I increased all of mine and my wife's boyfriend debt
I’ve done well, 69k to 420k in the hole, and I refuse to fucking sell. My wife's bf has been working his ass off keeping my wife satisfied so she can pay off his old credit cards. I asked him to use his credit card last Thursday night, took his phone, and and entered 300k of NKLA calls expiring last Friday on his RH acct. We used my personal RH acct the other day and lost another 51k in calls Hello bankruptcy, more student loan, credit card debt, and yeah even wife's boyfriend's credit card debt to pay off. I still have plenty to play with, and at least now if I go the way of the other retards, I’ll know I did something useless by betting on NKLA. Positions: NKLA calls forever, and never be afraid to be the biggest NKLA bull on the daily red days to squeeze an extra few grand in debt while you and your wife's boyfriend acct bleeds. Edit 1: And yes, I am a simp. Edit 2: FUUUUCK he left my wife for RichieTah after seeing his post. Who is gonna satisfy my wife now :( Edit 3: After me giving him the sucky sucky he and my wife are back, it's all good now.
I think Mark Rosewater accidentally hit the nail on the head on the problem with other IPs in Magic on even the best of days
So this morning I woke up to this response to an ask on the Blogatog blog. And just like that Maro manages to put into words a problem that I didn't even notice I had. There is a laundry list of problems with the current Secret Lair going on. I don't need to add to them and I'm sure very few of you want to hear them repeated. That being said though a lot of these are compounded because of how all of this stuff was handled so I want to focus on one thing that honestly might be the most relevant because it's something that we know will come up when the Dungeons & Dragons crossover comes out but might fly under the radar as it’s less of a dumpster fire than everything else getting attention. That thing being how IPs are handled even when Hasbro isn't looking to take every last cent you worked hard to earn (as rare as that seems). Every character in Magic, regardless of card type, has both a mechanical and a story identity. Both of them are extremely important because without the former there's no reason to have cards for them and without the latter there's no reason to care about them. One of my favorite Drive to Work podcasts in recent memory is when Rosewater just goes over each and every planeswalker and describes a little bit of their story and a lot about how R&D represents the magic they use in that story in the cards depicting them (Link). Sometimes these identities are in step with each other and sometimes they are at odds but together they make up the Magic characters we know and love (or sometimes tolerate). While some characters start as a story idea and become cards and some characters start as card ideas and become stories, eventually the two have to meet. I honestly think the best representation of this is in the Shadows over Innistrad block with its depictions of Nahiri and Tamiyo (This has nothing to do with my opinions about the block because I wasn't even playing Magic during that specific time period, I just think these specific cards help prove my point). Both of these cards introduce a brand new color into the color identity of the planeswalker they represent but they do it for precisely the opposite reasons. Nahiri is red-white here as opposed to mono-white like before because it represents how the actions she's taking during this block are volatile, short-sighted, and driven almost entirely by passion and rage. It is a mechanical reflection of an in-story reality. Tamiyo is the exact opposite though. She was put in the story already because she filled a specific role but she wasn't going to get a card because the set was already at its limit for planeswalkers and there were bigger players to represent. The reason she got through is because design realized there was mechanical space for another planeswalker as long as it had a tri-color identity, and then worked with the story department to see what added colors best fit Tamiyo (Source). The card was the primary concern and the reason why Tamiyo as we know her today has the potential to be Bant instead of just Simic or plain mono-blue is because it fit the needs of the set. These two examples demonstrate a simple truth about characters in Magic: no one card or even collection of cards will represent the entirety of a character and nor does it even attempt to. A card only represents a character in that specific instance and that is all it is ever trying to do, anymore and it would be hypothesizing about a truth that is uncertain. This I believe is actually a wonderful boon of Magic. It creates a kind of feedback loop. The mechanical flexibility of a character allows them to appear in more sets, which allows more cards that can depict more aspects of them, which means we are more endeared to them because they are more familiar and more explored, which leads to them being put in more stories, which requires more cards and more mechanically diverse cards to explore each facet of that character. It's a blessing in disguise that allows us to get a more full picture of what a character is like. That planeswalker podcast I mentioned has multiple moments where Rosewater discusses characters that have never explored a color that he believes they definitely are and it just hasn’t been shown because of the limitations of the cards printed for them up until that point. Two examples being the fact that he believes both Tibalt and Ob Nixilis are black-red even though ironically one has only ever had red cards and one has only ever had black cards. For two planeswalkers that are decently popular (whether it be for good or bad reasons), they have literally never explored more than half of the potential color identity. So how does this relate to the ask above or external IPs in general? Well, it's simple: crossovers are by their nature temporary. They have to be because if they weren't it wouldn't be a crossover, it would be the status quo. That means they do not have the flexibility every other legendary creature or planeswalker is provided. They can't do the Omnath thing of slowly acquiring colors as the plot and the sets demand it. They can't be like Teferi where in the story he is consistently white-blue but has just as many mono-blue cards that explore his long history as a mage. Every card has to be treated as a one-off because there's no expectation of a follow-up. The cards have to be static. Is Glenn a white-blue character? Sure, I don't know, I didn't watch the show because statistically it seems highly improbable that the kind of person who likes a fantasy trading card game where you duel as a wizard would also like a gritty gory live-action zombie show well past its prime. But his card definitely isn't. And in a Magic set it probably wouldn't be. Because he's a legendary creature they would know they can afford making a card that doesn't fully explore him because later down the line they can make another card that truly does his Azorius parts justice. And if they couldn't they'd make a card that is truly Azorius or scrap the idea the character is a white-blue character. They could always just make a new card or even character for that design if they really like it after all. You can't do that in a crossover. You have to provide a color identity that not only correctly explores the character but also appeases the IP holders. And you can’t make a new character to fit new design space since every character belongs to an IP you don’t own. Color identity is no longer one part mechanical truth, one part snapshot of the character's current existence, but instead just a fun little pop philosophy question. No different than a Hogwarts house, character alignment, or any of the million other "pick a side" ticket drivers pop culture has. To a certain extent, it's always been that way. But at the very least there was a mechanical backbone to it and it was fluid enough that if you disagreed with that specific reading of a character it wasn't permanent. Heck, at this point Sarkhan Vol has been in literally every color but white and four different color combinations to boot. Even Garruk eventually moved back to mono-green. And because it was fluid the card would have to have a mechanical throughline to justify the change or it wouldn't have been made. I personally do not understand right now why Nissa is Golgari. I won't pretend that I understand it or that I agree with it but I also won't pretend that I think it's a bad decision from a game design standpoint, a color break, a character betrayal or an immutable constant. It honestly makes more sense to me than when she was Simic, both looking at her character as a whole and the current state she was in then and now. But even if I never come to understand it, the card feels Golgari and if it turns up in Modern a couple years down the line after it's rotated out I won't think it's forced because even if I don't understand or remember the context for why Nissa became black-green, the card only represents a facet of her at a specific point in time so I'm not going to think it says anything about any of the dozen or so other Nissa cards that exist and represent other facets of her at other points in time. The card wasn't forced to be mono-green because "it's Nissa, Nissa is mono-green" and it definitely wasn't given purely mono-green mechanics and made Golgari because "this character is black-green right now, this is a card that has to be black-green regardless of what it does." This is all without even considering the other hand Wizard has to balance. The key reason why new properties are even coming into Magic is to attract people who otherwise do not care about the game enough to buy into it with a product that they will do so for. That's why Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is replacing a Core Set. It will obviously be around the same level of mechanical simplicity and newcomer friendliness. It's to get people who wouldn't jump into Magic at that point to do so. And since gold cards are innately more complex to design than single color cards, and since that complexity directly correlates to more nuance which is important to mapping what complex characters, both in real life and fiction, feel and do, it is likely we are going to get more Glenns. More multicolored cards because of character backgrounds and philosophies, but with mono-color mechanics to create simplicity that allows new players to pick up and play. For the good cards they will mash together one mechanic of each color but for many cards they won't have the space because it will take a bunch of reminder text and we'll be stuck with a blue card that is clearly blue that has white not even because it has a life gain rider but because of a book, movie, or comic you didn't read since it isn't relevant to Magic. In summary, the concerning thing here is that even when Wizards isn't trying to put less-than-scrupulous principles ahead of its players they're still somewhat failing the game. For crossover IPs color is no longer a reflection of what the character is doing, believing, and experiencing at the moment that they are being represented in by the card, but a summation of all of their experiences, actions, and philosophies. Color is doing a lot more than it was ever expected to do and it's doing it for cards that are going to be simplified to entice newcomers so at a time when color is leaning to be as multicolored as possible to reflect as much as possible, it is going to have mechanics that are likely to be very mono-colored in nature. At the best of times we're going to get keywords shared by the colors represented but often we're probably just going to get cards that don't deserve the colors they have, and don't even use hybrid because that can be confusing and we sure don’t want that. Also, I splurged about how I realized how much I really like that the mechanical space and the thematic space of legendary cards, especially planeswalkers, actually empower and embolden one another and how that's kinda ruined by the broad strokes crossover cards have to paint those they represent with (Probably should have used less planeswalkers now that I think about it but they're the easiest characters to search and categorize on scryfall; if I ever make a follow-up you bet your ass that Niz-Mizzet Reborn is getting used as an example). Basically, remember how Urza, Headmaster just kind of slapped WUBRG on it because he's a very old character that could fit in many different color combinations and the mechanics of the card were so complex that they literally couldn't fit on a single card (or really collection of cards)? Well picture that but it's black-border, the card isn't as fun but just generically good, and the complexity isn't even that worth it. Thank you for reading.
7 Notre Dame (2-0) vs Wake Forest (0-2) – 12pm – ABC Last Week: Notre Dame watched a clip from A Bronx Tale where they beat the ever-loving hell out of the bikers in a Mafia-run bar, they proceeded to act it out on the field. Somewhere deep in a bunker Lou Holtz cackled as the Irish racked up 281 yds on the ground and 6 TDs (he then proceeded to call Kelly a purple faced bad catholic). Wake Forest also racked up big offensive numbers, but that only matters so much when you give up 45 to a Dave Doeren team. Wake gave up essentially two 100-yd rushing efforts, which is like, not good or something. This Week: Whew Wake has a rough schedule. Notre Dame does not need to pass well to beat them handily, so it’s highly likely this will be a paddlin’. Book will get yet another chance to demonstrate that he is a capable passer. Carlos Basham will lead Wake’s DL in attempting to slow down the big Irish ground attack. But if they allowed a lot on the ground to a Tim Beck offense… Prediction: 49 – 17 Notre Dame Edit: Covid wins again, booooo Georgia Tech (1-1) at Syracuse (0-2) – 12pm – RSN (?) Last Week: Georgia Tech came back to earth a bit as the Citronauts managed to pull away late. It’s hard not to like what Collins has done to the Bees though, as GT managed to drag UCFs powerful offense down to their level and make it a street fight for most of the game. Speaking of which, Dino has to be happy that the Orange (shouldn’t THEY be the ones playing the Citronauts?) managed to make a game of it with Pitt. This looks like a team that tries hard on defense but has absolutely nothing working on offense. Devito has been sacked more brutally than Rome by the Visigoths. This Week: If this was still the Coastal then somehow Syracuse would win. Georgia Tech has played much better in both a win and a loss, and has more to play for. Syracuse meanwhile looks like they will vie for the coveted Bottom-Of-The-Barrel trophy with Duke. I see Sims having an up and down day with a few turnovers, but Georgia Tech is both more talented and a more balanced team. Prediction: 28-6 Georgia Tech 24 Louisville (1-1) at 21 Pitt (2-0) – 12 pm – ACC Network Last Week: Picket called the Panther’s offensive effort against Syracuse sloppy, and he is correct. But at this point it’s like wondering if a teenager’s room is sloppy, or if that’s just kind of who they are going to be as a human. Pitt racked up defensive stats, but only managed 21 points against perhaps the weakest ACC foe, which wasn’t helped by Bama’esque kicking. Louisville was haunted by the ghost of a ghost rider Bobby, whose defensive recruiting dragged them down to hell. Turns out if you can’t stop Miami from running you over repeatedly, they won’t stop doing it. This Week: This may be the marquee matchup, and at the very least it’s a good bellwether game. Louisville defense vs Pitt Offense may be the stoppable force vs the moveable object. Which team can show reasonable improvement towards being a balanced team? I’m favoring the Cards, as I think Satterfield will mask their defensive issues better than Pitt can overcome their offensive issues. Prediction: 28-26 Louisville Duke (0-2) at UVA (0-0) – 4 pm – ACC Network Last Week: Just call UVA an honorary member of the SEC, because they are just now starting football. Call Duke an honorary member of the Big12, because yeesh. Duke looks like they need everything to go right to win a single game, and having Chase Brice isn’t enough for that to happen right now. This Week: UVA is a total unknown without Brice Perkins behind the wheel. I’m going to trust that Mendenhall has a strong defense, and that their offense will only work in fits and starts. Meanwhile, I have zero faith in Duke to show signs of life. They turned the ball over 5(!) times with 4(!) of those being in the red zone last week. That’s not a performance you can have against the Hoos and even compete. Prediction: 24-9 UVA Texas State (1-2) at Boston College (1-0) – 6 pm – RSN Last Week: Starting your coaching career with a win has got to be fun. BC took advantage of a lot of Duke mistakes and turned what might have been a scrappy game into a blowout. BC has some Jurk from ND as their QB, and of course has a great connection to their TE. This Week: Texas State has a potent enough offense to stick around with SMU and beat UTSA in double overtime. That’s not really anything to write home about, but it does mean they aren’t so bad that they might lose to say, Kansas. BC meanwhile looks like they have a more multiple offense, while also still packing a 245 lb running back. I think they bulldoze the Bobcats, and all the Bostonians start flooding this place talking about how wicked smaht Hafley is. Prediction: 45-17 BC Florida State (0-1) at 12 Miami (2-0) – 7:30 pm – ABC Last Week: FSU lost to Covid. Seriously. Norvell will be watching remotely for this week’s matchup. Miami meanwhile turned into a Category 5 rushing attack, making Louisville look silly on defense. They also did decently on defense, but perhaps a level below what fan expectations were for the season. This Week: Yikes. Seriously if James Blackman doesn’t have some sort of great insurance plan, he should look into one. FSU possessed an anemic offense against Georgia Tech, and they are unlikely to look better against the Canes. Much more interesting will be seeing a still talented FSU DL against Miami running backs. This could be a game where King needs to do something with his arm to propel the offense. I’m betting things get testy as Miami will want to run up the score. Prediction: 42-6 Miami NC State (1-0) at 20 Virginia Tech (0-0) – 8 pm – ACC Network Last Week: Just as we all predicted, the championship of North Carolina runs through the Wolfpack (ignore my actual prediction, please). Ricky Person looked sharp and Hockman managed to pass efficiently, as the Pack finally got over the hump against the Deacons. Virginia Tech was busy plotting in the Hokie Stone mines. This Week: I think this could be a fun matchup. Virginia Tech under Fuente has been all over the map, but they are a balanced team with a very good QB in Hooker. NC State is probably better on defense than the 42 they gave up to Wake, but they are clearly a team that can withstand a basketball on grass kind of game. I think VT let’s out some pent-up energy and carries the game late. Prediction: 31-24 VT Not Playing: 1 Clemson (2-0) – Well they did exactly what a Tiger is inclined to do to a bulldog – gut it entirely then take a nap. Trevor Lawrence’s sole incompletion was a drop on the first drive, and he continued to rack up absurd numbers while stealing rushing TDs from Etienne. Not much to note here other than minor concerns with the 2nd-5th string offense performing as well as Alabama did against the Citadel, and those guys clearly stink. 11 UNC (1-0) – UNC had it’s game with Charlotte cancelled due to Covid, and was unable to find a replacement on the fly. We will probably see a number of these throughout the ACC slate. Sam Howell will spend the week making sure every beard hair is perfectly groomed (there is a lot of pressure as an ACC QB to have perfect hair)
