So, here's the deal. Myles has recently (in the past few months) thrown himself into the YouTube Magic: The Gathering trading community. Who knew such a thing existed??!? Basically, you film your binder and post the video on YouTube so that everyone can see what you have for trade. Then you arrange everything over private messaging and mail your cards out to COMPLETE STRANGERS and hope they keep up their end of the bargain!!! Most of them have been honest, and they are patient, understanding and forgiving (one of Myles' envelopes arrived at its destination torn up to bits and pieces, but the cards were fine, so the trader took it very easy on him). He only just now met his first dishonest (d-bag) trader who received Myles' cards then cancelled his YouTube account. I guess his collection is complete? Oh well...if Orrin O. from Montana (his old YouTube name was: LimaBean1211) tries to trade with you, please tell him that MiloDaGreat1 says to go to hell!!! Heh...Myles isn't even that mad - it was only about $10 worth of cards. No biggie...he knew the risks going in.
Myles also saw an opportunity to draw attention to his trades by creating a fun little YouTube show called Milo: The Gathering, where he invites friends over to talk about different aspects of Magic. Check out his channel! It gained popularity pretty quickly among the YouTube traders and I think he may have inspired a few other traders to start their own web series, too!
ANYWAY...enough about Myles. The point is, I can't avoid Magic: The Gathering!!! I am currently addicted to opening packs - it's so fun!! You never know what you're going to get! Just like a box of chocolates...and life?? Weird.
Lately, I've been using my limited (VERY limited) artistic skills to alter the art on crappy, worthless (read: expendable) cards. Every now and then I find a card that I can immediately see how I want to alter. I've done a few now - most are very small - so I thought I would share them...but, not here. I think I will follow in my friend's footsteps and just tumble them.
I gave those wolves some motivation! Plus, I <3 bunnies!!!!
Okay, so it’s been six months (half a year!!!) since I’ve written anything for this here “gaming” blog. I’ve licked my wounds from the horrible showing I had at the M12 pre-release, skipped Innistrad completely, and am putting it all behind me. I DID play at the Grand Prix Montreal (scrubbed at 2-2-1), but it was really just an excuse to go to Montreal and let’s face it – I’m no MTG player. I will leave that to Myles, who is carving a cozy little niche for himself in the YouTube MTG trading community. You can follow his progress with his trades (he’s trying to get a “piece of power“ by trading cards that have been donated to him) here. Also, he’s converted our tiny living room into the set for his nerdy Magic show, Milo: The Gathering. I’m credited as the director, but I swear, all I do is push the record button, and crudely edit the resulting material into a passably presentable finished video. You can watch them here, if you are so inclined.
No…my time is better spent (wasted?) trying out all the new games we've acquired over the last few months. After Myles and I scrubbed out of Montreal, we had a free day to wander around and explore the city. We ended up at a great little game store called, Chez Geek, where the owner got super excited - giddy even - when we picked up King of Tokyo. Of course, Myles gravitated towards it because it is a board game created by none other than, Richard Garfield - the creator of Magic: The Gathering.
But, don't let that stop you non-Magic-playing people!! This game is so much fun!!! It's currently our favourite board game to play when we don't want to get too deep into strategy. The concept and execution are so simple that you can pretty much just dive right in and start playing. Basically, you control a monster that fights the other monsters (i.e. players) while trying to take over Tokyo. You start with 10 health points, which decrease every time you are attacked, which means you can die (and get eliminated from the game) if you hit zero hearts. The first monster to earn 20 victory points or the last monster standing (whichever happens first) wins the game! Easy peasy! The mechanics of the game are simple - roll a bunch of custom dice (very similar to Zombie dice) and choose whether to take energy cubes, victory points, healing points, or you can attack. If you are the monster occupying Tokyo, your attacks will hit all other opponents, but you are unable to heal. If you are not in Tokyo, your attack only hits the monster that is in Tokyo, and you are allowed to heal. If the monster in Tokyo takes damage from an attack roll, they can switch places with the monster that dealt damage. You might be thinking, "why would I risk being in Tokyo?" Well, the answer to that is, you get 2 victory points if you start your turn in Tokyo. Doesn't sound like a lot, but points can be pretty hard to come by. The real fun comes with the special cards on which you can spend energy cubes to buy. These cards allow you to earn victory points, or deal extra damage, or heal, or roll an extra die each turn, or cause your opponents to roll one less die each turn...so many different things!!! In fact, we don't even know all the different things you can do with these cards because we haven't gone through them all, yet. They really change the dynamics of the game and add enough variety to allow players to pursue different strategies.
