Looks like we have had this week’s Tavern Brawl at least one time before: All-Star Squad lets you create a deck using your favorite card. It puts 22 copies of it in there plus 8 random ones. Not sure what the symbolism is there.
I took the mage and thought about the best card. In the end, I went with Babbling Book, because–I have no idea why. I was dead in the water for awhile vs a mage with Arcane Missile. I thought about that or Frostbolt, but then, what do you do when you run out?
At any rate, I got so excited I won, I forgot to screen cap the knockout shot. Which is a bummer because I had 2 measly health left 🙂
So go get that free pack, and see what kind of madness you can come up with. I know I will go back and have some more fun 😉 See you next week!
Last night’s episode, Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame was another solid installment in the season 3 saga. Strand and Daniel make a very odd couple, Madison has her mission with Troy. Alicia hooks up with one member of the community, and Nick struggles to convince Luciana to stay on the ranch. Before we get to all that,
*****Spoiler Alert*****
A lot happened this week. We start out with seeing the oldest house on the Broke Jaw ranch engulfed in flames as Russell took his and his wife’s life in a murder-suicide. In fairness, his wife recently turned into a “wasted”. Yes! we finally got an alternative to the infected on FTWD.
Comfortably numb: Luciana sees how comfortable Nick is getting as he brings her breakfast. She tells them they need to leave, but Nick says they need a plan, and literally backs out of the conversation.
You should be scared: Madison goes off with Troy & company to find out what happened. I’m starting to be OK with Troy’s craziness. It almost makes sense at times. Of course, Troy would later go on to make me not like him again.
Crush of love: Alicia visits Jake and they end up knocking boots. We find out that she really lost her sense of self, including a love/respect for the arts.
Blood brothers: I can’t help but see parallels between Daryl/Merle and Jake/Troy. Merle was a hell of a lot more interesting, and in the end, settled with his demons. I don’t see Jake being a fan favorite any time soon, but there are similarities there.
Under a minute: Troy & Co. encounter a bus that had been turned over and he decides they should take care of the infected. Maddy proves her worth to the dude who questioned her abilities earlier.
I like the relationship between Nick and Otto. I think Otto can be kind of a father figure to Nick. For how long? I dunno.
Odd couple: Daniel and Strand drive through the Mexican wasteland. We see an odd dynamic forming between the two. Daniel trusts Strand even less. Strand calls him out on his “tough guy” act, but that doesn’t gain him any points with the El Salvadorian.
*****New Character: Walker*****
But you only just got here: The aforementioned Walker sneaks up on Troy and his group as they came upon McAllister who had been strapped to a chair. His skull was peeled back (scalped?) and a crow was enjoying some of his brain. Maddy took him out of his not-so-misery. Walker then made his presence known. He takes their guns, supplies, and boots, and tells them he wants his land back including the Broke Jaw Ranch.
Strand-ed: Daniel and Strand get to the hotel they were formerly at. It’s totally overrun with walkers now. Daniel has enough of the smooth-talking conman, and positions him into a group of infected. He yells out, “Let’s see how you get out of this one!”. Kind of a crappy move I think. Say what you want about Strand, he did get them all out of LA safely. That’s gotta be worth something. No?
Rehab: Nick is participating in the other type of rehab: fixing up the burned out house. Otto asks him where he learned his skills, and Nick tells him it was from his dad. Otto loves that Nick is doing this, and pretty much lets him know it’s his to fix up if he wants to. He also says he will need some help. Nick cleans it up enough to have a candle lit dinner with Luciana.
The episode ends in kind of a flurry of activity. Troy leads his bootless company back to the ranch, Luciana leaves Nick, Alicia jumps off a cliff…into a small lake. Cheesy scare is cheesy!
Questions: We meet the guy who is responsible for killing McAllister’s group, and ultimately Travis and Charlie. Will Walker turn out to be this season’s “heavy”?
Are Alicia and Jake FTWDs Glenn and Maggie? I feel like Glenn is way ahead of Jake in terms of skill. I like Jake, even though I keep thinking of him as one of the sociopathic twins from The Following. Really hope he doesn’t end up turning into that.
How will Otto react to Walker’s threat? Seems like he will not just up and leave. Perhaps this will be settled in a few episodes.
Will Daniel find Ofelia or the ranch first? I kind of hope he finds the ranch. That would make a better set up for him then seeing Ofelia with Walker’s group. If that’s how it all turns out, which it probably will.
