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Best Udemy Training Sale Ever On ALL Courses – New Years 2018 Deal

January 2nd, 2018 | Posted by Indri in Development | programming | Ramblings | reddit | training | Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Best Udemy Training Sale Ever On ALL Courses – New Years 2018 Deal)

The Best Udemy training sale EVER – 10.99 for ANY course!

This is a really sweet promo going on for New Years 2018.

I like Udemy, the courses are usually good quality and reviews seem honest.
I’m not even an affiliate of theirs but I will vouch for them being legit in the realm of online training.

The site works well on my phone, I can usually learn a thing or two on my lunch break viewing courses on my smartphone.

One thing that has historically put me off is the cost of some of the courses I’ve been wanting to get.
I know what you’re thinking – training is an investment, imagine the cost if it were an in-person class, etc.
I know there’s nothing wrong with paying for good quality training on profitable topics.
Even still, I have yet to find myself able to pony up $200 for a Udemy course.

So this sale is a really nice way for me to start off the new year.
The best thing you can do is invest in yourself, gain skills, knowledge and education.

For me, I picked up courses on these topics – at a mere $10.99 each.

Game development with Unity. (reg price $200!)
App development for iOS (reg price $200!)
App development for Android (reg price $200!)
Chrome and Firefox plugin development (reg price $200!)

I’m a decent programmer and have experience with various languages (Java, C/C++, Lua, Python, etc..) but these topics have been intimidating to me and left me curious. These have all been on my “learning bucket list” for some time now. So I figure now is a great time to scratch the itch. I don’t know if I’ll ever really work on those things, but at least I have the know-how if I find the time. For 10.99 per course you really can’t go wrong! They never expire, the good ones are updated often, and there’s a 30 day money back guarantee. So if you hate the instructors voice you can get your 10.99 back. I ended up buying 10 courses altogether and at checkout it said I had saved over $1500 on those training courses!

BONUS SAVINGS up to 37.5% ! Here’s how

Sign up for the DOSH cashback app (this is my affiliate link)
Install the app and then browse for “online” offers.
Search for Udemy, it should say up to 37.5% off.
Click through the link to get to Udemy website.
After you do that, every course you buy should get you cash back up to 37.5%
Note it can take up to 60 days depending on the merchant to get the cash in your DOSH account.
Once it’s in there you can transfer it to your bank or Paypal easily.

I hope I helped you save some money and kick off the new year with good training material you’ve been looking for!

Hearthstone Review from a Magic the Gathering Player

June 10th, 2017 | Posted by Indri in card games | Hearthstone | pc-games | Uncategorized | world of warcraft - (Comments Off on Hearthstone Review from a Magic the Gathering Player)

Hearthstone Review from a Magic the Gathering Player

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been playing competitive Magic the Gathering since the game first came out. Up until a few years ago, that was fine. I had plenty of time and money to spend on the game, and I enjoyed it. Then I got married and had a kid. Reality set in, and now I have real priorities that push gaming way to the bottom of the list.

So what can a lifetime card flipping addict like me do to scratch that itch? Plain and simple, I had to quit playing Magic competitively. I may be able to catch a draft every once in a blue moon, or play some other form of the game on my Playstation etc…but the days of staying up into wee hours of night playing Magic Online tournaments are gone.

Enter Hearthstone – My Magic The Gathering Replacement

As a long time geek gamer, you might have also guessed that I’ve played World of Warcraft. You guessed right. That had to stop too, due to the same issues of not having time to play games for hours.

I was already looking for other card games that could be played faster and easier. So when I heard that there was a card game based on WoW, that was one of the first few I tried. I’ll be honest, I didn’t get hooked immediately… but after a few weeks, when I started getting good at it, I started to like it more.

Hearthstone Pros and Cons

PROS:

PRO 1 – Fast Games
What I like most about Hearthstone is the games are fast. I’m a dad and a husband, and I work two jobs… I just don’t have the time to sit and play 3 to 5+ hour Magic tournaments anymore. PTQ’s are just not happening anymore. However I can play a few games of Hearthstone, on my phone, before bed or on my lunch break. This is not possible with Magic. The tournaments are draft style, but not really drafts. So you can play against different opponents anytime, you aren’t restricted to a draft pod like you are with MTG. This is nice because I can play an Arena match or two, then live my life and come back later that night, or two days later and continue the same Arena tournament.