Take a deep breath before reading this. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this story is that every single person reading this post - every single one of you - was alive when this story became news in 2004. That fact is intriguing because everyone reading this post has either never heard this story, or forgot about it (I'm betting on the first one, because it is truly unforgettable). Furthermore, once you hear this story in its entirety, I can promise it will be seared into your memory forever. Our main character is a man named Marc Dutroux. He was born in Belgium in 1956. He was twice convicted of kidnapping and raping underage children. The first time was in 1989. The second time occurred in 1996. That was not a typo - you read that correctly. He was convicted and served a (much too brief) sentence in 1998. He served only 3 and a half years of his 13 year sentence because he was released for good behavior. Less than 10 years later, he was arrested again on the same charges (different victims). In the second round of charges, he was convicted of kidnapping, torturing and abusing victims, some of them to the point of death. What I am about to tell you comes from the statements made by his surviving victims (called the X Files), Marc Dutreox himself, and evidence from law enforcement. Here we go. Marc confessed to kidnapping, raping, drugging, torturing and filming children for many years. He also claimed he was doing it at the behest of a political elite who financed his career as a professional trafficker. Not only did this political elite finance his efforts - they made specific requests of him. Sometimes they requested specific types of children (they were called "party favors" and he was asked to deliver kids of certain age, sex, race). Sometimes they requested specific means of torturing the children to fulfill their desires (orgies, satanic rituals involving sacrifices, torture games). And sometimes they requested he film certain influential people engaged in these acts, for later use as blackmail. He claimed many of his customers and financiers were world leaders. This was not a stretch of the imagination because he lived in Belgium, where the EU and NATO headquarters were located. This statement was also corroborated by victims who were able to identify specific politicians. Anneke Lucas was one of his victims who testified against him. She claimed she was 6 years old when the cleaning lady hired by her mother sold her to the pedophile network in 1969. Her claims were extraordinary: -She was raped over seventeen hundred hours before turning 12 years old. -She was 6 years old when she was forced to participate in her first orgy, which included wearing an iron dog collar and eating human excrement. -She would actually be delivered back to her parents from time to time. However, her parents themselves were complicit in the crimes and always sent her back to her abusers. -Torture included being strapped to a butchers block used to execute other children. Other victims were forced to torture her for hours as part of their initiation. -She was considered attractive and that made her preferred by her abusers. She claimed that she tried to use that to her survival advantage to the best of her ability, but by the age of eleven, she had become so broken that she was slated to be executed and disposed of. -She said she was saved when one of her abusers negotiated for her freedom. That abuser would later sit as a defendant in the trial. Other witnesses and victims would soon come forward, describing such things as “Black Masses,” with child and adult sacrifices taking place in front of observers and participants, which included prominent politicians and figures. This would be corroborated by a note found by police at the house belonging to Bernard Weinstein—a man who previously worked with Dutroux, but whom Dutroux had murdered. The letter contained very specific requests for certain types of victims for satanic sacrifices. The letter was signed by a man who called himself 'Anubis'. It turned out 'Anubis' was the high priest of a satanic cult called 'Abrasax' whose real name was Francis Desmet. Police obtained a warrant and seized computers, documents, mail, actual human skulls, jars of blood, and all sorts of Satanic items - but none of this was enough to make an arrest. As the Dutroux trial went public, other victims stepped forward and confirmed the testimony, offering up descriptions of sexual abuse and human sacrifice. They also described “hunting parties” where elites would release naked children into the woods to hide, so that the elites themselves could hunt them down and slaughter them. Many of the stories from victims contained so many similarities, they were impossible to deny. For example, the hunting parties were often held at castles, where victims could not escape and were hidden from the public eye. Those not killed in the hunt were usually chased down and mauled/killed by Dobermans. All of these victims echoed the testimonies of other, older survivors of ritual Satanic abuse from around the world. It is also notable that Dutroux owned 10 homes valued at 6 million dollars. It is also notable that Dutroux was not employed. It is also notable that Dutroux received $1,200 per month in public assistance. It is also notable that documents released by Wikileaks show large sums of money in various currencies were deposited into his wife's bank account. It is also notable that those deposits coincided with reported kidnappings and missing children reports. It is also notable that before his removal, judge Jean-Marc Connerotte was on the verge of publicly disclosing the names of high level government officials who had been recognized on video-tapes of sexual torture that took place in Dutroux's dungeon. It is also notable that 20 potential witnesses for this case have died without explanation. Does any of this sound familiar? Are there any headlines today that sound like history is repeating itself? Guys, not one single thing in this post is theory. It's all proven and on record. There are images of these “hunting games” They're paintings that people like Tony Podesta buy, and hang in his home, and invite others over to enjoy. Pictures of young girls running through woods with cuts on them and often red shoes. We all know Epstein was a sick sob who had friends in high places - the same friends that hang out with Tony Podesta. You think Epstein was the only one? That he's somehow unique? Or was he the low level one they were willing to sacrifice to protect everyone else involved at a higher level? Do you realize now that when it comes to trafficking, satanism, pedophilia, human sacrifices, organ harvesting, adrenachrome - that it is art imitating life? That these people who are so obsessed with the art that glorifes these things might actually, themselves, be engaged in these things? Do you think normal, non-pedo, non-cannibal, average Joes would hang that garbage up in their homes? Suddenly the claims that world leaders and governments being involved in this satanic horror show isn't so far fetched after all. Suddenly its not so crazy to say that world agencies who claim to stop these crimes (WHO, UN) are actually facades that cover up the real work of procuring and enabling - yes, even participating - in these crimes. Suddenly the whole house of cards comes crashing down. With this one case, all the unbelievers are silenced. For crying out loud, this trial was in 2004! Did you remember it? If not, do you wonder why it was not front page news across the world? And if you're asking yourself HOW DO THESE PEOPLE GET AWAY WITH THIS - have you not yet figured out that the very people who are supposed to end it, are doing it? Most everyone has watched an Epstein documentary on Netflix - I think there's been maybe 3 or 4 made since his death. And the one thing I heard people say over and over and over again was this: "Where is Epstein's girlfriend and why hasn't she been arrested yet?" Did anyone asking that question even try to find the answer? Or did you just shrug your shoulders and say, "Well, it is what it is and there's nothing I can do about it" and go on with your life? Let me help you out. Did you hear the news story from two weeks ago that President Trump fired federal prosecutor Geoffrey Berman? He was the prosecutor in charge of the Epstein case. AG Barr requested Berman step down, and Berman refused. So Trump fired him and Berman was replaced with prosecutor Audrey Strauss. And then suddenly BAM! Maxwell is in custody. You now get a front row seat for the horror show that is about to come out. You will not believe who is involved and how deep it goes. And you will not believe the lengths they'll go to in order to protect their secrets.
When I look at the sentiment surrounding GameStop, it doesn’t take very long to see commentslikethese, yet here we are. What’s going on? Are people that stupid? Just jumping on the new console cycle? Idiots not pulling their gains and going to zero? When even wsb thinks the stock is a dud, it must be right? Nearly 120% short interest, yet the stock is up nearly 40% this week.
Its no secret GameStop has been hurting. The secular shift to digital has been pressuring them for some time with their highest margin category - used video software – under significant distress. Each year their gross margins contract with net income in the red these past few quarters. Everybody has written them off as the easiest short in the world, however I'm going to try to explain whats going on and tell you that buying GameStop may not be as bad as you think.
II. CONSOLES
Just to start things off, you have to remember we’re in the beginnings of the new console cycle. But what does that even mean? Well the advent of new consoles means new trade-ins, new product, new customers, and a fresh spike in GameStop’s popularity. Sales have stagnated the years prior, and they are all but certain to go up and remain elevated for the next 1-2 years. Note that against all counts, the company was actually profitable during the 2019 holiday season, with new consoles you can bet that they will annihilate all expectations and proceed into 4-8 more positive quarters off the cyclic shift. This is pretty unanimous, and everyone accepts that they will start reporting positive going forward. In fact, new console cycles are where GME has historically spiked.
III. POST CONSOLE CYCLE
At this point, the focus turns to what happens once the hype dies down. Digital will continue to erode upon physical, but the key factor here is that physical is not actually dying off. Its notgoing to zero. The biggest reason physical is sequentially a lower percentage of the market is because the total market size is increasing. Digital is shooting off while physical is largely stagnant. Note that physical games admittedly have their strengths. Not only are they structurally cheaper because you can resell them, they also have clear definitions of ownership and the collectability factor where you need to have a physical copy you can hold. In fact, two thirds of console video game players prefer physical vs digital.
While physical is here to stay, albeit at a weaker level, that isn’t enough to turn the tides for GameStop. You see, GameStop knows digital is the trend and here to stay, they are not fighting it, they are moving along the secular shift. GameStop sells digital games. GameStop is set to release a mobile app combining Game Informer and a online storefront by month end. They are doubling down on their online store with +500% ecommerce growth in Q1 and +800% growth in Q2. Expanding into numerous other categories. Nearly 70% of their online orders were fulfilled on the same day leveraging their wide network of stores, of which they are pruning the excess. Also, Game prices are set to increase $10.
GameStop’s Loyalty Program accounts for over 55M users. They intend on leveraging this network though a company branded credit card with spending rewards to grab market share and retain customers. Furthermore, a digital revenue sharing model continues to grow as publishers understand the value of GameStop as a customer acquisition service and that keeping the company afloat is better for sales and the general video game industry. (See the fall of Toys R us and its impact on Mattel/Hasbro; turns out the manufacturers really needed ToysRUs)
VI. BALANCE SHEET
But wait, their financials must be shit right? They have to be losing money. How much longer can they last?
Well it turns out their books are rock solid. They offered their creditors a new set of terms to push back debt for 2 years, 50% of them took it. They have eliminated all excess goodwill impairments. They are in a $300M net cash position with significantly reduced inventory (which explains the sharp reduction in Q1/2 sales) and massively cut SG&A by 28% in preparation for the console cycle. FCF KING
Many believe the days of their strong margins are long gone, but in fact its only beginning. You have to remember, digital is only outpacing NEW physical games. Retro games are a huge untapped market where GameStop can replicate their past success, and it is a category digital can never penetrate. Jesus wtf. GameStop is looking into these already
V. MAJOR BACKING
In fact, their ecommerce prospects are so promising, Ryan Cohen bought a 10% stake. This guy took on Amazon and won. Jefferies and Telsey, wall street firms, came out with strong buy ratings citing company prospects. Michael Burry still holds a 5% stake. This guy took on Wall Street and won. Half their creditors ($200M worth) believe in GameStop’s prospects. Why would they defer their debt unless they believed the company will be in a paying position by 2023?
VI. THE SHORTS
But here is the real kicker. GameStop’s short float. 120% has never been seen before. The short theory was that GameStop would not make it to the new console cycle and the shorters would collect their tendies. But GameStop made it. Current short fees are like 60% and from some figures we can draw on, we estimate that around 70% of the shorts got in under $7, GameStop is currently nearing $10. 70% of the shorts are underwater. Even if you don’t believe that any of their initiatives will work you have to admit that the company will be able to continue operating for another two years off the new console hype alone. When the stock hits roughly $15, we can expect to see several margin calls trigger a fucking massive short squeeze. For reference, Blue Apron, Volkswagen.
VII. CONCLUSION
Just the fact GME got to the new console cycle must be making the shorts cry. Add on that they’ve been making serious progress towards online and mobile presence, aligning themselves with industry trends, operating in a growing market, potential monopoly in the untapped retro market, solid financials, beginning their new upward cyclic cycle; you have the makings of a powerful ecommerce storefront just leaning into their growth period. Even post console hype, they should be able to leverage their branded credit card to retain a huge number of customers and bite off huge market share off other retailers. Lastly, remember that despite the trend towards digital, its in the gaming industry's best interest to keep GameStop going strong. The likelihood of additional revenue sharing agreements are fairly high.
For comparison GameStop has a P/S ratio 0.11. Chewy has a P/S ratio of 3.6. If GME begins to grow their revenue from this point its valuation will begin to normalize. Even a P/S of 0.2 would mean a stock price of ~$16, 0.4 would mean $32. The company is going to ride the console hype and likely trigger more than a few margin calls along the way. Everything management has been doing is to ride the new cycle into a fluid ecommerce business model, and everything I'm seeing suggests its going to work.
The menace is in our schools, on our playgrounds, and in our communities. It's dangerous, deadly, and worst of all, you might not even know it's happening to you until it's too late. When it shows up on your table, just say no.
[[Razia, Boros Archangel]] {4}{R}{R}{W}{W} Legendary Creature — Angel Flying, vigilance, haste {T}: The next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature you control this turn is dealt to another target creature instead. 6/3
Say no to hitting yourself. Say no, so that your loved ones don't have to ask why.
In The Arms Of An Angel
Hi, I'm GamesfreakSA. She has many street names: Knuckle Sandwich, Hertz Donut, Hawaiian Punch, Pound Cake, Kit Fisto. She's an angel of death as deadly as she is seductive. She's Razia, Boros Archangel, and every day, she pressures innocent Commander players into hitting themselves. Razia, Boros Archangel is an eight mana 6/3 with flying, vigilance, and haste. She can also tap to redirect the next 3 damage that would be dealt to a creature on her side to another creature. This drug is more hardcore than other abilities you may have heard of, because it costs no mana and she doesn't even have to redirect the damage to a white creature on her team. Deal with the real. Get the facts about Razia so you can protect yourself and the children. Learn her plan:
Learn how Razia's crew pushes their product hard when you interact with them.
Learn that this dangerous ringleader throws her "friends" under the bus to protect herself.
Learn the effects of the drug, including a feeling of indestructibility.
Learn just how self-destructive hitting yourself can be.
Hit Me Up
It might seem like harmless fun, but remember, hitting yourself can and will kill. Anybody that asks you to take a hit is not your friend. These creatures lash out, dealing damage when they take damage:
Spiteful Sliver can only smack players and planeswalkers, but Spitemare can damage creatures as well.
The Retromancer hates being targeted, so like all dealers, the best bet is to just walk away.
And finally, not all addictions are obvious: any creature becomes a hitaholic when Arcbond is cast.
Remember, Razia's ability can redirect damage her minions, effectively redirecting it to you. Don't hit that; it's just not worth it.
I Learned It From Watching You
Razia may seem like the cool kid on the block, but like Wizards of the Coast, she'll stop at nothing to push product. If you won't hit yourself yourself, these damage redirection effects will have Razia herself hitting yourself:
Nomads en-Kor and Shaman en-Kor's effects are so nice they take the stage twice, redirecting all damage away from them to the hit-men with a 0-cost activation ability. FREE BIIIIIIRD
Saving Grace redirects all damage on Razia's side of the field to a single creature for a turn.
Swinging a large board into a Spitemare can be a death sentence: Saving Grace's Flash makes it quite the combat trick.
The ability can also redirect damage away from opposing players and creatures. Sometimes, the hit-men are desperate to get their fix.
I Feel Better Than I Have In Twenty Years
Why are players hitting themselves? The dopamine rush from hitting yourself can make you feel on top of the world, distracting you from the reality of living a pointless life as a cog in a capitalist machine. These cards grant creatures indestructible so they can keep hitting themselves.
Resolute Watchdog and Sefless Savior are adorable nasty little puppers pit bulls that have absolutely no text youmonsters protect the hit-men with their cute little wuffslives.
Ephemeral Shields can give a single creature indestructible for free with its Convoke ability...
...while Boros Charm gives an entire team indestructible.
Chance For Gloryalso gives an entire team indestructible as well as an extra turn.
When Razia uses this, prepare yourself for anything.
Nahiri's Machinations can repeatedly grant creatures indestructible until the end of the turn.
The activated ability can be used on defense to squeeze extra damage out of a hit-man.
Shielded By Faith is an efficient way to protect an early creature. It can reattach to more dangerous creatures later.
We here at the Commander Against Razia Punches, or CARP, would like to take this opportunity to ask for your support. Make a Stand against autobattery. Join our Facebook group, like us on Twitter, and subscribe to our ICQ feeds. Does anyone still even have an ICQ?