How will Strand get out of his situation? The infected can’t really be negotiated with. He is at a clear disadvantage. Still, he is resourceful.
Will Luciana make it off the ranch before Nick catches up with her? You know he’s going after her. I can see Otto stopping him, and telling Nick that he needs him in light of Walker’s threat.
When will we see Ofelia? Why are they making us wait so long? It’s obvious she is alive. I keep saying she is with Walker and his group. I feel like I need to go back and watch the last episode she was in.
Why doesn’t Daniel just pee from the car? It’s kind of easy for guys. Just go man!
Observation: This is the 3rd season and they still haven’t started making runs yet. I guess this is partially because they have been in larger groups so far.
Zombie Kill of the Week: I have to give it to Russell taking himself out and his infected wife, Martha. Close second was Troy with the machete as he cut off both arms, got it on the ground, then used a knife to finish it.
I saw you from across the room. You were tightly clinging to, him. Still, you looked my way. You had diamonds in your eyes. You had a playful smile. You shined so bright. Why? The music was getting to my head. Perhaps the whiskey played it’s part. There was mischief in the night. Somewhere a muse was in delight. I’m taken. You’re taken. So we go our separate ways. I try to avoid the PDAs. I catch your eye one last time. You whisper ‘good bye’ and wink. What am I supposed to think? I have this pounding in my heart. There is no moon tonight, it’s dark. I hit the pillow, but I don’t sleep. I have a picture but it doesn’t speak. I didn’t get your name. I didn’t get your number darlin’. I can’t help but thinking ‘what if?’. Maybe I’ll catch you in a dream. Maybe?
We have had this week’s Tavern Brawl at least once before. I was actually a little excited to play it again. It’s been a little while. Basically, your deck is filled with Webspinners–A hunter minion that has a Deathrattle: Add a random beast to your deck.
You also get some class spells to round things off. I try and go for non-Webspinners when I start the match. Sometimes that doesn’t work out.
These matches are all about RNG, it took me 5-6 tries to get my win. I will not be playing this more than once, as it comes with a high degree of frustration.
You get in there and get your free pack now. I will see you again next week!
Sunday night’s episode, 100 was masterful. Not only did a prominent character make his long-awaited return, we got to see a little glimpse into how he might have operated in the past. Before we dive in,
*****Spoiler Alert*****
It begins with Daniel making his way from the burning Abigail ranch to the streets of Mexico (possibly Tijuana) infested with the non-living. Daniel is burned and bloodied–as we saw in the preview. He dives under an abandoned truck to get away from an infected woman.
*****New Character Efrain*****
The 5th Beatle: Daniel wakes up to someone at his feet. He hears what is an infected just behind him. He is too exhausted to do anything. He hears something else; it turns out to be a living man, who tugs at Daniel’s boot. Turns out to be Efrain–a stranger willing to help Daniel, who yells for water. Efrain loads Daniel into his rickshaw and peddles through the zombie infested streets where he literally clubs his way through. I like Efrain.
*****New Character Lola*****
Lola is among the people who inhabit the area where Efrain makes his home. She notices Daniel’s leg needs immediate attention. Daniel wakes up, and after a moment realizes what she intends to do, he says it takes a steady hand. A callback from season 1. Lola tries to sing to help Daniel deal with the incoming pain as she prepares to cut his pants from his skin.
Noventa y seis: Efrain takes in Daniel, feeds him, and helps him get back on his feet. They go out on daily runs to clear the area of infected. Efrain says a little prayer as he drives large nails through the heads of the infected. Daniel in return, offers to give Efrain a proper haircut. Efrain accepts. The two then share stories of each others past, and share a drink. Daniel tells Efrain about Ofelia and that he plans to find her. We find out Daniel knows exactly how many people he has killed (96), from El Salvador to present day. Keep this in mind for later.
*****New Community: Gonzalez Dam*****
A couple of workers are clearing out a drainage tunnel when they stumble upon Daniel. They bring him to a building where Lola enters and immediately recognizes the man she helped. She then helps him clean up and takes him to see if he can get a job. Lola, besides being pretty intelligent, is very convincing. She introduces Daniel to the head of security (J.C.) who doesn’t like newcomers. I like Lola.
Finger food: The boss (Dante) comes into the dining area and everyone immediately stands up–except Daniel, who keeps on munching on his meal. JC comes over and lets Daniel know he was not pleased. He does this by sticking a meaty finger into Daniel’s portion of spam. Daniel responds by beating JC up. This catches the attention of Dante, who introduces himself to Daniel. Dante immediately knows Daniel is not a local, and after asking him his name, recognizes who and what Daniel is, and was. He is impressed enough to offer Daniel a job. Daniel lies about knowing how many people he has killed.