The dude at Chez Geek told us that this is one of few games where the more players you have, the more fun it is to play. Often, if a game says it's for 2-6 players, it's probably best to play with 4. We haven't had a chance to try it out with a full group of monsters, but you can tell that it would be crazy, chaotic, and totally fun. Can't wait to wrangle up a larger group of friends so we can all try to take over Tokyo!!
Check out the awesome monsters that you can control! Myles always goes for the Cyber Bunny...I like to mix it up each time we play.
Here's a pic of the dice. You need three of a kind when you are going for victory points (so, if you roll three 2s, you get two points...each additional 2 is worth 1 extra point). Otherwise, 1 bolt = 1 energy cube; 1 paw = 1 attack; and 1 heart = 1 healing point.
[NOTE: non-Magic-playing people should not bother reading further...it gets super-nerdy, super-fast.]
Before I begin my report, let me just state for the record that I blame my entire Saturday M12 Pre-release experience on Angry Birds Seasons: Summer Pignic, which I used to determine my fate. Level 18 was released Saturday morning and, after Myles informed me that he would be leaving for Heavy Support Games in half an hour to play the sealed pre-release event, I told myself that I would only go if I could 3-star the level with enough time left over to shower and get ready. As you can probably tell, I 3-starred that shit like a mo-fo, and held to my word, so we were off to play some M12.
I've actually been looking forward to M12 for a while now - pretty much since Scars of Mirrodin, since I hate all things infect, and I have a soft spot for the core sets (as I'm sure most beginners have). I had been keeping an eye on the spoilers, and made sure I knew how the new mechanics (hexproof and bloodthirst) worked. My only dread was that I would have no choice but to play a planeswalker, which I have disliked since their first incarnation in Lorwyn.
So what happens to me? Why, I open a Gideon, of course, and paired with Angelic Destiny and Serra Angel, I feel like I'm committed to white.
Then, when I take a look at my red cards, I feel like there's no point in looking at the rest of my pool (which I didn't - apparently I had a really good blue rare...Visions of something-or-other??). Anyway, I had TWO Fireballs (one was shiny!!!), an Incinerate, and an Act of Treason. Done and done. Myles walked by, noticed I had two Chandra's Outrage and suggested that I play them, too. Taking his advice, I adjusted my lands and was all set to go...looks good, doesn't it? I mean, I felt like I had a decent chance with these cards. Boy was I wrong!
There's no point in going into any sort of detail about my matches. I lost all four that I played...I managed to win a game in two of them, but a combination of bad draws, bad luck, and bad playing (so many mistakes!!!) kept me winless in my last five matches. But, as a beginner, the real value of going to these store events (besides opening enough money to pay for the event...the only good thing that came outta that Gideon) is the way it accelerates my learning curve. Here are the main take-home lessons of the day:
If you mulligan a 5-land hand, then get a 1-land hand, you probably should mull again...there's no shame in that. But, really, just keep the 5-land hand.
Do NOT kill your own Gideon to destroy target tapped creature that can regenerate, ESPECIALLY when your opponent has the land to regen. Seems simple enough, but I learned that lesson the very, very hard way...it smarts a bit more because I eventually had him down to one life in Game 3, but drew land after land after land, and finally lost to a massive Overrun that dealt 23 damage, killing me instantly. The next two cards on top of my deck? Fireball-Fireball. *sigh*
If you have a creature that becomes a 4/4 flyer when you control a Griffin, don't attack with that Griffin if it can be blocked and killed. :(
If you can Fireball to kill a Grave Titan (6/6) check to see if you could just Fireball to kill your opponent instead. I ended up winning that game anyway, but it took me about 4 extra turns to do so.
It's cool to make all your opponent's creatures attack Gideon next turn, but sometimes it's easier to just make him a 6/6 that can block and kill anything coming his way. Games could have ended faster this way, too. [NOTE: Myles just told me that Gideon can't block...see? I have NO idea how to play him. ARGH!!! I think my opponent must have said I should have attacked with him...my bad!]
If you have the mana to equip (with nothing else to save it for) then you probably should...especially when the equipment makes your creature hexproof, and ESPECIALLY especially when that creature is a 4/4 flyer.
There ain't nuthin' you can do if you're mana-screwed, so don't let it bother you.
