Fate Reforged Limited Set Review

With the prerelease coming up next weekend, here's my personal review of Fate Reforged. I'm using the same scale as LSV, and I'm likewise only interested in Limited as that's what I play. Once the rest of his set reviews are up I think I'll follow up with my most over/underrated cards to see where my evaluations are off.

Cards Total Comments
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon 4.5 Total Bomb
Abzan Advantage 0.5 Bolster 1 is not completely irrelevant, but seems like it's not worth a card
Abzan Runemark 0.5 Here comes a 2 for 1.
Abzan Skycaptain 1.5 Evasive flyer not bad, but 2/2 for 4 seems behind the curve and blanked by Kirin
Arashin Cleric 1.5 Blocks morphs all day, weak later in the game
Aven Skirmisher 1.5 1/1 Flyer seems like a good target for bolster
Channel Harm 2 Situational, expensive instant speed removal is still instant speed removal.
Citadel siege 2.5 Fuels abzan, but doesn't affect the board for an entire turn, and needs creatures
Daghatar the Adamant 4 Not as good as High-sentinals, but still trixy
Dragon Bell Monk 1.5 Wish this was a bear... not as good as a windscout or a morph.
Dragonscale General 4 Eats morphs, and makes you're board terrifying provided you can attack or outlast.
Elite Scaleguard 3.5 If you have not creatures, it's a 4/5... if you have creatures it buffs something else and taps down blockers so you can start attacking.
Great-horn Krushok 1.5 Not as good as scaleguard or War Behemoth
Honor's Reward 1.5 Instant speed bolster seems situational as a combat trick.
Jeskai Barricade 2.5 Situational but provides defensive speed and blocks morphs all day.
Lightform 3 2/2 with flying and lifelink for 3... I'm in, though a little hard to cast.
Lotus Eye Mystics 3 Gravedigger with prowess
Mardu Woe-Reaper 3.5 Lays the beats starting on turn one, and makes racing difficult
Mastey of the Unseen 2.5 Allows you to generate an army of 2/2s at instant speed. Empty the Pits in installments
Monastery Mentory 4 Totally busto... a prowess dude who makes dudes you have prowess. Goblinslide on a stick
Pressure Point 2.5 Decent prowess fodder
Rally the Ancestors 1 Reanimate a bunch of dudes... to block? Very situational
Sage's Reverie 1 Seem's like this should have been in Theros... even with the X-forms it seems like mostly it gives +1/+1 and cantrips
Sandblast 2 Bad Killshot?
Sandsteppe Outcast 2.5 Evasive hordechief... seems decent.
Sould Summons 3 A bear with random upside that trigger's prowess. Sure
Soulfire Grand Master 3 A bear with crazy situational upside. Sure (So a bear is a little weak for a mythic... but that doesn't mean I won't first pick it just to get the chance to play with it)
Valoruous Stance 3.5 Smite the mosterous, but cheaper... with the option to save a dude instead. Sure.
Wandering Champion 3.5 Oresco's swiftclaw that maybe loots sometimes
Wardscale Dragon 4 Evasive flyer that shutsdown your opponts combat tricks... yes please
Aven Sureyor 2.5 Icedad that's harder to cast and not at instant speed
Cloudform 3 2/2 with flying and hexproof for 3, still in
Enhanced Awareness 3 Jace's injenuity, but easier to cast
Fascination 1.5 Sphinx's Revelation-ish. Seems hard to abuse in draft
Frost Walker 3 Lay the beats
Jeskai Infiltrator 3.5 Evasive and creates an infinite number of dudes... and eats morphs
Jeskai Runemark 0.5 Still looking for a 2-for-1
Jeskai Sage 1 Cantrips... but needs prowess to even trade for a bear (looks just like monastery swiftspear)
Lotus Path Djinn 3 Like a windscout that can block
Marang River Prowler 2.5 Puts a clock on the game... which is good as long as you're winning the race
Mindscour Dragon 3.5 Not as good as Wardscale Dragon... the milling is irrelevant unless they're sultai, at which point you might actually be helping them
Mistfire Adept 3.5 Hillgiant with prowess that might fly. It's not Riverwheel Arielists... but it comes out two turns earlier and eats morphs.
Monastery Siege 4 Loot every turn... I don't think you need to hear more
Neutralizing Blast 2.5 like distainful stroke but....
Rakshasa's Distain 1.5 Like mana-leak... but situational and more expensive
Reality Shift 4 Turns bombs into bears... efficientish removal
