#wrenn management

[lichensings]

every late february to early april i get obsessed with the same ocs. i could just feel the switch happen in my brain 🙄happy early birthday to some gay bitches i guess

[sleepyiswhumping]

Wrenne Ran

Content: Accidental Whumper, Blood, Character Death, Vampire Whumper, Violence

Heyo! Worked on this piece for a little bit. It's about a familiar vampire friend who wasn't careful enough while fighting, many centuries ago. If you've read some of my other stuff, you may be able to figure out who Wrenne is now. Hope y'all enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~

Reginald propped himself against a tree, breath coming in ragged, gulping pants. God damn. He had underestimated the damn vampire. That terrible, beautiful bastard. Its hair whipping in the wind, the vampire stood, staring at him, face grimacing. Stooped, the monster’s arms hung limp at its sides as if exhaustion had begun to set in. That made no sense. Vampires didn’t feel exhausted. That’s what he’d been taught, at least. They didn’t feel anything, but hunger and hatred. 

Then why…Why had it hesitated, when he’d slipped, on the cold, wet ground? Why did the vampire let him dart out of reach?

It didn’t matter, he thought, wiping the blood off his face. Steadying himself, he stepped forward, readying his dagger again. 

“Come, beast. Surrender yourself or face your demise.” Putting on a brave face, Reginald warily approached the monster.

The vampire called out to him. “Wrenne.”

Reginald frowned, slowing his advance. He didn’t know what it was playing at, calling for birds.

“If you’re going to kill me…call me by name, mysterious hunter.”

Barking a mirthless laugh, Reginald shook his head.

“Why should a monster as foul as you deserve a name?”

Pulling itself to its full height, the vampire (Wrenne?) slowly advanced toward Reginald. As it cautiously paced toward him, it spoke.

“You don’t believe that. I can see it. Your eyes betray you.”

Reginald scoffed, shaking his head, as they encircled each other. Of course, he believed that, didn’t he? He’d slain many vampires, and they were all the same. Vicious, bloodthirsty, violent creatures that spat and snarled as they fought, then begged for their lives as he plunged the dagger into their hearts. It was all he’d seen.

Until now.

He stumbled and righted himself swiftly. But fast for a human is slow for a vampire. It lunged at him, dashing across the clearing with blinding speed, claws swinging wildly. Reginald swung back, dagger flashing forward. Hissing, the creature leapt back, cradling its left arm at its chest. Reginald grinned, pleasantly surprised he’d managed to avoid injury. Then his arm exploded in pain. It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming, from collapsing. He knew a single lapse in vigilance, a mere second with his guard down, and he’d be dead. He glanced at his arm, at the torn, bleeding flesh.

Continuing their brief conversation, in an attempt to keep the vampire’s, or maybe his own, attention away from his wound, Reginald chuckled, then spoke.

“Why wouldn’t I believe it, after what you just did? All you’re doing is proving that you vampires, you monsters, only want to kill, and deserve nothing but death.”

The creature’s nostrils flared angrily, despite it not needing to breathe.

“You think I…want you dead? If I had wanted to kill you I wouldn’t be talking to you. I’d just kill you. You hunters tend toward the same beliefs. Always with the accusations and the attacks.”

It twitched forward, then stopped.

“Do you know how long I’ve lived? Your religion is…young, compared to me. I have seen hunters come and go.”

Tch. Probably killed them, Reginald thought to himself.

“Those with passion. Those with hate. You are…neither. You–”

Reginald cut it off, snarling.

“I’ve killed my share of vampires, Wrenne. You’ll just be another notch on my blade.”

The vampire stood barely an arm’s breadth away. Wrenne stared at him, its eyes containing no hate, no fear, no malice. Reginald stared back, for the first time. Looking into the creature's eyes, he saw… nothing. No sign of any emotion. No indication the creature could even see. Its eyes were a thick, dull gray. No pupils, no iris. Just a film of cloudy, tired gray. And yet its gaze bored into Reginald’s skull.

“You have spirit. You lack the passion for killing. You lack the hate for vampires. But you have spirit. Furious, impassioned, brightly burning, dangerous spirit. Careful, hunter, that you don’t blind yourself. Now. Leave me.”

Wrenne turned and began to walk away. Mistake.

Reginald surged forward, ignoring the blood running down his cheek and the pain roaring in his right arm, screaming at him, begging him to rest.

