So after I repeatedly got told that Miracles would have a hard time beating UR Delver, I decided to try it out, since I didn’t remember the MU as being that bad. So see here how it goes:
Decided to include my latest Legacy DE also:
And yes, as you can see from the videos I’m still trying to fully learn how MTGO v. 4 “works”. Sorry for the horrible mistakes and the loose play. I don’t know what it is, but when I play online I can’t keep my focus and end up doing weird random stuff.
Let me know what you think of the UR Delver MU, my list & play and also feel free to point out my mistakes.
Winter is approaching whether we like it or not. Sunshine becomes a sought after commodity and we tend to curl up on our couches and hoping it will all soon be over (or that Game of Thrones finally returns).
Dedicated to originality, L’Orange imbues his smoky, soul-soaked tracks with lush texture through inventive mixing and psychedelic cuts from classic radio recordings. A shopworn MPC and vintage vinyl are essentially paintbrush and palette for L’Orange. He finds his signature samples from pre-1950s jazz, soul and radio. He stitches together a sound that acknowledges his penchant for classic film noir and shadowy motifs. L’Orange albums are often cinematic and narrative in structure, exemplifying the artist’s highly conceptual creative process.
The Mad Writer is the result of a highly creative hip hop producer with gloomy trends that have a dominant love of film noir and jazz from 1920-1950. Imagine a hiphop version of that. With a wealth of bits and pieces of movie dialogue and samples, which could easily have come from film noir, L’Orange has created his own little musical film noir. All the right components are present: The overall gloomy mood; the self-destructive protagonist who, quite classic, is a writer on the road to ruination; the seductive femme fatale and then the melodramatic atmosphere leaning against the unpleasant.
I won’t go further into detail with this album, since this blogpost was just a impulsive thought provoked by the grey sky and sudden drop in temperature.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I and as alway, you can listen to the album below. And if you enjoy this album you will definitely also enjoy his latest work The Orchid Days.
You can listen to the album at the bottom of this post.
Oneirology, derived from the greek words oneiron and logia (which roughly translates into “dreams” and “study of”) is the scientific study of dreams. It is also the title of CunninLynguists fifth studio album.
“I had a funny dream, the other night
I was floating on a cloud”
With Oneirology CunninLynguists sets new standards for concept albums. Next to undun (read about it here), this album is the most accomplished concept release I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Oneirology is a lot more that just hip hop – it is a journey with an accompanying soundtrack – not unlike undun (okay, I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for these kinds of albums). However, the story, or concept we face here are way more abstract than the one told by undun.
CunninLynguists is an American hip hop group from Lexington, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia. The group currently consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti. These three take us on a journey through one of literatures greatest works; La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) by Dante Alighieri.
The Divine Comedy, described as an epic poem, follows Dante and his journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Paradise (Paradiso). An allegorical description of the soul’s journey towards God, and the extensive cleansing it must go through along the way. Oneirology is 2011’s hip hop version of the middle part, Purgatory. With that sorted out, we can now move on to the actual tracks.
Predormitum (Prologue) is the first track, and right off the bat we are confronted with the dreams theme. Predormitum is thestageofdecreasingconsciousnessthatrepresentsatransitionstagebetweenwakefulnessandsleep, and the song is one big abstract metaphor for this. The track opens with a potpourri of sound elements; the wind howls and the sound of pouring rain. The rain ceases when the lyrics start; we are heading into dreamland. Natti, who is the main character in the story presents us with a utopian dream-mode where time is irrelevant, money has no value, and everything and everyone is accepted. Deacon takes a more defensive stance to dreams, and expresses fear of what they (dreams) can do to him,. This is all very abstract, which fits the theme as sleep and dreams are a very strange state of mind.
On Darkness (Dream on) we are going on an exploration into the darker parts of the subconscious. Darkness encloses on the sleeping who are now approaching the dream state. Deacon still seems a bit confused by the circumstances, and Natti starts to fear that his dark side will show up in his dreams
“Way under in slumber is my true self shown?
A glass house cracked from a few stones thrown”
In the end Anna Wise (feature on the track) warns them not to succumb to their fears before they finally fall to sleep.
