You know Trampler and Charger and Stomper and Horny,
Bison and Leather and Pounder and Clovey,
But do you recall
The most famous Minotaur of all?
Marvin the Red-Horned Reindeer
Had a very shiny horn
And if you ever saw it
Your body surely soon'd be torn
All of the other Minotaurs
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Marvin
Join in any Minotaur games
Then one dreary Christmas Eve,
Draka came to say
"Marvin with your horn so bright
Won't you lead my raid tonight?"
Then how the Minotaurs loved him
As they shouted out with glee
"Marvin the Red-Horned Minotaur
You'll go down in history!"
Of course we all know how that ended: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-twas-night-before-christmas.html
The Amazing Spider Tank
Spider-Tank, Spider-Tank. Does whatever a Spider-Tank does. Can he swing from a web? No he can't, he's a tank. Look out! He is a Spider-Tank!
Friday, December 23, 2016
Epic Twas the Night Before Christmas
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the land
Minotaurs were dying by every hand
The traps were set in the forest with care
In hopes that a Minotaur soon would be there
The hunters were dreaming, all snug in their beds,
Of dying Minotaurs inside of their heads
And mamma in her chainmail, and I with my bow
Had just fell asleep in the soft moon's glow
When out in the field, there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter
Away to the window I flew like a spell
Prepared to see some fresh new hell
The moon on the breast of a new fallen snow
gave the luster of midday on the objects below
When, what to my wondering eyes from afar,
But a herd of charging and armed Minotaur!
That odd looking leader, in a tree he was carving
His odd looking name, I think it was Marvin
More rapid than Griffins my arrows they came
I heard him bellow his brethren by name
"Lookout Trampler! and Charger! Oh Stomper and Horny!
Hide, Bison! and Leather! Run, Pounder and Clovey!
To the top of the ridge! To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!
As boats that tend to rapidly plunge
When they meet a Sea Titan's weaponized lunge
My arrows, down to the plain they flew
Into the Minotaurs, and young Marvin, too.
And then, with a thunder, I heard on the roof
The crashing and pounding of each giant hoof
As I drew in my head, and was turning around
Down through the roof Minotaurs came with a bound
They were dressed in armor, and ironically leather
And swung axes like they were light as a feather
Atop their heads, their horns shined bright
And for a moment, I was blinded by light
Their eyes, how dull! Their expression, so blank!
Their loincloths waved in the wind by their flank
Their frothing mouths all sagged in a frown
And the fur on their bodies was all matted brown
Little did they see, my old mum get behind
She picked the first weapon that she could find
A claymore she wielded, as swift as the breeze
And with one big swipe, they were down on their knees
A stump of a leg and a few broken teeth
The blood it encircled the heads like a wreath
One that still lived, grasped at his belly
Whose entrails sloughed like a bowl full of jelly
One was lean and taught, a quite fearsome cow
Yet my mum kept laughing in spite of the row
A wink of her eye, and a twist of its head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
They spoke not a word and were fell by the sword
Only stacks of bodies were left of the horde
Mum laid her blades all in a heap
Went back to her room, and drifted to sleep.
I sprang to the window, and gave a loud cheer
I wanted the whole world to be able to hear
"We vanquished every Minotaur in sight!
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
Minotaurs were dying by every hand
The traps were set in the forest with care
In hopes that a Minotaur soon would be there
Of dying Minotaurs inside of their heads
And mamma in her chainmail, and I with my bow
Had just fell asleep in the soft moon's glow
When out in the field, there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter
Away to the window I flew like a spell
Prepared to see some fresh new hell
The moon on the breast of a new fallen snow
gave the luster of midday on the objects below
When, what to my wondering eyes from afar,
But a herd of charging and armed Minotaur!
That odd looking leader, in a tree he was carving
His odd looking name, I think it was Marvin
More rapid than Griffins my arrows they came
I heard him bellow his brethren by name
"Lookout Trampler! and Charger! Oh Stomper and Horny!
Hide, Bison! and Leather! Run, Pounder and Clovey!
To the top of the ridge! To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!
When they meet a Sea Titan's weaponized lunge
My arrows, down to the plain they flew
Into the Minotaurs, and young Marvin, too.
And then, with a thunder, I heard on the roof
The crashing and pounding of each giant hoof
As I drew in my head, and was turning around
Down through the roof Minotaurs came with a bound
They were dressed in armor, and ironically leather
And swung axes like they were light as a feather
Atop their heads, their horns shined bright
And for a moment, I was blinded by light
Their eyes, how dull! Their expression, so blank!
Their loincloths waved in the wind by their flank
Their frothing mouths all sagged in a frown
And the fur on their bodies was all matted brown
Little did they see, my old mum get behind
She picked the first weapon that she could find
A claymore she wielded, as swift as the breeze
And with one big swipe, they were down on their knees
A stump of a leg and a few broken teeth
The blood it encircled the heads like a wreath
One that still lived, grasped at his belly
Whose entrails sloughed like a bowl full of jelly
Yet my mum kept laughing in spite of the row
A wink of her eye, and a twist of its head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
They spoke not a word and were fell by the sword
Only stacks of bodies were left of the horde
Mum laid her blades all in a heap
Went back to her room, and drifted to sleep.
I sprang to the window, and gave a loud cheer
I wanted the whole world to be able to hear
"We vanquished every Minotaur in sight!
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Epic Dark Draft Decisions (11)
Here is the 11th Epic Dark Draft Decisions. I did a fun analysis of the packs 1-10 here: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-results-after-10-packs.html
For the new readers, here is what I'm doing:
I use a random card generator to generate a hand of 5 cards from a complete singleton set of Epic, which includes the Core, the Tyrants, and new Uprising sets. I will then analyze the hand and decide what I would tend to pick if I were to draw that hand in the Dark Draft format of play. I will decide which card to pick if I got that pack, as well as which 2 cards I'd pick if I got the remaining 4. For the sake of consistency, I will assume this is the first pack I open.
For your information and as a reminder, here are the Dark Draft rules from the official website:
Hellion's Fury doesn't see very much play in my group. I think it's mainly because Sage has so many good 1-cost events, that this one gets overshadowed. You can only use the 2nd ability on your own turn, and it is only bounce, which can be useful on offense, and at least you get to draw a card, but there are other cards that remove stuff and/or draw cards better in my opinion. However, in Limited, that is less likely to be so. This card can give you some much needed temporary removal and is a great trick to try and finish off an opponent. It also helps with your Sage loyalty triggers and is a Sage card denied to your opponent for their's.
Pyromancer has always been a very solid card. Decent health with Ambush, with some direct damage and the threat of continued direct damage unless dealt with. This is always a solid pick
Savage Uprising sports one of the best examples of Epic art in the game. It is just so, well, epic! I don't like the eyes on the T-Rex as they look off, but it's very cool looking nonetheless (and makes for a great playmat!). That being said, the card is fairly decent too. I would say that Wild has better direct damage cards but this really isn't too bad, especially when it replaces itself which is something that direct burn has trouble with. The board sweep is also quite good if you happen to be running a lot of tokens or 0-cost champions. It serves a variety of roles and would be a fine addition to a deck.
Smash and Burn used to lie in my box and not get played....until I used it in a Limited tournament and saw how good it was. The +5/5 wasn't really something I cared that much about, it was just icing on the cake to drawing 2 cards, but it definitely came in handy every game I played it. It allowed me to do more damage, it allowed my champion to stay alive and maybe kill an opponent's. And then, the thing I always kept forgetting, it becomes a very decent removal card even after it's discarded. 6 damage destroys a lot of stuff, and this card allows you to play other removal along with it. Now that Hurricane wipes the board of small stuff and allows you to remove that Kong as well. It allows you to deal 8 damage to the face while also removing an attacking Avenging Angel. There are just so many ways it can be used. You do have to have more Wild in your deck to make it worth it though, so it makes for a tougher choice in the first pack, but given how good Wild is in Limited, you are usually fine with taking it.
I have not played Village Protector very much. I'm not sure if people just haven't had this card come up during drafting, or they are purposefully not drafting it, but it rarely hits the table. It's a very odd one. It seems like it could be good in theory. It can't be broken as long as human tokens are on the board. There are a lot of cards that add tokens and at the very least, 2 need to be removed before you can do anything. 10 damage is a lot if it goes through, but it doesn't have Breakthrough and can easily be chump blocked. It also doesn't have Blitz so it will be sitting around for a while. In Limited not having more token cards makes this worse, and human token cards in general are very weak in Limited, so this guy is even more a liability.