PRO 2 – Can be played on cell phone

I’m already carrying my smartphone with me everywhere I go. So to have a decent game on there is pretty nice. I couldn’t imagine trying to play Magic on my phone, but Blizzard did a pretty good job of making their game playable on my Samsung Galaxy. It’s nice to know that if I want to I can play basically anytime, as long as there is WiFi.

PRO 3 – Rewards Galore

While they don’t just give you every card to play with from the start, which they could have done… it does give you
a reason to keep playing the game and some excitement I guess from opening packs. They give out free packs often, and there are various rewards for progress on each class. This is something Magic doesn’t really do, but is a nice incentive to keep playing.

PRO 4 – Much Cheaper than Magic

It is cheaper than Magic. You can spend money on packs if you want to, or you can play for free buying packs of cards with gold you win from the tournaments etc. You have to be more resourceful with your decks when playing for free, but you can still play. If you want to play more competitively, you can either “dust” your unwanted cards to build a deck you want, or spend a fraction of the cost of a competitive magic deck to buy a bunch of booster packs. It’s also kind of refreshing for me, not to have to look at every card and consider it’s monetary value.

PRO 5 – No Chat

One thing about Magic Online that would annoy me is the chat box. Or I should say, the opponents trash talk area. I don’t know if it was just me, but I would always face the most douchey and rude opponents. So I’d ignore the chat box. That being said, even in Hearthstone players can emote in jerky ways, so thankfully there is an option to “squelch” them so you at least don’t have to be annoyed with their commentary.

CONS:

CON 1 – Dominant Decks
At times it seems like there are one or two decks that completely dominate the game, are basically unbeatable, and everyone you go up against in the player vs player ranked matches seems to be playing those decks. If you aren’t playing those one to 3 “net decks” you probably will lose. This is always an issue with card games, since players have the internet it’s hard to stop them from building and sharing the most broken decks. Blizzard is somewhat quick to respond with card nerfs, but still allow some to stay in.

CON 2 – Low Rotation Cycles
Cards that are released stick around for 2 full years before they go into “Wild” mode. Say you really hate a particular card, like oh say Reno Jackson for example. You are stuck playing against it for 2 full years. People were waiting and waiting for stupid Reno to rotate out, it was so horrible.

CON 3 – Not Much of a Competitive Outlet

Sure they have Arena Mode, and there is some kind of major tournament that takes place in a faraway land once or twice a year… but unlike magic there are not PTQ’s, there are no local gaming shops hosting Hearthstone tournaments that I’m aware of. This is sad for some people who really get into the competitive aspect of the game, it’s just not there for Hearthstone. Which I find a bit odd – Blizzard is a pretty big company and could easily host a pro tour type of thing if they wanted to.

Con 4 – No Trading

While I admit I was never much of a fan of trading, I do realize that trading is an important part of Magic that a lot of people do enjoy. That’s the main reason I’m listing this as a con here. You cannot trade with other players in Hearthstone, but they do allow you to “dust” your cards to the game. Then you can use that dust to “create” the cards you want. The thing is, dusting a card is always a losing trade. You dust something for a fraction of what it costs to create a card of the same rarity. So unlike Magic where you are trying to trade for equal or better value, you will never get that kind of deal with Hearthstone.

TO SUM IT UP

Well that’s it for now, I may add to this list as the game goes on, but I stand by my pros and cons at this point. I feel like Hearthstone is a fine Magic replacement for gamers that find themselves limited on time and money. If you haven’t tried it yet, why not go to your app store and give it a shot? It’s free to play and unless you really want to build the best decks to compete in ranked mode, you don’t need to spend any money. You can play it on about any decent smartphone or tablet, and the games or tournaments don’t require you to sit down playing for hours at a time.

All in all I’m glad I found Hearthstone I think I would have ended up very depressed and missing my Magic the Gathering gaming if I had just quit and not found another game.

How to Save Money On Hearthstone Gold – And Tons of Other Games!

February 2nd, 2017 | Posted by Indri in card games | Hearthstone | Uncategorized - (Comments Off on How to Save Money On Hearthstone Gold – And Tons of Other Games!)

How to Save Money On Hearthstone Gold – And Tons of Other In Game Purchases!

