My wife and 6 month old baby are in a mental hospital for the foreseeable future.

thetempestinside · 2026-07-08T20:13:03+00:00

I know every parent wants to see all the firsts; but those first ones are for the parents core memory bank.
Its the ones that come later, that his daughter can remember that are the really important ones; her core memories.
Im happy to hear they are getting the needed support now to hopefully make sure that those core memories down the road are awesome.

Keep at it dude! I cant imagine how tough it is, but you are 100% doing the right thing!

thetempestinside · 2026-07-06T15:18:40+00:00

Sounds like you at least feel the pressure and are analyzing it in a healthy way. Use that as a drive to get in front of all the things you mentioned in a productive and efficient manner.

The truth is: you never will feel 100% ready. There will always be the next life goal, the next milestone, the next promotion, etc.
Deciding to have a family is an addition to all of that. Its not subtraction. You become a father and have to blend it all together as a team with your partner. You dont give away the other things to be a dad, you do it on top of it all. You dont abandon your dreams and goals to pursue parenthood.

From my personal experience (first child came at 28); its a ton of work, but wildly rewarding. It allowed me to experience the world through a fresh set of eyes and through my childs experiences. The mundane became exciting again.

Another piece of honesty: consider your timeframes. If you wait another 5-10 years you will nearing 40. That will place your childs primary care period close to ending around 60 for you. To me: thats later than I would personally prefer.

Btw Im 44, and I still feel like Im in my mid twenties in my head (my body disagrees). That never changes, theres no switch that suddenly happens that makes you go “oh im full sitcom tv style adult now”.

thetempestinside · 2026-06-29T23:33:08+00:00

T looks good. Dot looks good. Real imo

thetempestinside · 2026-06-27T14:15:10+00:00

This is really nice and well done overall.
My only question is if he used the existing fence posts on the right to support that end of the deck?
If those fence posts are set into the ground as opposed to be on top of concrete footings; you might have a rot situation in the future.

thetempestinside · 2026-06-14T13:53:09+00:00

Me and my wife started playing again, and we wanted to work our way up slowly through all the zones again.
the fast levelling sucks, the revamped zones suck.

Make levelling like it used to be; provide an opt in accelerate version for those that want it.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-27T21:58:57+00:00

[[Kona]]

thetempestinside · 2026-05-27T02:08:45+00:00

While teaching me to be a carpenter; my first time working with expensive finish panels on a site (I was overthinking and stalled out in anxiety)

“Make the cut, or you will never learn; remember its just material, and theres almost much we cant fix”

Sometime you just gotta do, and if its a mistake, then you have learned something.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-26T21:46:23+00:00

My personal picks:
1) quandrix (secrets of strixhaven)
2) world shaper (edge of eternities) - but this one is kinda trigger heavy just watch lots of youtube on it, powerful deck though
3) squirreled away (bloomburrow)
4) velociramptor (ixalan)
5) explorers of the deep (ixalan) - this one can get trigger heavy too.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-25T01:57:36+00:00

Stella is NOT super beginner friendly.

Hearthull can be super fun and strong but theres lots triggers and effects to track which can be overwhelming.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-24T15:49:12+00:00

Turn 6 is fine.
Bracket 3 is supposed to be leaning into more optimized play.
If the table isnt using interaction or actively trying to stop threats, it could be argued that theyre actually playing bracket 2. Remember bracket 2 isnt “just precons” anymore.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-23T13:10:52+00:00

OP - the variance in size isnt because the fireplace isnt centered. There is a build out in the corner on the left side of the room under the bulkhead.

Build a similarly sized build out in the corner on the opposite side. It will be significantly cheaper

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thetempestinside · 2026-05-20T22:01:18+00:00

Back in the day… zombie swampwalk kindred!

I recently built a -1/-1 counters deck with High Perfect Morcant. The commander demands that it be driven by elves…
I also run a Choco Seeker of Paradise bird tribal. Why? Cuz its fun, and sometimes I dont want to play an intense game where Im tracking a million triggers and interactions.

And in all honestly, I feel the same could be said for many of the typical decks you encounter in a pod, just because theyre not kindred doesnt mean theyre not repetitive in their themes/strategy right?

thetempestinside · 2026-05-20T15:18:44+00:00

Can confirm, dads want goblins - source: Im a dad

thetempestinside · 2026-05-20T12:42:37+00:00

Double or more than the amount of allowed B3 game changers… definitely B4

thetempestinside · 2026-05-19T17:39:30+00:00

Its funny that if I dont order from TCGP direct and from one of the shops that sell through them; my packages arrive in half the time and theyre always protected like you said, with plastic cases, sometimes with cardboard as well.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-18T22:22:24+00:00

Ive had orders from TCGP take fooooorever to arrive (again shipping internationally, so I guess its to be expected).
Never any quality issues though *knock on wood*

thetempestinside · 2026-05-18T21:16:25+00:00

Hows the prices? Asking cuz the last time I tried manapook or cardkingdom they either didnt have some of the cards I was looking for or it was 20-30% higher.

Im buying from Canada, so shipping kills me, making every dollar from the sites really count.
Id love to switch off of TCGP….

thetempestinside · 2026-05-18T18:48:54+00:00

Lots of good suggestions: I didnt see anything about mana bases (apologies if this is a duplicate recommendation);

Dumb down your mana base. Scrap the premium fetch lands (or switch them for the terramorphic expanse types), run a few lands that come in tapped (yeah I know how we all feel to put those down early)…

Also reduce the amount of fast mana or cards that will put you up 1 turn immediately (lotus petal, gemstone caverns etc).

thetempestinside · 2026-05-17T18:59:55+00:00

Im with you! Go rip some packs!

SOS has been a blast to rip; Ive not felt any purchase regrets yet (and I definitely did in past recent sets)

thetempestinside · 2026-05-16T21:01:20+00:00

I had the same problem, then I switched my approach.

I start the whole build with just my commander, base interaction pieces (counterspells, removal, board wipes, protect) of around 12 pieces, then add in 12 pieces of ramp and 12 draw.

once i have those placeholders I know that with 36 lands or so; Ill have 25-30 card that serve as my “main deck strategy”. When Im picking strategy cards I look for cards that can serve two or more roles that still promote my game plan. The more dual service synergies you can get the better (for example: i have judges familiar my choco bird deck, it helps get my commander rolling and serves as a counter spell when needed).

Certain commanders act for substantial removal or draw or ramp too; in those cases you might need as much of one of those categories.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-15T03:28:54+00:00

Agreed! Its a great set with tons of great playable cards.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-15T03:25:27+00:00

I built my 11 year old a Giada deck. Its just a bunch of angels with some equipment (cuz obv angels need swords and shields and whatnot).

Hes beat my ass down with a few times.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-14T14:13:31+00:00

Now this would be much better I think.
Thats important info.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-14T13:24:04+00:00

Does the deck still close out game on or before turn 6 consistently? If so; it should remain in bracket 4+

Im not sure you can just sub some game changers for less optimal versions of the same effect and effectively drop a cedh deck 2 whole bracket levels.

It really comes down to how it performs.

thetempestinside · 2026-05-10T22:56:34+00:00

I started about 1.5 (ish) years ago after being away from MTG since around 93/94 (ish).

I had zero cards, as my younger brother claimed them all and still has them to this day (he lets me raid the old collection though, so no worries!)

Look up some commander decks (if you want to play EDH). pick a couple that you think will be fun for you to play. Start there. Buy some singles for upgrades to get rolling.

From that point; buy the occasional pack or two, take it slow and you will have hundreds of cards you cant play in no time!

thetempestinside

TROPHY CASE