#Obadiah Eastman

[byfeldonscane]

"Although I could probably talk forever about all the cool dinosaurs and indigenous representation throughout the set, I’m actually going to focus on what inspired me to write this article, the Merfolk. The Merfolk, or the River Heralds as they’re known on Ixalan, have some of the best art I’ve seen in the game to date. Their skin and fins are vibrant like tropical fish, and they adorn themselves in jade jewelry, weapons, and armor.

It’s this amazing artwork that recently inspired me to build my very own Merfolk kindred commander deck. But before I did, I wondered if I could once again combine my two favorite things in the world together — Native lore and MTG. Could I make another deck that could tell a complete Native story or stories through its gameplay?

Unsurprisingly, there are multiple stories about Merfolk or water spirits found throughout Native lore across countless tribal nations. Even though the commander format allows one-hundred cards it still wouldn’t be large enough to tell them all. So, after a lot of research, I finally settled on two stories from Native lore that the deck could tell through its gameplay. I felt there were enough cards that represented most of their stories. Those stories being a Sekani legend about a man who married a mermaid, and a Lenape legend about a lost boy. Without wasting any more time let's get into the lore."

[timelineblog]

21st Century: Phase One - Avengers Assemble

2000:

DATE: january 3rd EVENT: A rejected Killian accepts a jilted Hansen into A.I.M. where they work on Extremis together.

2001:

DATE: july 28th EVENT: Under HYDRA’s influence, NASA sends astronauts through the Monolith to survey the planet on the other side.

DATE: september 12th EVENT:  Frank Castle enlists in the Marine Corps following the September 11th attacks.

DATE: september 13th EVENT: General Thaddeus Ross starts the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project through the U.S. Armed Forces in order to replicate Project Rebirth.

2003:

DATE: march 29th EVENT: Iraq War begins, orchestrated by HYDRA.

DATE: august 29th EVENT: Matt Murdock meets his college roommate, Foggy Nelson.

2005:

DATE: february 25th EVENT: Bruce Banner joins the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project under false pretenses of Thaddeus Ross and earnest convictions of Betty Ross.

DATE: april 16th EVENT: Testing his experiment on himself, Bruce Banner is exposed to a combination of Gamma radiation and Betty’s formula derived from Dr. Erskine’s super-soldier serum, accidentally becoming the Hulk.

DATE: april 19th EVENT: Learning that the Army wants to use him as a weapon, Banner runs, starting a six-year chase across the globe.

2006:

DATE: november 14th EVENT: Microsoft releases the Zune 30. Peter Quill later obtains one.

2007:

DATE: january 3rd EVENT: S.H.I.E.L.D. assists Thaddeus Ross in the quest to bring down the Hulk until 2011. Stark also provides Humvee-mounted sonic cannons.

DATE: october 31st EVENT: Aldrich Killian injects himself with the Extremis virus, healing his disabilities and allowing him to walk without a cane.

2008:

DATE: february 19th EVENT: Killian exposes willing subjects, mostly seriously injured military veterans, to Extremis. Those who survive heal and regrow lost limbs.

DATE: may 15th EVENT: S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Melinda May earns her nickname “The Cavalry” during the Rescue in Bahrain.

2009:

DATE: december 18th EVENT: Nick Fury places Phil Coulson in charge of Project T.A.H.I.T.I. with the aim of using the Kree corpse to potentially revive a fallen Avenger.

2010:

January 12th

January 24th

January 25th

April 21st

April 26th

October 24th

October 25th

November 17th

Tony Stark demonstrates his Accelerated Wave Explosion (A.W.E.) weaponry to the U.S. Armed Forces.

Christine Everhart is kicked out of the Stark Mansion by Pepper Potts after a one-night stand; she later becomes an anchor for WHIH World News. Later, during a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, Tony Stark is kidnapped by the Ten Rings, who are working for Obadiah Stane.

Under Fury’s orders, Phil Coulson questions Obadiah Stane as to whether or not Stark could have sold weapons to terrorists. Fury refuses Coulson’s request to go search for Stark himself.

Project T.A.H.I.T.I. test subjects go insane and are given new memories to cope with the effects of the trauma.

Stark and fellow captive Ho Yinsen, who saves Stark’s life multiple times, construct Tony’s Mark I suit of armor, allowing him to escape; Yinsen does not survive. Stark’s first flight as Iron Man is picked up by S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar and Nick Fury contacts the U.S. Department of Defense with the intel.

Image via Marvel Studios

July 16th

Having returned to the U.S., after pulling out of the weapons business and cancelling all military contracts, Stark turns his attention to his Arc Reactor and Iron Man tech.

Pepper Potts and Phil Coulson discover the Iron Monger Armor and Stark uses his Mark III armor to battle the power-hungry Stane, who dies in an explosion of the industrial Arc Reactor.

Stark publicly claims his new nickname as Iron Man, rejecting S.H.I.E.L.D.’s cover story; he’s later approached by Nick Fury to join the “Avengers Initiative.” That same day, Anton Ivanko dies and his son Ivan vows to take revenge on Stark by developing his own powered-armor tech.

Emil Blonsky and his team track Bruce Banner to South America

2011:

April 23rd

May 22nd

May 24th

May 31st

June 1st

June 2nd

June 4th

June 5th

June 7th

June 9th

November 13th

Tony Stark appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Weaponized Suit Defense Program Hearings.

Natalia Rushman, a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, joins Stark Industries as Tony’s new personal assistant, on Fury’s orders.

Ivan Vanko crashes the Circuit de Monaco, battling Tony Stark, who equips his lightweight Mark V armor and defeats Vanko’s Whiplash tech.

Image via Marvel Studios

May 30th

While Fury confines Tony Stark to house arrest after helping to slow his palladium poisoning, Rhodes delivers the stolen Mark II armor to the military, where it’s upgraded by Justin Hammer.

At the same time, Jane Foster and Erik Selvig monitor strange atmospheric disturbances in New Mexico, landing them on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar.

Meanwhile, Thor’s coronation is interrupted by the Frost Giants breaking into Odin’s treasure room; the Asgardian quickly brings the battle to Jotunheim before Odin puts a stop to it.

Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, and Happy Hogan defeat the Hammer Drones when Vanko hacks them to attack the Stark Expo. During this battle, a young boy (now confirmed to be Peter Parker) stands up to a Hammer Drone, assisted by Iron Man himself.

Coulson arrives in New Mexico and Thor crashes to Earth while Bruce Banner arrives at Culver University.

Odin enters Odinsleep and Loki begins to move against his brother when his true parentage is revealed.

Romanoff begins spying on Banner while Blonsky receives an unauthorized dose of enhancement serum.

Sif and the Warriors Three arrive on Earth with the Destroyer following them on Loki’s orders. It attacks S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and citizens at Puente Antiguo, but Thor proves himself worthy and, with his powers restored, defeats it.

An enhanced Blonsky battles the Hulk on Culver University’s campus while Romanoff reports her findings to Fury.

Stark accepts an advisory role with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative.

Image via Marvel

Later that day, Thor and Loki duel at the Rainbow Bridge. Thor destroys the Bifrost Bridge to prevent Loki from destroying Jotunheim, but that restricts Thor to Asgard and sends Loki into space. After a time, he arrived at the asteroid-strewn area known as Sanctuary, presided over by Thanos.

Blonsky mutates into Abomination when injected with products derived from Banner’s blood. Hulk defeats the Abomination after a destructive battle in Harlem.

Samuel Sterns, who attempted to cure Banner, ends up mutating due to exposure to Banner’s blood. Romanoff finds him and takes him into custody.

Fury receives the necessary funds to study the Tesseract and launch the Avengers Initiative.

Fury approaches Selvig with an offer to join S.H.I.E.L.D. in an advisory role, while the first “Mandarin bombing” occurs.

Tony Stark approaches Ross with a plan to put a team together, inquiring about Blonsky. His attitude rubs Ross the wrong way and the General refuses to release the Abomination, thus fulfilling Coulson and Agent Sitwell’s plan to keep Blonsky imprisoned.

The second “Mandarin bombing” occurs.

Image via Marvel Studios

2012:

January 11th

April 15th

April 22nd

May 1st

May 3rd

May 4th

May 6th

May 9th

July 10th

July 12th

August 19th

December 18th

December 19th

December 22nd

December 25th

December 27th

Aldrich Killian hires Trevor Slattery to pose as the terrorist known as the Mandarin in order to provide a cover for his explosive Extremis side effects which continue to make the news as “suicide bombings.”

S.H.I.E.L.D. continues research on Vanko’s “Whiplash” technology, the Tesseract, Samuel Sterns’ mutation, Jane Foster’s Nine Realms theory, and manage to thaw out a recently recovered Steve Rogers. The Darkhold also comes to their attention.

The Fifth Street Locos shoot up Eli Morrow’s car, which Robbie and Gabe Reyes had recently stolen. The car flips and Robbie is killed while Gabe is paralyzed. The Ghost Rider appears and saves Gabe’s life as well as Robbie’s, though the later is transformed into the new Ghost Rider.