What if I told you, that you pay too much for your mobile or PC games? That all this time you could have been spending less money to get more of the in-game items you need to play your games best? I was surprised to find this out, and so were many of my Hearthstone playing friends – all of us were paying full price for game purchases until we discovered Amazon Coins. It just blows my mind that so many people still aren’t taking advantage of this! However it seems like neither the game companies nor Amazon are doing much to promote this virtual currency…which is why I’m writing this to let my visitors “in on the secret”.

My Quest for Mobile Game Savings

I probably would never have found out about Amazon Coins if it weren’t for my wife. I was never compelled or driven to look for discounts or coupons for our games, until she racked up a HUGE amount of 3rd party charges playing League of Angels – Fire Raiders. She’s a stay at home mom, and her main thing to do during the day besides watch our son is to play games on her cell phone. She was spending around $100 per month on in game purchases, but there was one month she REALLY went crazy and spent over $200 on this game! Needless to say I was not thrilled at that, nor was I happy about her game draining our monthly entertainment budget. That’s when I went looking for any possible way to save money on these games, and I came across this lovely virtual currency called Amazon Coins.

The ONLY Catch – You Must Install the “Amazonified” Version of Your Game

There isn’t really a catch other than you will need to install your game through the Amazon App or marketplace. If you already have it installed, you will need to uninstall that game and reinstall the Amazon version. The ONLY difference between the version you have now and the one you will install is going to be that Amazon Coins are enabled as a payment option. I was pleased to find out that Amazon Coins were supported for both League of Angels – Fire Raiders as well as my favorite mobile game, Hearthstone.

Click to visit Amazon’s Download of Hearthstone with Amazon Coins Purchase Enabled

HearthstoneHearthstone

How Much Can I Really Save With These Coins?
The savings you get depends on how much you spend at the time of purchasing the coins. It runs on a scale, the less you spend the less you save. The lowest purchase you can make (at the time of writing) is 500 coins (equal to $5 of in game value) for a mere 1% discount, up to 50,000 coins (equal to $500 of in game value) for a 25% discount!
So far I feel most comfortable with buying 5000 coins at a time for a 17% discount. That’s more than enough for what I need in my gaming at the moment. You can also gift coins to your friends, family, anyone… if I end up with more coins than I need, I usually send the excess to my wife who will use and appreciate them more.

Look for Extra Savings Around Holidays and Sales Events!
They also have promotions through either Amazon or sometimes the game companies, where you can score even more great deals. For example on Black Friday I was able to get an amazing deal run by Amazon 50% off coins! So always check for promos around holidays, big sale days etc. Another thing that happened, which was great, was a big glitch in my wife’s favorite game. For a short time as a way to make it up to the players, the game company offered them a HUGE bonus on in game purchases. Between the bonus and spending with her discounted Amazon Coins, my wife made out with a ridiculous amount of stuff for her game. She hasn’t had to buy anything for a couple months now – she keeps saying she has too many gems! I don’t play her game so I don’t know what she means, but that can’t be a bad thing!

See the List of All Amazon Coins Supported Games – Check if Your Game is Supported!

Direct Link to Amazon Coins

Click to visit Amazon’s Download of League of Angels – Fire Raiders with Amazon Coins Purchase Enabled

League of Angels - Fire RaidersLeague of Angels – Fire Raiders

7 Great Spooky Fun Board Games for Parties

October 30th, 2016 | Posted by Indri in Uncategorized - (Comments Off on 7 Great Spooky Fun Board Games for Parties)

Sometimes it’s hard to plan a party around a horror theme… you need to find creative ways to engage and entertain your potentially odd group of friends. While you could bob for apples or beat up some creepy pinatas, maybe you want something more low key than that, and that’s where a board game might come in.

If you’re looking for the perfect spooky board games for your Halloween party, or other horror themed parties,
here are my all time best picks for fun horror board games. Take a look, read the reviews and pick one up…if you dare…!

Top 10 Most Valuable Kaladesh Masterpiece Series Inventions Cards

October 2nd, 2016 | Posted by Indri in Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Top 10 Most Valuable Kaladesh Masterpiece Series Inventions Cards)

Here is a list of the top 10 most valuable Kaladesh Masterpiece Series Inventions cards according to the latest prices listed on TCGPlayer.com and prices shown on Amazon.com.

These are some of the most valuable cards printed in awhile, so it’s really worth it to open some booster packs of this set – you never know, you might get lucky and find one of these cards in there!

