MTG: Gatecrash

This week is the official release of MTG (Magic the Gathering) Gatecrash set. This new set introduces cards for the remainder of the ten guilds that were not introduced in the Return to Ravnica set - Dimir, Boros, Simic, Gruul, and Orzhov.

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to play in some of the pre-release tournaments and check out some of the new cards. From what I experienced, Dimir is very evil... Anyway, I got to try out several of the guilds, but I have to say, I still like playing white-black, white-red, or white-green. I also still love my angels.

One of the cards I was really excited about was Guardian of the Gateless. With the ability to block any number of creatures (and gain +1/+1 for each creature she is blocking in the process), she is a fabulous addition to my angel decks.

Another awesome card that I am excited about is the Angelic Skirmisher. Though she is quite expensive to play, she enables your creatures to gain a special ability (lifelink, vigilance, or first strike) before each combat step begins. This means before your creatures go off to battle, you can choose to gain life, not tap for attacking, or deal damage to opposing creatures before they can deal damage. Once again, a awesome addition to my army of angels.

Lastly, Aurelia is a great card too, but for this set, I think I love the previous two I mentioned a bit more. Aurelia's ability allows you to get two combat steps whenever she attacks. It's not a bad ability, but the abilities of the two above are much more useful in my opinion.

Anyway, if you're in to MTG (or you think you might like to jump in), do check out your local cards store. Though the game can get a bit complicated, it a very fun and amazing game.

Love Live! School Idol Project

Well, as I said before, I do not know what possessed me to sit down and watch this anime, but for some odd reason I can't bring myself to stop. Anyway, one of the animes I am watching this winter season is called Love Live! School Idol Project.

The girls of μ's (pronounced muse - as in the Greek goddesses of the arts)

The story revolves around Honoka, a second year in high school. Currently, the high school she is attending is slated to close down due to low enrollment. In order to preserve her high school life and to save the school from closing, Honoka must find a way to generate interest in the school to bring in more students.

Honoka wishes to create a group of school idols to save her school

The answer she came up with is to create a school idol group. Honoka enlists her closest friends, Kotori and Umi, in hopes that more students will join her "club" in a valiant effort to save the school.

As expected of an anime about school idols, this anime has a lot of song and dance. While most of the music isn't exactly my favorite style, there are a couple good songs. I especially like Maki's piano rendition of a song that I'm sure will pop up later called "Aishiteru Banzai." Maki will probably be my favorite character in this series by the way...Anyway, if you're kind of bored with nothing to watch, I suggest giving this anime a try. Who knows, you might just get stuck watching it like me.

Winter Anime Season 2013!!

With the changing of the seasons comes also new seasons of anime. After the last episode of Sword Art Online finished, I have been wondering what will my next anime fixation be. Well, for this up and coming anime season (which is already under way actually), there are three series that have caught my eye (so far).

Firstly, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai will be airing its second season. This story follows "Neighbor Club", a club formed by a group of students that have a hard time making friends in an effort to practice and prepare for that exact task. Since I loved the first season and as a continuation, this anime really was something that I couldn't help but be excited about.

What if the hero in a particular story ended up allying himself with the demon lord? Well, in Maoyuu Mao Yuusha, the hero does just that. In a time when humans and demons are at war, the hero manages to get to the demon lord. However, he is surprised to find that the demon lord isn't exactly who he had expected. The demon lord explains that the war between the humans and demons is currently necessary, and she would like him to join her. This rather odd beginning to the story intrigued me, so I have decided to check this anime out. If this piqued your interest as well, you can watch this on anime on Crunchyroll.

Now I do not know what I was thinking when I decided to take a look at this next one. Love Live is about a group of girls that want to save their school from closing. The only way for them to do this is by garnering the interest of others to raise the enrollment rate of the school. When all seems lost, one girl pitches the idea of creating a idol club for the purpose of training school pop idols. It is this idea that will set the tone for the anime. There will be a lot of song and dance as these young girls go through in hopes of saving their school. This anime can also be viewed on Crunchyroll.

Other than those three, Blast of Tempest will be continuing its run along with Hunter x Hunter. Two other anime that I am watching. Still, I am unsure if there will be another anime that I will love as much as Sword Art Online. Hopefully, soon the continuation of that series will get green-lit.