A "Magical" Tutorial for Valucre Members

Acies' MTG Guide [Basic Edition]

Introduction

Given the amount of people as of late who have both mentioned an increased interest in Magic The Gathering™ and a lack of understanding in some of the mechanics and or playing. Given that I have missed some updates here and there, and that I once played regularly with the intention of going on to get certified as a Rules Advisor (I quit MTG last fall due to the cost of keeping up affecting my ability to pay tuition), I figure I can impart some useful knowledge. Now, this game is actually incredibly complex when you get down to the deeper nuances, but having enough of an understanding to be able to go out, have some fun, and even win a decent amount of games does not take nearly the amount of depth that aspiring to conquer major tournaments will. That said, I’m going to try and avoid really complex topics like layers and instead focus on basics, keywords, and “The Stack”.

The Basics

If you already play Magic™, this part of the guide likely covers topics you already know well. However, if you are just starting out or on the fence about giving the game a try, this part of the guide can be very helpful.

Permanents 

Permanents are things that remain on the battlefield after they are cast. Permanents do not go away immediately, though some remain longer than others. Some might only remain for the turn, while others remain indefinitely, until removed by an outside force. The following will be a list of permanents.

Lands 

Lands are what produce mana (see mana). During each turn, unless some other effect on the field says otherwise, you can play –one- land card. This land card is a freebee and it cannot be responded to (when we talk about it, you will see me mention that land does not use the stack). As soon as you hit your first main phase (more on phases later), you can play a land. You can also play a land card during your second main phase, if you have not played one during your first. Again, unless you have something else in play dictating otherwise, you can only play one land per turn.

There are two types of lands, Basic, and Nonbasic

Taste the Rainbow!

• Basic lands are the simple lands, they come out with no additional requirements or stipulations and they produce only one kind of mana. You have two types of basic lands, though this hardly worth mention—snowy and regular. Snowy are rare, but can be used all the same. Basic lands have the unique distinction of being allowed in play no matter what set they came out of (certain play styles have restrictions on what sets cards come from- basic lands are excluded from this) and that you can have any amount of each in your deck (nonbasic are limited to four). 



Shocklands- Very Popular

• Nonbasic lands are lands that do something other than produce one color of mana. The differing abilities vary, but they have some form of drawback. Some lands enter the battlefield tapped, whereas others only produce colorless mana. Other lands might cost you a point of life or require putting something else in your hand. The stipulations vary, but nonbasic lands are helpful insofar as they provide other benefits. Other factors that make them less free for use is that you are limited to four of each, and many are not common cards (harder to get, more value).

Creatures 

Grizzly Bears- the 2 mana 2/2 everyone
compares any 2/2 2 mana creature to.

Creatures are spells (yes, they count as spells, because the spell “summons” them) you use to attack or defend with (typically). You pay a required cost and summon them to the field. Most of the time, creatures are brought out by using a creature card, but some spells allow you to “fetch” a creature or to put “tokens” on the field. Tokens are creatures, they are just handled differently- if a token leave the battlefield and goes to another location, it disappears. Tokens who are exiled can never come back, tokens sent to the graveyard never come back- as soon as they leave the battlefield, they cease to exist. For creatures, this is not the case, and as you can imagine, all kinds of hijinks have come about because of that.

As I pointed out above, creatures have costs. Nearly all of them have some kind of mana cost (but not always) and the vast majority have a cost of some kind (but not always). You treat playing a creature card like playing a spell, by first filling your mana pool with mana, then declaring the spell and working through “the stack”. If the spell succeeds, your creature enters the battlefield. Creatures entering the battlefield, unless they have a keyword ability called “haste”, enter with what is colloquially called “summoning sickness”—this is basically the most official unofficial term there is in MTG (judges use it, game designers use it, but they never officially adopted it, go figure). Summoning sickness means that the creature is unable to attack the turn they arrived, because “summoning made them sick” (or really, they need to get situated first). Summoning sickness only affects things with a creature type. If it is not a creature, it cannot have summoning sickness.

Creatures enter with certain attributes. In addition to their mana costs, they have what is called an “Attack” and “Toughness” score. A creature whose total toughness is equal to or less than zero dies as soon as that effect is official- if they are officially at a zero toughness, they have “died”. A creature can have a 0 attack—this is often the case for a creature subtype called “defenders”, who defend instead of attack (like a big wall). When a creature attacks, you go by their (adjusted if applicable) attack score in determining potential damage and you use their toughness to determine whether or not they can survive a certain amount of accumulated damage—damage leaves at the end of turn.

Tokens

Someone turned his germ into a "gentlegerm"

I mentioned tokens, so I will mention them after creatures. It is tempting to just make them a subheading, but occasionally, you can have tokens that are not creatures, that is just not the typical case. Tokens are produced by an effect—sometimes a creature, sometimes a nonpermanent spell, sometimes an enchantment, planeswalker, you name it- this game has a lot of ways to make them. Tokens come in three flavors—vanilla creatures, “stand in tokens”, or duplicates of something.

• Vanilla creatures are just that- tokens produced to put more cannon fodder on the ground. These guys typically have lower attack and toughness scores, although this can vary. They usually have no more than 1-2 keyword abilities, if anyway, but again, not the case 100% of the time. Some cards produce whole messes of token, so I like to call permanents who do so “Token-Poopers”. Token-Poopers can be incredibly helpful, if you get the right one.
• Duplicates are where some kind of effect says put a token on the field that is exactly the same as another card. Tokens are an exact copy of the card they duplicate, meaning they have no abilities or special effects or buffs that are not printed on the card. Now, the card itself might have abilities, or triggering abilities, or other effects that come into effect as soon as or after it hits the battlefield- those go off. But duplicates do not copy number of additional counters, buffs, equipment, or other outside effects. In the case that you make a duplicate of a “transforming card”, it copies the face up side and cannot transform. 
• “Stand In”  tokens are tokens made to just sort of “stand-in”. The one example I can think of off the top of my head are “germ tokens”, which are 0/0 token creatures with the subtype “germ”. These come in with artifact equipment cards known as “living weapons”, where the equipment comes in already attached to a creature. This means that you do not have to equip the card to get use out of it—some living weapons are awesome cards, coming in as a pumped up creature whose buff you can reassign later. Now, germs are 0/0, which means they cannot exist without the effect of a buff or without the artifact. Something has to give it a permanently lasting +1 to toughness. Typically, the artifact equipment.  

Enchantments

MostAuras hit a creature, but this
One can go after any permanent

Enchantments are cards that stay on the battlefield and create a lasting effect. There are two types of enchantments: Auras and regular enchantments.

Auras are enchantments that enchant something (typically creatures, but some can enchant lands or artifacts). Once you have successfully cast them, the enchantment attaches itself to that creature and lasts until it is removed by some other effect—this could be a stipulation on the card (remove this enchantment if…), someone destroying it, the creature becoming immune from the color (protection from…) or when the card it enchants is removed from play. Now, this is not always that straight forward, as auras have a funny way acting when they are not “cast”, but brought back into play by some other effect. This is more advanced stuff for later.

This used to be a big pain in the butt

Other enchantments are those that are not an aura- the enter the battlefield and stay, once successfully cast. They might have an ability that targets something after the fact (oblivion ring is a good example)

but they do not target before entry. Some create a curse that effects enemy players or it might be a benefit only given to you. Some just create an ongoing effect that comes into play every turn. Others only activate when a cost is paid or something triggers them. The abilities of Enchantments are quite variable, but the important thing to keep in mind is that, short of something removing them (destroyed, exiled, effect of card meeting its end condition), they remain indefinitely.

