To generate the JAR file,

1. Simply create a text file (in .txt file format) of the text you would want to convert.
2. Open this link and click the Choose file button to select the text file.
3. Click the Create button and then transfer the output Jar file to your mobile phone. It should be installed.

Here is what the application would look like:

Pic from the QiC application page.

Overall, I find this app very useful in converting Mtg articles which I can read whenever I’m on travel or offline. Its very good, aside from being free to dl so I very much recommend you install this one in your phone.

Until next post and have a happy weekend.

This mechanic at most supported almost all of the colors in the set, though I think Green is the most beneficial in the form of Strangleroot Geist. This spirit is just the current powerful two drop for Green.

With that, we look on the two versions of the Birthing Pod archetype. These lists I’ve found through the various websites and articles (both free and premium).

First of is the Bant Pod. This list was suggested by Jeremy Neeman.

Bant Birthing Pod
Maindeck
2 Acidic Slime
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Hero of Bladehold
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Skaab Ruinator
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Sun Titan
1 Tower Geist
3 Viridian Emissary
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum

4 Birthing Pod
4 Ponder

5 Forest
3 Island
1 Plains
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Sunpetal Grove

This build suggests an aggressive version of Bant Pod with the four Strangleroot Geists (far from the typical gameplay of Bant Pod which is midrange control-ish type). Ponder and Evolving Wilds make sure you hit the right mana base for the early beats. One thing I don’t like in the list is its lack of main deck answers to big critters and Planeswalkers. Maybe one or two Oblivion Rings should be included.

Another thing I would edit is the change of one Skaab Ruinator to Stormbound Geist. Ruinator sure is a fatty but is weak against Vapor Snag while the blue geist can hold off Spirit Tokens and can even block Chandra’s Phoenix and live.

Here is the Naya version of Pod, from Dee’s article in Magic Game Plan.

Undying Naya Pod
Maindeck
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Viridian Emissary
1 Spellskite
3 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Hellrider
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Vorapede
1 Acidic Slime
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Inferno Titan
1 Flayer of the Hatebound
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

4 Arc Trail
4 Birthing Pod

4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Copperline Gorge
1 Sunpetal Grove
3 Rootbound Crag
1 Evolving Wilds
5 Forest
2 Plains
2 Mountain
1 Gavony Township

I think it is with the same aggressive level with Bant, except the inclusion of the four Arc Trails main deck which I personally like. The two-mana sorcery in my opinion is a good answer to hault the Delver assault in the early turns, kills almost all of their critters and can single handedly answer a Midnight Haunting. Huntmaster of the Fells and Daybreak Ranger are good inclusion in the deck though I am not sure with Vorapede. It’s because of the same problem of Vapor Snag.

To conclude, I am thinking of auto including Sunblast Angel in the mainboard, as the deck still can’t cope up with Delver and RDW (based on the playtest earlier). I am also planning on switching Oblivion Rings and Mortarpod, though the final list may still look vague.

We’ll just see in the coming weeks. Until next post.

As for the moment, here are the pics of the batch two of the remastered kits.

First is the Freedom Gundam.

Next, Athrun Zala’s Justice Gundam

The Providence Gundam

The LaGOWE

The Mobile BuCue

Out of the four captains (not from Bleach), I am sure you would also agree that he is the strongest. The pump and Hexproof bonus is just very hard to deal with. I’ve browsed through the current legal sets in Standard and came up with this list:

Blue White Spirits
by Mark Ian Alloso
Lands
13 Plains
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Island
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Seachrome Coast

Creatures
2 Geist-Honored Monk
4 Drogskol Captain
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Niblis of the Urn
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Spectral Rider

Spells
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Mana Leak

It is hard to find the correct curve for the creatures but I am sure this is the stable look of the deck. The Nibilis and the Rider are good two-drop evasion critters on their own, and can also be boosted by Honor of the Pure. Midnight Haunting provides the additional beats.

The best combo in the deck is the Captain and the Phantasmal Image. Its a pseudo-Illusion lord combo and the bonus of flying makes the two an early clock. The geist monk is of course for late game bombs. I also included the generic blue/white cards like Mana Leak and Oblivion Ring.

Basing on the current Standard meta, my sideboard would look like this one:

1 Celestial Purge
2 Dissipate
2 Mortarpod
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Revoke Existence
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Timely Reinforcements

Its still looking generic I guess. The meta will still evolve in the next few weeks so it is best to play it safe.

I guess that’s about it for this deck tech. Until next post and thanks for reading.

1. Update your MWS Master Database by downloading this patch (courtesy of Metagame.it).

2. Unzip the files and copy them to the Magic Workstation folder in your Program Files. Make sure you have Administrator access to successfully update the files.

3. Download the Dark Ascension Text patch. You can add the set using Analyze/Add/Remove Sets in the MWS Menu under Tools. Add Dark Ascension with key DKA. Make sure to Save Library on the File menu before restarting MWS.

4. Download the Dark Ascension card pics. (DFC edits made by Dantalion of MTG Salvation forums. I’ve changed them to the correct filenames) Unzip, copy and paste this in the Pics folder of the Magic Workstation in the Program Files. Also, you should have Admin access to do this.