Phantasmata functions as a transition piece where a beautiful vocal sample tells us what it is like to be enveloped by a nightmare. The short track ends with a narrator telling us about how our sexual and violent desires does not appear directly in our dreams, but rather in disguised form. The dark sides Natti was afraid of are ready to step forward in his consciousness. It is here, in the dream state, that the dreamer enters a gate to Purgatory and prepares for the journey through it while he shall face his sins.
Dante depicted this journey as a mountain that needed to be climbed in order to go through purgatory. Each terrace on the mountain represents a sin and this is where the sinners atone for their sins. If you, like me, find this fascinating, then you might enjoy this.
The first three sins; pride, envy and anger – caused by perverted love of those, who through desire or act, are going to do other harm. The fourth sin, sloth, caused by flawed or inadequate love. Spiritual laziness and inability to love anything or anyone. The last three sins, avarice, gluttony and lust, is caused by excessive love towards things that should be secondary to the divine, such as material goods.
Worth noting is it that CunninLynguists has taken the liberty to alter the order of the sins a bit.
However, as mentioned above, the three first sins are driven by perverted love directed towards actual harm of others. With this in mind it is no surprise that Hard As They Come (Act One) represents the first part of the journey up the mountain. Freddie Gibbs (featuring on this track) personifies cocaine, Natti personifies alcohol and finally Kno personifies AIDS – all of which can cause direct harm to others.
“If I could get away with murder,
I’d take my gun and I’d commit it”
The next track, Murder (Act Two), starts off with a vocal singing the above. This track describes the sins of the proud (the first terrace). This sin often is described as “he who, through abusement of other, hopes for supremacy“. With this in mind, we can assume that Big K.R.I.T (feature on this track) draw parallels to a certain country’s president by rapping:
“Drop bombs on innocent people or innocent homes
With automatic weapons or military drones
While me and my friends play croquet
And make bets on which country liable to fold next”
After K.R.I.T, Natti raps as if he is a religious leader, who recounts how the church greatly abuses people for their own benefit.
“I could use worship as a warship, bible and sword
Turn men and women to minions over Heaven’s rewards
Promise Islamic bombers Heavens harem of whores
For taking out a couple of floors”
The way they manage to get around topics as ecclesiastical as political abuse of power and at the same time keep the theme of the seven deadly sins so tight, is simply brilliant.
Next up is My Habit (I Haven’t Changed). This track is about those who suffer from envy, fear of losing their own reputation, honor and favor, and your own misery makes you rejoice in other people’s problems. We get the feeling that Natti and Kno wishes thatwere more recognized as musicians:
“rappin’ makes me happy so why stop why care”.
Next sin depicted is “Sloth” on the track Get Ignorant. You don’t need the enigma so ‘solve’ this one though. Deacon almost hands it to us on a silver platter:
“Through all the pettie drama’s I’m calmer than a sloth”
Even though “sloth” here represents the animal, sloth the sin, is pretty obvious throughout the track. However, it is mental slothfulness that is the theme here. More specifically the inability to take care of ones neighbor, and if one lives with an ignorant view of the world, as Kno, brutally honestly, raps:
“Genocide in East Africa,
but you watching Battlestar Galactica”
Further, the track is also about the need to part with “The American Dream“. You need to pursue your own dreams not the ones of everyone else. Shattered Dreams continues this theme and also incorporates the next sin; Gluttony. Natti raps about all the material things in our society that have become symbols of success:
“Reefer and liquor dance, my chemical romance
My pitiful cold hands / That ache to be warm
Like a tux with gold cuffs that waits to be worn”
Stars Shine Brightest (In the Dark of Night) represents the sin of Greed by mildly exaggerating the need to believe in oneself and to seize the the day. One would think that avarice, or greed as some prefer to call it, binds to the things of economic value, but here greed has far more to do with people’s ego; extravagant ambitions and excessive pursuit of what benefits oneself the most. Even when your life and everything in it is going well, the wrong things can be focused on and life’s true meaning can be skewed. But this desire to have a good life can be turned around and used to create a true meaningful life for oneself:
“When victory’s in vain it’s the same the blood coursin
Of course when selfishness inside provides poison
Apply it to your life and let it sink in like ointment”
After this comes a short interlude called So As Not To Wake You. After the beautifully composed beat the narrator talks about how both emotions and thoughts, but primarily visual images, represent our dreams.