Wrenne spun with blazing speed and raked its claws across his chest whilst deftly slipping out of the path of his blade. As Reginald fell forward, past it, Wrenne caught him, holding him up.

“Have we learned our lesson, hunter?”

All Reginald could do was groan. He could barely feel anything, except the searing pain spread across his chest, and the blood pouring down his body.

“Hunter?”

Slumping forward, Reginald collapsed into Wrenne’s arms. He only heard one word, before everything became a blur:

“No.”

-----

Wrenne swiftly pulled the hunter’s tunic up, then cursed softly. He hadn’t been careful. His claws had ripped deep, shredded divots into the hunter’s chest. He tore off his shirt and wrapped it tightly around the hunter’s chest, then, holding him close, Wrenne ran.

The sun would rise soon, but he didn’t care. Wrenne couldn’t let this man die. He raced across the countryside at preternatural speeds, not caring if the farmers who rose early saw him. It was unlikely, but you were never sure. With blazing speed he dashed into the village, cradling the hunter in his arms. He practically flew to the healer’s hut and slammed his fist against the door. He didn’t care who he disturbed, the hunter couldn’t die. He couldn’t. He couldn’t.

The hunter moaned softly, eyelids fluttering. After maybe thirty seconds, but what felt like an eternity, Wrenne growled and ripped the door out of its frame. The village's healer, the old woman froze in fear, staring at the towering, haggard figure coated in blood in her doorway.

“W-what–” Wrenne surged into her hut, placing the man on her mat, and turned to the healer.

“Help him.”

He despised using his vampiric abilities, but time was of the essence. He stared into her eyes, deeply, and, as a deep, bloody red swirled in his murky, gray eyes, he flooded her mind with a deep, desperate desire to help the hunter. Now.

-----

That night, Wrenne buried the man. The only hunter he’d ever met that wasn’t blind, that was fueled by love, compassion and spirit. He gave him a deep grave, safe from prowling animals and crooked thieves. And then, Wrenne ran.

[fatestouch]

@soraeia replied to your post:

Charidynn: *looks at Wrenn*....

"I see you haven't changed tactics." His eyes narrow, and his shadows writhe. "Why don't you tell me how you managed to claw your way back to the material plane so I can make sure you never come back again."

[soraeia]

Summary.3

After taking the papers that Allisae had left in the library, Jai and Enoch(@soulsxng) give the Tengmen Emperor(@arcxnumvitae) and his companion temporary wings. They all begin toward the East Castle.

Wrenn, Qai(@soulsxng), Chercia, and Jinx(@fatestouch) make it to the East Castle. Jinx, along with the other imperials guards, are given a magical communication from Charidynn to hunt down Tahariel and to find/closely guard Allisae and her children.

Charidynn and Rylenn are drawn to the South Castle, where they it is believed that Tahariel was shot down, though in actuality it was Hatius and Lazuli(@desiderium-eden)

Unplanned fireworks begin going off around the Aegis.

Kyrie stirs.

Edmund and Souji(@akumanoken) head to a lower corridor that leads to the lower tiers of the Aegis, toward the airship ports. While Edmund is looking for his hidden teleportation rune, Tristan finds thems and stabs Edmund. Tristan attempts to torture and kill Souji, but he is ultimately saved by Zahine and Melchior(@soulsxng). Edmund, terrified by his brother, finds the teleportation rune and leave Souji behind.

Simni(@soulsxng), with Lily, rejoins Tahariel and the group, who are beginning to move. It was eventually decided that, for the time being, they would be taking Minglian(@arcxnumvitae) with them.

Wrenn, Qai, Chercia, and Jinx finally join up with Tahariel and Allisae again. Chercia, with her attention focused on Tahariel, attempts to question him about their relation, however she is interrupted by the a tower on the North Castle behind her exploding.

Mikhail(@desiderium-eden) manages to find Lazuli, and he convinced her to fly her back to the main palace of the Aegis to find Kyrie.

Yukaine tries to convince Xiaodan(@arcxnumvitae) to join up with him so they could "get to the bottom of what was going on together", until they notice the explosion at the North Castle.

Zhifeng(@arcxnumvitae) manages to find Meihui( @arcxnumvitae ) after witnessing the explosion.

After making his way to his airship and tending to his wound, Edmund sets off to flee the Aegis.

