‘Blessed vs Cursed’ Review

It’s time for another MTG duel deck review. 

 
The release of this one surprised me, as did the inclusion of preview cards from the next expansion (Shadows Over Innistrad). The decks match ‘blessed’ humans against ‘cursed’ zombies and turned out to be great fun to play against each other. 

 
The blessed deck is white/blue and heavy on creatures with ‘enter the battlefield’ triggers. Some are tailor made to kill zombies, and overall the deck plays quite quickly.

The cursed deck is blue/black, full of graveyard effects (self-mill, playable from, graveyard triggers) and is even faster than the white deck. 

I played eight games in total and the final tally was a draw at 4 wins each! Almost every game was quick and few were easy wins. These are two of the best matched – and most fun to play – duel decks ever.

The pros will talk about the value of the cards as well, including an alternate art Geist (from the original Innistrad) as well as some notable rates. But what I found most charming was that while each deck contains Islands, the card art is unique to the decks they are in, so there are three pairs of the same islands in both cursed and blessed forms: 

 
It’s a nice touch, and another plus in this overall great pair of decks. Highly recommended.

Introducing Marimo!

This is one of the more unusual birthday gifts I received this year: 

 
A glass jar with rocks, a bit of sea fan and something in a bag. First we put the rocks and fan in the jar and filled with tap water: 

 
Here’s the weird thing in the bag: 

 
It’s a ‘marimo’, a type of algae native to certain lakes around the world that grows into ball shapes. He was to live in our jar!

After a quick washing: 

 
We put him in the jar: 

 
Where he floated! The sheet that came with him said this was due to the water ph and oxygen content, and marimo would change his depth depending on such things. 

After about a week though, he has settled on the bottom like he would in a lake: 

 
Marimo needs almost no maintenance, prefers low light (no direct sunlight!) and can apparently live (and grow) for decades. The perfect plant for a cat household!

Burning With Talent

As you all know, I am a man of great creativity and artistic talent. So when KLS received this for Christmas… 

 
…my interest was piqued!

The kit contained a woodburning tool, two pieces of wood, a sheet of instructions, a sheet of designs and some carbon paper to transfer the design. Here’s the tool: 

 
And here’s some of the design ideas and instructions: 

 
As you can see, it’s all very helpful to the beginning pyrographer. Me though, I don’t need design ideas! The very suggestion is a slap in my face! 

No sir, I knew precisely what I’d be burning into the wood.

It didn’t take me long to master the variety of lines and techniques possible with the tool: 

 
And I wasted no time in the creation of my first ever woodburning masterpiece. Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you “Herald of The Dark Star”

 
Takes your breath away doesn’t it? 

The bold line work. The subtle shading. The dramatic blackness of the sun. I’m sure you’ll agree that in only about ten minutes I created something truly unique in the world of burned art.

Some detail of the shading process: 

 
Three coats of varnish and a wall mount later and this has now become a permanent display in our home: 

 
And with woodburning mastered, I wonder what I’ll turn to next?