Ignite Your Spark

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

It's sort of a good news and bad news today.  The motherboard on our machine finally cack'd and we're moving into a new machine (the new iMac), which is kind of like moving IRL and a pain in the posterior.  Given this, we'll rise from the ashes in the next few days or so, which is also when we'll have a ring at our door from the courier delivering a box of awesome new Theros singles from MTG Mint Card.  
 
Anywhoos - for today's post - some news which will make CosPlay fans happy.  Wizards has wrapped up their 'Ignite Your Spark Contest', which challenged fans to submit a photo of themselves auditioning to become the Planeswalker of their choice. Contestants could choose any of the following Planeswalkers: Ajani Goldmane, Chandra Nalaar, Elspeth Tirel, Garruk Wildspeaker, Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Karn, Koth of the Hammer, Liliana vess, Nicol Bolas, Nissa Revane, Ral Zarek, Sarkhan Vol, Sorin Markov, Tamiyo, Tezzeret, Tibalt, Venser, or Vraska.

Felicia Day made the announcement over on the mothersite today . . .

Congratulations to Laura H. (Sumyuna Cosplay) from Madrid, Spain, on her winning Chandra cosplay! Laura will win a trip for two to a PAX of her choice in 2014!
'After some destructive attempts at pyromancy trying to imitate Chandra, Laura proposes herself as a stand-in for her promotional duties and leave her free to go on with the usual incinerating business.'

Fan Favorite winner Christine X. (Cspranklerun / Christine Sprankle) - Wins a laptop and a Magic swag bag including a copy of Magic 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers
'I am Elspeth. I live my Dreams as a Planeswalker playing Magic: The Gathering. You too can become a Champion of Light, Knowledge, Nature, Fire or Death. Live the Game. Play the Game.'

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this morning i found $3 on my desk which meant i was destine to go to starbucks and get coffee....when i got into my car i heard this song for the first time and thought how sweet is that....i decided that it was going to be a good day....hope y'all have a great start to the week.

Flash Sale!!!! Fall Into London

I'm breaking from my no-weekend post routine to fill you in on a pretty fantastic sale, thanks to my beautiful sponsor...

FALL INTO LONDON

Right now, and until Tuesday only, you my friends can enjoy....

That's right ladies and gents...for the next two days, you can take wild advantage of 40% off and buy yourself up some of this kind of gorgeous...





















All prints and originals are included in the sale so hop on over to...



...and use code FLASH13 to get your 40% discount.

Happy days my friends, happy days.

xo

Anthousa's Army

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

Unfortunately, we could not get out to Friday Night Magic at OMG! Games (here in Barrie, Ontario) last night and try out the brand new format as the motherboard in our computer died a horrible 'n' smelly death.  This of course means that the several new Magic: the Gathering videos we had wanted to get off for some of the new Theros products will unfortunately not happen until we're into a new computer.

 

For the interim, we wanted to get something posted on the new Theros Intro Pack we picked up.  We have the Green / White 'Anthousa's Army' one which features an arsenal of powerful auras and spells one can cast on your small army of creatures to swing on in for the victory.  For the retail price of approximately $15, you get the following;
•  1 premium card
•  1 60-card deck
•  2 Theros booster packs
•  1 learn-to-play insert
•  1 strategy insert
 

. . .  And the decklist -

25 lands : 13 Forest, 12 Plains
20 creatures : 2 Elvish Mystic, 1 Favored Hoplite, 2 Deadly Recluse, 1 Setessan Battle Priest, 1 Phalanx Leader, 2 Wingsteed Rider, 2 Chronicler of Heroes, 2 Staunch-Hearted Warrior, 2 Rumbling Baloth, 1 Pheres-Band Centaurs, 1 Setessan Griffin, 1 Anthousa, Setessan Hero, 2 Centaur Battlemaster
15 other spells : 2 Giant Growth, 2 Warrior's Lesson, 2 Battlewise Valor, 2 Pacifism, 2 Time to Feed, 2 Dauntless Onslaught, 1 Bow of Nylea, 1 Artisan's Sorrow, 1 Vanquish the Soul
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There's some very decent early drops in this build to obtain a board presence which when targeted provides a benefit.  The added bonus of targeting your creature with one of those lovely auras can transform your unimposing creature into a real threat.  We think that this Theros pre-constructed Intro Deck not only can be the perfect start to get into the game for a newer player but also gives a very decent base on which to upgrade as you start acquiring new cards from your local games store on online MTG retailer like MTG Mint Card.
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The Dream House Diaries - Style Inspiration

I don't know about you but I'm pretty happy it's Friday...this has been one of those weeks where there literally aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Happily, one of the things that has been taking up alot of my time is a little hashing and plotting...



...a la #projectdreamhouse.

And on that note, I thought it time for some...



...action.

One of the things architect Wallace and I have been mulling over a lot is the exterior elevation ideas and finishes.

