-dying from thanksgiving charceuterie board

-that week i binged ghibli movies on an hbo max trial and did nothing else

-filling the front porch with plants and most of them SURVIVING the fall, possibly winter but we’ll see in 2021 lmao

- (in general) nailing riffs i fucking sing over and over when practicing but prob won’t get down good enough to sing in front of others lmao

-solo inflatable pool hangs

-thursdays with sarah in the fall playing with the puppy

-the release of the first WSA single in two and a half years

-virtual movie night with sarah watching happiest season

-the music video shoots

-brawly experiencing CHRISTMAS

-receiving really thoughtful gifts from jerry and my parents

-deciding i would work towards being a full time streamer to supplement being a musician

[landlordrecords]

Bassline (& 2020 in general): Re-e-wind

 What a strange year, as everyone, everywhere has said a million times… Writing-wise, I’d been doing Record Collector magazine since 2014, and uDiscover (the Universal Records online mag) for not much less, & that all just seemed to (understandably) stop dead with the onset of the pandemic. Since then, I’ve polished off my chapter on the work of Simon Morris and the Ceramic Hobs for Palgrave, & that’s about it, so you’re more likely to find me over on Twitter at Sniffy (@philblackpool) / Twitter these days, blurting out the odd sentence. I hence thought it might be time to revisit a very old piece…

Like many, I’ve been working from home for much of the year, and although I’ve occasionally wanted to pull out my own eyeballs, it has generally been very pleasant for a voracious music-lover. I started by catching up on the vast majority of my insane, years-deep second-hand vinyl buy piles, and then chomped through a load of ‘long listen’ stuff I’d had on the backburner forever (including, astonishingly, eventually getting through something like 40 hours of Pan Sonic live sets someone had dumped online). I graded hundreds of releases for sale on Discogs, and revisited umpteen musical thangs extensively, including 90s gabba, Sun Ra, music hall, Schoenberg, dancehall reggae, the acknowledged worst albums ever, happy hardcore, Italian house, bounce and makina (I’ve lost track of how much time I’ve spent checking out youtubes to try to identify a couple of most-wanted bounce and makina tunes), Britpop (!), cosmic disco, and Belgian popcorn. It’s been an extraordinary year, packed with cultural discovery and rediscovery. In amongst this, in no way ashamed of my abject love of Discogs, and already having used and edited it for many years, I read the entire guidelines and decided to go hard on sorting out stuff I care about on there. Seeing they’d finally added various more recent ‘styles’, I’ve spent the last month and a half doing a ridiculous amount of edits on a dozen or so niche genres of importance in recent times (footwork, Jersey Club, yadda yadda). My tweakings around Bassline and UK Funky eventually drew me to the attention of UK Garage legend Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown, a fellow Discogs obsessive not so keen on the editing side of the site, who wondered if I might give him a hand sorting out the mess of his own and his label’s (2Tuf 4U) discographies. His entertaining phonecalls were enough to convince me.

I dug out all my stuff related to Karl’s label to listen to along the way, and found myself noticing how much UKG has been back in the spotlight of late (key, and brilliant, article here: RA: Like A Battle: The Push For UK Garage's Future (residentadvisor.net) ). While by no means unaware of this (I’ve had some lovely promos from Kiwi and the like of late, plus some moodier bits from various El-B worshippers), my status as a confirmed middle-aged semi-retired raver had hidden much of this from me. This leads me onto one of my big philosophical points of recent years: I listened to dance music avidly before I ever went out dancing, and listen to it now in lockdown, and in semi-retirement. There is far too much an emphasis among ever-rejuvenating dance music correspondents on ‘the club’ as the only way to enjoy dance music, but we know that OG disco fans are 60+ and unlikely to be out every weekend these days – is their experience now worthless? Online fans talk up their love of dance music for exercise soundtracks, bedtime calming soundtracks, etc: this is reality. Dance music is as valid to all these people as rock is to people who haven’t been to a gig in 40 years.

The style I felt myself most drawn back to was bassline (largely via Karl’s low-key issue of some DJ Q material). My love of UK Garage and all its offshoots largely stems from how physically removed I have been from it from virtually its entire history. Only my 2000-03 stint in Essex perfectly matched the garage waveform, and that was the 2-step era, quite the opposite of bassline. Despite being largely a northern phenomenon, Blackpool is largely untouched by bassline, being all about punk and bounce to my mind. An instant love for me circa 2007, bassline feels like one of those genres with unfinished business, but remains one I’ve rarely danced to. Cut off in its prime, it is now back, enormously popular, and rightly so, but, due to the vagaries of the digital music world, some of its key material remains tough to access in any decent form.

