The Queue: Turtles > Dinosaurs

Turtles are friends. We all like turtles. Even scary zombies like turtles.

Dinosaurs cost $158.

The solution to that Dinos vs. Tortollans battle is easy. Turtles win!

This is The Queue, where the philosophy behind reptilian warfare — and more! — is in vogue and consequential. You ask, we deliver.

The two decks I tried were Quest Demon Hunter and Quest Mage.

Quest Mage, in particular, felt very fun: the Quest asks you to use Discover effects eight times, and there are just so many of those in the game — with a lot of them being cards that are both powerful and fun to use. The new spell Story of the Waygate gives you all the juicy discount you could ever ask for to make those often already discounted cards you Discovered even cheaper and more delicious to use.

Quest Demon Hunter… was the exact opposite. It felt very weak and clunky. The Quest requires you to deal exactly two damage to an enemy fifteen times. While the new DH cards do provide you with lots of aggressive ways to do that (including the fun Infestation), it’s still a long, long road until you complete it — I never managed to in the games I played, it just took too long and I usually got overwhelmed since I was playing sort of sub-optimally while trying to just “deal two damage” to things.

It’s hard to be sure about how powerful or weak those decks will be when the actual expansion releases because, well, a lot of theorycrafting was happening (that’s what the event was for!) and, from experience, what seems strong during these stages is often not what turns out to be strong when the expansion releases. It feels to me like a lot of what you see the streamers play is just the tip of the iceberg, and most of the actual work is being done on games that are played between pros challenging themselves, outside of the cameras. But that’s mostly just my educated speculation.

I’m not sure yet, but I’m strongly considering picking up Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, which is 50% off.

I already beat (and loved) the original SMT V, and this is the “Royal” version of it… but besides the additions (like a whole new storyline that is supposedly good, which is great because the story was the weak point of the original SMT V), I’d be picking this up to play on the Steam Deck, where hopefully I wouldn’t suffer from the same performance issues the original had on the Switch (or at least, not as much). Also, it’s been quite a while since I played that game, so it could be fun to revisit it in the near-to-not-so-near future.

Also, Red Dead Redemption 2 is 75% off. Hmmm.

1) No <3

2) Even though Canon in D has become kind of a meme, due to things like Axis of Awesome and the Pachelbel Rant, it is a beautiful piece of music and fun to play — even if repetitive. Part of its genius is that it entraps you in a way where the full cycle closes neatly but still asks for continuation, so it feels pleasant for it to start over again. That’s probably the main reason why it (or, at least, four of its chords) were emulated so many times in modern popular music. It definitely works. And just like it pleases the ears to listen to it, no matter how many dang times we’ve done so, it feels pleasant to play as well.

Honestly, I have no strong opinion one way or another, but I do admit that some crossovers look very enticing. The last time I was really compelled to maybe play a game because of a crossover was when Overwatch 2 added those Street Fighter skins. I haven’t played OW2 in probably two years or so, but I almost decided to check it out again over this event.

However, those examples are rare. And some crossovers can feel a bit jarring, to be honest: sometimes a character is added to a universe where they clearly don’t belong, and that can take you out of the game a little bit. The truth is that, at least these days, most of these crossovers seem to be aimed at marketing more than an actual desire by the creators of those games to join forces.

Fighting games seem to be the exception. We still get games like Capcom vs. SNK or or BlazBlue Cross Tag, where the crossover feels absolutely warranted, and not just some promotional thing. Those can be very neat. And I absolutely love that Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui were added to Street Fighter 6, for instance: it was done with a lot of respect for the characters and the franchises they came from, the developers clearly showed a lot of knowledge and reverence to the source material in the moves, the animations, the background features, the small references.

So I guess in the end of they day, my opinion is in line with how the crossover is done; with its core intentions. The least marketing-like it is, the better.

Oh that’s so, so easy.

“Hey Red, which do you prefer: the monthly rewards based on the single race that has angered you the most in the history of WoW due to their lore actions, or the monthly rewards that include, among many other cool things, Fel Capybaras?”

This has been The Queue, and we’re getting ready for the weekend. So should you! Do like your favorite reptile and find a comfy spot to lay about and cool off or warm up, and have a good one!