Patient 9, Entry 10, Alpha v2.36 Beta release

New build hype!

I just finished this "sprint" today.  The goals for this sprint were:

• Get proper sprites for all characters and level props
• Update all the levels so they look good
• Add in new audio assets
• Improve the main story by adding more dialogue and characters
• (Optional):  Get a PC build of the game working

Thankfully I got this all done plus I jazzed up the ending :)

Now I just need to do some last minute polish so I can release this for Halloween (2018's not 2023!).

Flash Build (itch.io) :  Click here

PC Download:  Click here

PC Known issue:  Game looks terrible if it isn't played in full screen mode.

Feedback is appreciated, feel free to leave it in the comments.

UR Canadian Horror Story (Blue Moon) 3rd place PPTQ Report + Musings

My first PPTQ of the season went well, finished 3rd with UR Horror Tribal Blue Moon out of 49 players, below is what I battled with


Maindeck 1 Mountain

3 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Thing in the Ice
3 Abrade
3 Cryptic Command
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
6 Island
3 Sulfur Falls
3 Blood Moon
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Thought Scour
2 Bedlam Reveler
1 Peek (I couldn't find my 4th Thought Scour and the stores stock was moved to another location)

Sideboard
1 Dispel
2 Roast
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Negate
3 Anger of the Gods

Random sideboarding note:
Since Bedlam Reveler is it a bit of a nombo with counterspells you typically go down to 1 or 0 when you board in a shit load.


Round 1 vs UW Control:  0-2
G1 opponent kept 2 cards on top from serum visions  with search for azcanta in play.  I excitedly (noobishly) tried to thought scour the 2 cards my opp left on top.   Opp responded with opt and ended up keeping the goods.  My thought scour ended up turbo'ing a search flip which lead to a securely turn 4 slammed Teferi I couldn't deal with.  

Game 2 I kept a 1 lander on the play with serum visions and opt, did not get there.  I'm pretty sure the math is reasonable on hitting my second land with 6 looks at 20 hits.

Round 2 vs GW Turbo Vizier Combo:  2-0
Opponents deck had Lightning Greaves and Wild Cantor to power out a super fast Devoted Druid + Vizer Combo kill.   G1 I bolted a bird, opp only had 1 land and stalled for 13 years.  G2 was grindy but opp had a slower draw, I was able to flip TiTi (Thing In The Ice) and ride the game out.

Round 3 vs Humons:  2-0
G1 I flipped TiTi early against a slower start, cards were traded, damaged was raced, but opp flooded and never drew reflector mage.  G2 I drew 3 lightning bolts and 3 Snapcasters, opp gave up before I could get my 4th land for Jace TMS.

Round 4 vs UR Thing In the Ice:  2-0
Game 1 I was able to take initiative with 2 TiTi's and a resolved Jace but because I only have Cryptics as counters I wasn't able to p[properly stop any bounces so my early game advantage got stalled out.  The game got pretty close but I was able to close it out with double bolt.  Game 2 is a bit of a blur since it was a 20 turn grind-athon but I was able to draw a few less lands.  One "neat" play from game 2 was opp attacked with Awoken Horror vs my TiTi at 1, I blocked, Bolted awoken horror, flipped, opps Awoken Horror died.  Never thought I'd see the day where two TiTis battled it out.

Round 5 vs GW Combo/ValueStuff:  1-1
Lost die roll, game 1 I tapped out for TiTi on the draw, died to vizer combo.  Opp received a game loss for a deck reg error.   Game 3 I angered the board and opponent flooded, despite drawing little interaction Iwas able to lock up the game with TiTi and Jace.

Round 6 vs Intentional Draw:  1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1
Ended up in 4th place going into top 8.

Quarterfinals vs UW Control (Round 1 REMATCH!): 2-0
I had choice of play.  G1 TiTi got pathed on my t3 upkeep.I slammed Jace on turn 4 vs 2 open mana, it stuck!  42 0 loyalty activations later I won.    Game 2 I got to board in many counters so I didn't have windmill slam threats praying for no counterspell.  I ended up with a huge mana advantage from TiTi's getting pathed repeatedly.  I boarded down to 1 Blood Moon and was justly put under massive pressure from a Celestial Collonade.  Between V clique and Tiago beats I was able to close the game out with double bolt'ing the opp with only 12 cards left in my deck.