Have fun...oddly enough, my horribly embarrassing losing record did not prevent me from having a good time. My opponents were all pretty nice people, willing to offer me tips (after beating me, of course), and were generally impressed with my deck, which made me feel better about making the choices I did when building it.
A skilled player most certainly would have fared better with my deck, but a skilled player I am not. I was a bit disappointed though, only because I thought a core set would be a bit easier for me to play. I don't think the new mechanics are too complex, but I was unprepared for the creatures and spells that I faced. Soon, the set will be released and I will get more practice, and Myles will be playing M12 on MTGO (Magic: The Gathering Online) so I will also learn through osmosis.
Hopefully I'll be able to pull out at least one win next time...
It was a pretty gloomy weekend - the forecast called for rain, rain, and more rain. So, at the very, very last-minute (mostly to avoid mind-numbing boredom and cabin fever) I decided to tag along with Myles to the New Phyrexia, Magic: The Gathering (a competitive deck-building card game, for all you non-nerds) release event at Heavy Support Games. We already had plans in the west end in the evening, so it made pretty good sense. If I dropped after the first few rounds, I could always meet up with my friend early and wait for Myles to finish.
Let me get one thing straight: I don't really play a lot of Magic. Myles tries his best to teach me, and in the last 3.5 years, I've played in a total of 3 events - the first one when I had only been playing for about 3 weeks. I only like to play limited, and even then, only sealed (as opposed to draft). But, over the years, I have watcheda lot of Magic being played, especially the last two sets: Scars of Mirrodin and Mirrodin Beseiged.
Oh boy...this won't be very interesting to most people, so I will keep it simple.
I opened a lot of really good cards, so the deck pretty much built itself. For the sake of the two or three people who read this and know MTG, these were my bombs:
Like I said, the deck built itself: these were no-brainers, and I just filled the rest up with creatures and removal, plus I splashed white for an Arrest and a Divine Offering. I'm not the most confident player but the people who play at Heavy Support are generally really nice. They are pretty patient and let me take back mistakes (of which I make many) and they are usually gracious in defeat. This was most certainly the case on Saturday when, against all odds, I ended up going 4-0 in the first 4 rounds. There was only one person who seemed to get frustrated playing against my deck and who complained a little about me playing too slowly. Our match never went to time, or even the five-minute warning, so I was pretty sure I wasn't THAT slow. He was just frustrated, which is understandable.
In the final round, I was paired down against someone with a 2-2 record. That was a bit odd, since I probably should have been playing at least a 3-1 or another 4-0 (like Myles!!). I spoke with the guy running the event and found out that I was listed as 3-1 (he told me that the guy who complained about me said that HE won, which was not true...although, at one point I thought he conceded, so I started to scoop up my cards. Whoops! We played it out and I won so I'm pretty sure it was just an honest mistake). Myles and one other person had 4-0 records and agreed to split, giving them a final record of 4-0-1, which meant that I actually had a chance to win the whole damn thing! Alas, my luck ran out in the final match where I either never drew my bombs, or the guy had an answer to them. I'm also sure I made a lot of mistakes because he was pushing the pace a little which kinda made me nervous.
In the end, since I lost to someone with a much lower record than mine, my 4-1 record put me at around 5th or 6th place - enough to win 3 packs (a far cry from the 15 or so I could have won). But, it was still a pretty good feeling to do so well, and it was certainly unexpected. Of the 7 people in our group, 5 of us finished in the top 6! I think that I must learn through osmosis and just hanging out with this particular group of nerds has made me a better Magic player, whether I like it, or not!
I know there is at least one person out there (Hi, Alyxx!! /wave) who wants me to keep up with this stupid "gaming" blog, so I will oblige with a little post about Video Games Live: Bonus Level, which I went to with my boyfriend earlier this week.
Sweet & delicious ramune
Like most of our trips to Massey Hall, this one began with dinner at Guu, an awesome little Japanese izakaya with all kinds of cool, unique little dishes - kinda like Japanese tapas. I finally tried the Kabocha Korokke which is a hard-boiled egg inside of a pumpkin croquette...weird, I know, but quite tasty. Myles always gets the kimchi rice in a stone bowl, and I like to get the bbq eel on cheesy rice. YUMMM!! And, of course, we always, always, always, order a Ramune Sawa - ramune and vodka. If you've never had a ramune, do yourself a favour and pick one up next time you're at an Asian market (or you can pay double at a comic convention) and, if you can figure out how to open it, you're in for a very sweet and yummy treat!
Oh, right...this is supposed to be a gaming blog!!
