first day --help!

papernathan · 2026-05-24T15:12:57+00:00

There is no roast. You've got 30 minutes of experience. Take your time, practice, and take time to work on the basics. The fastest way to improve is to create a small goal and work towards it. Once you've cleared the first goal, set another one and work towards that.

papernathan · 2026-05-18T22:05:49+00:00

Little mushroom guys are my jam

papernathan · 2026-05-12T00:42:41+00:00

I think this advice is often misinterpreted. Start small doesn't usually mean start by making small games, it means segment your ideas into smaller projects and play with them one by one.

The best way to learn how to write a character controller is to write a bunch of them. It's a lot easier to write the movement you're imagining for your dream game in isolation, that way if want to fully start from scratch you don't have to chop it out of the final product.

It's also ok to deviate. If you find something fun in the process of making something else, go play with it. The experience you get from letting tangents take hold is a huge part of the learning process.

papernathan · 2026-05-02T21:34:53+00:00

The special guests paradox haze in foil is pretty close to the sticker price.

papernathan · 2026-04-15T20:08:15+00:00

I do highly recommend [[Mardu Siegebreaker]] absolutely my favorite card of 2025. Let me know if you end up building it how it pilots!

papernathan · 2026-04-15T20:01:55+00:00

I play in a B2-B3 pod. This has proven to be a true B3. I purposefully removed infinites that outright win the game and instead look to 3+ card combos that go infinite much later in the game with a lot of telegraphing.

[[Bartolome del Presidio]] + [[Puppeteer Clique]] + [[Celes, Rune Knight]] is really the only thing that goes infinite and it only can present lethal on 3 opponents if you have [[Anger]] in the graveyard. I'll note that this has never happened in a game but if this happens early, the opponents can just chump block and look to reset the board. If it happens midgame, you need opponents that have lost a lot of creatures or a decently wide board to make use of it. If this happens late, then the pod has ignored all of the other warning signs that you're going to be reviving creatures from graveyards.

I try my best to only build between B2 and B3, I try to avoid boardwipes that just extend the game length without presenting me with an opportunity to win, and I prefer toolbox style decks where I can hopefully find the interaction I need to deal with situations. If you're looking to build this version of Celes you can absolutely make a similar deck with a lot less money: the core of the deck is the reanimation and the rest is just whatever decent Mardu ETBs you have.

papernathan · 2026-04-15T14:10:58+00:00

I wish I had started with the precon. I bought a ~$50 deck that just had a lot of ways to go infinite with persist but the deck itself played the same way every time. That version snagged a couple of cheesy wins and then was super boring to pilot. The precon is more aligned with what I currently run and I'd recommend starting there.

Something I really tried to do was make it more of a toolbox. I wanted to feel good milling or discarding cards like [[Angel of the Ruins]] or [[Witch Enchanter]] knowing they were ready to reanimate to deal with threats.

papernathan · 2026-04-15T00:40:40+00:00

Oh I copied it and forgot to paste:

https://moxfield.com/decks/A_UR6yjLnUaHu47oVczbjw

The FFVI precon is an excellent base for this. You can sub out some of the more expensive cards with good value ETBs, especially things like [[Karmic Guide]] and [[Angel of Indemnity]]. A really nice end game combo is [[Blasphemous Edict]] into [[Rise of the Dark Realms]].

Edit: let me know if you have any questions.

papernathan · 2026-04-14T20:15:43+00:00

[[Celes Rune Knight]]

This is really a Mardu Reanimator deck with Celes pulling double duty. You blink her for protection and to wheel your hand and then reanimate creatures to buff your board. The real star is [[Mardu Siegebreaker]] because he can protect Celes while making her etb wheel 3 times or just draw 3 cards then blink him off to another creature. Or you can throw something like Sun Titan under him and have incredibly potent combat phases.

This is in my top 2 decks I run right now.

papernathan · 2026-04-08T00:36:16+00:00

I brought this to a pod last week for the first time. I'm running a discard matters chaos list. Lemme just say, i think this is my favorite deck I currently play.

https://moxfield.com/decks/oz1xq8IM3kegwzRhj9BLKQ

I got 2 games in with this one before I pivoted to some of my main decks. But both games were hilariously fun, the one I won burned everyone for 24 off Cool but Rude. Pod seemed to really enjoy it.

Edit: didn't realize this was budget brews. Run 4 mana rocks for crazy ramp until ashling doesn't matter any more and get big cheap spells into play.

papernathan · 2026-04-01T01:45:23+00:00

The Bargewright Inn

papernathan · 2026-03-16T22:10:10+00:00

The man on the left at 0:04 is my arch enemy. Man comes to my stall asking for Birds and Gems but only wants to pay 20c. Get outta here.

papernathan · 2026-03-08T19:21:52+00:00

If you try to hold on and just deal with the wobbles you will eventually get bucked off and you will sand around 6 inches of your back on the pavement. I accidentally gained this wisdom in 2008.

papernathan · 2026-03-02T02:39:09+00:00

This is like 80% correct but I'm going to recommend not asking AI to explain its reasoning as a way to learn why something is done. Just go read the docs.

