Friday 21:29 (1 Google)

1-Across: Means of interstellar travel, 9 letters. Easy WARP DRIVE, right? Nothing clicked in that corner right away from those crosses, so I moved on and didn't get back to it until the end. I finally looking up the RCA Dome when warp drive wasn't working. The answer was star ships. Eh, sure, I guess. Technically, warp drive is a Star Trek-specific thing, and it would have to be clued as such. There was also an Ad ___ clue, where anyone would put HOC. Luckily, I discovered HOC was wrong right away, but hadn't really ever heard of the right answer REM. Geez, that's some Saturday-level stuff. There are friendlier ways to clue REM than that and still keep it challenging.

I've been having moderate success with Izzet Phoenix on MTG Arena. Magic 2020 rotated in, but all I did was swap some sideboard cards into Fry. But I don't see Teferi everywhere anymore; it seems like everyone is playing Elementals. Rising Reef, Nissa, Krasis. I've seen uncommon Chandra, Living Twister. Some play Growth Spiral, some don't. There are many options. But Phoenix is actually pretty well-positioned against it. You have ample removal for early Elves or Reefs, and you can hopefully pressure Nissa with Phoenix or Drake and burn so things don't get out of hand. If they can't land a huge Krasis, they can't deal with your fliers any other way. Post-board, you get Entrancing Melody for Krasis, or sometimes an animated land. I bring in 2 Kefnet as well, and they really have trouble with that.

Yet I found a new toy. You can read about it here. I've only played a few rounds, but this deck is fun as heck, and I wanna play it. I just got to Gold, and I'm going to a least try and get to Diamond this season. It's heartbreaking that Teferi is not the place to be (actually, 3-mana Teferi is kind of a beating vs. Simic), but I like this style of never tapping out. An opponent had used Narset to find Negate while I was pressuring with a couple of guys including a Cutthroat. He drew out a Sinister Sabotage with a Vraska's Contempt. then the next turn, confidently played Ritual of Soot with Negate up...right into Frilled Mystic. There is no way to express a smirk online, but I bet he could feel it all the same.