So, I had no idea what Video Games Live was. It just seemed like something that both Myles and I would find entertaining and after doing a bit of research, I discovered that it's a pretty popular show. So, I scooped up tickets 5 months in advance, just to be on the safe side, and it was a good thing I did! It was a sold out show! VGL sets out to showcase video game music as a legitimate form of art, complete with symphony orchestra and choir...but it is far from a typical "symphony" performance. The music is synchronized with video clips from the games, and the show's creator/producer, Tommy Tallarico, encourages the audience to yell out and cheer for their favourites. I patiently waited for the inevitable World of Warcraft segment, and Myles was pretty happy with the opening number - a medley of music set to a montage of some iconic classics, including: Pong, Donkey Kong, Tetris, Punch-Out, and Ghosts and Goblins (which made Myles especially happy).
The show was also peppered with some pretty amusing video interludes. I was particularly fond of the video game mash-ups, like this Sonic vs. Pac-Man:
Or, this Mortal Kombat vs Donkey Kong video that made me reminisce about the day I discovered the Mortal Kombat arcade machine in the basement of the law library. Coincidentally, that was also the day that "going to study at the library" took on a whole new meaning:
There were also some pretty cool guest performances, including Martin "The Video Game Pianist" Leung, who kept the audience captivated and amazed by his double-time performance of the already-impossibly-fast Mario theme. Not to be outdone, Laura Intravia gave an epic, operatic performance of the God of War soundtrack, and later completely switched gears with an extremely cute flute performance dressed as Link. The performance of Baba Yetu - the first-ever video game music to win a Grammy - was so moving, that it compelled me to go out and buy Civilization IV. That will probably turn out to be a mistake, since I have no idea how to play and I spent about 2500 years doing little else than building the 7 Wonders of the World in a city filled with very unhappy citizens. Not a very good winning strategy...
Overall, the show was extremely entertaining. There were a bunch of prize giveaways, generously donated by The Future Shop, and lots of audience interaction. The head-to-head Frogger competition was cute, especially since one contestant had never even played it before. But, the real highlight for me was the dude who won the Guitar Hero competition in the lobby prior to the show. He was challenged to reach a score of 220,000 playing Van Halen's Jump on Hard, accompanied by the symphony and Tommy on electric guitar. When he heard the challenge, he pointed up, indicating that it was too easy, and instead he played on Expert, and aimed for 200,000 points, which he reached with about 30 seconds to spare. It was quite impressive and the crowd was totally into it, myself included.
Oh!! I forgot about the guy who arranged with Tommy beforehand to be called on stage with his girlfriend under the guise of a "couple's competition", who then proposed to her saying, "sometimes it takes 7 years to save the princess..." or something equally sappy/nerdy as that. She said yes. /cheer
The great thing about Video Games Live is that they never tour the same show twice, so it's always evolving. They might always include WoW or Final Fantasy, but they'll choose different music or arrangements. I'm sure there were many repeat customers at this show who were not disappointed, and I'm also pretty certain that I'll be one myself the next time they come around...as long as I find out about it 5 months in advance.
Here's the only video I took at the show. It was the second encore. Myles and I don't play Portal so we had no idea what it was, but apparently it plays over the end credits to that game and is called "Still Alive". Even though we don't play, this song has been stuck in our heads for days...
I recently postedabout a new board game cafe called Snakes and Lattes, which has since opened its doors to a swarming mass of game-hungry enthusiasts. Not wanting to be left out of the funtimes, a small group of us decided to spend a lazy, rainy Labour Day trying out some new games at the cafe. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones with this bright idea. The place was pretty packed, so we toyed with idea of about-facing outta there, but there were SO MANY GAMES!!! We decided to browse the games and after about ten minutes, most of the line-up had left, so we just waited it out. The kind folks that run Snakes and Lattes are extremely accommodating. I'm sure they weren't fully prepared for the amazing turnout in their first week of business! After shuffling around some tables and moving smaller groups to smaller tables, we sat down and started our mini-gaming marathon. :D
First up: Dream Factory(!!)
