SpartanNerd has moved to SPARTANNERD.COM !!!!

SpartanNerd has moved to SPARTANNERD.COM    !!!!This is big news, oh Hub City Geeks!  The Blogger (Blogspot) page was sort of stunted...It gave me statistics about traffic (I had over 5000 hits there!), but several other things weren't working correctly, including adsense.  And Google pretty much demands you sign over your identity to them, (which I am not willing to do.  Neither should you.  "Don't Be Evil."  What a joke.)

I will now try using Wordpress.  Which I think I already like better.

Keep the page views coming!  I will keep the old blog up for awhile, let's see how this takes off.  Thanks for all of the support, readers!

New content coming soon...

Review of the Born of the Gods Event Deck.

Review of new MOTUC!

More Transformers.  (I am only going to review the good stuff!)

A review of some recent Marvel movies...Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World

AND MORE OF THE "NERDTAINMENT" THAT WE ALL LOVE!

Don't let me lose you....Get on over to SpartanNerd.com and see what it is all about!

10 Print "Best things in DC New 52, 2013" (SpartanNerd's top 10 list)

10 PRINT "Villains Month"  I haven't read one of these that I haven't enjoyed  (I can be disappointed and annoyed sometimes, but still enjoy comics)   And the cool 3D covers were also very nice, though it wasn't "revolutionary" as originally billed.  I haven't read all of the ones I bought yet!  Darkseid's origin was cool, and different.  Killer Croc looks like he has a bright future...Bizarro was cool.  The Joker's was odd...  And Doomsday was sort of disappointing.  But overall, these were pretty good.

20 PRINT "Batman:  Riddler #1" Among the best of Villains Month.  The Riddler is my favorite Bat-villain, next to the Joker.  And we haven't seen much of him in the New 52.  But he is showing up in the whole "Zero Year" story, and this villains month title served as a good companion to that.  Also, I like the premise.  He takes out the whole prison, to climb to the top and play Solitaire!

30 PRINT "Masters of the Universe Annual:  The Origin of HORDAK..." Read SpartanNerd Sundays for some thoughts on this one.

40 PRINT "Justice League #12"  Lois Lane who?  Seriously.  It should be nice if they keep these two together for a long time.  Make people think of them as an item, as inseparable as Lois and Clark.  Then do something to rip them apart.  Maybe in five years or so, Supes can sell his marriage...(let's not go there......)

50 Print "Batman and Robin Catwoman #22"  This was a positive story, ending with the two of them rescuing a little girl and swinging off with her to safety.  To me, an emotional ending for some reason!  Later (in other places), there is news that Catwoman may be the next Robin, called "Catbird," however this might be some sort of alternate universe story or something.  (The next big things are called Gothtopia and Batman:Eternal)

60 PRINT "Justice League of America #2" VIBE:  "Hawkman, you're covered in blood!" HAWKMAN: "It's not MY blood!"  Best joke of the year!

70 PRINT "Zero Year"  Everyone got a re-start for the New 52, except for the Bat Family.  They just got a soft reboot.  Batman's origin, at least the part about Thomas and Martha being murdered in front of him, has been told several times, almost ad nauseum.  BUT exactly how that translated into a guy dressed as a bat beating the tar out of criminals HAS NOT been explored in comics, as far as I know, ever.  So we are getting a big "Batman Begins" type of story.  We also got to see the Red Hood dropped in acid at the Ace Chemical plant...  The teaser line "And wait until you see who the Red Hood Really is, hasn't really been resolved yet.  So I suppose we'll see that in the coming year!  Throughout these books, we get to see little hints at Bat-stuff we are already familiar with.  The Studebaker, the "R" insignia on Bruce's hat, the grappling gun, the batarang.  On and on.

Batman #24 was an 80-page value!

80 PRINT "Detective Comics #19"  This cheapskate was quite happy with this value!  The oversized eighty pager was not even figured into the price of the subscription, apparently!  The subscription also paid off in the fact that the Back-up stories, starting around the time of this book, all focused on Man-Bat, and so it was like we got a whole other story arc!

Another 80 pager!

90 PRINT  "Suicide Squad #14 and 15"  The dynamic between the Joker and Harley Quinn is just awesome!  Harley was a character that I largely didn't care much for from past experiences of watching the Batman animated series from the 1990's.  What they are doing with Harley Quinn now is over-the-top.  I don't plan on reading any of her new series, I haven't cared for the art on the adverts, but she moved up the ladder on my unwritten list of characters, I tell you that!  I read these over and over!

100 Print "Death of the Family"  What really got me hooked on these stories?  Right after the FlashPoint.  Detective Comics #1.  We see the plot resolved here.  DC made us wait a year, and then WHAM!  This awesome story didn't disappoint!  I have almost every book from the series, and have read them all twice, as well as let SpartanSmurf #1 read them.  He hasn't finished yet...But it is good to let him in on that grown-up type story action.  Also, I came to like Batgirl a lot more, as well as Harley Quinn.  And we get one of our final issues with Damian as Robin, and it was one of the creepiest stories of the bunch!