Artifacts

These are functionally similar to enchantments, in that they have many of the same interactions, only differing names. There are three types of artifacts to track.

A living weapon/equipment that used to
give people nightmares.

Equipment: Equipment is an artifact that you can attach only to your creature (exceptions exist) in order to provide it some kind of benefit. A good way to think of this is giving a creature a better weapon or a superior set of armor or even a magical item. The equipment lasts until someone destroys it/exiles it, or some other condition comes to fruition. Unlike auras, equipment cards do not go to the graveyard once the creature dies (unless stated otherwise), they just return to the battlefield. In order to equip to a creature, you must pay an equip cost (sometimes this is free). If the equipment falls off the creature because the creature leaves or dies, you can reequip the card onto a new creature by paying the equip cost.

This is a badass card.

Creatures: This artifact is a creature, it is both a creature and artifact. Creatures come in varying subtypes, so in the case of these creatures, the subtype is “artifact”. This means the creature is probably made from technology or some similar process, or perhaps a golem. In most cases, artifact creatures only require colorless mana.

Artifact and most expensive mtg card in history

Standard: Lastly, you have just plain old artifacts. They do not equip to creatures and they themselves are not creatures. They might provide you with a static benefit or they might have an ability you have to activate. An example might be that the artifact is actually a large machine, so naturally no one is carrying that around—but it is still at your disposal.

Planeswalkers

What exactly is a planeswalker? Well, you as the player are one- how about that? Other planeswalkers are allies you summon to come to your aid. Planewalkers are not creatures, although some can act as one as an activated power. Planeswalkers enter the battlefield with a certain number of “loyalty counters”. During each of your own main-phases, when the stack is empty (no spell is currently waiting to be completed), you can choose to use one of your planeswalker’s abilities—this is once per turn per planeswalker. You can use more than one in a turn, but each one can only act once per turn, as long as it remains on the battlefield.
Planeswalkers have numerous abilities, having anywhere from three to four things they can do. As long as you can pay the exact cost, you can use the ability—you cannot bring a planeswalker down to negative counters. Once a planeswalker hits zero counters, they go to the graveyard. It used to be that only one planeswalker of the same name type (Jace, Sorin, etc) could be on the field period; revisions as of last summer now make it that each player can have one of each name on the field. If you play a second one, you get to choose which one goes to the graveyard.

This card makes people poop themselves
No, seriously. I'd lose my bowels in a tourney
if I had to deal with this. Like, table-flip time.

Planeswalkers are not creatures, so they do not have a toughness or attack. Instead, doing damage to a planeswalker results in them losing loyalty counters. Enemy players can choose to redirect their attack from you to the planeswalker, and you can choose to block creatures attacking the planeswalker. Spells that do “damage” can be redirected to the planeswalker, but spells that cause loss of “life” can only affect the player—only players have life.

Once more, Planeswalkers are not creatures.

Non-permanents

Non permanents are things that you can use, but they do not stay on the battlefield. These really fall into two classes: Spells and Emblems. Spells are instants and sorceries, while emblems are created by planeswalkers. The spell cards, like the majority of other spell cards, go to the graveyard when they are removed from play. Emblems on the other hand, never go anywhere. Include emblems in the non-permanents section, but in reality, they are sort of a hybrid between the two.

Instants and Sorceries

An instant- classic red

These are spell cards more in line with how most people probably think of “spells”. These are cards whose cost you pay in order to evoke an effect. The effect can be a onetime thing or it can create a condition that lasts through the rest of the turn- it varies. Once the instant or sorcery is resolved, they are put in the graveyard (unless something else stipulates otherwise)—using an instant or sorcery is a onetime deal. Instants and sorceries are very similar, but they differ in one very important way: Sorceries can only be played when “the stack is empty” and it is in your main phase, whereas instants can be played “almost any time”.

What does “The stack is empty mean”—it means no one has played anything yet. A player cannot play a sorcery if someone else has played a card and it has not yet resolved itself. Someone can play a card in response to your sorcery, and it will have no bearing on the casting itself, as the sorcery is already cast (as soon as you declare it and pay the cost, it is on the stack). Sorceries come with more restrictions, but these are typically the “More bang for your buck” kind of cards: as a rule (exceptions exist galore), sorceries are going to do more for less mana. In exchange for that, you lose a lot of flexibility.

Instants do not care about the stack. What does affect an instant is priority.

Blue likes to fuck with your mind

In order to play anything, a player must have priority. Now, priority does not mean you are faster, or better, or have some other super-ability; it just means that it is your turn to do something in the middle of the mess. I will go more in depth in priority when we talk about the stack, but let me put it simply here: If a player casts a spell, and then passes priority, you have it, and can cast a spell in response. There are two times where no players have priority, and one instance where players do not have to pass it after completing an action:

Untap Step and Cleanup Step: These are the bookends of a turn. Untap step happens automatically and cannot be messed with, so once you enter the untap step, everything untaps without interruption. During the cleanup step, creatures lose their damage counters, players discard excess cards, and then the turn fully ends- this is another part of the game that is (if ever, very rarely) not messed with. During these two times, nobody has priority.

The other situation where a person cannot gain priority is after someone plays a land for their turn (their one free land). When they play a land, this is not considered playing a spell, so therefore there is nothing to react to. The player never gives up their priority because they themselves have not yet used it—they can still pass it over at any time.

Emblems

This emblem stacks easily.

Some planeswalkers create what are called “Emblems”, an effect similar to an enchantment, only it is not a permanent. Emblems exist in what is known as the command zone, which is where you the player reside as well. To date, no spell affects emblems, and this emblems never go away unless the game ends. You can have any number of emblems and some emblems in fact have stacking abilities.

Example:

Other Basic Things

These are some other things I want to cover before moving on to the topics of “the stack” and key terms. I am going to cover what “mana” is, and then “zones” of play.

Mana

You know how a lot of games have some kind of magic system where if you have a finite amount of magic you can use before you use it up? Sometimes its spells per day, other times it might be “power”, or “essence”, or sometimes “mana”—well, this is the same idea. Most (exceptions exist) “spell” cards require mana. What are spell cards? Well, spell cards are pretty much everything that isn’t a land, but again, there are some odd exceptions out there. You know a card takes mana when they have one of these symbols in the top right corner: 

This lacks Phyrexian Mana- a later time perhaps.

How do you get mana you ask? Lands mostly.

How do lands give you mana? Fine question. Basic lands give you one specific type of mana correlating with the type of land it is. There are 5 basic lands (10 if you count the snowy ones, but those are just special versions of basic land cards); Swamps, Islands, Forests, Mountains, and Plains. Each of these lands will give you a specific mana color, which allows you to cast spells. I will put a picture below that shows you what each of these basic land cards look like, and what type of mana they produce.

Also shows planeswalkers of each.

This is not the only way to get mana. Sometimes, creatures provide mana after paying a cost—costs can be anything from “tapping it”, “sacrificing it”, or doing some other thing with it. Sometimes, they give you mana just for playing it. Other things that can give you mana include artifacts and enchantments- things that remain on the field and might give you mana each turn or might do so as a onetime deal- it varies on the card. While there are these other things that can give you mana, the most common source will be your lands.

Paying mana costs: Now that you know how to get your mana, you have to know how paying costs works. You can acquire mana even when you have no spell to play—this is “adding mana to your mana pool”. This means you can build up a ton of mana before you even start playing cards, which might be a way to make your opponent think something big is coming and affect the way the react. If you add mana to your mana pool before casting the spell, you must remember: Once you go from one phase to another, the mana is lost. This means that if you add mana to your mana pool during your first main-phase and then declare yourself entering combat, you have lost the mana. Do not fill your mana pool with mana you do not intend to use.

Before you cast a spell, you do need some mana in that mana pool (again, you do not have to play a spell, let it finish, then cast another- you could just fill your pool and then let one spell resolve before starting a second). When you go to play a spell, first fill your mana pool with what you need, then declare that you are using this spell, which takes this mana cost (some spells have other costs, but we are covering mana). As soon as you declare you are casting this spell, and you legally can do so, the mana is spent. You cannot take it back, it is gone (casual games may allow “take-backs”).

You can think of it as being like a bank: You have $100 on hand and $0 in the bank. You want to make purchases online using your debit card. Well, if you try to order something, the bank will reject the purchase because you have $0 in the bank. Seeing as how you want to buy a $25 item, you need to go put at least $25 in the bank. Now, you could choose to put all of it in there—perhaps while shopping, you intend to make another $75 in purchases, so having all $100 in there at once is a good idea. You might spend it all in one place, thus filling your online basket with $100 in goods; or you might spend it in more than one place, thus making separate purchases. Just keep in mind, this bank periodically dumps funds and runs (so why are using that bank? Because this is a silly example, that’s why!), so make sure you do not put more in there than you intend to spend soon.

Zones of Magic

You might hear this one tossed around “The ‘insert name here’ zone”. There are numerous locations in MTG, and I have used some of them above. I’m going to clarify these below.

• The Command Zone is much like it sounds like—where command is coming from. You are in the command zone, as are emblems. Nothing in the command zone can be sent anywhere else (graveyard, exile, etc) and the only thing in the command zone that can be targeted is you the player. The command zone itself is largely a non-operative zone—nothing can affect the command zone itself. 
• Your hand is just that, your hand. Some things affect “your hand” and as such, it is treated as a separate location. This comes into play when a token might be sent to “your hand”. Tokens that enter any other zone instantly disappear. Other cards can be returned to your hand, including cards on the stack, if a spell specifies as much (eg. “Counter target spell, return that spell to owner’s hand).
• The Library is where all the cards you can draw are located (unless you are pulling graveyard shenanigans). The library is best thought of like being “your mind”, as it is where you can draw your spells. This is why blue spells often muck with your library—because blue is the manipulating color, the color that uses psychic abilities to mess with what is in your head. Cards can go on, back into, or from your library. Some effects cause you to dump cards from the library to exile, or the graveyard, or to your hand. The big thing to keep in mind is if you must draw (card says to, draw step, etc) and you cannot (out of cards), you lose the game. 
• The battlefield is the location with all the permanents- this is where lands and creatures and all the rest of the long standing stuff hangs out. Basically, the battlefield is the battlefield, where this “duel of the planeswalkers” is taking place. The battlefield is the only place where tokens can exist. 
• The Graveyard is where things that “die” go to; anytime a card does not say otherwise, a card that is destroyed goes to the graveyard. This includes creatures, artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, and anything else than can permanently exist on the battlefield, unless something else says otherwise (because you know, this game is nothing if not contradictions). The Graveyard is a very accessible location however, probably being the easiest to target and utilize place other than the battlefield and *maybe* a player’s hand. The sheer number of cards that can manipulate a graveyard are staggering, and would take days to talk about. Let’s just say that if something is in the graveyard, depending on the deck, it may be within reach. 
• Exile is where cards go when they are “removed from play” or specifically sent to “exile”. The term exile is relatively new, previously just referred to as the place where cards removed from play go to (changed as of M10). M10 made the change as there were cards that started to interact with exile more, though for the most part, things do not directly interact with exile itself. If a card is sent to exile by a spell, it’s pretty much gone (I know of one creature where this has an exception, but otherwise this holds pretty well). A creature who is exiled by an enchantment typically returns once the enchantment is gone. Sometimes, an effect only sends the creature to exile for a specified amount of time and then brings it back. I suppose the best way to think of exile is like being in limbo. You just hang out there. 
• The stack too is a playing zone, it is where spells that have not yet “resolved” (completed) sit. Once you cast a spell, you have put it “on the stack”. I will go more into this when we talk about the stack, but it is good to note here that the stack is, and should be thought of, as a place where something exists. Only certain cards can interact with things on the stack, but you can interact with things on the stack. It’s just doing so can go from simple to ugly and complicated quickly.

 That's it for basics, let's talk about Key Terms

Key Terms

To make these easier, I am going to skip out on those that are no longer in use (often replaced) and those that are really obvious (attack, block, etc), divide these into two sections (functions vs mechanics) and do each section alphabetically for ease of use. I really do not suggest trying to memorize all of these in a day. I will put stars by the ones that are the most common and best to get down as soon as you are able. The rest you can learn about as you go.

Functions
Functions are terms you will here in relation to the game itself. There are less of these than terms associated with mechanics, but it will help to get these out of the way first, as it allows one to have a better understanding of mechanics when they understand functions.

Abilities: 

• Activated: Activated abilities are abilities you consciously choose to use or not use. If you choose to use this ability, you will have to pay an associated cost, which can range from paying a mana, to tapping the card, or something more costly. Lands are a good example of cards with an activated ability, as a mana ability is an activated ability. Once you activate the ability, it goes on the stack and waits to resolve.
• Static: Static abilities are abilities that are ongoing and constant; you do not choose whether they are in effect, because they always are. The card “tempered steel” (Pictured above) is a good example of a card with a static ability—all artifact creatures receive a constant +2/+2 to their toughness and attack. This is ongoing and does not change until the card is removed. Of course, other outside factors might affect the ability, but the ability itself is constant, as long as it is active.  
• Trigger(ed): Triggered abilities are those that will not work until they are triggered. The card itself will tell you what the trigger condition is and then (if you are playing in higher level leagues), it is considered all parties’ responsibility to remember triggered abilities, as they must happen. Some triggered abilities have a choice tied in to them—wording like “You may do this” at the time of a trigger does mean you can choose not to use the ability. However, other triggered abilities do not necessarily say this, and not all triggered abilities are helpful to the player who owns the card. Sometimes, the trigger is a requirement to pay an ongoing cost to keep a big creature on the field.   

Actions

• Activate:* Once you read the above, this becomes a little more obvious- activate means you are activating an ability. Activating entails paying the cost and putting the ability on the stack. 
• Attach:* Attach refers to anything you can attach. When you use an aura, you enchant; when you use an equipment, you equip. Attach is a broader term to refer to either. 
• Cast:* Any card that is not a land is a spell that must be cast, meaning outside of a rare exception, it will have to have costs (unless it is a rare example of a free card) paid and then be put on the stack. Most of the time, spells you cast will be from your hand, but some spells can be cast from the graveyard and others directly from the Library (rarer) or even exile (very rare).
• Copy: When you create a copy, you are creating a duplicate of a card, creating a new object with exactly the same values as seen on the card. A copy effect can only copy what is printed on the card it copies, and what is visible- thus, with two sided cards, you can only copy the face-up side. 
• Counter:* This is the action counter, not the object. Countering is canceling a spell (rarely, an ability), preventing it from resolving and thus not allowing any of its effects to occur.  
• Detain: When a creature is detained, it is unable to attack, block, or activate any of its activated abilities until the detaining player's next turn. This is an ability some creatures have (triggered or activated) and it can be caused by certain spells. 
• Dies:* This for the longest time was a slang term, but as of M12 it became a part of the official vernaculer. All it means is that a creature was both destroyed and then sent to the graveyard. If a creature is exiled instead, it did not "die". This is an important distinction, as some effects are triggered specifically by a creature "dying" and not being exiled. 
• Exchange: Exactly as it sounds, swapping two things. Sometimes this is creatures, other times it might be life totals. 
• Exile:* Exiling a creature is removing it from play and sending it to the exile zone. It is very rare for anything to interact with the exile zone or to allow you to cast a spell from exile (I only know of one card). Typically, exile serves as a zone for objects to be removed from play temporarily (exiled for part of a turn and then returned ((sometimes called flickering)), or exiled by a permanent and will return when the permanent leaves) or permanently. See exile above for more about that zone. 
• Flashback: This ability allows a card to be cast from the graveyard, for a specific cost. Some cards' flashback costs are the same, while others cost more and a certain few cost less. Regardless, once an card is "flashed back", it is exiled.  
• Fight: An ability more common to green and red, this means you take the creature who activated this ability (or affected by a spell) and have it face another card of your choosing. Both creatures, upon resolution (creatures can be pumped) apply their attacks against each other's toughness, resulting in damage dealt. Any creature with 0 toughness or less leftover is dead. 
• Monstrosity: This is a brand new one, and it is an odd exception in that it is considered an action keyword despite the word -not- being a verb. It came out with Theros, and what it allows the person to do is to make their creature "monstrous", where if it is not already monstrous, you add a specified amount of +1/+1 counters and make it monstrous. Some gain additional abilities as well. If the creature is already monstrous, activating the ability again does nothing. 
• Populate: This ability (sometimes done through a spell) allows you to put an additional token on the field that is an exact copy of another token. Thus, you might use this to make a second token of a 3/3 beast token. 
• Proliferate: When you proliferate, you look at -anything- that has a counter on it, and then add one. This does not care what kind of counter it is (poison counter on player, planeswalker, +1/+1 on creature, etc), it only cares that there is a counter. 
• Regenerate: This is an activated ability, or a spell that allows you to save a creature. If a creature has taken lethal damage, you may choose to pay the cost (or play the instant) to "regenerate" the creature. The creature does not actually die, but instead loses all their damage before state based effects takes place and declares it dead. The creature is then tapped, but it has 0 damage. Because it never left the field, Auras and Equipment remain on the creature. 
• Reveal: As it sounds, you must reveal something. Most often, this is a mandate to reveal your hand, but sometimes it might be to reveal part of your library. 
• Sacrifice:* This is where you are purposefully removing a card or forced to do so, sending that card to the graveyard. For creatures, this means it "dies". Creatures who are sacrificed cannot be regenerated. Sacrificing is sometimes the cost for an ability, or other times it might be forced upon you by another player. 
• Scry: This ability allows you to look at a specified number of cards on the top of your library, and then put them back in any order. Some scry cards allow you to put cards on the bottom of the library and some let you draw cards as well. 
• Search: As it sounds, this means you have to search the affected zones. Most often this is your library, but it can include your hand and graveyard. I have never seen search applied to "exile" or "The battlefield"
• Transform: Cards who transform have an activated and/or triggered ability to transform, where transforming makes them into a more potent creature. The transformation cards are two sided, so on one side is the original card and the other side is the transformed creature. 

Mechanics

Mechanics (as I define them here) are keywords that represent some type of ability. Some are activated, some are triggered, and others are constant (static). Some of these create entirely new effects while others have what is called a "replacement effect"- it replaces one function with another. 

• Affinity: If a card has affinity, it means that for every card of the same type (on the field), the spell costs less to cast. Common with enchantments or artifact creatures.   
• Battalion: This is a triggered ability, where anytime three or more creatures attack together, battalion triggers. The effects of battalion varies with the creature.  
• Battlecry: If a creature has battlecry, all other creatures attacking with it get +1/0.
• Bloodrush: This is an ability on a creature card that is an activated ability that can only be played from the hand. You pay the associated mana cost, discard the creature, and then bestow the bonuses and abilities the card specifies on a target creature. Typically, bloodrush bonuses are related to what the card's creature abilities were (a 3/3 creature with trample might give +3/+3 and trample). 
• Bloodthirst: If an opponent has taken damage that turn, creatures with bloodthirst allow you to put a specified amount of +1/+1 counters on the creature. 
• Buyback: Buyback is a static ability on a sorcery or instant card that allows you the option of paying extra mana in exchange for getting to keep the card after casting the spell. Spells, once cast, typically go to the graveyard. If you pay the buyback, you get to put it back in your hand. 
• Changeling: A changeling is something that is all creature types at the same time. 
• Convoke: This allows you to tap either a creature with the same color as a mana required to summon a creature, or any other colored creature to reduce costs of summoning by an equal amount of mana. If you were to summon a creature with a cost of 2GG, and you tap two green creatures and two creatures of any other color, that creature is summoned for free (assuming it has convoke of course)
• Cumulative Upkeep: Each upkeep, you must pay an increasing cost to keep that creature on the battlefield. 
• Cycling: This allows you to discard the card (with this ability) and pay an associated cost in order to draw a card. 
• Deathtouch:* This a static ability that creates what is known as a replacement effect. A replacement effect changes the property of a thing. In this case, any damage caused by this creature is instantly fatal- as soon as the other creature has taken damage from this creature, and state-based effects kick in (happens after the chance to regenerate), the creature dies. Deathtouch does not affect players.
• Defender:* Creatures with defender cannot attack. Typically, they have high toughness scores or other special defensive properties and rarely do they have any kind of attack score. 
• Doublestrike:* In any given battle, there are actually two damage steps: The first strike damage step, and then the regular one. Creatures with doublestrike get to participate in both. Because there are only two damage steps, multiple instances of doublestrike are redundant and provide no benefit. 
• Dredge: This ability on a card in the graveyard allows you to forgo drawing a card, put a specified number of cards from your library into the graveyard, and then draw this card instead. You can use this anytime you have the ability to draw a card.  
• Entwine: If a card has entwine, it has two choices, where paying the normal cost allows you to choose one. If you pay the entwine cost, you can cast both.
• Evolve: Evolve is a triggered ability, where if a creature with a higher toughness and/or attack enters the battlefield than the creature with evolve (who is already on the battlefield), the evolving creature ets a +1/+1 counter. 
• Exalted: This ability allows any creature attacking by itself to receive a +1/+1 for every instance of exalted on the field. 
• Extort: For every instance of extort you have on the field, you may pay one W or B (white or black mana) every time you cast a spell. If you have three cards with extort, and you cast a spell, you may pay up to 3 mana (black or white) to activate extort. Extort causes an opponent (of your choice) to lose 1 life and you gain it.  
• Fear: If a creature has fear, only black creatures and artifacts can block it when it attacks. 
• First Strike*: As explained in doublestrike, there are two damage steps, first strike and regular. First strike allows you to do your damage during the first strike round--basically, you do damage to creatures before any other creatures without first strike or doublestrike, which may allow you to kill a creature before it can do damage to you. 
• Flanking: If a creature with flanking is blocked by a creature without flanking, the blocking creature gets -1/-1 until the end of turn. Multiple instances of flanking stack, but a creature needs only have flanking once to undo the effect. 
• Flash:* This allows you to play a card that is not an instant like it is an instant. 
• Flying:* A creature with flying is a creature who flies- as such, it cannot be blocked by creatures who do not have flying and/or reach. 
• Forecast: This an ability that can only be used by a card in the player's hand and during their upkeep step. If you pay the forecast cost, you get an effect, often related to the card itself. The card must be revealed as part of the cost and remain revealed until the end of upkeep. You can only do this once per turn per card. 
• Haste:* Creatures who entered the battlefield during this turn have "summoning sickness" but creatures with haste overcome that and may attack the turn they came out. 
• Haunt: Haunt is an ability found on some cards, in that when you play the card, it has an effect. After it would go to the graveyard, it instead "haunts" a creature. When that creature dies, the card has its effect for the second time. 
• Hellbent: Hellbent is an ability where a creature gains bonuses for your hand having no cards in it.  
• Hexproof*: Creatures with hexproof cannot be the target of spells or abilities that other players control. You can target your own creature. 
• Indestructible:* Creatures who are indestructible cannot be "destroyed". This means they do not die due to damage, destroy cards, or deathtouch. However, they do die due to sacrifice  or having a toughness reduced to below 0 (not due to damage). 
• Infect: Creatures with infect do "infect" damage- this is a replacement effect, replacing normal damage. Creatures deal damage to other creatures as -1/-1 counters (for every point of damage) and deal poison counters to players. If a player hits 10 poison counters, they lose. 
• Intimidate:* Creaures with intimidate can only be blocked by creatures of their own color and artifact creatures. 
• Kicker:  A kicker is an extra cost that may be paid, and in doing so, you get an extra effect. 
• Landwalk: You rarely see the word "landwalk" and instead see the specific type of land named. If the creature has "x-walk" it means it can walk through land X, allowing it to attack without being blocked.  
• Level-up: Leveling up involves a creature with a leveling ability. If it has a leveling ability, you may pay a required amount of mana to increase the level of a creature, bestowing it with more abilities and better attack/toughness. You can only level up as a sorcery, but you can do as much as your mana can support in a turn. The level up ability uses "Level up counters".
• Lifelink*: Another static ability, this one means that every time you deal damage with a creature (damage of any kind), you gain as much life as you did in damage. It does not stack, so multiple instances are useless. 
• Madness: This creates an alternate cost with a card. If you are required to discard and discard the card with madness, you may pay its madness cost instead, allowing you to cast a spell cheaper. 
• "Mill": Another "unofficial" term, named after the first card do this (Mill Stone). When you are "milled", you are required to put a specific number of cards from your library into your graveyard.  
• Overload: This is an alternate cost you may pay on a sorcery or instant. If you do, it applies to all creatures you could target (beneficial cards target yours, harmful ones only enemies) instead of just one target. 
• Protection:* Protection grants a permanent protection from a specified color or from artifacts. Some creatures have protection at all times, or it might be an equipment, enchantment (aura), or an ability conferred for the turn by a spell card. In any case, the best way to remember how protection works is to remember this mnemonic device: DEBT (D= Cannot take damage from that source; E= Cannot be enchanted/equipped by that source ((If enchanted/equipped already, it falls off)); B= Cannot be blocked by creatures of that type; T= Cannot be targeted by spells/abilites of that type.
• Radiance: This ability of a card makes it that it affects not only the target, but all other creatures who share a color with the target, are affected by the spell. 
• Reach*: This allows a creature without flying to block a creature with flying. 
• Replicate: Spells with replicate have an additional cost you can pay to copy the spell for a second time. The cost is variable. 
• Scavenge: Any time you can use a sorcery, you can activate scavenge if the card is in the graveyard. You pay the cost and exile the card, allowing you to put a specified number of +1/+1 counters on a creature. 
• Shroud: Shroud is like hexproof, only nobody can target that creature. 
• Soulbond: Soulbond is an ability that allows you to connect two creatures. When they are connected, they both gain an ability that either one without would not have. Some gain attack and toughness, others flying, or trample, or death touch, to name a few examples. 
• Storm: When you cast a spell with storm, you may copy it once for how many spells you cast before it. If the spell is the third one cast this turn, you can have three instances of the spell occur. 
• Trample:* Trample changes how damage works for a creature. When that creature is blocked, any damage that is in excess of the blocking creature(s) toughness  goes overtop the defending creatures and can still do damage to the player and/or planeswalker. Trample with death touch is a deadly combo.
• Transform: This refers to flip cards. When the condition is met (trigger or activated ability), the card flips over, becoming a superior creature. Many cards of this nature are "werewolves". 
• Undying: This is a special ability in that, when the creature dies (goes to the graveyard), it's ability is triggered. Once resolved, it returns to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on top of it. If the creature dies with one or more +1/+1 counters on it, Undying does not trigger.  
• Unleash: This is an ability you must choose to use at the time you summon the creature. If you do, it comes out with a +1/+1 counter on top of it, but in exchange, the creature cannot block. 
• Vigilance*: Creatures with vigilance do not tap to attack. They still must be untapped to attack and block, but attacking does not require them to become tapped. 

There may be some that I missed, but it it was a lot of work digging up this many. 0_0

The Stack

If you have trouble with figuring out "The Stack"--fret not, so do many other people. The stack can be a convoluted pain in the ass if you aren't used to figuring things out. As I explained above, "The Stack" is a zone of play all of its own, where the only things that can interact with it are other things that go on the stack. This has to do with organizing play, so that people cannot just throw cards out willy-nilly and then argue about whose works first and whose works last.

Here is what you need to know about the stack:

1. If it is a spell, it uses the stack (very rare exceptions exist)

2. If it is a non-mana ability, it uses the stack

3. Mana Abilities (tapping anything for mana) does not use the stack

4. Paying costs does not use the stack- if you are paying a cost, it cannot be responded to.

5. Flipping a morph card does not use the stack. 

Most things use the stack. Before we go on with that discussion though, I will expand a little on what does no use the stack and how that applies. 

Using mana abilities does not use the stack. This means, if it is your turn, you can tap a creature, an artifact, a land, or anything else that has a mana ability, to produce mana, without interference. This does not use the stack, the very act of doing so allows it to happen immediately. No one can stop you from acquiring mana. This means if a creature has an ability that says, "Sacrifice me and get X mana", a person cannot respond to you declaring you sacrifice him by trying to destroy him first.

That said, paying costs goes through instantly as well. This becomes important in similar cases to the above. An unknowledgeable player might try to respond to your sacrificing of a creature as part of a spell cost by first destroying it--they cannot do that. When declare you are going to play a spell, you must pay any associated costs before it even goes to the stack. Because of that, no one can respond to you paying a cost. You pay your costs before adding a spell to the stack. 

As for morph cards- that's old stuff and rarely comes up anymore--moving on.

Another mnemonic device for you to remember:

APNAP

This means- "Active Player, Non-Active Player".

The active player is whose turn it is. As the active player, you have priority (the right to do something first) during each given step. What is important to remember is that as you move from one step to the next, even if you do not declare it, you are technically passing priority to the non-active player, giving them a chance to do something even if you do not. You might decide to go from your draw phase straight to combat, but before you can do that, you have to allow the person to decide if they want to do anything during that draw step and then the main phase, and then the pre-combat phase. They may choose to do something at a specific point as a spell might not work until that time, so remember- even when you are done, your opponent gets a chance to respond. 

Now, let's say you do cast a spell. You declare it, pay for it, and put it on the stack- this is where any spell that has been paid for and legally cast will always go, short of something else saying otherwise. Once it is on the stack, the active player still has priority--you can decide to cast a spell in response to that one if you choose to do so. If you do not, you must pass priority to the non-active player. Now, they have an opportunity to respond to the spell by casting one of their own, if they have the ability and wish to do so. If they choose to cast a spell, it too goes on the stack.

As you cast a spell first, it went on the bottom of the stack--you can literally think of this as a stack or a pile. When the other person casts a spell, it goes "on top of the stack" or on top of the spell that was last cast. If they cast a spell and pass priority, you once again have the opportunity respond. If you do, your new spell will go on "top of the stack", on top of all other spells. Once you are done, you must pass priority. If the other person says they are through, the stack begins resolving.

Spells resolve in order of the top of the stack to the bottom- so the most recently cast to the first thing cast. It is like undoing your stack or pile- pulling one card off at a time. 

Here is an example:

Active Player: I pay for and cast "Grizzly Bears". I pass priority. 

Non-Active: I pay for and cast, "Cancel", targeting Grizzly Bears. I pass priority.

Active Player: I pay for and cast: "Counter-spell", targeting cancel. I pass priority.

Non-Active Player: I pass priority.

When both players pass priority, the stack resolves itself.

The last spell cast is counter-spell, targeting cancel. Counter spell resolves, and thus counters "cancel" (cancel is, well, cancelled). As cancel is sent to the graveyard without resolving, the stack moves on to Grizzly Bears. Grizzly bears resolves, and now enters the battlefield. 

That, is how the stack works. 

Hope this guide is helpful!

Man I'm Pretty...

Hey There Pretty Mamas, Check This Blog's Pecks!

I think we missed our
chance for a cock joke here. 

Definitely have to issue out some increase in cool factor if you know the references I just made. Obviously, the Valucre Blog is a gorgeous specimen, one that we already established would hit on your mother, so be sure to keep her clear of it. In the meantime, you can bask in its glory, selfishly keeping it for yourself- or not, if you like to share. Hell, the blog likes to be shared, so perhaps you should do that. And I have no idea where I was going with this, so moving on!

As always, Valucre has great stuff going on and plenty to keep you satisfied. Rather than letting me keep babbling, let’s kick this thing off. Right after I go eat something, because I think half of this nonsense is fueled by my low blood sugar…

What's Happening Valucre?

Dammit! Who forgot to unplug the coffee maker?!

Genesaris is about to get HOT- An event forged in the fires of a volcano (literally), presented to you by the overlord of penguins herself. Something strange happened in the lonely mountain of the Genesaris desert, and now things are getting warmer- uncomfortably so in fact! Not only are temperatures reaching record highs, fire elementals keep showing up in the cities and cause all kinds of trouble. Go ahead, include fire elementals in your plots, venture out into the desert and see if you can cut through the waves that are flowing into the other lands. Should you do that, you might as well go on to defeat the elementals leader Infernalis who is causing all the trouble. Rumor has it that some awesome loot is there for the taking. Just don’t get burned!

Wait... where's the fame and glory?

A Maiden Voyage into the Dordado Plains- An opportunity to go and explore the uncharted territory of the Dorado Plains, all in the name of fame, glory, goods, and of course adventure! The “eccentric” leader of the Toaughath Merchantry Company invites competent adventurers to come join him on this endeavor. Go read the letter your character must have received!

You sure this doctor is legit?

Becoming the Proxies- This is a different sort of idea, and I got to admit, I’m digging it. Taking some of those old stories called “ Creepypastas” (a horror version of “copypastas”), you play a character who ends up becoming another one of the mysterious others who go out and claim more victims. Write about your descent into the darkness, or give a thrilling account of a noteworthy demise. Looks like this new member is open to a lot of things, so go see if the exposition provided gets your pulse going.

Plague Doctors: Because being creepy is a cureall.

The Rebirth- The legendary King of Flames tricked a dragon and his rider into coming to his aid, hoping to entice them into giving aid in his quest to regain his lost body. He promised great power and more, but the man and his dragon refused to help this King, and so they paid dearly. Beholden to a curse that affects everyone but themselves directly, all who come near the pair grow ill with a quickly spreading plague, one that kills its victims in a slow and excruciatingly painful way. Upon realizing what they had wrought upon the world, they underwent a process that ended the curse as well as their lives. However, the plague remains, and now they say only one kingdom is free of the disease. You must find a way to get to that city, or if you are already there, you can choose to take part in one of two factions—those who work to keep it out, or those who work to cure it. Fight the sickness!

What is in his burgers?

The Mission Pyramid: A Tournament of Truly Talented Tacticians!- A race of teams on teams, to determine who among you is the best tactician and most capable of defeating your task. Up to nine participants may enter (three teams of three), who may either pick their teammates or go up for random assignment. You will be pitted against each other in increasingly difficult tasks, the last one to complete the task the loser. After three rounds, should you win in that final round, you will be recognized for your amazing prowess and receive awesome prizes to boot. There are prizes for each win and even for those who lose, assuming they still manage to finish. The prize for round one as well as the missions is already posted. What are you waiting for, show them what you are capable of.

Good RPs should throw themselves at you, with hugs

Featured RP of the Month-Future Promises
A Snapshot: This RP takes place in Blaidd’s Barony, a new region in Terrenus. A princess of the Cold South comes to this new land to extend the offer of ‘friendship’. The conversation itself displays pleasantries that test boundaries, the tension of two parties unsure of how to measure each other meeting for the first time. As of the time of this post, a theme of guarded tension drives the thread.   
Why the Feature: Where to begin. Both participants open the thread with their initial posts with a balanced description that paints a picture both poetic and striking, keeping the balance between conservative and purple prose. Both role-players engage in conversation with many layers of subtext that grab your attention and pull you through the thread. Differing cultures display prominently, adding more character to the entirety of the thread. Add in how one uses a clever way to convey a different language, and you’ll see why I chose this thread.
Who: Give a big shoutout to Aleskei & Nogusta. Wonderful read!

A Goodbye :(- Vintage (also known as Nette) is moving on in life, going on to awesome things (a new career, marriage, and other awesome things). She can’t drag herself away from our community completely, because- hey, we’re that awesome, but she has acknowledged that she is too busy to keep up with RP and Staff duties. As such, she requested that Iselyr be retired (archived) and she will be stepping away from PR&M duties. Iselyr served as the “Sword and Sorcery” setting of Valucre, producing some great RP and fun times (Ask her about my Bard sometime), but (I’m gonna be cliché here, which is ironic, considering this week’s closing thoughts) all good things must come to an end. Nette, we’re glad you’re going to hang around and still be a part of the community, but we will definitely miss your contributions to PR&M, Role-play, and the site as a whole. Enjoy life and keep writing!

They live in a Big-Brother World, can you tell?

New Members!  

Much better turnout this week- I had five responses. Five new members for you to get to know, pretty cool stuff right there. Without further rambling, here they are!

1.What brought you to Valucre? How did you find us?
I was actually linked over by Eizoryu from one of the other RP sites we frequent. However, that site is kind of tanking, as well as taking advantage of its users (figure out which one it is yet? xD ), plus all the other friends and regulars we knew all up and left... I'm getting off-track.

2. What got you into role-play? What are your favorite types (genre, style, etc) of role-play?

I liked the idea of RP'ing, but never really tried until about 3 years ago. Really is was just being able to tell a story through combined efforts that really interested me, plus my writing needed work, since I'm an aspiring author. I LOVE slice-of-life and romance, but I'm up for any genre, really. My characters are all adaptable for each one, so jumping into a new one isn't that hard. As for style, third-person narrative is great. It allows for so much creativity and every post I make is a step towards improvement.

3. Do you have any long-term goals related to role-play and/or writing? If so, what are they?

Not really for RP'ing, I just enjoy it immensely. As for writing, I do want to write a novel at some point, or at least a graphic novel. My art skills are still rather amateur-ish, but I enjoy it and that's really want counts, right?

4. What are some of your other hobbies and/or interests? What is one interesting thing about you that others might not expect when they first meet you?

Drawing, like I mentioned, plus video games (play them rarely, though. Family comes first!). I don't have too many hobbies, honestly, I'm kinda boring. x'D Well... it IS interesting (to me), but I kind of like to wait before telling anyone until I know them halfway decently. It's a big part of my life, but not everyone understands it. I hate to risk possibly losing a friend just because of one thing about me. :3

5. How has your Valucre experience been so far? What do you like, and is there anything we can do to help you (as staff or fellow members)?

It's been GREAT. Within a week I was already in my first RP on the site, invited into an RP group, and just having a lot of fun. The fact that this site is not based on fandom is, I feel, a big reason why everyone is so friendly. There's just so much freedom here, even with rules in place!

1. What brought you to Valucre? How did you find us?

Frankly, I did a google search. I actively rp on another forum, and while I love the characters I've made and some of the stuff I'm doing there, not to mention some absolutely awesome writers, branching out and getting influence/experience from more sources is good. I want to continually grow myself as a writer and as a person, and hopefully author some books one day. The level of friendliness and freedom within Valucre's parameters is something I like to see, allowing creativity and practical posting, and it jumped out at me from the other search results because of that.

2. What got you into role-play? What are your favorite types (genre, style, etc) of role-play?

I'm an introverted, intellectual type of individual, if you meet me in person. I'm very quiet and pensive, prone to brooding or zoning out on ideas and concepts I constantly brew in the back of my mind. When I was younger, I'd develop stories with action figures or legos and even make up plotlines, generally influenced by my latest videogame, comic book, or novel. Over time, I started forming my own plots and game concepts, like any kid does sometimes, but mine tended to stick with me, evolve, get better. I'd be three years down the line and keep refining an idea, scrawling little diagrams and maps to think through stuff other kids mostly didn't. I rarely shared these ideas, but took in things I heard and saw and wondered how I might learn from it. By the time I'd graduated high school, I'd gotten involved on an RP forum, and though I still had a long ways to go, I was finally able to put down some of my ideas in writing, where others could see them and give feedback. That was when I discovered how much I loved making stories and building things collaboratively with people. It's been an intensely rewarding outlet for my creativity ever since, one of my most enjoyed pastimes, the one thing I'd continue doing if I had to give up everything else I used a computer for. For me, that's saying something pretty big.

3. Do you have any long-term goals related to role-play and/or writing? If so, what are they?

Other than growing myself as a person, and as a writer, I have few actual goals other than the occasional plan I might come up with for a character's eventual turning points. But the first rule of making plans is to be adaptable and change the plan if needed, so those goals often undergo tremendous re-writing and change as I rethink them or they go through various experiences in RPs. I have a noble girl that when she was first made, was going to become queen of her country. Thankfully, that corny, cliche plan was scrapped, and currently she's likely to marry an honest knight that brings out the best in her, eschewing her position and power for the things that really matter, like happiness and virtues.

I mean, again, hopefully, someday, I'd like to write a book, but for now, roleplaying has taught me more than I can say in the space of this newsletter, and I'm more than happy to continue learning and collaborating as I have a blast.

4. What are some of your other hobbies and/or interests? What is one interesting thing about you that others might not expect when they first meet you?

I'm a professional information security specialist and IT repairman, I like to tinker on and fix computers, it's what I study and do for a living.

I'm an avid gamer, though recently I haven't had a strong enough internet connection for multiplayer, so back to old-school JRPGs it's been for me. Love Chrono Trigger, FFVI, Radiant Historia, all them singleplayer classics.

I-I-I I work oouuuut. And do Jiu-Jitsu. I like engaging in physical sports and activities that balance out my mental hobbies to keep me refreshed and prevent burnout.

Uhm something they would not expect. Um... I'm religious? Or maybe that I... roleplay... online... with other people...

<.<

>.>

xD

5. How has your Valucre experience been so far? What do you like, and is there anything we can do to help you (as staff or fellow members)?

You guys have been really friendly and accepting, it's been a real treat to start getting involved here. I can't say enough how well-written the greeting letter is, and how positive the reception area for newbies is. On that end, keep up the good work and you'll keep getting more people.

The only thing I'd ask is that some of the lore pages actually get filled out so that newcomers can find an area that suites their tastes without having to ask a ton of questions via PM. Bigger continents like Terrenus and Genesaris are very detailed and easy to study up on, but subforums or smaller lands are more hit-or-miss. I've been told certain lands were more geared toward straight medieval or traditional fantasy settings, only to find zero information detailing the land and culture. I know some are in-progress and such, but it still helps when you click on a link, expecting a page of at least brief summarizing information, and there's more than just a Work In Progress sign, or only a list of storytellers and mods. I'm lucky some friendly folks plunged me head-first into an RP with hardly any time to think, or I might still be deliberating on the best place to start.

Other than that, I can't say I've noticed much amiss, the color scheme is easier on the eyes than many, many forums, and even the subforums are organized well enough to be navigable by an inexperienced noob. Gj!

1. What brought you to Valucre? How did you find us?

I was looking for a new RP site because the one I've been on for years has become less and less active. I actually found this as a recommendation to someone else who was looking for a good RP site.

2. What got you into role-play? What are your favorite types (genre, style, etc) of role-play?

I got into RPing when I was about eleven because I loved the Harry Potter books so much I spent a lot of time looking for Harry Potter related things. And I found a RP site strictly for Harry Potter. I'd say I really enjoy RPing romance and am a huge vampire fanatic, so I strictly RP vampires.

3. Do you have any long-term goals related to role-play and/or writing? If so, what are they?

Not really. It's just fun for me and a good way to keep my writing skills sort of sharp. Though I'd say I'm only a mediocre writer.

4. What are some of your other hobbies and/or interests? What is one interesting thing about you that others might not expect when they first meet you?

Other hobbies? I love riding horses and crocheting. I study a lot, though, and spend a lot of time drawing as well. And I don't really know what people wouldn't expect about me.

5. How has your Valucre experience been so far? What do you like, and is there anything we can do to help you (as staff or fellow members)?

My Valucre experience has been pretty good so far. Though, I have to admit, I wasn't expecting such an adventure-based RP community. Still, everyone is really nice and the site is fairly active, which is always nice. To be honest, learning about the different regions is actually difficult first coming in, though. None of the information sections for the different regions are the same and it makes it hard to navigate with all the different formats. If recommend a sort of universal template to make it easier because there is an overwhelming amount of knowledge to learn coming into this site.

1. What brought you to Valucre? How did you find us?

I craved for a good role-play. Accidentally stumbled upon it while browsing a list of the best role-playing sites. 

2. What got you into role-play? What are your favorite types (genre, style, etc) of role-play?

My love towards writing and creating character. My favorite genres are almost everything dark-themed, mystery, horror, vampire centered role-plays and the most loved of all, sword and magic.

3. Do you have any long-term goals related to role-play and/or writing? If so, what are they?

No, I don't. I write/role-play just because I enjoy it, without planning. 

4. What are some of your other hobbies and/or interests? What is one interesting thing about you that others might not expect when they first meet you?

My hobbies are writing, role-playing, collecting knives, playing cards and studying foreign languages. One interesting thing people don't expect: I'm a pretty decent fencer.

5. How has your Valucre experience been so far? What do you like, and is there anything we can do to help you (as staff or fellow members)?

It has been great. What I like are the activity and the kindness of its members.

1. What brought you to Valucre? How did you find us?

I found Valucre via a several-years old Yahoo!Questions topic searching for decent RP communities. I hail from GaiaOnline, whose RP community was... Just not what I wanted to be a part of [anymore]. Not that I was much a part of it to begin with, but it seemed that I could just never find Players of my own skill level and dedication. Being tired of GO's shenanigans was what brought me here. 

2. What got you into role-play? What are your favorite types (genre, style, etc) of role-play?

Not so much "what" as "who". My husband, who I was only starting to date at the time, introduced me to roleplay in high school. Before that, I was writing creatively after being inspired by the likes of Tolkien and Rowling, and the success story of Paolini (whose work I'm not so fond of anymore).

My favorite genres tend towards fantasy of any sort: High fantasy, D&D/Pathfinder-esque swords-n-sorcery, modern, science, urban, supernatural... Lots of things, really. As far as styles, I'm not really sure what that's asking. *chuckle* Third person narrative styled, I suppose?

3. Do you have any long-term goals related to role-play and/or writing? If so, what are they?

The only real long-term goals I have are to have fun, and develop interesting characters along the way that people find just as intriguing as I do. No dreams of publishing since I've grown out of the phase where I was sure I was hot stuff (teenaged dreams!).

4. What are some of your other hobbies and/or interests? What is one interesting thing about you that others might not expect when they first meet you?

I'm also an artist (hobbyist, digital, anthro and animal), a not-quite-casual-but-not-hardcore gamer, pony fan (not Brony; I make the distinction for reasons), Disney child, and general nerd of the Internet age. 
As far as something interesting about me that's kind of unexpected... Um... I like foreign metal, like Alestorm, Wintersun, Ensiferum, Lunatica, and Equilibrium. I don't look like a metalhead to any degree; I probably look more like a New-Age or Broadway-musical-loving type.

5. How has your Valucre experience been so far? What do you like, and is there anything we can do to help you (as staff or fellow members)?

I unfortunately have been unable to delve into the community's roleplaying itself yet due to IRL circumstances. But the people here have been nothing if not wonderfully welcoming and able/willing/eager to help a new arrival into the community, without being pushy in any aspect (which is something that has turned me off from other RP communities before). I love the fact that the admin and staff are so involved with the community's goings-on. And that's super-refreshing after all the other sites I've tried that are either cliquish, dead, or dying, with virtually no sight nor hide nor hair of admins or mods. Pretty much the only thing folks here can do is not change.

Give a warm welcome to all these folks and make sure they get a chance to find some quality RP. :D

What is content squared?

Other Highlights?

FAQs:  You want to know stuff, right? Getting around the site sure is easier when you know stuff. Well, what better place to go find stuff than heading over to the FAQ section of the site, amirite? You can find it along the header.

Did You Know-  That we have a world bestiary? Yep, we sure do, full of interesting things you can go slay. Some are found all over the world, some others are exclusive to a land, so be sure to double check that before using them in a canon RP. Check it out here. While you are at it, read the rest of the Did You Knows too. 

Closing Thoughts?

Revenge for family/community/love interest

Putting together a role-play, while not exactly the same as writing, shares some similar elements. We build up characters we (usually) plan to use for a long haul, inserting them into some kind of plot that at some point should reach a climax and resolution. In general, there is some kind of background information; though how much depends on the RP itself. You will have a setting for this “play” to take place in (may be one room or an expansive locale). Obviously, role-plays have a lot in common with writing a story, even if some of the execution is different. Just as role-play shares qualities of construction, it shares some flaws as well. Today, let’s address “clichés”.

What kind of clichés you ask? Well, I put together a list of 10 elements that have to do with plot and characters. I am sure many, many more could be derived, including things that have to do with how a plot is resolved or the setting itself, but I am limiting myself to this for today—perhaps we’ll run a sequel (*gasp*, is that another one?) in the future. In no particular order, here are ten things that should be limited, or outright stricken.

1. Descriptions of the character while they look in a mirror, or when someone else is looking at them.
This is taking the easy way out on trying to describe a character. Rather than slip a couple details here and there as the story goes along, someone decides to do the info dump, but instead of just being straight up about it, the package it up and try to make it look like a valid way to share that information—no, just no. Not only is this still an info dump, you’re now doing it in a way that almost seems like it’s meant to be deceiving. Also, it is a really boring way to start things out and it’s unrealistic! Who stands in front of the mirror describing themselves, or going over every detail of their body? Sure, insecure adolescents might focus on one or two areas, but they are not going over every detail. Same goes for having someone else do it- who stands there analyzing someone’s entire profile? If you or someone you know is doing it, please look into obsessive-compulsive disorder.

2. “The Chosen One”
Before I get any one scoffing at me, don’t take this to mean you cannot ever use it, just be aware that it is a common cliché—it gets used a lot. If you can put a new spin on the old story and make something interesting and new, go for it! However, if your story starts to resemble something that has been done forty times in the last year… well, that story has been done forty times in the last year, try something different.

3. Conveniently Occupied
You know who is among the biggest offenders for this? Dragon Ball Z. Seriously, ever notice that Goku just so happens to be too busy to come help the rest of the Z fighters, because he is somewhere else, or stuck doing something different, or just happens to be incapacitated, but way- he gets there just in time! This can be done intelligently and in subtle ways, but it also can be done where it’s obvious that you were either at a loss for a good idea or just plain lazy. Try to not use this if you can, unless you have a fresh take on it—and you probably don’t, just sayin. ;)

4. Old Mentor
Yeah, it gets used a lot, and sometimes the use is fine. Where people get into trouble with this one is when the mentor is just a rehash of the mentor seen in every story, and that mentor has a knack for showing up and saving the protagonist’s butt. If you need a mentor in your story, make them different and not always available. Don’t fall into the trap of using the mentor as a deux ex machina.

5. Over the Top Fighting
Probably one of the biggest sins in role-playing, and I am sure I have been guilty of this to an extent myself. Sometimes, you just want to write an epic scene that tells others how cool your character is. Sometimes it is just getting carried away with the writing and forgetting that even a badass can only do so much. Try to increase tension by making the fight difficult, or have some consequences—long lasting injuries that create problems, etc. And if you just want to indulge yourself to indulge yourself- go for it. Just don’t do it in 90% of your RP threads. ;)

6. Cliché Characters
Going over what is a cliché character would take up the entirety of this closing thought and probably three more as well. I will leave it to you fine folks to go find some clichés in character writing (or just direct you to the Mary Sue Litmus Test) and then work your best to minimize them. I added this section mainly to remind people to take these into consideration as you put together a character or NPC.

7. Cliché Villains
Just like the above, this one definitely could be expanded into its own closing thoughts, so this is more of a reminder to tread carefully here. Villains probably shouldn’t kill henchmen just to make a point. They also should listen to trusted advisors, avoid monologues, and often work better when they are motivated by something. This last one isn’t necessarily always the case though- the Joker from the Dark Knight is just pure evil, and look how awesome he was for a villain. 0_o Go look up the Evil Overlord Rules.

8. Over Used Openings
Look: Though shall not use “Once a upon a time”, “In a land far, far away”, “It was a dark and stormy night” or other ridiculously overused openings. Just don’t. Please. Unless you’re being facetious. That’s okay ;)

9. The Evil Relative
Okay, sometimes family is bad, but this gets used a lot, especially the “Evil Twin” thing, so avoid it as much as you can. Sure, someone could have had a shitty childhood and so there is that relative who wronged you or that you avoid- all well and good. As the main villain though? Ehhhhh

10. The Revenge/Avenge Plot
Not to say that you should never do this, but one would be best served by avoiding it, or if using it, make sure to add some flavorful, unique story elements that makes the story interesting otherwise, because on its own, this can be an eye-roller. You see that the hero’s family was killed, or that someone framed him, or that one time at band camp… we’ll not go in that direction. Anyway, this can be done well, I’ve read some good books that use it, but they add a lot of other elements to flesh the story out. I will also admit that I have been guilty of this one, but I was younger and I still did my best to make it more of a unique tale. Maybe it wasn’t, who could say; I came up with that one when I was sixteen and new to online RP.

Anyway, there is 10 for you all. Sorry this got rushed at the end, but I had work stuff come up that interrupted me and I had to come back to this and get it out in a mad rush- this is late as it is!

This is your blog update for the week, next week is the skip, so I will see you all in August!

-          Acies   

"It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue. ~ Stephen Fry