I think that this debate comes down to the Wild cards. No matter what I choose, I think there is a strong possibility that my opponent will pick the remaining Wild cards. I think Smash and Burn is the riskiest of the Wild cards, since it needs more of them to be really good, so that means it's down to Pyromancer and Savage Uprising. I do think that there are lots of mass removal in Epic now, so I can feel pretty confident I will see more, and there are better direct damage cards as well. I know that Pyromancer is a solid performer and a great closer. I have more experience playing with it and it's a body that stays around and can keep doing things rather than a one-time thing. So I will be going for Pyromancer. I would feel confident in assuming that my opponent would be taking the 2 Wild cards so I could maybe draft around that hunch, and try to screw them over.
If I was given this pack I still think I would go for Savage Uprising and Smash and Burn. They are both still very decent cards and as I said Wild is very good in Limited. I would be putting myself more in Wild and unfortunately unknown to me my opponent might be doing the same since they picked Pyromancer, but such is life.
I hope you enjoyed this one. Happy gaming!
For the new readers, here is what I'm doing:
I use a random card generator to generate a hand of 5 cards from a complete singleton set of Epic, which includes the Core, the Tyrants, and new Uprising sets. I will then analyze the hand and decide what I would tend to pick if I were to draw that hand in the Dark Draft format of play. I will decide which card to pick if I got that pack, as well as which 2 cards I'd pick if I got the remaining 4. For the sake of consistency, I will assume this is the first pack I open.
For your information and as a reminder, here are the Dark Draft rules from the official website:
Dark Draft (2 players)
- Shuffle a stack of at least 120 cards. Deal 5 to each player.
- Each player takes 1 card out of their hand of five cards and drafts it, then passes the other 4 to the other (at the same time).
- Each player takes 2 cards out of their new hand of four cards and drafts them, then discards the remaining two cards into a shared face-down discard pile.
Both players now have drafted three cards. Repeat nine times to get to a 30-card deck, shuffle and play.
This is a fun, fast, and skill-testing draft format for two players. Many of our competitive events use this format in the playoff rounds. This format is used in our World Championship. Source: http://www.epiccardgame.com/formats-draft/
So what do we have?
Hellion's Fury doesn't see very much play in my group. I think it's mainly because Sage has so many good 1-cost events, that this one gets overshadowed. You can only use the 2nd ability on your own turn, and it is only bounce, which can be useful on offense, and at least you get to draw a card, but there are other cards that remove stuff and/or draw cards better in my opinion. However, in Limited, that is less likely to be so. This card can give you some much needed temporary removal and is a great trick to try and finish off an opponent. It also helps with your Sage loyalty triggers and is a Sage card denied to your opponent for their's.
Pyromancer has always been a very solid card. Decent health with Ambush, with some direct damage and the threat of continued direct damage unless dealt with. This is always a solid pick
Savage Uprising sports one of the best examples of Epic art in the game. It is just so, well, epic! I don't like the eyes on the T-Rex as they look off, but it's very cool looking nonetheless (and makes for a great playmat!). That being said, the card is fairly decent too. I would say that Wild has better direct damage cards but this really isn't too bad, especially when it replaces itself which is something that direct burn has trouble with. The board sweep is also quite good if you happen to be running a lot of tokens or 0-cost champions. It serves a variety of roles and would be a fine addition to a deck.
Smash and Burn used to lie in my box and not get played....until I used it in a Limited tournament and saw how good it was. The +5/5 wasn't really something I cared that much about, it was just icing on the cake to drawing 2 cards, but it definitely came in handy every game I played it. It allowed me to do more damage, it allowed my champion to stay alive and maybe kill an opponent's. And then, the thing I always kept forgetting, it becomes a very decent removal card even after it's discarded. 6 damage destroys a lot of stuff, and this card allows you to play other removal along with it. Now that Hurricane wipes the board of small stuff and allows you to remove that Kong as well. It allows you to deal 8 damage to the face while also removing an attacking Avenging Angel. There are just so many ways it can be used. You do have to have more Wild in your deck to make it worth it though, so it makes for a tougher choice in the first pack, but given how good Wild is in Limited, you are usually fine with taking it.
I have not played Village Protector very much. I'm not sure if people just haven't had this card come up during drafting, or they are purposefully not drafting it, but it rarely hits the table. It's a very odd one. It seems like it could be good in theory. It can't be broken as long as human tokens are on the board. There are a lot of cards that add tokens and at the very least, 2 need to be removed before you can do anything. 10 damage is a lot if it goes through, but it doesn't have Breakthrough and can easily be chump blocked. It also doesn't have Blitz so it will be sitting around for a while. In Limited not having more token cards makes this worse, and human token cards in general are very weak in Limited, so this guy is even more a liability.
I think that this debate comes down to the Wild cards. No matter what I choose, I think there is a strong possibility that my opponent will pick the remaining Wild cards. I think Smash and Burn is the riskiest of the Wild cards, since it needs more of them to be really good, so that means it's down to Pyromancer and Savage Uprising. I do think that there are lots of mass removal in Epic now, so I can feel pretty confident I will see more, and there are better direct damage cards as well. I know that Pyromancer is a solid performer and a great closer. I have more experience playing with it and it's a body that stays around and can keep doing things rather than a one-time thing. So I will be going for Pyromancer. I would feel confident in assuming that my opponent would be taking the 2 Wild cards so I could maybe draft around that hunch, and try to screw them over.
If I was given this pack I still think I would go for Savage Uprising and Smash and Burn. They are both still very decent cards and as I said Wild is very good in Limited. I would be putting myself more in Wild and unfortunately unknown to me my opponent might be doing the same since they picked Pyromancer, but such is life.
I hope you enjoyed this one. Happy gaming!
Monday, December 19, 2016
Epic Dark Draft Results after 10 packs
So I've done 10 of these Dark Draft Decisions. So instead of what I normally do I was curious to see what my deck would look like if I just took the packs I've opened so far. Obviously this is a rather silly situation as I have no opponent, and I'm actually taking 3 cards in a pack essentially, but I figured why not?
Pack 1 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions.html
Thought Plucker
Fire Spirit
Mythic Monster
Pack 2 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-2.html
Jungle Queen
Angel of Light
Infernal Gatekeeper
Pack 3 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-3.html
Divine Judgment
Angelic Protector
Raxxa's Curse
Pack 4 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-4.html
Frost Giant
Draka, Dragon Tyrant
Raging T-Rex
Pack 5 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-5.html
Drain Essence
Sea Titan
Zealous Necromancer
Pack 6 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-6.html
Final Task
Rampaging Wurm
Gold Dragon
Pack 7 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-7.html
Guilt Demon
Mist Guide Herald
Blue Dragon
Pack 8 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-8.html
Great Horned Lizard
Brachiosaurus
Dark Knight
Pack 9 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-9.html
Bitten
Inner Peace
Saren, Night Stalker
Pack 10 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-10.html
Spike Trap
Rescue Griffin
Consume
So those are my 30 cards. Let's see the breakdown by faction then cost:
Wild
Fire Spirit
Mythic Monster
Jungle Queen
Draka, Dragon Tyrant
Raging T-Rex
Rampaging Wurm
Great Horned Lizard
Brachiosaurus
Good
Angel of Light
Divine Judgment
Angelic Protector
Gold Dragon
Inner Peace
Rescue Griffin
Evil
Infernal Gatekeeper
Drain Essence
Zealous Necromancer
Final Task
Bitten
Saren, Night Stalker
Guilt Demon
Dark Knight
Consume
Raxxa's Curse
Sage
Thought Plucker
Frost Giant
Sea Titan
Mist Guide Herald
Blue Dragon
Spike Trap
Well that is quite the spread. Pretty even across all colors so Loyalty triggers will be very hard to come by, making my Wild choices not as great. I am noticing a ridiculous amount of champions. I have 22 champions and only 8 events. I also only have 6 0-cost cards, which is not enough IMO. I am severely lacking in removal, although a lot of my champions at least replace themselves. I have only 1 Recycle trigger which is pretty awful, meaning I have to rely on my champions' tribute abilities and slim events for card draw. I have some really hard hitting champions, so if they can stay alive I will be in good shape. I will have to just keep playing the big champions and force my opponent to use sweepers or specific direct removal. I don't have a lot of removal. I have Fire Spirit and Draka, Divine Judgment, Drain Essence, Bitten, Consume, Raxxa's Curse, Blue Dragon, and Spike Trap. I guess that's a decent amount of removal as long as my opponent doesn't have really big guys like me, lol.