Refocus 2.5 Like presurepoint, but
Renowned weaponsmith 1.5 Ramps out Dragonthrone...
Rite of Undoing 3.5 Expensive peel from reality?
Sage-Eye Avengers 4.5 Pick apart your opponent's board while beating them down... yes please.
Shifting Loyalties 3.5 Control Magic
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest 3.5 Turns every creature you control into dragonstyle twins
Sultai Skullkeeeper 2.5 Wetland sambar that fuels delve
Supplant Form 3.5 Control Magic
Temporal Tresspass 1 Not for Draft
Torrent Elemental 4.5 Unkillable evasive flyer that makes it impossible for your opponent to defend
Whisk Away 2.5 Blue killshot
Will of the Naga 3 Super Cripling Chill
Write into Being 3.5 Make a bear
Alesha's Vanguard 2.5 Hillgiant with dash.
Ancestra Vengance 1 Seems much worse than debilitating injury
Archfiend of Depravity 4.5 If it goes unanswered, it seems like it can just win you the game.
Battle Brawler 3.5 Great bear
Brutal Hordechief 4 Allows you to break through... but kind of depends on the creatures you have down.
Crux of Fate 3.5 Black wrath
Dark Deal 1 Here comes some card disadvantage.
Diplomacy of the Wastes 3.5 Not as good as thoughtsieze since it's competing with morphs
Douse in Gloom 2 Drain a creature
Fearsome Awakening 1.5 Reanimation seems a much bigger deal in cube... though there might be sultai synergy
Ghastly Conscription 2 Seems situtational... and very expensive... but easier to play than empty the pits
Grave Strength 0.5 Seems like this card is going to average +1/+1... doesn't seem worth a card
Gurmag Angler 2.5 Slightly easier to cast than shambles
Hooded Assasin 3 Finish off a creature or eat morphs all day...
Mardu Shadowspear 1 Seems irrelevant after turn 2
Mardu Strike Leader 3 Seems inline with the Hordechief... though it doesn't eat morphs, but could create tons of dudes
Merciless Executioner 2 Worst case, it's a sorcery speed edict.
Noxious Dragon 4 Pick apart your opponents board while slaming them in the face.
Orc Sureshot 3 Turn every creature into flametonge kavu
Palace siege 4 Start racing your opponent with no other cards in play
Qarsi High Priest 0.5 Upgrade tokens into morphs? Doesn't really seem worth a card
Reach of Shadows 3 Instant speed removal
Sibsig Host 1 Rotting mastodon v2
Sibsig Muckdraggers 1 Rotting mastodon with delve
Soul Flayer 4  
Sultai Emissary 3 Cantrip bear
Sulati Runemark 1 looking for a 2-for-1
Tasigur, the Golden Fang 3 Hooting mandrils with gravedigging
Tasigur's Cruelty 1.5 Not as good as rakshasa's secret
Typhoid Rats 2 Beter than a hateblade
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death 3.5 Hordechief that keeps bringing back skullhunters.
Arcbond 3.5 Situational red wrath
Bathe in Dragonfire 3  
Bloodfir Enforcers 3 Hill giants that situtationally lay the beats
Break through the line 2 Do-nothing enchantment
Collateral Damage 3 1-for-2 lightning bolt... but playable in mardu tokens
Defiant Ogre 1.5 Seems weak for a six drop
Dragon Rage 1 Trumpet blast with tricks
Fierce Invocation 3 Make a 4/4, trigger prowess
Flamecrush Rider 3  
Flamewake Pheonix 4  
Fiendly Fire 2.5 Bring low seems better
Goblin Heelcutter 3 Hill giant that helps your team get through
Gore Swine 3 Alpine Grizzly except red
Humble Defector 2.5 A bear that draws cards?
Hungering Yeti 3 Could straight eat a dude while representing a morph
Lighting Shrieker 3.5 Lava axe dragon
Mardu Runemark 1 Still don't like it
Mardu Scout 1.5 Orescos swiftclaw that's hard to cast
Mob rule 3 The best Act of Treason ever
Outpost siege 4 This is very close to "Draw a Card every turn"
Pyrotechnics 3  
Rageform 2 2/2 with double strike does't seem to as good as 2/2 with flying
Shaman of the Great Hunt 4 Triger's ferocious, buffs your team, draws cards
Shockmaw Dragon 4 Burn away your opponent's team while smashing them in the face
Smoldering Effreet 2.5 A bear
Temur Battle Rage 3 Surprise, you're dead
Vaultbreaker 3 Alpine grizzly that loots
Wild Slash 3.5 Shock
Abzan Beastmaster 4 Pretty close to "Draw a card every turn"
Abzan Kin-Guard 3.5 Hill giant with lifelink
Ainok Guide 2.5 It's a bear
Ambush Krotiq 1.5  
Arashin War Beast 2.5 Make tons of dudes
Archer's of Qarsi 2.5 Trades with dragons
