Pem’s Tech Blog

Abjure.  Sacrifice a blue permanent.  Counter target spell.

Game Play Comments:

Blue has a myriad of variations on the original Counterspell, which counter a target spell.  Though for the most part none of them are quite as good as the original Counterspell.  Cancel costs an extra mana, Mana Leak can be diffused if your opponent pays 3 mana, Deprive requires you to bounce a land.  Others only counter certain types of spells (creatures, non-creatures, targeting spells, artifacts, etc).  Double negate can counter 1 or 2 spells.  Mindbreak Trap can counter any number of spells, and costs 4 mana (or 0 if it’s his 3rd+ spell this turn), and it’s technically not a “counter” – so it works on spells that can’t be countered (such as Terra Stomper and Emrakul the Aeons Torn).  Effects that bounce your own cards (such as Into the Roil) can be similar to a Counterspell (if he targets your field card, then you bounce it, causing his spell to basically fizzle).  Redirect and Swerve change the target of a spell.  That’s a lot, yet this is not, by any stretch, a complete list of the variations on Counterspell.  In fact, my examples were only from the current Standard format.

Abjure is one of the few counter spells that costs less mana than Counterspell.  It’s not in the current Standard format, and it combos with Hatching Plans (also not currently in Standard).  What if Abjure were in the current Standard format?

Abjure requires you to sac a Blue permanent.  This makes it a lot harder to use than if it would let you sac any permanent – because then you could use non-blue tokens (Eldrazi tokens, Khalni Garden tokens, etc).  Additionally, lands are (usually) colorless, so you can’t just sac an Island.

It might still combo with some Blue permanents that let you draw 1 – such as Spreading Seas, or Sea Gate Oracle.  And Fieldmist Borderpost makes it more like "pay 1 mana and sac 1 land”.  But even if it’s worth the sac (in exchange for the reduced converted mana cost), it would be easy to end up in a situation where you don’t have any blue permanents on the field.  Or in a situation where you’re paying 1 mana and 1 usable permanent instead of just paying 2 mana (or 3 mana).

If the text read “sacrifice a permanent” (not just a blue one), then Abjure would easily compete with other counter spells.  Either that, or it would only work in a deck with more cards like Hatching Plans, and maybe Spreading Seas, Sea Gate Oracle, Fieldmist Borderpost.

One final note.  Abjure says “Interrupt” rather than an “Instant”.  Interrupt used to mean it’s faster than Instant (in YuGiOh they have counter traps that are faster than traps and instant spells).  However, Interrupt no longer exists, and any old cards that say Interrupt are now just synonymous with Instant.  Since Interrupt has long been deprecated, in Standard you will only find Instant spells (not Interrupt spells).

abjure [ab-joor, -jur]
–verb (used with object), -jured, -jur·ing.
1. to renounce, repudiate, or retract, esp. with formal solemnity; recant: to abjure one’s errors.
2. to renounce or give up under oath; forswear: to abjure allegiance.
3. to avoid or shun.

1. to renounce or retract, esp formally, solemnly, or under oath
2. to abstain from or reject

Vocabulary Comments

In the flavor text, Ertai is expounding his virtues (ie, bragging), and it is annoying Mirri.  Bombast is not very intellectual (and thus not very Blue), so Mirri decides that if Ertai doesn’t stop going on and on with his bombast, then Mirri will have to make him abjure the bombastic claims.  The flavor text says Mirri considers to cause this by killing Ertai.  This could mean Ertai is threatened into abjuring the claims, or that Mirri is abjuring the claim by killing Ertai, or that the claim is abjured in the sense that Ertai’s magic is shown to not be so powerful after all.

So either you are making your opponent abjure his casting of a spell, or you are abjuring the spell itself.  In either case, the casting of the spell has been abjured.

Abjure can generally mean to avoid, shun, abstain from, or reject something.  However, it has the connotation that you will renounce, repudiate, retract, or recant something in a manner that is formal and solemn.

This could have meaning in a legal sense, where a person is asked to abjure (or recant) their claim, position, belief, or stance on an issue.  Such as Galileo Galilei, or Giordano Bruno, or Martin Luther, each having been asked to abjure claims by officials of the Catholic church.

In the US today, we tend to make more of a distinction between illegal action and illegal belief.  Illegal belief tends to be a stronger form of legislating morality.  For example, it’s okay to believe in the further legalization of marijuana or prostitution, as long as you don’t take actions that illegal.  Of course you can still have plenty of unreasonable laws and persecution over someone’s beliefs, but we now tend to persecute the person based on an action, rather than directly on their stance.  Though there’s probably exceptions, or it could (in some cases) only be a level of indirection.

I can not abjure my allegiance to Magic Vocabulary – I can not abjure my claim that there is a myriad of GRE vocab words in the world of Magic cards, just waiting to be discovered!  How can one abjure this claim, when even the word abjure itself is in fact the name of a Magic card!

