Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Deck Tech: Adam's Selesnya Aggro (Standard)

 Hey guys! Welcome to the first edition of Deck Tech. This time we'll be looking at my Selesnya Aggro standard deck. Here is the list:



This is a pretty straight forward aggro deck I put together. The goal of the deck is to get enough creatures out to over run my opponent with damage. Using cards such as Phytoburst, Unflinching Courage and the two Ordeal cars allow me to pump up my creatures for more damage, as well as the Slaighterhorn for Bloodrush. Being a Selesnya deck, I have tokens, which Trostani, Call of the Conclave and Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage help me create. This is the second version of the deck, the first version doing pretty ok in a causal setting. I haven't played it at an FNM yet, so I'm not to sure how this works. I might take a few cards out for my UG deck, but we'll see. The great thing about being aggro, is the relative low mana cost of the cards, hopefully allowing me to get the upper hand.
Any comments, suggestions or praise for the deck? Let me know below. 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Will Over Fear: How The Green Lantern Saved My Life


For those people who know me well, the Green Lantern is my all time favorite superhero. Sure, I get part of my nickname from Captain America, but Cap will never shine the light (pun intended) that Hal Jordan and company have shone in my general direction.
I remember my first encounter with my budding love for the comic. I was at Six Flags with some friends, looking at the capes they had, trying to pick one out for my girlfriend. After deciding to get a little something for myself, my eyes wandered over to some hats on a table. Being a lover of hats, I decided to get one. I reached for a Flash or Batman one (can't recall) when a green snap-back with a black brim caught my eye. The words "Green Lantern" where written across the front in white lettering. Instinct told me to pick it up and purchase it. As fate would have it, I had also started to watch the Green Lantern animated series online, so the fit seemed natural.
Fast forward a month or two. I was at the mall with my girlfriend and her roommate. After aimlessly wandering around Lids for a while, we moved on to Newberry Comics, a favorite store of mine. While there are a billion things in that store I could have purchased, something drew me over to the graphic novels. My eyes scanned the shelves, looking to buy something to start a comic collection. And there it was. Geoff John's 2009 masterpiece of a mini series collected in one book. Blackest Night. I was itching to read it since hearing about it on the internet. I quickly snatched it up and headed to the counter with my purchase. As fate would have it, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights was on sale at FYE, and such began my obsession with the man called Hal Jordan.
There are four main Green Lanterns I could have been drawn to: John Stewart, Kyle Radner, Guy Garner and Hal Jordan. But something about Hal Jordan, The Man Without Fear, drew me to reading his stories. Tales of love and lost, betrayal and defeat, sacrifice and victory flew by my eyes as I read Blackest Night. Something about this man, this fictional character, connected with me on an emotional level. But what was it. Then it clicked. The Man Without Fear. The man who showed tremendous will power, enough to be the first Green Lantern from Earth. The man who lost everything multiple times, only to rise back to his feet and stare evil in the face. The man who looked death in the face multiple times and said "Come and get me". The man, despite all this, still fears for the ones he loves and has moments of self-doubt. The Man Without Fear who was still afraid.
"How could this be?" I thought. "How can the so called Man Without Fear be afraid?" I knew that all superheroes had a flaw, but fear is the natural opposite of will, the core power of the Green Lantern Corps. Then I made the realization that started to change my life. Hal Jordan could overcome fear because of his will power. He took on the emotion that should have been his weakness and turned it into his greatest strength. "If a fictional character could do that," I thought to myself, "why can't I?"
To the people I trust and care about, they know that I struggle with anxiety and some minor depression. It has hindered me in the past, caused me to lose all control and fail miserably at school and some aspects of life. When I made the realization that Hal Jordan and I weren't so different, I had already been kicked out of school the second time, this time for good. I was really down and out, disappointed with myself, looking for someone to blame. I didn't want to continue feeling like a failure. So I made myself a promise. A promise that would help whenever I was feel depressed or anxious, whenever my mind went full throttle and would send me into panic attack. It stated "If Hal Jordan can do what he did, you can accomplish whatever you want." Sure, I still have my major set backs. I haven't accomplished everything I wanted to by now. But I started. With my anxiety acting up at the stupidest things, its a miracle I got done what few things I did. I'm proud of myself for it.
It may be weird that I'm comparing my life to a fictional character, but it works. Whenever I'm down for the count, I put on some music or pick up a book, yet my mind wanders to the Green Lantern. Like him, I am afraid. Afraid of failing again. Afraid of letting my friends and family down. Afraid of letting myself slip into a dark place. My eyes wander over to my book shelf as I write this, knowing that in the many pages that are stored there is a man. A man who can overcome fear and loss. A man who I am glad to say is a hero to me and many other people. I can't say when I will, but one day I will become just like him. A man without fear. A man who can turn his greatest weakness into his greatest strength.
I am Adam Bento. The Green Lantern known as Hal Jordan saved my life. I was pulled out of the darkest period of my life and into the light. I do not know when I will fully come out of it. But when I do, I can say that a fictional man in one of the most influential comic books of the past ten years saved me with one important lesson:
Will Over Fear