Battlefront Krushok 2.5 Lord of charging rhino
Cached Defenses 2.5 +3/+3 seems worth a card
Destructor Dragon 3.5 Practically guarenteed 2-for-1 that smashes your opponent in the face
Feral Krushok 1.5 Big dorky dude
Formless Nurturing 2 Make a 3/3 and trigger prowess
Frontier Mastodon 2.5 Not as good as alpine grizzly
Frontier Siege 4 How does a ritual every main phase sound?
Fruit of the First Tree 1 Seems difficult to actually trigger. After all, high-toughness creatures are exactly the ones most likey to survive.
Hunt the Weak 3 The +1/+1 counter is more relevant than usual, plus it's a fight card.
Map the Wastes 0.5 Seems like you'd almost always rather cast a morph.
Return to Earth 2 Kills dragons... seems more relevant than it might otherwise be.
Ruthles instincts 2.5 Awaken the bear, or kill a creature.
Sandsteppe Mastodon 3.5 If you have no other creatures it's a 10/10. If you have other creatures it turns them into a respectable threat. Plus, it eats dragons.
Shamanic Revelation 2 Might help break board stalls, but it's miserable if you're behind. You'd probably prefer Treasure Cruise (and if you have lots of 4 power creatures... we'll that's just win more).
Sudden Reclamation. 1.5 Regrowth that powers delve. Not really better than dutiful return.
Temur Runemark 1 Still don't see these as particularly playable...
Temur Sabertooth 3 4/3 for 4... plus I the bounce ability may allow shenanigans with manifest.
Temus War Shaman 4 Allowing all of your morphs to fight when they flip up seems really good.
Warden of the First Tree 4.5 I've heard Figure of Destiny was a good card.
Whisperer of the Wilds 3.5 Ramps out a turn-4 Sagu Mauler... that seems epic
Whisperwood Elemental 4.5 Do you like the idea of an army of bears because, I do.
Wildcall 4 Cast it on turn 2 for a bear... or turn 10 for a 10/10. Combos with Whisperer of the Wilds, and the siege.
Winds of Qal Sisma 1 It's a fog.
Yasova Dragonclaw 3.5 How do you like the idea of an Alpine Grizly that keeps taking your oppenents creatures?
Atarka, World Render 4.5 Swinging for 12 seems good.
Cunning Strike 2.5 Not as good as Master the Way... and you've only got so many 5 drops.
Dromoka, the Eternal 4 5/5 with flying for 5... yes please... the bolster effect is pure gravy.
Ethereal Ambush 1.5 Two bears for 5 has potential... but 5 is an overloaded slot
Grim Contest 3 Wierd fight card, but it's cheap, instant and has good Abzan synergy.
Harsh Sustenance 3 Seems like this will reasonably reliably kill a creature, and sometimes give you reach in a stall.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury 4 5/5 with flying for 5... yes please... the surprise you're dead potential is just gravey.
Ojutai, Soul of Winter 4.5 Taps down you opponent's biggest threats, while defending, and smashing them in the face.
Silumgar, the Drifting Death 3.5 While the -1/-1 ability feels like it has the potential to totally wreck you oppenent's board the lower power make it feel like Silumgar is just less of threat in his own right than the rest of the dragons.
War Flare 3.5 More versatile than Trumpet Blast and cheaper than Flying Crane Technique
Goblin Boom Keg 3 Slow, expensive Lightning Bolt
Hero's Blade 3 More expensive than Ghostfire Blade... but still turns your morphs in to legitimate threats.
Hewed Stone Retainers 1.5 Colorless Illusionary Angel is cool, but the fact that it's grounded is super relevant.
Pilgrim of the Fires 3.5 Goes in any deck, diffcult to chump or gang block... and big enough to get through most of the walls.
Scroll of the Masters 3.5 Slow... but cool Jeskai synergy, especially with manifest bumping the non-creature spell count.
Ugin's Construct 3 Bellowing Saddlebrute with a different drawback seems okay if you've got tokens.
Bloodfell Caves 3 Dual lands are still good
Blossoming Sands 3 Ditto
Crucible of the Spirit Dragon 0.5 Generates colorless mana which is a risk in a format that's still going to lean 3 colors... plus Ugin isn't even a dragon so you can't ramp into him.
Dismal Backwater 3 Dual lands are still good
Jungle Hollow 3 Ditto
Rugged Highlands 3 Ditto
Scoured Barrens 3 Ditto
Swiftwater Cliffs 3 Ditto
Thornwood Falls 3 Ditto
Tranquil Cove 3 Ditto
Wind-Scarred Crag 3 Ditto