[soulsxng]

“So…what do you say…?” Allisae tips her head down, looking up at Tahariel nervously as he read the invitation. “They’re good friends of mine. They offered their home to me as a safehaven. And I’m not saying we should stay there…” Although she hoped he thought it was a good idea to consider. “But I would like to see them. Lily, too. It’ll do well for her to see some familiar faces. And a festival would be good to lift our spirits…”

@soraeia

"Putting aside that they were able to send a bird for you after we've just moved entire continents, Allisae, I don't trust this in the slightest. Ahnia has been allied with Meriburn for ages-- there's no doubt that they will be there, if they haven't outright worked with Meriburn to find some way to take you."

"If Vanystea is still trying to hunt you down, which-- I would be surprised if that weren't the case, they could go simply because there's a chance of catching you."

Though he was glad that she brought up the letter, (and so quickly) the entire situation had seen him pacing back and forth in the room ever since. Mind running through both how Meriburn had even managed to find Allisae so easily, and the slowly growing frustration as Allisae persisted in her pleading even after he'd said no.

"Even if they didn't catch you, what about Wrenn? Or Lily? What if they were caught? What if one of you were injured?"

"Why is Meriburn contacting you now, when you're already safely away from Vanystea? It seems to me like it's the same situation that occurred with Ahnia...they may have made you promises, but did they ever act on it? No. None of them were willing to act against Charidynn before, so why would they be now, if he were to try retrieving you?"

To go would be inviting another catastrophe, after they'd already had their more than their fill. In no way, shape, or form would this be worth whatever risk would come with it.

"We all agreed that we need to use discretion until things die down again, Allisae. We can't throw that aside just because of an invitation to a party."

[ever-winter]

Plotted Starter for @starlitwishes / @primowishes

As usual, he found that he had very little to do. There was only so many times that you could wander around these hallways, before you begun to accept that you were simply useless. If he wasn't needed here, then why was he even being kept in this darn place? Let him go off and do some other work - instead of rotting away inside these darn walls that he hated so much. Sighing, he kicked lazily at a ball of crumpled up paper as he walked down yet another hallway, the flickering lights irritating his eyes slightly, though everything was irritating him lately. Ever since that fake had arrived, everything had just been feeling off, and it felt as though the answer as to why was there, just outside his reach, just floating beyond his grasp, that if he were to ever manage to grab hold, it'd make everything clearer - but that the truth was also something he feared...which was just stupid. What did he have to fear? He wasn't the one being torn into...Wasn't that the darn issue?

Heeh, what a foolish thought, the ball kicked with much more force, bouncing down the empty corridor, and into a room that had it's door slightly open, Seiko rolling his eyes as he watched it vanish into the darkness. Even paper was abandoning him now? Just the thought made him scoff, walking quickly over to the room, the intention being to just grab his 'ball' and be on his way - after all, why should anything of interest be inside such a place as cut off from the main area as this?

Least that had been his thought. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that he was currently greeted with. Slowly, as though he was walking through some type of thick haze, Seiko made his way deeper within the dimly lit room, the flickering lights once again irritating his eyes, but his focus was entirely on the figure that floated in some type of tank near the end of the room, a figure that looked a lot like himself...and yet he just knew this wasn't Wrenn, this wasn't the fake...

What did this even mean? He thought that Wrenn was the only copy...he'd been told that was the case...but if that was the truth, then how did he explain what he could see right now? There was no denying what was before him, his attention so fixated on this other double, that he didn't even take in if there was anyone else within the room or not, a hand rising to rest against the thick glass.

"...who the heck are you...what are you...what's going on...?".

[rose-of-oz]

🦙 + my queen Ro

Of course, Grace my beloved, thank you so much!! (Also gonna tag @dancingsunflowers-ocs since I know she loves Ro too! <3)

Their go-to song to cry to: "fragile" by gnash and WRENN.

Their love language: Quality time for giving, words of affirmation for receiving.

Their favorite holiday movie: She hasn't seen a lot of holiday movies, but she and Ginny have watched all of the Home Alone movies and she really loves the second one.

Their pettiest moment: After Ravenclaw beat out Slytherin in an important Quidditch match, Rosaline and Pansy managed to break into their common room and paint the couches and armchairs green and silver.

Their favorite 60s song: "The End of the World" by Skeeter Davis.

Their nicknames: Rose, Ro, Princess, Slytherin Princess, Flower (although that one comes from her parents and she doesn't really like to be called that).

Their go-to karaoke song: "Girls Like Girls" by Hayley Kiyoko.

A color you associate with them: Pink - it's the color she wears the most, as well as her favorite color.