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Write For Us!

Interested in writing a one-shot article or maybe more? Have an idea for a podcast or a video you want recorded? Or are you the visual arts type and have artwork you want to show off?

SEND IT TO US!

You can send us a message on our Facebook Page or send us an email at talkboxpodcast@gmail.com and we'll get back to you! In the meantime, we have a TON of new stuff planned for the fall, new team members and our second birthday in October! So here's a gif to describe what's going on with the Talk Box:

 

See? Everything is ok!



Saturday, June 22, 2013

Man of Steel: Good News For DC

SPOILERS
Let's start with the reaction my inner nerd had: ASGAGSDJAGJKGAKFGAF SOOOO GOOD. Now that's done and over with, let's get serious. Man Of Steel, the latest DC Universe movie, was a great movie. Directed by Zack Snyder, it exceeded my expectations for what I expected. With a great cast this movie is great from start to finish. Sure there are flaws in it, but not big enough ones to take away from the movie. Henry Cavill stars as the title character, with Russell Crowe playing Jor-El, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Martha and Jonathon Kent, with Christopher Meloni and Laurence Fishburne  in supporting roles. General Zod, the villain, was played brilliantly by actor Micheal Shannon.
The movie itself was quite jumpy in the beginning. Instead following things chronologically, Snyder kind of jumped around a bit, explaining certain parts of Clark Kent's life through flashbacks. The opening sequence on Krypton was great. The small amount of screen time Crowe and Shannon shared was great. The tension between Zod and Jor-El was very suspenseful, and both their pain was felt. The basic plot-line of the movie was basically given away through the Zod trailer that was released a little before the official one.
So it's clear Zod is looking for Kal-El (Clark). Without giving to much away plotwise, there is a big huge fight, Superman gets the girl, Zod loses and life goes on. The story sticks close to the comics, which is always good and leads to a great movie. I'll give it a B+.
"Why a B+?" you ask. Well there were some issues. Here are where the SPOILERS come in. I felt Lois Lane was too involved with what was going on. Usually she's on the outskirts, panicking with the rest of the city. Also, Lois didn't know Clark was Superman until much later. She found out pretty fast. The biggest problem I had was with the fight. This was the first time I've seen a majority of a city destroyed in a movie. Like wiped off the map kind of destroyed. And Superman does something that I'd never thought I'd see him do. You'll have to figure out what that is yourself.
But this movie is great news for DC. With the success of the Dark Knight trilogy with the success this movie is having, the Justice League movie doesn't seem far off. In fact, I spotted some things in the movie that were actually pointed out the JL movie will most likely happen. While not really spoilers, if you don't want to know, skip past this list:

  • There were whales shown waking Superman up= Aquaman
  • Wayne Enterprises Satellite= Batman
  • Air Force female captain with the name tag "Ferris"= Green Lantern
So these signs are great news for the JL movie. Sure they'll have to reboot Green Lantern, but if Snyder and Dark Knight director Chirstopher Nolan get involved, I see a great Justice League movie to compete with Marvel's Avengers.
All in all, Man of Steel is worth seeing. With a great cast, a riveting plot and enough action to keep you entertained, it's a must see of the summer. Hell, I thought it was better than Iron Man 3. But that's my opinion. Party on kids!