5. Click or search for a Dark Ascension card to check if the picture/s are correctly installed.

I hope this post helps ease up your Dark Ascension MWS patch update. Enjoy playtesting!

Here is a screenshot of my test inquiry. I inquired about a set of Snapcaster Mages.

The tool’s minor issue though is that it can’t inquire on the prices of the foil version of the cards. I’m pretty sure though they are working on a fix on that.

Here is the link to the deck pricing tool page.

*banner pic from toysonfire.ca.

I am hoping though they would perform more in the Standard metagame than that to mindlessly walk.

Here is the proposed decklist:

Blue Black Zombies
by Mark Ian Alloso
Post Dark Ascension Standard
Lands
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
15 Swamp

Creatures
4 Gravecrawler
4 Diregraf Ghoul
3 Diregraf Captain
4 Geralf’s Messenger
2 Highborn Ghoul
4 Cemetery Reaper

Spells
2 Altar’s Reap
2 Doom Blade
3 Mana Leak
2 Sword of War and Peace
2 Tragic Slip
2 Moan of the Unhallowed
3 Geth’s Verdict

The notable components of the deck obviously are the messengers of Geralf and Gravecrawler. Highborn Ghoul is only the good Zombie two drop though I wouldn’t include more that two as the one toughness makes it more vulnerable, though its Intimidate compensates that.

The seven Zombie lords makes sure your one drops gets the maximum damage on the early turns. Plus the Diregraf Captain is a pseudo Kalastria Highborn with loss life trigger.

Moan of the Unhallowed are additional creature support and works well on the late game and with Swords in the deck. Altar’s Reap is a favorable card draw with Gravecrawler and Mana Leak is well, Mana Leak.

Popularity of Hex proof critters makes Geth’s Verdict an important removal component. Why is it preferred over Liliana (which the latter is obviously more powerful)? The reason is the popularity of the Blue White Delver decks. With this matchup, Liliana is just a three-mana cost edict and dies mostly to flying spirit tokens. Also, our mana curve is already congested on the three drop so I had to cut her to the sideboard.

To conclude, I would not be surprised of Zombie decks running around in MTGO Daily events and even in Grand Prix events. The important thing is that it should be well-suited to the meta, both in the maindeck and the sideboard.

Comments and suggestions are very most welcome. Until next post.

At the end of the previous post, this kit was almost done with the painting and panel lining stuff. Here are the pics (phone camera quality again) that I took on the assembly and the photoshoot.

The gattling gun readied for painting.

In the spray area after painting with Metallic Brown.

The gattling gun after scraping out excess paint & added silver markings.

The initially assembled kit without the "heavy arms"

The Gundam Heavy Arms with its guns. Zaku II accidentally photobombed this one.

And for the photoshoot,

I was quite satisfied with the turn out of the color combination. The only hard part is on painting the inside of the rocket launchers. My initial plan of painting it red with a Gundam marker didn’t turned out as expected so I replaced it with the silver paint marker to coincide with the gattling guns’ colors.

One major issue of spray paints is you can’t easily find the exact color to fit the color theme of the Gundam kit, & had to stick with the available ones. Anyhow, there are tutorials online on combining colors with several coats, which I’m still about to learn.

I guess this is enough for this post. It was a fun project and I’m looking forward to improve more in Gunpla modeling, with more techniques and stuff.

Until next post y’all.

The good news is that the Ggslive, which is in charge of these live streams has a Youtube account in which they upload the featured match replays. You can check their channel here. Their latest vids are the featured matches and top 8 from the recent Grand Prix Orlando. The format was Standard constructed.

I don’t have time to stream and what to watch the vids in my spare time. What should I do?

Good question. Good thing there is a software called Youtube Downloader. Just check out their site here, follow the instructions provided and you are good to go.

Here is what the software looks like:

I hope this post helps you guys in setting up your watching experience of the Mtg matchup games coverage. Until next post.

What I’ve used to shape up the design for the two colors is the Blue Tack (as suggested in the tutorial) which I’ve bought at Ace Hardware. It was easy reshaping the substance but the problem is on removing it. You have to carefully inch it out of the plastic parts, or you’d end up ruining the paint. I also suggest that you make sure the paint is dry enough before you remove the adhesive.

I initially painted the kit with Forest Green camou color and to top it with Brown acrylic paint.

Here are the pics I took during the camo painting project:

The Blue Tack adhesive I used

A look at the adhesive contents..

The leg part which I started to put in the blue tack.

A closer look on the part readied for painting.

The painted part with the blue tack not removed yet.

The chest part of the Tieren readied with the blue tack design.

The leg part with the adhesive removed.

The finished chest part looking good.

The rest of the parts with camo-painted finish.

The assembled upper body part.

The HG 1/144 Tieren Ground Type camo painted.

Now for the photoshoot..

It was gruesome to carefully paint each part and then on removing the blue tack. It took me one whole day to complete the painting. In the end, it was fulfilling even though the camo paint was not 100% perfect. I’d try this again in the future with another camo color combination.

Thanks for reading and until next post!