Untap, Upkeep, Draw
Beginning:
Yes, I've been away for a long time. I've been known to do this every now and then.
Honestly, I have been too busy and tired. I've always been doing more work than I'm paid for, but this year my (and my department's) work has basically doubled, and then some. And with no extra pay, so every time I'm extra tired and get myself a coffee or just a grab home, I'm getting just a tiny bit more in debt.
(Never mind the wallet-draining hobbies I have, which do not help at all.)
But I don't really have any mental energy to think about that, so on to the good bits--
Main Phase:
GAMES
While I've been going to a lot of drafts around late last year/early this year, this month I've been going to more commander and standard events. I still prefer drafting because of the opening packs bit, but like I said, mentally exhausted. I cannot brain putting together limited decks on the fly right now. Especially with sets like Aetherdrift.
My D&D games are starting our third year, and I'm really looking forward to it most weeks. I'm in conversations about starting a new game with some of the MTG gang--as in, D&D games set in the MTG universe. And some store events, perhaps? We'll see.
BOOKS
I've been loving Sumiko Arai's The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't A Guy At All, which I honestly almost skipped because I thought it was just a typical girls love story with pretty art. But the art is so pretty, I couldn't help but give it a try, and I am so glad I did. Yes, it's got a really sweet first love story between two girls, and yes, one of them is someone I would have such a big crush on back in high school myself. But what really sold me on this series is the music. Most of the love--and friendship-- story is centered on the girls' love for rock music, and it is so very relatable. The second volume also expanded on the backstory of one of the girls' guardian, her uncle, who is probably one of my favourite characters in this series.
Another manga I am utterly obsessed with is Seira Fukuta's Welcome to Hotel Metsäpeura which is seinen slice-of-life series about a young man with a dark past who showed up at a small Scandinavian hotel in the middle of a snow storm. The hotel only had two staff, and they decided to take him in, giving him a part time job. Most of the manga is about him dealing with various guests, learning more about them, and revealing a little bit more of his past. It's cozy. I love it a lot, in the same very personal way that I love Natsume's Book of Friends a lot, even though this one is not fantastical at all. They're both about facing and healing from childhood trauma, I guess.
At one point I wanted to read more about Ravnica, so I read Doug Beyer's The Secretist trilogy, which consists of Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Dragon's Maze. I did enjoy reading it, although as far as knowing more about the Ravnica setting... it helped me understand some MTG cards a bit more, but wasn't really helpful in information that would help me run a D&D game in Ravnica. I will read other stuff at some point.
Pat and I have been doing a lot of our buddy reads this year, too. We finished Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune in January, and are about halfway through Mark of Athena right now. We also started and finished Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys and Diana Wynne Jones' The Lives of Christopher Chant. Besides Mark of Athena, we are currently reading (and loving) Stiefvater's The Dream Thieves and (not loving) William Forstchen's Arena, which is another Magic: The Gathering book. Arena is so bad that we've started to do things like drink cordial/eat chocolates every time it uses the words "cold" or "coldly" to describe just about anything - I ran out of my drink before we finished our chapter the first time! If we ever do the terfbooks we should do this too, since it does remind me of Joanne's writing.
[Skip Combat; too tired]
Second Main Phase:
COMICS
X-Men updates for those who are interested! If not, you can end the newsletter here, lol.
Storm #5
Murewa Ayodele & Lucas Werneck
The Story:
Storm takes a page out of Jean's playbook I guess, and gets herself possessed by some godly entity in order to defeat Doom. Unfortunately Ororo will not allow this entity to actually murder Doom, so it doesn't work. Sad. Doom's rule over all of Earth 616 continues.
Thoughts:
Honestly not sure if Storm comics even count as X-Men comics these days. Like, is it an interesting way to develop her character? Sure. But is it an X-Men story? Nope. Lately, Ororo's more Avenger than X-Men, and it kind of shows. In fact, while the X books are gearing towards the X-Manhunt event, the Avengers (and etc.) books are dealing with One World Under Doom, and guess which conflict Storm embroils herself in? So, expect me to be a bit biased against this series, because I really am more of an X-Men stan. I really love the art, though, and bias towards X stories (individual, personal)/against Avengers stories (cosmic, impersonal) aside, this is a good book.