I actually have a decent amount of health gain so that will help keep me in a game. I don't have any offensive tricks like Rage or Lash unfortunately. I can really punish people for playing their gold first with Blitzing 1-cost champions (or Final Task), and my 0-cost all-stars Dark Knight and Guilt Demon.
I am definitely lacking on plays during my opponent's turn. Not a lot of Ambushing stuff and I'm really lacking in events, so that will be a problem too.
It's possible this deck could work through shear brute force, but unlikely. I would hope I would draft better than this if it was done correctly with an opponent and not just thinking about the first pack.
Thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment and I hope you enjoyed it. Happy gaming!
Pack 1 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions.html
Thought Plucker
Fire Spirit
Mythic Monster
Pack 2 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-2.html
Jungle Queen
Angel of Light
Infernal Gatekeeper
Pack 3 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-3.html
Divine Judgment
Angelic Protector
Raxxa's Curse
Pack 4 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-4.html
Frost Giant
Draka, Dragon Tyrant
Raging T-Rex
Pack 5 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-5.html
Drain Essence
Sea Titan
Zealous Necromancer
Pack 6 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/11/epic-dark-draft-decisions-6.html
Final Task
Rampaging Wurm
Gold Dragon
Pack 7 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-7.html
Guilt Demon
Mist Guide Herald
Blue Dragon
Pack 8 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-8.html
Great Horned Lizard
Brachiosaurus
Dark Knight
Pack 9 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-9.html
Bitten
Inner Peace
Saren, Night Stalker
Pack 10 http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/epic-dark-draft-decisions-10.html
Spike Trap
Rescue Griffin
Consume
So those are my 30 cards. Let's see the breakdown by faction then cost:
Wild
Fire Spirit
Mythic Monster
Jungle Queen
Draka, Dragon Tyrant
Raging T-Rex
Rampaging Wurm
Great Horned Lizard
Brachiosaurus
Good
Angel of Light
Divine Judgment
Angelic Protector
Gold Dragon
Inner Peace
Rescue Griffin
Evil
Infernal Gatekeeper
Drain Essence
Zealous Necromancer
Final Task
Bitten
Saren, Night Stalker
Guilt Demon
Dark Knight
Consume
Raxxa's Curse
Sage
Thought Plucker
Frost Giant
Sea Titan
Mist Guide Herald
Blue Dragon
Spike Trap
Well that is quite the spread. Pretty even across all colors so Loyalty triggers will be very hard to come by, making my Wild choices not as great. I am noticing a ridiculous amount of champions. I have 22 champions and only 8 events. I also only have 6 0-cost cards, which is not enough IMO. I am severely lacking in removal, although a lot of my champions at least replace themselves. I have only 1 Recycle trigger which is pretty awful, meaning I have to rely on my champions' tribute abilities and slim events for card draw. I have some really hard hitting champions, so if they can stay alive I will be in good shape. I will have to just keep playing the big champions and force my opponent to use sweepers or specific direct removal. I don't have a lot of removal. I have Fire Spirit and Draka, Divine Judgment, Drain Essence, Bitten, Consume, Raxxa's Curse, Blue Dragon, and Spike Trap. I guess that's a decent amount of removal as long as my opponent doesn't have really big guys like me, lol.
I actually have a decent amount of health gain so that will help keep me in a game. I don't have any offensive tricks like Rage or Lash unfortunately. I can really punish people for playing their gold first with Blitzing 1-cost champions (or Final Task), and my 0-cost all-stars Dark Knight and Guilt Demon.
I am definitely lacking on plays during my opponent's turn. Not a lot of Ambushing stuff and I'm really lacking in events, so that will be a problem too.
It's possible this deck could work through shear brute force, but unlikely. I would hope I would draft better than this if it was done correctly with an opponent and not just thinking about the first pack.
Thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment and I hope you enjoyed it. Happy gaming!
Friday, December 16, 2016
Spoiler-filled Discussion of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
I first posted my spoiler-free review of the movie here: http://amazingspidertank.blogspot.com/2016/12/spoiler-free-review-of-rogue-one-star.html
I am writing this with the assumption that you have seen the movie, and at least looked at the very bottom of my spoiler-free review to look at the pros/cons list so you know my general opinion.
This is a SPOILER-RIDDEN DISCUSSION. Please do not read further if you do not wish to spoil the movie. I will be talking about major plot points, characters, and easter eggs.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
This will get very nerdy.
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Okay. So I really liked Rogue One. Before the movie came out I had this conversation with anybody that would listen. I listed 3 things I wanted from this movie:
1. I explained that what I wanted out of this movie was a self-contained story, where it ties up loose ends and deals with the characters in it in some way that explains why we never see them again. For me, it made the most sense that the main characters needed to die. I wasn't expecting all of them to die, but the main characters that did most of the work needed to die. I hate it when prequels have this awesome character, but then they aren't in the original stuff. It just irks me.
2. I also wanted it to enhance the OT in some way as I think all prequels should. I wanted it to make OT characters better, make us care more about what happens in A New Hope, or give us fresh insight into something we either didn't have an answer for, or clarification.
3. I wanted Darth Vader to do something badass. I wanted us to see why he is so feared in the OT. He already had a reputation in A New Hope and I wanted this to showcase why.
Rogue One delivered on every account. :)
1. This was definitely a self contained story. I can safely say this because they killed off everyone! Wow. It was what I wanted but I honestly didn't think they'd kill off every single character, lol. The impact of these deaths made this movie feel like the death count was higher than any other Star Wars movie, which is incorrect considering an entire planet was destroyed in A New Hope as well as a Death Star, and another Death Star gone in RotJ. But we felt for the characters and when they died, I actually felt as sorry as I did when characters like Obi-Wan died in the OT (told you there would be spoilers ;)).
2. This movie really enhanced the OT in a lot of good ways. A major one is the explanation of why the Death Star has a critical weakness. Before it was always a joke on Star Wars, that the Death Star had such a critical flaw that could so easily be exploited. It never seemed right in fans'/critics' eyes. This movie actually gives a very legitimate and more believable explanation, that it was sabotaged and purposely built with a design flaw, so that one day it could be destroyed. It's a wonderful bit of information that really changes what you are thinking during A New Hope. It makes so much more sense now.
We got to see several A New Hope characters in this film as well, and their performances helped round out their characters we would later see in episode 4. Governor Tarkin takes the cake in that department. They really nailed his voice, even though the CGI was horrendous. But his character felt correct and it was fun to see him manipulate Krennic and do his various dastardly things.
3. While watching the movie, I was getting afraid number 3 would not be fulfilled. We got to see him force choke Krennic and scare him a bit, but I wanted more. But then in the last 10 minutes, my every wish came true. My favorite part of the whole movie in fact has to be when we get to see Darth Vader in all his scary glory. That was awesome. Seeing him terrify all the soldiers and just lay waste to them was so epic. I could have watched 30 more minutes of just Darth Vader being a badass. If you haven't read the new Vader comic from Marvel, or the Vader Down sort-of cross over comic you should, as they also showcase Vader in amazing ways. I really hope someday we can see a movie where we follow Darth Vader hunting down and destroying Jedi.
I said in my initial review that the pacing felt a little off. I still can't fully explain why that is but it might just be from having a different director at the helm. We didn't have the screen wipes and gentle fades into scenes. They were much more abrupt. The 1st act of the movie was pretty slow, although it wasn't really a bad thing, and it really picked up the pace in the final act, but it still felt weird. Maybe it goes back to my feeling like this was a TV episode, rather than a movie. It had similar pacing to a TV show. There were breaks that could have easily been split up to watch once a week, or with commercials.
There are quite a number of easter eggs that I spotted on my first watch:
1. We see the Ghost (from the TV series Rebels) on two separate occasions. Once on Yavin, and again when the Rebel fleet arrives to battle the Empire.