An event from their Prom night: Hogwarts doesn't really do prom, obviously, but during the Yule Ball, she and Pansy got drunk off of a flask of Firewhiskey Pansy had smuggled in from Hogsmeade and wound up dancing unsteadily in the empty corridors for most of the night before Rosaline fell asleep on her friend's shoulder murmuring about how pretty Ginny had looked that night.

Their favorite wild animal: Squirrels - she thinks they're terribly amusing little beasts.

send me 🦙 + an oc!!

[starlitwishes]

@primowishes

Being cooped up was driving Evan a little stir crazy.

More now than ever, Evan hated the feeling of being trapped. Though no one was keeping him in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, he still felt trapped there. The trauma they had all gone through made the air too thick, too dense with unease and suffering.

He needed air--and Evan thought, maybe someone else could use it.

Wrenn was too distant, Collei was with her mentor, Nahida was out for the count... Seiko was too unstable, Kazuha had his own troubles, Talking to Niwa would be a whole other can of worms, and Venti and Nene... Evan just couldn't look them in the eyes anymore, ugly feelings stirring that he wanted to avoid, not bring forward.

Asahi, the clone he had very few encounters with, was the best choice to invite out. Sure he was withdrawn and angry, but...

... Evan didn't have any good excuses to avoid everyone else, he realized deep down. He just didn't want to think about that horrid place, and Asahi happened to be the only one that didn't fully remind him of that place. Even though he and Wrenn looked similar...

Smacking his own face to snap himself out of it, Evan forced out a smile as he approached Asahi--even managing to force out a grin that looked just a little crazed.

"Hey there," he started, leaning on the wall next to Asahi. "I'm going out for some fresh air. Wanna come with me? Just us two. I heard you haven't been getting out much. What do you say?"

There was a slight desperation in his voice, almost a plea for Asahi to agree.

[litcityblues]

For All Mankind Seasons 3 & 4: Some Men Would Rather Steal An Asteroid Than Go To Therapy

It's been a minute since I saw this show, but to recap: at the end of Season 2, Cold War tensions between the Soviets and Americans boil over. There's a firefight on the moon. Tracy and Gordo manage to keep Jamestown's reactor from melting down but die in the process. Danielle docks with Soyuz and astronauts and cosmonauts finally greeting each other does a lot to defuse tensions. In the final shot of the season, we see a human walking on Mars.

When Season 3 starts, it's 1992. Ed (Joel Kinnaman) and Karen (Shantel VanSanten) are divorced and Karen is in the Space Hotel business after a disaster at Danny Stevens' (Casey W. Johnson) wedding nearly takes out the hotel and takes out her new husband Sam (Jeff Hephner), Karen decides to sell to Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi), found of Helios Aerospace who wants to use it for his own commercial mission to Mars.

Ed and Danielle (Krys Marshall) are in the running to be commander of NASA's Mars Mission with Molly Cobb (Sonya Wagner) (now blind, because of her solar storm adventure in Season 2) clashing with Margo (Wrenn Schmidt) over who to choose. Molly picks Ed, but Margo fires her and picks Danielle instead. Ed switches teams, leaving NASA to join Helios as the commander for their Mars mission, which sets up a three-way race to Mars.

(Margo is under increasing pressure-- as her 'gentle back channel' to the Soviets in the form of her friend Sergei is rapidly becoming the KGB insisting that she sell secrets to them.)

With everyone on the way to Mars, Danny's new wife and baby are hanging out with his brother Jimmy (David Chandler) who- like Danny- is struggling with the legacy of his parents, Tracy and Gordo. Unlike Danny, who seems to have doubled down to follow in their footsteps, Jimmy wants nothing to do with NASA and is increasingly friendly with anti-NASA radicals.

On the way to Mars, NASA deploys solar sails to race ahead of the Helios crew, but an accident on the Soviet ship, which sees Ed attempt to go to their rescue, as Helios is closer, gets overruled by Dev and ultimately, it's NASA who has to go rescue the cosmonauts. They do so and while Helios arrives at Mars first, Ed's landing attempt is aborted due to bad weather and ultimately, it's NASA and Russia who land first, with Danielle and the Soviet commander wrestling their way onto Mars... together.