As part of this dialogue, we've been really trying to nail down the inspiration that is going to spearhead our final 'look'.

To that end, I of course have been scouring Pinterest and the interwebs for ideas.

And after some deliberation back and forth, we really sort of hammered out the feel we are after.

Basically we want to birth a sweet and pretty love child between the kind of thing you might find in Holland Park and/or Chelsea, UK...


via


via


via


via


via

...and an edgier, rougher, and more modern design...












via

...only hopefully for substantially less than the 12M pound price tag that goes along with this number;)

Stay tuned to see if we pull that one off.

And speaking of following along for the new house ride, me and the architect have decided to do a little joint blogging action...so that you get to see the whole process from both a designers and architect's perspective.

I'll be giving you a formal introduction on Tuesday but for now, mull on this...

...and check back every Tuesday for that sort of business.

xo

Theros Event Decklists

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,


We simply cannot wait until our MTG Mint Card pre-orders are shipped so we can start brewing up builds and start gaming at OMG! Games (Barrie, Ontario) Friday Night Magic events.  For this particular Friday, we'll likely stick to a Return to Ravnica block deck with a few singletons of Theros we've picked up from the PreRelease event.

Speaking of events, Theros Game Day is scheduled for the weekend of October 19th / 20th and the Theros Event Deck will be going on sale that Friday giving gamers an opportunity to take it for a spin.   Unlike the preconstructed Intro Decks, which Wizards of the Coast develops with newer players to Magic in mind, event decks are built with with a focus given to tournament-play competitive players.  We now have the final decklist today over on the mothersite, so let's have a look.

Anywhoos, for an MRSP of approximately $25 (depending upon where you may be), here's what you get . . .
• 1 x 60-card deck
• 1 x 15-card sideboard
• 1 x Spindown   life counter
• 1 x strategy insert
• 1 x card box

Theros Event Deck - 'Inspiring Heroics' (U/W)24 lands : 4  Azorius Guildgate, 1  Hallowed Fountain, 5  Island, 14  Plains

25 creatures : 2  Ascended Lawmage, 2  Banisher Priest, 3  Battlewise Hoplite, 3  Dryad Militant, 1  Fabled Hero, 1  Frontline Medic, 3  Hopeful Eidolon, 2  Imposing Sovereign, 1  Lavinia of the Tenth, 3  Lyev Skyknight, 1  New Prahv Guildmage, 1  Precinct Captain, 1  Skymark Roc, 1  Soldier of the Pantheon

11 other spells : 2  Dauntless Onslaught, 2  Detention Sphere, 2  Gods Willing, 1  Ordeal of Heliod, 2  Ordeal of Thassa, 2  Pacifism

15 sideboard cards : 2  Arrest, 2  Gainsay, 2  Gift of Orzhova, 2  Glare of Heresy, 2  Negate, 3  Solemn Offering, 2  Triton Tactics
 
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Collaborating - EQ3 and Polyvore

If you read my BlogPodium re-cap yesterday, you probably noted that one of my big takeaways from the day was the importance of collaboration...both with fellow bloggers and with businesses.

To the later's end, I'm so happy to showcase two little partnerships I've been working on as of late.

First, I was thrilled when the folks over at EQ3 emailed me to let me know I had been chosen as their blogger of the month:)))

As part of the selection, I got to select something from their store so that I could style it in my own home.

One glace at their Design House Stockholm Light...

...and I knew she was the chosen one.

Because the light is so infinitely versatile, I found choosing just one place to showcase her a little tricky so instead, I decided to take Ms Stockholm on a small journey around my living room...

You can read all about this beauty's adventures in casa Bijou over at Inhabit, the EQ3 blog.

Along with this fun little project, I'm also very excited to be working with Polyvore on their newest venture.

I'm sure you all know and love this site for fashion boards but what I'm most excited about is that Polyvore now has a 'Home' section, which means putting together design and/or inspiration boards is a total dreamboat of a situation.

As with fashion and beauty, creating gorgeous interior/home sets is so so easy.

I've been having a lot of fun playing around over there these past few days and have put together two boards that do a good job of speaking to what I like...

First there's this guy...(PS, sorry about the weird gap at the top...one of the images is larger than it appears and the crop can't be changed...things like that drive me nuts when I post them but I feel better about it with a little disclaimer)

And then this one...

 PS...something quite exciting will be coming and it has to do with what I've put together...stay tuned on that front.

For now, I'd  hop on over and try out Polyvore's Home fun for yourself...be warned though...it can end up being a giant time suck...I'm a little addicted to it already and am finding it hard to pull myself away.

And with that, and in keeping with the whole collaboration bent of this post, I'm off to hatch and plot a little more re: #projectdreamhouse with my architect extraordinaire Wallace.

::Whispers::

Can you say 'joint blogging the entire project'???

Coming soon my friends.

xo