SpartanNerd Review…He-Man and The Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection

May 15, 2016 by SpartanNerd

Thanks for all the views in my absence! The SpartanNerd has been really busy with his real job. But now, back to blogging.

Masters of the Universe “mini comics” were truly my introduction to comic books. I had no Spider-man, Superman, or Batman comics as a small child. The only comics I specifically remember were those packed with Masters of the Universe figures. Me and my brothers would read these, and they would get stepped on, crumpled, left in the car. Pages torn out. Staples let loose. Crayon marks. Holes. All kinds of abuse. I cringe to think about it now, but I don’t think I would have had it any other way. As a teacher, I know that these experiences led me to a whole-language approach to reading, and it helped my brothers as well, who weren’t as good at reading as me.

The other thing about the mini comics…they told inconsistent stories. I didn’t understand that there were different artists, writers, and publishers with different ideas. The public at large didn’t know all of the details that have been unearthed in recent years about the workings behind the scenes. So when Skeletor says he and his people are from another dimension…that didn’t make sense with my largely Filmation understanding of the story. This didn’t turn me off of the mini comics. But it made me wonder “why?”

The story behind me getting He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection is sort of a frustrating one…I actually ordered it at The Tangled Web in Spartanburg SC back in November, before it came out. This was supposed to be my anniversary present…It wasn’t a pre-order, so I didn’t pay up front.

But somehow, it didn’t arrive. And so they re-submitted the order for me, at least three times. I heard rumors online that the production run was shorter than expected…that demand couldn’t be met easily. I was tempted to order from Amazon, go to Barnes and Noble maybe. But I am loyal if nothing else, and in time I accepted that rumor as truth, and that the mini comic collection would be another rare thing I wouldn’t have a hold of. I would pick it up eventually…(maybe.)

Apparently, sometime in the last month (While I have been away from the blog) the owner of The Tangled Web came across, and ordered the upcoming art-book thing that is all about the Filiation cartoon…He was telling me about it, and knew I would definitely want a copy. (I DO!) And so I asked him to look again about the mini comic collection. A quick look on his computer and he said. “We’ll have it in a week!” He was right this time. You have to love small business!

Does the mini comic collection deliver up to my expectations? Keep reading!

Here is the front cover…still sealed with cellophane! The Tangled Web sold this to me for a slight discount, considering my situation. I am quite appreciative! Long live small business! Love that store, and any of my readers who ever come through Spartanburg should come by and purchase something. (Would Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Wal-Mart have cared ? Of course not.)

The cover makes it clear what you are getting. It is probably wrong to put She-Ra mini comics (storybooks?) in this and just call it He-man and the Masters of the Universe. But they did. I suppose by now, though most She-Ravers consign themselves to this.

Here’s the back, featuring an image from “The Terror Claws Strike!”

And the spine…showing that this is a Dark Horse product, as well as offering you a glimpse at how very thick this book is! It is in fact 1232 pages long!

A little comparison for you. On the left is the Minicomic collection (now unwrapped.) And on the right is my only extant mini comic. “King of the Snake Men.” A gift from my wife…the italian version no less! But anyway. Look at the size difference!

I found a page from “King of the Snake Men” in the collection, so you can further see the incredible difference “blowing this up” makes! Good thing too. The SpartanNerd’s vision fails him in his old age.

For a book that is thicker than many Bibles, Harry Potter books, and encyclopedia’s…its a good thing they included this ribbon-bookmark! And it is a very handy addition as well. (I am reading the collection straight through. I use this to mark where I left off.)

Now for the contents.

As you read, you get little footnotes. See the bottom here. This information helps you see the mini comics as pieces of Masters of the Universe history. And they appear to be in chronological order, starting with the first “storybooks” given out…drawn by Alfredo Alcala. These show “miniternia.” The first story depicted in media about He-Man. And this story is vastly different from Filmation and later stories. He-Man is a barbarian hero in a post-apocalyptic situation, where technology and magic are lorded over the populace by experts such as Man-At-Arms, The Goddess (Sorceress), and Skeletor.

The book takes some time to share interviews with the artists and writers. Here is a pic of the interview with one of the earliest writers, Gary Cohn.

I haven’t read past “mini-eternia” yet. (Just got to Filmation era.) But I will go ahead and show you what else this book consists of. Here is some of the She-Ra stuff. They seem to have included it all!

Tons of pink and pastels. Not sure what the image below depicts. But there are several pages of this book which I assume is some part of She-Ra lore preserved here. AND, in a similar vein, the “read with me” story with a record about the Talon Fighter is in here too. I remember owning that and reading it as a kid, and being terrified. (A terrified as you can be of a comic book. Hey…I was like six years old…or younger!)

