MTG: Terra Terror

I want to share a deck I made a few years ago that I've just had the chance to revise. I call that deck Terra Terror! Mwahaha hahaha! It is the ultimate land control and decimation deck ever devised! Well, or so I hope. I actually haven't had a chance to really test it in a real game yet, but on paper it sounds brutal and cruel.

The previous incarnation of this deck focused solely on things that blew up lands which is the point, but it seemed to have a tough time keeping itself afloat in battle. I'd end up behind, or outnumbered, or out of cards and out of options. This new version should be much scarier! Fear it!

4 x Llanowar Elves - For the cheap ramp.
4 x Akki Blizzard Herder - For the cheap land destruction.
1 x Krosan Restorer - Helps get lands back.
1 x Dwarven Driller - Helps destroy even more lands!
2 x Countryside Crusher - Gets stronger and stronger.
2 x Terravore - Hey! I get stronger and stronger too!
1 x Mina and Denn, Wildborn - For the additional land play and trample.

4 x Winter Orb - Brrr, it sure is getting cold. ;) Slows things right down.
4 x Custody Battle - Just hand those creatures over.
3 x Crown of the Ages - And... now hand another creature over.
3 x Gruul Cluestone - More ramp.
3 x Harrow - Some more awesome ramp!
3 x Roiling Terrain - Bam! Damage! Ow!
1 x Price of Glory - Don't even think about using instants during my turn.

12 x Mountains
11 x Forests

First off, the biggest difference in this deck is now the inclusion of 4 Winter Orb's and the addition of ways for me to ramp despite my land situation. Winter's Orb slows the game to a screeching halt... if you don't have alternative ways of creating mana. The cluestone and elves help ramp it up and the fact that 90% of my deck can be cast with 3 or less mana definitely helps. I really wanted another one or two Krosan Restorers because once threshold is reached, and it will be with this deck, it can produce so much mana. Unfortunately, I only have one and everywhere I looked was out of stock.

Secondly, the deck now includes some Crown of the Ages to accompany the already present Custody Battles. They go together like peanut butter and jam and bread and it's oh so delicious. Opponents will either have to lose a land, or risk permanently losing a creature to my side. Crown of the Ages can move Custody Battle to other creatures, and the original creature would remain under my control. It's devious and deadly.

Third. I've got some potentially heavy hitters in the deck now. Previously I had next to nothing for this job and at some point you got to hit back. Terravore and Countryside Crusher are perfect for this deck. They should be big and bad in no time.

Finally, I've added a few other cards that could prove useful. Mina and Denn, Wildborn will let me play additional lands and give those heavy hitters some trample. Harrow will help me ramp. Price of Glory will protect and potentially destroy even more land. I do love Price of Glory.

All in all I believe it's a large improvement over the original incarnation. Terra Terror should be interesting to say the least!

The Great Note Archive Mission

I've been holding on to a huge couple of binders full of notes for years now. I have high school notes from all sorts of classes - math, physics, social studies, english, etc. I have post-secondary notes from the Art Institute of Vancouver. There's notes from my time in Kwantlen in the Drafting program. Basically, there's a lot of paper just sitting around taking up space. I'd like to change that!

Part of me thinks, "I'll never look at this stuff again so just chuck it out and move on." Well, the other part of me says, "WHAT IF I NEED IT ONE DAY?!"

So, to compromise I'll try to take all these notes, turn them into digital copies, and chuck the hard copies. It's a bit of an undertaking that's for sure. So here's what I'm going to do...

Here's my Note Picture Taking K'Nex Apparatus!

I've created an apparatus to place my phone in and take pictures of every page of notes. It's built out of K'Nex and will allow me to slide a page in, take a picture, pull the page out, and repeat. I've opted for this method as opposed to scanning as it should simply be much quicker to simply hit a button on my phone every couple of seconds. The scanner takes too long to move up and down the page and wait for me to drop it and push a couple of buttons. This, combined with the fact that I don't need the quality to be amazing, just good enough to read, means I really don't need to use the scanner.

Here's the skeleton of the apparatus. The papers were only there to help reflect light.

The photos will be uploaded automatically to Google's Google Photo cloud. From there I plan to download them (possibly crop them) and reupload them in an organized fashion to Google Drive. Google Photos are weird in that if you move them around in Google Drive they still relate back to Google Photos and I really don't know how else to break this connection other than by downloading them and then deleting them from Google Photos. This was they'll only be accessible in Google Drive and not turning my Google Photos page into a collection of notes. It should work.

By the end I'll hopefully gain a couple shelves of space! Goodbye clutter!

2016 Music Exploration

This year saw me bring in a pair of my headphones to work which I could plug into the computer. The music helps keep me focused and makes the day go by a little faster. It's wonderful! Now, I don't really subscribe to any particular music service like google play, spotify, etc. so the I've been getting tunes in my head is by listening to music on YouTube.

I have the autoplay feature turned on for YouTube so I can just start playing a song and when it's done it'll go to the next music video and I can listen to it in the background. This has taken me on some random music adventures. Some are hits and some are misses, but I'm sure glad I've had a chance to learn about some new music this way!

Here's some of my favourite songs and music videos!

First off, my sister sent me this cool music video that also has some sweet beats. It put a big smile on my face! This song, "SOURCE," by Fever The Ghost also led me to some other great music.

One song and music video I was led to is "Let's Go" by Stuck in the Sound. The art style is clean and the story is kind of tragic, but in a way that should make you think a little bit.