Pem (Admin) :: 2010/09/09 (Thursday, September 9, 2010) :: Games, magic vocab, tcg :: No Comments »

Abeyance.  Until end of turn, target player can’t cast instant or sorcery spells, and that player can’t activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.  Draw a card.

Game Play Comments:

This is prior to the current Standard (Type 2) format, so I’ve never actually used Abeyance.  However, I can compare it to a card that is – Silence.  Silence is also an instant, only costs 1 white, and doesn’t allow the opponent to cast any spells for the turn.  However, Silence doesn’t let you draw a card, and it doesn’t prevent activation abilities.  Overall, I like the effect of Abeyance better, even though it doesn’t stop creature spells.

Where might I use this card if it were in Standard?  White healing deck, to keep my white creatures alive for a turn.  Blue White control deck (or Blue White Black or Black White) to stall.  The draw 1 (self-replacing) aspect is important.

abeyance [uh-bey-uhns]
–noun
1. temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension: Let’s hold that problem in abeyance for a while.
2. Law . a state or condition of real property in which title is not as yet vested in a known titleholder: an estate in abeyance.

1. a state of being suspended or put aside temporarily
2. ( usually preceded by  in ) law  an indeterminate state of ownership, as when the person entitled to an estate has not been ascertained

Vocabulary Comments:

In Magic, Abeyance means the opponent puts on hold doing certain actions.  Abeyance holds in abeyance the target player’s ability to play instants, interrupts, sorcery spells, and activation cost abilities.  These actions are put on hold, held in abeyance for one turn.

In US law, abeyance means a temporary hold on the official ownership of the property, in the situation where ownership is not yet clear (or not yet vested).  For example, if we don’t officially know who really owns the property yet, then the ownership is in abeyance – on hold as unknown until it’s determined.

In general, abeyance means to put something on hold (temporary inactivity, or not yet decided or resolved) – in a temporary state of suspension or cessation.  Such as (but not limited to) a Magic player’s ability to perform certain actions, or the not yet officially determined ownership of property.  The Magic player’s actions are held in abeyance.  The ownership of the property is held in abeyance.  Our decision or our resolution of a problem is held in abeyance.

Pem (Admin) :: 2010/09/09 (Thursday, September 9, 2010) :: Games, magic vocab, tcg :: No Comments »

Augury Owl.  When Augury Owl enters the battlefield, scry 3.

Game Play Comments:

When October 1 of 2010 hits, the standard constructed format (my opinion at the time of writing this is – by far the best and most important constructed format) will be only 5 sets (Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi, Magic 2011, and Scars of Mirrodin).  Based on the most recent releases (2010 Jul 17, 2010 Oct 2, 2011 Feb 5, 2011 Apr 23, 2011 Jul 16, 2011 Oct 1), there are 5 sets released per year (between Oct 1 to the next Oct 1), and the oldest sets get rotated out (in this case, Magic 2010 and the 3 prior sets) once a year on Oct 1.  I ran into Augury Owl in a standard constructed deck, since it’s in the Magic 2011 set, and I really liked the flavor / feel of the card.

As for actually using Augury Owl, for a converted mana cost of 2, the scry 3 is good, and fly is good.  However, I tend to compare Augury Owl to Wall of Omens.  In general, I don’t like 1/1 attack as much as as Wall of Omen’s 0/4.  In general, I like draw 1 better than scry 3.  Another comparison would be Preordain, which lets you scry 3 and draw 1.  That said, Augury Owl may work better in a certain kind of deck, where the scry 3 and/or fly are particularly useful.  Or in addition to Preordain and/or Wall of Omen.

Augury
1. the art or practice of an augur; divination.
2. the rite or ceremony of an augur.
3. an omen, token, or indication.

Augur
–noun
1. one of a group of ancient Roman officials charged with observing and interpreting omens for guidance in public affairs.
2. soothsayer; prophet.

–verb (used with object)
3. to divine or predict, as from omens; prognosticate.
4. to serve as an omen or promise of; foreshadow; betoken: Mounting sales augur a profitable year.

–verb (used without object)
5. to conjecture from signs or omens; predict.
6. to be a sign; bode: The movement of troops augurs ill for the peace of the area.

Scry
to divine, esp by crystal gazing

Descry:
1. to see (something unclear or distant) by looking carefully; discern; espy: The lookout descried land.
2. to discover; perceive; detect.

Vocabulary Comments:

I like the Augury Owl because he/she is wise and can see the future.  I like to think of the Augury Owl staring closely at my deck, like a crystal ball, to see the top 3 cards (or to fly ahead to descry what’s coming).  The Augury Owl is an augur, and he/she can augur what the next cards will be.

However, the Augury Owl doesn’t just see the future, he/she affects the future (since you can rearrange the 3 cards on the top or bottom of your deck).  In this way, the Augury Owl is an augury of me drawing the cards I need for the current game scenario (and of me using these cards in the near future of the current game).