Semifinals vs UR Thing In The Ice:  0-2
What the hell, two mirrors in the same day?  Toronto's metagame is messed up and super blue heavy.  My opponents deck was better positioned for the mirror, he had remand, electrolyzes, and cryptics.  I only have cryptics.  Game 1 I tried slamming Jace TMS but it got dealt with and slowly elctro + bolt beat down.  Eventually I slowly got ground down by the superior card advantage of my opp. Game 2 was a repeat of game 1 more or less :(  

It sucked to lose in the semis but I cant feel too bad about losing to a mirror when the opponents build is better for the mirror and I already stole two matches from better blue decks in Round 4 & in the Quarterfinals.  My expectations going in was I'd be happy with being in top 8 contention or making top 8, so I at least I exceeded expectations.

Takeaways from PPTQ and recent streams (click here for vods).

• Maindecking Blood Moon might not be correct anymore.  Most decks seems relatively resistant to it at the moment, most matches I've been playing lately I've been boarding them out.  I'll probably be shifting the 3 to the sideboard.
• I shaved Remands from the main after GP Toronto side event grinding since so many decks aren't affected by it (Humons, RB Hollow One, Lucky Etronzi players, etc) and if you ever draw 2 Remands vs any of those decks it's Game Over.  I might have to add 2 or 3 back to do the deck (see below).
• For local tournies I might have to tweak my list to have a bit more game vs all the blue decks (UW, UWR, UR, etc).  Remands and/or Electrolyze might be in order.
• Tron is a garbage matchup after Remands got removed.  +1 for re-adding some Remands
• Bedlam Reveler might be a casualty of the previous points since main decking counterspells doesn't work well with it.  
• BR Vine is a $#!%&ed up deck.  Maindeck Anger of the Gods and SB Surgical Extractions  are under consideration. 

I was planning on trying out UR Breach next week on stream but I'm excited to iterate on UR Canadian Horror Story some more.  If you're interested in seeing how it goes please follow meh stream (click here) and I'll show good games for my fans.  

Patient 9, Entry 10, Alpha v2.35 release

This is a halfway point between new builds.  I'm currently making decent progress on generating new level assets and upgrading old levels with them.  I also made a new walking animation for the player.

The main goals of this build are

• Get feedback on the player new walk animation
• Get feedback on some of the new level assets made (only implemented up to the basement)

Things I'm still open for feedback on from my previous build

• Improve the main story by adding more dialogue and characters.
• Increase the difficulty (less items, more enemies)

I've made a decent amount of progress since my last post (the new year) but I hoped I would have made some more by this point.

Here is a download link for the executable flash file.

If that doesn't work you can use the web version (not recommended, stencyl arcade has treated me like trash).

Feedback is appreciated, feel free to leave it as comments.

Patient 9, Entry 9, Alpha v2.331 release

Wow it's been over 4 years since I made a Patient 9 post.  How time flies!  There's been significant progress for Patient 9 since my last published build (v2.262).

The main goals of this build was to:

• Improve the main story by adding more dialogue and characters.
• Increase the difficulty (less items, more enemies).

I'm pleased with the progress (even if it's taken way too long!) since the story now has a beginning, middle, and multiple endings.  It's no where near perfect but now all the core mechanics are in place and the skeleton of the story is done.  All that's left now is to upgrade the graphics, animate actors, and then do polish passes until

This is a download link for the flash file. If you don't have Flash you can find it here.

Here is the link for the web version (not recommended, stencyl arcade has treated me like trash)

Feedback is appreciated, feel free leave it as comments.

I should be doing a post pretty soon on how I've improved my workflow by breaking down tasks into very small steps and utilizing slack.

UR Twin: Spread the love v1 alpha draft

Note:  this is just a collection of thoughts and a rough decklist

lost a lot to tron, roughly 1 - 3 in matches vs it, can only beat average players, good players have good plans, are resistant to blood moon, and have strong hate cards like boil or choke

notes on this list

• shore up the tron match up
• experiment with the 4 colorless mana base
• no fucking way am i going back to the 1 loothouse living
• i like the 1st tect edge over the 2nd ghost quarter since i think 2 lands that give your opponent mana on the exchange is a bit too high
• try out spreading seas again and see if it's as glorious as it once was

Deck has 18 blue sources, which is average for twin lists
only has 14 red soruces, which is noteably lower than average but still functional


Lands (23)
4 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
3 Sulfur Falls
2 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Desolate Lighthouse

Spells (21)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Spell Snare
1 Dispel
1 Logic Knot
4 Remand
2 Spreading Seas
1 Roast
1 Electrolyze
1 Cryptic Command