The title of this game is really only accurate if you dream of making big time movie-films!!! But, even if you don't, you might still enjoy playing Dream Factory. It has very unique game mechanics that are easy to learn (none of us had played it before) and the strategy is simple enough that you can just dive right in and go for the gusto! It's also fun to read the spoofy (and mostly cheesy) names of some of the movies, directors and actors: Backpack to the Future, Woodland Alien, and Tom Spanks (these are the only ones Myles could remember...I couldn't remember ANY!!). The caricatures on the actor and director tiles are pretty entertaining, too. Basically, you run a movie studio and you're trying to complete as many movie scripts as possible by hiring directors, actors, and adding special effects and music. You are up against the other studios (players) and get involved in bidding wars to win the tiles you need to fill your script cards (it makes a lot more sense when you see the game pieces...I probably should have brought my camera, heh). Once you complete a script, you calculate the the movie's rating (each tile - actor, director, composer, etc. - has a star value that raises the movie's overall rating), and at the end of each of the four rounds, trophies are awarded for the best (highest rated) script. These trophies are worth points to determine the winner, and there are a few more trophies that you can earn at the end of the game, including a raspberry award for worst film! It's a very quick game - probably less than an hour with four players - and I think it has a lot of replay value. In fact, I'm strongly considering buying it for myself!!
Game 2: Citadels
Citadels (which Myles and I have played before) is another quick game that's pretty easy to pick up. It's card-based, and the objective is to build districts which are worth a range of points at the end of the game (anywhere between 2 and 8, I think). And how do you do this, you ask? Well, first you take on one of 8 roles, each with a unique ability: assassin, thief, magician, king, bishop, merchant, architect, and warlord. In a four player game, one role card is buried, and two more are removed face up. Then, the first person to choose is the King who picks one of the remaining five roles and passes the rest to the person on his left. This means that the King knows which card is buried, and the last person to choose knows which card was left over (i.e. the one they did not choose). Again, this all makes more sense when you play the game.
The next phase is to take turns in numerical order according to the roles chosen (see how the Bishop is number 5??). So, the Assassin, who is number 1, always goes first, which makes sense since he gets to call out any other character to 'assassinate'. The person who chose the named role has to skip his turn. Pretty evil, huh? But, the Assassin could easily make the mistake of calling a role that has been buried that round. In this case, nothing happens, and the player moves on to the next phase of his turn, which is either drawing cards or taking money. Once they have completed that phase, they can build a district from the cards they hold in their hand. There are five differently coloured districts (some roles get benefits based on the colour of the districts you have built ---> see how the Bishop gets extra money for his blue districts?), and there is a bonus at the end of the game for players who have built a district in each of the five colours. The rest of the roles resolve - the Thief gets to steal money from a named player, the Magician can trade their cards with another player's or discard and draw a new hand, and so forth, until all players have had their turn. The first person to build their 8th district ends the game and at the end of the round, the player with the most points wins! Easy peasy!!!
And, finally: 1313 Dead End Drive!!
Okay. I wasn't too sure about this game. I went to the bathroom and when I got back to the table, everyone was busy assembling the board for this pretty retro game. Actually, I looked it up and this game is an updated sequel to 13 Dead End Drive. I only vaguely recalled the commercial for the original game, so I found it on youtube:
This was totally one of those, "I always wanted to try this game" sort of things, so we decided to let the little kids in us out to play. In this version of the game the falling chandelier and the broken bookcase ladder traps are replaced with a falling mounted boar head and a safe that drops a piggy bank on your head when the trap is set off. Basically, there are 16 heirs who are trying to get out of the mansion in order to collect their inheritance. Whenever one gets killed by a trap, their money goes to the next heir in line, so each player (with four of us, we each played 4 heirs) tries to kill off the other heirs while making a run for the exit. Myles describes it as a "playable Mousetrap", which he believes was impossible to play because it took too long to set the mousetrap, and then it never worked. I'm pretty sure he was doing something wrong, though...1313 Dead End Drive was pretty fun, and I'm sure I would have LOVED it if we had it as kids...almost as much as I loved Payday!
Snakes and Lattes is a great place to spend a day, but right now, there are no in-and-out privileges, so you REALLY spend the day there. It's not so bad, though - they have awesome sandwiches and snacks (prosciutto, brie and spinach croque monsieur for $3.50!!) that they bring right to your table, so you don't even have to stop playing your games. They're still trying to figure out if the five dollar 'play all day' rate is the best way to go. My vote is for a 10-play punch card, or something like that. I'm fairly certain I will end up there at LEAST ten more times.
OOOoooOOOoo...I forgot. I think Myles' highlight (and to a lesser extent, my highlight) was the sneak peek we got of the new Dominion expansion set, Prosperity. One of the girls who works there had a preview copy and let us look through the cards. It will be out in November and should add some new flavour to the already awesome game. We're gonna have to make some room in our Dominion long box! Wheee!!!!