Another great song and awesomely animated music video is "Delta" by C2C. I had to watch it a couple of times before I noticed and realized that the triangle symbol on the neglected religious man's clothing also happens to be the thing people are all fussing over in the video.

Yet another band found via autoplay is Concorde. They're a french indie band, but they do sing in English. It's hard to find much of anything about them, but they have a bunch of songs on YouTube you can listen to. Honestly, they're all worth listening to. All gold.

I can't say enough about Lorn. The beats are always spot on and completely pull me in. Makes me feel like it's the future - the feeling of some mysterious, unseen, ambiguous force of the future. The music video for "Anvil" basically visualizes one possible future - one in which over population has probably occurred.

Another Lorn music video, for "Ghosst(s)" is just a total creep you out sort of video, but oh so cool.

One more from Lorn, but there are so many more to explore, is "Acid Rain." It's a solid tune that I just have to share.

I could listen to this song over and over again. "Bye Bye Macadam" by Rone sounds great on it's own with a nice buildup, but I could also watch the music video over and over again. There's something hypnotizing about it. I like to think the dancing figures are beings exerting their influence over the universe and it's creation and flow of energy.

One heck of a catchy tune - Mr Oizo's "Hand in the Fire" has me bouncing my head up and down and singing along to the, uh, racy, euphemistic lyrics.

A racy music video this time around as we've got Tame Impala's "The Less I Know The Better." The innuendo is pretty blatant, but the transitions and cinematography is top-notch. Plus the song is great!

Another song found by jumping around via autoplay is "You Don't Know Me" by Son Lux. I'm hooked.

"Change is Everything," also by Son Lux, is another great song. The Music Video blows my mind every time I watch.

"The Cigarette Duet" by Princess Chelsea is totally hipster, but oh so fun and cute.

I stumbled onto Mac Demarco and his album Salad Days. It's joy to just chill, work on something, and just listen to. Here's "Treat Her Better."

"Dazzle" by Oh Wonder is a song that gets me moving. I just want to groove to it.

Vitalic, an eletronic band I love to listen to, had a couple more new albums I didn't even know about! The autoplay stumbled me towards them one day and I was overjoyed to hear more. "Lucky Star" was a Vitalic reawakening for me.

"Stamina," also by Vitalic, gets me pumped up. Ladies and gentleman, CRANK IT UP!

It has a bit of a mind-bending music video to go along with it's catchy track. Uffie's "Difficult" is fun.

Gesaffalstein's "Pursuit" music video seems to tell the story of the upbringing of some militaristic dictator and mad leader told via snapshots of his life. It's a great tune. (WARNING NSFW)

Metronomy has a new album this year. Summer '08 is an incredible album and every song is dripping with their distinct style. Here's one of my favourites - "Night Owl."

Sylvan Esso has many songs that are a joy to listen to. Here's just one of their excellent songs, "Hey Miami."

Neon Indian was a favourite from years ago. They've got new music! YEAH! Here's one of their awesome tunes, "Slumlord Rising."

There's more, oh there is so much more! Let's just end on a couple of Kavinsky Tracks. "Pacific Coast Highway" first and lastly "Odd Look." Very 80's. Very cool.

Well, this has been one of my largest music posts that's for sure. I've enjoyed hearing so much new music this year - the above examples are only scratching the surface. If you're looking for new music give YouTube's autoplay a try and just see where it takes you. Start with a song you like, and just let it ride. Hopefully you've enjoyed what I've shared with you, and I can't wait to hear more new stuff in 2017!

Merry Triangle Dude Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone had a great day and a very merry Christmas. I know I'll be eating some delicious home cooked food later and spending time with family and friends. Two things I thoroughly enjoy (oh man that food is going to be yummy in my tummy). Also, we actually got some snow this year which is very exciting! There hasn't been snow in December in years, so many frozen-falling-iceless years... So it's nice to have some snow for a change! Anyhow, here's a special Triangle Dude Christmas card. Merry Christmas!

Triangle Dude Comics Has Landed!

The time has come. The heavens have parted and an unimaginable glory has beamed its light upon us. From the aether beyond the realms of mortal beings a gift has hence been delivered unto all of thee. Hail the gift. Give it your praise. Rejoice!

I'll rejoice because, whew, that was a lot of work!

This is it. The Triangle Dude Comics Volumes 2, 3, and 4 are finally complete. It's a weird feeling to have Triangle Dude Comics come to a bit of a close. Years and years it's been going and while I haven't always consistently uploaded comics I always had the intent of reaching the point I've finally reached today. Is this the end for Triangle Dude? For now, perhaps yes, but I completely reserve the right to jump back to it one day. There are other stories to tell and other projects to work on.

Alas, do not despair, this is a joyous day. Each and every comic may now find a home in a physical form. I'm also excited to finally put the book exclusives out into the world. Here's a peak at what each book contains in addition to extra exclusive comics and character write ups for the variety of wacky Triangle Dudes.

Volume 1 contains a delightful search and find picture - this is just a small portion!

Volume 2 contains a sweet 2 page isometric maze quest with chests and items - this is just a taste!

Volume 3 contains 2 moving optical illusions - this is a portion of one of them.

Volume 4 contains a 2 page maze which is not for the weak of heart. It's quite difficult - this is just a peak!

Thank you everyone! I could not have gotten here without the support from my close friends and family and, of course, the fans of the comic itself whom I've never met across the interwebs. Thank you all!

Mmmmm om nom....  mmmm... zzzzz... mmm.. zzz...