Going to Hell Before You Die
Now that you know all about Razia and have figured out why you're hitting yourself, it's time to learn what can happen if this menace stays around. The consequences will blow your mind:
Deafening Clarion can deal substantial amounts of damage and cause the hit-men to leech life from you.
Late-stage addicts may even absorb all of the damage into one gigantic hit with Martyrdom, creating a devastatingly powerful, ludicrously badass blow worth hundreds of damage.
A Guilty Conscience never stops an addict, but instead fuels them to keep using.
If Brash Taunter or another indestructible hit-man is enchanted with this Aura, the damage that's done to opponents rebounds back to the creature, causing it to hit itself until you're dead.
Insult to Injury doubles damage done that turn, and acts as a small board wipe.
If an indestructible hit-man has Martyrdom on it, using Insult and then Injury that turn can create an infinite damage loop. With the creature taking two damage, at least one damage on the trigger can be redirected back to it ad nauseum.
Stay Safe
When Razia comes to town, you need to be ready, vigilant, and watchful, because like the Billboard Top 100, she's carrying some big hits. At only $50, decks helmed by her are scary for the price. Now that you've gotten the facts, you're ready to face the world ahead of you. D.A.R.E to resist drugs and violence, my friends. Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to cracking packs. I'm in box 6 and I can smell that foil Lithoform Engine. The Whole Hit And Kaboodle https://scryfall.com/@michael_celani/decks/23e43748-f019-4005-a057-5880c4a739e8 Previous Articles Hua Tuo, Honored Physician Ramses Overdark Gabriel Angelfire
[COMC] Can we meet on a map? Or perhaps bluff over an auction? Count me in!
https://imgur.com/a/uwQC1rJ (Not shown Button Shy games: Mint Julep and Seasons of Rice) The History: Played my first hobby board game my freshman year of college. A friend had heard about a cool new game called Arkham Horror so 4 of us walked to the game store and split the cost. I specifically remember picking up Ra in the store and being so excited that it was a game about Ancient Egypt, only to flip the box over to the back and be utterly disappointed. In terms of theme, though, Arkham Horror did not disappoint. We didn't end up playing the game that night since we took one look at the components and knew we were in over our heads. But for the next 5 years or so, we played that game over and over and over. That was in 2007 - and its been an age of gaming since then. Early games acquired were Coup, 7 Wonders, Dominion and Eldritch Horror. However, one of friends did the majority of the buying for years so it wasn't until more recently that I started looking for myself. At first, I wanted to be like Zee Garcia when I grew up. I wanted to like little unknown card games with cute art and simple mechanics. It was during that time that I acquired Paper Tales, The Shipwreck Arcana, Caper, and Kodachi. However, for many of these, I found out that I ultimately like the art better than the game. But some of them are favorites; like Paper Tales. Then, I thought I wanted to be a war gamer. I picked up Ottoman Sunset as a solo-only introduction to chits and simulation. As you can see, it didn't last. So no war gaming/historical simulations. (Although I'm still interested in at least trying a COIN.) Then, it was on to heavy-interaction games and this is where I found my niche. It started with War of the Ring and trickled down to some of my favorites. Unmatched, Inis, Kemet, Sekigahara, and Undaunted. Games like The Ming Voyages and Freedom! are more obscure but just as great as some of the well known games. This genre also spilled over into auction/betting games: The Estates, Mint Julep and High Society being favorites. The Games: My favorite game is War of the Ring. This, for me, is the ultimate balance of satisfying game play, asymmetrical sides and thematic and tense moments of anticipation. Some other favorites that I haven't mentioned yet are: Twister (since my friends and I are in our 30s, its hard to get people to play but I still love this), Seasons of Rice (fun little 'tile' laying game with great thematic ties to the designer's background), The Networks (just fun), Kodachi (love the push-your-luck) and 7 Wonders/Coup (I've been playing these since they came out and they never get old). My Favorites in Alphabetical order:
Castell (extreme brain burn and fun theme)
The Estates (organized chaos)
High Society
Inis (wow this game is a roller coaster of emotion!)
Mint Julep (fun for two with some Kentucky Derby music)
Paper Tales
Unmatched
War of the Ring
Shelf of Opportunity: Bus and Raccoon Tycoon are the only unplayed games. Like most people, I've been playing a lot more 2-player games over the past few months. Sadly I don't know when they will be played. Also, I have pre-ordered Pax Pamir 2e, 18Chesapeake, Sprawlopolis, Food Chain Island, and Twilight Struggle: Red Sea. Some notable games I've already owned and traded/sold: Scythe, Ghost Stories, One Deck Dungeon and Xia. I have learned that I do not actually care for co-ops despite my long history with them, I don't like dice allocation games, not a huge fan of worker placement, and I don't like sandbox games. I can't quite pin point why I didn't like Scythe; it was good, but not very interesting. What I Would Change: We've been playing Eldritch Horror for an age it feels; and, we have almost all of the expansions. So while that game is not one of my ultimate favorites, it probably won't be going anywhere. And while I did enjoy Raiders of the North Sea, it is up for trade. Some other games like Treasure Island and Atlantis Rising are great games to get people excited about the hobby. So while I don't foresee keeping them forever, I'll keep (and play) them until they've done their job. They could be replaced down the like with something like Captain Sonar. Dominion is a favorite of my partner's so while I don't love it, its definitely staying. (Thankfully, for me, a friend has all the expansions so there's no need for us to have them as well!) Some games that I'm on the fence about: Obsession, The Shipwreck Arcana, and Nagaraja. I like them all just fine, but they don't blow me away. (Probably because I never win at Nagaraja. Never.) At this point, my wish list is rather small. Yes, I am definitely going to be adding Cyclades. I'd like to buy Container, Tulip Bubble and The King's Dilemma if they are every in print again, too. I should probably check out Ra after all these years. It turns out that it might be exactly what I like! Let me know about suggestions or questions!
Warzone Solo Strategy - My Tips for Kills and Success
Hi everyone, I have been playing almost exclusively warzone solos for a while now and I've noticed there is actually not much in the way of good strategy guides just for solos. I am a bit above average (KD 1.24) but far from the best player around, nevertheless I believe I have a great deal of experience in fine-tuning different solo strategies and seeing what works and what doesn't. In this post I will go through my process of what to do, when to do it, why I'm doing it and how I go about doing it. Gun-skill and situational awareness are two prerequisites that should be nailed down before thinking about macro-strategy, and can only be learnt by practice. Note that the strategy below is probably not the best one for overall win-rate. That one would probably the do-10-recons-and-camp-the-final-circle strategy but if you like to play more aggressively getting lots of kills and dislike the camping playstyle, read on. Step 1 - The Drop The very first step to a successful game is a good drop. As with many things, you should be able to drop anywhere and make it work, so this is mostly about efficiently getting kitted up as soon as possible so you a) don't get into a position where you are encountering loaded-out players while you're stuck with ground loot and b) can get your loadout as soon as possible and start racking up kills on players that haven't yet got theirs. Dropping locations vary on a scale of hot (many players landing in a condensed location) to cold (no other players landing there). The heat of a particular drop location depends on the following:
Relative position to the flight path. Almost without fail the hottest drop locations are immediately below the point where the plane enters the map. These are the players who are in a mad rush to start looting and don't want to waste any time in the air. The middle of the plane's flight path is still pretty hot for much the same reason, just not so much as the beginning or end. The end point of the flight path is hot because this is where the AFK players get kicked out. Usually there are about five AFK players but also another five who want to grab some easy kills on them. Conversely, the longer the transverse distance from the flight path the colder it gets because it takes longer to get to, risks being shot while parachuting and is frankly a little bit tedious. That is not to say that it is necessarily a bad thing to do.
Relative position to first circle. There does not appear to be much variation in heat within the first circle which is marked on the map - the centre is not particularly hotter than the edges. But the further you get outside the first circle you get the colder it becomes. The reason for this is obvious, you only have a couple of minutes to loot before the gas closes and if you are far outside the circle you will have to race back to safety.
Scavenger contracts. These contracts can turn an area from a cold to a hot drop location, simply because most people realise that these are one of the best ways to begin a solo game.
High-value locations. These locations will generally always be hot, more or less-so depending on where they are, relative to the flight path and first circle. High-value locations are places which have a lot of valuable loot in a small area and are consequently the quickest way to get decent ground loot and the money for a loadout. Examples include the train, superstore and passcode bunkers.
What is good to keep in mind is that a drop location will be hot for a reason - people want to drop in a certain place because it offers a certain advantage. Equally, a cold location will be cold generally because it offers little advantage. On the other hand, lots of competition in the early game is very risky. Even if you have great gun-skill it is very easy to get third-partied and therefore in half the games you drop hot you will get sent to the gulag within a minute or two. In solos the player count drops from 150 to 120 or less in about a minute - those 30 almost certainly dropped hot and paid for it. Cold drops, while taking longer to reach, will allow you more time to loot in peace and will generally give you enough space to seek out enemies on your own terms. However in the coldest spots you may struggle to find anyone, which isn't very fun at all. As with most things in life, a compromise is often the best option. You should be able to handle the heat of two or three players dropping within 100m or you, so no need to go colder than that. Go much hotter and it becomes a toss-up if you'll survive into the top 100. Obviously there's more to it than simply trying to pick a lukewarm drop position. You have to think about what you want to do upon landing. A contract is generally your answer. Bounties, while rewarding, aren't generally the best thing to get straight away. For a start, often your bounty target will still be in the air and will soon be hundreds of meters away. Alternatively they could have had a lucky drop and have found far better weapons than you. There is one situation however where I would recommend bounties straight away, and that is when you are the one who got a lucky drop and you were able to get a very good ground loot weapon very quickly. For example, with the season 6 ground loot origins even if the bounty target hides like a rat upstairs in a building, you can reliably rush them. Time is the great equalizer; after about five minutes you can assume that everyone has a good weapon. Before that time, if you have a powerful ground loot weapon then squeeze as many kills as you can. Recons are only good in my opinion if you go big on recons till the end (as I mentioned above). Supply runs are a bit meh, at the start you want to be focusing on looting items not buying stuff. That leaves us with scavengers. While I did mention above that these contracts make for pretty hot locations, they do so for good reason. A scavenger contract only takes a minute or so to complete and rewards you with all the plates you'll need, a high chance of rare/legendary weapon and often enough cash to go straight for a loadout. Essentially, they reward you for what you would be doing anyway at this point in the game - looting. Furthermore, in season 6 the drop rate for plates decreased a lot - meaning that generic looting cannot guarantee you will get enough plates as quick as you will need them. With a scavenger, you avoid getting stuck without armour - suffice to say this is not a good position to find yourself. Since scavengers are hot drops, you'll want to go for one on the colder end of the spectrum so you actually have a chance to reach it first and not die in the process. So long as you pick one that's not under the flight path you should be fine. Also, think contingencies. Think 'what am I going to do if I can't get that contract?'. This is why, ideally, you should go for a spot with a few scavengers in the vicinity so that if one gets taken there will still be others to grab. Ironically these locations are often less hot than places with just one scavenger - in such places there will likely be three or more players all converging on one place. Another tip is that some scavenger icons on the map are hard to see because they are under other icons or place names - many players would have missed those, leaving them all to you! Alternatively, instead of going for a contract you could drop on the train. The train is pretty much a moving bunker's worth of loot but avoids the risk of getting trapped inside by another player. Admittedly, if the train is close to the flight path it can get really hot and therefore not worth the risk. If it is far away however it is possible to have the whole train to yourself. If you do then you often will get twice the loot of a scavenger contract in a fraction of the time; then jump off the train at a buy station and you could get your loadout within a minute of the drop. Obviously it is a lottery whether other players have the same idea as well and most of the time you will have to fight the other passengers. What's good about the train is that it is easy to bail and escape a bad gunfight if you feel you need to. An ideal drop that leaves both strategies open is if you aim for a scavenger contract near to the train track and loot until the train approaches. Then you can quickly see if it is unlooted in which case you can jump on and do the honours, if it is currently being looted it is quite easy to kill the looter who, thinking they had the train to themselves, is focusing on looting. If the train has been looted and the looter has skedaddled, no worries! You still have a scavenger contract to keep you busy. One final thing I will say about dropping is that it is preferable to drop fairly centrally in the first circle. The reason for this is that you'll want to have your free loadout drop deep in the circle which means it will stick around into the mid-late game. You will want this because if and when you get sent to the gulag and return you will want to be able to grab your loadout ASAP. The later in the game it is the harder and more dangerous cash is to find, making raising 10k a tough prospect. To summarise, drop on a scavenger or the train (ideally both) in a medium-heat location in the centre of the circle. Step 2 - Early Game (drop -> loadout) Ok, so you've dropped on your scavenger and have started looting. Your priorities here are as follows:
Getting a decent weapon. Doesn't need to be fantastic, just lose your pistol as quick as you can. Even the plain old grey Uzi will serve you well in the early game. As you loot further you can pick up better weapons.
Getting plates. The one plate you need to get from your starting two to the full 250 health bar is critical. You don't want to enter any gunfights until you are fully plated - ideally with a few more in the pocket to sustain prolonged intermittent firefights. Don't panic if there aren't any plates around - just focus on completing the scavenger and you'll get all the plates you need.
Getting cash. The ultimate aim for early game is saving up the 10k for a loadout. A scavenger won't generally give you enough cash on its own, so as you proceed from box to box make sure you open regular blue boxes en route to try and grab more cash.
Once you've completed the scavenger take a look at your cash stack. If you have 10k, then head to the nearest buy station and grab a loadout marker. If you are short of the 10k, you will need to either loot some more or grab a bounty. I'm partial to a bounty at this point if I have a decent weapon and I'm not in downtown (bounties in downtown are very difficult to pull off). A bounty will give you 6k in addition to whatever the target drops, so if you kill them you will have more than enough for a loadout as well as a self res or UAV. Buying and grabbing your loadout is one of the most dangerous parts of the early game - the red smoke is difficult to hide and often snipers will wait for you to stand still for half a second while you open the loadout before they dome you. There are however ways to mitigate the danger. One tactic is to run off into the woods or mountains on the edge of the map and drop the marker there. This method is fairly safe (so long as you make sure you're not being followed) but it takes a while to get there, if you're in the centre of the map it can be unfeasible. Another method is to find a building with an accessible roof, clear it of any enemies, and drop your marker on the ground floor. This will both hide most of the smoke and put the loadout on the roof, hopefully avoiding people sneaking up on you while you grab it. Note that this latter method is vulnerable to snipers, so avoid using buildings that are close to even higher buildings (e.g. downtown) and remember to go prone while opening the loadout. This brings me to the question that is always on the mind of warzone players - what loadout should I get? The only rule I would stick to is to make sure you have the ghost perk. You are playing at a massive strategical disadvantage, especially in mid to late-game, if you don't run ghost. Overkill may be tempting, but at this point you should have a good enough ground loot weapon to keep on hand along with whatever loadout weapon you pick. Even if you don't have anything decent, just go with an all-comers weapon like an assault rifle. Honestly, it's not worth being the one guy that everyone will be making a bee-line too when they start popping UAVs in mid-game. Since you'll only be getting one primary weapon in your loadout, you ought to pick whatever complements your best current ground loot weapon. As a rule of thumb, you always want something to cover mid-range (assault rifles, long range SMGs, LMGs) and then you can pick a long-range (snipers) or short-range (SMGs, shotguns) weapon depending on where the circle is moving and/or your playstyle. The northern part of the map has a lot of open spaces that reward sniping, while in the more urban areas you will want something to handle close-quarter encounters. Personal preference is of course a major factor - don't pick a sniper if you hate sniping. If you like rushing buildings then don't leave without an MP5 or good shotgun. In season 6 there are good ground loots weapons in every category. When you head to buy your loadout, have a think of what you want to keep and what you'll want to pick up (make sure to do the thinking before you throw down the loadout marker, you want to pick up the loadout as quick as humanly possible after that). Below is a list of what I would recommend getting depending on what you have on hand, in terms of ground-loot:
Good ground loot shotgun (silenced origins) -> Assault Rifle loadout
Good ground loot SMG (silenced MP5, P90s) -> Assault Rifle or Sniper Rifle loadout
Good ground loot AR (thermal AN94, Grau) -> Shotgun or Sniper Rifle loadout
Good ground loot sniper rifle (HDR) -> Assault Rifle or long range SMG loadout
The other things to consider are perks, tacticals and lethals. Everyone has their favourites, but for solos I recommend the following:
Blue perk - EOD is probably the most useful perk here, and most of the time you won't even notice you have it - that's because it's working! Nobody likes dying to explosives. However, in season 6 I would say it is perhaps less vital than before now people aren't lobbing several kilos of C4 around all over the place. The only other one I would consider is Double Time, which is by no means essential but nice to have.
