Magic: The Gathering is extending its Standard rotation from two to three years
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: MTG Arena has now banned Fable, Bankbuster and Invoke Despair in order to shake up Standard.
[Update]: MTG Arena's Aftermath expansion has now launched ahead of schedule due to some server issues.
While the Standard format on MTG Arena is absolutely thriving, its tabletop counterpart is slowly but steadily declining in both popularity and relevance. This is partly due to being overshadowed by formats like Commander or Modern, and partly because the high prices on staple cards like Sheoldred alongside the fairly stale metagame push people away before they even give it a try.
So in an effort to solve this problem and revitalize Standard, Wizards of the Coast has now done something a bit drastic - extended the Standard rotation from two to three years! In other words, there won't be a new Standard rotation once Wilds of Eldraine goes live this September. Instead, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and Streets of New Capenna will all be rotating in late 2024.
MTG Arena, Magic: The Gathering's modern, digital adaptation, is coming to Steam on May 23rd
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[Update #2]: The day has finally come - MTG Arena has now made its way onto Steam!
[Update]: Magic: The Gathering is extending its Standard rotation from two to three years in order to help the floundering format on tabletop.
After teasing it for what feels like forever, Wizards of the Coast has now finally decided to settle on a date for MTG Arena's big Steam release. So if you're in the mood for a modern, digital adaptation of Magic: The Gathering, make sure to mark May 23rd on your calendar... or just give the standalone version a try right now.
Much like the original, the Steam version of MTG Arena will be free-to-play and give you access to all of the game modes from the very beginning. If you're only just starting out it'll most likely take you a couple of months to build up a somewhat competitive collection, but once that's done keeping up with new sets is generally fairly easy, especially if you're a fan of the draft format.
Arkane's vampire infused co-op shooter Redfall has arrived alongside a cornucopia of complaints
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After many years of working on stealth-based immersive sims, Arkane has decided to try something a little bit different with Redfall. As such, Redfall is an open-world, co-op focused shooter that's all about hunting vampires with a variety of wacky equipment and abilities. A pretty fun concept, all things considered!
As for what it all looks like in action, that you can check out through the freshly posted launch trailer below. Have a gander:
Lovecraftian fishing game Dredge is getting an expansion and some quality-of-life focused updates
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Dredge's second update has added photography, new events and a passive difficulty mode.
[Update]: Dredge's Patch 1.1 has now made navigation smoother and added quality-of-life improvements,
Despite being a bit on the simpler side of things, Dredge is a remarkably charming fishing and exploration game with a Lovecraftian twist. It's all about catching fish and collecting various materials in order to upgrade your ship, using those upgrades to venture further and catch even bigger fish, slowly unlocking more and more fancy toys to make your life easier, and so the cycle goes. Oh, and occasionally you'll get attacked by a gigantic sea monster that wants nothing more than to chow down on your ship, but it's mostly about earning fat stacks of cash and creating the best fishing boat the world has ever seen!
If that sort of thing sounds like it's right up your alley, you'll be pleased to hear that Black Salt Games have announced that they're not done with Dredge just yet! Instead, according to the freshly released roadmap they're planning to launch a couple of free updates over the next few months, and then later this year follow that up with a chunky paid DLC!
Vampire Survivors is getting an animated show, along with even more free updates
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Vampire Survivors is soon getting a sizable, Among Us inspired DLC - Emergency Meeting.
[Update]: Vampire Survivors will be adding local co-op and fully switching to a new engine on August 17th.
In an announcement that I must admit comes as a massive surprise, the Vampire Survivors team has just revealed that they have partnered with Story Kitchen (who is also working on a Sifu adaptation) to create an animated series. I'd love to give you more information, but the show is still early in development so the exact details are pretty much nonexistent, and the same goes for the expected release date.
As for how exactly the animated show is going to work given that the usual Vampire Survivors run turns into nearly incomprehensible noise towards the end, I have no idea, but I can only hope the animation will be just as stylish as the stuff we've seen in the DLC trailers. And if you haven't seen any of them so far, allow me to share with you the one for the recently released Tides of the Foscari expansion:
World of Warcraft's Update 10.1 has arrived with a new zone, cross-faction guilds, new raid and serpentine Dragonriding mount
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[Update #2]: World of Warcraft: Classic will be launching Hardcore/Permadeath realms on August 24th.
[Update]: World of Warcraft's Update 10.1.5 has arrived with a new mega-dungeon, Evoker Augmentation specialization and a lot more.
After spending a fair bit of time in testing, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's Update 10.1 has now finally been unleashed. It brings with it a cavernous new zone to explore filled with surprisingly adorable mole-people, support for cross-faction guilds, a new Dragonriding mount, a brand new raid, as well as a whole bunch of balance changes and quality of life improvements.
Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible raid won't be opening its doors until next week, however, so feel free to take it easy and simply enjoy the new zone before things start getting hectic again. As for the various Raid Finder wings, those will be unlocked according to the following schedule:
MTG Arena's Aftermath mini-expansion is coming this May 11th with 50 new Standard-legal cards
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: MTG Arena's Aftermath expansion has now launched ahead of schedule due to some server issues.
[Update]: Magic: The Gathering is extending its Standard rotation from two to three years in order to help the floundering format on tabletop.
Seemingly inspired by the supplemental Alchemy card drops that follow most Standard sets, Wizards of the Coast will soon be releasing the March of the Machine: The Aftermath mini-expansion. Once it arrives this May 11th, Aftermath will bring with it 50 new cards to play around with (15 uncommons, 25 rares and 10 mythics) - all of which will be legal in Standard.
Unsurprisingly given the name, the various Aftermath cards will offer us little hints about what exactly happened to the various planes after Phyrexia was defeated, as well as what some of the fan-favorite characters are currently doing. The highlights include numerous Planeswalkers losing their spark, a certain character seemingly ascending to godhood, and the barriers between the worlds weakening and thus enabling even ordinary people to visit other planes.