I originally wrote the piece I have butchered for this one in March 2008, on Myspace (remember that), in reaction to the exciting waves of bassline and UK funky then reinvigorating the world of UKG. It looks a bit embarrassing now, with more writing experience, although I continue to applaud my own willingness to be open about my innocent appreciation of things I love but am not truly part of.

 The most notable misstep in my original piece was the presumption that bassline would become the latest enormous chart sensation. Like happy hardcore before it, the ball was, in reality, fumbled. Instead of hoped-for freaky innovation, the producers also opted, as many in years gone by, for smoothed-out commerciality (in unholy alliance with low-grade grime crossovers), although the main adversarial issues seem to have been police crackdowns and the London-centric ‘cool police’. Although I was long aware of such problems with Niche in Sheffield (the genre’s spiritual home), it appears that the police interference had a devastating effect across the board ( Banned From Sheffield: How Jamie Duggan fought for bassline… And won (ukf.com) ). This largely explains why many of the bassline producers gravitated towards the largely wack bass house/house & bass style so beloved of teenyboppers in recent years. Thank heavens that era is now largely over.

Niche reputedly specialised in an arguably unholy mixture of dated late 90s speed garage and ‘bassline house’ (think ‘Let Me Show You’ by Camisra, and MK’s ‘organ house’), way past their sell-by date (I still only really like a handful of Shaun Banger Scott bits in this style, one single 2009 Brummie CD EP, and one Virgo remix). Ultimately, though, this experiment unexpectedly created something magical. The crucial element here is the 4/4 beat. While undoubtedly skippy, the vast majority of the material favoured had a firm 4/4 beat, always favoured across all key scenes in the north of England from northern soul onwards. When they ran out of tunes to rinse, in time-honoured fashion, they made their own. Long, rumbling walls of bass, organs, and hoppy-skippy beats, with raggafied samples and gunshots over the top. Popular in Birmingham as well (pretty much the centre of a vinyl glut at the time, and now notable in the popularity of DJs such as Chris Lorenzo and Hannah Wants), B-side titles hinted of coke overload. Disenfranchised by London’s movement away from the holy 4/4 (despite a slight revival in the early noughties), and via messenger services and the like, northern producers began to exchange a new hybrid in the mid-00s which took these speed garage and bassline house influences and updated them with current R’n’B bootlegs, with influences from grime (regional grime producers were key here) and, most notably, with rococo basslines. Its most obvious comparison point was Sticky’s garage productions, concurrent with the early grime era. Southern producers such as Agent X, Delinquent (who featured Gemma Fox on their magical 2006 ‘Boxers’), and Dexplicit (Fox again, 2005’s ‘Might Be’) ran with that, and the north lapped it up. Key early pointers also included DJ Narrows’ superb 2001 4/4 tune ‘Saved Soul’, and early 00s DND work (Artwork, later part of dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man). A notable increase in output came in 2006, and 2007-9 were the genre’s original glory years. And the bulk of producers and up-&-comings delivering serious anthems to the scene came not from London and the south-east, but from Leeds (T2, Wittyboy, Nastee Boi), Bradford (TS7), Manchester (Murkz, Burgaboy, Subzero), Nottingham (Virgo, IllMana), Leicester (JTJ, H20, FB & Zibba), and Wolverhampton (EJ, TRC, Brett Maverick). EJ’s Ejucation mix series (all up on Soundcloud) is a good place to start, beginning as the bassline house began to be overtaken by the pure bassline numbers.

Distribution for serious UK garage music has often been woeful, with only high street compilations & the chart singles (‘Heartbroken’ by T2, ‘What’s It Gonna Be’ by H20, etc) making it all over the country, and this helped stymie the true development of bassline, although vinyl prices, dreadful video promos, and the leap to digital in some ways didn’t help. Years on, as an incorrigible vinyl fanatic, I still only have handful of bassline 12”s. Yes, you can now access this stuff the world over via Youtube etc, but decent, high-quality copies of full-length tunes (they are often hacked about to great effect, but in a way which obscures the original intentions, in the mix) are not always the easiest to come by, although the classic producers are increasingly putting out digital compilations of their original work. Material that would, for previous genres, be fiended after, is lost to being just more online links. At the time, I looked high and low for 12”s, succeeding only rarely, largely on the flip of UK Funky releases. The (mixtape) audience, going by comments online, were often extremely young, are probably now still only in their mid-twenties, and are seemingly happy enough with this chaotic model. Bassline originally, as all rave genres, largely ran off mixtape boxsets, and a 2007 ‘Pure Bass – Fantasy’ box from Stoke remains my key document of that era: seven bassline CDs, with many tracks repeated, but packed to the gills, with most tracks only lasting a minute or two in the mix. As with all rave mixes, it has taken me years to suss the majority of the track IDs. In the Resident Advisor piece linked above, DJ Q (from Huddersfield) talks about thousands of lost bassline tunes, the bad side of the digital revolution. My recent Discogs ferreting suggests more bassline tunes than one might imagine did make some sort of decent release, but too many only made white labels, promo CDs for commercial releases (before being snipped from the main release), mix CDRs, or Youtube’s grainy depths. Classics such as TS7 featuring Bianca’s ‘Seems Like’ appear to never have had any decent release whatsoever, despite TS7 going on to be a big name in bass-oriented house, and Bianca Gerald having kept at the vocal turns ever since.