Threats (16)
3 Deceiver Exarch
3 Pestermite
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Splinter Twin


Sideboard (15)
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dismember
1 Dispel
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Pyroclasm
1 Roast
2 Blood Moon
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Jace Architect of Thoughts
1 Keranos God of Storms

I'm thinking about leaning toward the control plan and playing 2x Jace AoT > 1/1 split of Jace/Pia.  That way I can board in Jace in some combo match ups and dig to land denial vs rg tron.  Also thinking about how to fit in one, just one crumble to dust.  I don't like playing molten rain since blood moon is such a beating vs a wide range of decks (bloom, uwr, medium vs infect).  Might want to try to wiggle in the 2nd electrolyze.

If the spreading seas aren't good I can go back to +1 dispel +1 logic knot.

So far the 4 colorless mana base hasn't cost me a game, but in one game vs burn it was awkward.

part of the spew vs RG Tron may be caused from not having enough answers to spellskite g1, which in turn effects g2-3?  not doing it cause i think it warps the deck a bit too much, also twisted image is a consideration mayhaps

could try out 2x batterskull, 2x jace aot, 2x blood moon for fair mus
might pass on crumble to dust and coast off the main deck changes


please cheer for me and i will try to give good games and reports



so im thinking about changing the sb
-2 blood moon
-1 crumble to dust
+3 Molten Rain (with 4 snaps)
-2 ??  keranos and whatever
+2 thundermaw hellkite

and md -1 ?? +1 electrolyze (probably dispel)

MTG: Modern, UWR Kiki Midrange, PTQ Syracuse June 13th Report

This weekend (June 13th) I trekked down to a PTQ in Syracuse New York where I finished in 15^th with a 6 wins 2 lose record. I'm taking a small sabbatical from Splinter Twin and sleeved up UWR Kiki Jiki at the recommendation of Daniel Fournier.

Modern - UWR Kiki Midrange

last minute change of 1 Lightning Helix in the board for 1 Sphinx's Revelation

Quick Tournament Report

I started off the day with a quick and decisive loss against fellow grinder buddy Leonard Laratta on Mono Blue TimeWalks+HowlingMines.dek. Afterwards I rattled off 6 straights wins against. . .

1 UR Delver: all you have to do is sit back and play a hard control game and eventually you'll tucker them out. Helix was obviously sweet. I'm definitely the control in this match up.

1 Living End: apparently counter magic + mvp Relic of Progenitus makes this easy peasy.

1 Kiki Pod: piloted by Ryan Goslings step brother/recent PTQ winner Paul Dean who fell victim to mana flood and frequent mulligans.

1 UW Control: won g3 in turns thanks to Kiki Jiki, I found I had to be pretty aggressive in this match up to take it down. I'm definitely the beatdown in this match up.

2 Scapeshift: lost g1 each time and then boarded into a UR Fae style game plan of burn, counters, and flash based beatdown aka the sweet things in life. I got tricked at one point, my r7 opp played Scapeshift with 5 lands in play, after some humming I let it resolve and he fetched a Boseiju!! Thankfully I had V Clique + Resto to snipe his second Scapeshift ant bring the noise. I'm definitely the beatdown in this mu.

Going into the 8^th & last round I was in 10^th place and unable to draw. I played against traditional Jund.

Game 1: Everything fell into place and I controlled the game completely with tons of value provided by Wall of Omens, Snapcaster Mage, Electrolyze, Path to Exile, and Restoration Angel. Despite having drawn 3 more lands than my opp who was on 4 I still had more in play and in hand than him.

Game 2: I lost to a triple discard + Liliana of the Veil draw. I made a few mistakes here. I didn't try to maneuver the game to a point where I could Cryptic Command bounce+draw Liliana into my opponents empty hand with her +1 on the stack. Instead I prematurely discarded Cryptic Command. Also I kept in Kiki Jiki for games 2-3. I think it's a pretty big mistake since they're going to be loading up on discard+removal, what you want is more cards that draw cards or removal to stall the game out so your independent card advantage engines can come online, not a 5 drop in your hand that does nothing by itself.

Game 3: I had a t1 relic containing my opponents t1 discard into t2 Goyf. I went for Vendilion Clique on turn 3, which saw another Goyf, Maelstrom Pulse, Courser of Kruphix, and 3 Lands. Since I had tapped out I made him cycle his Pulse since I wouldn't be able to cycle Relic and contain his double Goyf.  Unfortunately I was greeted by Lilianna of the Veil off the top. From there I was just a bit too far behind on the board and eventually was knocked out of the tournament.