Check out our friend Filmiest's review here
Check out our friend Cinemanja's review here

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

EA to Get Star Wars Games



Well after Disney shut down LucasArts, millions of Star Wars game fans began to cry and curse Disney's name. But good news came last week as Disney announced EA now had the rights to publish and make new Star Wars games. EA stated that BioWare will continue doing it's thing with the Star Wars games it has out now, but added DICE and Visceral to the game developing. VICE is popular for it's Battlefront series, while Visceral brings the Dead Space franchise to the table.
Does this mean we'll see Battlefront 3 finally? Rumor has it we might. EA just bought a new LA office for DICE to work on games. They seem to be the best ones suited to continue the Battlefront series. DICE's general manager was quoted as saying that DICE is "looking at either creating an entirely new experience or piggybacking on an older Star Wars game series" Which could mean Battlefront 3.
Other games shut down by Disney include Star Wars: 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault. With this recent deal, EA could be picking up those games where they left of and give them to Visceral to do. BioWare currently has The Old Republic MMO and other Old Republic titles. While these are very popular, it wouldn't be weird for BioWare to pick up another Star Wars title.
EA promises more Star War games to keep legions of fans happy. But will they live up to the expectations set up by LucasArts before they where shut down? Only time will tell.

Thanks to Kotaku for the information.

Talk Box Comic: Doctor Harry

We Can't Win.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Magic: The Gathering Dragon's Maze Prerelease!

The Talk Box went to our local Dragon's Maze Prerelease! We went to Friendly Fire Game Center in Mansfield, CT. While there were 36 people originally signed up, I believe a few more came around midnight to join in the fun! Let's see how The Talk Box did:

Player: Adam (The MC)
Guild/Deck: Orzhov, BWG
Record: 0-3 (Dropped before 4)


Player: Ted (The Voice)
Guild/Deck: Golgari, UGB
Record: Dropped after 1 (lost to Harry)


Player: Harry (The Quiet Australian)
Guild/Deck: Dimir, RBU
Record: 2-2


Player: Pat (The Listmaster)
Guild/Deck: Gruul, RGB
Record: 2-2, Maze Champion!

So Gruul ended up winning the maze at Friendly Fire midnight, with Rakdos winning the next day's event. Here are some pictures from the night!

 Look at all the people!

 Gruul with the early lead.

 Round 2 Gruul win!

 Final few games.

 Intense! 

 Final round! 

Ooooo Ral Zarek!

Thanks to Dan at Friendly Fire for letting us hang out and take pictures!
Check them out on Facebook and their website!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Dragon's Maze Intro Packs: Azorius, Orzhov and Simic

The wait is over! The 5 Dragon's Maze Intro Packs have been revealed! How exciting! I'm going to look at the decks really quickly to see how they might fare. Lets start with the 3 guilds I play/have played and if I'd buy the decks.

Azorius
Little known fact: I used to love Azorius. This deck seems promising and might pique my interest. The main card is Lavnia of the Tenth. Detaining the living daylights out of your opponent is always great. She's great for a late game play if you want to just finish your challenger quickly, but that only works if you have an army to do it. Luckily, this deck comes with 22 creatures with some great abilities. There is plenty of detain in this deck. There are a total of 5 creatures with flying, so plenty of ways to get damage in. The 12 instants and sorceries that come with this deck are also pretty great. It comes with the fuse card Protect/Serve which allows you to bulk up a creature while making sure your opponent won't kill one of your other creatures. Pair it Lavnia and BOOM death to all who oppose you.
Totally might buy this deck. Better than the Azorius one from RtR.

Orzhov
Ahhhh Orzhov. The greediest of guilds. The main card is the lovely Tesya, Envoy of Ghosts. Protection from creatures? Check. Send all creatures that deal damage to you away? Check. Seems great to me! While you work to get Tesya out, there seems to be about a billion ways to gain life in this deck. Extort, Crypt Incursion, Riot Control. You just might gain more life than your opponents can deal with! This deck is just cruel. The fuse card Profit/Loss is included. It allows you to boost your creatures while diminishing your opponent's. So if you don't extort them to death, you can basically trample over your opponent.
Totally buying this at the prerelease. This deck is so mean I love it. 

