OK, so we have had this week’s Tavern Brawl a lot. Second to the Crossroads I think. Anyways, you pick a class and get a random deck full of spells and minions. Each round the mana value for the cards changes. Hence, Randomonium. This battle is spectacularly random. Take that for what it’s worth.
I pick the mage. You know I do. I even stuck with it after my first match goes pear-shaped. It looked good out of the gate. I had a nice mix of cards, got something on the board.
At one point it was real lopsided. Then they play a spell (forgot what it was, but it took out 2 minions.
Second match went much better. Totally one-sided, in my favor. Which, is how most of these battles shake out. This is one of those “one and done” brawls for me. I get my freebee and go on with my day.
So have fun, get your pack, maybe have some more fun. See you next week!
This tweet came across my feed, and I thought it was a neat thing to discuss. Why not make it a blog post, ’cause you know I like to talk sports? So here we go!
All Time favorite player each sport
COPY…PASTE…EDIT…GO!!
NBA – Dennis Rodman NFL – Doug Buffone NCAAF – Michael Vick NCAAB – Peyton Siva MLB – José Canseco NHL – Jaromír Jágr Boxing – Rocky Marciano/Arturo Gatti Wrestling – Hulk Hogan
In case you all don’t know, John Buffone is a nephew of former Bears linebacker, radio personality, and beautiful human–Doug Buffone.
NBA– Michael Jordan. Boring answer perhaps. Best player in his era, among probably the most talented era in NBA basketball. Which is why Kobe Bryant was probably my second favorite NBA player. Until his personal issues bled into the NBA. Still doesn’t diminish what he has done as a player.
NFL– Walter Payton, but Barry Sanders is a close, close second. Walter Payton was what every kid around my day wanted to grow up to be. Barry Sanders was like watching a great painter paint. The way he ran, turned direction, cut, spun, got out of tackles–you could only dream up stuff like that. That is talent you are born with. I don’t know that any player in the Super Bowl era got more out of their talent than Walter Payton though. Wasn’t the fastest, biggest, or strongest (thought he was one of the toughest), but he had great body control, vision, and patience. Just as soon run you over as run past you, stiff arm you, stop and start. That was just the beginning. He could punt, throw a touchdown, catch, block, or play on special teams.
NCAA Football– Shaun Alexander. I was fortunate enough to watch many games/highlights of him throughout his college career. Reminded me a lot of Walter Payton. Alexander might have been a tick faster. He carved his way through teams, week in and week out, stacking up yards, and touchdowns. He was just as fun to watch in his NFL career.
NCAA Basketball– Tim Duncan. For me, Tim Duncan was a throwback player. He was a big man who could shoot, or just make a power move to the hoop. Played hard defense, and was a generational player.
MLB– Ken Griffey Junior. I used to play this computer simulation called Strat-o-matic baseball. We only used NL players though. So naturally I was thrilled when Griffey signed with the Cincinnati Reds. He wasn’t the same player as he was back in Seattle, swatting majestic home runs, and robbing players of hits in center field, but he still had that swing. One of the most beautiful swings of his day. He also played every game with that childlike smile, which was almost more of a trademark than his game play.
NHL– Patrick Kane. I’m going new school, mainly because Blackhawks games were not on TV when I was growing up. I used to follow them in the papers, and when they made it to the playoffs (and I was old enough) I would go to the bar to watch them play. I almost said Steve Larmer, and Ed Belfour is in the conversation. I also thought about Artemi Panarin, who might be my 2nd favorite player. Patrick Kane has gone through a lot in his career. His best seasons might have been the two he played with Panarin. I still can’t believe those teams didn’t win a cup. No one has the “handles” that Kane does, or the vision, and ability to pass the puck. Not that great on defense, but he pitches in for timely defense.
Boxing: Evander Holyfield. Not a huge boxing fan. I do respect the sport. We don’t have guys like Mike Tyson, Holyfield, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Frazier, or Muhammad Ali. Boxing is just a shell of what it used to be. Holyfield might have been the last of his kind. He had an impressive list of wins in his day. He was professional. I would have loved to see Ali and Frazier fight in their prime.
Wrestling: Andre the Giant. As a “bad guy”, he was a formidable opponent, but when he switched over to join Hulk Hogan as a “good guy”, that was the bees knees. I mean, for the short time I watched wrestling for what it was (pure entertainment), it was glorious. There was only one Hulk Hogan, but there was also only one giant. Then of course, him being in one of my favorite movies of all time: The Princess Bride–that seals the deal.
This has been a fantastic list to share, and write about. I hope you do your own list and pass it on. Feel free to put it in the comments below.
This week’s Tavern Brawl is a brand spankin’ new one: Gone Fishin’- Simply make a deck of 20 minions, and you will get 10 class spells. You also get a “weapon” which is a 0/1 fishing pole that summons a random minion from your opponents deck.