The Soviets and Americans are sharing Happy Valley, while Helios has its own base. Danny is spiralling hard and after he gets injured, develops a Vicodin addiction. Kelly (Cynthy Wu) has a romantic liaison with one of the cosmonauts. One of the astronauts, Will Tyler (Robert Bailey Jr), reveals that he's gay- which gives former Astronaut and Current President Ellen Wilson (Jodi Balfour) an opening to take down 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'

(Ellen's plotline is probably the more underrated of Season 3: still married to Larry (Nate Corddry), they're both still gay, they have one kid and she runs for President as a Republican, defeating Bill Clinton in 1992 to win election. The twist is that it's Larry who gets caught in a lie about an extramarital affair to Congress, which you think is going to be the start of Ellen's 'Lewinsky Scandal' that takes her down but instead, after going to see Pam, Ellen makes the one move that I think no one expects her to make: she comes out of the closet.

IRL, I honestly think that scenario would play out exactly the way Ellen intended. It would have changed the story in a massive, massive way- especially in the mid-90s media landscape, IMO)

Danny's spiral leads to a drilling accident that results in an accident that leads to more deaths and Ed and Danny being trapped in Hab 1, buried and running out of air.

The noose is tightening around Margo, as the Soviets continue to pressure her and Aleida realizes that it was she who gave NASA's engine design to the Soviets and Jimmy's radical friends help him steal the statue of his parents. Things in Season 3 come to a head with Kelly- who is pregnant and suffering from pre-eclampsia, having to be evacuated back to Earth. The North Korean rocket that damaged the space hotel way at the start of the season? Turns out it was a Mars mission and the Americans/Russians find the sole survivor and the *actual* first man on Mars: a North Korean. Back on Earth, Jimmy's friends blow up the Johnson Space Center killing Karen and Molly Cobb in the process and Margo is presumed to be amongst the dead, but is in fact, alive, well, and living in the Soviet Union.

Season 4 opens with the Mars base having grown considerably. Ed is commanding a mission to bring an asteroid into Mars orbit so they can mine it and unemployed oil rig worker Miles (Toby Kebbell) (because they've discovered something called helium-3 that's become the main fuel source, devastating the oil and gas industries) was headed to the moon, but chooses instead to go to Mars for more pay and a long stint. After the accident with Ed's mission, NASA sends out Danielle to replace him for the remainder of America's term commanding the base while Ed, as it turns out is experiencing hand tremors.

Margo is finding that the Soviet Union isn't all it cracked up to be. She's out of the space game, but after a coup removes Gorbachev and brings in new management she finds herself working for the Soviet space program again (after a fairly brutal interrogation.)

On Mars, Miles finds that Helios doesn't pay that well but gets into the black market game to supplement his income and does so quite successfully.

Aleida is suffering from panic attacks after the bombing, Kelly is getting screwed by NASA so they take her robotic explorer program (whose goal is to search for life) on the road, looking for private funding and eventually, they get some from Dev.

Political tensions are rising on Mars with the Soviet crew forming factions over their power struggle, the North Koreans are keeping to themselves, and the Americans are kind of caught in the middle if we just fast forward through to the end of this, eventually, Ed, Dev, and company hijack a shiny new asteroid and park it in Mars orbit where it will be mined. (Margo is also revealed to be alive, comes back to America for awkward moments at NASA, and has the brief, tiniest possibility of running away to Brazil with Sergei dangled in front of her before someone- presumably the KGB shoots him dead.)

All right, so let's unpack this a bit.

From what I'm reading on the interwebs, this show is still waiting for an official renewal for Season 5. I don't know what kind of metrics Apple uses to make those decisions for its streaming platform, but at this point, if the creators/writers, etc, want 7 seasons, I think Apple should just do it at this point- but, that being said, having gotten through all of Season 4, I could also see why they wouldn't do that as well. I think Season 4 feels like the show was either laying the groundwork for a heavy 'reboot' season in Season 5 (because how old can Ed get, really?) or was designed in such a way that it could serve as a series finale without too much trouble either.

And I go back and forth about that. I think the show is at a weird transition point in its story because we're moving out of the alternate history aspect of all of this and more into the science fiction aspect of all of this and I think that might be a trickier balancing act to pull off than we realize. There were aspects of Season 4 that I liked. The introduction of Miles was a brilliant choice because it created kind of this Upstairs/Downstairs aspect to the show where you get to see the people who are doing the grunt work to keep Happy Valley going as a pose to our HEROES who are upstairs doing astronaut things. The black market/secret bar aspect all worked for me- you'd expect to find that in a situation like that as well as the labor tension that eventually leads to a strike amongst the workers. No problem with any of that.