Red perk - Ghost without a doubt. As explained above.
Yellow perk - Here you have a lot more comparable choices. I like amped when I run a sniper rifle because I want to be able to quickly pull out an AR or SMG if I miss a shot and start getting beamed. For loadouts and playstyles where I'm rushing buildings then tracker is incredibly useful. With this perk no matter how a player tries to run and hide in a closet you'll track them down with ease. It's also the only thing that will allow you to see sweaty Roze players skulking in a dark corner in their all-black gimp suit. Battle hardened is good if you encounter many players running stuns or flashes, although in solos most people run heartbeat sensors so you won't often have this problem. Some people love spotter, but I can't say I've ever got much out of it.
Tacticals - As mentioned above, most people run the heartbeat sensor here. While ghost does nullify a lot of its utility, it is still an incredible advantage when you're tracking down a non-ghosted player. What's more, I'll talk more below about hunting for kills using UAVs, but the gist is that you can use an UAV to put yourself in the general area of a target and then pinpoint them with the heartbeat sensor. Just remember that it can only confirm that someone is nearby, not that someone isn't nearby. In other words, don't let it give you a false sense of security. Stuns are the only other tactical I would consider, but that's down to personal playstyle.
Lethals - Before season 6 I would just write C4 here. Since its nerf however the meta has diversified into thermites, molotovs and semtexes. Each have their particular strengths and weaknesses, take your pick. I would always take one to handle those annoying riot shield users.
Once you have picked up your loadout, remember to pick up whatever ground loot weapon you decided to keep (if any, you may prefer a launcher secondary to handle vehicles) and high-tail it out of the area as quickly as possible. You want to put distance between you and the red smoke which has probably caught the eye of some thirsty players who are now running there trying to catch an easy kill. You could wait and try and kill some of these players, but consider they could be coming from any direction and you will have to keep an eye on 360 degrees of approach. At some point, 13s before the gas reaches the first circle IIRC, you will get a free loadout. Leave it alone unless you're coming back from the gulag. For one, it will likely be camped and become a deathtrap, secondly you want to leave your future self a lifeline if you go to the gulag and redeploy. Again, this is why it is helpful to be near the centre of the circle when the free loadout spawns so that you can take advantage of it even if you redeploy late-game. Optional Step 2.5 - Gulag Fairly often in the early game you will get unlucky or outplayed and get sent to the gulag. It happens to everyone and is far from the end of the game. I would say that at least half of my wins have come after returning from the gulag. I can't tell you how to win the gulag - that comes down mostly to gun-skill and muscle memory. If you lose the gulag, it's not the end of the world, just play again. Now let's say you kick your opponents ass and you redeploy, you should aim straight for the free loadout if it has spawned yet. If not, drop on a scavenger and go through the early-game process of getting plates, weapons, cash etc. Then grab the loadout when it arrives. Doing this is dangerous especially if many players' loadouts drop together, but so is waiting around without your loadout. Either approach as soon as it drops and grab it before people settle in to camp it, or encircle the loadout and clear out potential camping spots before grabbing it. Optional step 2.6 - Bunkers If at any point in the game (except perhaps late game) you find a red access card, drop everything and head to the nearest card bunker. There are four I believe; dam, military base, hills and prison. Especially since season 6 these are incredibly valuable. Now there will always be, right at the back of the bunker, a 'super-legendary' item. This could be a loadout drop marker (a.k.a. 10k cash), durable gas mask, advanced UAV, minigun, foresight or juggernaut. All are incredibly useful (except perhaps the minigun) and potentially game-winning, especially the juggernaut and foresight. If you pick up a juggernaut it is very hard to lose in solos. It feels like a cheap win, but a win is a win. Foresight is also incredibly broken, it's gives you the exact position of the final circle including all the circle movement. When I talk about the late-game I emphasise how important circle movement is to victory, and this gives you all that intel on a silver platter. If you fancy a relaxing game it also tells you exactly what house to go and have a nap in until the late game. Even if you get none of these items, the sheer amount of cash you can loot from the bunker can mean you'll never need to worry about money for the rest of the game. Be careful getting to the bunker though. By all means take a vehicle, just don't park it right outside the door. That's just asking for an uninvited guest to crash the party. Park a hundred meters or so away and take the rest by foot, making sure nobody sees you go in. If you're trapped in there by someone waiting at the door there's no other way out. Step 3 - Mid game (loadout -> top 20) Now this is where the fun begins! When you have your loadout you could pick a building and sit in there like a loser. What is much more rewarding is to go out hunting. Players could be anywhere, just wandering around aimlessly is not the key to a high-kill game. You need targets to aim for and approach strategically like a tiger. How can you find targets? You can see players visually and follow them, which is a cheap and effective method but unreliable, furthermore if they have decent situational awareness they will spot you back very soon after you do, leaving a limited time window to attack with the element of surprise. Another way to locate targets is to head in the direction of unsuppressed fire, which will place a temporary red dot on the mini-map. If this happens close to you then you have a prime opportunity to third-party someone and get a cheap kill, but if you have to travel a few hundred meters it becomes a less reliable way of getting kills. Consider that the player who has been firing their unsuppressed weapon is fully aware that they have just broadcasted their location and will be quickly relocating after the fight if they have any game sense. Furthermore, many players will likely have the same idea as you and will flock like moths to a flame hoping to get a few juicy kills, this can often create a chain reaction of third-party attacks as people arrive to intervene in the unsuppressed gunfight, who fire more unsuppressed shots thereby attracting more people. This generally ends badly for 90% of those involved, so best avoided if you can. There are only two methods to reliably locate targets - UAVs and bounty contracts. The former costs money, while the latter awards it. However, the crucial difference is that someone highlighted by an UAV is completely unaware that they have been targeted and that you are heading straight for them. Granted, they will hear the 'UAV overhead' announcement but that is so common in solos that it doesn't have much meaning - in mid-game solos you can reliably assume that there is always at least one UAV overhead from someone. In contrast, when someone is chosen as a bounty target they know that they specifically have been singled out and how close their hunter is. Most players' reaction to this is to just camp in a building for the three minutes until the time expires. If you have a decent short range SMG or shotgun you should be able to rush a building in which your target is hiding, but it is no guarantee of success. Remember, just because you have a bounty target it does not mean you have to attack - if they're hiding upstairs in a house with an origin and claymores on the stairs, it's not a fight you have much chance of winning. Move along. In short, if you have the money buy a UAV and hunt with whatever intel it gives you. Ideally the kill you get with that intel will fund your next UAV purchase and you will snowball round the map racking up the kills. Remember if there are no UAV targets near you and it runs out of fuel before you reach the red dots, you can try and pinpoint them with your heartbeat sensor. Think of it like a mini-UAV. I should probably mention at this point that if you have left over money from buying a UAV, pick up a self-res if you can. 80% of the time they won't help but you'll feel incredibly grateful for the 20% of times they do. Of course, if there is a fire sale you might as well grab one for free. If your snowball of death grinds to a halt; maybe you ran out of non-ghosted players in the vicinity or you ran out of money by killing too many poor players, now is a good time to pick up a bounty target to get the snowball going again. A third way to find targets more reliably than just wandering around, but without the risk of bounties or the cost of UAVs is to employ the famous 'pinwheel rotation'. Popularised by youtuber Icemanisaac, this is where you hug the gas while it is stationary and then rotate into the next circle at a 45 degree angle to the gas when it closes in. The logic for this strategy is that you will catch players moving into the inner circle directly perpendicular to the gas, including players flushed out of their camping spots by the encroaching gas. What's more, you don't need to worry so much about your outside flank since that will be covered by the gas. I find this strategy works best mid to late game when the gas isn't moving as fast and the amount of non-ghosted players diminishes the value of UAVs. Be sure to grab a gas mask if you're using this strategy as you will occasionally need to dip into the gas. Note that you can use UAVs as you pinwheel, giving you extra intel (e.g. if the UAV picks up someone in a building on the edge of the gas, you can expect them to be flushed out where you will be waiting for them). Using our toolkit of UAVS, bounties, unsuppressed fire and the pinwheel rotation, you should be able to grab a good amount of kills in the mid-game. Step 4 - Late game (top 20 -> Warzone Victory) Generally around the top 20 the real end-game begins. Now the value from UAVs is diminished, since non-ghosted players are probably dead and in any event you don't have the liberty anymore to start running around everywhere looking for kills. Bounties aren't worth it anymore because cash becomes more or less irrelevant at this point - there's probably only one or two buy stations left and they're most likely camped. If you come across a bounty you can take it just for the extra intel it gives you, just be very careful about going after them. At this point in the game you need to play a lot more cautiously. I would say camping is fine at this stage - you've had your fun already. If you can secure a house in the final circle then that's ideal, what is more likely is that the recon-ers have already secured all the nice camping spots. If you have a good MP5 or shotgun you could rush the building but its a risky prospect and liable to third parties joining in the fun. If you are stuck outside in the cold then, if it's an open area, your best bet is probably to continue to pinwheel in as the gas closes, albeit at a slower, more cautious pace. If the final circle is a more urban area like downtown or promenade, you can slowly but surely proceed into the circle making sure to check all your corners, make maximum use of cover and dial the situational awareness up to 11. You can still get quite a few kills this way as often players won't hear your approach if you don't run. At the final circle it all comes down to gun-skill, stealth and a healthy dollop of luck. In the top 3, try to third party the other two. Nine times out of ten the two players who start the gunfight lose to the player who waited and finished off the victor. Of course, you often don't have the luxury of picking your fights. When the circle starts moving, this is where the RNG can give you or steal away the win. If the circle moves to your side then it's simply a matter of waiting for the gas to deliver your opponent(s) into your arms. If not, then the opposite will apply. The odds will be against you in this case but it's by no means a done deal. Here your only chance of survival is superior gun-skill. And there you have it! The entire process from dropping to winning the game. This took way longer than I thought it would but I hope I've given some useful tips. I would love for you guys to offer any thoughts on my strategy and stuff you do that also works well.
She lied about baby gender and ruined everything y'all
Y'all, This is a throwaway since the events happened recently, Hubby's family are all over social media. I'm (27F) 20 weeks pregnant, Last week hubby and I had an appointment with the doctor and the ultrasound scan revealed that IT'S A GIRL! YAY🎉🎊 I was so excited I couldn't stop smiling because, I've always secretly wanted an adorable baby girl that I can shop /dress/cook with and not just sit around and watch a hockey game with her dad, so lame, also I won the bet, my husbad thought it was a boy but he's equally happy he's just upset he had to handle laundary for the next few weeks. Anyways, we decided to keep it a secret because of course I was going to have a gender reveal party, however my mother in law knew we had an appointment with the doctor and heard some talk about baby gender reveal (thanks to hubby) she called and asked to know the gender I told her she was gonna find out at the party but she insisted saying she wants to help with organizing the party. I eventually gave in but I told her not to tell anyone , it sounded she was upset because she kept asking "are you sure it's not a boy?". I should point out that she always wanted a grandson and would say that her first grandbaby will be a boy. Sorry mother in law. Anyways, I went to my mom's house and we started discussing our plan for the party, I stayed there overnight so we could go shopping in the morning. After that I got home, my husband told me that we've received a number of cards and gifts from his uncle, aunt and his grandmother, I thought that was weird I asked what day it was because I'm sure there was no special occasion for them to be sending gifts, My husband opened one of the gifts and showed me a boy baby blanket, then a pair of boy socks and gown, the cards congratulated us on the "baby boy", "little man", whatever they say. I thought there's gotta be a mistake I mean, it's not a boy it's a girl. I asked my husband who else is expecting other than us and they thought it was a baby boy because, we didn't tell anyone anything My husband called his uncle and he said that my mother in law told them, he was on speaker so I heard that, my husband looked at me as my face was literally turning red, I just wanted to drop dead at that very moment. Oh my god she let the secret out and God knows how many people she told, So I didn't think it was still worth saving I mean uncle and aunt aren't into this kind of parties so they won't be a problem, text messages started coming in, well wishing and congratulating us on our new bundle of joy baby boy!. I was shocked I sat there and all I was thinking about was the party I been waiting and working so hard for, not to mention the money I spend on preparation I been trying to not overspend on groceries & budgeting weekly just to save up for it, but now it's over, I called my mother in law but she denied telling and lying to pretty much everyone in the family, should I believe her or the the rest of the family? I blew up and told her she ruined this whole damn thing for me and betrayed my trust and confidence in her, but she denied denied denied. I got fed with her lying constantly and trying to manipulate her way out of it. My husband showed me what she posted for her friends on her Facebook (I took off Facebook along time ago because of her so I have no clue what's going on there) she posted that her SON & DIL just gave her the big news and it's a baby boy, people bought into it and everyone commented they were glad to hear of it. WTF, this explains everything I took A screenshot of the post and sent it to her, she was SPEECHLESS, after I sent her the screenshot, she's vanished, stopped returning my calls and texts, I sent her one last message after that basically telling her how she ruined this for me and that now I'll never be able to have what I've planned for so long for and it's because not only she didn't keep her mouth shut but she also lied and fooled everyone. I took care of her mistake but I feel betrayed so damn betrayed I called my mom and I cried like I just lost a loved one, I told her there will not be a party and the reason for this is this bitch who decided it was okay to lie just to feel better even if it was for a very short period of time. I just need to know how to deal with this moving forward, obviously she's crazy and will only do what she wants, it's either her way or the highway.
The Many-Headed Hydra, or The Curse of the Three-year Design Phase
A brief disclaimer before I begin this open lettenovel: most of this is assumption and speculation. I have reasons for believing the things I say, but, at the end of the day, I don't have an "in" at Wizards aside from occasionally reading Blogatog, or knowing a handful of local judges. With that said, let's try to explain and analyze the disconnect between Wizards and the player base, what the problems are, why standard is always miserable, and similar issues so that we can start understanding both what Wizards needs to do, and what we as players need to do, to fix this game that we (apparently) love. A few facts first, to lay out the crucial background information that we need to understand how Wizards "thinks".
Wizards designs most sets over the course of three years. That means that Zendikar Rising started for them back in fall of 2017, Theros Beyond Death began shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, and so on. There have been a few minor products with shorter turnaround time, but this seems to be the case for the vast majority.
Work at Wizards is divided into teams, such as Vision Design, Set Design, and Play Design (which functions closer to Set Design than Vision Design). Some people at Wizards work in more than one of these departments, but most primarily fill one role.
"Wizards of the Coast" is not actually a sentient lifeform, no matter how much we keep trying to blame them as though they were. It's an organization made up of many different people, with different beliefs, goals, and personalities.