T2 hit biggest, with ‘Heartbroken’, a gorgeous, smashed-vocal garage dub so popular that it even inspired a Jersey Club refix. His catalogue was immediately deep, although I get the impression he has stopped adding to it. One complaint about bassline, including some of the T2 work, regards the untutored vocals, which can sometimes be rather flat, and certainly lacking in dynamics compared to the dazzling US vocalists featured on some earlier UK garage pieces (I refer here, as always, to TJ Cases’ remarkable ‘Do It Again’). I kinda like that - it shows amateur enthusiasm not far removed from punk, and most obviously links to lover’s rock, as does the production at times: it gives a feeling of melancholy entirely suited to the vocals. Other bassline heroes include TS7, who briefly brought to the fore sassy female garage MC T Dot. His productions also include ‘Smile’, one of my very favourite bassline tracks, full of that Simon Reynolds-quoted 'weird energy’ possessed by DJ Hype & co in the early nineties. Male bassline vocalists such as Ideal also remain unfairly forgotten, although some of the female vocalists have gone on to work in related genres since bassline’s peak.

Paleface, an ex-member of London garage rap crew Stonecold GX, runs Northern Line Records (FB, TRC, Wittyboy, Nastee Boi), something of a quality mark for bassline productions, while also making highly successful UK Funky tunes as part of Crazy Cousinz, and later progressing into commercial house territory. He chronicled much of bassline’s high-water mark (including being married to Kyla, since sampled by Drake). Wolverhampton-based Northern Line signing TRC proved particularly adaptable, spewing out a legion of original tunes and remixes before retreating for a while to grime. Leeds’ Nastee Boi was a favourite of mine at the time, with his pitch-black gangsta bassline tunes, but pushed on towards a mixture of underwhelming R’n’B vocal cuts and nursery grime toons. Wittyboy started similarly punishingly but also went smoother, unbalancing the classic bassline rough and smooth combination.

Now that the dubiously poisonous rep of Niche has been dispatched, the key bassline acts have returned to their key battleground, and the genre seems in full throttle again. Much of the new material seems a little one-dimensional to me: producers invariably big up Bristol’s My Nu Leng as, I suppose, a bridge from bro-step to 4/4. Everything, as acknowledged by the DJs, is huge drops and nothing much else. It still sounds pretty hot though – not the updated lover’s rock of a decade ago, but worth supporting. Bassline is NOT finished!

[twoscoopsblog]

The Walking Dead vs. Godzilla

So I preface this with the fact that I know I am a small fry in the Magic community - my words do not carry the weight or power of the Sheldons, Shivams or Professors out there. But I still have thoughts, and I will share them.

The Godzilla promos were fine, but under distributed. I didn’t want to have to buy Collector’s Boosters to get them - they should have been in normal boosters alongside the comic book art cards. But they were available in a way people could get them without completely breaking the bank.

The Secret Lairs I was more concerned about - they felt far more predatory. They were a whale hunting microtransaction, but not micro. They were “buy a set of basics with Godzilla on them for $30.” 

Then the one with the Fetchlands came out. Hundreds of dollars for five pieces of print-to-demand cardboard, the same cardboard I could get in a pack of 15 for $4 at Rite Aid or $3.50 at a FLGS. It is created scarcity, but not. But it was still just “alt-art” so it was a vanity piece. A skin. It was a hat in TF2. It was fine. I didn’t like it but it was fine. The same kind of fine you hear after having too many daiquiris are Applebee’s and your partner is embarrassed. 

Then the other Fetchlands reprints were all Showcase/Expedition style cards. And it wasn’t fine or fine anymore, it was frustrating. Two “reprints” in 2020 were just... what? Limited runs? At rarities higher than Mythic? It’s infuriating. A 1/3 chance that a BOX would have one of them. That’s insulting. At least a box will have an average of 4 mythics. But there were in the wild in all markets. Sure.