With Enemies With Benefits we reach the last sin covered on Oneirology; Lust. Lust is characterized by misguided sexual desires and so-called “unrestrained behavior”, something that Natti, Kno and Tonedeff (feature on this track) frolicking in the end. Natti who raps: “I’m part Vader, I think with my saber / I live in crazy town and I’m married to the mayor,” Kno make a metaphor out of the Superman universe, and Tonedeff, with his unique speed-flow seems just as sexually attracted to this “devil in a baby blue dress” as he seems confused about the whole situation.
On Looking Back the main characters is waking up and reflects on their dreams as they return from the world of dreams. As Anna Wise sings in the chorus: “If this is not the hardest part, I wanna part before it gets too deep.” After this Deacon comes in and raps:
“It’s easy to cross a line and blame ya flesh for the crime
I’m sorry it’s just the way we designed
My dear we should leave here, I’m talking ’bout one at a time though
‘Cause you got me changin’ my mind slow
Leave here, says that voice in the back of my spine
As I awake and the moment rewinds”
The piano piece on the next track Dreams is nothing less than the sound of waking up – or at least a very good try to imitate it. If the waking could have a soundtrack, it would sound like!
On this track our sleeping protagonists has reflected and thought about their dreams and are ready to process them. Natti have understood that “The American Dream” is not the right one, and sets out to pursue his own dreams. Deacon urges to dreambig, and not being afraid to aim as high as possible as long as it really is what you strive for. Tunji (featured on this track) has accepted his inner dark side, but will not let it come out into the real world:
“See, I’ma stay the same, no matter how far that I go
And I’ma stay the same, no matter how far that I go
I think bright, even though inside I’m dark and I’m cold
Feel the pain in my heart and my soul, but I’m livin’ my dream”
Bianca Spriggs summarizes the entire journey on the next track Hypnopomp (Epilogue) in the form of an adventurous poem based on Greek mythology. And I simply love this part! A hypnopompic state (or hypnopomp) is the state of consciousness leading out of sleep. The poem is about the brothers Morpheus and Phobetor who are the sons of Nyx, goddess of the night (her offspring is called the oneroi, and Morpheus is the leader of these). Morpheus is the good of the two, and he has the ability to appear in dreams as any man who can “show us the light”. Phobetor on the other hand is the evil that occurs in dreams as nightmares, in the form of animals, monsters and other creatures. He has the potential to destroy our dreams, and thus represents the ignorance that can thwart our sincere dreams. One must, in other words, fight Phobetor to be able to choose ones own path. Our protagonists, the dreamers, fight Phobetor, and when they wake up and digested their dreams – the track “Dreams” – they are aware of which path is the right for them.
The last track Embers depicts this path. Embers is a symbol for love, because love is the right road. It is a cliché, but as a final morale on a album like this, the message could not be more welcome. Kno paints a picture of a really dark and nasty place where nothing is as it seems. He seems to be trapped in a nightmare, and although the vocals sampled in the end says that dreams might also show him his right path. However, it seems as though Kno tries to tell us that, in reality, this is not always the way things pan out. And that no one knows the future, so how would anyone know which path is the right one? And I will leave you here with a great bar from Natti on this track:
“It wasn’t Heaven that I was seeking but a haven I sought
A canvas of the mind painted with my thoughts”
Simply brilliant!
Wow, this turned out longer than I expected. Hope you managed to get through all of it. This is truly an amazing album with an amazing story. Let me know what you think in the comment-section below.
I certainly do. But the kind of Miracles I believe in is not the divine kind. No, the Miracles I believe in is the premier control archetype in Legacy. In a time where it seems that everyone and their neighbors are playing UR Delver (or some other Delver variant), I truly believe that Miracles can flourish despite some ‘experts’ predicting the opposite. With GP:NJ coming up next week, I thought I would dedicate a post to this archetype even though I won’t participate.
As most followers of Legacy know, there are different ‘schools’ of Miracles. I adhere to the Joe Lossett version and have played it since I began playing Legacy a couple of years ago.
However, unlike Godfather Lossett, I believe that Kharns of Tarkir gave the Legendary build of Miracles new toys. More on that later.
