"The Old Days And Simple Time Of Beach With Family, With Exploring, Are Gone. Not For Long Or Presently,

MTG Ramblings Echo & Pact

When is a cost worse than it's actual face value? when you have to pay tax on it.

Additional Costs are a gripe in the MTG community, usually because they are not worth it in any circumstance, or they are way too good on the card they are on. But that is a ramble for another day, today I will be trying to use the long lamented mechanic of Echo to make better cards & talking about the Pact cycle.

Additional costs are what they say on the tin, an additional cost to cast a spell, this can come in several ways, such as Discarding a Card, Sacrificing Creatures or Lands, or paying life. Why does this happen, as it says its an additional cost so that way your powerful spell can cost less mana & people will actually want to play the card/not have a high cost card stuck in there hand, these costs are good as they can have synergy with other cards in your deck. Have to discard a card, Does it have Madness? Some sort of Flashback effect that you don't need right now but later? Does your sacrificed creatures have a Triger on death effect? Do they want to be sacrificed in the first place? Does an effect come on line when you have lost & gained life this turn?

We are not taking about that, we are taking about the black sheep of the additional costs, Echo. Echo is a mechanic that exists mostly in Red & Green that has you pay an additional cost, usually the Casting cost of the card, at the beginning of the Next Upkeep or sacrifice it. It is not a good mechanic, the only technique it may have is if you have a way of switching control of a creature you control with Echo & an opponent creature & they cannot pay the upkeep cost of the swapped creature. It generally doesn't lead itself to doing anything useful, some cards have tried to get around this by giving the creature Hast, and later the Dash mechanic came about which is much better than Echo.

Once again we go to Future Sight to see how this mechanic was used in other ways, this being giving alternative costs to Echo, "Shah of Naar Isle" has your opponents gaining way to much card advantage for a Cost, "Skizzik Surger" is a large body and the sacrifice of two lands is meant for late game and nothing else. Of course the Modern Horizons sets had there own take on it, that being Rakdos Headliner needing you to Discard a card, it's name alluding to you to use cards with Madness. Yet there is another cycle in Future Sight that we may take inspiration from, The Pact Cycle. (Also obligatory shout out to Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug, as this is basically a Pact card + a Dash mechanic.)

The Pact Cycle are a series of cards that are Zero Mana but require you to pay mana at the beginning your next Upkeep or you loose the Game. Its just an Echo cost on a Instant card. So why cant we do something with these? Having no or low cost creatures that have pushed stats, but require a High Echo cost? Such as having to discard you entire hand, or sacrificing permanents besides itself? The problem is that it can be abused, there are cards out there that make creatures lose all abilities, such as Mystic Subdual. This is a minimal problem as these types of cards also change the Creature's base stats and makes it so they cant attack or untap, but there is always the possibility WotC decides to make a card that shuts down your own Abilities as an upside.

So let me make an examples:

"Keldon Demolition Squad" {1}{R} 4/1 Creature - Human Barbarian (w) - When [Creature] enters, destroy target artifact. Echo - Sacrifice a Artifact you control. (Simple effect, destroys an artifact & leaves you if you decide to not pay them, that is if you haven't used them to Chump block a larger creature.)

"Multani's Acolyte's Acolyte" {G} 2/2 Creature - Elf Druid (w) - When [Creature] enters, draw a card. Echo - An opponent Draws a Card. (Simple, clean, can play politics with others & don't need some cost to untap it when it doesn't untap naturally.)

Iron Flood, an Ai created to manage the preservation an usage of the few remaining reservoir left. When asked the creator of its unusual appetence the creator said it was to "Remember a fallen friend".

(Anthro/Gajinka Future Paradox Suicune)

"The mistress will be right down, Can I get you something to eat, some tea perhaps." The butler asked as I sat of the vintage couch, trying not to shiver. The furniture being a mish match of styles didn't quiet fit the ascetic of the mansion, then again nothing from the modern era really does.

"No," I say & take out the thermal flask, the cheep tea bag giving it a vagally fruity flavor clamming to be 'Orange Blossom'

"You realize that you don't need to do that," the butler said, dusting another corner of missed matched candle holder "it doesn't work that way with me."