Here is what I considered the sad story from the first New Adventures of He-Man mini comic. Prince Adam is No More! It depicts He-Man transforming in the presence of Skeletor, knocking him down and frying his skull. (Which necessitates the “cyborg” version found throughout that particular incarnation of the story.) All of the New Adventures stories are chronicled here.

The comics by Val Staples and Emiliana Selucia from the 200x series are here. These were the pack-in comics, not the monthly comics. But the art is very much the same. (The second Pack-In was drawn by Enza Fortana)

The rarest of the mini-comics is here. “The Power of the Evil Horde”

And the Masters of the Universe Classics mini comics are here. I haven’t been fortunate enough to own or read any of these. I was very happy to get to see the maps in the Masters of the Universe Art Book. And since I am reading straight through, I am avoiding the temptation to go ahead and read these. (My readers should know…I am also re-reading the recent DC comics again.) I don’t want too much fantasy bouncing around in my head!

And here is what is on the last pages of the book. Not sure what this is about. A book that didn’t make it to print?

Reading what I have read so far has been extremely satisfying. The larger pages lets me have a deeper appreciation for the art. I have no trouble reading the script, either. The colors seem to be “restored.” I love the chronological nature of the collection as well, unfolding a history of the brand. What a great way to pay homage to something so fundamental to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

I have read some of the mini comics online over the years. (Is that piracy?) I don’t buy many digital comics…I do use ComiXology and its associated apps, but what I read on that is usually Spawn or Conan the Barbarian books…things I don’t want laying around for my children to read. But there is nothing like having the physical book in your hand.

If I had a choice, own a copy of every single mini comic, OR own this collected edition. I would go for the collection. Simply because of the large size. And they are all collected in one volume, so that is convenient!

If I could rate anything higher than 5/5, then the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection would be a 6/5. It is perfect! I love the large pages, the chronological order, the interviews…all of it is spectacular!

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed

September 5, 2015 by SpartanNerd

When Evilseed went on sale, I decided I would get him, only to be held off by circumstances. I thought I would have to catch him on Cyber Monday, maybe. But he remained on sale…perhaps he didn’t sell out? Regardless, I ordered mine, and over a week later he arrived in this mailer.

I quickly opened it, to reveal the sealed packaging.

The front of the box has a nice window that has Evilseed on display. You can clearly see his accessories…he has the tag line of “Evil Master of Plants.” And that’s about it. Just from seeing here…he is quite incredible looking, if you are a MIC collector. But that’s not me.

I flipped the box over, and check it out! For the first time, I own all of the characters on the back of the box!

Evilseed gets a new “real name” and bio, photographed here for you, oh Hub City Geeks. But I’m just throwing away the package. Notably, the bio says that Moss Man created Evilseed. A good story. But I prefer the Mike Young version that this figure is based on.

Removing Evilseed from the package isn’t difficult. He did have some rubber bands, and the vine-whip accessory had to be wrangled out of the blister. But other than that, it was all good. Notably, there was no “smell” associated with this figure. (If you will recall, Moss Man” had a very strong pine scent.)

Here he is in the first pose I made for him.

Evilseed has a terrific sculpt. When I first saw this revealed, I knew I had to get one to go with my Moss Man. The Four Horsemen hit a homerun every time! Check out all of the little scaly looking parts. Check out the thorns and vines. I went back and watched “Orko’s Garden,” “Council of Evil” part 1 & 2, and “The Last Stand” today to check my facts. I have ready other reviews, and there is some criticism of this version being too bulked up. In the MYP cartoon, his IS skinner at the torso and waist, but the entire upper body looks almost perfect. The thicker torso here is welcome, if you ask me. While they could have used some amalgamation of Lizard Man’s parts, I think this was the way to go. It doesn’t look wrong at all. Maybe he’s been working out?

Evilseed has that terrific sculpt, and also the standard articulation that all of the other MOTUC figures have. Rocker joint ankles, hinged knees, ball jointed shoulders, waist twist, ab crunch, ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, hinged elbows, a swivel wrist, and a ball jointed head that can rotate freely and be swapped out.

The cool new addition to the articulation is the way the vines look on the legs. They are made of a more rubbery material, and are a continuation of the waist piece. These come down and loop around the knees, which means Evilseed has both loose vines on his knees and articulation there!

How about this face! If he had a mother….

For real, this is one of the most evil faces ever sculpted for MOTUC. Evilseed’s overall green color is a stark and EVIL contrast to this sinister eyes and mouth, which are bright red in color. This is the only red on the figure…everyghing else is green, black, or brown. This highlights the evil human nature of the figure, and even makes him appear alien. Where his hair should be, we have this bunch of creepy looking vines/grass/seaweed.

The torso is evidently just the same sort of Torso that He-Man or most of the others have. But this time there is non-removable armor sculpted with he specific viney details demanded of Evilseed. There is a very striking collar that comes up beside his head on both sides, giving him a plant/vampire look. You can see the vine details on his back, and also two mysterious green thorns in the middle of his back.

One of Evilseed’s two accessories is “The Scepter of Power.” My research tells me that this Filmation artifact was in the episode, “The Magic Falls.” I don’t personally own this episode on DVD. I started to watch it on YouTube, when I discovered that all of those videos appear to be playing at too fast a clip, giving a chipmunk effect to most of the music and voices. It was unbearable to me. And As a music teacher, the difference in key created by the effect was just too jarring. Anyways, Evilseed looks really good with the Scepter of Power. It is supposed to be for King Randor, but since I am not a fan of “Throne Room Randor” and, nor the Burger King version of the regular Randor, I decided to settle on letting Prince Adam hold it. (He would inherit it anyway, right?)

Not bad at all.

The other accessory is this vine-whip creature. You can position it almost anywhere on his body. I think I might try and order more of these! I think he should have come with more of them. Watching the MYP version made me realize how ridiculous and over-exaggerated the vines that Evilseed controlled were. But it worked really well in that cartoon. Evilseed even made T-Rex sorts of plants, and hydra plants also. He also would use them to transport around on…Mattel could have given us an interchanging waist so we could display him as seen transporting around on a “trunk” of vines!

In getting this figure, one of my aims was display him in battle with Moss Man. Here is my first attempt!

Even with the “plant god” head on, Moss Man appears to be from a different line entirely. Both are green, but the flocking on Moss Man blurs his details.

Evilseed looks pretty good with Moss Man’s weapon, but the seed-bag armor with knife doesn’t fit properly across Evilseed because of the collar piece of the armor. It fits loosely around his waist, which is something I do with Moss Man sometimes.

It might be better to use it to imprison him…

Heheh…looks like Orko is going to set him free…

Evilseed was a part of Skeletor’s Council of Evil…We can compare Evilseed to Count Marzo and Skeletor by reenacting a scene from the cartoon.

SpartanNerd Rating of Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed.

Evilseed has terrific sculpting. He is highly articulated, even specifically for his figure. (With the vines around his knees.) His paint looks good, and there was no “pee plastic” smell like I detected from King Hsss and Snake Armor He-Man. He comes with two accessories…the only complaint I can level is I wish we had MORE vines. But this can be easily done.

So I give MOTUC Evilseed a 5/5! I am not the least bit disappointed in this figure. Every detail matches my specifications! There are some people who complain that this isn’t Filmation’s “turnip head” version. But I don’t even like that version…it was even a reason I might not subscribe to that little add-on sub. This 200x version looks evil, not goofy. He is ready for battle…ready to kick some plants!

The SpartanNerd gives Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Review…He-Man: The Eternity War #8

August 1, 2015 by SpartanNerd

DC’s remix of Mattel’s classic property has recently received a lot of love from fans and critics, including the SpartanNerd. However, this time, I don’t feel as good.

Some background.

In issue #5, The Goddess/Sorceress/Teela reveals that destiny has three faces…Serpos, Zoar, and Horokoth. Serpos was the ancient god of the snake-men. Zoar has been Serpos’ replacement for ages for the Eternians, and Horokoth a god for the Horde. The Goddess thinks the Age of Horokoth is inevitable, and wonders if He-Man could, or even should prevent it.

Issue #6 shows us a dystopian future where Adam becomes King He-Man, and rules with an iron fist. He has enlisted his former enemies, Skeletor’s minions, to be a big part of his army, and is fighting against She-Ra, who leads the former Masters of the Universe as rebels against him. We see him married to Teela, who reverts to green Goddess mode and we realize it was a vision given to Adam of what the future is to become if He-Man beats back the Horde himself. So He-Man breaks the sword!

Issue #7 is more back-story for Skeletor and the Havoc Staff. Evidently, strangely, Skeletor became the Evil Overlord of Destruction by breaking the time-space continuum and preventing his own murder at Hordak’s hands…an event that had to happen because the skull on the Havoc Staff is his own skull, only twisted by demonic magic. Skeletor also tells us that he helped raise Despara/Adora/She-Ra, but because it is Skeletor who is talking, who knows if he’s telling the truth?

After all of these exciting stories, we get issue #8.

A break in the jaw-dropping revelations.

We get some fighting and some narrative in the first few pages.

We see Adam leading the charge with a gun-arm reminiscent of what Man-At-Arms uses.

We see King Hsss/Randor….(But why?)