Now we have limited run, mechanically unique cards with no indicator that there will be Magic-lore versions of them (except the Walker token, that’s just a zombie, ignore it, that one’s fine). This isn’t a vanity piece. This is a game where part of the appeal is anyone can buy a pack, rip it, and get a piece for a game that will change their whole strategy, that can change their chances. And these cards are a bigger problem than the Buy a Box promos - They are a limited run, potentially pay to win DLC for the game. And in a way that cuts out small business owners almost entirely. This game relies on game stores to live and thrive as it has - without them, the only tournaments are online and at conventions, which isn’t enough to keep a community running. And this kind of product that not only circumvents the FLGS, but also locks out players entirely, makes it feel like Magic is becoming a luxury few can afford. 

I can easily see why so many people are angry. I’m angry. The consumer is being treated like a farm animal, and not like a guest. It feels like its a similar energy to the type of decision that leads to company towns and the like. This is going to make Magic even more of a Pay to Win game. There were a few LoadingReadyRun sketeches, the Common Miners. Ian’s character sings a rendition of 16 Tons in it, but replaces “company store” with “local game store.”  This Secret Lair can open the floodgates to us just owing our souls to Hasbro instead.  

[searchingwardrobes]

Self-Promo Sunday: We Could Run Away

Summary: What if killing Zelena was Dark Swan's plan B? What if this was plan A . . .

* This takes place right after everyone wakes up at Granny's without their memories at the end of 5x1.

* I am assuming that whoever casts a dark curse can still leave town since Regina had to do so in order to adopt Henry. I am also making the assumption, based on zero evidence, that said caster of the curse can take anyone with them over the town line. Just go with me here . . .

*Lyrics from the song of the same name by needtobreathe

Rating: G

Words: A little over 1k

On Ao3 until Sunday, January 26th, 2020

Tagging the usuals: @snowbellewells​ @whimsicallyenchantedrose​ @kmomof4​ @distant-rose​ @let-it-raines​ @winterbaby89​ @jennjenn615​ @welllpthisishappening​ @wellhellotragic​ @stahlop​ @resident-of-storybrooke​ @spartanguard​ @scientificapricot​ @shireness-says​ @carpedzem​ @delirious-latenight-laughs​ @thislassishooked​ @xhookswenchx​ @hollyethecurious​ @nikkiemms​ @ohmakemeahercules​ @tiganasummertree​ @bethacaciakay​ @optomisticgirl​ @profdanglaisstuff​ @snidgetsafan​ 

Everything stops as we look towards the clock It feels like we're moving backwards It's easy to find potential in before But we look the same in the afters

Could we wait long enough to bide my time Could we stay and say enough to change my mind

We could run away Maybe we could change Get back on our feet and then Maybe make it home again We could run away Be on our own again Maybe in the twilight We can break out Buy ourselves a Cadillac Never turn around We could run away Be on our own again

 Killian descended the steps to the captain’s quarters of the Jolly Roger with slow and heavy movements. Only when he stood there, in the middle of a room he could navigate in his sleep, did he realize the way he was dressed. He ran his hand over the long, leather duster and marveled at the craftsmanship. This was far different from the duster he had worn for so long, the duster Emma knew from Neverland. No. This was positively a work of art. As was the red brocade vest beneath.

Yet the fine clothing only served as a reminder of their epic failure in Camelot. Whatever moments led to Killian procuring such rich garments were lost to him. As Emma was lost to him.

He strode to the chest on the other side of the room as he shrugged out of the long coat, leaving it in a heap upon the floor. He didn’t keep many things on the Jolly anymore, preferring his room at Granny’s or sometimes the loft. Because both were closer to his Emma.

His Emma. He sighed deeply as he removed a simple, long sleeved black shirt from the chest and held it to his face. It smelled of her. She wore this the night he got his ship back; after they had made love right here in this room. He could remember her face so clearly as she buttoned it up, telling him she was heading to the galley for some rum. It was flushed from their activities, and her eyes were bright, her smile playful. Her hair had been a glorious mess from his hand threading through it.

Killian realized he was sitting on the edge of the bed, lost in thought. He looked down at the shirt in his hand. What had he been doing? Ah, yes, he was going to get out of these accursed clothes from their failed mission. He was just beginning to undue the buttons on his vest when smoke filled the room. He started up, raising his hook in a defensive posture.

When the smoke cleared, Emma stood there. Yet her sudden appearance in his chamber wasn’t the most startling thing. It was the teenage boy cradled in her arms.

“Hello, Killian,” she said in that cold, detached voice of the Dark Swan. He could only stand there agape as she walked past him and gently laid Henry upon his bed. She leaned over the lad, and in a motherly gesture that clashed with her severe appearance, brushed the hair from his forehead.

“Swan,” Killian finally sputtered, “wh-what are you doing?”

She whirled to face him as she stood, a smile draped across her face. It was almost Emma’s smile. Almost.

“Pack your bags, Killian,” she told him eagerly, grasping both his hand and hook, “we’re going to get out of here!”

He shook his head, taking a step backwards in confusion. “There’s a curse on the town line.”

“Not for you,” she assured him, wrapping her arms around his waist, “not for us.”

Killian narrowed his eyes as he searched her face. She was hiding something. “Why can we leave when no one else can?”

A veil shadowed her face as she leaned away slightly. She gave him a smile that he guessed was supposed to be seductive as she ran her hands down his biceps. “Just trust me, okay?” They locked eyes for a long moment. Finally, she lifted his hook and pressed it to her breast. “We can run away. You, me, and Henry. Start a whole new life.”

“And just forget everyone here? Your parents? Our friends?”

“Don’t you see?” Emma pressed, and her eyes softened slightly with tears. “There’s no magic out there. No Dark Ones.”

Killian shook his head. “You can’t just forget that you’re a Dark One.”

Emma lowered her gaze, and muttered, “You’d be surprised.”

He shook her slightly, forcing her to look him in the eye. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The Dark Swan took over again, and the smile that filled her face sent an icy shudder down his spine. “I just mean we’ll have new memories.” She lifted three tiny vials. “A new life. A happy life. Just like Regina gave me and Henry when we escaped Pan’s curse.”

Killian tore his gaze from Emma’s face and stepped closer to the bed. He gazed down at Henry, and not for the first time, thought of how much he looked like Bae. Emma came to his side and pressed her palm to his chest, yet he didn’t lift his gaze from Henry’s unconscious form.

“Just think,” she whispered in his ear, like a siren upon the waves, “you can finally do what you and Milah wanted all those years ago. We can be a family.” She eased up closer on her tiptoes. “He’ll be your son. Your real son.”

Killian turned to her then, eyes flashing, jaw clenching, “But it wouldn’t be real.” Killian pointed an accusing finger at the boy lying there, oblivious. “Why is he out, Swan? Did you even ask him? And Regina? What about her? You would tear that boy away from her again?”

Emma’s eyes flashed and the Dark Swan took over completely. “She had him for ten years, Killian, it’s my turn now!”

Killian dropped his arm in defeat and tears welled in his eyes. “You didn’t ask Henry, and you’re not really asking me, are you? Do we even have a choice? Dark One?”

He thought he saw fear flit for a moment across her face as her eyes widened and she took a step back. “That’s the worse sin I could commit, isn’t it?” she asked him in a choked voice. “Take away your choice?”

He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “You know it is.”

A single tear slipped down her cheek before she shrugged. “Fine. It’s plan B, then.”

“Plan B?” But before the words were even out of his mouth, she and Henry were both gone.

He lay down upon his bed, bone weary and emotionally spent, yet sleep refused to come. He longed for it, yet it lay just beyond his grasp. So he tossed and turned, Emma’s words playing on a loop in his head. He wondered what plan B was, but mostly he remembered her cryptic response to him.

You can’t just forget that you’re a Dark One.

You’d be surprised.

We could stay here where things became unclear Fighting what's left of the right way But everyone hates the chances that we waste Under the light of the new day

Could we wait long enough to bide my time Could we stay and say enough to change my mind

We could run away Maybe we could change Get back on our feet and then Maybe make it home again We could run away Be on our own again Maybe in the twilight We can break out Buy ourselves a Cadillac Never turn around We could run away Be on our own again

[over30hormone3]

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[ofruins]

CREDITS

my icon border was commissioned from venuscommissions !   (  UPDATE: AS OF JANUARY 2020, THE ICON BORDER I’M USING COMES FROM ARTEMISPSDS BECAUSE MY REGULAR COMPUTER IS IN THE SHOP, AND, THEREFORE, I DON’T HAVE MY NORMAL RESOURCES.  ) 

unless otherwise stated, the psds i use come from either venuscommissons or plutocommissons;  the answered ask / headcanon / meta banner i use comes from interstellarresource;  the template i use for my mobile header and page headers comes from bleuberrymilk;  the template for my permanent starter call / character headers is part of template pack four by daria-morgendorffers;  the credit for the blog theme i’m using is in the bottom right hand corner of the blog;  and, finally, i will always credit the maker of my promo templates on the posts.

FOLLOWING

i’m a highly selective follower. i like my dash to be clean and uncluttered, so if i don’t follow you back right away or at all, please don’t take any offense. i also do not follow back personal / non -  rp blogs. if i do follow you, however, whether i follow you first or you follow me first, it’s because i want to write with you ! 

SHIPPPING

i’m the world’s biggest multishipper. i ship almost everything. whether it’s canon, or crossover, or canon x oc, you can bet that i ship it. however, while i’m willing to try out almost any ship with anyone, there has to be chemistry to keep me interested. and not just chemistry between the characters, but chemistry between us, as writers, as well. it’s hard to ship with someone who your writing doesn’t flow with.

INTERACTING

i am mutuals only when it comes to roleplaying, but anyone is welcome to send me a meme. if i don’t follow you back, but you still would like to interact with me, then send me memes !  if we develop a relationship between our characters through ask prompts, then the chance of me following you back goes way up. and, sometimes, i haven’t followed back because i’m a little spacey and didn’t even notice you started following me, so sending in a meme is a great way to give me a little nudge. also, i’m willing to write one - liners to novella and anything in between. the more you give me to work with, the longer my replies will get. as far as formatting goes, i write < small >< sub > with some bolding and italic here and there, nothing too special. if you have a hard time seeing the < small >< sub > text, please let me know and i’ll change to whatever you’re most comfortable with !

p.s. if you’re wondering whether or not it’s okay to write a pre established relationship between our characters, the answer is yes. as long as we’re mutuals. i tend to prefer pre established relationships because it gets the awkwardness of first meetings out of the way. and we can always go back and write how our characters met at any time once we’ve developed their relationship more.

MEMES

speaking of memes, i love them !  send them all !  if i don’t answer right away, though, don’t worry. i like to hoard memes like a dragon hoards gold. i promise that i will get to your meme as soon as the inspiration strikes. this goes for replies as well, but i don’t force myself to write something if the muse just isn’t there. i’ll just tuck it in my drafts for later and respond to it when i do have the muse for it. if you’re wondering if i got a certain meme, feel free to ask. also, if you’d like to turn a meme into a thread, please go ahead !  i find it’s the easiest and most stress free way to start interacting, so i love it when you do this.

i don't practice reblog karma and i don't mind you reblogging memes from me. so, you have my permission to reblog as many memes as you'd like from my blog. however, it would be nice to be sent one or two if you're going to reblog a lot because then it makes me feel like all i'm good for is a meme source. just be considerate is all i ask !

NSFW  &  TRIGGERS

i am almost twenty five years old, nsfw will appear on this blog. this includes: smut, death, gore, and any manner of disturbing scenes. i have exactly one trigger  ( needles — please tag them or i’ll have to unfollow ! )  so i’m up for writing almost anything. i used to be shy and bashful when it came to writing smut, but now i’m kind of like /shrugs !  so, if you want to send in a smutty meme, go ahead*. just as long as we’re mutuals, i’m up for writing smutty scenes with you. but i also double and triple check your rules to see how comfortable you are when it comes to smut, and then i take that into consideration before i respond to a nsfw meme because i want you to be happy and comfortable. also, when it comes to triggers, i tag anything i can think of with “__ tw” but if there’s something i haven’t tagged properly, or something you would like me to start tagging, please let me know so i can do so.

*it's important to know that m/m smut if off limits for me. i'm just not comfortable writing it yet, so while i will write m/m ships of all sorts, smut isn't going to happen for them.

PLOTTING

i’ll be straight forward and honest, i prefer free styling things to plotting them out, but this doesn’t mean i won’t plot. every now and then, i’ll reblog plotting calls, but you don’t have to wait for one of those to plot with me !  if you have an idea for a plot, or would like to brainstorm a plot with me, come at me. but keep my shyness / anxiety in mind. i'll tell you about my anxiety surrounding ims in a bit.

OFF LIMITS

this should go without saying, but don't godmode. i don't have any "banned" faceclaims, but i'm less likely to take your character seriously if your fc is a musician or someone from youtube / a reality show. i know i shouldn't, but i, like all people, can be shallow and judgy at times. but, overall, there isn't much i won't write or allow except for mpreg. it seriously creeps me out. if you want our m/m ship to start a family, i'd probably love that !  but they'll do it through a surrogate or adoption or a magical baby appearing on their doorstep.

OUT OF CHARACTER

hi, my name is jordan. i identify as female and use she / her pronouns.

it’s important to note that i suffer from extreme shyness, as well as a handful of mental illnesses  ( bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety )  so it can be hard for me to interact with people ooc. plotting, for example, can be a real challenge for me. ims terrify me; they make my anxiety jump through the roof. sometimes, i can be im'ing with a person and be absolutely fine, and then for no apparent reason, my anxiety takes hold and i can’t bring myself to open the ims. this can last for a few days at a time. please, don’t think i’m ignoring you if i haven’t responding to your im in a day or two. it’s not you, i promise ! 

if you need to reach me right away for any reason, please go through the ask box. the reason it’s easier for me to respond through the ask over ims is because i can see a preview of what you’ve said in the ask on my dashboard, whereas i have no idea what you’ve said through the ims. i know, it sounds dumb and ridiculous, but that’s just how my brain works.

now, thank you for reading all of this and i’d love to be friends !