I’ve seen scry called short for descry, but scry also has the connotation of looking into a crystal ball.  While the connotation to descry is more general, looking carefully to discern and perceive.

Pem (Admin) :: 2010/08/29 (Sunday, August 29, 2010) :: Games, magic vocab, tcg :: No Comments »

This is a long-winded post that gives background to how it came to be that I am now planning to make blog posts that showcase GRE (SAT, GMAT, etc) words found in cards from Magic the Gathering.

I’ve always (I think even before high school) spent a lot of time outside of work and classes doing software development hobby projects, various autodidact (self-education) study (reading etc) mostly related to computer science (computers / technology / science / engineering / math, hardware, software, game development), philosophy / logic, and games (and game development).

Right now I’m trying to put some focus on learning vocabulary.  The original reason for this was simply for the GRE test.  But with my personality, I can easily end up in danger of getting lost in the joy of learning and analysis and projects, to the point where the original motivation (ie, productivity / goal) could become less important.

I’m also trying to make up for years of neglect based on kind of a negative about the questionable usefulness of having 10 or 20 synonyms for the same concept.

My distaste was never against practical useful technical terms, such as for Computer Science (or Philosophy, or Games) and to express academic ideas (concepts, science, algorithms, etc).

My complaint was that a lot of the words found on the GRE seem deprecated, redundant, useless, and almost never used in real conversation (or writing) – except when someone is just being pedantic / bombastic, or maybe artistic / poetic in style.  This could be worthwhile for a language specialist or historian, to better understand archaic texts (such as Shakespeare or Edgar Allan Poe).  But for people who aren’t specialized in language (or history), if you run into an antiquated (or just less commonly used) word, then it’s fine to just use context clues, or quickly look it up on your iOS dictionary app or FireFox ctrl+e dictionary search engine.  If you’re not a language specialist, then what’s the point in wasting brain cells on rote memorization of redundant words that don’t express new concepts, when those brain cells could be used for more useful (and/or interesting) knowledge?

Despite my initially negative attitude, I’ve since considered the other side.  For one thing, having more synonyms gives us more options to create technical terms (conceptual terms / academic terms).

Also, having additional words (or idioms, phrases, acronyms, titles, organization names, brand names, etc) can be useful to reference a concept in a more specific sense – with nuance and connotation.

Many of these synonyms could potentially expand our minds, because you can say (and write and think) more concisely and precisely – this allows you to be more laconic (so that you can express much in few words).

For example, extirpate and deracinate are both synonyms for uproot.  But the nuance to extirpate is destroy, exterminate, remove and totally do away with (so uproot to get rid of & destroy).  The nuance to deracinate is to isolate or alienate someone from a native or customary environment or culture (so you are uprooting them away from their familiar environment).

If words like extirpate and deracinate were more commonly used (and no one confused the nuances), then we could be more laconic, and allow more complex ideas (and thoughts) to be communicated more specifically with fewer words, and consciously chosen nuance / connotation.

The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. Mark Twain

In George Orwell’s 1984, Newspeak is used to do the opposite – reducing the number of words in the English language and thus reducing the expressiveness (and individuality or rebelliousness) of the government’s subjects.

The limits of my language are the limits of my world.  From Ludwig Wittgenstein’s one book (Logico-Tractatus Philosophicus).  The intended meaning is that only sentences that refer to something that we are capable of perceiving in the real world have meaning.  But on a similar train of thought (which is the way I’ve seen the quote misused), our minds are limited by (or expanded by) the tools we have to express our thoughts (which includes words).

Another specific example is how having more words can help us reduce the amount that we conflate distinct concepts.  Consider the GNU phrase “free as in freedom” vs “free as in beer” (unrestraint vs liberty vs costless, etc).  This sort of thing happens frequently, where someone gets confused or obstinately follows a specious argument, because he/she is conflating two distinct concepts.  Having more words can help us to better construct (or deconstruct) a line of reasoning, such as to more easily recognize when someone is conflating two different ideas.

Since this blog post is already longer than I’d like, I’ll get to the point.  I recently got into Magic: the Gathering.  There’s a lot to love about Magic, but for now I will avoid that tangent, and get to the point.

Part of any great fantasy game is its feel, such as how the game mechanics interact with visual art and writing (in other words – words).  Magic cards use color themes that correlate to the game mechanic (Black, White, Red, Green, Blue).  Each card has a card name, and many of the cards include flavor text (italics text that adds to the feel of the card, but does not affect the game mechanics).

I noticed that in these card names and flavor text, and even in some of the game rules, there are GRE words (GRE and other standardized tests).  So my plan is to post some Magic cards that use GRE words.  My initial favorite is the Augury Owl – but I’ll save that for my next post.

Pem (Admin) :: 2010/08/15 (Sunday, August 15, 2010) :: Games, magic vocab, tcg :: No Comments »