I participated in my first SCG Open last week in Oakland, and went 4-3-1. On paper, that is not a particularly good finish, but I was in contention for Top 8 until my second loss, which came in round 7 and that game could easily have turned out in my favor and then who knows what would have happened? This is the list I played there:
UWR Miracles
The list felt good and none of my matches felt unwinnable . So as mentioned earlier I believe that KTK gave us some new toys. Most notably is my inclusion of Dig Through Time in the main. Throughout the tournament in Oakland I was never sad to see a DTT and I never had a problem casting one when needed. However, I feel that my list can be optimized further to exploit the undeniable power of the card. As good as the card is, it doesn’t play well with Miracles since you almost never want those in your hand and getting a Brainstorm + a Miracle can be clunky. With this in mind my first change would be this: + 1 Supreme Verdict -1 Terminus
Supreme VerdictTerminus
Supreme Verdict play a whole lot better with DTT than Terminus as explained above and the uncounterablity clause is not irrelevant in a world dominated by Delver decks filled with cheap and efficient counterspells. However, this is the only change I am certain of and I am not sure you should change anything else from the main. However, another possible change I am considering is the following and I hope you will share you opinions about this one in the comment section below.
+1 Snapcaster Mage, – 1 Vendilion Clique
Snapcaster MageVendilion Clique
As the meta evolves around Insectile Aberrations and Treasure Cruises, cards like Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast are MVPs, but I am not sure going up to 3 in the main is the right thing to do, so by adding another Snapcaster Mage you are getting more milage out of the ones you already have. Also, having access to early blockers are not a bad thing either. This means that the third Vendilion Clique has to go to the sideboard for now.
Finally, the last change I will be doing to my main is -1 Tundra, +1 Arid Mesa
TundraArid Mesa
By adding another fetch will help me filling my graveyard to fuel DTT and has the added effect of being fantastic with Brainstorm, Sensei’s Diving Top and Jace, while also giving me another red fetch support the basic mountain.
Moving on to the sideboard. I am pretty sure most of you had to make sure that you did actually se Pearl Lake Ancient in a legacy sideboard. This bad guy won me 2 games in Oakland.
Pearl Lake Ancient
Yes, it might seems as an odd and controversial choice. I wanted a card that I could bring in against the mirror and against other control decks. In these matches both players are removing most of their removal and bringing in counterspells. These games usually evolves around big counterwars over Jace’s, Counterbalances and Entreat’s and the one losing the counterwar end up being in trouble. So by adding another treat, that cannot be countered, I never have to fear ending up on the losing side of a counterwar. Also, I am testing this guy against the various BUG variants, being uncounterable and immune to Abrupt Decay mean that BUG have very few ways of getting rid of this guy and he blocks Tarmogoyf like a boss. I will admit that I am not 100% sold on this card yet, but so far I have been pleased with its performance and I will continue testing him.
The next card I want to talk about is Blood Moon. Blood Moon has the ability to single handily win you games agains the greedy 3-color manabases out there and acts as false hope against the pure evil that is 12-post. However, I am not sure this card is good enough. I am a strong proponent for making Abrupt Decay a completely dead card by siding out all non-creature targets against decks that rely on it. And it does absolutely nothing against UR Delver, which as mentioned is everywhere at the moment, so I don’t think it deserves a place in the sideboard at the moment.
In its place I wan’t to try a copy of Red Element Blast’s odd cousin: Blue Elemental Blast.
Blue Elemental blast
With everyone trying to fit in Red Elemental Blasts and Pyroblasts in their 75 and Burn growing more popular, this card goes up in value. Cards like Young Pyromancer, Sulfuric Vortex and Fireblast are seeing more and more play and having answers to them both on the stack and in play can’t be underestimated.
Another card I wan’t to talk about is Council’s Judgment. When Council’s Judgment was release I played 1 copy in the main and 1 copy in my sideboard, but I soon removed it from the main and I haven’t missed it since. And currently, I am not sure it is needed in my sideboard either. However, with DTT now in my deck, I like the idea of having access to powerfull silverbullets I can bring in.
The next card to face the axe is one of my all-time favorite cards (in Miracles), so it saddens me he has to go: Venser, Shaper Savant
Venser, Shaper Savant
With Sneak & Show being at an all-time low I believe that one in the main is enough and this spot could be used better.
