Musings on Geekiness

As a self proclaimed geek it is perhaps fitting that I quickly make it clear what geekiness is to me. If you are a geek yourself you will know that there are many levels and types of geeks and nerds and you wouldn't want to fall into the wrong definition of geek. Noone wants to be the bad kind of nerd, while there is a certain coolness factor to being the right type.

But hang on, I am getting ahead of myself.  Let's take a step back and look at what the definition of a geek is.

According to Wikipedia the word comes from the low german word geck which originally was used for freaks and crazy people.

The word geek also covers people obsessed with intellectual pursuits, people interested in technology, computing or media, people that lets themselves become consumed in a hobby, people who are socially akward.

As you can see "geek" has many meanings, most of them are still negative, however a movement has happened in recent time to allow us to wear the definition geek or nerd as a badge of honor. We are a part of an exclusive club, where noone outside really understands us or the hobby or interest that makes us the geeks we are.

Interestingly you can be a double, tripple or maybe even quadrouble geek depending on how many geeky subjects you are into and how much time you devote to each of them.

I myself am a gamer geek, comic book nerd, boardgame enthusiast and a bookworm.

When I was a child it was sometimes a hassle to have these interests. My parents and my cousins are geeky too so when I was with them I could act natural and be a full on geek. However at school and with my female friends it was tough sometimes, because they did not understand at all. I was never teased for being geeky, but I always felt a bit out of place.
Similarly when I went to highschool and university I never really felt like I belonged. I guess during those days I was a geek in the negative interpretation of the word.

Now, however I work in a geeky place with nerdy people and frankly I am probably one of the lesser geeks there. I love it, I feel at home, I am part of the club and I wear my badge with pride. For I am a nerdy geek! :)

Drogskol Captain and other great spirit cards

Jon Finkels deck for the Pro Tour 2012 relied heavily on the Drogskol Captain:

This 2/2 flying spirit soldier gives all other spirit creatures you control +1/+1 and hexproof.
The beautiful part of this is a that if you have 2 Drogskol Captains in play both of them will be hexproof, making it virtually impossible for your opponent to get rid of them.

Jon Finkel combined the Captain with Lingering Souls, a MTG sorcery card that puts 2 1/1 spirit creatures into play.
In the previous scenario with 2 Drogskol Captains in place those 2 spirits would suddenly be 3/3 with flying and hexproof, not bad for a 1 white 2 colorless mana card. Furthermore Lingering souls has Flashback so for 1 black, 1 colorless mana you can get another set of 3/3 creatures into play.

With the success Jon Finkels spirit/delver deck had at the Honululu event it is only a matter of time before other great spirit decks pop up. Finkel filled out his deck with Snapcaster mage and Delver of Secret, however it should be possible to find some more cool spirit cards to replace those with.

If you are not playing tournaments, but just looking to have some casual fun, then adding Azorius Herald or Drogskol Reaver could work out for you.

Or you can just go with Jon Finkels deck as it is tested and tried and found very strong. You can find Finkels complete Pro Tour semi final deck here as well as a full list of all DKA cards so you can add or edit the spirit deck as you see fit.

A closer look at Huntmaster of the Fells Dark Ascension

Huntmaster of the Fells was a bit of a dark horse in the recently concluded Dark Ascension Pro Tour in Honolulu.

Not only was it part of Brian Kiblers winning deck, it also played a major factor in the very close semi final match between Kibler and Jon Finkel.

Huntmaster of the Fells - Double faced card - Dark Ascension

It is not just the fact that this card will give you 2 life and a 2/2 token wolf creature when put into play. It is the fact that if no spells were cast last turn the Huntmaster will transform into a 4/4 with trample and deal 2 damage to your opponent as well as 2 damage to target creature.

With this card you can majorly control the playstyle of your opponent as he is forced to try and cast spells every turn.

I have to admit I wasn't super excited about the Huntmaster of the Fells until I saw it in action at the Pro Tour, but now I am pretty taken aback by just how powerful this card can be.

Check out the entire winning deck of Brian Kibler here as well of the other decks from the Semi Finals.

Pro Tour Dark Ascension

Magic: the Gathering - Drogskol Captain - Dark Ascension is being discussed on the Magic the Gathering Live Stream at the moment. Seems it is very popular in the pro tour so far.

Snapcaster Mage seems to be highly used in the 2012 Pro Tour

Dark Ascension release and Pro Tour Honolulu

Dark Ascension was released on the 3rd for February and it is being followed up fast by the Pro Tour in Honolulu.

As the DKA expansion is still fairly new, it will be interesting to see what decks people come up with in draft.

Personally I am hoping to see some really cool Zombie Decks featuring Gravecrawler, Geralf's Messenger and maybe even Dark Cat.

So many new cool Zombie Cards was introduced in Dark Ascension, that a Zombie themed deck might finally be viable.

I am really looking forward to the drafts.

If you are thinking of setting up your own little draft tournament then you can get boosters boxes with 36 Booster Packs from Amazon

Introduction of a Geek

I am Mistel and I am 29 years old a the time of writing this. I have been a geek since my dad brought home a Commedore 64 when I was just 4 years of age.

This blog will be me discussing all the geeky stuff I get up to. My main focus will be on Magic the Gathering, but there will be many other nerdy topics to talk about apart from the TCG.

Welcome to Mistels World of Geekiness.