With these three core facts, we can already see the first major problem at Wizards rear its ugly Hydra Head: communication. Different people at Wizards have different goals in mind, and different definitions of "success." Vision Design's job is primarily to create new and exciting mechanics and ideas that will encourage people to spend money on cardboard and good ideas. It's the "creative" branch of Wizards. Or, at least, it's one of them. (More on that later). Set Design, on the other hand, fills in all the spaces after Vision Design hands off the set to them. They're the details-oriented, fine-tuning branch of Wizards. Or at least, they're one of them. They're the ones that decide how much "draft chaff" a set needs for a good limited environment, or tweak the Mana cost on that too-good Mythic up a notch. (Or down, if it feels underwhelming.) Ideas that Uro was designed to be strong just to sell packs simply doesn't work, because selling packs isn't actually Set Design's job: that belongs partially to Vision Design (in creating an exciting new idea or ideas for a set) and partially to Marketing (for...obvious reasons). Set Design's job is to turn "cool ideas" into a cohesive, polished set. Eventually, Play Design gets invited into the process, to examine the cards with a competitive mindset, and try to perfect "balance" within the set, and across Magic as a whole. With the exception of the "Companion" mechanic, most Magic players' complaints about recently-printed cards have focused around their balance, or around their cost. Oko would not have been nearly so "Broko" if he had cost 6 Mana, and wouldn't have angered the player base so much if he had been more balanced. The fundamental design of the card wasn't the problem, the development was. This is true of many of the "biggest offenders" in recent standard, but not all. To understand the other challenges WotC is facing, we have to look at Fact #1 up above: WotC designs three years in advance. Right now, Green is the boogeyman in Standard. Most decks have at least some green in them, and White is the horribly underpowered color that only sees play because they splashed it onto Omnath. Why might this be? Let’s rewind back not-quite-three-years ago (we have to allow time for Design to come up with some core concepts before individual cards can be designed). Ixalan has had its impact on Standard, and the old Energy decks are starting to fade away, helped along by the bannings of Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, Rampaging Ferocidon, and Ramunap Ruins. Dominaria releases, and suddenly White is the new hotness. While Red decks (either Hazoret-style, Chainwhirler-style, both, or a vehicle-based build) have been strong for a while, suddenly, White+X decks are everywhere, thanks in no small part to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. WU control has its day in the sun, modifying the old Approach of the Second Sun decks, but the majority of the field will settle on Esper Control. Settle the Wreckage makes Carnage Tyrant, the “control deck killer” mythic, almost irrelevant. People complain about Settle the Wreckage, about Teferi, about Green’s only deck in the format (Steel Leaf Stompy) being only able to beat the other non-white competitive deck: Monored (occasionally with a splash of black) Chainwhirler, and even then it’s not an impressive winrate. Granted, many of these complaints were gross exaggerations (we are Magic players, after all), but I’d be willing to bet that the majority of non-Nexus of Fates complaints in the Blogatog inbox were something along these lines. So, let’s assume (if only for a minute) that Wizards actually cares what we think. They hear the complaints about White control being too strong, about Green feeling underpowered because its threats just continually get removed, and they act on it. The problem is, WotC designs cards 3 years in advance. Fast forward to the present, where we have a problem that can best be described as the opposite of that previous standard environment: White’s control elements are severely weakened, and most of the best white cards have at least one other color to them (I’m looking at you, Omnath, Lurrus, and Yorion!) Green, on the other hand, has ways to fight back against oppressive control elements, with creatures that affect the board immediately, and aren’t just dead cards when an opponent plays a boardwipe. (Notably, White’s only boardwipes in standard at the moment either cost 8 mana, reward the opponent for playing big creatures, or fail to destroy “giant” creatures.) And thus we have the standard that we obviously all wanted, right? Right? Hm. So with a 3-year-turnaround before WotC can implement any of our feedback, what are we supposed to do to slay this second hydra head? Quit playing Standard for 3 years until the pendulum swings back the other way again? Well, that’s one option. But there are others. The first is that we, as players, need to give better feedback. As a teacher, the quality of the feedback I give my students is possibly the single most important point of my job: if I simply tell a student that their answer is wrong, and what the correct answer is, then they erase that answer, fill in the correct one, and learn nothing. This is almost exactly how WotC has been responding to the playerbase for the last several years. We complain about a specific card, they ban it, and everyone moves on with life, until the next “best card/deck” in standard becomes too oppressive, and they ban it again. So how do we give feedback in such a way that Wizards can listen to us, and implement it without overcorrecting and ruining things the other way? If we want our feedback to be useful to Wizards, then it needs to be both more abstract, and more detailed. “But isn’t that a contradiction?” Not exactly. To be more abstract, we need to focus less on the specific card(s) that caused the problem. Raging about how the Walking Dead cards are killing Magic and they’re the worst idea Wizards has ever had only tells Wizards that we don’t like the Walking Dead cards. It doesn’t tell them why, or how to potentially fix things and make them better. This is where the detailed part comes in: as a community, we need to identify the specific issues that we have with a given card or product, and communicate them in an abstract way that gives Wizards the ability to follow our recommendations. For example, if I were to complain about the Walking Dead Secret Lair, I would say something like this,
“Many Magic: the Gathering players are concerned about the concept of introducing ‘crossover’ IPs as mechanically unique cards that cannot be reprinted meaningfully at any point. If functional reprints of these cards are created, that still does not address our concerns, because a commander player now needs to get both of the cards, so they can run 2 copies of essentially the same effect, or a Legacy player may still need to run a 2/2 split to avoid the ‘legend rule’ blanking cards in their hand as often. In either case, a mechanically unique and desirable card exists, which is functionally now on a new ‘reserved list’, as they cannot be reprinted without violating the terms of whatever licensing agreement Wizards has signed. Please either make these cards silver-bordered, where they will appeal to collectors without creating an additional barrier to play in constructed formats, or give these cards the so-called ‘Godzilla Treatment’, where the ‘crossover’ version of the card is simply an alternate version of another Magic card. Thank you.”
A few takeaways from this letter: not only does it never mention the words “Walking Dead,” it suggests a course of action that Wizards can take both now and in the future to fix the problem as I see it. It is also more polite than a lot of the vitriol that has been spewed at Wizards over this latest debacle. “But what’s the point? They never listen anyway!” Actually, they do, and I have a specific example in mind to prove it. Several years ago, back when MagicFests were still called Grand Prixs, and Mythic Invitationals were the Pro Tour, a Blogatog reader (who shall remain anonymous because I’m far too lazy to go digging to find the question) made the following request of Wizards, via Maro: “Hey, Mark. When I tune into coverage of a GP or a Pro Tour event, it’s often difficult for me to tell who’s winning at a glance, especially in matchups that involve at least one control deck. The life totals may be even, the board is often empty, or only has a few cards on it, and the piles of cards in graveyards seem roughly equal in size. Can something be done so I don’t have to watch the match for 15 minutes just to get an idea of what’s going on?” Fast forward to now, several years later: Wizards has started printing a lot more “visible” removal. White has gotten more “Banishing Light”-style effects, which show on the board that you’ve removed a problem permanent. Ashiok’s Erasure or Spell Queller both are counterspells that you can see on the board long after they’ve resolved. Ravenous Chupacabra and Kitesail Freebooter sit on the battlefield instead of lurking in the graveyard after they’ve been played. Oko sits on the battlefield forever until he’s banned. It’s now much easier to see at a glance that a control player has been hard at work within seconds of tuning in to coverage of an event. (Of course, this brings us back to the problem of communication at Wizards, since the quality/amount of coverage has decreased severely too, but that’s a different department, and really just reinforces the first hydra head.) But all of this is putting a lot of burdens on us, the consumers. What can Wizards do, in the abstract, to help fix this disconnect? For starters, they can fix a lot of the internal communication issues that they’ve been having recently. Different departments have different goals, and it really seems like they aren’t always communicating with each other. Marketing seems to be making decisions directly at odds with Set Design and Vision Design, and Play Design seems to have been left in the dust. Another thing that seems to be needed is either more staff, or fewer products. I think all Magic players would agree that the recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of products being released, and it seems like the amount of resources needed to design, develop, playtest, and do everything else that goes into the release of a quality product have simply exceeded the resources available currently. Having three years to design and develop a product doesn’t mean as much if you only get to spend Mondays on Kaldheim because you have to work on Commander 2021 on Tuesday, Secret Lair: Spooky Scary Skeletons on Wednesday, Triple Masters on Thursday, and Friday is the one day you have to run around to the other departments to try to implement some of this newfangled “internal communication.” It really feels like several people are starting to get stretched too thin, and the players are starting to notice. Second, you need to find a way to engage with the playerbase beyond “Mark and Gavin post on social media in their spare time, and aren’t even paid for it.” Even the Commander Rules Committee, a group which makes zero dollars from Magic: the Gathering, realized this in recent years and implemented a Commander Advisory Group. Make a Standard Advisory Group. Or a Modern Advisory Group. Heck, just ask the Professor of Tolarian Community College if he thinks the playerbase would like a hypothetical idea. Incorporate some kind of community feedback into the process at some point in that three-year window before “standard falls apart,” and actually apologize well when things slip through the cracks. What does a good apology look like? It should have three parts: an acknowledgement of what went wrong, some expression of remorse or at least ownership of the mistake, and a plan to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future. We get it: you’re human. Mistakes will happen. But a lot of mistakes recently have come close to blaming the players for being the problem. Chandra’s relationship--or lack thereof--in the War of the Spark novels caused outrage, but the “apology” seemed to blame the fanbase for reacting so negatively. Oko was stronger than you thought because “we didn’t think players would use the +1 on opponent’s creatures nearly as often.” Own your mistakes, and give us some idea of a plan for how you intend to fix it. In return, we’ll try to be more understanding when things go wrong, and more helpful in suggesting possible fixes. We’ll understand that oftentimes, you know better than we do--this is your job, after all--but we also ask that you consider the possibility that occasionally, we get it right, even if you don’t like hearing that. (and who does like hearing that they’ve made a mistake?) I truly do believe that the majority of employees at Wizards love this game, and want it to be the best it can possibly be. Many of you may be just as frustrated as we are at recent developments, and I can’t blame you: at least we get the cathartic release of spamming the Blogatog inbox. We have areas to improve on, as a community, and we’ll do the best we can to do so. We just ask that you do the same.
Direct links courtesy of my web scraper Standard disclaimer that league results are not proportional indicators of the metagame, but are simply a collection of lists that went 5-0 and differed by ~20+ cards. We're still fairly early in the release -> brew -> settle cycle, but so far it seems like ZNR is having a sizable impact on modern without totally upsetting things. Lots of decks are running a sideboard Eldrazi or Gaea's Blessing against mill, Shadow decks are back in the meta with Scourge of the Skyclaves, and I clicked "Skyclave Apparition" to highlight it so many times, y'all. SO. MANY. TIMES. Just about every deck that was running SFM or Flickerwisp made room for two or more copies of this card. Hopefully this diversity and innovation will continue into the challenge results this weekend. We also see Niv decks enthusiastically adopting the new Omnath, while Uro piles are a little more iffy on the four-colored friend. Are the black cards too important? Is Omnath win-more? Is it just not that hard to go full WUBRG once you've decided to play Omnath? I've never cast an Uro nor an Omnath in my life, so if anyone reading this has answers, let us know. However, if the thought of simply slotting a new ZNR card into an existing deck bores you, if you're looking for a real change of pace, I've got some sweet and spicy brews for you to savor. In no particular order, consider the following:
llabmonkey'sBant Coco, because apparently Cephalid Constable is a card, and I bet if you ever get to suit it up with Maul of the Skyclaves, you're playing some of the best Magic of your life.
yumad3988'sOrzhov Shadow: A fairer, more midrange Death's Shadow deck, for the discerning planeswalker.
If dabiggestb'sEsper Ninja Faeries deck didn't have you by the word "faeries," then please go back and read the word "ninja" until you're convinced.
I'm not really sure what to call Esqpoe'sPonza Prison list, but any deck that runs a full set of Primal Command is clearly on some next level stuff
FestiFan looked back and forth between a 4c Copycat list and Omnath's mana cost until a lightbulb went off in the shape of 4c Omnath Copycat
My personal favorite this week, joohyun'sJeskai Tribal Flames! joohyun knows that 2 = 5 (if those two are Steam Vents and Indatha Triome) and 5 = 10 (if you play Sea Gate Stormcaller before Tribal Flames) and at that point you're basically one Geist of Saint Traft swing away from victory.
Anyway, I'm sure there's some interesting stuff that I missed, and I'm equally sure that someone will tell me about it in the comments! Edit: Rebus8 has provided a video of their aggressive Boom//Bust list! Check it out here
So, I had seen this morning that I'd gotten a message from someone who must have seen one of my posts about my desire for an egalitarian relationship. She told me that she serves her husband and takes care of her children and it gives her fulfillment. I asked how does she know if she's actually fulfilled and she said Jesus showed her the way. I said that I'm not interested in having a servant, I'm interested in having an equal partner, as I'm a grown ass man who can cook and clean up after himself. I also asserted that I believe a woman can do what they want and shouldn't have to demean themselves in order to find a man. She told me that I'll never find a woman if I continue to hold those ideas and that she'll pray for me. I know The Transformed Wife exists.....but, this is the internet, and the more hopeful part of me thinks she's exaggerating in order to gain an online following. BGR is different. He's the textbook definition of "man-child" and is probably legit. I see #tradwife women on Twitter criticizing male feminists. Not for one in particular being disingenuous, but for existing. I saw a tweet from a tradwife woman that said "the feminist movement now has MEN in on the scam? SAVE US LORD JESUS!!!!!" I can 100% see an emotionally infantile guy holding those toxic, anti-egalitarian views, but it's so difficult to imagine woman thinking like that. Yet....I know women genuinely thinking that way does exist and it saddens me. Back in August, fresh off saying in a video SHE released that her black son should be racially profiled by the police, Abby Johnson also stated that only the husband should vote and make all political decisions. So....she can doubly fuck right off. Fill out the internal misogyny and racism squares on your asshole bingo cards. Johnson's 15 minutes of infamy seem over. So, I'm betting she'll be getting her own Fox News show any day now. The voting thing really bothers me. Now, obviously, I would prefer a woman who held similar political views to me. I just think we'd get along better. However, I can't imagine being with someone who agrees with me 100% on EVERY position. That's absurd and really boring. There would be no purpose for discussions if you knew you agreed on EVERYTHING. Anyway, I'm just stunned that there are women out there who hate women just as much, if not more than the male misogynists. Is it indoctrination that causes this? Can women get "red pilled" by the internet like teenage boys can? Were you "red pilled" by your church if you're a woman? What's been your experience?