Finally, I will try to replace a copy of Rest in Peace with the newest edition of “WotC hates combo-card”: Containment Priest
Containment Priest
I like diversifying my silverbullets, and now with the extra copy of Venser gone I believe this has a place in the sideboard since it hoses almost every combo deck in legacy besides Storm (Which is a good matchup already).
So after these changes the list looks like this:
UWR Miracles
I would love to hear your thoughts about my changes and post in general.
I just added a new feature to my blog: Album of the week. It will feature albums that I probably won’t have time to cover with dedicated posts on this blog, but who am I to deny you good music?
It will be shown on the right sidebar on the landing page. So now you got another reason to check out my blog regularly. I will recommend a new ‘album of the week’ each Monday.
Also, here is a small teaser of the titles of my upcoming posts for the next couple of weeks:
– Miracles test sessions (Video content)
– Adjusting to a Modern World (3 part series)
– Bayani Redux
– Intuition & Equalibrum
So remember to check for new posts regularly (if you by any chance should miss my announcements on social media).
My second post will be about what probably takes up most of my time outside school, at least mentally: Magic: The Gathering (MTG). And yes I know, it is incredibly nerdy. Also, I suspect that a lot of you are somewhat surprised to learn that a grown man with somewhat acceptable social skills (or that’s at least I tell myself) spends so much of his time thinking about and playing with expensive pieces of cardboard with pictures of Dragons and other mythical creatures.
Before I start blogging about Magic: The Gathering (yes, there will be additional posts about it), I thought I would give a brief introduction to what it is about MTG that captivates me and how I got into it. However, I won’t touch on how to learn to play magic or go into specifics about the game in this post. If you want to know more about that, Wizards of the Coast (creators of MTG) did a good job describing the basics of the game here, here AND here. And then there is this beautiful thing:
As many others I got introduced to MTG when I was a kid (we are talking mid-late 90s here). Back then it was everything you could want as a kid with a vivid imagination. Dragons, Wizards, Magic and much much more, what was not to like? Well, as any other fad it faded as I got older and I soon lost interest.
Fast-forward to 2010. I had just started studying at Copenhagen Business School and was hanging out with a friend I met during my studies (Shoutout to Henrik Farbøl – thanks for reintroducing me to this wonderful game). We were hanging out at his place when I noticed a box full of magic cards on his table. I was instantly hit by the warm feeling of nostalgia and asked if I could see them. Soon we were playing and from that moment I was hooked and my addiction grew by the week. And the rest is history as you say.
This brings us to why I find it so captivating. MTG as a strategic game that rewards players for putting in hours in practicing and repetitions like any other sport/game. You can draw parallels to MTG from a lot of different things. As a former handball player I was missing the rewarding feeling of a win, a victory, a clever play, outsmarting your opponent. Components present in most games and sports. So after I quit handball MTG quickly became my new way to get this fix.
However, for me, MTG offers a lot more that just a game to play. I appreciate almost everything about magic, its lore, its artwork, trading and collecting and much much more. Actually, one of the things that appeals most to me is deckbuilding. I can’t tell you how many nights I have spent fine tuning a deck, obsessing about a new interactions between cards or trying to ‘break’ formats. MTG lets me be creative in a way nothing else have been able to and it rewards me for my good ideas and I learn from my bad ones.
Finally, it has been a great way for me to meet new people. I have met a lot of amazing people – people I now consider my friends – through magic. There is a lot of stigmata about MTG and especially about the people who enjoy this game, but the game has experienced massive growth in popularity in recent years, even Hollywood have become aware of its growing popularity, and I hope and believe that in a few years most af this stigmata is gone.
To kick of my first blog post I will write about what probably is my biggest musical obsession to date: undun by The Roots.
undun is the 10th studio album by the American hip hop band The Roots. undun is an existential concept album about the fictional character Redford Stevens. His story is reverse-chronological narrated throughout the album while the major underlying theme revolves around the idea of a person’s life choices being determined by their surroundings. In the case of Redford Stevens this is the ghetto. The Roots describes the albums as follows
undun is the story of this kid who becomes criminal, but wasn’t born criminal. he’s not the nouveau exotic primitive bug-eyed gunrunner… he’s actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes sense to him at a given moment… At the end of the day… isn’t that what we all do?