2. We hear over the loudspeaker on Yavin calling for General Syndulla, which is another Rebels reference.
3. We see a Hammerhead ship which is yet another reference to Rebels, but originally also points back to the now-Legacy ship design from the Knights of the Old Republic.
4. We see Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba on Jedha (somehow they escape)
5. We see Emperor's Royal Guards protecting Darth Vader in his castle. The Royal Guards typically only were with the Emperor, so that is new, and Darth Vader's castle is another set that was originally in the Legacy stories, but we haven't seen anything like it in the new time line.
6. Saw Gerrara is a character from the Star Wars Clone Wars TV show, which is the precursor to the newer Rebels show. He is a main character for several episodes and you can learn more about his character from watching that.
7. Not really an easter egg since it was much more obvious but we got to see a lot of original trilogy character cameos/major roles including Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Leia Organa, Governor Tarkin, Captain Antilles, R2-D2, C-3PO, General Dodonna, Red Leader, Gold Leader. There is a Topps card for Rogue One that sure seems like it features Biggs Darklighter, but sadly I did not see him in the movie. I hope I just missed him. That would have been a great inclusion.
8. We learn/see how the gap in Red Squadron comes about that Luke fills in A New Hope.
9. Reference to the Whills, which goes back to George Lucas' original plan for Star Wars and the Force
10. There is Blue Milk in the beginning of the movie. This drink was made famous in A New Hope in Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen's house in the beginning of that movie.
11. Speaking of blue, one of the main squadrons in the battle was Blue Squadron. In the original script for A New Hope, as well as the novelization, it was Blue Squadron, and not Red Squadron, that was the main group that included Luke Skywalker.
12. We get to see Darth Vader's Star Destroyer Devastator live up to its name at the end, as well as the frantic escape of Tantive IV.
13. Darksaber is mentioned when Jyn and Cassian are looking through Imperial files. This is a Legends super weapon. Read more about it here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darksaber_(superweapon)
I did have several gripes with the movie
The CGI people were terrible. We had several A New Hope cameos that were completely CGI and I think they looked awful. Very uncanny valley/Polar Express-ey. Governor Tarkin was the most well done, but it still just looks off, and I'm sure it will look worse as time goes on. Leia was the worst, but thankfully she wasn't in it long. Red Leader and Gold leader were fine because they were more in the dark, but my issue with them is that it felt like the simply reused their lines from A New Hope. It felt pasted on. The lines worked in the context of the movie, but it was weird. But going back to the bad CGI, it's not like we didn't have other characters that they found younger people to play. I don't see why they could have gotten regular actors to portray some of them. I understand that the movie is set immediately before A New Hope, so there is no age advancement, but General Dodonna was not CGI, and we see him in A New Hope.
Some of the technology seems better than what the OT had. All prequels fail at this, and this movie wasn't the worst, but some of those weapons the ground troops used were so much better than anything we have ever seen. Baze Malbus' gun was particularly ridiculous. He mowed down Stormtroopers left and right. If anyone else had his gun in the OT, a lot of those gun fights would be over a long time ago. Granted, he was an independent character, and not strictly from the Alliance, but still, the technology was there.
K2SO also needs to be mentioned. I absolutely loved his character, however I don't believe that the Empire wouldn't have mass produced these droids because of their ridiculous offensive capabilities. Perhaps it was due to his new programming, but he is so much better than any other fighter in the movie. He can take on several squads of Stormtroopers by himself, all while withstanding tremendous punishment. The Rebels should have made copies of his programming and give it to a lot more droids.
There was also some new ships in Rogue One that force us to ask why we never see them again. We get the U-Wing, which I think makes the most sense why we never see it again as it is a troop transport/fighter and the OT didn't really have a need for it. We get a new capital ship which maybe is one of a kind, but it's still new. We get the Hammerhead ship which we see in the TV shows, but never in the OT. We get a new Empire transport too. There is a new Empire shuttle and Death Troopers but maybe it's explained that they are custom for Director Krennic. The Tie Striker is a new TIE model that we never see again, but maybe it's more for atmospheric combat and we didn't see a lot of that in the OT other than Bespin. Maybe it was unique to the Death Star construction as well.
Also, where were all the astromechs? This movie did not have very many of them, and considering how much we see them in all the other movies, it felt odd.
I think there were too many things that were done differently that didn't make it feel like a Star Wars movie. I touched upon this in my spoiler free review, but the soundtrack felt much different. Losing the opening crawl was different. The overall plot and self contained story is different. The deaths of characters all in one movie is pretty different. The text showing you which location you are at is different. No Star Wars fades/wipes to break up the scenes either. Also, this is shot like a war movie instead of a space opera. Each one of these are little, but when you add up all the differences, it can take you out of feeling like you are in a Star Wars movie.
That's not to say I didn't love the movie. I really liked several of the characters
Saw Gerrera is a very interesting character. He really helps gray the lines between good and evil when it comes to Star Wars. In the OT the Empire was clearly evil, and the Rebels were clearly good. Then the prequels came and showed the precursor to the Empire as being good, and the Separatists bad. When the Republic turned into the Empire, a lot of the Separatists became the Rebels. It was an interesting switch. Rogue One showcased that Separatist-like aspect of the Rebellion. They were fighting a guerrilla style type of war with the Empire, and that is not always pretty. As much as I love my country, I have to admit that we broke the "rules of combat" during the Revolutionary War all the time. War is hell. If you read up on anything about the lives' of soldiers in any war, you will quickly learn that both sides do horrible things. Rogue One showed the more real side of war. The Rebels could only fight the Empire on their own terms, and so sometimes had to resort to less-than-ideal tactics. I will say that the mainstream Rebels did speak out against Saw Gerrera and his tactics, which was nice to see, but action was necessary and when the Rogues went out on their mission, the Rebellion backed them up.
I really appreciated Gerrera's parallels to Darth Vader with his broken body and breathing mask. It helped reinforce his character as someone who wants to do good, but might have lost his way and therefore lost himself in the process.
Chirrut was an odd character. We'll have to wait and see what other tidbits of background story we get, but there is something more to him than just a blind warrior monk. He has to be attuned to the force in some way because I don't buy for a second he could have traversed all those areas without a little help. Hearing only goes so far. But it was a cool take on someone who is living in an era where the entire Jedi Order has basically been wiped out, and even wiped from memories. Propaganda was used by the Empire to constantly bring doubt to supporters of the Jedi, and they worked very hard to get rid of all traces. Jedha was an interesting planet that showed us worshipers of the Jedi way as more of a religion and belief system rather than people that actually could use the force. This lines up better with Han Solo's doubt in A New Hope.
It is hard for a Star Wars fan to justify how the galaxy could think that Jedi weren't real when they were the generals of the biggest war the galaxy had seen in a very long time. They dominated the scene in the prequels, and how people could forget them kind of boggles the mind. I suppose in a galaxy full of beings, a couple thousand Jedi is a small number. And then add on top almost all of them being killed or forced into hiding, alongside the Empire propaganda, and the time passage, one might believe that people don't believe in the force and the Jedi.
The other characters were also interesting, but they didn't spark my interest as much as these two. I will look forward to getting a little more backstory to Captain Andor and Bohdi Rook though.
The battle scenes were amazing. The space battles were epic with X-Wings and TIE Fighters weaving and around capital ships, bombing and blasting each other out of the sky. We got to see various heroics of individual pilots before they met their end. There were even atmospheric battles where we got to see ships take out the new AT-ACTS, saving the Rebel ground forces. I enjoyed the flowing switches from aerial combat to ground combat by showing a fighter duel and then having a fighter crash into the ground in front of some ground troops, and then to have us follow them for a while.
The shootouts were intense, with explosions and laser blasts flying everywhere. Troops from both sides getting mowed down. I especially liked it when the AT-ACTS burst through the trees and forced all the Rebels to run. The emotional roller coaster of running in panic, to whooping for joy when the X-Wings came to the rescue, almost had the frozen chosen Presbyterian in me leap for joy in a very Baptist and charismatic way.
The sound effects were good, they felt Star Wars-ey. The new technology also looked like Star Wars. The locations and new planets were all a single terrain like they should be, lol. We got a rainy and mountainous planet, a paradise planet, another desert planet, and perhaps a new lava planet although I honestly can't remember if they said it was Mustafar or not.