Water patrol: Daniel is put on water patrol with JC and his goons. They are the same ones that passed Daniel when Efrain took him to his place. They enter the same structure that the “magic fountain” is in. Daniel knows how this story plays out before it does, so he acts quickly to save the water.
L-O-L-A Lola, la la la Lola! Lola is pretty upset when Daniel tells her he sacrificed Efrain to save the water. She doesn’t want to hear any of it and condemns him as a thug–who is perfect for this place. Daniel is once again in a bad situation. Not quite as bad as El Salvador, but similar.
We see the scene where Daniel sees Strand being brought into the Dam. Daniel then goes to where Strand is being kept in a cell. Daniel brings him some water and says “I knew you would drink it all”. Daniel asks about Ofelia and Strand quickly says she is alive in a hotel and he can take him to her. Daniel reads Strand and calls his bluff. Strand tries to play the “You owe me” card, and fails.
Those aren’t options brother: Dante calls on Daniel to make Efrain confess to stealing water. Daniel tells him if he talks, he and Lola will be killed. If he doesn’t talk, Daniel will have to kill him. Efrain says that those aren’t options. Daniel is prompted to begin the ‘inquiry’, and Daniel starts punching Efrain. After he sees it’s not working, he tells Dante he doesn’t think he will talk. Dante tells Daniel to keep going. This time Daniel picks up a hammer. Before he can use it, Lola runs over to Efrain and hugs him.
100: Dante has Efrain, Lola, her two janitors, and Strand brought out to the area of the dam he likes to toss people off of. You know what’s going to happen. Dante has Daniel bring out the first person, one of the janitors. Dante then tosses him off, and calls for the next in line–Lola. Daniel slowly brings her up, and hesitates. You can see he is struggling with his new duty. Dante then tells JC to handle it, which gets JC headbutted, then shot in the head. Daniel takes out another goon with a rifle before he walks over to Dante and shoots him in the head. This makes Daniel’s kill total 99. I must have missed number 100 somewhere. Unless it will be revealed later, or he blames himself for the janitors death.
This was probably my favorite episode of FTWD to date. One of my favorite characters is back, really back, and he is clearly changed. He has a purpose. He might not be a good guy per se, but he risked a lot to do the right thing. It will be interesting to see how he and Strand get along.
I didn’t even notice the majority of the episode was in Spanish with English subtitles until they mentioned it on Talking Dead. It was so well acted and written. I actually found myself wanting to speak Spanish (took 2 years in high school) afterwards. Quite well played.
Questions: Really don’t have a lot of questions after this episode. Who will take over the Dam? I have a feeling Efrain and Lola might, not sure they have the power. They could let more people in I suppose. They are quite resourceful. I hope they will stick with Daniel and eventually be a part of the core group.
The other stuff I want to talk about was in the preview for next week’s episode, so that is kind of it for this week’s questions. It looks like the story will jump ahead again in a big way next week. If you want to know more, check out the trailer.
Zombie Kill of the Week: In addition to his illustrious credentials, Efrain manages to club a walker as he peddled his rickshaw through the mean streets of Tijuana. A one-handed baseball style kill is not original, but considering he did it while navigating a rickshaw with a passenger–he gets the gold! Did I mention he was the 5th Beatle?
Do you know what you want? Do you know what you need? Do you know what you feel inside? Does it feel like me? Do you mean what you say? Do you say what you mean? Are you building up lies? Is it make believe? Can you open your mind? Can you share a dream? Are you so superficial, that you can’t see me? If I walked in your world. If I walked down your street. Would you give me a glance? Would we ever meet?
This week’s Tavern Brawl should be familiar to long-time Hearthstone players: Cart Crash at the Crossroads. Like all the other ‘Crossroads’ brawls, it’s RNG heavy.
Pick a hero and get a a random deck filled with class cards, legendaries, and neutral minions–but wait, there’s more! In addition pick a 2nd class to add cards from to your deck. You get a random choice of 3!
I went mage, and it was looking good, until it wasn’t. It took me a few games to come out on top, but eventually, I got my one-sided match. This is definitely a one-and-done for me. It’s still pretty good for newer players, or those who don’t have the time/money to grow their library. So, have fun! Get that free pack. I will see you next time 😉