Another interesting topic to cover is the side effects of bioship technologies. While this ranges from unique terraforming methods to structure engineering, sometimes they use these technologies to replace robots in certain circumstances. Not to say that robotic assistance was completely phased out, but some humans seem more enamored with the idea of a ‘cute’ flat crustacean cleaning their ships than they do with a robotic vacuum cleaner (The damned things look like a Roegan Mud-diver, disgusting things). Further still are labor beasts and the like. Whatever the case, humanity really does take their love of creatures and biology to interesting reaches. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Red”. “\Vulgar Expletive**” I walked into another segment of the bioship. Normally I would be tailing the ship’s captain, but as it stands there’s something that’s been intriguing me for some time, and one of the many items I stand to research about humans and their biotech. Cue the three humans, two ‘baseliner’s and one Octopod, playing a card game over a flipped empty crate. Surrounding them were various containers or ‘cages’, rib-like bones that would retract at the push of a ‘button’. Each container held various organisms, varying in size and build. A topic I’ve been wanting to cover. The three of them turned away from their primitive game and noticed me, now curious. “So, I guess that dis here’s our turn for an interviews?” The shorter of the two baseliners said, an odd accent leaking through his voice on the translator. “What’cha thinkin Mac, should we screw wid ‘em?” “Nah, I don’t thinks the boss ‘ould like it. You know how much a stiff that guy can be when it ain’t about ships”. I worriedly glanced at the two before tapping my translation matrix. “It seems my translation matrix is having difficulties fully processing your language. Do you speak a different dialect?” “They’re from Boston on Earth, though they like to ham up how they talk sometimes, which for the record is atrocious. So uh, ‘accent’s I think might mess with the translator you have. Name’s Ishmael, I’m the brains among us three”. “Sez you, you may be smart but are ya street smart?” “Just another way of saying ‘common sense’, but I’d like to think I have it in spades. Oh, by the way, plus two”. “Oh this is bull-\Vulgar Expletive** you are both out to get me I swear,” The human said, in a lighter version of what was a previously thick accent. The human shook his head in anger and sighed before turning to me. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Look fellas, why don’t we pick this game up another time, we have a guest”. “Coward, you're only quitting 'cause you suck at Uno,” The Octopod said goadingly, though humor was there. The standing human sighed, rolling his shoulders. “Sorry ‘bout that, the name’s Vincent. Yeah, real original my parents were. I’m guessing you’re here ‘bout the critters?” “Astute observation my good man,” I stated, pulling out the datapad program on my exosuit. “I’d like to record some data of the organisms in action, perhaps learn about their handlers in the process”. The human grinned, adjusting his cap. Those items seemed awfully popular among the crew. “Well look at me now mom, cousin Bill said I’d never make it but here I am gettin’ interviewed like a rock star”. “You keep massaging that ego of yours and I’m gonna give you a rough Japanese style happy ending,” The octopod retorted. “What does that mean?” I asked curiously, directed to Ishmael. “Have you ever watched hentai?” He asked back. “Anyway,” Vincent interjected before I could ask what this ‘hentai’ was. “Why don’t we get down to the meat and potatoes of it. Which critters you wanna look at first?” “Your ‘Ship Shrimp’ would be a good start actually. I’d like to take one out to scan it”. “Ah, the Goombas,” He said with understanding. “Yeah, follow me. Was just about to send one out to the latrine actually. Apparently that ‘guest’ of ours made a mess when he dunked his head in the toilet”. My membrane bubbled in my species’ equivalent of an exasperated sigh. “Goodness, I know human feces has an appealing aroma to the Maruuk but I gave him ration packets to appeal to his diet for goodness sakes”. The human shrugged. “Eh, I’d say I don’t blame ‘em since human ration packets taste like \Vulgar Expletive**, but considering what’s in his ration packets I guess I can’t say much”. The humans all gathered around one of the smaller cages and pressed a button, pulling away bone and exposing the organism inside. Out crawled the… hideous creature. “Yeah, these things are pretty much like if a pill bug and a tarantula hate-\Vulgar Expletive**, but they kinda have a cute appeal to ‘em if you ignore the fact that they’re an abomination in god’s eyes. Then again, I guess humanity stopped caring what the big guy thought centuries ago”. “Aw, don’t say that, you’ll hurt his feelings,” The octopod said, picking up the Shrimp and holding it up as its legs moved in a wavy fashion in tandem, chirruping and clicking its mandibles. “Oh you’re a happy fella today, yes you are”. “In the name of the First Born put that damn thing down or so help me-” I began, before being interrupted. “I get it, I get it, everyone’s a critic,” The Octopod said with an audible eye roll, putting the creature down. “Look, that’s something you’re gonna have to get used to, alright?” “Not when it reminds me of a predator of my species it doesn’t. Keep that thing where it is so I can scan it. I needed it out of the cage to get a clean scan,” I bubbled disdainfully, accomplishing my task as quickly as I could with a new program running on my exosuit. As the processes ran, the talkative one leaned back against the soft wood-like ship interior. “Sooo… how are babies made for your people? What with all that 'First Born' nonsense”. I could feel my membrane quiver with annoyance, but I appreciated the diversion from this chittering creature while the process ran. “We aren’t ‘born’ in a traditional sense, we reproduce asexually via mitosis. When we have our ‘split’, both ‘children’ carry portions of memories from our parent body, though each child carries different memories than the other. My species can carry memories up to four generations back on average, though nine is recorded to be the upper limit. The differing memories upon a split can result in two varying personalities as a result nonetheless. Were it not for my third generation’s spiritual phase among the Vehmons, I would say I probably wouldn’t have half the patience I do today. When we split, the parent is considered ‘dead’ as the two are born. We can go a long time without splitting compared to organisms with similar methods, but we still cap out at around roughly sixty years”. *Beep\* “Oh thank the First, put this thing to use and get it away from me,” I said, no longer tolerating it. “Sheesh, alright. Mac, get ol’ Stumpy loaded up with a directive would ya?” The man nodded, picking up the crustacean and walking away. I was just about to question what they meant by that when the octopod stopped me. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a first-hand display shortly. We need the M.U.L.E.s to upload some gear for us anyway”. “Ah yes, the old earth animal? Relatively unaltered from what I understand?” The human and octopod looked at each other, before looking at me. “... Did I misunderstand something?” ____________________________________________________________________________ “Scratch relatively unaltered…” I muttered into my suit, studying the hulking creatures. They only barely resemble their namesake, but it was only in the tail and an echo in various other parts. The rest of it looked more like a shrunk-down Chyron, full of muscle. The head itself was one of the parts where you could see an echo of an actual mule, but it had reptilian features as well, and two pairs of spider like limbs sticking out of it's back. It lumbered over to a station, where various probes pointed at the surprisingly docile creature. “Now, on one end robots can accomplish their tasks normally, but on the other end, it’s been noted that minimizing the number of mechanical components in a ship makes things easier for it in terms of comfort,” The octopod began explaining. “And to be honest, there are some things a creature can do that robots can’t. Cue Jackalope Genetics and their patented M.U.L.E., Manual Unpaid Labouring Entity”. “Bet the test tube turds had a field day with that acronym,” I overheard Vincent mutter. “When we want to give them an ‘order’...” Ishmael said. “We have to give them a ‘push’. They understand verbal commands just fine, but it’s about the same as a Gorilla, and believe me, humans have been spending centuries trying to define what makes an animal a person. My species barely scraped through on the skin of our beaks, we’d probably be in Europan Zoos if humanity hadn’t recently recovered from their civil war with so much guilt to consider giving us a chance”. With swiftness surprising for such a hefty suit, Ishmael typed in a few orders at one of the organic terminals, the boney probes sending out puffs of pheromones into the M.U.L.E.s nostrils, making them flare. It immediately got up and started lumbering on all fours, moving and following Vincent. The man led the beast out the door, leaving only Ishmael and I. “What happened?” I asked, genuinely curious what was in that pheromone cloud. “No joke, it was just lemon-scented mist”. My membrane bubbled incredulously, trying to emulate my emotions with a helmet cock. The octopod chuckled at that. “Like I said, no joke. I already told you they can take orders just fine, but they’re lazy as hell if you don’t incentivize them, which helps save on food costs if they just… sit around. They’re programmed to respond positively to scented mists like that, but some of them develop a fondness for certain ones. Junkie likes lemons”. Incentivizing bio-engineered organisms and guiding them rather than just using microchips and doing it through computers? The more and more I spend time on this ship, the more and more I realize that the galactic community seems somewhat cruel in terms of how it treats organisms like these, normally used for bioweapons or entertainment. Speaking of bioweapons, I suppose I should research what equivalent humans have for those… outside the obvious ships, of course. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I actually had a bit of fun with this one. Well, more fun than I did with the others at least. Here's hoping it holds a candle to the others ey? Also, Goomba = Roomba. Saw a coincidence, and considering they're flat, roughly circular things they were given the comparison and popular nickname. First Previous Next (Coming Soon)
I (a pizza guy) intercepted a kidnapping during a delivery
I deliver pizza and I’d been having a really busy night, non-stop back and forth, without any time to even pause and take a leak. I’d been so busy that I wasn’t really thinking about bathroom breaks. But we’re also going through a bit of a heat wave in our area, so I’ve been drinking copious amounts of water. All of a sudden as I was driving to this particular delivery, the urge to go hit me. Like, things went from 0 to 60 in an instant. Thankfully I was close to the customer so could get this one over with quickly. Or so I thought. I pulled up to the house, and it was an area I’d delivered in before, so I could immediately see that something wasn’t right. All the lights were off in the house, not even the glow of a television or anything. It was extra apparent because the streetlight closest to the door happened to be out of order. And on top of it all, the block was dead quiet. This is a big university area, and obviously there aren’t many student renters in July, but there had to be at least one person, because someone ordered this pizza. Maybe they just liked sitting in the dark or they were out back in the yard, whatever, I just didn’t want to get out of my car and knock on a quiet house in the middle of the night (around 9:30pm) without first checking that I had the correct address and the customer was inside. It was scorching that night, even after sundown. My car’s A/C is a joke, and the piping hot pizzas don’t help things much, so I have to try and open the car door as infrequently as possible to keep any cool air in. I called the number the customer provided and the voice on the other end said, kind of brusquely and out of breath, “Yah?” I just tried to keep it clear and concise, “Hey, it’s your pizza out front but there doesn’t appear to be anybody home?” And the customer replied, still gasping for air, “Yah, I’m not home.” I had to pee so badly by that point that I was much less patient than I’d otherwise be with a customer right out of the gate, “Well, then we’re going to have to terminate the order, because I’ve arrived in the stated delivery window and you were supposed to pay in cash, so, I don’t know what to tell you. Plan ahead next time.” I instantly regretted letting my bladder do the talking for me as the voice on the other end came through more clearly as a young, bubbly, and very distraught girl who couldn’t have been older than 20 or 25. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry I was running down the street so I could barely hear you!” She cried, “I just switched you out of my AirPods. Is that better? Sorry, I completely lost track of time at work, but I knew you were coming, that’s why I’m literally running home right now. Please don’t leave, I’m starving and I don’t have a car. Seriously, please don’t leave. Five minutes tops, ok?” I know what it’s like to be hungry, and running late, and have no car but not live near any restaurants. Plus when I heard her voice I began to remember more specifically having delivered to this place a couple times before, and she’d always been perfectly nice. Now I felt bad for snapping at her. I tried to walk it back, while simultaneously looking out my window for potential spots to pee. “No, no, my bad, I’m letting the heat get to me and it’s not your fault. No need to rush. See you when you get here.” I hung up and, while surveilling the street, was starting to think I was really out of luck. All the other houses had people in them, and were close together, so there were no clumps of trees or out of the way patches of land or anything. Of course I had just tossed my empty water bottle at the last delivery, because I’m an idiot. Finally, I decided it was escalating to the point of an emergency, and the safest bet was to use a bush in front of the woman’s house. She wasn’t home. The street light was out so no one would see me. The people who were home were inside. My car was parked across the street and we’re a small shop who don’t wear uniforms, so if someone did spot me, they’d have no way to connect me to my employer. Animals pee outside all the time, humans are animals... this is fine. I scurried over to the tallest bush in her front yard. She didn’t really have much of a yard, more just a walkway lined with bushes and flowers that ran adjacent to her front door. The biggest cluster of bushes, the only one where I could be sure there would be no visible splatter on the side of the house, was about four feet from her door. I looked both ways, unzipped, and let fly. After the initial millisecond of relief, I noticed the sound was way off, more like pissing on something solid than something leafy. I started panicking, thinking I’d aimed wrong. But once I start, I can’t stop mid-stream, so I kept squinting into the darkness to see if maybe I was hitting a key rock or something and could just move a few inches over. Instead, all of a sudden, I heard a way more concerning noise. A deep voice exclaiming, “What the fuck?” And before I could turn around, assuming I’d been caught by a neighbor, a man came leaping out of the bushes. He blew by me, brushing my golden shower off him as did. He spit pretty emphatically on the ground, so I think I might’ve beaned him right in the face. I didn’t see where he went after a few paces but, though this next part is kind of a blur, I do think I remember hearing a car screech out from a bit further away after a minute. I’d gotten some night vision by that point so I was able to make out his height, build, and outfit, but only the most general details of each. I was in such shock that I didn’t even put my dick away. I just stood there trying to figure out what had happened. The reality was so terrifying that my mind refused to accept it, and impulsively searched for a reasonable explanation that could make everything ok. I thought, “Could these bushes lead to some backyard area and just looked like they were against the house? Could they have been obscuring an open window?” My inner voice was desperately screaming “Bruh that man was wearing a hoodie in 90 degree weather. That was a bad man. You’re in a bad situation.” But the very idea that I was within inches of a guy who would be hiding in bushes at all, let alone in front of a young woman’s house at night, just wasn’t something I was ready to grapple with yet. I was coping by not coping. My fight or flight response totally failed me at that point, because my dumb ass did the absolute last thing I should have done, and approached the bushes to try and validate this “There must have been a good reason for a man in a hoodie to be behind these bushes in the middle of the night.” theory. So I walked over to the side, turned on my phone flashlight, and tried to peer around the line of shrubbery. Pro tip, as scary as things may look in the dark, seeing them with a single beam of your flashlight can sometimes make it even worse. That’s when I saw the bag. There was a tattered drawstring bag sitting behind the bushes. Slightly splashed with pee. But I was in such a moronic daze from shock that I groped around for it thinking “See? This is it, this will explain why he was back here.” It explained it. Once I maneuvered it over and pulled it open I saw a sharp knife, a roll of duct tape, and a bottle of pills. The delusions officially broke at that point and all the adrenaline, endorphins, and self preservation instincts that had been suppressed kicked in ten times over. I became whatever the opposite of dazed is. More laser focused than I have ever been in my life, with one singular goal: “Get back to my car.” I dropped the bag, booked it across the street, got in my car, and slammed the pedal to the floor before the door was even all the way closed. I went as far as I could as fast as I could until I hit a red signal, then I pulled off to the side and realized I shouldn’t be driving anymore than necessary in the condition I was in. I pulled into the parking lot of a 24 hour drug store and took a breath. I was finally calm and coherent enough to zip up and formulate a plan of action. My first lucid thought was “Who do I call first, the police or the girl whose house that was?” I thought about it for what couldn’t have really been more than ten seconds, but felt like an hour, and decided “Ok. I am in my locked car with the engine running. If trouble starts, I can drive away. I know somethings up, she might not, she needs to know not to keep walking in that direction.” But as I was dialing her number, it occurred to me, “What if there was no girl?” I thought I remembered delivering to that house before, but what if I was wrong? What if the girl on the phone was just a decoy to get me there to rob me, or worse? Every pizza guy on the planet has seen the Evil Genius documentary by now, so I thought “She called me all out of breath. She wasn’t home. The whole thing was off, can’t risk it, I’ll start with the cops.” I called 911, the operator was very helpful in keeping me calm, because I was a complete wreck by this point. He kept assuring me that someone would be there soon. I kept telling them they had to get there before the girl did, but I was trying to express three thoughts at once, and really damaging my own credibility. It came out more as: “You’ve got to save this girl because he wasn’t after me I was just delivering a pizza. Unless they were after me, in which case there might not be a girl, but I talked to one on the phone, so then you should find that girl because they used her to lure me there. But if she’s real she doesn’t know about the guy, who was also real, and there could be more guys if there’s actually a girl, and you know what? Even if there isn’t a girl there might actually be more guys. I only checked one part of the bushes so I don’t actually know. But we’ll know which guy is the one I saw because I pissed all over him, you know. I didn’t mean to, this was back when I thought the girl was real but not home, but she might be real so you really need to find her if she is because the guy was real—“ Finally they basically just asked me to stop talking and stay on the line. But that was when I saw an incoming call from the customer. I couldn’t answer it without disrupting my 911 call, so I just ignored it. But then she sent me this text like, “Hey I’m here, don’t see you?” I told 911 she was there and they said officers were only minutes away. But who knows how long that meant? Especially after I’d given such a scattered account of the events in my panic. I just felt overwhelmed with guilt. Because my rational mind said the odds of her being a decoy girl for some large scam targeting pizza guys were low and the odds of her being the intended victim of a predator were high. So I put my 911 call on mute (where I can hear them but they can’t hear me) and turned back, heart absolutely pounding out of my chest, compulsively muttering “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” the entire way. Then I took 911 off mute and told them I had returned to look for the girl. They weren’t happy about that, but I saw her meandering past the parked cars in the street looking to see if one was mine, and I waved her down, flashing my brights. She bounced on over to the window of my car, happy-go-lucky. I figured that was a good sign that she wasn’t in on whatever this was. But I was just so scared to be back in the general area and to not know what had just happened or what was going to happen. I kept whispering “Get in. Get in!” And she was like, “Get it? Huh? Oh! You want me to get the pizza from the back?” I didn’t want to make the same mistake with her that I had made with 911, so instead of trying to tell the whole story, I stuck to the bare basic facts. “There was a man in your bushes. I’m on the phone with the police. I don’t know where he is right now. Please get in the car so we can lock the doors.” I was barely able to get even those sentences out, and I was shaking like I’d had 10 cups of black coffee. I held up my phone with 911 on the call screen to verify it for her. I thought that was why she got in the car with no further explanation, but it turns out that wasn’t entirely it. “You still there? Is she with you? Are you safe? Is anyone else there?” 911 kept checking in, not knowing who the third party I was talking to was. I reassured them, and we drove, more cautiously this time, to a location 911 instructed us to wait at to speak with police after they cleared the area. I didn’t actually have to do much after that. The police came pretty soon after, a police car met us, I gave a statement telling them everything I observed, and she went to go speak to more officers in more detail than they needed me for. It turns out the reason she got right into a strange pizza guy’s car without probing any deeper into my story is because she knew who the man was right away from my description. She had an abusive ex-boyfriend who was apparently psychotic enough that he immediately came to mind from hearing “There’s a guy in your bushes.” She later called us to thank me and insist on leaving a huge tip. I wasn’t there when the call came in so the kid who answered didn’t know to refuse to accept the money. But the manager already promised the next time we see her we can load her up with enough “one free pie” cards to last a lifetime. Easily the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, on the job or off. I don’t get the chance to tell the story much, because I try to avoid sharing it with anyone who could possibly know the girl or know of the event. But I’m still not the same since. Even though I know he didn’t even have anything to do with me directly, this truly shook me to my core. So, man in the bushes, let’s not meet.