Simic
I'm nicknaming this deck "Counters For All The People". Granted that's what's Simic is about in general but holy shit guys! Vorel of The Hull Clade basically adds counters to anything you have that may have some. Planeswalker needs some loyality counters? You got it! Need bigger creatures to trample your opponent? You got it! All the counters! Plus Sapphire Drake gives all creatures with counters flying. So basically you can get an army of flying creatures, some with trample to literally flatten out your challengers. Give/Take works wonders too! You can put 3 +1/+1 counters on a creature, then take all the counters of the same one or another creature and draw that many cards. Simic likes cards for some reason. Anyway, get this deck if you like to trample and control your opponents.
Would I buy this? Maybe just for some cards.
 
Check out the full decklists for these as well as the Radkos and Gruul decks here.
Anyway have fun and enjoy the Dragon's Maze! 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

DC's First Transgender Character: A Positive Look

On April 10, DC Comics revealed that Alysia Yeoh, roommate of the current Batgirl Barbara Gordon, was transgender.  While certainly not the first transgender comic book character, Alysia is the first one in a major comic run, making her a significant milestone in the comic book world.  She was created by writer Gail Simone, the same writer who rebooted Batwoman as a lesbian to positive results. She explained the idea of making Alysia transgender in an interview with Wired: “I looked out into the audience, saw dozens of faces I knew well — LGBTQ folks, mostly — all avid comics readers and superhero fans and DC supporters, and it just hit me: why was this so impossible? Why in the world can we not do a better job of representation of not just humanity, but also our own loyal audience? I thought I might have to sell it, so to speak, but he ( DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio) just paused for a moment, asked how this would affect Barbara’s story, and immediately approved it."
While there is some backlash to this announcement, most people are totally ok with the announcement. In fact, the LGBTQ community is new at all to comics. In 1992, X-Men member Northstar revealed himself to be gay and got married to his partner Kyle in June of 2012, marking the gay marriage in comics history. The same month, DC Comics announced that Alan Scott, the first hero to be called Green Lantern, was going to be the newest gay superhero in the DC Universe, making June a great leap forward of LGBTQ community.
Comics are a great sign of the times. They evolve as new things arise and are no stranger to controversy. In the 1970s, Marvel tackeled the idea of interracial marriage by having Vision, an android, marry Scarlet Witch. This lead the way for Cloak and Dagger and many other interracial couples in the Marvel Universe. In 2011, Superman renounced his American citizenship, causing some outrage in the non-comic fan world. Eight years earlier, Superman had the Red Son storyline, in which he was working with the Soviet Union.  There was also some outrage when Marvel "killed" off Captain America. But as comic fans, these events are minuscule in the overall universe. 
I think what DC Comics did with Alysia Yeoh was a brave step forward. With what's going on the political world, I think it was an appropriate time. While there is always to going to be some backlash from the conservative side of things, I feel like the positive reaction will be the highlight of this story. I saw posts on social network sites praising DC for taking a bold step forward. I look forward to learning what happens as Barbara and Alysia's friendship progresses through the next couple issues. 

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Our Latest Video: Magic The Gathering Gatecrash Event!


Here we explore the fun of a Gatecrash sealed event!

Here's a Wallpaper For All You Loyal Readers!

Enjoy!

Welcome Matt to the staff!


Hey guys! We have a new contributor! His name is Matt aka PappaPrime. He does cool artwork and stuff. Here's some of his work:





Anyway, he'll be doing stuff on here now, so keep an eye out!
Check out his artwork here!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Interesting Quote

Quote from Lex Luthor in the intro from the Injustice App. Foreshadowing the game?

 

 

Monday, April 8, 2013

Dragon's Maze Spoilers Review!

It's that time of the year again folks. SPOILER SEASON! Here I'm going to review the lovely spoilers the kind folks at Wizard's put out for us! Here we go! 