Animations with requestAnimationFrame

Recently I deceided to explore requestAnimationFrame as a way to peer behind the jQuery.animate veil. While you should absolutely use jQuery.animate (or similar) when working on a "real" project, the results were pretty interesting:

function animate(el, properties, duration, done) {
    function map(obj, transform){
        var result = {};
        Object.keys(obj).forEach(function (key) {
            result[key] = transform(key, obj[key]);
        });
        return result;
    }

    function accessor(property) {
        return {
            get: function (el) {
                var value = styles[property]
                if (value === 'auto') {
                    return 0;
                }

                return parseInt(value, 10);
            },
            set: function (el, value) {
                el.style[property] = value + "px";
            }
        };
    }

    var start,
        styles = getComputedStyle(el),
        startingValues = map(properties, function(key, value) {
            return accessor(key).get(el);
        });

    requestAnimationFrame(function step(timestamp) {
        done = done || function () {};
        start = start || timestamp;

        var elapsed = timestamp - start;

        Object.keys(properties).forEach(function (property) {
            var goal = properties[property],
                startingValue = startingValues[property],
                delta = goal - startingValue,
                progress = elapsed / duration,
                bound = (delta > 0 ? Math.min : Math.max),
                value = bound(delta * progress + startingValue, goal);

                accessor(property).set(el, value);
        });

        if (elapsed < duration) {
            requestAnimationFrame(step);
        } else {
            done();
        }
    });
}

Interestingly enough, the actual animation code is almost dwarfed by the code providing the API and fiddling with css properties to make sure they're in the right format.

Enough chit-chat, where's the bouncing ball?

I'm so glad you asked, I've even implemented the obligatory bouncing ball. Go take a look!

Design Critique

To evaluate design, you must be impartial. You have to check your personal taste and predispositions at the door and consider whether the work succeeds in solving the problem at hand.

Bootstrapping Design

Here Jarrod is talking about design reviews in art school... but this resonates with my experience doing code review. One of the rabbit holes it's easy to fall into is picking at stuff you'd have done differently independent of whether or not it would actually make the work better.

Science

The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure Nature hasn't mislead you into thinking you know something you don't actually know.

—Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I occasionally read books about science, pseudo-science, and just generally sorting out what is actually true from what you think is true1... and while those books do a good job of laying out the problem, this formulation really resonated with me... though Nature isn't generally the one doing the tricking.

[1]Bad Science and The Flaw of Averages being two of the most recent.

Hitman: Absolution

Hitman: Absolution is a stealth/action game about the titular assassin wherein you sneak around trying to kill your way through your former employers after going rogue. The engine is ridiculously smooth, and the game is simply bursting with creative ways to kill your targets, though silently garroting them and dragging the body off to a dark corner to dispose of it is probably the most satisfying. The more linear sections that seemed to force direct confrontation were decidedly less enjoyable. I really wanted 15 more levels like The King of Chinatown and unfortunately, there were only really one or two other spots that came close in the rest of the game.

Verdict

Sneaking around garroting battle nuns and dragging them into the bushes is not quite as fun as bushwhacking heavies and sicking tigers on their friends, but still absolutely worth playing.