"I'd rather not take the chance." I snipped back, what I learned is that you always need to go back to the original mythology of a creature to know there true abilities, at least to the older ones. Guess what, its all mental. If your a new one then yes, you get the whole package, but I was dealing with a 200 year old vamp & a Fae.

Huffing the browny turned to me and stated with a rather un ingenuity deminer and flatly stating "I am a Browny, a house cleaning spirit, one that is the unseen helper. One that is forced to leave if insulted by the homeowner, That being Lady Matilda good sir. I have no reason or means to harm you."

"Yah, but old Lovecraft took the name eldritch from the old word for Fae" I shoot back, leaning forward to look at them but not into there eyes. "I'm not gong to take chances. I've read the Brothers"

"I'm sure you have', just like how everyone in the modern age has read Homer, or Marks, or Tolkien." they show back, not bothering to look at me as they continued there work by the fireplace.

Sighing I relaxed and mumbled "I'm a F-ing HVAC tech, and got dragged into a world of Magic mumbo jumbo, how the heck am I suppose to react?"

Pausing the butler tilted there head in thought, then said "Like with any other client, respect. You, unlike your fellow craftsmen, do not seek to swindle your clients. You do good work, and are willing to do overtime in order to get the work done right, and not just done."

Taking another sip of my thermos I asked "And her?" I asked my eyes drifting to the stairs, both of knowing the meaning of the subject.

"She has always been well adjusted, but too… naïve" they hesitated, speaking of the home's owner in such a way. "It is why she was turned in the first place, too trusting… And what got her trapped in the first place."

We were going to continue but the intentional creaking of the upstairs door, one that they paid good money for, alerted us to the owner of the house.

"Ah, Matt, so how is everything? Did you figure out what happened to the System, it only twenty years old." The mistress of the house asked, she stiped down to the Victorian equivalent of skimpy wear, a fan in her hand as she tried to bear the overheated (to her) house.

"Not god" I said pulling out my phone & showing her pictures of the Compressor completely blackened "The thing was way to small when it was put in.. Because it was never meant for running all the time, or at such a low temperature, meant only during the height of summer." I didn't know what she expected, the place wasn't supposed to be at a balmy 40 degrease "The system is going to need to be torn out & replaced, your going to have to get something larger, probably a 4 ton. And you need a dehumidifier"

"De-humidifier?" She asked, not familiar with that word

"It takes ingenuity out of the air, so you don't get water condensing off your walls. Dry and Cold instead of Wet and Damp." I stated back "I like the walls drippings," She said "I reminds me of home"

"I's also destroying your house, there pools of water where there shouldn't be, and its warping the wood… I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of mold in the walls as well." I said

"That's what a Undead Vampire's home should be" She stated, not getting why I would want to get rid of it..

Sighing I rubbed the bridge of my nose, the supernatural had a.. Interesting taste in dwellings, but they were a lot more accommodating than most people. "Stuff isn't built like it use to be, if this keeps up y'all have to gut the house & re do it in half a year, and it would only last ten after that."

Eyeing me she sighed & walked over to the cabinet pulling out the check, Mumbling i herd her say "What happened with Human ingenuity to make an item last past your death?"

Taking the check in hand I said "Consumerism & short term memories. No one what's seeming good but expensive, they want something cheep that they can throw away. So we can start Sunday, it going to be…."

A Idea that came to mind while reading vampire folklore & Tumbler head-cannon posts, Vampire are usually obsessive, be that at people or things. And we have the trope of them twisting things into grotesque version of there previous interests, such as using blood to paint or twisting human bodies into monstrous statues. What happens to vampire who have more mundane interests/hobbies? What happens when a thousand year old vampire obsessed with candle making do? (Well besides start using a multitude of human bodies as the bace for the candles), Would they do shit like taking ten years to mold & carve a decretive candle in the shape of hyperrealist animal only to toss it into a pile of other previous attempts at a slight flaw?

And that is assuming there hobby is creative, what if the fang barer had something like physical exercise? "Ok, I have my jog around Europe all planed out, It will take three months, ill get back just in time to start laundry, have a quick snack before Elizbeth show's up". I know that they cant cross running water & the sea has a lot of salt so they cant exactly do a "Swimming across the English channel" but between the tips of South America & Africa, but still what sort of cray shit would they get up to?