Could I do an honorable mention?  Trinity War\Forever Evil has been gripping!  Can't wait to see what happens there!

SpartanNerd Sundays...Faith and Mulligans

Ephesians 6:10-18- The Armor of God

My favorite style of Magic The Gathering play is called "constructed".  I like either "standard" or "modern". But Legacy and Vintage are beyond me (I'm a cheapskate, remember?).   And I am not good at limited and drafting....

So, you load up a constructed deck...   Maybe 25 lands and your favorite 35 other cards.  And play!

You are putting your faith in what you put in the deck, right?  You know there is nothing there that you didn't provide ahead of time.  You know that there are no red cards if you are playing black and white.  You know there are four Fencing Aces double striking the truth...You put them there!


I generally mulligan....draw six different cards after the first draw...when I have no land or nothing worthy to play.   Here's the devotional bit....if I have 5 lands in hand, what are the odds of Mana flood?  I have faith that there is NO WAY the next three turns are going to be all land....I mean, it could happen...(this IS a card game) But probably not.

Does that make sense?   Statistically the odds are in that favor.  

This principle runs truer than true with the Mazes End strategy, where you might just run three copies of each guild gate...If one Dimir Guildgate is out, and the other was milled...guess what...You know you have one more!  You hold Three Boros guild gates?  You need not worry about losing them, and furthermore you know you will be drawing something different each turn.

What does this have to do with anything?

Your deck, ahem, "library" in Magic is like your Christian testimony.  When the old devil tries to vex you away from the truth, you can think back on your life and say to him..."I remember when Jesus did this in my life, or did that in my life."  It is called "The Shield of Faith."  You can use it to protect yourself against the fiery arrows of Satan!  You can rely on the things God has provided in you!  You can have those experiences...that spiritual growth...always in mind.

But you have to keep your faith in those things.  The Bible says you have to "Take Up" that shield of faith!  Then swing that sword of truth!

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SpartanNerd Sundays...SWORDS

Top: Both are He-Man's swords, one from 200x, the other vintage style.  Left to right on the bottom, Tri-Clops repainted sword from a weapons pack, Draego-Man's non-powered sword, Skeletor's two-piece sword from 200x, also called Keldor's swords, and Vikor's Sword, the Sword of Gaz

Swords are a big deal to any Masters of the Universe fan.  The sword reflects which version of a character is being portrayed.  For instance, The Mike Young/200x era weapons usually looked quite a bit different from the Vintage weapons. A character's weapon says a lot about a their fighting style.  And talking about these things lets others know your level of devotion and understanding to a character.

The bible says, in Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

I'll just leave you with this.  A Double-Edged sword is one like all of these in the picture.  It has a sharp edge, and bevels.  So it not only cuts, it divides.  In battle this will cause a more severe wound, as it literally tears apart the flesh being struck.

The word of God can see your motivations, in the same way a sword like this cuts stuff open and reveals what's inside....

"Until next time.....!"

SpartanNerd Sunday......Playmat.....Protector of the Keep

I mentioned that I picked this playmat out as a Father's Day present in an earlier Magic the Gathering related post.

I saw many people use a playmat, but I never really understood it until I used one of my own.  The cards are more comfortable to use all around with this item.  It helps keep them clean, and they slide around easlily on one.

I chose this one over several other choices.  I didn't make the choice lightly.  There are a lot of pretty ones out there, but I knew I probably wouldn't use any other playmat for awhile.

The Protector of the Keep is not a Magic the Gathering product.  It is marketed towards that, but is not officially from the wizards.  Just the same, she fits in very well.

Why this one...over say, this one?

Serenity Angel

This one caught my eye at the Tangled Web.  I think it is in fact a much prettier angel.

The other two I considered were...

Sacred Foundry

Godless Shrine

I actually play both of these cards, and find Godless Shrine to be especially pretty.  (I like stained glass windows, and play Orzov a good bit.  Not a very uplifting name, though.  But this is fiction, people!)

No, the Protector of the Keep won out.  She is a seraph.  In the Bible, an angel that remains in the presence of God has six wings.  Two to fly, two to cover its face, and two to cover its feet.  (Isaiah 6:8) This angel is a protector as well.  In the Bible, Micheal is the protector of God's people.  This Angel is Protector of the Keep.  She reminds me of Michael.  (I always see Michael as a man, but.....) The protector here is stylized as a strong woman, armed to the teeth, those six wings ready to protect.  I'm down with that.

Whenever anyone asks me about my Angel, or comments on my playmat, I get a chance to talk about God's holiness.  This can lead to discussing Jesus Christ and the wonderful work he has done for humanity in granting us access to such a holy God!

So is talking about something so serious welcome at a Friday Night Magic Tournament?  Most of the time, people look at me and say, "Really?  I didn't know that."

SpartanNerd Sunday may become a regular feature of this blog.  Anyone interested?  There are many connections in nerd-tainment to the Bible, God, religion, and other things of a spiritual nature.  And there are a ton of run-of-the-mill devotions on Facebook and whatnot.  Mine could be really different.

Comment People!  I need to hear from the Hub City Geeks!