Flames A-Shifting

I wasn't able to verify the survey part myself, so adding a disclaimer here ahead of time that it might not be true. I thought I should share regardless because as someone working freelance all these years, there's always a repetitive problem with clients accidentally getting artists accounts flagged, or artists not knowing how to protect themselves from that happening.

Artists: please use invoices, don't rely on payment links or the client sending you the money. It's the safest (well, as safe it can get when it comes to Paypal) way to control what's being said in the exchange of cash. I typically refer to my products as illustrations or digital products.

Paypal offers an option to save "presets" for invoices, so you only really need to set it up once. I also strongly recommend you fill out the Terms of Service field properly - it's saved me from bad faith clients trying to screw my account by breaking my TOS.

You can also instead use platforms such as Artistree that will send your payments without flagging anything in the system.

Before previews for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.   

First up, here are some things you can expect:   

• a new card with the word “three times” in its rules text 

• a new land subtype  

• an aura card we’ve reprinted numerous times over twenty years appears with a new name and is one mana cheaper 

• a redone version of a popular mechanic that first premiered in 2009 

• a new mechanic representing crafting  

• a card capable of animating both artifacts and enchantments   

• a popular Tempest sorcery returns as an “enter the battlefield” effect   

• a new ability word that cares about what is in your graveyard  

• some counters in the set: bore, chorus, dread, finality, landmark, lore, net, point, stun, and time; one of which is a new deciduous counter 

• some creature tokens: 0/1 green Dinosaur Eggs, 1/1 colorless Gnomes, 1/1 white Vampire, 1/1 blue Merfolk, 1/1 black Bat, 1/1 black Fungus, 2/2 black Skeleton Pirate, 3/1 red Dinosaur, 3/2 red and white Spirit, 3/3 green Dinosaur, 4/3 black Vampire Demon, 4/4 white Angel, 4/4 white and blue Golem (note that some of these tokens have additional abilities) 

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:   

• “As an additional cost to cast this spell, tap four untapped artifacts, creatures, and/or land you control.”  

• “Until end of turn, target artifact or creature becomes a Dinosaur”  

• “Then destroy all other creatures if its power is exactly 20.”  

• “When you <new keyword>, <new keyword> again for the same value.”  

• “Whenever you’re dealt combat damage, the attacking player gains control of CARDNAME and untaps it.”  

• “Equip – Pay {3} or discard a card.”  

• “Whenever you cast a permanent spell using mana produced by CARDNAME, up to one other target permanent you control becomes a copy of that spell until end of turn.”  

• “Skeletons you control get +1/+0 and have haste.”  

• “If a triggered ability of another creature you control of the chosen type triggers, it triggers an additional time.”  

• “When there are 1,000 or more time counters on CARDNAME, sacrifice it and each opponent loses 1,000 life.”  

Here are some creature type lines from the set:  

• Artifact Creature – Dinosaur Gnome  

• Creature – Salamander Wurm  

• Creature – Merfolk Warrior Scout  

• Legendary Creature – Bat God  

• Creature – Capybara  

• Legendary Creature – Skeleton Spirit Pirate  

• Artifact Creature – Nautilus  

• Creature – Beast Horror Spirit  

• Creature – Fungus Snail  

• Creature – Dinosaur Skeleton Horror  

Finally, here are some names in the set:  

• Braided Quipu  

• Calamitous Cave-In  

• Careening Mine Cart  

• Chupacabra Echo  

• Diamond Pick-Axe  

• Eaten by Piranhas  

• Out of Air  

• Pirate Hat  

• Sovereign’s Machuahuitl  

• Spelunking  

I believe it was @a-wild-golden-gryphon who mentioned the idea of Matthew ratatouilleing dream around

Also:

Due to the pandemic, like so many other families, her family will likely have to sit shiva via Zoom and not in person.

Also, the phrase ‘rest in peace’ is from the Latin and derived from Christian practices. When a Jewish person dies, it it proper to say ‘may their memory be a blessing.’

Item: Trotify, a device that allows a bicycle to sound like a horse, confusing your enemies