Okay...originally this post started out as a long, angry, descriptive rant about how the Fan Expo this past weekend was a complete shit-show (to use a term I learned from my sister). It's not that I've had a change of heart, but writing it all down was therapeutic enough (and my friends have gotten a earful of my many, many complaints). Even though things ended up working out okay for me and Myles, I know there were hundreds of people who were not as lucky or crafty as us - we had to SNEAK BACK IN to the con, even though we had deluxe passes!!!! I think my anger was also fueled by what seemed like complete indifference from Hobbystar. Finally, they have issued an apology and are promising better things for next year. We'll see about that...
Anyway, like I said, we were actually pretty lucky, and I was able to see the one panel for which I had to buy the deluxe pass: the Felicia Day Q&A!! We snuck our way back into the con and made it to the Q&A JUST as they were about to start, so we didn't miss anything. PHEW!!! As a special surprise, Felicia Day was accompanied by Amy Okuda (aka Tinkerballa). Some kind person - who was wise enough NOT to leave the con to get some lunch - posted this video of the Q&A. Felicia Day is so cute! And Amy was surprisingly charming, too...I'm sure she's highly misunderstood and misjudged since she plays such a bitch on The Guild.
We did go back to the con on Sunday, since Laura Klein had both of our sketchbooks (she drew me a Mysterio in her new, short & chubby style, and a Booster Gold for Myles).
Sunday wasn't too bad because we were able to show up late, waltz right in, and get some awesome free sketches at the DC Comics booth. I asked Brian Azzarello if he could doodle in my sketchbook, which was a bit intimidating because he doesn't ever look very happy to be there...but, he drew up a Batman that looks how I imagine Azzarello feels.
We were actually at the DC Comics booth because we were browsing at Yanick Paquette's table and he asked us if it was crowded because he needed to figure out how much time it would take him to get to DC for his signing time. We asked if he'd be sketching and he said he would do quick, free, head sketches. So, we booked it to DC and waited for him to show up. Now, if either Myles or I had our way, Paquette would have drawn up some Ultimate X-Men for us, but since there were DC guys watching over his shoulder, he had to draw us DC characters. I decided to go with Harley Quinn. Yanick is super cool and fun to talk to and, though I will miss his Marvel stuff, I think I'll keep an eye on his DC work...he says he is only exclusive to Grant Morrison , and right now he's going to build a relationship with DC. Who am I to argue??
There were two more super cool dudes at the DC signing booth when we were there: Chris Sprouse and Jeff Lemire!! I have to send a HUGE thank you to Jason for letting me hop in line for a Sprouse sketch. I forgot that Sprouse is a bit of a perfectionist and takes his time with sketches, so I probably shouldn't have asked him so many questions! But, he's a really interesting person and was telling stories about his earliest childhood memories of living in India. Very cool, indeed. I kept a mini-theme going with Batman villains, and asked for a Penguin. Jeff Lemire is also lots of fun to talk to, and I ended up asking about his process...I'm not sure why, though - it's not like I aspire to work in the comic book industry some day. But, he's the nicest guy and I was curious to know how different it is to write a mainstream comic, than it is to write/draw his own original work (according to Jeff, it's a lot harder writing the mainstream comic). Since he's writing Superboy, I asked for his version of him...I don't know about you, but I would love to see his take on a mainstream title!
Another plus side of going on Sunday? Jarett Cale aka Jeremy aka "teh_pwnerer", from Pure Pwnage! He was nice enough to doodle in my sketchbook, even though he suspected that I only wanted to see how badly he sucked at drawing. It's just a guy standing there!! Myles kindly took my photo with Jarett and I'm only just realizing that I never offered to return the favour...oh, well. He was surprised that I even wanted to meet Jarett, so I think that meant he didn't want a photo with him? *fingers crossed*
The only other sketch that I got was by a guy I met in artist alley, but I have no idea what his name is! [NOTE: Hooray for anonymous comments! His name is Ryan van der Draaij, and you can find his stuff here.] He had a huge display of these fantastic sketch cards with all kinds of superheroes, and villains, and Star Wars characters. His sign said that he also took requests so, of course, I asked for a Mysterio! The crazy thing was, he only charges three dollars!! I think it's worth more, so I gave him a bit extra. I really like his style and feel bad that I never took note of his name. I did say that I would see him next year, though...not that I've committed to going after this year's fiasco.