Laura Kinney: Wolverine #3
Erica Schultz & Giada Belviso
The Story:
Wolverine (Laura Kinney) is still trying to find and free young mutants kidnapped and used by various organisations. Previously, it was a group of mutants who were being held and being constantly tested on (and having their bits taken from them) to make "wellness" products for the rich. Now, she's chasing after this guy Anthony who was kidnapped by an anti-mutant organisation who was using his self-detonating ability to stoke up mutant hate. Hmm, sounds not at all unlike stuff terf orgs have done. Anyway, helping Laura is Daredevil (Elektra), and in this issue, they get to talk to Anthony, but he was moved by O*N*E (the new SHIELD) before they could rescue him proper.
Thoughts:
As always with these post-Krakoa stories, it is GOOD but also a bit depressing because it mirrors the real world a bit too much. I am loving the chemistry between Laura and Elektra. And Bucky's appearance at the end, with him being described as smelling like "old man aftershave"! Love it.
Uncanny X-Men #10
Gail Simone & Andrei Bressan
The Story:
In the last issue, the four mutant teens (Calico, American, hard-light powers; Hotoru, Japanese, death powers; Sofia, Singaporean, skill-borrowing powers; and Ransom, American, super-strength) that never knew life on Krakoa and were only beginning to live a "normal" life, were urged by Jubilee to go to the mall and have fun. Unfortunately, they're mutants in a world that hates them for existing, and four sentinel dogs went after them. Hotoru was fatally wounded. This issue continues right after, with Sofia borrowing combat medic abilities to revive Hotoru enough for him to resurrect himself, while Ransom and Calico deal with the sentinel dogs and try to stop them from attacking bystanders. Jubilee and Logan rushed to the mall to help, but Hotoru managed to power down the dogs before the adults got to them. The anti-mutant organisation (a different one from the one Laura Kinney is dealing with) are angry because the optics aren't good--the news broadcast was showing the kids as the heroes, as they were protecting the public. However, I did not miss that the broadcast also called them "powered individuals" rather than "mutants". Oh, and during this whole time, Kurt is enjoying his new life as mostly a civilian, and Rogue and Gambit are enjoying a very nice date, unaware that they're being stalked.
Thoughts:
Since the first issue of this series, I have found it really relatable and well-written (it's Gail Simone, so of course it's well-written) and stressful because of it being relatable and the hate-orgs makes me think of terfs and their leader, of Joanne. And the people who cheerfully make anti-mutant sentiments, of the people who cheerfully wear terfmerch.
Exceptional X-Men #6
Eve L. Ewing & Carmen Carnero
The Story:
The last issue dealt with Kate Pryde and Bobby Drake's meltdown--they finally talked (kind of) about their traumas post-Krakoa, and Kate mentioned the very unhealthy way she dealt with that trauma (killing all the people that killed her friends, even when they begged for mercy), and how the reason she was avoiding Bobby (her best friend) was because of how much he reminded her of it. Her new students (3 mutant teens who never experienced Krakoa: Axo, empathy powers; Bronze, armor-skin powers; and Thao, precog powers) overheard, and they were shocked to know that their teacher's a murderer. Thao almost left the group, but eventually returned, because she wanted to show her sibling that being a mutant isn't something to be ashamed of. Unknown to her, though, her sibling was sending her (the sib's, not Thao's) dna to a company called Verate who are claiming to "help" mutants hide their mutant appearances.
This issue, the teens are offered an internship at Verate, and while Bronze & Thao immediately balked when they found out that the company's been collecting mutant dna, Axo (who is green and can't hide his mutant-ness) is intrigued. There's a lot of debate on the matter, and Verate's CEO is so very obviously trying to get Axo on his side.
Thoughts:
Well, this isn't a new story, even in the X books. (Remember Warren?) And people collecting dna is never good, especially when it's mutant dna. I do hope that the issue of mutants that can't pass is explored further, though. Oh and this is by Eve Ewing, so the dialogue and characterisations had me hooked. And mixed with Carmen Carnero's art? Perfect.
End Step:
I hope you guys remembered to drink lots of water even though I wasn't sending constant reminders!
Also, the takeaway from all of this is: MTG and D&D and these books/comics are the only reason I’m hanging on to my sanity rn.
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