So what now?
Well the story wrapped up nicely. All the principal characters are dead, so there's not likely to be a sequel (other than ANH). I wouldn't mind having a similar story done to explain how the plans are gotten for the 2nd Death Star. We would have to have Bothans, or at the very least a character named Manny Bothans. It would be somewhat similar except that the Empire would be purposefully allowing them to steal it, so it would have a slightly different twist. I would have maybe some characters figure out that it is a trap, but that they die before being able to tell anyone, something like that. Could be fun. They'd really have to make it different from this one though.
We have Episode 8 to look forward to next year, followed by the Han Solo movie, which I am more concerned about, but seeing how good this one was makes me more hopeful. I really want a hunting down Jedi movie maybe starring bounty hunters working with Darth Vader to kill the last of them. We could see Darth Vader dominating several Jedi, and have bounty hunters with cool weapons. The bounty hunters would be interesting characters that maybe start to change their minds about what they originally set out to do.
In Conclusion
I really liked Rogue One. It was a story of hope, despair, war, redemption, reconciliation, sacrifice, all the themes I enjoy in a movie. This is a must have for my Star Wars collection and a glad addition. I can't wait to see what the EU gives us to expand on this. I can't wait to see what new stuff I spot in my second viewing less than 24 hours apart, lol. I hope you enjoyed this rant on the new movie. I'm sure my excitement will die down soon and I'll start thinking about and noticing various plot holes and issues, but for now I am still excited. Thanks for reading!
I am writing this with the assumption that you have seen the movie, and at least looked at the very bottom of my spoiler-free review to look at the pros/cons list so you know my general opinion.
This is a SPOILER-RIDDEN DISCUSSION. Please do not read further if you do not wish to spoil the movie. I will be talking about major plot points, characters, and easter eggs.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
This will get very nerdy.
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Okay. So I really liked Rogue One. Before the movie came out I had this conversation with anybody that would listen. I listed 3 things I wanted from this movie:
1. I explained that what I wanted out of this movie was a self-contained story, where it ties up loose ends and deals with the characters in it in some way that explains why we never see them again. For me, it made the most sense that the main characters needed to die. I wasn't expecting all of them to die, but the main characters that did most of the work needed to die. I hate it when prequels have this awesome character, but then they aren't in the original stuff. It just irks me.
2. I also wanted it to enhance the OT in some way as I think all prequels should. I wanted it to make OT characters better, make us care more about what happens in A New Hope, or give us fresh insight into something we either didn't have an answer for, or clarification.
3. I wanted Darth Vader to do something badass. I wanted us to see why he is so feared in the OT. He already had a reputation in A New Hope and I wanted this to showcase why.
Rogue One delivered on every account. :)
2. This movie really enhanced the OT in a lot of good ways. A major one is the explanation of why the Death Star has a critical weakness. Before it was always a joke on Star Wars, that the Death Star had such a critical flaw that could so easily be exploited. It never seemed right in fans'/critics' eyes. This movie actually gives a very legitimate and more believable explanation, that it was sabotaged and purposely built with a design flaw, so that one day it could be destroyed. It's a wonderful bit of information that really changes what you are thinking during A New Hope. It makes so much more sense now.
We got to see several A New Hope characters in this film as well, and their performances helped round out their characters we would later see in episode 4. Governor Tarkin takes the cake in that department. They really nailed his voice, even though the CGI was horrendous. But his character felt correct and it was fun to see him manipulate Krennic and do his various dastardly things.
I said in my initial review that the pacing felt a little off. I still can't fully explain why that is but it might just be from having a different director at the helm. We didn't have the screen wipes and gentle fades into scenes. They were much more abrupt. The 1st act of the movie was pretty slow, although it wasn't really a bad thing, and it really picked up the pace in the final act, but it still felt weird. Maybe it goes back to my feeling like this was a TV episode, rather than a movie. It had similar pacing to a TV show. There were breaks that could have easily been split up to watch once a week, or with commercials.
There are quite a number of easter eggs that I spotted on my first watch:
1. We see the Ghost (from the TV series Rebels) on two separate occasions. Once on Yavin, and again when the Rebel fleet arrives to battle the Empire.
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| Bottom left is Ghost, Bottom center is Hammerhead, giant right is the new capital ship |
2. We hear over the loudspeaker on Yavin calling for General Syndulla, which is another Rebels reference.
3. We see a Hammerhead ship which is yet another reference to Rebels, but originally also points back to the now-Legacy ship design from the Knights of the Old Republic.
4. We see Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba on Jedha (somehow they escape)
5. We see Emperor's Royal Guards protecting Darth Vader in his castle. The Royal Guards typically only were with the Emperor, so that is new, and Darth Vader's castle is another set that was originally in the Legacy stories, but we haven't seen anything like it in the new time line.
6. Saw Gerrara is a character from the Star Wars Clone Wars TV show, which is the precursor to the newer Rebels show. He is a main character for several episodes and you can learn more about his character from watching that.
8. We learn/see how the gap in Red Squadron comes about that Luke fills in A New Hope.
9. Reference to the Whills, which goes back to George Lucas' original plan for Star Wars and the Force
10. There is Blue Milk in the beginning of the movie. This drink was made famous in A New Hope in Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen's house in the beginning of that movie.
11. Speaking of blue, one of the main squadrons in the battle was Blue Squadron. In the original script for A New Hope, as well as the novelization, it was Blue Squadron, and not Red Squadron, that was the main group that included Luke Skywalker.
12. We get to see Darth Vader's Star Destroyer Devastator live up to its name at the end, as well as the frantic escape of Tantive IV.
13. Darksaber is mentioned when Jyn and Cassian are looking through Imperial files. This is a Legends super weapon. Read more about it here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darksaber_(superweapon)
K2SO also needs to be mentioned. I absolutely loved his character, however I don't believe that the Empire wouldn't have mass produced these droids because of their ridiculous offensive capabilities. Perhaps it was due to his new programming, but he is so much better than any other fighter in the movie. He can take on several squads of Stormtroopers by himself, all while withstanding tremendous punishment. The Rebels should have made copies of his programming and give it to a lot more droids.
There was also some new ships in Rogue One that force us to ask why we never see them again. We get the U-Wing, which I think makes the most sense why we never see it again as it is a troop transport/fighter and the OT didn't really have a need for it. We get a new capital ship which maybe is one of a kind, but it's still new. We get the Hammerhead ship which we see in the TV shows, but never in the OT. We get a new Empire transport too. There is a new Empire shuttle and Death Troopers but maybe it's explained that they are custom for Director Krennic. The Tie Striker is a new TIE model that we never see again, but maybe it's more for atmospheric combat and we didn't see a lot of that in the OT other than Bespin. Maybe it was unique to the Death Star construction as well.
I think there were too many things that were done differently that didn't make it feel like a Star Wars movie. I touched upon this in my spoiler free review, but the soundtrack felt much different. Losing the opening crawl was different. The overall plot and self contained story is different. The deaths of characters all in one movie is pretty different. The text showing you which location you are at is different. No Star Wars fades/wipes to break up the scenes either. Also, this is shot like a war movie instead of a space opera. Each one of these are little, but when you add up all the differences, it can take you out of feeling like you are in a Star Wars movie.
That's not to say I didn't love the movie. I really liked several of the characters
Saw Gerrera is a very interesting character. He really helps gray the lines between good and evil when it comes to Star Wars. In the OT the Empire was clearly evil, and the Rebels were clearly good. Then the prequels came and showed the precursor to the Empire as being good, and the Separatists bad. When the Republic turned into the Empire, a lot of the Separatists became the Rebels. It was an interesting switch. Rogue One showcased that Separatist-like aspect of the Rebellion. They were fighting a guerrilla style type of war with the Empire, and that is not always pretty. As much as I love my country, I have to admit that we broke the "rules of combat" during the Revolutionary War all the time. War is hell. If you read up on anything about the lives' of soldiers in any war, you will quickly learn that both sides do horrible things. Rogue One showed the more real side of war. The Rebels could only fight the Empire on their own terms, and so sometimes had to resort to less-than-ideal tactics. I will say that the mainstream Rebels did speak out against Saw Gerrera and his tactics, which was nice to see, but action was necessary and when the Rogues went out on their mission, the Rebellion backed them up.
