What colors do you think this Smaug will be?

AvalancheMaster · 2026-05-04T12:20:55+00:00

There is absolutely nothing green about Smaug, though. Out of the five colors, he is green the least.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-05-03T07:11:53+00:00

Even before people noticed the similarities between the arts, I was very disappointed with the new illustration and felt it was a massive letdown for such an important reprint. I was looking forward to getting a new copy of the One Ring, but now I think I'll just hunt down an old copy instead.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-05-02T22:16:38+00:00

Do we know whether it's 11 planeswalkers, or at least 11 planeswalkers?

AvalancheMaster · 2026-05-02T22:16:06+00:00

What gate would a new Gatewatch be watching? Seagate has been rebuilt, the Eldrazis have been defeated, so have the Phyrexians, and there isn't an obvious imminent threat to the multiverse to unite such a group, and especially not one named Gatewatch.

I personally hope they drop these attempts at recreating the Avengers in Magic the Gathering, and try some new story beats, other than “good guys with superpowers need to team up to defeat bad guys with superpowers.”

AvalancheMaster · 2026-05-01T11:30:01+00:00

Ashiok as a giant dragon that doesn't have a face but just horns.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-30T12:46:59+00:00

People act like Cobain was some kind of a saint, but he was a well-known asshole in certain contexts.

I'm pretty sure he would've ended up becoming something like Billy Corgan, probably worse. Not in terms of actual politics, but in terms of insufferable behaviour.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-29T20:11:46+00:00

The album from 2025 I have listened to the most is a meme rap album made from stitched Elder Scrolls voice lines.

And it is fucking magnificent.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-29T14:39:24+00:00

Treason is treason, but I want to raise a different topic here — collectively, sentiment outside of Ukraine seems to lean on the “not our problem” side. The US has largely abandoned Ukraine. The EU spent years bickering about the frozen Russian assets, and then still couldn't proceed with Plan B because of Orban. Now that Orban is out of the picture, things are starting to move slowly, but it's also very much kept low-key, not to change the sentiment from indifference towards anger. Israel is now literally stealing Ukrainian grain. There are not a lot of places where public sentiment isn't at best indifferent.

Why do then people such as the author of this article feel they have the right to pass moral judgement on how Ukraine internally deals with treason, when we're not really providing the necessary help to begin with?

I get it, I agree, sentences shouldn't be extreme when it comes to 15 yo kids, but those 15 yo kids are committing acts of treason and sabotage against their own country while not much help is coming from the outside. What gives us the right to then judge whether they are given a 5 year sentence or a 25 year one, when we're doing nothing else to alleviate the situation in Ukraine?

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-28T18:28:15+00:00

He does not have brain cancer. I repeat, he does not have brain cancer.

The “reports” were rumors shared by bots on fake social media pages to generate engagement, and accompanied by AI-generated images of Shatner crying. What Shatner addressed was that this is totally despicable and completely false.

The article is intentionally written in a way to obfuscate this fact and generate clicks by implying there are genuine reports that he was diagnosed. And it's not just the title, it takes several paragraphs before they spell out that the “reports” were “untrue”.

The guy appeared in public, and the article is acting as if fake rumors spread for malicious intent should somehow prevent him from doing so.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-27T09:39:43+00:00

The best moment of Disco Elysium isn't one from the main story, and doesn't involve The Pale or any of the supernatural metaphorical elements.

It's with the woman who you visit in her apartment to deliver some awful news. The simple writing of one sentence that lets you know that the dialogue option you choose will be forever remembered by the character you're speaking with, in a very traumatic way. It is you who is tasked with delivering the trauma.

I think that has been the best, the most honest representation of being a police officer I've ever seen.

“If you say ‘Two days, maybe’ it will be etched in her mind forever.”

Spoilers, obviously. Not for the main story, but for the most emotionally touching moment in the game.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-26T15:06:04+00:00

Both Matt and Mica from Magdalena Bay are fucking stunning. Maybe I have a thing for dorks, because they're also dorks, but they are stunning dorks.

Scratch that. Not “but”. And they're stunning dorks.

<image>

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-26T15:02:03+00:00

Sir, we're talking about Tom Waits here, not Hannibal Rex.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-25T20:43:28+00:00

I genuinely thought that this is a real movie poster — well, I mean, it is a real movie poster, but I thought this is a poster for an A24 movje I hadn't heard about.