The Maze
Here we have Maze's End, one of the new mythic rares. It's a land card with a win condition so fun stuff. It would work best in a 5 color deck with a lot of mana/gate fishing in it. Otherwise it's a kind of pointless card. But go for the win condition and BOOM! Victory.

Champions Ahoy!
Here we have the Gruul champion of the maze. We know that the 10 new intro decks will have the champions as the foil rares so this one should be pretty common.  This guy here, Ruric Thar, is quite the nasty guy.  He attacks each turn if able, which is great if you can bulk him up. Plus he has vigilance and reach so fun stuff kids. Also, his second ability takes care of those nasty spell decks like Izzet. So if you can get him out on turn 6 against a spell deck, you win.
Speaking of Izzet, here's Melek, the Izzet maze champion. He's going to be a great addition to any Izzet deck. Heck, I plan on getting the Izzet intro just for this guy. Get him out on turn 6 and you're playing cards like instants left and right. Plus when you play an actual instant or sorcery, you can copy it. So BAM. Victory is yours.

The Ral-Man Cometh
And here he is. Ral Zarek. The newest planeswalker. And I want him so much. Look at his abilities!

+1: Tap target permanent, then untap another target permanent.
-2: Ral Zarek deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
-7: Flip 5 coins. Take an extra turn after this one for each coin that comes up heads.

His plus 1 is great if you have some creatures to swing in with and you need to get rid of some blockers, but also works for tapping effects. His minus 2? Great for killing of low toughness creatures or dwindling down your opponent's health. And DO YOU SEE THE -7????  Five coins could mean 5 heads which means 5 extra turns. Five. Win baby win.

Fusion Time
 Look! New mechanic! Fuse takes the double cards we know and love and allows you to cast one or both halves! Which is awesome. I included Wear/Tear and Toil/Trouble above. Both are a single guild card. Wear/Tear is great because you can take out those pesky artifacts and enchantments in a single card. Toil/Trouble is great for torturing your opponents with your already torturous Radkos deck. But check this out:
 Beck/Call. A Simic and Azorius card. Could this be a hint at the new guild pairings? Or is this just a great combo for a 3 color deck? Looks great for a GWU deck. Throw some populate and BOOM! Cards and birds!

I can't wait to review the set as a whole soon! Keep an eye out for it!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Injustice Gods Among Us Part 2:Battle Arena FINALS!

Well folks the wait is over! The Injustice Battle Arena final 2 are....
BATMAN AND SUPERMAN
Which is not a total shocker! I mean this was easily predicted from the beginning  Who doesn't want to see these 2 fight? I'm going to figure out who would win the fight based on who they beat in the past rounds and maybe a little bit on the fans voting. I'm mad Green Lantern lost but oh well. He'll kick ass in the game.

Batman
Batman. What can I say? He had a pretty impressive run! In round one, he fought his old nemesis Bane. Clearly the fans knew Batman could outsmart Bane after fighting him so many times. And maybe a little bias but I digress. Second round, he fought Wonder Woman. Again, a little bias here, but I think he could have done it. Use some batarangs to disarm the power gauntlets and BOOM  Batman wins. Semi-Finals, old Bats defeated the Flash. Again, MORE BIAS. But this was a pretty open match. Batman is agile enough to barely dodge the Flash and that's what we saw in the Arena. Plus Batman did have hometurf.

Superman
Surprisingly, not a lot of bias toward Superman. Maybe during the Semi-Finals, but lets see who he defeated. Round 1 he fought Sinestro. Let's be honest here, Sinestro isn't really all the powerful. Sure he can give the Green Lantern Corps a fight, but the Man of Steel? No way! This man has no fear, turning Sinestro's yellow ring against him! Round 2, Superman went toe to toe with Green Arrow. Sure I would have loved Green Arrow to win after defeating Hawkgirl, but again no contest. Green Arrow might have the world's best arsenal of arrows, but no kryptonite ones! Another win for Superman. Semi-finals. Hal Jordan versus Clark Kent. Men without fear. Both can easily go toe to toe. Superman can win but interrupting Hal's thought process, breaking his constructions before they come to form. So a Superman win, but not my a long run.