Chirrut was an odd character. We'll have to wait and see what other tidbits of background story we get, but there is something more to him than just a blind warrior monk. He has to be attuned to the force in some way because I don't buy for a second he could have traversed all those areas without a little help. Hearing only goes so far. But it was a cool take on someone who is living in an era where the entire Jedi Order has basically been wiped out, and even wiped from memories. Propaganda was used by the Empire to constantly bring doubt to supporters of the Jedi, and they worked very hard to get rid of all traces. Jedha was an interesting planet that showed us worshipers of the Jedi way as more of a religion and belief system rather than people that actually could use the force. This lines up better with Han Solo's doubt in A New Hope.
The other characters were also interesting, but they didn't spark my interest as much as these two. I will look forward to getting a little more backstory to Captain Andor and Bohdi Rook though.
The battle scenes were amazing. The space battles were epic with X-Wings and TIE Fighters weaving and around capital ships, bombing and blasting each other out of the sky. We got to see various heroics of individual pilots before they met their end. There were even atmospheric battles where we got to see ships take out the new AT-ACTS, saving the Rebel ground forces. I enjoyed the flowing switches from aerial combat to ground combat by showing a fighter duel and then having a fighter crash into the ground in front of some ground troops, and then to have us follow them for a while.
The sound effects were good, they felt Star Wars-ey. The new technology also looked like Star Wars. The locations and new planets were all a single terrain like they should be, lol. We got a rainy and mountainous planet, a paradise planet, another desert planet, and perhaps a new lava planet although I honestly can't remember if they said it was Mustafar or not.
Well the story wrapped up nicely. All the principal characters are dead, so there's not likely to be a sequel (other than ANH). I wouldn't mind having a similar story done to explain how the plans are gotten for the 2nd Death Star. We would have to have Bothans, or at the very least a character named Manny Bothans. It would be somewhat similar except that the Empire would be purposefully allowing them to steal it, so it would have a slightly different twist. I would have maybe some characters figure out that it is a trap, but that they die before being able to tell anyone, something like that. Could be fun. They'd really have to make it different from this one though.
We have Episode 8 to look forward to next year, followed by the Han Solo movie, which I am more concerned about, but seeing how good this one was makes me more hopeful. I really want a hunting down Jedi movie maybe starring bounty hunters working with Darth Vader to kill the last of them. We could see Darth Vader dominating several Jedi, and have bounty hunters with cool weapons. The bounty hunters would be interesting characters that maybe start to change their minds about what they originally set out to do.
In Conclusion
I really liked Rogue One. It was a story of hope, despair, war, redemption, reconciliation, sacrifice, all the themes I enjoy in a movie. This is a must have for my Star Wars collection and a glad addition. I can't wait to see what the EU gives us to expand on this. I can't wait to see what new stuff I spot in my second viewing less than 24 hours apart, lol. I hope you enjoyed this rant on the new movie. I'm sure my excitement will die down soon and I'll start thinking about and noticing various plot holes and issues, but for now I am still excited. Thanks for reading!
Spoiler-free Review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Well, it is here: Another Star Wars movie. We fans shall be treated to approximately one every year until the apocalypse. I am sure there will be good ones and bad ones. This is not one of them. I promised a spoiler-free review and so this shall be. I will be posting a spoiler-filled review soon as well, but don't worry, you will be fine just reading this one. Just so you know, I will be assuming people have seen the trailers. If you have not and want to go in blind, then this is not for you. For those of you that are really worried, simply stop reading and go see the movie, nothing I say here should detract anyone from doing so, nor will it necessarily make it any more enjoyable. The movie was great.
This is our first look at an anthology film in the Star Wars universe, ie not really part of the saga. There is an overarching storyline for Star Wars that we have seen so far, but this is the first movie that breaks from that mold...kind of. Although this is said to be a stand alone movie, the title alone tells you that it connects with the original trilogy. What we have is a prequel to A New Hope, which is the 4th overall episode of the Star Wars saga. I believe the director has publicly said that this movie's plot is included in the opening crawl for A New Hope, and I believe he succeeded, and a lot more.
Gareth Edwards (director) decided that he would be making a gritty war film similar to Saving Private Ryan and others, all centered around the budding Rebel Alliance's attempt to steal the Death Star Plans. I think this was expertly done. Gareth does a good enough job creating a new story that sticks out of the saga, and yet always points to and enhances the originals, which is a very fine line and difficult thing to do. The bane of most prequels is that they are too referential to the original movies. Instead of giving mainly filled in backstory and a solid story on their own, they simply nudge and wink at the audience saying "remember this from the originals? Yay nostalgia!". The worst example of this that I can think of is Dumb and Dumberer. For those of you unlucky enough to have seen it, that entire movie was joke after joke references to the original. It didn't really add anything new, it didn't give us good insight into the characters, the plot was horrendous, and you were left just wishing you had watched the original which did the same jokes but better.
Rogue One treads the line very well. There is plenty of fan service and references of course, but on the whole it succeeds in telling its own story, AND pointing "back" to the original movies, making even those movies better. THATS'S what a good prequel can do. If you can watch the originals and they have more meaning and umph because of a prequel, then I think it did it's job.
Comparing Rogue One to the originals and trying to make claims that it is better than any of the other movies doesn't feel right to me after watching the movie. Maybe you will see what I mean, but this movie feels like a short TV episode or a bonus feature that gives background to the movie (A New Hope) or something. I mean that in the most positive way though. The movie's pacing feels a little bit bizarre but I can't quite put my finger on it. It ends pretty abruptly as well, almost feeling forced, although it succeeds in everything the story was attempting so...I dunno, lol.
The soundtrack actually threw me off. There were elements of the original soundtrack which were the best parts in the movie, but everything else didn't quite sound right. I can see where the music director (Michael Giacchino) was coming from, but it didn't feel like John Williams. Perhaps it was not meant to. And this could just be me as well. I've seen people rave about the soundtrack and like most music it depends on the listener.
The visuals were also very well done in the movie. Space and ground battles never looked better. The lasers and dogfights were epic and exhilarating, and felt a lot like the original movies, which is a good thing. The ground battles remind me of the best parts of the Battle of Hoth, mixed with Star Wars scenarios that have up until now been only available to see in a video game. There were definitely some major visual/technical issues I have with the movie, and that will be more covered in the spoiler review, but most of it was good enough that it didn't ruin anything. Mainly it was some CGI that I don't think will stand the test of time (like a lot of CGI). The set pieces, costumes, and all of the new additions in regards to ships and technology were all expertly done. There is a bit of the same issue that the prequel trilogy had in that the technology in some cases seemed more advanced than the OT, but it wasn't nearly as bad.
I loved the aliens that were included, and the diversity in general has to be commended. They managed to have a more diverse cast than most movies in general, but I never felt like it was political or forced (sorry, racists). Instead, it was beautifully natural and it looked and felt like a galaxy that was populated by real people. That is the only thing that makes this movie take away from the original trilogy. If you go back and watch them, you will be wondering where all the non-white and non-male people in the galaxy went. I want to see a special edition that at least adds some *ahem* color to the background at the very least, or else the change will be quite jarring.
Some of the changes made to set this apart from the saga also ended up being a little distracting for me. Not including the classic Star Wars crawl for example threw me off. I was expecting it, as the director made it public a while ago, but I did miss it. There was little text that popped up at the bottom of the screen that told you where you were, which felt out of place. It's something that's used in most movies, just not Star Wars. And as I said the soundtrack felt a little off at times. These were little things, but they were enough to make me forget that I was watching Star Wars at times.
The story is compelling, and you enjoy the thrills as it goes on, learning more about the characters and their own personal struggles. You see the overarching plot advance on, and the characters have to adapt to it. It is simple storytelling really, but so many movies miss that mark. The movie also does a great job of giving you many characters, all of whom you care about. I think the screen time is spread out well enough that you end up knowing all the characters, which is another difficult thing to do. The movie also has its funny moments, despite being a gritty war film, which helps relax watchers and lets them enjoy a little more I think. Alan Tudyk's K2SO will go down in history as one of the best droids in the series. I foresee many comics that will shed more light on his character. Donnie Yen as the blind Chirrut Imwe was also very good. That's not to say that the main characters were not so, I just personally really enjoyed these other two.