The story of Redford Stevens begins with his death (remember the reverse-chronology) and from there it explores the circumstances and decisions he made that led to his early demise.
1. Dun
The first track of the album, is merely the sound of a flatlined heart monitor which sets the tone of the story.
2. Sleep
This song is when Redford is lying on his deathbed. This song works as a superb introduction to the album. The song is dominated by quiet drums and the beat is slow paced. This could symbolize the limited time that Redford has left in his life. Black Thought (Vocals) then delivers a fantastic verse focusing on what Redford is thinking about on his deathbed, which circles around his fears about how he will be remembered by his family.
3. Make My Feat. Big K.R.I.T & Dice Raw
Big K.R.I.T comes in with the first verse on the track. He delivers an outstanding verse with a great flow and lyricism describing Redford turning to drugs. “Well, in the world of night terrors it’s, Hard to dream, they hollerin’ cash rules everything, Just call it cream, cause when it rises to the top, You get the finer things.” This really paints a vivid picture of what was going on in Redfords life..
4. One Time Feat. Phone & Dice Raw
This songs really shows how Redford is fed up with the standard 9-5 jobs and he can not picture himself ever being in that situation where he has to work at the same time, every day, for the rest of his life. The drums and piano are the dominant instruments in this beat and really add to the emotion of the song. This is probably the song that connected with me on a personal level more than any song I have heard in a long time. The hook gets me every time!
5. Kool On Feat. Greg Porn & Truck North
This is probably my favorite song on this album. This song shows Redford at the peak of his life when he has loads of money and is going out gambling wearing a tux. Porn sums Redford’s gambling life well “Good times is in the cards.” This shows that Redford is enjoying his lifestyle. The chorus is also very uplifting “Come get your Kool On, stars are made to shine.” This song never fails to put a smile on my face and always puts me in a good mood.
6. The Otherside Feat. Bilal Oliver & Truck North
The drums start off aggressive and the piano comes in with a high pitch sound which makes this song more emotional. This song shows that Redford is at the point of his life where he is starting to give up. He doesn’t see the point in life and does not know what he has done to deserve this lifestyle.
7. Stomp Feat. Greg Porn
The song uses samples from the warmup speech of Georgia Tech Pastor Derrick Moore to set the scene. Redford falls deeper into his criminal life and even commits murder. Redford’s just about had it with his situation. He’s tired of living and barely surviving, so he’s about to do whatever it takes to get ahead, even if his family won’t understand his decisions
8. Lighthouse Feat. Dice Raw
The beat on this song is very emotional and really fits the theme of “Suicide” in this song. Redford is feeling alone and at this point in his life he is contemplating suicide. The piano slightly echoes in this song which really adds to the beat.
9. I Remember
One of the best songs on the album, this brooding walk down memory lane finds Redford reminiscing on past friendships, old stomping grounds, and (maybe) his complicity in a friend’s murder. Redford, looking back on his life and realizing the cost of the choices he’s made.
10. Tip The Scale Feat. Dice Raw
In this song, the beat is very slow and the drum beat is very basic but very hard hitting and powerful as some of the other instrumentals on this album. Black Thought and Dice Raw describe Redford wanting to turn the odds of survival in his favour while avoiding to live this criminal lifestyle. However, we all know that this is not possible hence his death at the beginning of the album.
11. Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)
12. Possibility (2nd movement)
13. Will To Power (3rd movement)
14. Finality (4th movement)
The last four tracks on the album are instrumentals. I believe that these represent the very beginning of Redford’s life where he is just a baby (hence the fact that there are no vocals on this album).These instrumentals take you on a rollercoaster because it can go from very gentle and calm to absolute havoc and concludes (or starts?) the story in a great way.
As if this project wasn’t already artistically astonishing by itself, The Roots made a short film about Redford Stevens narrated by songs from the album. Enjoy
I hope you all enjoyed the read and if you haven’t listened to undun yet, do yourself a favor and give it a couple of spins and experience it for yourself.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
J
Links to the albums can be found here: Spotify and iTunes
Delirious Obsessions 