[Discussion] With the full spoiler out, what decks will you be trying for Zendikar Rising Standard?
We now have the full spoiler out for Zendikar Rising and rotation is looming. Now that we've seen all of the cards, what will you be trying out? I've made a video where I showcase ten different decks I'll be trying for the Earyl Access Streamer Event but I wanted to discuss a few things and see what ideas others have.
I expect the meta to start very heavily with Temur Clover and Mono Red Aggro being the two biggest decks. Both of these decks lose very little and are safe bets to pop up early.
For decks I'm trying in my video, I don't expect them all to be Tier 1, but I do think come rotation time that it's important to plan on seeing some of these types of list early on in the ladder.
Manabases are going to be key. I'm very curious to see how the optimal builds for these bases end up with the dual-faced modal cards allowing mana versatility.
This all said, three new decks I think that WILL have legs early on are: Dimir Rogues - This archetype seemed to get way too much support this set to not see something. It has a good balance of synergistic creatures and cheap but effecient removal in it's colors. In a Uro world, milling an opponent does seem risky, but the payoff for Dimir Rogues seems quite strong. Gruul Landfall - Gruul Landfall doesn't have the fetches like it did it's last time in standard, but it still appears to have the gas to potentially be a premiere aggro deck early in the format. Cheap creatures that scale the way they can in combat makes it dangerous and there seems to be some really nice equipment (which feels weird to say) that can possibly power the strategy out early on and get some quick kills. Omnath Ramp - Some ramp shell seems like it will go well with Omnath. My build is four color and building it similar to how Temur Elementals with Genesis Ultimatum was built. Still getting your top end of Ugin but the card advantage of things like Omnath, Teferi, and Uro makes for a deck that just plays so many powerful cards. There seems to be a lot to explore for the upcoming standard. What are you interested in trying? If anyone is interested in seeing my brews, they can be found in the link here. https://youtu.be/CbfOIqLYkks
Several months ago, right after the last Academy Awards, I posted a long, long, long list of possible contenders that had prospects to fight for the next Oscars. It was a time of hope, of looking forward, and of positivity. Then, COVID-19 happened. And now, we find ourselves in a year that may change the movie industry forever, with the lack of safety of theaters in times of a pandemic accelerating the switch of mainstream audiences to streaming and VOD. These are times where some people are beginning to wonder, even after they pushed the eligibility date for two more months, why the Academy doesn’t cancel next year’s Oscars. And in this rocky terrain, we lost many contenders. Fire up the Hunger Games cannons, because these are some casualties of the season (so far). Launched to 2021: Annette, Benedetta, Deep Water, Dune, In the Heights, King Richard, Last Night in Soho, Memoria, Nightmare Alley, Passing, Red, White and Water, Raya and the Last Dragon, The Last Duel, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick… Boom!, West Side Story. Unknown status / missing in action: After Yang, Blonde, Breaking News in Yuba County, C’mon C’mon, Next Goal Wins, Stillwater, The French Dispatch, The Humans, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Those Who Wish Me Dead. But even if this year isn’t as loaded with clear awards candidates, there are plenty of movies that are already drawing buzz for an Oscar season that started brewing a month ago, with the kickoff of the Venice Film Festival, and will go on for six and a half more months, when the Academy Awards take place on April 25, 2021. It’s gonna be a long, weird and rocky season, which is gonna be great to see in terms of the narratives that are coming up. -Ammonite (trailer): When people were betting on the likelier contenders of this year, many people pointed in the direction of Francis Lee’s period drama, with previous Best Actress winner Kate Winslet and constant nominee Saoirse Ronan. Going into the premiere at Toronto, people had their eyes set in this queer romance between a paleontologist and a young wife in the coasts of England during the 19th century. But then, some things happened. First, Winslet started her promotion of the movie by talking about her regret for working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski that sounded unconvincing to the ominous Film Twitter. Then, another queer period drama, Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, started to take the attention away at Venice. And finally, the movie premiered. The reaction? Cold. Critics came out mixed with the movie, with many of them comparing it negatively to last year’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and saying that it’s too dull and alienating. Does that mean that all is lost? Not exactly. While the movie (which, considering the genre, really needs critics' support to get into the Best Picture category) has been dismissed, the acting by Winslet and Ronan has been received positively. Now that so many other contenders have been dropping out of the year, they might get some room to campaign from a (social) distance. -Another Round (trailer): Speaking of TIFF premieres, a film that had a better time at the Canadian festival was the reunion between director Thomas Vinterberg and star Mads Mikkelsen, who reunited years after making the stirring drama The Hunt (not the one with Betty Gilpin carrying a bad political satire, the one about a Danish teacher wrongly accused of sexual abuse). This time, the material is lighter, being a dramedy about four teachers who decide to test out a theory about how people can live and work a little better if they increase the level of alcohol in their blood. Critics really liked the way the movie dealt with alcoholism, and Toronto audiences made it a runner up for the People’s Choice Award of the festival. In a year without so much exposure from other festivals, this Cannes 2020 selection could make a candidate for the Best International Film category. -Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (trailer): Surprise, new Borat film! While Sacha Baron Cohen made headlines several times this year because of stunts that people assumed were about a second season of Who is America?, the Internet was shocked when, in early September, it was confirmed that it was actually a very niiiiice return from the journalist character that made him famous, shot during quarantine. In a matter of weeks after the reveal, the sequel got sold to Amazon Prime and got a release date for October 23. Why so soon? Well, apparently the movie, which got him in trouble with Rudy Giuliani and other people, is about Borat taking his daughter on a road trip to give her as a bride to VP Mike Pence. Even if this movie doesn’t manage to achieve the feats of the 2006 movie (which got a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, let’s remember), it will help Baron Cohen’s image a lot, because it will come a week after his big Oscar play. -Cherry: While everybody knows them mostly because of their contributions to the MCU, directors Joe and Anthony Russo and actor Tom Holland are trying to branch out together. Now Apple has bought into their efforts, paying more than 40 million dollars to acquire their new crime drama, about the life of former Army medic Nico Walker, who started robbing banks after his days in Iraq left him with PTSD and a pill addiction. Will Holland manage this time to escape from the shadow of “oh, jeez, Mr. Stark” Spider-Man before Chaos Walking or the Uncharted movie come out? That’s a question for another day. -Da 5 Bloods (trailer): Talk about timing. Merely days after the country was mobilized by the police brutality that continues to divide the United States, Spike Lee premiered his new war drama on Netflix. In a vibrant, disjointed but passionate portrait of four African American veterans who return to Vietnam to search for their fallen leader and some treasure, Lee struck gold yet again with his usual fans, even though the moving of the Oscar ceremony threatened to make it harder to remind Academy voters about this movie. However, with an astounding performance from Delroy Lindo (who is confirmed to be campaigned in the Best Actor category) and a supporting turn from Chadwick Boseman which got reframed with the news of his bravery in life and death, this has what it takes to fight for a spot in the Best Picture lineup. -Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (trailer): When it became clear that quarantine wasn’t gonna be a breeze, the first movie in consideration wise enough to move a little further ahead in the calendar was this adaptation of the hit West End production about a gay British teenager who dreams of becoming a drag queen and get his family and schoolmates to accept his sexuality. With a release date on February 26, 20th Century Studios (man, it’s weird to not use Fox in that name) hopes to strike gold, with a cast that mixes young unknowns, familiar names (Sharon Horgan, Sarah Lancashire and my boy Ralph Ineson) and the previously nominated legend that is Richard E. Grant (who is playing a former drag queen named Loco Chanelle), now taking advantage of the move of other musicals like Annette, In The Heights and West Side Story. I mean, this has at the very least some Golden Globes nods in the bag. -French Exit: Before its premiere as the closing film of the NYFF, many pundits were expecting this surreal comedy to be somewhat of a comeback for past Best Actress nominee Michelle Pfeiffer, who here plays a close to penniless widow who moves to Paris with her son (Lucas Hedges) and cat, who also happens to be her reincarnated husband (Tracy Letts). However, the first reactions for the film adaptation of the Patrick deWitt novel were all over the place, with some people feeling cold by the execution of the weirdness and others being won over. Still, everybody had good things to say about Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance, but after the mixed reception to the rest of Azazel Jacobs’ film she really would need a lot of critics support to get anywhere near the Best Actress category. With a release date on February 12, it seems that Sony Pictures Classics is skipping the critics awards, and the distributor has a couple of big competitors above this one. -Good Joe Bell: Every year, there are movies with big stars that go to festivals full of hope for praises and awards. Some of them work and go on, others don’t and get forgotten about. Mark Wahlberg tried to remind people that he occasionally is a good actor with a true life drama where he plays a father who decides to walk across America to raise awareness about bullying after his son, tormented for being gay, commits suicide. The film by Reinaldo Marcus Green premiered at TIFF, and the reaction was… not great. Some critics defended it, but most saw it as a flawed, baity product starring a man with a history of hate. Still, it got bought by a distributor: Solstice Studios, a new player in the game which just released its first movie, Unhinged (yup, the one about Russell Crowe road raging). While they paid 20 million dollars for Good Joe Bell, it’s clear that this won’t get near the Oscar telecast. -Hillbilly Elegy: While many movies this year have some level of anticipation, Film Twitter is bracing for this movie in the “is this gonna be the next Green Book?” way. Ron Howard’s adaptation of J.D. Vance’s memoir about his low income life in a poor rural community in Ohio has many fearing about the overuse of tropes involving what’s called white trash porn, but rarely, Netflix has kept silent about this release. Even though it has Oscar bridesmaids Glenn Close (7 nominations) and Amy Adams (6 nominations), the streamer has not even released a photo of the movie, which supposedly will come out in November. And if you want another bad omen, take a look at the lower levels of this list by a familiar voice. -I’m Thinking of Ending Things (trailer): Speaking of Netflix, did you know that there is a new Charlie Kaufman there, right now? While his adaptation of the dark novel by Iain Reid, seemingly about a woman (Jessie Buckley) who is taken by her boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to meet his parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis), got the usual reception of confusion and praise that follows his movies, the release was followed for what befalls most of the Netflix original movies: a couple of days in the Top 10, and then it fell into the void. While Buckley and Plemons deliver great work in this demented, melancholic story, it’s hard to see this movie getting anything else than a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Charlie. And that’s a long shot. -I’m Your Woman: Following the little seen but critically acclaimed Miss Stevens and Fast Color, Julia Hart started 2020 with a Disney+ adaptation of the YA book Stargirl, and now she follows it with a drama for Amazon that will have its world premiere as the opening film of the AFI fest on October 15. In this movie, Rachel Brosnahan hopes to translate her TV success with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to the big screen, playing a woman in the ‘70s that has to go on the run with her kid due to her husband’s crimes. -Judas and the Black Messiah (trailer): Even if this doesn’t end up winning any awards, it has a real shot at being the best trailer of 2020. Formerly titled Jesus Was My Homeboy, this biographical drama by Shaka King tells the tale of two men: Fred Hampton (Kaluuya), an activist and Black Panther leader, and William O’Neal (Stanfield), the FBI agent sent to infiltrate the party and arrest him. While the trailer for this movie promised a release “only in theaters”, we shall see if Warner Bros backs down from that fight. -Let Them All Talk: While we’re on the subject of Warner Bros, we have to mention what’s happening with HBO Max. While the start of the streaming service hasn’t been good (I mean, there are still people confused about that name) and it lead to some people assume will cause many firings, it has begun to make some buzzed titles on TV, like Close Enough, Raised by Wolves and the remains of the DC Universe failed streaming service. Now, to make a mark in the movie business, the streamer has a new Steven Soderbergh movie, a comedy that stars Meryl Streep as a celebrated author that takes her friends (Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest) and her nephew (Lucas Hedges) in a cruise to find fun and come to terms with the past, while he flirts with a literary agent (Gemma Chan). While it doesn’t have a date yet, it’s confirmed to release in 2020, and at least we know that it can’t be worse than The Laundromat. -Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: While the expectations for the next film adaptation of an August Wilson acclaimed play were already high, the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman made this Netflix release one of the most anticipated movies of the season, considering this is his final movie. While past Supporting Actress winner Viola Davis takes the lead playing blues singer Ma Rainey in this tale of a heated recording session with her bandmates, her agent and her producer in 1927, Chadwick Boseman has a turn as the trumpeter Levee that was already being considered for awards, and now has even more people waiting to see. The thing is that one of the biggest competitions for Boseman this year will be Boseman himself, for his already acclaimed supporting turn on Da 5 Bloods, also released by Netflix. While the streamer will have to decide which of Chadwick’s performances will get the bigger campaign, this film by director George C. Wolfe has a cushy date set for December 18, and Viola is gunning hard for this movie to win. -Mank (trailer): As you may have noticed by now, Netflix has a lot of plates spinning around this season, and this is the big one. After befriending the service with House of Cards and Mindhunter, David Fincher is going black and white to tackle a script by his late father Jack, about the making of the classic of classics, Citizen Kane. More specifically, the making of the script, with previous Oscar winner Gary Oldman playing the lead role of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, while accompanied by Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tuppence Middleton, Charles Dance and Tom Burke. After watching the first trailer of his satire of 1930’s Hollywood (that will release on streaming on December 4), it’s clear that this is gonna be catnip to old Academy voters, and it would be really hard for this to miss the Best Picture line up. Unless it’s a complete cinematic disaster, Mank is bank. -Minari (trailer): While the last edition of Sundance took place in January, quarantine makes you feel like it took place two years ago. This year, the big winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the US Dramatic Competition was a dramedy by Lee Isaac Chung, about a Korean family in the ‘80s who suddenly gets moved by their father (Steven Yeun) to Arkansas, to start a farm. Even though the reviews have been great, distributor A24 hasn’t really had a big, Oscar nominated hit for the last couple of years, and the COVID-19 crisis made them delay all their releases. But when we were ready to write this off, a new trailer for the movie came out, confirming that it’s in the game of this awards season. Maybe the pandemic will be of help to A24, considering that one of the reasons they haven’t had success is that they divided their attention into too many releases, and ended up getting not much. This time, they are betting all on Lee who, even if this doesn’t go anywhere, also has a new gig coming up as the director of the live action remake of Your Name. -News of the World (sneak peek): So much of this year has felt like a game of chicken between a virus and movie studios. While many movies chose to skip this year altogether, Universal remains firm (for now) with its plans to open a wide movie on Christmas Day, with a Western that reunites Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks in an enticing premise. In this drama based on Paulette Jiles’ novel, Hanks plays a traveling newsreader in the aftermath of the American Civil War, who is tasked with reuniting an orphaned girl with her living relatives. While the first sneak peek of the movie looks promising, the future is still in the air. -Nomadland (trailer): While the world burns around Hollywood, Searchlight is betting big on Chloe Zhao’s new film. Using the strategy of taking the spotlight while the rest of the contenders is uncertain about how or when to be released, the indie drama began its journey at Venice, with critics raving about the story of a woman (two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand) who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. At the end of the fest, the movie won the coveted Golden Lion. To put that into perspective, the last three winners of the award were past Best Picture nominees The Shape of Water, Roma and Joker, with The Shape of Water (also