There is not much more I can say without spoiling stuff, and there is stuff to be spoiled. There are easter eggs like in all the movies and I look forward to discovering them with you.
To make a long review short: Rogue One is a great movie. Go see it.
Pros
-Story
-Costumes/sets/technology design
-Characters
-Battles
-Makes the OT better
Cons
-CGI issues
-Soundtrack (personal preference)
-Odd pacing
-Changes made to set it apart from the saga sets it apart a little too much
This is our first look at an anthology film in the Star Wars universe, ie not really part of the saga. There is an overarching storyline for Star Wars that we have seen so far, but this is the first movie that breaks from that mold...kind of. Although this is said to be a stand alone movie, the title alone tells you that it connects with the original trilogy. What we have is a prequel to A New Hope, which is the 4th overall episode of the Star Wars saga. I believe the director has publicly said that this movie's plot is included in the opening crawl for A New Hope, and I believe he succeeded, and a lot more.
Rogue One treads the line very well. There is plenty of fan service and references of course, but on the whole it succeeds in telling its own story, AND pointing "back" to the original movies, making even those movies better. THATS'S what a good prequel can do. If you can watch the originals and they have more meaning and umph because of a prequel, then I think it did it's job.
Comparing Rogue One to the originals and trying to make claims that it is better than any of the other movies doesn't feel right to me after watching the movie. Maybe you will see what I mean, but this movie feels like a short TV episode or a bonus feature that gives background to the movie (A New Hope) or something. I mean that in the most positive way though. The movie's pacing feels a little bit bizarre but I can't quite put my finger on it. It ends pretty abruptly as well, almost feeling forced, although it succeeds in everything the story was attempting so...I dunno, lol.
The visuals were also very well done in the movie. Space and ground battles never looked better. The lasers and dogfights were epic and exhilarating, and felt a lot like the original movies, which is a good thing. The ground battles remind me of the best parts of the Battle of Hoth, mixed with Star Wars scenarios that have up until now been only available to see in a video game. There were definitely some major visual/technical issues I have with the movie, and that will be more covered in the spoiler review, but most of it was good enough that it didn't ruin anything. Mainly it was some CGI that I don't think will stand the test of time (like a lot of CGI). The set pieces, costumes, and all of the new additions in regards to ships and technology were all expertly done. There is a bit of the same issue that the prequel trilogy had in that the technology in some cases seemed more advanced than the OT, but it wasn't nearly as bad.
I loved the aliens that were included, and the diversity in general has to be commended. They managed to have a more diverse cast than most movies in general, but I never felt like it was political or forced (sorry, racists). Instead, it was beautifully natural and it looked and felt like a galaxy that was populated by real people. That is the only thing that makes this movie take away from the original trilogy. If you go back and watch them, you will be wondering where all the non-white and non-male people in the galaxy went. I want to see a special edition that at least adds some *ahem* color to the background at the very least, or else the change will be quite jarring.
Some of the changes made to set this apart from the saga also ended up being a little distracting for me. Not including the classic Star Wars crawl for example threw me off. I was expecting it, as the director made it public a while ago, but I did miss it. There was little text that popped up at the bottom of the screen that told you where you were, which felt out of place. It's something that's used in most movies, just not Star Wars. And as I said the soundtrack felt a little off at times. These were little things, but they were enough to make me forget that I was watching Star Wars at times.
There is not much more I can say without spoiling stuff, and there is stuff to be spoiled. There are easter eggs like in all the movies and I look forward to discovering them with you.
To make a long review short: Rogue One is a great movie. Go see it.
Pros
-Story
-Costumes/sets/technology design
-Characters
-Battles
-Makes the OT better
Cons
-CGI issues
-Soundtrack (personal preference)
-Odd pacing
-Changes made to set it apart from the saga sets it apart a little too much
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Epic Dark Draft Decisions (10)
Here is the 10th Epic Dark Draft Decisions. For the new readers, here is what I'm doing:
I use a random card generator to generate a hand of 5 cards from a complete singleton set of Epic, which includes the Core, the Tyrants, and new Uprising sets. I will then analyze the hand and decide what I would tend to pick if I were to draw that hand in the Dark Draft format of play. I will decide which card to pick if I got that pack, as well as which 2 cards I'd pick if I got the remaining 4. For the sake of consistency, I will assume this is the first pack I open.
For your information and as a reminder, here are the Dark Draft rules from the official website:
Consume is a great addition from Uprising. It is a more consistent Unquenchable Thirst, and even though it can't reach the ceiling like UT can, I find it much more solid. I don't like losing cards in my discard pile, and I frequently used UT to hit 0-3 life off something anyway, like a Muse or Thought Plucker.
Elara, The Lycomancer is an amazing card. Putting in a chump blocker and then being able to banish almost any of your opponent's characters can lock up entire decks. However, that loyalty trigger is mandatory, so without more Sage cards she is a risk.
Gladius, The Defender I have not had a lot of experience with. My impressions of him aren't great. Unbanishable is one of the worst keywords one can have. He has decent life, but his attack is lackluster, and he has no Blitz or Ambush or Airborne or any of the other good keywords. He does give a passive boost to all your good champions though which is pretty cool if you have a lot of token generators. You can easily tap him to create 3 human tokens that have 4 attack and that's what you should do. If you can grab something that creates tokens and gives them Blitz he becomes much, much better (like Insurgency). I am intrigued to see how he could do but my gut tells me he is best in constructed.
Rescue Griffin I originally didn't think very highly of, but that is changing. I recognized the defensive capabilities, but was figuring I would rather have other 0-cost cards in my various decks. With the advent of Kark decks, this card could get better and better. A 0-cost champion that can survive most attacks from small and medium hitting champions? A 0-cost champion that can also block fliers and maybe even survive, unlike Guilt Demon? That's pretty sweet. In Kark mirror matches this card will be very helpful as it can block and survive all Angel attacks. In Limited I think it could serve a similar purpose as it will be able to block a lot of stuff, and if you can get your opponent to have to spend gold on it then you are much better off.
Spike Trap is another very interesting card. If Kark decks didn't already need the 0-cost Sage card spots for stuff like Muse, I think this card could really find a home. It seems you have to mass attack Kark and this card gets much better in that light. In Limited I think it's still very solid. You stand a good chance of killing a lot of champions with this card, or at least finishing off champions that you also block. It also Recycles which is very important. I love flexible 0-cost cards like this. My favorite plays are using it against my own Soul Hunter if it gets chump blocked, and using it against Thought Plucker and Knight of Shadows. It's a shame you have to wait til something attacks so this has a hard time getting Muse, but it's still a solid card.
This pack is pretty tough, although for me it comes down to which 0-cost I want to add. The 2 1-costs are ok, but they require more work. Although I love to gain health, if this was the first pack I would value card draw more. However, that Rescue Griffon is a solid free body that can stick around to block almost all of the other 0-cost attackers and a good amount of 1-costs. That being said, I think I have to go with Spike Trap. I almost always use this card when I take it and it gets rid of a lot of troubles, and it's the only card in this pack that helps draw cards which I'm always looking for.
If I received this pack I would have no trouble going for Rescue Griffin and Consume. Yes, it would mean 2 0-costs right off the bat, but they are both solid choices that I am sure would be useful. I love Elara, but I would prefer to see her in a later pack after I grabbed a lot more Sage. And Gladius the same thing but for token generators that give Blitz.
Thanks for reading and happy gaming!
I use a random card generator to generate a hand of 5 cards from a complete singleton set of Epic, which includes the Core, the Tyrants, and new Uprising sets. I will then analyze the hand and decide what I would tend to pick if I were to draw that hand in the Dark Draft format of play. I will decide which card to pick if I got that pack, as well as which 2 cards I'd pick if I got the remaining 4. For the sake of consistency, I will assume this is the first pack I open.
For your information and as a reminder, here are the Dark Draft rules from the official website:
Dark Draft (2 players)
- Shuffle a stack of at least 120 cards. Deal 5 to each player.
- Each player takes 1 card out of their hand of five cards and drafts it, then passes the other 4 to the other (at the same time).
- Each player takes 2 cards out of their new hand of four cards and drafts them, then discards the remaining two cards into a shared face-down discard pile.