 Booster Box + Bundle Fat Pack COMBO! Kaladesh KLD MTG Magic The Gathering Kaladesh Booster Pack 6 (Six) Packs – Magic: the Gathering – MTG: Kaladesh Booster Packs 3 (Three) Packs – Magic: the Gathering – MTG: Kaladesh Booster Packs

Top Ten Ways to Lose at Magic the Gathering Sealed Deck Tournaments

September 14th, 2016 | Posted by Indri in card games | magic the gathering | mtg | pc-games | Ramblings | Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Top Ten Ways to Lose at Magic the Gathering Sealed Deck Tournaments)

How to Lose a Sealed Deck Magic the Gathering Tournament

You know what they say, learn from your mistakes. In the many years that I’ve played Magic the Gathering, I’ve made tons of mistakes. Probably every single mistake you could make. So I’d like to take a minute to jot these down so all of you out there hopefully won’t make the same ones I did.

Here are my top 10 biggest mtg sealed deck mistakes for you to learn from:

Relying On One Card

Bombs are nice to have, and if played right bombs can single handedly win a game…but they can’t be the ONLY way your deck wins. What if your opponent kill it as soon as it’s played? Or counterspells it? What if you just never draw it? If I had a nickel for every time I had a bomb card in my deck but never drew it once during an entire tournament… It’s just better to build yourself for an all around good deck filled with your most playable cards.

Magic The Gathering Eldritch Moon Booster BoxMagic The Gathering Eldritch Moon Booster BoxHasbro MTG Magic Eldritch Moon Fat PackHasbro MTG Magic Eldritch Moon Fat Pack

Forcing Your Favorite Colors

I get it, you love two colors and think those are the best in this tournament. You really want to play them. But sometimes you can’t do that. Those may be the best colors but it you have only low quality, mediocre cards…or just not enough creatures. You can’t automatically play those colors. Magic just isn’t that simple where a certain color or colors always wins. Take time to look hard at your pool, maybe this tournament you will have to play your least favorite colors – but you will give yourself the best chance to win with those.

Not Playing Enough Creatures.

Most good players agree that you should be playing a minimum of 14 creatures in about any limited format. Unless you’re playing a non-creature deck – in which case you will lose 99% of the time in limited. Don’t play non creature “combo” decks in limited, just don’t. Give yourself the best chance to win, you probably have some money on the line, and now is not the time to play weird or casual style decks.

Neglecting or Over-Valuing “Bombs”

Wow, a mythic! I have to play this! No, no you don’t… Just because a card is mythic, or rare, doesn’t mean it’s automatically a good limited card or that it will fit well in your deck. On the flip side maybe you say this: “Wow I opened a (insert awesome green planeswalker)”…but I have all these great red cards and I don’t think green is any good. So I’m not playing that… (and then you lose the tournament). Read up on the set. Learn what cards are actually good and playable for the set in limited format, and gravitate towards the better cards. You may be surprised to learn certain uncommon cards are much stronger than certain mythics or rares.




Forcing a “Strategy” Without the Support

What I see a lot of with these newer sets are the various “themes” or “archetypes”. These could be strong in limited, and are tempting to play, but more often than not you just don’t get enough cards to go “all in” on any of these archetypes – or the one you like best. I believe these archetypes were mainly designed for constructed play, and you are lucky if you can swing them effectively in your sealed pools. Sometimes you just need a mix of “good stuff” to have a deck that wins limited tournaments.

Not Splashing a Third Color When You Should

If you have good removal or bombs in your pool, and not enough in your main colors, you should consider splashing those cards in (hint: you can never have enough removal). Now I’m not talking about mediocre removal, I mean GOOD removal… the kind you would pick highly in a draft for example. Having access to effective removal is well worth adding a few off colored cards and lands to your deck. Just don’t overdo it – try not to “splash” more than 3 or 4 off color cards, tops.

Making Poor Mulligan Choices

Obviously you know when you have one land or no lands you should mulligan… But let’s say you draw 3 islands in your opening hand while playing a blue green deck. Let’s say you have a handful of islands, and green creatures. When you don’t have the right color mana in hand to cast the majority of the cards in your hand, you’ll probably lose from never drawing the lands to play anything. This has happened to me more than a few times, and it’s very frustrating…but 100% your own fault for keeping a bad hand. Don’t let it happen to you. Do the right thing and mulligan!