distributed by Searchlight) also winning the big prize. After drawing critical acclaim following its virtual showing on TIFF and NYFF, Nomadland seems like the first lock in the Best Picture line up. Still, there are obstacles ahead. Will Zhao break the disappointment of the last few years, when deserving candidates for Best Director got blocked by the likes of Adam McKay and Todd Phillips? And will McDormand manage to get near a third Oscar, following a recent win for Three Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri? Time will tell. -On the Rocks (trailer): While she hasn’t been near the Oscars for a while, Sofia Coppola is still a name that draws attention. This time, she opened the NYFF with a dramedy about a young mother (Rashida Jones) who reunites with her playboy father (Bill Murray, also reuniting with Sofia after Lost in Translation) on an adventure through New York to find out if her husband (Marlon Wayans) is cheating on her. The consensus seems to be that, while light and not near her best work, it’s still a fun and breezy movie, with a very good turn by Murray. While many would assume that this A24 production will disappear into the abyss when it releases on Apple TV+ on October 23, the dropping out of many candidates gives the movie a chance to, at least, fight for some Golden Globes. -One Night in Miami (sneak peek): Following her recent Oscar and Emmy wins for If Beale Street Could Talk and Watchmen, Regina King is still striking hard, and this time, she’s doing it as a director. For her big screen debut as a filmmaker, she chose to adapt Kemp Powers’ play that dramatizes a real meeting on February 25, 1964, when Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree) followed an iconic win with a hangout session with Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Opening at Venice, the film received glowing reviews, with many praising King (even though some said that the movie doesn’t fully translate the play to the film medium) and the actors’ performances, especially Ben-Adir and Odom Jr. (who, it should be said, also wrote an original song for the end credits of the movie, which could help his Oscar chances). Amazon Prime is hoping that this is their big contender this year, with plans of a theatrical release on Christmas and a streaming release on January 15. Judging by the praise this got at festival season, it has a chance to go a long way. -Over the Moon (trailer): In a year with not that many contenders for Best Animated Feature, Netflix is betting on a musical adventure directed by the legendary Glen Keane, a classic Disney animator who recently won an Oscar for Best Animated Short for co-directing Dear Basketball. While our expectations were lowered by the first trailer for the movie, centered around a Chinese girl who builds a rocket ship and blasts off to the Moon in hopes of meeting a legendary Goddess, it’s still safe to assume that it has a shot at being nominated for something. Netflix also hopes that you like its big candidate for Best Original Song, which really, really sounds like a Disney ballad. -Pieces of a Woman: While this year doesn’t have the amount of surprise contenders that a regular Oscar season usually has, we still have some movies that sneaked through festival season. The first one was the new, somber drama by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó, known for the doggy uprising pic White God, and the not-so-well-received sci-fi Jupiter’s Moon. This time, we follow a woman (Vanessa Kirby) whose life is torn apart after a home birth at the hands of a flustered midwife (Molly Parker) ends in tragedy, and then leads to a court battle that also makes her confront her husband (Shia LaBeouf) and her domineering mother (Ellen Burstyn). While the movie had mixed reactions, Kirby had plenty of raves in her direction, particularly concerning her performance during a 25-minute birth sequence that is said to be brutal. That brutality paid off, though, because Kirby ended up winning Best Actress at Venice, and Netflix bought the movie, which also has Martin Scorsese as an executive producer. If the Academy wants to crown a new face in the scene, Kirby is the one who will be targeted, following her acclaimed turn in The Crown and her supporting roles in blockbusters like Mission Impossible: Fallout and Hobbs & Shaw. -Promising Young Woman (trailer): When theaters started to close because of the pandemic, Universal started the push of their movies going straight to VOD, with titles including Trolls World Tour and Never Rarely Sometimes Always. However, there was a title that was supposed to premiere in April, and then suddenly disappeared from existence. It was the directorial debut of actress Emerald Fennell, who wrote a black comedy with touches of a thriller, centered on a woman in her thirties (Carey Mulligan) whose bright future was derailed by a traumatic event, and who’s now looking for revenge. While the reaction to its premiere at Sundance wasn’t enough to consider a Best Picture run, the twisted performance by Mulligan earned her the best praise since the last time she was nominated for an Oscar, a decade ago for An Education. Now, Focus Features is planning to open the movie at Christmas, and are positioning Carey for a run at Best Actress. -Rebecca (trailer): When the news came out saying that Ben Wheatley would adapt Daphne du Maurier’s psychological thriller novel for Netflix, many were shocked. Some people considered the chance that this was an awards play by the cult director, who is doing the same work that earned Alfred Hitchcock his only Best Picture win. But seeing the trailer for this new version, with Lily James playing the newly married young woman who finds herself battling the shadow of her husband's (Armie Hammer) dead first wife Rebecca, we have to wonder if there’s a point to the existence of this remake. We will find out if there’s any awards chances for this movie on October 21, when it releases on streaming. Let’s hope that Kristin Scott Thomas has something to play with as Mrs. Danvers. -Respect (trailer): Every year, there’s one or two actors who announce to the world “I want an Oscar” and campaign like their lives depended on it. Last time, it was Taron Egerton (accompanied by Elton John, who actually ended up winning another Oscar). This year, it is the turn of Jennifer Hudson, who is playing Aretha Franklin in a biopic directed by first timer Liesl Tommy, and who’s hoping that this attempt at awards ends up more like Dreamgirls than like Cats. She has been doing announcement trailers (a year in advance), quarantine tributes, award show tributes, and every possible thing to get the industry to notice that she’s playing Aretha. Hey, Rami Malek and Renee Zellweger did it in the last few years, why can’t she. With a release date of January 15, Hudson wants that gold. -Soul (trailer): Disney may be the studio that suffered the biggest hit because of the pandemic. Their parks are a loss, most of their big productions had to stop because of quarantine, and theaters in many parts of the world are closed. After the failure of Tenet for Warner Bros. and the experiment of the mouse house of charging people 30 dollars to see Mulan (which didn’t work at all), many wondered if Disney was gonna delay the new production by Pixar, written and directed by Pete Docter, who brought Oscar gold to his home with Up and Inside Out. The movie, which centers on a teacher (Jamie Foxx) who dreams of becoming a jazz musician and, just as he’s about to get his big break, ends up getting into an accident that separates his soul from his body, had a lot of promise, but the speculation of lost money was also a concern. Finally, Disney decided to release the movie on Christmas, but only on Disney Plus, causing another failure for theaters, but assuring that Disney at least can get more subscribers to its streaming service. And the movie? Well, it just premiered at the London Film Festival, and the critics are saying it’s Pixar at its best, with praises going from the look, to the script by co-director Kemp Powers (who also wrote the play of One Night in Miami, so he has many chances for a nod), to the score by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste. That means that it’s already a top contender to win Best Animated Feature, and this may not be the only category in which the movie is gonna get nominated. -Supernova (trailer): If there’s a theme this year in terms of Oscar contenders, it might be dementia. One of the examples of this is a small road movie directed by Hairy Macqueen, which premiered to good reviews at the San Sebastian festival. This drama centers on a trip taken by Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners for 20 years, who travel across England reuniting with friends and family, because Tusker was diagnosed with early onset dementia. While usually the big awards role is usually the one of the person who suffers the illnesses, some reviewers are calling Firth’s work as the supporting companion some of the best of his career. With Bleecker Street buying the rights for a US release, this is a little film that could still make some moves. -Tenet (trailer): For the first five months of quarantine, the big narrative in the world of film was “Christopher Nolan is gonna save cinemas”. But after postponing the release of the mind bending actioner for months on end, creating big demands and expectations to theater owners, and finally releasing as the sacrificial lamb of Hollywood, Warner Bros ended up seeing the opposite effect. Even though Tom Cruise loved to be back at the movies, critics didn’t share enough excitement to make a spy movie that goes backwards worth the possibility of dying of coronavirus. The audiences didn’t show up as much, and those who did attend, mostly complained about the sound mixing and the plot. After all the sacrifice, it’s highly unlikely that Tenet goes beyond technical awards. Let’s start the “Travis Scott for Best Original Song” campaign now, before it’s too late. -The Boys in the Band (trailer): The Ryan Murphy blank check for Netflix has been interesting to follow. On the one hand, we have his new TV shows, which go from not existing (The Politician), to alternate movie history that doesn’t know how alternate history works (Hollywood), to a challenge of how much TV will you stomach if Sarah Paulson and other middle aged actresses are campy in it (Ratched). And now, we are seeing his producing hand over the movie side, which starts with the new film adaptation of the cult play from 1968, which was already a movie in 1970 and recently jumped to Broadway in 2018. The cast from the recent Broadway production (which includes Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer and Andrew Rannells) stars in Joe Mantello’s movie, telling the story of a group of gay friends in pre-Stonewall New York who reunite for a birthday party and end up revealing a lot of open wounds. While this movie got good reviews from critics, it kinda disappeared without a sound after beginning to stream on Netflix at the end of September. Unless the service wants to campaign for Golden Globes, this film is lost in the algorithm. -The Devil All the Time (trailer): Another September release on Netflix was the new psychological thriller by Antonio Campos (Simon Killer, Christine) who didn’t manage to continue his streak of intense and terrifying character dramas with his messy adaptation of the dark novel by Donald Ray Pollock. Wasting a cast that includes Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, Eliza Scanlen, Bill Skarsgard, Jason Clarke and Riley Keough, this twisted period piece managed to stay for a while in the Top 10, but the reactions from critics were mixed, and audiences were busy asking what was happening with Pattinson’s Southern accent (which with The King makes two years in a row, baby). The many prognosticators who had hopes for an awards play moved on a while ago. -The Father (trailer): It’s safe to say at this point that Anthony Hopkins is a lock for a Best Actor nomination at the next Oscars. After its premiere in Sundance, every prognosticator pointed in his direction, and for the next few months he swept praise for his harrowing portrayal of an old man grappling with his age as he develops dementia, causing pain to his beleaguered daughter (recent winner Olivia Colman, who also got praised). Sony Pictures Classics will make Florian Zeller’s adaptation of his acclaimed play its big contender of the season, using Hopkins (who this year got a nom for The Two Popes) as a starter to also get Colman, Zeller and the movie nominated. -The Human Voice (trailer): And speaking of Sony Pictures Classics, it’s almost safe to say that they have another Oscar in the bag this year. That’s because they just bought Pedro Almodóvar’s short film, his English-speaking debut that is an adaptation of the play by Jean Cocteau. In his version (that was acclaimed by critics after premiering in Venice), Tilda Swinton plays the woman waiting at the end of a phone, expecting to hear from his ex-lover who abandoned her. Considering how the competition for Best Live Action Short Film has become somewhat lacking in the last few years (I mean, have you seen Skin), this should be an easy award to win, especially considering how beloved Almodóvar is in the Academy, which nominated him this year for the great Pain and Glory. -The Life Ahead: While we’re talking about legends, it’s time to talk about Sophia Loren. 16 years after her last leading role in a movie, the Italian icon returns with a drama that was bought by Netflix, who plans to campaign for her as Best Actress and for the movie in the Best International Film category. Directed by Edoardo Ponti (who is also Sophia’s son), this movie centers on a Holocaust survivor who takes in a 12-year-old boy who recently robbed her, in a contemporary adaptation of Romain Gary’s novel The Life Before Us. Netflix has set a date for November 13 to release this movie, and the campaign seems to be about the narrative of seeing Loren winning another Oscar 60 years after she won her first one for Two Women, by Vittorio De Sica. -The Midnight Sky: Based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight, this collaboration between George Clooney and Netflix is once again making us ask one thing. Are we gonna get the director Clooney of Good Night and Good Luck, or are we gonna get the director Clooney of Leatherheads, The Ides of March, The Monuments Men and Suburbicon? Let’s hope he breaks his streak of blandness with this sci-fi story, which makes us think a little bit of Gravity: A lonely scientist in the Arctic (Clooney) races to stop a group of astronauts led by Felicity Jones from returning to a devastated Earth. With a release set for December, we have to hope that this is more than some Top 10 filler that will evaporate from existence in a week’s time. -The Prom: In probably the biggest blank check of the Ryan Murphy deal with Netflix, this musical he’ll direct is based on the Tony-nominated show about a group of Broadway losers (Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells and James “boo” Corden) who try to find a viral story to get back in the spotlight, and end up going to a town in Indiana to help a lesbian high school student who has been banned from bringing her girlfriend to the prom. While it’s clear that this December 11 release is gonna sweep the Golden Globes, the emptiness of this year compared to others could clear the way for some Oscar nominations, including Meryl and the obligatory original song added to a preexisting musical for easy clout. -The Trial of the Chicago 7 (trailer): When it was announced that Paramount was selling Aaron Sorkin’s new movie to Netflix, some people saw it as a studio dumping a failed awards vehicle to be forgotten. However, the excuse that Sorkin wanted to release this movie before the US presidential elections seems to be true, because critics really enjoyed his old school courtroom drama, centered around the trial on counter cultural activists in the late ‘60s. Everybody praised uniformly the huge cast, that includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Strong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Frank Langella, William Hurt, Michael Keaton and Mark Rylance, which guarantees a SAG awards nomination (but makes it difficult to decide which actors will actually get nominated for Oscars). With a reaction that brings to mind the days of A Few Good Men and is the best reception he got since his Oscar winning script for The Social Network, the film faces a couple of hurdles. First of all, it got positioned as the frontrunner in the Best Picture race by some people, which instantly puts a target on its back. Then, we have to consider that the movie releases on Netflix this Friday, October 16, which makes it the first big contender this year to face the world, and which in these times of lockdown will probably make the reception to Marriage Story and The Irishman from last year look like a walk in the park. I mean, there are some people who aren’t swayed by Sorkin, and for good reason. -The United States vs. Billie Holiday: While Paramount was quick to hand The Trial of the Chicago 7 to Netflix, there’s another movie that the studio kept to play in the upcoming awards season. This biographical drama follows the life of another famous musician, Billie Holiday (Andra Day), and we see the journey of her career in jazz as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she had a tumultuous affair. While the movie counts with a screenplay credit by Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks, the big question mark is the film’s director, Lee Daniels, who hit it big with Precious and then had results that were disastrous (The Paperboy) or financially successful, but not awards-wise (Lee Daniels’ The Butler). However, Paramount trusts in this movie, and with a release date on February 12, they want to make a splash. -Wolfwalkers (trailer): While the attempts by Apple TV+ to establish themselves as a player in the TV world go from trainwrecks (See) to forgettable (The Morning Show) to eventually great (see Ted Lasso, everybody, this is not a joke), their plans to make a name in the film business have something to do with this year’s Oscars. While Cherry can come or go, they have a solid contender for the Best Feature Documentary with Boys State, but their big dog this year is the new movie by Cartoon Saloon, an Irish studio responsible for the acclaimed The Secret of Kells, The Song of the Sea, and The Breadwinner, all of which were nominated for Best Animated Feature. This time, Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart direct a story about a young apprentice hunter who journeys with her father to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night. After getting critically acclaimed following its premiere at TIFF, this is a surefire contender for this year’s Best Animated Feature category, and Apple is gonna parade it before its streaming release on December 11. Also, while you watch that, you could watch a couple of episodes of Ted Lasso, too. It’s a really good show, it’s all I’m saying. Anyways, that’s all the news from the last few months of festivals. No matter what happens next, this is gonna be a long, long, long race.
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