And then the war is over. We see the next day, Adam sitting on the throne petting Battle Cat. (Not Cringer…hmmm…)

Basically, just one day after the war, and the snake-men seem less loyal to Adam. They were showing astonishing loyalty to He-Man. Now, not so much. Fisto has to call down this snake man who is about to execute Imp. Evidently, the snake men are supposed to know that prisoners are to stand trial.

Adam is catching cold. The Goddess thanks him for relinquishing his power.

I didn’t photograph the next parts, but here is a summary. Skeletor turns on She-Ra like we all knew he would. They transport into Hordak;s “Vault of Souls,” where he steals most of the souls, and then entices She-Ra to fall into the vault by throwing a locket with Marlena’s picture into it.

Act III…, Hordak finally makes his intentions known. The Eternians have one day of peace granted by him, (I guess because he’s such a nice guy.) Next he shows the future of those who are going to escape him to the planet Primus.

He uses the Eyes of Grayskull…

And destroys their future lives and their offsprings lives on Primus.

Wait another month, fools, for the next installment.

My quandary with this book comes in several ways.

First of all, why was King Hsss there? Is he making the snake men less loyal? Did Adam meet him in battle? All we get is a strange picture of him saying “sssso weak,” referring to Adam.

My next problem is…we didn’t see HOW Adam led them to defeat the Horde at Eternos Palace. All we get is “The day after liberation.” A whole book could have been devoted to just that. And SHOULD HAVE. We would have seen Adam as the strong leader he evidently is, apart from the Power of Grayskull. But the writers took the lame way out. “The next day…” “The day after Liberation,” “After the battle.” But we see none of the action. And action is one of the reasons why I like comic books. BOOOOO!!!! And just think how much more the rest of the story elements in this book would have meant?

My third gripe…this isn’t a stand-alone book in any way. Lets just say, for instance, a person goes into a comic book store and says, “Wow! A He-Man comic! I remember He-Man!” and picks this up. They will be put on their tail. Without knowledge of the series pretty much as a whole, you couldn’t understand what was happening in this book. The stupid looking Fright Zone/Castle Grayskull abomination isn’t self explanatory enough. The Green Goddess isn’t the Filimation Sorceress, or even Teela. The Snake Men are fighting WITH the good guys? A major nostalgia parade is rained on with an issue like this. Sometimes Nostalgia is the only thing that sells books about 1980’s properties. But this didn’t have to be the case. The book could be much more accessible if there was a brief page at the front that explains what has been happening. This has been done in MANY comics before. Basically all of the Conan comics. The modern Star Wars comics. Marvel’s current Secret War also give you a little background and some premise. But here, it is “jump in and read for the first time, and leave confused.”

My fourth gripe…New Adventures never does seem to be able to get ahead, does it. I never watched the show, but read the few mini comics that were printed. My brother had Slush Head and New Adventures He-Man. I myself am not completely unattached, and hope the best for New Adventures because there are hundreds of fans. But those fans just got dumped on. Hordak destroyed Primus. And we just got to see it in one panel! We could see it, and the future Masters of the Universe, who were also evidently destroyed.

Oh Hub City Geeks, I believe this comic was necessary for the advacement of the story. But there are many things wrong here. I hope things don’t turn south from here on out. The only redeeming quality here is the art, which is consistent with the better art printed in DC’s run of Masters of the Universe.

The SpartanNerd rates He-Man: The Eternity War #8 a 1/5. This is one of the lowest scores I have given a modern comic. It is a necessary read to have the story. But pitiful delivery.

SpartanNerd and SpartanTeen Review…Neo Zeon Mobile Suit MSN-06S Sinanju “Ver-Ka” (Titanium Finish)

July 21, 2015 by SpartanNerd

Of all of the Gundams we have reviewed, the Sinanju is the most impressive. In several ways. This Gundam has a “titanium finish,” basically vac-metal plastic. It makes it shine! Combine this effect with the size of the figure at Master Grade 1/100 scale and the many accessories and even an additional stand, and you have an incredible item. Above is the box. And longtime readers know that the SpartanNerd really likes his foil!

This item cost $140, and we purchased the stand for an additional $20. (The stand is usable with most if not all Gundams, but is detailed specifically for Sinanju Ver-Ka.) This is a special edition, with the vac-metal. The normal Ver-Ka would cost around $80.

The box is almost entirely in Japanese. As well as the instructions. This is commonplace for basically every Gundam we have built.

Above is the instructions for the decals and stickers. The SpartanTeen used the regular sticker decals, rather than the water-slide decals.

I am going to show the Gundam in pieces, sort of. There is so much here I had to “cull down” the amount of photos.

The head really shows the small details. The two “holes” on the side of the mask are meant to be vulcan cannons! You can see the vac-metal and the plain gray plastic. The crimson color goes well with the flat gray. There is an eye detail that can’t really be seen because of the size and impressiveness of the rest of the head.