The problem I did have was Ed and Danielle. I think the show should have just gone there. They kind of do, but it's more implicit than explicit and they've danced around this before in prior seasons-- but I think Ed could have seen some interesting character growth had Danielle explicitly called him on his sexist/racist bullshit-- especially given Kelly is a woman of color. There was an opportunity here for self-analysis and reflection for a character who badly needs it and you could have more of an arc between Danielle and Ed trying to repair their relationship throughout the season. They kind of do that, but I think had they doubled down on it a bit, it would have given both characters a better arc throughout the 4th season.

(Also, Ed, man... go home and deal with your fucking feelings, already! "Men would rather stay on Mars and figure out how to hijack an asteroid than go to therapy." Though, to be fair to Ed, when Kelly finally pins him down on why he is the way he is, his explanation seems genuine enough. I just don't understand why it didn't come earlier in the season and why a guy who has had two children of his own is so gosh darned awkward around his Grandson- though admittedly, that too gets better by the end of Season 4.)

We also have to go to talk about Danny Stevens: why the fuck didn't they just send his ass home? I can understand exiling him at the end of Season 3 when they were still trying to get fuel made to get everyone back home, I get that. But now workers are being shipped into the base, surely there's a shuttle he can go home on? Instead, he just sort of sits in the North Korean capsule until he cracks and is found dead and that's just sort of the end of it. (Personally, I think a better ending for Danny would have been them finding the capsule straight up empty. With no tracks or nothing.)

Margo not getting a happy ending seems inevitable, though I would have liked it far better had she gone to Brazil, even without Sergei-- but I do appreciate the fact that she takes accountability for her plan, if not her actions by season's end which I think is a good first step for her character who has been avoiding accountability for her choices for quite some time.

Eli Hobson as the new NASA administrator had me checking IMDB constantly because I was so convinced it was Bruce Boxleitner I got very excited at first, but it was Daniel Stern who was equally as awesome.

Overall: I do love this show. Season 3 was top notch and Season 4 felt like it lost a step or two but was still good. (I'm hoping Season 4 is setting up stuff for Season 5 we have yet to discover!) For All Mankind is a great show that everyone should be watching. Apple is really impressing me with the quality of the shows they've got on there and this one is a 'must watch' that should be getting way more hype than it seems to be out in the world. My Grade: Season 3 **** out of ****, Season 4 *** out of ****

[magic-the-girlbossing]

Magic: The Girlbossing Quarterfinals!

As of my posting this, round 4 has already started. Sorry about that I simply do not know how to properly manage my time. Anyway.

A few tough battles (and some very lopsided ones) later, we have the results of round 3! Going into these quarterfinals we see some of our toughest battles yet. The cream of the girlboss crop is slowly rising and from this point on there are very few easy choices.

Bracket as of the beginning of round 4:

Link to round 3 master post

We have some fitting matches ahead. Teysa vs. Kaya and Emrakul vs. Avacyn both pit together two characters who have significant history. Will we follow the lore or forge our own path?

All matches this round, and going forward will last a week. Be ready to witness a week long battle of the bosses.

List of upcoming matches is below the cut.

Alesha vs. Marit Lage - Alesha wins!

Marchesa d'Amati vs. Gisa Cecani - Marchesa wins!

Liliana Vess vs. Thalia - Liliana wins!

Nahiri vs. Xantcha - Nahiri wins!

Teysa Karlov vs. Kaya Cassir - Teysa wins!

Wrenn vs. Ashnod - Ashnod wins!

Emrakul vs. Avacyn - Emrakul wins!

Vraska vs. Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar - Vraska wins!

[isolationsandhatred]

OK ok listen.

I love landstill. It's such a cool archetype and so dear and close to my heart but for the most part it is Not Great. It has some glaring issues as an archetype other control lists like Oath or grixis midrange or jeskai tempo or delver or esper control just don't struggle with for the main part, cause we chose standstill as a card draw engine and kind of like Gush it has some Deckbuilding Requirements that make it tick. Part of this is being able to land a threat under a standstill, part of this is managing your standstills vs your absolute tempo and the strange pattern of mana investment that goes along with that, part of that is managing your opponent's tempo while keeping pressure up. I have tried a fair few landstill decks that attempt to balance this: temur landstill with wrenn and oko is a blast but has some card investment/mana spent for the effect issues. UW landstill with Timeless Dragon and Shark Typhoon is great too cause it has a super simplified mana base and can really lean on being able to play wastelands and urza's saga in the same shell as well as having access to stony silence which is just... pretty good. It, however lacks the explosiveness of a t1 oko, t2 standstill kinda start, which is fine, it's just far more control oriented and less midrange which I thought was an interesting dilemma and wanted to play around with.