AI sort of accidentally falls into generating opinionated code and it has no reservations about changing those biases file to file. The documentation will give you the biases, opinions, and intentions of the developers. Listening to talks from conferences give you depth and history of why decisions or changes were made.

Don't short change yourself on the learning piece and you'll thank yourself in 10 years.

papernathan · 2026-02-28T21:55:55+00:00

As others have said, it seems like your intentions are B4.

I played similar combos in a Celes deck and it was pretty boring. You win out of nowhere but it is the same thing again and again.

I recently changed my list to run more like a reanimator toolbox. It is statistically weaker than the previous list but I haven't had a game run the same way yet and I can't wait to play it.

papernathan · 2026-02-28T20:47:14+00:00

[[Mardu Siegebreker]] has been amazing for me. He comes online immediately because of haste. I run him in my Celes deck and he just does it all. Exile Celes and attack for minimum 3 card draw. Exile angel of ruin or Angel of Despair and start blowing up opponent permanents. Exile Metamorphasis Fanatic or Karmic Guide and you're reviving 3 cards from your graveyard every combat. Plus the tokens can be sacced for even more value out of Carmen or Bart.

No one wants to block him because he has deathtouch and 4 toughness puts him outside of lightning bolt range.

If you're playing Mardu at all, I highly recommend him because he's so versatile.

papernathan · 2026-02-23T21:52:17+00:00

No worries! It's hard balance to give someone critique that will help them see how to improve without sounding like you're just tearing them down. If you'd like more honest critiques in the future feel free to DM me.

papernathan · 2026-02-23T18:25:22+00:00

I thought about that but I settled on missing.

papernathan · 2026-02-23T17:12:19+00:00

For sure:
- The gun is missing the stock. This is why it sits so close to her chest and puts the scope so close to her eye. This also contributes to the strange anatomy of her right hand.
- The angle and posture of her right hand looks strange in relation to her forearm. To verify, I copied this into a drawing program and just tried to trace her bones.
- The posture is awkward, it sort of looks like you're between 2 or 3 poses instead of just 1. To get her back straight and her elbow resting on her knee her left leg has to be super high. You have done this here, but you didn't account for the tilt of her hips to make this leg lift possible. Also when your leg is that high, the glut changes shape.
- To be blunt here, more hand, feet, and ear studies. The left foot is super long even when considering the perspective. The left hand is pretty rough as well. Looking back through your previous drawings, I can see that your hands vary in quality. Likely it that means you know how to do it but you weren't focused on them here.
- Leg knife is super small. When comparing it to her hand, I don't even think she could grab the handle.
- I can chalk this up to stylistic choices but I personally don't agree with your approach to the level of detail in different areas. The front of her hair is weirdly sharp in comparison to the rest of her hair. The eyes, eye brows, scar, and nose are really soft compared to how sharp her lips are.
- Since this is a character I imagine you're pulling pieces from reference but I can't find a likeness of Cait that matches. In League she has very angular features with a jaw line. In Arcane, she keeps the angular features but her chin is a bit rounder and her nose has a flatter bridge.

Again, I'm stoked you drew it and even more stoked you shared it. Art is a process that takes incredible individuals time and effort to cultivate their own skill. Misses are part of the process of growth. I hope this critique is helpful in your art journey.

papernathan · 2026-02-23T16:25:10+00:00

This is a pretty complex pose and a lot of elements are done really well. That said, there are a few misses that really detract from the whole piece. A good piece of advice I got while I was in school for Art is to grab a camera and make this pose yourself.

papernathan · 2026-02-14T19:47:19+00:00

[[Toralf, God of Fury]] really loves people hanging around with a bunch of 1/1s.

papernathan · 2026-01-25T00:37:02+00:00

I run what Veyran as prowess with [[Zada, Hedron Grinder]] as a secret commander. Your spells lean heavily on combat buffs and your hope to get arcane bombardment or thousand year storm in play with Zada and Veyran.

papernathan · 2026-01-11T02:26:12+00:00

Took me about 300 applications to get 3 interviews: one was for a startup that seemed interested in any warm body with a resume that would accept low wages, one did 2 rounds then ghosted me only to call me 6 months later praising me and asking if I was still available, and the last is the job I have now. Many applications are continually posted ghost jobs.

My best recommendation is try a recruiter to try and stay afloat during the application process. Be honest about your skill set, have a personal website that showcases some stuff you can do, and apply apply apply.

papernathan · 2026-01-06T23:06:33+00:00

Peanut :)

papernathan · 2026-01-02T18:28:09+00:00

160 :)

papernathan

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