Loki, aided by Thanos and The Other, uses the Tesseract energy to teleport him to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility where he steals the Tesseract and controls the minds of Selvig and Hawkeye. Heimdall alerts Thor and Odin of Loki’s arrival on Earth.

Meanwhile, Romanoff is undercover and interrogating weapons-dealer Georgi Luchkov; her mission is cut short by a call from Coulson, telling her Hawkeye’s been compromised.

Thor arrives back on Earth thanks to Odin’s use of dark energy to transport him. He has a brief skirmish with Iron Man and Captain America that ends with the agreement to take Loki into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

The Battle proceeds to New York where Loki opens a wormhole to allow the invading Chitauri army to swarm into the city. The Avengers unite, defeat Loki, and manage to prevent a missile from wiping out New York City. The invasion is ended and the Tesseract is reclaimed; Thor takes it to Asgard for safe keeping.

Many media outlets and private citizens record video of the invasion that show off both the heroic and destructive effects of the battle, in which the mother of Audrey Eastman and the mother of Ellen Nadeer and Vijay Nadeer died.

Image via Marvel Studios

Loki manages to escape captivity aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier when his mind-controlled agents take it over and the Hulk goes on a rampage. Phil Coulson is killed in the process.

The cleanup from the Battle of New York begins. Citizens begin to gather bits and pieces of the alien tech, taking it either as trophies or for other purposes. To prevent this, Tony Stark and the federal government reformed the U.S. Department of Damage Control, Spider-Man: Homecoming spoiler: which puts private salvage contractors like Adrian Toomes out of business. Toomes, however, takes this opportunity to pilfer more alien technology and put it to criminal purposes.

Phil Coulson is resurrected at the Guest House, though the painful process has the agent begging the surgeons to let him die and necessitating the implantation of false memories, like Tahiti.

Scott Lang is fired from Vistacorp for fixing what he believed was a code error that was illegally overcharging customers.

Lang then breaks into Vistacorp Headquarters to return $4 million of the ill-gotten money to customers. He also breaks into his former boss’ mansion to steal his possessions and drive his car into the pool.

Image via Marvel

July 13th

Lang is arrested and sentenced to five years in San Quentin.

A fourth “Mandarin bombing” occurs.

The fifth “Mandarin bombing” occurs. Tony Stark tests his Mark XLII armor as his Iron Legion project causes friction between him and Pepper.

The Mandarin bombs both Ali Al Salem Air Base and the TCL Chinese Theater, which explodes when Jack Taggert succumbs to Extremis’ effects. Happy Hogan is caught in the blast but survives.

Stark’s mansion is destroyed by the Mandarin.

After discovering Killian’s plan, Stark and his Iron Legion save an Extremis-infected Pepper Potts (who didn’t need much saving after all) while Rhodes rescues the kidnapped President.

Pepper’s Extremis effects are neutralized while Stark has the last of the shrapnel near his heart surgically removed, throwing the old, obsolete Arc Reactor into the sea. Stark has the Iron Legion destroyed.

NOTE: http://collider.com/mcu-timeline-explained/#phase-one-avengers

[byfeldonscane]

"Magic is so expansive in its card creativity that I was able to piece together a deck using cards found throughout its extensive collection to fully tell a Native American story. Not each card fully represents an aspect of the story but they will connect you to the next plot point.

I chose to make the deck around mythological lore that is close to home. Being Dakota Sioux from South Dakota, I chose one of many stories told throughout my tribe for who knows how long. Historically, most native stories, legends, and traditions are passed down orally, therefore, I chose to capture that similar style of storytelling in this deck. Today, I’m going to tell the story of Unk Cekula (oonk-chek-yoo-lah), the horned serpent of Sioux mythology, through cards from Magic: The Gathering. The story of Unk Cekula has had many retellings throughout time, so there is no definitive way of how her story goes. Because of that, I chose to capture as many of those different stories as best as I can to represent her in this deck.

The story will be told in the Commander one hundred (100) card format since that is my favorite format of Magic to play. What makes Commander truly special and unique is that the deck you build is centered around one card a.k.a the commander. By using a commander, it helps the deckbuilding and in this case, is the focus of the story. Not all one hundred cards of the deck will be used for the story, but will further help the story of the deck be seen through gameplay. Disclaimer, I didn’t build this deck in mind of owning it in paper, but if you wish to own and play this deck I will give the full online decklist at the end of the article. Without further ado, let me tell you the story of Unk Cekula the horned serpent."