Here is the backpack, showing all of its details in 3X faster mode. (The legs also have details for “3x faster mode.”) The backpack was the only truly “stupid problem.” The backpack WOULD NOT attach to the figure as it was supposed to. It works by a little slot mechanism that seemed to be obstructed by excessive plastic. We solved the problem with some super-glue. We checked other reviews of the figure, and found that ours seems to be an exception rather than the rule.

Here the Sinanju stands, unarmed, and without his backpack. It is very articulated. The fingers all move like human fingers. The arms move like a humans, the legs move like a humans. It is a “super-articulated” design. The shoulder armor and knee armor move to accommodate the most articulation.

The stickers are very much a foil item, and the Gundam doesn’t look right without those details. All of the gold pictured here is a reflection of the flash of my camera! That is how shiny it is!

The feet are on a rocker joint, and divided into toe and heel sections.

The cockpit opens, revealing Char Aznable inside. The cockpit is surrounded by yellow “psycho-frame” components. The Gundam came with two different pilots. One to stand beside on display, and one to stay in the cockpit. The SpartanTeen (nor the SpartanNerd) can paint the tiny details required….We would if we could. But that is a little out of our skill level at this point.

Here are most of the accessories. I say most, because, the Grenade Launcher/Shotgun wasn’t ready at the time of the review. Notice the “beam-effect” parts. These are interchangeable with the axe, and with the shield.

You can see, this opens up an incredible array of display options! The shield is very large and impressive. The SpartanTeen doesn’t prefer the axe. (This is more of a SpartanNerd thing. See He-Man!)

The beam saber isn’t a lightsaber at all. The beam effect is detailed and rippled, rather than being a straight lazer sword. It did come with two beam effects, we just wanted the readers to see the hilt disarmed as well as armed.

The gun has expandable options as well. The scope can move, and you can add parts from the shotgun/grenade launcher. (Not pictured.) Notable, the shield has a place to store the shotgun/grenade launcher.

Here is the Sinanju standing on his own. The backpack adds a lot of weight, causing some balance issue, but not much. Notable, it was easy not to have the legs snapped all the way in. They kept coming off until the SpartanTeen figured out how to fully snap them in. (Sorry, the lighting system took accidental damage, and so this picture and all the rest are using flash only

Here is the Sinanju holding the shield an on his custom stand. The stand is a separate item, and will be reviewed later. But the stand is the perfect way to display this incredible investment.

As we have done in the past, we are now going to give this Gundam a grade!

Here is our criteria, each item getting a score. We would like to say ahead of time, this Gundam is almost perfect!

Each item gets a score…

1 Too wrong

2 not right enough

3 could be better

4 pretty good, but…

5 perfect

Construction

Was it difficult considering the level it is supposed to be? 4

Stupid problems? 3 (cables around the legs, and backpack had to be glued.)

Instructions easy to read? 5

Diagrams clear? 5

Stickers? Paint 5

Articulation

stands easily? 5

moves without falling apart 5

posable/interchangeable hands 5

lots of articulation points 5

Dynamic poses 5

Accessories

Weapons 5

holds weapons/appropriate weapons 4 (some problem holding the gun and shields.)

Stand 5 (available as a separate item.)

expansions 5 (see above)

Weapon storage 5

playability

durable 4

photogenic 5

holds weapons? 5

Reasonable Facimile to media representation 5

Aesthetics 5 (that shiny plastic is incredible!)

Figure-specific features

morph/ transform/ change form 5

action feature 3

LED lights 1

Diarama 5

Pilot included? Does he fit in the cockpit or is he in scale or not. 5

To tabulate the score, we add up all of the values, and then come up with an average.

The SpartanTeen and SpartanNerd Gundam Evaluation Checklist says that the Sinanju receives a 4.92. So far the only Gundam coming in higher is Char’s Zaku II-S (2.0), which had a score of 5.2.

What do you think? Leave us some feedback in the comments!

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Magic the Gathering Modern Event Deck

July 9, 2015 by SpartanNerd

Nobody panic! The SpartanNerd purchased something he originally said he had no interest in!

But there is a story…

First of all, I didn’t pay $79.99.

I am going to take a moment to talk about how wonderful the folks at the Tangled Web Comics and Games are in Spartanburg, SC. I came to their store yesterday with two cards to trade, Inkmoth Nexus from the French Event Deck I recently purchased and reviewed. I won’t divulge the details of our trade. But these decent folks made sure I had a good deal. This was the last copy of the event deck they had, and I needed five of the cards in the deck. As well as I didn’t have the sword or the Elspeth.

The Tangled Web is just good, small business. They are forever nice. And reward their loyal customers. Daniel, Anna, Danny, and Josh, this is a shout out to you. Thanks for being so nice! I have visited a ton of different similar shops and gaming places, but The Tangled Web stands a head taller than everyone else.