[tinygiantrobotsinouterspace]

SOMEONE GET ME ONE OF THESE.

YEAH.

THAT'S AMANO ART.

ON A MAGIC CARD.

AND IT'S LILIANA.

I. NEED. IT.

Edit: official stats on availability are half the packs in a box in the Japanese market, and a 1 in 4 chance of being in a Promo Pack once 2020 rolls around.

I might try and order a box of Japanese War just to see...

[mtg-realm]

Magic: the Gathering - Core Set 2020 Bundle Unpack

Core Set 2020 Bundle Contents: • 10 Core Set 2020 booster packs • 20 foil land pack • 20 regular land pack • 2 reference cards • 1 foil promo card • 1 oversized Spindown life counter • 1 reusable card storage box

Pulls :: Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, Lotus Field and some other stuff.

The foil lands and promo Chandra’s Regulator is very lovely, but call me sentimental that the new Bundle DOES NOT include a Player's Guide with the visual encyclopedia.

[builderskilop]

Mtgprice protrader promo code

MTGPRICE PROTRADER PROMO CODE PRO

MTGPRICE PROTRADER PROMO CODE CODE

MTGPRICE PROTRADER PROMO CODE FREE

Therefore, you can only redeem them once, and we cannot provide them here. Keep in mind that these codes are unique. Let’s take a look at each type of product to see exactly which ones contain a code. The following types of products usually include a code: However, be careful as not all products have MTG Arena redeem codes.

MTGPRICE PROTRADER PROMO CODE CODE

Some MTG products also come with a code which you can redeem on Arena. Currently, there’s one such code available: CODE While this doesn’t happen very often, it’s that more important to redeem these codes before they expire.

MTGPRICE PROTRADER PROMO CODE FREE

Sometimes we get codes that reward various free items. Currently, there’s one XP-only code available. (Experience points progress your mastery level.) You can also get them by using the MTGA code below. Experience CodesĪs you might know, you get experience points from quests and from your weekly wins. You can find the exact Dominaria United release time on Arena here. ** The code will become available, once Dominaria United comes out on Arena. So give it a try if you didn’t use it yet. However, it still worked on August 11th, 2022. * This code was supposed to expire on July 1st, 2020. You won’t be able to enter the code directly in the app, instead you’ll have to go to the website. On the mobile version on MTG Arena, the process is a bit different. If you get a Redeem Code Failure message, this either means that you have mistyped the code or that the code has expired. If a code doesn’t work, try using all uppercase letters. You should correctly use uppercase and lowercase. In the top right corner, you’ll see Redeem Code window.On the home screen, click Store on the top bar.You can use the code StickTogether to get 3,000 XP and 1,000 Gold. NEWEST MTGA CODE: We want to highlight the newest code. Be sure to check back regularly for new MTG Arena promo codes! You’ll find all currently active codes below. That’s why we compiled them all in this article. Sometimes it can be hard to find all available free MTG Arena codes in one place. Fear ($0.MTG Arena codes are the best way to get tons of free booster packs, cards, experience points and of course, some awesome cosmetics.Almost-Forgotten Realms | MTGPrice Blog.

MTGPRICE PROTRADER PROMO CODE PRO

Unlocked Pro Trader: Hello There | MTGPrice Blog.

Unlocked Pro Trader: Future Bulk All-Stars | MTGPrice Blog.

Primevals' Glorious Rebirth ($4.74) Price History from major stores.

Gilt-Leaf Palace ($3.55) Price History from major stores - Mystery.

Hinata, Dawn-Crowned (Extended Art) - $0.62.

Invoke Despair (Promo) ($0.00) Price History from major stores.

Invoke Justice (Showcase) ($0.42) Price History from major stores.

Monk Realist ($0.12) Price History from major stores - Commander.

Hidetsugu Consumes All // Vessel of the All-Consuming ….

Black Lotus ($155744.81) Price History from major stores.

MTG Card Price Tracker - Top gains/ losses for past day ….

MTGPrice Blog | MAGIC: THE GATHERING FINANCE ….

Magic the Gathering Card Prices for all MTG Magic sets.

- Magic: the Gathering value and price ….

address : Array,Mountain View,CA,94043,US.

desc : Please note that the recommended way to file abuse complaints are located in the following links.,To report abuse and illegal activity: legal requests: Google Team.

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[trustarrow]

Magic arena quick draft schedule

Magic arena quick draft schedule update#

Magic arena quick draft schedule Patch#

Magic arena quick draft schedule full#

Magic arena quick draft schedule code#

Magic arena quick draft schedule plus#

These codes can be acquired by purchasing a physical product or attending a paper Magic related event.