Splashing Double Mana Cards

If you are going to play that 3rd color, make sure you have the mana base for doing so. Most of the time you won’t be able to play double mana off color cards and shouldn’t add those to your deck. If you aren’t sure how to splash, stay safe and stick with two colors. There is nothing wrong with only playing two colors, provided you have enough decent playable cards in there.

“Splashing” Every Color Without the Mana Base

Look you aren’t going to be able to swing 4 or 5 colors in limited most of the time. Not unless you have some good multicolored lands or creatures that produce any color mana. Even still, it’s going to be hard to always have the right colored mana around to play your cards. You’re going to end up with a few unplayable cards in hand most games. That’s how you lose games.

Taking Advice from Inexperienced Players

I’m not the greatest player in the world, I’m not a “pro”. I have however been playing Magic since 1994 – longer than most people, and I win most of the tournaments I get a chance to play. I’m at least an above average player, which is why I have this blog for newer Magic players or those looking to improve. Here’s the thing. Magic is a highly speculative and competitive game. Everyone thinks they know how to win at it, what cards are best, and they want to share their secrets with you. You can’t believe everything you read from random guys on a Magic forum, You can’t go by everything your buddy says at the local game store. Or even what the store owner says, or whoever the store judge is. Ultimately YOU have to “get it”…and you’re in for a wild ride as it could take months or even years to learn the ins and outs of this ever evolving game.

Magic The Gathering Eldritch Moon Booster BoxMagic The Gathering Eldritch Moon Booster BoxHasbro MTG Magic Eldritch Moon Fat PackHasbro MTG Magic Eldritch Moon Fat Pack

Final Words

If you’re reading this post, it probably means you want to get better at Magic and win more limited games. Reading blogs like this one, and watching gameplay videos will definitely get your mind flowing with ideas which help towards improving your MTG game.

Good luck in your next sealed deck MTG tournament, and make sure to watch out for these deckbuilding mistakes!

Any questions or comments? Feel free to drop a message and let me know what you think!

Magic The Gathering MTG Holiday Gift Boxes

December 18th, 2014 | Posted by Indri in Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Magic The Gathering MTG Holiday Gift Boxes)

(Updated 8/12/16)

New Holiday Magic the Gathering Gift box for 2016!

Wizards of the Coast has released this awesome new gift box! A quick, easy and much appreciated Christmas gift for any Magic player in your life.

MTG Magic Shadows Over Innistrad Gift BoxMTG Magic Shadows Over Innistrad Gift Box

Magic The Gathering Planeswalkers List

March 30th, 2014 | Posted by Indri in card games | magic the gathering | mtg | Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Magic The Gathering Planeswalkers List)
Magic The Gathering Planeswalkers List

(Update 8/12/16 – this list looks like it’s no longer updated, there aren’t any of the newer standard planeswalkers in there for example…but it’s still a nice visual list to flip through for new players).

Here are the things I found most interesting about this list and why you might want to bookmark it. You can click any of the cards to read the full Oracle rules text. Clicking will also bring you to Amazon, where you can compare MTG card prices from a variety of online card stores. I’ve found many times they have cheaper prices than your local MTG card shop or even Ebay. If you’re new to the game or unfamiliar with some of the planeswalker cards, you can read some honest reviews about them written by actual players who are always discussing them on Amazon reviews. As someone who left the game for a couple of years and only recently jumped back in, I find this list useful to look at for comparing the different versions of my favorite planeswalkers. So go ahead and check out the list, happy card flipping! 🙂

Article preview:
“It’s no secret these rare or mythic planeswalkers are some of the best Magic the Gathering (MTG) cards. When introduced they changed the game forever, adding new rules and game choices players never had before. Planeswalkers are now printed in all new sets, usually fetching high card prices. Check out this Magic The Gathering Planeswalkers List…which will best fit in your deck?”

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    Our Pinterest Board for Altered Art MTG Cards!

    June 10th, 2013 | Posted by Indri in card games | Development | magic the gathering | mtg | Uncategorized - (Comments Off on Our Pinterest Board for Altered Art MTG Cards!)

    Today we are happy to announce the beginning of our fun new Pinterest board about altered magic the gathering cards. Over the coming weeks we will be posting some of the best altered art cards we find from all over the MTG art underground!

    Check out our latest pins on the altered art mtg board here Pinterest Board – Altered Art MTG Cards

    Over time I’ll be making other boards and pinning some of fun, geeky things I know and love.