I think I read that wrong at first, because it said “fish”, I assumed it meant put into your hand. This is a big detail. Especially since I filled my deck with a few low cost minions, and the rest were 5-mana or more. I figured that would bog them down. When they are summoned automatically, not so much. Needless to say that deck failed hard.
So my next attempt was a little better. Went with the mage again. This brawl is random enough to be frustrating. I’m sure people will be coming up with some nasty decks as the day rolls on.
I got really lucky summoning a Lich King in another match. However, my opponent easily cleared him before I could attack.
My luck would hold up though, as I continued to draw some decent minions from my buddy. It really comes down to that. So, do you put good minions in your deck, or try to sabotage? BattleCry minions that only help when played (vs summoned) might a way to go. I got my win, and I’m not sure how much more I will play this.
Go on, get in there, and get that free pack. I will see you next week. Have fun!
This week’s Tavern Brawl is one we have had a couple times: Cloneball! Your deck is filled with random Legendaries, which have 4 copies of them. Kind of. I am no math expert, but 4 x 7 = 28, and there are 30 cards in a deck, so…anyways.
I picked the mage because I need some instant gratification in my life. Of course that means I will lose horribly.
Even though my opponent ridiculously had Patches (which is cruel and unusual), I had no real counter for it, save using my hero power. I got pummeled early on, as my deck betrayed me a little. It didn’t get much better. In fact it got worse.
Round 2 was much better. So much better that my opponent opted out fairly early. I probably would have too. This is how this brawl goes though. Terribly one-sided. Fun to be able to play a bunch of legendaries. Especially when you don’t have a large library to draw from.
So get on in there and have a blast! Pick up that free pack. See you back here next week!
This week’s Tavern Brawl is one we have had a few times, in one variation or another. I think it started out with a 3-card deck, then two. It’s usually a “Wild” match, but this time it’s standard rules. Which might be a good thing, because the other way could get nasty.
So, I picked the mage. I didn’t think a whole lot on it. I went with the Mana Wyrm, and Frostbolt. I think ran into probably the best possible combo for my deck: A druid trying to “mill” me. If you don’t know what milling is, it is simply running you out of cards. It’s a slow and painful death, but in the current scheme of things, I am not sure it can be done. Some of the best “mill” cards have been retired.
Anyways, my opponent got out quick. I got my free pack, and here I am talking to you! So get on in there, and have some fun. See what kind of wacky creations you can come up with. I’m sure by early evening there will be some wicked decks being played. See you next week!
This week’s Tavern Brawl is a clever play on words: Everybunny get in here! It’s a new brawl just in time for…Nobel Garden? Not sure if this is a glitch or what, but I got 2 free cards for logging in. I can’t remember if we had a Noble Garden brawl this year, but I’ll take it.
You get a deck full of random class cards, and every turn a “Noble Garden Egg” appears on your board. The egg has stealth and next round “hatches” into something cool. You also get “Dye” cards that have various buffs on them. I kept 1 dye card then swapped out my other two starting cards. Ended up getting a secret, so that was cool.
My opponent ignored some of my early minions which puzzled me, and also led me to dominate the board throughout the contest. I thank you dear opponent for that.
It seemed like it was pretty even midway through, then I locked them down pretty good. They ran out of cards to play, and conceded. Ah well. That’s how it goes sometimes.
This brawl seems kind of fun. It’s random, but there are the “Dye” cards that let you mix things up. So get on in there and have a blast. Make sure to pick up that free pack on your first win. I will see you next week!
The Cubs are back to their streaky selves when it comes to offense. I’m not going to throw a lot of numbers at you but over the last 9 games or so, they have scored under 3 runs in each contest. Not surprisingly, they have lost the last 3 games. Joe loves to tinker with his lineup, perhaps it’s time to break out batting the pitcher in the 8th spot. Here’s why:
If he is going to keep Bryant in the 2-hole, more often than not, he will only have 1 runner on at any given time–the lead-off hitter, or maybe the 8th batter, with at least one out. That’s not really optimal. Bryant is a slugger. He hits a lot of doubles, and a lot of homers. That’s wasted potential if you ask me. Either moving him up, or moving the pitcher down would allow him to have more runners on when he comes to bat.
Currently, Bryant is sitting on 12 runs batted in, while Baez, who for a long time was batting 8th, has 26 RBIs. Jason Heyward has 14 RBI’s, and Kyle Schwarber has 17. In fairness, Bryant missed 4 games after he was hit in the head by Colorado. I think the change is simple, even elementary. The more batters in front of you, the greater chance to hit those runners in. Right now, if Maddon keeps Bryant batting second, he’s just not going to have those opportunities–unless he moves the pitcher down.