Magic arena quick draft schedule update#

These codes have either expired or do not work for other reasons anymore:Ģ000 Gold, 2000 XP, rare/mythic ICRs, cosmetics (all random)Ĭore Set 2020 Set Mastery nearing its end įree this is a compensation for players who already completed the NPE before the update on March 27, 2019 In preparation for Baldur's Gate Alchemy Horizons specialize mechanics, zooming in on a card (right-click) will. May 3-5: Streets of New Capenna Quick Draft May 10-12: Standard May 17-19: Artisan May 24-26: On the Edge May 31-June 2: Historic Pauper Quick Draft.

Magic arena quick draft schedule full#

Double Masters 2022 (2X2) support: Check out the full set selection menu ( ). Stained glass card style for Narset, Parter of Veilsįree/(War of the Spark Chronicles Part V) If you are using MTGADraft regularly and enjoying it, please consider supporting my work by donating a small amount here: Thank you - Sen. Stained glass card style for Nahiri, Storm of Stoneįree/(War of the Spark Chronicles Part IV) Stained glass card style for Teyo, the Shieldmageįree/(War of the Spark Chronicles Part III) Stained glass card style for Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twistedįree/(War of the Spark Chronicles Part II) The game was released in a beta state in November 2017, and was fully released for Microsoft Windows users in September 2019, and a macOS version on June 25. Stained glass card style for Arlinn, Voice of the Packįree/(War of the Spark Chronicles Part I)

Magic arena quick draft schedule plus#

One copy of Druid of the Cowl (M19) plus card style One copy of Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) plus card style One copy of Deathbloom Thallid (DOM) plus card style One copy of Revitalize (M19) plus card style Witherbloom (black/green) college card sleeveġ promo booster containing two random Cosmetics Quandrix (blue/green) college card sleeve Silverquill (white/black) college card sleeve Streets of New Capenna (full-color) family sleevesĢ000 Gold, 2000 Exp, 2 cosmetics, 3 ICRs (rare+)ģ Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Packs These codes can be redeemed by everyone and are usually free. Quick Constructed: MTG Arena Constructed: April 26, 2018: JHour of Devastation Quick Draft: Draft HOU-HOU-AKH: May 4, 2018: Dominaria Quick Draft: Draft DOM-DOM-DOM: May 11, 2018: Rivals of Ixalan Quick Draft: Draft RIX-RIX-XLN: May 18, 2018: Hour of Devastation Quick Draft: Draft HOU-HOU-AKH. Queue into casual matches to sharpen your skills at your own pace. Mobile users can only redeem codes through accessing their Wizards account in a browser window ( ). August 2 - 4 Explorer MORE INFO Quick Draft NEO August 5 - 19 Quick Draft NEO MORE INFO Qualifier Play-In (BO1) August 13 - 14 Alchemy MORE INFO MTG Arena Event Calendar Event Types Start Playing Today Play the tutorial and practice against AI to learn the basics. Olivia’s Midnight Ambush is your best instant-speed option in this tier and shouldn’t be underestimated.

Magic arena quick draft schedule code#

To redeem a code go to the store tab and enter the code in the top right corner (cAsE sEnSiTiVe!). The exile part of Eaten Alive turns out to be big game in the mirror when they’re running Crawl from the Cellar, Azorius disturb, or something you’re just tired of seeing on the battlefield. įor example, during the first Mythic Invitational in March 2019, non-unique codes for five different cards and card styles were shown on screen during the live stream on and later on posted on twitter. They can be redeemed in the in-game store for various items ranging from cards, packs, cosmetics to free entries to certain events. There is still plenty of time to pick up these unique versions of cards to use in a deck for Magic: The Gathering.Codes are given out to the community at special events or can be purchased with physical products. Players 'draft' three Packs which contain 15 cards (10 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare or mythic rare, 1 basic or common land). Quick Draft follows the rules for the Draft format.

Magic arena quick draft schedule Patch#

The cards below have expiration dates, but the date is always the same: January 1, 2023. Quick Draft is an event (special game mode) introduced to Magic: The Gathering Arena with the Dominaria patch on April 26, 2018.

SwampPunks: Witherbloom college card sleeves.

For each new premiere set that releases, a new Mastery Pass is introduced with a number of set-themed rewards and cosmetics to earn for as long as that set is the newest one available.

MathWhizzes: Quandrix college card sleeves The Mastery Pass is Magic: The Gathering Arenas equivalent of a battle pass (or, to keep it in card games, Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duels Duel Pass).

DebateDuelists: Silverquill college card sleeves.

RockJocks: Lorehold college card sleeves.

AlwaysFinishTheJob: Riveteers card sleeves.

CrimeIsAnArtForm: Maestros card sleeves.

InformationIsPower: Obscura Card sleeves.