Then again on the other side, how lazy & bad can they get. The 'I can do it later' mentality but when you have a near endless immoral life you can put stuff off for decades. Imagen trying to get the money for a commission you started in the early 1800's only to find that the entire bloodline is dead, and having to track down any connection, and the only living blood descendent is some HVAC technician living out in nowhere Ohio who knows nothing of his family history other than he was adopted & now has to try and convenes this Vampire that 1)he doesn't want it. 2) cant afford it, and 3) has no room for it in his shack of a house.

More Unfinished art dump stuff, was excited for Cyberpunk 2077 and got deep into the lore behind the series, and wanted my own OC. So when the game came out.. Yah, the only thing I can say is that my artwork is/was as unfinished as the game was on releases.

Walking Wake Gijinka, Design belongs to @Lady_Nanaki (I really need to work on facial expressions)

Cave-woman pinup.

More of me trying to get skin hi-lights and shadows right.

Fanart of a Story on SpaceBattles called: "At Least I'm Not Cliffjumper". Can you tell I have never done complex robots.

Dumping a lot of my older unfinished work trying to clear up my folders, Priest Seto's mom is the only slightly glimpsed but I got... “Inspired”, not enough to finish it but this is probably one of her few fanarts.

What duel monster spirt do you think she would wield? Personally I see  Rabidragon or Hyozanryu leaning more towards the rabid. 1) Because it’s lower then Blue-Eyes White Dragon by only 500 Attack points, and 2) because in Egyptian Mythology the Rabbet headed goddess Unut was originally a snake headed, sort of fitting for a mother of the Dragon wielding Seto.

I think there are a lot of 'Missing' Cards in Yu-gi-oh's card pool, and I'd fill in some of the gaps myself. Here is the Mono type Fusion for Pyros. Not meant for the Modern Game, but more for GX Era to 5D's Era play.

Superpower Ramblings: The Muscle 

Back aging with my BS, this time breaking down & trying to innovate on 'The Mussel'/ Explanatory, the Mussel is what it says on the tin, the Guy or Gal that's the strongest in the group, physically largest or not they will fall under several other categories such as "The Flying Brick" or "Combat Master" not "The Big Guy". These are not what I will be talking about today (Mostly), Im talking about the pure Mussel.  

Characters such as The Hulk, Luke Cage, etc. That have no or minimal training, they punch & punch and don't have a whole lot else going for them. Occasionally you get Mussel backed by Brains /Genius Bruiser such as DC's Hourman (Depending on the version), and Marvels Hank McCoy/'The Beast'. However they have something else going for them, I'm talking about pure strength builds with nothing else, so smarts, no secondary powers going for them, nothing. Characters like these usually fall into the "Dumb Muscle" camp, being all muscle, which is a disservice to their character as it degrades their role in the story, or the villainous version being 'The Brute' who are usually a throwaway character. 

The most common option is making them a "Combat Master" such as Wonder Woman or even the villainous version of the Hulk from the current 'Ultimate Marvel Universe', and while this what I think it should be I think it oversteps its bounds and they become another architype. Most "Combat Masters" have had decades if not centuries of implied experience honing their craft, and due to the Status Quo characters cannot evolve past a run to retain skills. At the best of times, you will have characters pull out stunts they learned 'in-between' runs/volumes without seeing any implied training. And that takes into account that you have descent control over your strength & won't just destroy the city because you know how to punch properly. 

SO now lets go to our character creation scenario, you as the average civilian are endowed with power beyond power, and you can't open your door or get physical with people without accidently destroying with them. You have the average experience, average money, and no connections, what would you do? Can you afford in time or money to take that expensive kung-fu/karate/ti-chi class every week? probably not, but you still want to go out there and do your best without causing massive damage & lawsuits for all the destroyed property, what can you do? Its simple, Hug them. 

No, I'm serous, when most people want to do no damage but still restrain people the best option is to go in for a bear hug, as Super Strength usually also comes with Super Durability and Stamina. Of course, you will be used as a "Warf Effect" constantly to show how powerful the villain is, and is what should spurs on an evolution, in this case taking the simple bear hug and turning it into Greco-Roman wrestling/Sumo. Yes, I am serous. Because unless you're team already has a 'Combat Master' on it you don't have the time or connection to get anywhere near the level that you need to control you strength enough to use it without 'Super Power Proof' items/housing. 

More ramblings of a madman, see you next time.