Battle for Zendikar is here! The Eldrazi are back!

Planeswalkers have consistent design! Enemy colored man-lands (why can’t we call them lady-lands or just creature-lands?!)! No more color seeded pre-release packs! Getting to play a game we all enjoy with awesome people!

Now, I’ve heard that some of you grumpier planeswalkers out there are groaning over how quickly Magic is returning to Zendikar. Well I for one welcome the glorious return of our new tentacled and tongue-abdomened overlords, but putting personal politics aside I think this is going to be one of the best pre-releases ever. How (you impossibly ask without typing thus confirming that yes, you may indeed be the telepath your step-mother said you could never be)?

Well, first off our three pre-releases taking place at 12pm and 5pm on Saturday and 12pm on Sunday are only $25 if you preregister in store before the 26th! And our prize structure will be as dope as ever over a three-round sealed tourney insuring that everyone (yes even you 0-3 Scrubby Mcscrubberson) walks away with something. Cheaper pre-releases? Prizes for everyone? What sweet hell is this?

Secondly, we will have the BEST SPELL SLINGER THIS SIDE OF THE GREATER SEATTLE AREA READY TO THROW DOWN: DOCTOR CHRISTOPHER THUNDER-CHEEKS PEELER ESQUIRE!

Play him and get a pack, win and get another pack! It’s a win-win you fools!

Finally, we will have the kindest, most supportive, and best-looking Magic community in all of Seattle present.

Now I maybe biased but the members of Team Gamma (patent pending) are some of the most inclusive, patient, and best behaved players in this entire city and I will engage in a with anyone who claims otherwise. Whether this is going to be your first prerelease or your 50-billionth, you should come on down to Gamma Ray Games, get a drink, and play some cards for incredibly low stakes with people who are just as excited as you to play with new cards that feature the love-spawn of Geiger and Lovecraft. I’ll see you there.

,
Aric Fehrenbacher

P.S. “What’s the prize structure?” We haven’t received our product yet to verify so I’ll have a much better idea when it actually arrives on Thursday but expect it to be an incredibly even spread. So if you’re thinking of coming down to try and shark our players there will be very little in it for you. Also you suck.

Hello, I’m Aric Fehrenbacher. You may remember me from such blog posts as Aric’s Last Shift (I came back) and Why You Should Be Watching Professional Starcraft (WHY AREN’T YOU!) or you maybe more familiar with my work was “that guy who is always behind the bar who wears stripped button-ups gesticulating wildly at the beer cooler”.

I’m here today to share with you some exciting news about my personal favorite subject booze. We here at The Raygun Lounge have slowly been refining our menu to more accurately resemble an establishment that sells awesome, interesting beers, ciders, and now, meads. As much as I love Deschutes and Newcastle they are pretty basic as far as beer choices go and we live in the PNW home to hundreds of small independent breweries making amazing brew!

With the help of Orcas Distributing we now carry some of the most unique and tasty brews available to a small gaming establishment without access to draft beer. But enough jibber jabber allow me show you some of my new favorites which a few of our bar regulars have “agreed” to model for us.

Uncommon Brewing Bacon Brown

So we picked this assuming it would be a kitschy novelty beer and probably be terrible in reality. I mean Bacon+Beer? Turns out it’s just an amazingly solid bodied brown ale with a subtle hit of delicious gristle at the end. Also, yes it is actually brewed with a pound of uncured bacon.

Celt Thirsty Warrior

I cannot say enough good things about this cider, and I think drinking cider is a sin against Raugupatis (look it up). If you think you like Angry Orchard (you don’t) one sip of this will make you realize that you’ve been wasting your time and money all this time sending you into an existential crisis the likes of which only protagonists in Lovecraft stories have ever experienced. I may have gotten carried away there but trust me, it’s really good (Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn).

Lost Continent Double IPA

You think you know what a Northwest IPA should taste like? Not until you’ve laid your lips upon one of these mega-hoppy bad boys you presumptuous fool. A miracle of modern brewing that somehow treads the line between tasting like you’re chewing straight hops and being immensely drinkable. Schrodinger’s beer?

Moonlight Meads

Some people (losers) say that mead is for neckbeardy weirdos who can’t handle real alcohol. Well those people hate and , hence losers. Regardless of your feelings towards nordic subjects this mead is bomb as #$*&.  Every flavor is different and interesting capturing the sweet honey core that any good mead should have while experimenting with berries, ginger, vanilla, and currants in ways that morph the flavor into something truly unique.

Are you thirsty yet? Well then come on down to the Raygun for this weekend’s Magic Origins Prerelease or come in next week for our other amazing events which I guarantee will make you want to drink. That’s a little bartender humor for you. Stay classy Seattle.

Starcraft 2 is the greatest sport ever created by humanity. There, I said it.

Now, I know some of you out there in the blogosphere may want to dismiss the phenomenon known as E-Sports as an annoying infringement by those pesky nerds stealing the sacred “S” word from good and proper sports like curling and table tennis.

But the simple fact is that while even the NFL has seen steadily declining admissions since 2007 (side-note: go hawks) the audiences for E-Sports events have grown to Thunderdome-like proportions.

E-Sports are booming and with million dollar prize pools and swarms of rabid fans (there are fantasy League of Legends leagues…let that sink in) these games are only going to get bigger.

Now in my humble and undisputedly correct opinion Starcraft 2 is the greatest E-Sport of all E-sports.

“But Aric,” you chirp,“What makes Starcraft so amazing?”

Because Starcraft 2 is simultaneously the chess, pistol duel, and professional wrestling of the E-Sports world.

For example:

1. ) There are WWE levels of showboating.

Renaldo’s got nothing on FireBatHero.

2.) It requires an insane amount of superhuman dexterity and quick thinking.

300 APM=6 actions per second.

3.) There are crushing defeats and epic comebacks, ALL THE TIME.

If you didn’t understand what just happened, it was crushing. Trust me.

Hopefully, if you’ve made it this far, I’ve at least piqued your interest in Starcraft because now we can get to the point of this post.

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Gamma Ray Games will be hosting replays of the World Championship Starcraft Finals and the Global Starcraft League Code S (code S means the baddest players in all of badassdom) matches as it is pretty much impossible to show them live.

So come in, hang out, and let’s talk Starcraft and if you don’t know how to talk Starcraft then feel free to ask me what the hell is going on every couple of minutes because I’ll probably be providing my own live commentary anyway.

Cheers,

Aric F.