Who will win? It's gonna be close, but I think the Batman fans will have more of a control. Sure Superman is pretty much invincible, but Batman's known him long enough to get an arsenal of gadgets to ensure his victory. Plus both can throw a good punch around.

In the fight for third and fourth? Third to Green Lantern and fourth to The Flash. Fastest man on earth may have the speed force, but the Green Lantern has the power of will. BOOM right into a mighty green wall for the Flash!

There you have it folks! Enjoy and stay tuned for more!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Blackest Night: 4 Years Later

Blackest Night Cover

WARNING: Some Spoilers.
It's been four years since DC's crossover event, Blackest Night. While the main story mainly focuses on Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern and a recently reincarnated Barry Allen as the Flash, most of the DC Universe is included. When it first came out, critics and fans alike praised the miniseries. It became a New York Times best seller and is some of Geoff Johns' best work. This man single-handedly made the New 52 Aquaman more awesome than anyone imagined. The artwork by Ivan Reis is equally impressive. Even though this series came out 4 years ago, it is still one of the most popular to date, rivaling the success of Marvel's Civil War, and DC still markets it to this day. You can get masks based off characters, and shirts and rings from each color on the spectrum. I personally have the White Lantern ring and shirt, but plan on getting the Green Lantern one soon.
My personal connection to this book is that it's what got me into comics. The story was so intriguing that I could not put it down. For people who are not big fans of DC, you will change your mind after reading this book. I went into it as a mainly Marvel guy, but when I finished I was DC all the way. Johns does an excellent job grabbing the reader and pulling them into the story. It starts out on a day of remembrance for those superheroes who have died. Events quickly go south as the Black Hand and Black Lantern Corps return the dead to life in an attempt to wipe out all emotions and The Entity (the supreme force in the universe). Reis' artwork is fantastic. The emotions on the characters' faces seem so real. I felt the Flash's pain as he realized a lot of his friends had died before he came back to life. Blackest Night also has one of the most terrifying panels in comic book history:
blackest-night-5-of-8-page-192

Zombie Batman. In the book for only a couple pages, but one of the biggest plot twists in it. This character alone causes most of DC's major heroes to turn into Black Lanterns. Zombie Batman will also be one of the alternate Batman skins in the game Injustice: Gods Among Us. When I first saw this panel, it hit me like a train. Bruce Wayne came back from the dead as this horrifying creature, causing heroes like Green Arrow and Superman to turn. Probably one of my favorite moments in the series.
Blackest Night 4 years ago was a big deal. And it still is. People talk about it all the time. It changed the DC Universe as it was known then, set up the successful Brightest Day, and lead to the reboot of the Universe in the New 52. This gripping yet horrifying tale of heroes, villains, life and death will tear at your emotional heart strings as you see your childhood heroes fall helpless to the Black Hand and his minions. I recommend getting this book where ever you can. But be warned: this is not for the faint of heart.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Injustice Gods Among Us Part 1: Who I'll Play As

Injustice: Gods Among Us is the new DC Comics fighting game made by NetherRealm Studios.  It pits the world's greatest superheroes against each other in a fight to protect what they believe in. Villains and heroes no longer exists and it's up to them to decide the fate of the world.  I'm excite, so here's who I'm going to play as when I get the game.

Green Lantern

First of all, Green Lantern is one of my favorite superheroes of all time. So me playing as him is a no brainer. I love the the concept of the him using his ring to kick some superhero butt. His abilities look amazing so I cannot wait to use them! Here's a video of Green Lantern kicking Aquaman's ass. See that finishing move? Buses AND planes? Transportation beat down!

Green Arrow
What can I say? I like the color green. Green Arrow is a pretty understated superhero. He might not have any powers, but his arrows and bow make up for that. His bow has a blade for crying out loud! He might have lost to Superman in the latest Battle Arena, but here is Green Arrow destroying Hawkgirl.

The Flash
There's something about The Flash that intrigues me. It could be his set of morals, or the fact he can punch in the face before you can say "Oh no!" I think using The Flash's superspeed and his quick reflexes will ube a big factor in his victories. To prove that, here he is beating the crap out of the Joker. You see that finishing move? Hell to the yes.

So here ends part one! Check back later for a part 2!