Changes I'm considering are . . .

Maindeck

Serum Visions: This is mostly to support the 4^th Snapcaster Mage I'm considering, as well as helping dig to those delicious Restoration Angels and other absurdly powerful cards.

Telling Time: Lets you keep open mana and play a draw go game. Probably bad, my experiences with it is that it's horribly mana inefficient. But Snapcastered Telling Times are actually pretty potent.

Sideboard

1 Negate: I found my hard counter count a little lack luster vs Scapeshift, I figure that same would be true for RG Tron and other combo mu's.

Somewehre

3^rd Vendilion Clique: Probably belongs in the sideboard. By itself it's really powerful, in conjunction with Restoration Angel it's amazing (much better than with Splinter Twin :P).

4^th Snapcaster Mage: My only reservation is that my deck isn't currently set up well for the 4^th Snap. It's hard to fit a strong supporting spell selection when your primary game plan is creature based and combined with lands eating up about 40 slots in the maindeck.

I really like the deck right now. I've been having problems winning with Splinter Twin as of late so I'm going to stay on UWR for a while. I've got a ton of tournaments lined up this summer, and I'd really like to quality for the first pro tour of the new pro year so I'm going to playing and practicing a lot more. That's it for this short report, thanks for reading. If you've got any questions or suggestions feel free to ask.

MTG: Standard, Hyper Aggressive Red

Hey it's been a while since I wrote something, I just haven't had a whole lot to talk about.  With Pro Tour Qualifiers coming up for me in January I figured now is the best time to start practicing up on standard.  I've decided for the near future I'm going to focus strictly on playing aggressive decks in Standard since I feel it's a big whole in my skill set and it's something I'll have to rely on if I ever qualify for the Pro Tour since odds are I won't be on a team and will have to rely on my 75 beating my opponents instead of play skill.

I started with red lists posted by Tom Ross here.  I found the deck super fun to play, it's not often you get to 3-1 tournaments repeatedly with low powered draft picks.  As sweet as it was attacking for 5 with Akroan Crusader and Titan's Strength eventually I cut the heroic elements and tried to make the deck as consistent as I could.  This is where my tweaks and play have brought me currently . . .

Standard:  Hyper Mono Red Aggro

18 Lands
18 Mountains (so much cleaner than a Modern mana base)

30 Attacking Creatures
  15 One Drops
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler

  15 Two Drops (I wanted to keep the hit % on Burning-Tree Emissary as high as I could)
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Firefist Striker
3 Goblin Shortcutter (a key play on turn 3-4 that lets you get them into suicide attack range)

12 Burn & Pump
4 Lightning Strike
2 Skullcrack (an experiment right now, it's useful vs Grey Merchant, a blocking Master of Waves, Brave the Elements, Sphinx's Rev, and occasionally a lava spike is all you need)
2 Dynacharge (might be a relic from playing Akoran Crusader, but I keep hoping to draw it in lots of games and has rarely under preformed)
4 Rubblebelt Maaka (The extra toughness lets any attacker punch through a Nightveil Spectre or Frostburn Weird)

15 Sideboard
3 Mizzium Mortars (mostly for Mono U Devotion)
2 Electrickery (for the the mirrors, might not be needed)
1 Dynacharge (needed vs Jace AoT)
1 Legion Loyalist (for Master of Waves)
2 Skullcrack
1 Mountain
3 Chandra's Phoenix (vs all the removal that gets boarded in)
2 Seismic Stomp (apparently it's necessary to beat RG Devotion)

The reason I've stuck with this deck instead of some type of Boros deck is it's positive Mono Black Devotion match up.  You're able to get under their removal consistently and punish them for playing expensive cards like Hero's Downfall, Desecration Demon, Underworld Connections, etc.  In order to keep the match up positive in the face of all the removal (Nausea! shudder) they'll be boarding in I board out a lot of the x/1 creatures and bring in Skullcracks and Chandra's Phoenix.  It's been pretty successful for me so far.

That's it for this post, if there's an interest (or if I just feel like it) I'll write about the popular match ups, a rough sideboard guide, and some explanations on card choices.  If I feel ambitious I might tackle the math behind the proper numbers of Lands and Burning-Tree Emissary hits required to make the deck purr.

Also I just posted a updated build of my game Patient 9, you can play it in your browser here and read about it here.  If you could give it a try that'd make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

If you've got any questions comment or email me, till next time!