InkedPlaymats.com

Cruising around the MTG Salvation forums today, I discovered a topic about where to find quality playmats for Magic: the Gathering. One of the posters supplied a link to InkedPlaymats.com. You can purchase playmats with featured designs, generally for $20 plus shipping/tax, though some are listed at $25. But the real draw for the site is the ability to buy totally custom playmats for $25 ($35 if you want the InkedPlaymats guys to do a proof or any editing to your image).

You supply an image file (many file formats are accepted: PDF, CDR, EPS, AI, PSD, TIF, JPG, and even hardcopy via snail mail if you're willing to pay a $10 service fee), and they ship you a 24x14" playmat (machine washable!) with your image printed on it. The InkedPlaymats website has a downloadable PSD template with guides to help design the image.

The whole operation seems pretty sweet, and I've already ordered two playmats with two different images of my design. One mat goes with my five EDH decks (both complete and under construction). The other is a play on Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon; the image of the dragon itself has been adjusted to be bright and colorful, and a rainbow passes behind him. This is now "Skittles, the Bright Dragon". Along the bottom, the text reads "Taste the Infection". Along the left reads the same text, written in the Phyrexian language.

"Who Needs Spells When I Can Just Throw My Deck At My Opponent's Head?"

So, I play Magic: the Gathering Online on occasion. I've got a single Commander format deck (a mirror of a deck I've got with physical cards), and a number of decks for the special "Planeswalker" format that only exists online. Planeswalker is fun, because you can get the cards for it really cheap, and since it's online you can use the same card in multiple decks, no problem.

I've recently created a Blue/Red deck with a very simple decklist:

• 3x Seismic Assault
• 4x Treasure Hunt
• 53x Land cards

The premise is simple: Draw my entire deck using Treasure Hunt(s), since my deck is primarily lands. Then discard those lands to activate Seismic Assault, dealing damage to my opponents and their creatures. Just now, I played a Two-Headed Giant game with this deck. When I played the Seismic Assault, one of my opponents laughed at me for using it in a multiplayer format with higher life totals. Through most of the game, I used Seismic Assault to take down creatures giving me and my teammate trouble. I had already cast 3 of my 4 Treasure Hunts, each time only drawing 5-8 lands. Not enough to be a huge threat, but the guy that laughed stopped laughing when he reailzed just how MUCH of my deck was land.

I had cast 3 Treasure Hunts, I had a Seismic Assault on the field, and two Seismic Assaults in my hand, and I was out of land. I was depending on my one card per turn to keep up, and our team was hurting.

Then I drew Treasure Hunt. My team was at 24 life, my opponents were at 39.

I cast Treasure Hunt, and revealed the remainder of my deck; 26 cards.

26 * 2 damage. GG?

So really. Who needs to cast spells in a Magic game? I'll just throw my deck at their head, knock them out, and go through their pockets.

Kindle's "Reset to Factory Defaults" does NOT Reset to Factory Defaults

I was having some trouble today with a mod for my Kindle DX, and I finally said "fuck it!" and decided to reset the thing to its factory defaults. After all, I can just re-register it to my Amazon account, and re-download all the books I bought. That will solve my problem. Right? Wrong!

Even after resetting it to defaults (twice!*), the mod I was having issue with was still installed. I'm sorry Amazon, but an installed hack is not what I call "factory defaults".

* In the middle of re-registering my Kindle after the first reset, the screen blinked and all my information was back, as if I had never reset it in the first place. I wasn't even done inputting my password yet.