Enter stiflenaught, a deck that's been around for ages and (a) has a simple manabase, (b) has some explosive clocks (c) has a low manacurve and (d) can toolbox exceptionally well with urza's saga.

I took a stiflenaught shell and modified it to be standstill-compatible and to use lurrus because balance is cracked and we kind of wanted white anyways. This produced a pile of jank so monstrous that it took me a hot second to parse the play patterns associated with it and pare it down to a somewhat-workable pile. We're on a 61 card special because... uh, I like memes? Anyways, here's the list and I've had a lot of fun jamming it. Remember folks, vintage is cool and proxies are based af.

[paupermodern]

Pauper Modern Tournament Report 10/23/2024

A great misfortune has befallen our normal venue. But thankfully, Jesse and Chris stepped up to host!

I was pleasantly surprised by my deck! I brought a mono-white enchantments list using a handful of new cards from MH3 and Duskmourn. The deck list (including some thoughts and theorycrafting in the primer) is on Moxfield. Feedback always welcome.

Round 1 - Chris - Goblin Storm 

I won the first game with a solid start, building up a big Eidolon. Chris Resolved some Wrenn and Impulsed Recklessly, but did not find what they needed. Meanwhile, I made a big dude and get those beats in. Felt good.

Second game I started a bit slow, and then got stormed. Storm count of 6 = 12 goblins. First Day of Class means they were 2/2s with haste. That’s a lot of damage!

Third game managed to gain enough life to stay out of danger, got in with early beats, and the attempt to storm fizzled. In all a great match, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Round 2 - Daniel - Breathless Knight

Game one had a pretty good start for both of us. Daniel played an early Breathless Knight from the grave. Left unchecked, this card is a menace, especially with the inclusion of Sneaky Snackers. I opened with a Dog Umbra to answer it, and managed to keep the pressure on from there.

Game two was superbly grind-y– I opened mostly removal with few creatures. Daniel started with a couple creatures, which I spent my Dog Umbras and Journey to Nowhere on. I managed to build up a sizable Transcendent Envoy, and swing in for a good amount of damage. Then, Daniel turbo’d out three snackers and used a Stinkweed Imp to repeatedly block my Envoy while getting in chip damage with snackers. But realizing they were in danger of milling their deck by dredging Stinkweed, they made a risky play with Crypt Rats to wipe most of both boards (and many dog umbras!). It was anyone's game. Unfortunately, Daniel did not find enough follow up or removal, and I closed things out. 

Round 3 - Jesse - Frog Mill

Both games were a race- Jesse ignored damage until it would be fatal to get the requisite four advisors online. Thankfully both games I was able to establish an early threat and force unfavorable blocks. I came out victorious, ending both games with just a few cards left in my library. We later played a game for fun in which I got milled for game. Frog mill is a contender to keep your eye on. It feels like one of the many decks in the format that is one card away from being totally busted, and where you are just one well-timed Fog away from losing your library.

Round 4 (the finals!) - Jared - 8-plate

In the finals, I played the latest iteration of Jared's Rakdos 8-plate. Jared has another name for the deck that I will not include here. This is a potent artifact deck that can quickly setup lethal swings, but also has great advantage in the grind game. We discussed card choices last time we played, it was cool to see the updated and refined list in action.

Game one - I played a turn one Sleepy Boy, which got bolted. But then I was able to build a big body and keep swinging my way to victory, forcing Jared to block with Vault Skirge, germs, etc. First strike felt especially busted against the plates.

Game two - Sleepy Boy in the opener stuck, and helped filter my draws to find what I needed and avoid flooding. The game stalled out a bit with both of us trading back and forth with lifelink. Vault Skirge is a hell of a card, and Jared managed to find two of em. I was eventually able to land an Armor and All that Glitters to make two independent big threats. Jared fought back with a cast down, but at that point he was on the backpedal and was forced to block lethal a couple turns until he was out of blockers.

In all, I had a great time. Thanks again to Jesse and Chris for hosting, Rob for pizza, and for the group for making time in the middle of the week to meet and play. It is truly a joy to test one's mettle against such a fierce group of competitors in a wide-open and quickly evolving format!