Both players now have drafted three cards. Repeat nine times to get to a 30-card deck, shuffle and play.
This is a fun, fast, and skill-testing draft format for two players. Many of our competitive events use this format in the playoff rounds. This format is used in our World Championship. Source: http://www.epiccardgame.com/formats-draft/
This is our 10th pack, which normally would be our last pack.
Consume is a great addition from Uprising. It is a more consistent Unquenchable Thirst, and even though it can't reach the ceiling like UT can, I find it much more solid. I don't like losing cards in my discard pile, and I frequently used UT to hit 0-3 life off something anyway, like a Muse or Thought Plucker.
Gladius, The Defender I have not had a lot of experience with. My impressions of him aren't great. Unbanishable is one of the worst keywords one can have. He has decent life, but his attack is lackluster, and he has no Blitz or Ambush or Airborne or any of the other good keywords. He does give a passive boost to all your good champions though which is pretty cool if you have a lot of token generators. You can easily tap him to create 3 human tokens that have 4 attack and that's what you should do. If you can grab something that creates tokens and gives them Blitz he becomes much, much better (like Insurgency). I am intrigued to see how he could do but my gut tells me he is best in constructed.
Spike Trap is another very interesting card. If Kark decks didn't already need the 0-cost Sage card spots for stuff like Muse, I think this card could really find a home. It seems you have to mass attack Kark and this card gets much better in that light. In Limited I think it's still very solid. You stand a good chance of killing a lot of champions with this card, or at least finishing off champions that you also block. It also Recycles which is very important. I love flexible 0-cost cards like this. My favorite plays are using it against my own Soul Hunter if it gets chump blocked, and using it against Thought Plucker and Knight of Shadows. It's a shame you have to wait til something attacks so this has a hard time getting Muse, but it's still a solid card.
This pack is pretty tough, although for me it comes down to which 0-cost I want to add. The 2 1-costs are ok, but they require more work. Although I love to gain health, if this was the first pack I would value card draw more. However, that Rescue Griffon is a solid free body that can stick around to block almost all of the other 0-cost attackers and a good amount of 1-costs. That being said, I think I have to go with Spike Trap. I almost always use this card when I take it and it gets rid of a lot of troubles, and it's the only card in this pack that helps draw cards which I'm always looking for.
If I received this pack I would have no trouble going for Rescue Griffin and Consume. Yes, it would mean 2 0-costs right off the bat, but they are both solid choices that I am sure would be useful. I love Elara, but I would prefer to see her in a later pack after I grabbed a lot more Sage. And Gladius the same thing but for token generators that give Blitz.
Thanks for reading and happy gaming!
Monday, December 12, 2016
Epic Dark Draft Decisions (9)
Here is the 9th Epic Dark Draft Decisions. For the new readers, here is what I'm doing:
I use a random card generator to generate a hand of 5 cards from a complete singleton set of Epic, which includes the Core, the Tyrants, and new Uprising sets. I will then analyze the hand and decide what I would tend to pick if I were to draw that hand in the Dark Draft format of play. I will decide which card to pick if I got that pack, as well as which 2 cards I'd pick if I got the remaining 4. For the sake of consistency, I will assume this is the first pack I open.
For your information and as a reminder, here are the Dark Draft rules from the official website:
I'm not sure about Demonic Rising. I suppose it can be a nice combo in Constructed if you have a full board and your opponent doesn't, but that seems very situational. In Limited it seems very hard to control. It is a board wipe of sorts which is nice. If you have lots of human tokens out already this is a nice upgrade.
Ah Bitten, the little brother to Inner Demon. A very solid targeted removal card that has found its way into many of my Limited decks. It also helps with Evil loyalty triggers.
Inner Peace. This card will make everyone hate you for dragging the game along, but it can be a lifesaver. It's a Good (get it?) counter to Thought Plucker as well since if you run a lot of Good cards you can Recall it. And as a side note it has a sweet alternate art version I hope to get someday.
Saren, Nightstalker is a new vampire from Uprising. His role is to punish players who play their gold too early. He is Unbreakable on your turn so that is nice, but he is very easily chump blocked. Still though, 10 damage is pretty back breaking and if you can manage him to get through, or boost him with Rage or something that gives Breakthrough, he can be quite good.
Speaking of alternate art cards, here's another one in Thundarus. I personally think he is too easily bounced or broken, and Unbanishable hasn't really shown itself to be a solid evasive ability. But wow is he hard to deal with if you don't have the easy answers. His boost of other dragons can be a lot of fun, but it's very hard to control, especially in Limited. Airborne is always nice though, and he definitely forces your opponent to deal with him or you will most likely win.
After writing through this, I think the debate is between Bitten and Inner Peace, and I think Bitten wins. I always need targeted removal in Epic, and Bitten is a very solid choice. I can use it off turn and the drawback is just giving my opponent a zombie which is usually not the worst thing. Inner Peace is great, but I value removal over lifegain at least in the first pack.
If I got this pack I think I would go with Inner Peace and Saren. Even though its tempting to go with 2 Good cards, I think Thunderus can be too easily countered. At least Saren has Unbreakable and Blitz so he should be able to do something. Sorry Demonic Rising, I need to see some evidence that you're worth putting in my deck.
Anyway thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know if you agree. And happy gaming!
I use a random card generator to generate a hand of 5 cards from a complete singleton set of Epic, which includes the Core, the Tyrants, and new Uprising sets. I will then analyze the hand and decide what I would tend to pick if I were to draw that hand in the Dark Draft format of play. I will decide which card to pick if I got that pack, as well as which 2 cards I'd pick if I got the remaining 4. For the sake of consistency, I will assume this is the first pack I open.
For your information and as a reminder, here are the Dark Draft rules from the official website:
Dark Draft (2 players)
- Shuffle a stack of at least 120 cards. Deal 5 to each player.
- Each player takes 1 card out of their hand of five cards and drafts it, then passes the other 4 to the other (at the same time).
- Each player takes 2 cards out of their new hand of four cards and drafts them, then discards the remaining two cards into a shared face-down discard pile.
Both players now have drafted three cards. Repeat nine times to get to a 30-card deck, shuffle and play.
This is a fun, fast, and skill-testing draft format for two players. Many of our competitive events use this format in the playoff rounds. This format is used in our World Championship. Source: http://www.epiccardgame.com/formats-draft/
Anything good?
I'm not sure about Demonic Rising. I suppose it can be a nice combo in Constructed if you have a full board and your opponent doesn't, but that seems very situational. In Limited it seems very hard to control. It is a board wipe of sorts which is nice. If you have lots of human tokens out already this is a nice upgrade.
Inner Peace. This card will make everyone hate you for dragging the game along, but it can be a lifesaver. It's a Good (get it?) counter to Thought Plucker as well since if you run a lot of Good cards you can Recall it. And as a side note it has a sweet alternate art version I hope to get someday.
Saren, Nightstalker is a new vampire from Uprising. His role is to punish players who play their gold too early. He is Unbreakable on your turn so that is nice, but he is very easily chump blocked. Still though, 10 damage is pretty back breaking and if you can manage him to get through, or boost him with Rage or something that gives Breakthrough, he can be quite good.
Speaking of alternate art cards, here's another one in Thundarus. I personally think he is too easily bounced or broken, and Unbanishable hasn't really shown itself to be a solid evasive ability. But wow is he hard to deal with if you don't have the easy answers. His boost of other dragons can be a lot of fun, but it's very hard to control, especially in Limited. Airborne is always nice though, and he definitely forces your opponent to deal with him or you will most likely win.
 |
| Sorry, these were all I could find for pics |
After writing through this, I think the debate is between Bitten and Inner Peace, and I think Bitten wins. I always need targeted removal in Epic, and Bitten is a very solid choice. I can use it off turn and the drawback is just giving my opponent a zombie which is usually not the worst thing. Inner Peace is great, but I value removal over lifegain at least in the first pack.
If I got this pack I think I would go with Inner Peace and Saren. Even though its tempting to go with 2 Good cards, I think Thunderus can be too easily countered. At least Saren has Unbreakable and Blitz so he should be able to do something. Sorry Demonic Rising, I need to see some evidence that you're worth putting in my deck.
Anyway thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know if you agree. And happy gaming!
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