I have done tons of reviews of event decks since I began the SpartanNerd blog. And I purchased all of them from the Tangled Web except for the French Event Deck. Links to some of my reviews are below.

M14 Event Deck

Theros Event Deck

Born of the Gods Event Deck

Journey Into Nyx Event Deck

Dark Ascension Event Deck (French)

So, back to the review!

This event deck starts off like any other. With some inspiring information of the back. This time what is different is the cover sleeve feels like an essential part of the packaging.

Removing the sleeve reveals this SICK box. It has foil detailing. I thought it might be a bait and switch kind of situation, like you might encounter in some Magic products, where there is some kind of cardboard spacer or something. Nope. This box is a solid two piece construction. I think I will get a lot of use out of this box!

The top slides right off, and this is what your see.

Notable…this deck comes with sleeves! The life counter features the Modern Event Deck Set Symbol on the #20.

This time you only have one piece of paper. Finally, reason prevails! No general guide to playing Magic. A person doesn’t just walk into a Modern tournament without a deck, never having played Magic before, and drop $50+ on a product they don’t even know how to play!

Here is the ever-important decklist.

I am going to go through the cards, with comments. I have been hesitant to purchase this product because I had so many of the cards anyway.

I had these cards already. The Tidehollow Sculler is similar to the Brain Maggot. He has stronger power and toughness, but at white and black in the cost, he is harder to cast. I recently encountered Soul Warden when playing against a deck called “Soul Sisters.” Basically, mostly female characters that amount to little advantages, as well as some “hate bears.”

Path To Exile…One of my main reasons to purchase this. I recently won a copy. I need them for my Esper Control Deck. (I will cover that deck later.)

Inquisition of Kozilek. Another big reason for me to purchase this deck. Basically a Thoughtsieze effect, with a restriction that the discarded card has CMC of three or less. Think how much better than Gitaxian Probe this is. Of course, that is a cantrip, but still, if you put this in your Rack deck, or Waste Not deck, then you didn’t have to pay the two life for Thoughtsieze as often for the same effect. And then you might know if it is worth Thoutsiezing.

Shrine to the Loyal Legions…the first true White Weenie card in this deck. The Soul Warden and the Tidehollow Sculler are the only real creatures in this deck. Everything else is spells that generate tokens.

Lingering Souls…a wildly fun card. I already had four copies, and made that the base for my Esper deck.

Honor of the Pure…an anthem effect. You could put the Spear of Heliod here for an even better effect, and with he added bonus of removal.

Intangible Virtue…this card was insane during the Innistrad block! One of the best cards I remember from when I started playing Magic.

Raise the Alarm…another chump token generator. Again, a card I didn’t really need.

Zealous Persecution…a great way to suddenly boost your white weenie army’s power, while at the same time weakening your opponents creatures.

Spectral Procession…I only had one copy of this card before. It is just right for this deck, which is really a white-based deck.

I didn’t have either of these cards. I like how this Elspeth has a lower mana cost than the more recent one. But she isn’t as good either. She’s still pretty good. She can suddenly pump one of your guys and give him flying.

The sword is broken. It always has been! I didn’t own this card either. The Sword and the Elspeth are a good portion of the value in this deck. Both cards are around $15 dollars apiece.

The lands…I already had four copies of Caves of Koilos. This is being reprinted yet again in Origins, so I don’t see that much value. I only had two copies of City of Brass, neither of which had as good of art as featured here. So that’s good! (I like City of Brass better than Mana Confluence. Mostly for flavor reasons.) I only had one Isolated Chapel, a buddy land. I had Vault of the Archangel, but I didn’t have Windbrisk Heights. That land is a great source of on-the-battlefield card advantage in this deck. Then there are five plains, all of the same art, and three swamps. Same art.

This deck, like all of the event decks I have reviewed, comes with a sideboard. The question is, what metagame is it addressing? Here are some ideas.

Dismember can take out indestructible things.

Kataki, War’s Wage is meant to slow down Tron and Affinity decks. Burrenton Forge Tender is meant to cost a burn player two cards. (if you play both copies.)

Relic of Progenitus will shut down Lingering Souls and Unburial Rites. It is also good against a mirror match, (concievable!)

And then Durress, a general thoughtsieze effect, but it can’t get creatures. Good against Planeswalkers, burn spells, etc.

For the first time ever, I get to review how a deck plays before ever playing it! I guess I’m a little late to the unboxing party! I have faced this deck a few times in tournaments, with occasional slight modifications.

The way this deck works is, “overrun your opponent.” Get lots of chump tokens on the field. Use the Lingering Souls to block flyers. Reach critical mass, get the sword on a flyer, and GG. The Soul Warden works against burn. The Intangible Virtue doubles the effectiveness of your creatures. And then the anthem effects are very strong.

The Elspeth is dangerous. Many times I have seen players substitute the newer Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. And it’s possible to slide in a large creature, usually an angel.

I have beaten this deck a few times…probably more than I have lost to it. It is weak against a turn one Thoughtsieze. It has no response to Blue…it hopes to move faster than blue. But you can easily remand these spells, and then prepare for them. The creatures don’t have haste…so you get a second to remove them. It becomes a race against green. Sometimes it can beat green with a larger number of creatures. And green doesn’t have too many flyers…

SpartanNerd Rating of the Magic the Gathering Modern Event Deck…

My colors are white and black. This deck is mostly a “White Weenie” strategy, but it is a pretty strong take on it. I don’t have many gripes about it in that respect.

The box is excellent. It came with sleeves and an exclusive spin down counter.

If I have any complaint, it is that there are no foil cards in this deck. I love me some foil. But this really isn’t enough to take a point off.

So I am going to give it a 5/5. It is the best event deck I have seen, except maybe the French thing.

Do you agree or disagree, oh Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments! And go by and visit the Tangled Web sometime!

SpartanNerd Vintage Unboxing and Review…”Obscure Ascension” Magic the Gathering Event Deck (Dark Ascension, French)

July 4, 2015 by SpartanNerd

The SpartanNerd has been on vacation! In case any readers haven’t figured that out! I have been shopping at places not local to Spartanburg. I was looking for things I have never seen, or can’t get here. No luck in some cases. For instance, I would like a Star Wars Black Darth Maul.

At White Widow Games in Myrtle Beach, SC, I came across this gem. It is the Dark Ascension Event Deck, only entirely in FRENCH! A truly unique find. And only $20! Maybe the only one in South Carolina. SEALED! I have reviewed many Magic the Gathering Event Decks… Keep on reading to see how this one measures up! This is the oldest event deck I have ever reviewed.

“Obscure Ascension” means “Dark Ascension.” I have limited, and generally negative, experience with the French language. Just some singing in college that kicked my butt! Interesting that the word “Obscure” equals “Dark.” But that kind of makes sense, right? The French would probably only use “dark” for absence of light, rather than meaning “mysteriously evil.” One thing I picked up from the study of foreign language, is that English is just about the only language to have tons of different meanings for the same word.

The back has all of this French wording. I have no idea what it says. Probably similar to what is on the back of the other event decks I have reviewed. “The right deck for now. Jump right in…this deck is competitive.” They generally aren’t, however. This deck is actually titled “Flammes Espiegel.” “Flames of Joy,” or “Flames of Glee.” Something like that.

So it is a burn deck.

You get the exact same crummy box that the other event decks come in. As much as I am down on them, I use them! Here you can see what it looks like on the inside when you first open it.

Here are the contents. A deck with a sideboard, two pieces of paper…one a guide to playing Magic, and the other a guide to playing this deck. Both in French, so I can’t read them. Then there is the handy divider and the life counter, which has the Dark Ascension expansion symbol on the number 20.

I just threw away the guide to playing. It probably says “You are a planeswalker!” in French. I don’t have to be told that anymore!

This deck is a mono-red deck. A little odd..most of the Event decks I have reviewed are two color decks. There are 21 mountains in this deck, each with the word “Montagne” across the top, and the text “Terrain de base: montagne”. The lands are the same lands from the Innistraad block.

You get five utility lands, including…WHAT’s THAT?!!! “Nexus des enormities”…Where have I seen this…? KABAAM!

“Ink moth Nexus.” TWO COPIES! Basically one of the greatest “man-lands” ever printed. You can pay one colorless to transform it into a 1/1 flyer with infect.

These two cards make the deck TRIPLE THE VALUE of what I paid for it! So, the SpartanNerd is a happy boy!

The other three lands are “Haunted Fengraf.” You can pay three, sac the land, and return a creature to your hand.

The creatures in this deck…I will just tell you who they are and what they do.

Forge Devil, top left. When he enters the battlefield, you take a damage, as well as target creature.

Goblin Arsonist, top middle, When he dies, target player loses one life.

Top right, Flameslinger Goblin. tap him to send one damage to target player.

Goblin Gaveleer, bottom left, he gets an extra +2/+0 for each equipment attached to him. He also has trample.

Torch Fiend, bottom middle, pay a red mana, sacrifice him, and destroy target artifact.

Hellrider, bottom right. the largest creature and about the highest mana cost in the deck. He sends one damage to target player for each attacking creature. He also has haste! Not currently a valuable card. However, back close to the time Innistraad block was about to rotate out, he was fairly valuable. About a twelve dollar card.

