So, when I got back into Magic: The Gathering, I suggested that new players should consider Draft style play for a couple reasons. The main bit is that it tamps down the entire set into something conceptually manageable while whetting your appetite for greater complexity. The corollary is that you won't be exposed to the pro-level, netdecked sawtooth edge of the relentlessly optimized metagame. There's a place for that, and you might like it, but pretty much everyone can play this way and have fun.

I'm still having fun playing ranked games in Hearthstone. I managed to hit rank 15 before falling back down to 17 last night. I feel like I'll probably bounce around at this level for a while and I'm okay with that. The games I'm playing are great and I feel like I'm being matched up with people around my skill level. I'm actually using a deck I built myself which I think helps a lot. I tried some of the net-decks I found online but it's sort of like being given the keys to a formula one car and having no idea how to drive it. I'm sure they are great decks but if I don't understand the card combos and dependencies built into it then it's not going to do me any good. I've had much better luck constructing my own deck and making changes as I discover new cards or get my own ideas about combos. I'm playing a Druid deck right now since that's what I always played in WOW and I'm really digging it.

You might have seen an earlier version of the comic that referred to Hunters instead of Warlocks; we call all creature focused decks of any kind Zoos, a holdover from other CCGs, but apparently it's a Warlock phenomenon in Hearthstone.

There’s a really big article over on the Escapist this morning about Thornwatch. I sat down with Jonathan on Sunday after he got a chance to play the game and we talked for about an hour I think. The resulting article is a really good look at the current state of the game and some insights into the process of building it.

As suggested by my equal and opposing force, today's strip was from the stage at PAX East. People asked to have one of my many lumps immortalized in the strip for some reason, in an act of craven lump-shaming, but I've put them in the strip myself before so maybe it's fine. I suggest in the video of the panel that these are akin to the "lovely lady lumps" immortalized by Fergie, but Gorbiriel thinks they are not those and are, in fact, disease. I can sometimes feel them stealing my vitamins, but beyond that, I think we can both live in here and have it be mostly okay.

Today's comic strip was the Make-a-Strip comic we did at PAX East a couple weeks ago. You can actually watch the entire panel and the creation of the comic right here:

Now that PAX East is behind us things are getting back to normal around here and that means we have more time to stream. I'll be playing some Trials Fusion with Erika today at 3:00pm PST (about two hours from now). You can watch us right here:

The Night Of A Thousand Hours: Finale

After my last news post, I got a ton of Hearthstone advice. Lots of it was about card strategies, but one piece of advice changed the game for me. One reader sent me an email saying that he assumed I was playing casual, and that was part of my problem. He says all the hardcore players are afraid of losing stars in ranked games, so when they want to play a new deck, they go to casual. It ends up making casual play a place for these monsters to try out their crazy deck creations. He told me to play ranked instead, and I am having a great time. He explained in his mail that when you play ranked you start out at level 25, and as you win games, you work your way up through the ranks. You end up advancing pretty quick until you sort of level out and end up playing folks of about your same skill level.

I've been playing a few hours of Hearthstone every day of my vacation. During the day while the kids are playing in the sand or after they go to bed while I'm out on the porch. The soothing sound of the ocean waves is the only thing that has kept me from snapping the iPad in half and tossing it into the water.

The Night Of A Thousand Hours: Wayrest Chapel

The Night Of A Thousand Hours: Escape

The Night Of A Thousand Hours: The Mermaid Incident

This is sort of strange for me. I've never done anything like an actual commercial before. I mean, I've drawn comics for companies which are essentially commercials, but I've never appeared in one myself. Everyone knows I'm a huge fan of the Surface though, and I really like all the folks over on the Surface team at MS. When they asked me to appear in a video, I said hell yeah.

The Night Of A Thousand Hours: Introduction

We missed Annarchy, and we wondered who she was hanging out with these days, so we thought we'd find out.