Chapter 00 - 3: Prologue Part 3

Fortunately for the TRi and GMTi, they have made few enemies in their deep space exploration efforts. However, this is more of result of intelligent life being scarce rather than Terran prudence. They have made a few allies other than those through the Arlt Alliance as well as some enemies. Following advice from the Arlt Alliance, the two Terran corporations have refrained from involving themselves in any underdeveloped planets. Apparently, history has proven that interference will only cause disaster for the race being artificially advanced. The TRi and GMTi hiring has seen little diversity in terms of race. This is actually because few races in the Arlt Alliance would consider working outside their own races' companies, and even fewer would consider working with a corporation that isn't part of the Alliance. In that sense, the TRi and GMTi are full of normal humans, not taking into account the Gifted. The majority of the Terran race speaks either English or Standard Mandarin, which were adopted as the two main languages of the Exodus parties. This proved to be a peculiar advantage in trade.

The Arlt Alliance had developed a translation technology which it had no qualms in sharing. This made it easy to accomodate the two simple 'dialects' which Terrans spoke into the Alliance language database for translation in their device. Some races also favoured trade with Terrans because there was no need to learn an obscene amount of dialects just to trade among the multiple trade stations and complexes scattered across Terran territory. Some races simple preferred not using a translation device for the fear of it producing the wrong words in the wrong context - although such errors are generally tolerated most of the time.

Within this relatively new and growing race, some of the Gifted had begun to execute a plan covertly among themselves. And within this plan, there were a few people who had yet to learn what role they had to play.

Casual Decks

What actually defines a casual deck? For one, a casual deck shouldn't be based on any form of tournament deck. Of course, it's not entirely impossible that a casual player would stumble upon a supremely powerful archetype during deckbuilding. Is a casual deck necessarily cheap? No. In fact, I might have probably built physically one of the most expensive casual decks to date. It's difficult to pinpoint what kind of deck is actually casual any more, but I believe that there are only few very clear rules: 1. Isn't based on a successful deck archetype. - To me, this means anything at the current time and before that. Actually, casual decks could still be based on deck archetypes, and still not be too competitive to be fun.

2. Wins in the most interesting or fun way possible. - Some casual decks have normal ways of winning, but certain combinations of cards (like in preconstructed decks) can lead to some really fun and close matches. Some casual decks just try a fun way of winning - Mycosynth Affinity, Spiritcraft, Panoptic Mirror, some obscure combo.... and so on. Competitive wins are generally unstoppable to casual decks, with some exceptions, of course.

3. Should have a net worth of below USD100 if possible. :D - Well, it has to be capped somehow. I don't think it's correct to call any deck running 4 Wrath of God, 4 Umezawa's Jitte and 4 Cranial Extraction anywhere close to being casual.

4. Can adapt easily to a multiplayer environment. - This is one of the few things people keep forgetting out of casual. Most casual decks are designed to handle both variations of player environments with ease. Hah. Some casual decks don't - making this rule a gray spot, but most casual decks should have no problem - meaning that the deck you play doesn't trade off resources too quickly for gains.

There are many forms of casual decks, and some of them even go up to become supreme rogue decks at tournaments after some tweaking. Of course, I believe that most casual decks are actually also peasant decks.

A New Template

I've got a new template! Yay! This one is bigger than the old one - that means it's not so 640x480 friendly anymore. :DI think it's nicer though - and if you want to see it properly - get the Lucida Grande font. :D Then, the site's true colours will shine... maybe. :D

Update: Fixed a few issues regarding text box sizes. :D Report any more bugs if you find any!