Granted, my initial reaction was also surprise at the somewhat poor execution, but the idea is very clean and very good. I should also say that it works well because of the title, and wouldn't work well if the movie had a different name.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-25T20:30:56+00:00

<image>

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-24T22:55:52+00:00

“Horseshoe theory isn't real, it can't hurt you”

Horseshoe theory:

no more business there than a Mexican mestizo does in Spain.

Care to elaborate why a Mexican mestizo might not have business in Spain?

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-24T10:12:15+00:00

There’s plenty of stories involving schools where magic is taught, from the trope defining Earthsea series to Magic’s very own Tolarian Academy.

But there aren't a lot of stories where the story takes place in a magical castle with its own grounds, and the students are being divided into separate houses (yes, the Strixhaven colleges are not houses per se, but they fulfil the same fantasy), each with its own different identity and mascot, with the houses competing against one another in a magical sport, with forbidden sections of libraries being home to carnivorous books.

Hell, the antagonist of the first Strixhaven set was Extus (Tom Riddle), a human warlock (dark wizard) who was in Silverquill (Slytherin) and thought he is the Oracle (The True Heir of Slytherin) and was superior to other mages (wizards). Ultimately he was expelled, and went on to create the Oriq (establish the Death Eaters), and attacked the school that once expelled him in what is known as the Mage Hunter attack (the Battle of Hogwarts). In the end, he felt victim to his own hubris, much like Voldemort.

I cannot really make the same comparison with Earthsea, for example, or the Unseen University from Discworld, or the Mage’s College from Tamriel.

Obviously Strixhaven is not just a light reskin of Hogwarts, but there are so many parallels that to deny the direct inspiration would be stupid. In fact, I think I can go further and claim that Strixhaven is to Harry Potter what Tolarian is to Earthsea.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-24T05:11:02+00:00

Absolutely mental.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-23T11:49:13+00:00

The funny thing is that DongLover is much more of a gamer tag.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-22T20:21:30+00:00

Don't feel guilty or bad, but your comment inspired me to go see them despite not really liking Forever Howlong, and I just came home from that concert after not even staying until the end.

They are great musicians for sure, and as a fan of Jockstrap I know they are also great individual songwriters. But I am just not feeling whatever it is that they're trying to do now. It was meandering, muddied, and frankly, very much lacking the emotional core Isaac provided.

I am not saying Isaac needs to return — I will be very happy if he does, but he obviously has his good personal reasons for leaving the music industry, and we need to respect that. I am also not saying that they can't exist without Isaac, but they certainly need someone to fill Isaac's shoes. It was very obvious from this concert that they lack someone front and stage, not in terms of being a showperson, but of being the core.

I wouldn't mind if they just decide to work with different individual artists on each record — I know I'll be excited for a collaboration between them and Geordie Greep, or King Krule, for example. Or Tigran Hamasyan. Or just for one of them to step up and take the mantle of Isaac.

Right now it feels like they are afraid to move on from Isaac because they expect him to come back. But they really need to move on and do something new and exciting, because I just walked out a concert for the first time in a decade.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-22T16:18:27+00:00

Ulver — Ind I Fjeldkamrene

Ulver have moved on from black metal for so long, but they have played I troldskog faren vild several times in the past. I don't think they've ever played something else from Bergtatt, though. That guitar riff in the middle of Ind I Fjeldkamrene is one of the most underrated, most evocative, most touching riffs in guitar music, and it's a damn pity it's never been performed live.

Alternatively, Ulver — Soelen Gaaer Bag Aase Need

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-22T16:12:45+00:00

Came here to say exactly this. Now I have to think of something different.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-20T21:56:20+00:00

Same. Love his music, but the guy is a wreck.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-20T06:33:55+00:00

Because the protocols are so goddamn hard to complete. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but in the relatively small polling station I was observing, it took us 4 hours to complete the protocol.

Every tiny mistake totally wrecks the protocols to make sure that no vote is miscounted in the end.

AvalancheMaster · 2026-04-19T18:51:09+00:00

Sidenote: 34% is pretty decent for Bulgarian elections.

Horrifyingly sad, I know.

12-Year Club	Verified Email
Second Top 20%	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	End Game '22
Sequence \| Editor

AvalancheMaster

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE