GDAP Block Preview Week: Day 2

Welcome to the second day of GDAP Block Preview. Today, we will feature one known character in the AE circle. He is now working in Singapore. He is also a legendary creature to honor all the things that he has done for our circle. He has shown us how to exploit our importance to the management. If there was an AE employee who has managed to get the most respect for what he is worth, it’s probably this guy. He has managed to make the company submit to his terms and conditions just to get him to stay. In the end they failed to keep him.

And so who is this guy? Here is the Answer:

He’s no longer working for the shadow so why is he black? Well, we have branded him, during his stay with AE, as Satan Incarnate. So we can’t give him to any other color without getting a lot of letters from AEs that he should be a black creature.

No need to explain his legendary status.

His upkeep cost symbolizes the AE management’s effort to keep him.

The flying and trample ability are for balancing purposes. As well as being a 9/9

The shroud ability is there to represent his untouchability during his stay in AE.

So that’s end our second day preview. Clue for the next day preview: it’s a location.

NBA 2008 – 2009: Season of Disappointment

If you’ve been following the NBA this season, you’ll probably agree that this season has been full of disappointments. Although there are some happy news with a few teams, most news about the majority of the teams are bad. Here is a round down of why I think this is a season of disappointment.

Boston Celtics (29-9) – the defending champion had an exciting 27-2 run until it was ended by the Lakers on Christmas day. Then they lost again, and again, and again. After the 27-2 run, they went 2-7. During the off-season, they lost a lot of role players and was not able to restock.
New Jersey Nets (18-19) – Devin Harris was a steal. That’s it. Besides that, no exciting news about this team.
Philadelphia 76ers (16-20) – stole Elton Brand from the Clippers. Didn’t work out. Elton Brand on the injured list again after missing much of last season. Coach got fired
Toronto Raptors (16-21) – traded for Jermaine O’Neal. Trade didn’t improve the team. Coach got fired
New York Knicks (13-22) – though still in last place in their division, at least they have some form of stability under D’antoni. Now, if they can only trade Starbury.
Cleveland Cavaliers (29-6) – traded for Mo Williams. Probably the best trade made during the off-season. It would be a disappointment if the Cavaliers will not reach the NBA Finals.
Detroit Pistons (22-13) – Traded Billups for Iverson. Didn’t work out at first. Had a 7(?) game Sunday losing streak.
Milwaukee Bucks (18-21) – No significant news. No news is good news?
Chicago Bulls (16-21) – Derrick Rose is playing awesome basketball. Future is bright for this kid.
Indiana Pacers (13-23) – Last place on their division but has beaten both the Lakers and the Celtics. Almost went to overtime on their last game with L.A.
Orlando Magic (29-8) – Howard is a monster but they’re not realy performing above expectations
Atlanta Hawks (22-13) – it has been a long time since Atlanta was a winning team.
Miami Heat (19-16) – Wade is getting his form back. Beasley is not as good stat-wise as Rose but this may be because of having Wade as a teammate.
Charlotte Bobcats (14-24) – They’ve beaten the Celtics. Traded Jason Richardson for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell.
Washington Wizards (7-29) – Signed Gilbert Arenas for a six-year deal. Lost Arenas for several games because of surgery. Coach got fired.
San Antonio Spurs (24-11) – bounced back from injury-plagued start. George Hill is a promising rookie and Roger Mason was a steal. Even through a disappointing start, the Spurs still managed to get back at the top of their division.
New Orleans Hornets (22-11) – still at par with their expectations.
Houston Rockets (24-15) – traded for Ron Artest. Has a very talented line-up. Too bad they seldom play together. Injuries has plagued the Rockets in the past and this season is no exception.
Dallas Mavericks (22-14) – They’re actually playing above expectation, in my opinion. After Kidd’s slowness was exploited by Chris Paul in last season’s playoffs, I didn’t think much would happen with Dallas. But Kidd has improved his 3pt percentage and well, played above expectations
Memphis Grizzlies (11-26) – rebuilding team so expectations were low anyway. O.J. Mayo is playing great. I have no idea why the Wolves traded him for Love.
Denver Nuggets (25-13) – traded Iverson for Billups and had instant success.
Portland Trail Blazers (22-14) – Brandon Roy had a 50+ point scoring night. He just keeps improving. So as Aldridge. Too bad Oden’s not much of a big impact as was expected of him.
Utah Jazz (22-15) – Williams didn’t play for several games. AK47 didn’t play for several games. Boozer is out for surgery. And they still mustered a 22-15 record.
Minnesota Timberwolves (11-25) – the only news about them is their coach got fired and was replaced by Kevin McHale.
Oklahoma Thunder (6-32) – Kevin Durant is improving but still not enough to win.
L.A. Lakers (29-6) – the biggest disappointment of the season. I’ve been waiting all year for this team to crumble but had no luck. Kidding aside, the Lakers are playing their best basketball in the last 4 years.
Phoenix Suns (20-13) – decent record. Amare is doing a Kobe-like attitude. Shaq is doing great despite his age. Grant Hill has not been sidelined yet. I guess they really have the best medical team in the NBA. The Rockets should probably hire their medical team.
Godlen State Warriors (10-28) – Lost Baron Davis. Gained Corey Maggete. They sucked. Nuff said.
L.A. Clippers (8-28) – signed Baron Davis. Expectations were high. There was excitement in the air. Stupid Brand’s agent got him signed with the Sixers. All excitement were lost.
Sacrament Kings (8-29) – Lost Artest. That’s the only notable news for them.

So it’s either a trade didn’t worked out or their best player is injured. This is not one of the most exciting season in the NBA history. The only thing that I liked about this is it’s an odd numbered year so Spurs would probably add another championship banner.

Review: Invasion Cycle

I have just finished reading the 3 books of the Invasion cycle. It features the ending of the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria. I’ve read the entire Mercadian Masque and Artifact cycle. For those who know Magic the Gathering, they should be familiar with most of the characters involved in those 4 sets of books.
I have had opinions on each character and most of the time it has not changed. But after reading the Invasion cycle, I’ve changed my opinion for several characters. Here is the list.
-Teferi – I read about Teferi during the Artifact Cycle, particularly the book of Time Streams. He was the talented student of Tolaria and was also a troublemaker. Urza was patient with his mischief as he has high regards of his talent. I placed Teferi as someone who would be a great help during the Phyrexian invasion even though he resents Urza. During the Invasion, Teferi phased out the entire Zhalfir and Shiv to escape the battle leaving Urza and all the other planeswalker to their own fate. Teferi was also a planeswalker and he could have just phased out those cities while staying on Dominaria to help with the war but the bastard turned tail and ran.
-Squee – I thought of Squee as a comic relief. Squee is to Gerrard as Abu is to Alladin. Squee turned out to be much, much more. He was the best gunner for the Weatherlight. He has saved the crew with a lot of sheer luck. And at the end, he became an immortal.
-Yawgmoth – The Lord of Phyrexia. I initially though of him as powerful enough to be a planeswalker and the only reason that he is giving Urza a hard time was the 5000 years head start in building an army. I was wrong. While Yawgmoth cannot planeswalk, he is more powerful than 5 planeswalker combined. A lot of planeswalker sacrificed their lives to kill Yawgmoth and failed. He can contaminate the entire world of Dominaria and animate all the corpse in the entire world. It took the collective powerful artifacts of the Weatherlight (includes all powerful artifact from different planes) and the collective soul of heroes inside Gerrard to kill Yawgmoth, also claiming the Weatherlight and Gerrard in the process.
As for other characters, they’ve acted the way I thought of them.