I was looking at my drafts folder just now and saw seven different entries. Most of these posts will talk about some games I’ve played lately and others have focused on MTG — this is the way it’s been around here for over a year now. There has been a bit of a lull in my posting this month compared to the ramping up I’d been doing over the last six months or so, and part of that is due to this draft folder.

I’ve gotten into the habit of starting up a draft post every time I start up a new game. I’ll usually do a starter post and then another after I’ve finished a game. I’ve had great success clearing several games out of my backlog since the tail end of last year but haven’t committed to a new game in probably a month. I’ve had trouble keeping interested as of late, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I’ve become more engrossed in Magic. Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not writing off gaming whatsoever, yet I feel like pushing myself to finish game after game has come to an end. I still want to continue working on the backlog and I still want to play new games that have recently come out or are on the horizon — this should always be a gaming blog. It’s just that the way I’ve been feeding this blog is through the things I’ve been playing and not having much to say about the video game side of things means that drafts sit until I either finally have enough to say about the title or they get deleted.

Looking through it this evening I saw mostly MTG-oriented titles but I’ve been trying to keep some sort of parity between the two major subjects of my blog. The video game drafts just didn’t inspire me to write. So I thought I’d jot down some stream of consciousness and get one last blog post out for the month. So what have I been doing?

Remember when I used to talk about League of Legends all of the time? Yeah me too. It’s been over a year since I’ve played the game, but I have kept up on the pro scene. I did also download the new client and update it at some point but still haven’t played. Think I might play before the year ends at least. So anyway, the Spring Split of the NALCS ended recently and MSI starts this weekend. I watched most of the games through the split and there were surprising changes to rosters and the way the whole thing works too. Most interesting was seeing Team Liquid stomp the 1st place team (100 Thieves) in the finals. Yeah, that Team Liquid. I always liked the team as a sort of underdog squad but they always ended up in 4th place spawning memes and whatnot. More impressive is that Doublelift plays for Liquid now, and has won his 3rd split on a 3rd team, something not done before in NA (or the world, I think). MSI should be interesting but I’m ready for the Summer Split to begin. I’ll likely wait until the mid-season changes to take place before I dip my toes back into playing but it’s been on my mind for some time.

The NFL draft just happened this past weekend as well. The Packers have done a number of interesting things in the offseason. The GM was canned and a new one hired along with some other coaching changes. They made a splash in free agency picking up Jimmy Graham, but let some big names like Jordy Nelson go (he’s on the Raiders now). The draft wasn’t fully focused on defense either, but apparently the cornerback they took in that round is pretty good. I’m not sure how the team will look but I’m sure we’ll be back in the post season this year.

As I said, I’ve been engrossed in Magic lately, trying to benefit from cards in my collection that are worth money but collecting dust by selling them and getting some money cards in the process. I’ve been brewing a bunch lately because of Dominaria’s release an having opened a box, but also have dipped my toes into MTG Arena. I’m hesitant to spend any money there or to even really play until they say they won’t do more account wipes, but it is promising and a way to play Magic when my friends aren’t available or I’m not going to a store event. I’ve also been trying to tighten up my decks by eliminating some projects that aren’t really doing it for me anymore, retiring others and turning some into new decks. For instance, *spoilers* I broke up my Reaper King deck and am building a Jodah deck in its place. I’m also turning my Sram deck into a Shu Yun deck, but keeping the voltron theme just so I can use both Sram and Jhoira to draw cards like crazy. My mono green deck is now helmed by Yisan, and I’ve talked about some other crammed together brews I’ve done recently here already. In doing so I’m making the existing decks more competitive and also cutting down the number of decks I have, because when I get going with brews I go overboard. I’ve also been listening to more podcasts and watching things on YouTube to continue to improve my knowledge of the game.

I’ve been playing games too. Clash Royale has a new Clan War feature that is interesting and replaces the old clan chests. It’s been fun if not a little frustrating. I’ve started up Pillars of Eternity but am only like 4 hours in. I started Prey, and am probably 5 hours into that one. Ditto ELEX, but I feel like I might want to start that one over and go a different route. The problem is that I haven’t really wanted to just focus on one thing and play it through, I’ve been wanting to spread my time around and that isn’t conducive to finishing games. Perhaps I’ll find my groove again, but I think for now I’m going to just fly by the seat of my pants and play whatever suits me at the time.

Speaking of, the whole Daybreak fiasco… I’ve basically called it quits with the company. Maybe I should write a full proper post on the subject, but let’s just say that I’ve spent some money with them over the years, even as recently as last month, so I’m now at a loss. I don’t want to give money to them anymore, and I cancelled my EQ2 sub. It’s sad because I will always love the Everquest series, but I think it’s time to put it to bed. No thanks with all of that drama.

That’s all I have for now. Happy Monday or something.