[normanthedove]

"LET THEM DIE-OFF" UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT EXPERT ANDREW KOLODNY, MD., THE MOST DANGEROUS PSYCHIATRIST IN AMERICA AND EXPOSING "THE OPIOIDGATE MEDICAL SCANDAL"

THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION (DEA) WROTE: “As a law enforcement agency, DEA is not in a position to authorize or dictate what a doctor prescribes to a patient. DEA cannot grant waivers of any kind when it comes to the practice of medicine because no sick waiver exists. As the United States’ competent body charges with the management of controlled substances and chemicals for scientific, medical, research, and industrial applications; DEA regulates the flow of controlled substances, not the practice of medicine. The changing prescribing practices of practitioners are derived by a shift to prescribe medicine consistent with the guidance issued by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention along with the guidance and recommendations of state boards of medicine.” These are exact word-for-word quotes from the DEA to a sitting Congresswoman. If the DEA denies they wrote this to a member of Congress they are lying.

BY NORMAN J CLEMENT RPH., DDS, NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, BELINDA BROWN-PARKER, IN THE SPIRIT OF JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., INC.T. SPIRIT OF REV. C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HON. PATRICE LUMUMBA, IN THE SPIRIT OF ERLIN CLEMENT SR., WALTER F. WRENN III., MD., JULIE KILLINGWORTH, LESLY POMPY MD., NANCY SEEFEDLT, WILLIE GUINYARD BS.,…

[fatestouch]

'So the dog didn't end up biting... what a shame.'

Jupiter couldn't help but feel disappointed, seeing Princess Chercia's knight manage to restrain himself in the wake of Prince Wrenn knocking her out. A shame indeed... Juno wanted to see just how far Jinx would go, for his sworn princess.

Another time, perhaps.

The bat watches keenly, though he woefully keeps enough distance that he can't hear much. He does catch a few... interesting details, though.

Royals willingly leaving the empire, Princess Chercia actually being the daughter of Princess Allisae and Tahariel Elohim... so the Emperor doesn't run the tight ship he acts like he does.

So many rumors are starting to make more and more sense...

'Shall I follow, or return to my King's side...' He ponders, and he watched the small group take off.

Well. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

[soraeia]

In the spirit of Mama’s day, a small rant about an alternate mafia au I always had:

Basically the same set up as the Imperial family in the royal au, but mafia. Except a few years after having Wrenn, Allisae actually manages to run away and is now just a single mom of two boys trying to make ends meet while at the same time bouncing from place to place in attempt to evade her kingpin father and siblings.

Happier road has her opening a bakery and cafe place in some nameless city far away. More struggly road has Alli working as an escort or other various, low-key, and temporary jobs because it’s hard to land something stable when you’re on the run

[soulsxng]

Tahariel's eyes narrow at Lierik, and though it's obvious that he doesn't like being ordered about, he finds himself...oddly unable to argue. Perhaps it was the attention they'd garnered by now. Or the fact that he knew it would be best to get Allisae out of there sooner, rather than later.

Really, he couldn't say exactly why his mind chose rational sense now, when it was typically so quick to send flames of fury through his veins in an uncontrollable surge. Why his mind seemed to have slowed down--

His train of thought was quickly derailed before he could finish the line his thinking had taken. He felt as though he'd been on the verge of realizing...something.

But he couldn't focus on that, right now. Instead, his priority should be Allisae. Should be Wrenn and Lily. Yori, and Ophan, and Sophie...

"...Let's go find the others, and retire for the night. Allisae, you've used a lot of magic, so you're going to be tired when it catches up to you. Yori's been on guard all night, so I'm sure he needs some rest, too."

Tahariel turns away from the crowd, speaking quietly to Allisae and Yori. He catches sight of Princess Cassandra as he starts to usher them away, and gives her a soft apology-- an actual verbal apology, not some fancily worded bit that sounded like one. Alongside it, was a request that she not hold this incident against Allisae, who had only been defending herself.

Lierik watches quietly as they leave. His gaze momentarily flicking to look through the crowd until he found Cilatyve, who was now holding his head with one hand. A pained grimace on his normally brightly smiling face...though when he realized that Lierik was looking at him, he managed a small, reassuring smile.

As much as he wished that Cil hadn't used his telepathy to influence Tahariel like that (after all, if Tahariel found out, he could very well choose to target the advisor because of it), it was likely for the best. Having the other ahniri lashing out right now would have ended badly for everyone involved...and now Lierik could instead focus on Cecil and Avelan.

'Which...' He thought to himself with a low sigh, 'is going to be easier said, than done.'