So studying the creatures reveals to us that this deck is not only a burn deck, but almost a a Goblin Tribal deck as well. And the creatures here exist for the sole purpose of smash, destroy, and damage.

The other main-deck spells are…

Infiltration Lens, top left, whenever equipped creature becomes blocked by a creature, draw two cards. An artifact equipment.

Faithless Looting, top middle, draw two cards, then discard two cards. This one’s french name almost threw me…”Pillage sans foi.” My thought was “Pillar of Flame.” But that didn’t seem right…as the art didn’t seem to indicate it. So I looked it up. This is the card that really helped me figure out how to translate the others!

Goblin Grenade. Top right. A sorcery, and one of your main game plans. Sac a goblin, send five damage to your opponent. The beautiful thing to do is attack first with Goblin Arsonist, who they generally avoid blocking, then in second main phase sacrifice him to Goblin Grenade. BAM. Seven damage.

Curse of the Stalked Prey. Bottom left. Aura Curse. You enchant your opponent, and then any creatures that hit them get a +1/+1 counter.

Brimstone Volley, bottom center. Your other “main plan.” An instant with a “morbid” trigger. Three damage to target creature or player. But if something had already died this turn, then the spell does five damage instead!

Artillerize, bottom right Sacrifice an artifact or creature as an additional cost, and then Artilleries deals five damage to target creature or player!

Playing the Deck

Playing this deck means using the goblins, and maximizing value with them by sacrificing them in many cases.

I like how solidly focused on that goal the deck is! You have four copies of most creatures! And four copies of other things you need, like Artillerize and Brimstone Volley!

This deck could be a little stronger if it used “Lightning Bolt.” But I’m thinking that wasn’t allowed in Standard at the time. Maybe a way to appease burn players who had recently lost their Lightning Bolts.

In its day, it probably was a great Standard deck!

There is a sideboard…

Gut Shot, top left, a card with pharexian mana as the cost. At instant speed, you get one damage to target creature or player.

Torpor orb, top center, this prevents “enters the battlefield” triggers from happening. Important!

Act of Treason, top right, gain control of the opponents creature, untap it, and give it haste. Then use it as your attacker for this turn! Or even sacrifice it!

Arc Trail, bottom left, deals two damage to target creature or player, and one damage to another target creature or player. Another card with four copies!

Dismember, bottom middle, the only black card in this deck, uses pherexian mana, and is handy to get an indestructible creature. (Target creature gets -5/-5 until the end of turn.) This card is currently a popular choice; it was re-printed in Modern Masters 2015!

Into the Core, exile two target artifacts.

Thinking back to what I know, this sideboard addresses affinity decks, cards with indisctructible, and land destruction., giving you something to do using Pharexian mana. At the time of Innistrad/Scars of Mirrodin, this would have been really sound. Scars was really before my time of playing Magic. But I am somewhat aware of “Caw Blade.”

SpartanNerd Thoughts on “Dark Ascension Event Deck.”

I don’t play burn. And I don’t play infect. (Infect isn’t the main plan of this deck. The Inkmoth Nexus is here so you can be assured to have a creature to sac..)

The SpartanTeen used to play burn, and Goblins when he used to play MTG. If he ever comes back, he can use this deck!

I’ll admit, though, it is a fun deck to play. I was tempted to take it to the Modern Tournament, just for its fun, and to test it some more for this review. But I really wanted to win Path to Exile, (and I did! With Esper Reanimator Control.)

This deck stands up against most of the pre-constructed decks I own.

It has beaten Elves (From the Duel Deck Anthology) as well as the Angel deck. It has beaten the Monsters deck from Heroes vs. Monsters. Not that it hasn’t lost some to these decks as well. But it is competitive against them. Oh yes. It beat Chandra from Jace vs. Chandra as well! That’s burn vs. burn!

Changing the deck

How could we update or change it for Modern? First of all, I believe switching the strategy from Artillerize to Lightning bolt will be important. Then maybe switching out Infiltration lens to faithless looting for card draw. Then updating the creature bombs some.I would avoid any Planeswalkers. I can’t think of any that would help with the goal of send as much damage as possible. Maybe add some scry via Magma Jet or something.

SpartanNerd’s rating of “Obscure Ascension” Magic the Gathering Event Deck (Dark Ascension, French)

I can’t take off any points. For any reason. And the fact that it is worth three times what I paid for it, and in French, makes this a SOLID 5/5! It is by far the best event deck I have ever purchased, with four copies of each important card. None of the other event decks I have purchased or reviewed even approach this deck. Most of them have three copies or two copies of two cards. Most of them feel like souped up starter decks. This one, definitely competitive.

The SpartanNerd rates the French printing of the Dark Ascension Event Deck a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

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