Alteil: Batora EX 2

Batora EX 2 has been released a few hours ago at 582 gran per pack.

Annette seems OP at first, but after testing her out, she has to have fully cured HP to be really usable. Tried using sylphs on her and blessing. I would recommend placing her on the back row. Her auto skill removing any DF is annoying and really makes her worse than Alraune. She doesn't heals herself, removes DF placed by Pucera SS or Blessing, or even EX Bene or HK Lap. Guardian should probably front for her.

Genshin seems to suffer from being slow. Joachim seems better because at least he has a counter skill. Genshin can't survive Bringer, will barely survive Urgant or Magic Sword Soldier, will die against Alna or Mirelia and even Wizard Soldier once the grim count is 10 or greater.

Tony Bennett - One For My Baby Lyrics

This song features John Mayer so I wanted to learn it. But the lyrics I found online are really inaccurate. Here's a corrected version. TB is for Tony Bennett and JM is for John Mayer.

TB: Hey John

JM: Yes sir

TB: Cmon, let's have a drink

JM: If you insist

TB:

It's quarter to three,

There's no one in the place

Except you and me
Set 'em' up Joe,

You know John I got a little story
That you oughta know
Wait till you hear about this

We're drinking my friend,

To the end

Of a brief episode (I'm telling you that's what happened)
Make it one for my baby
And one more for the road
(Here's to you)

JM:

I got the routine, (TB: Oh no you too)

So drop another nickel in the machine
Man I'm feelin so bad, (TB: Wow)

I wish you'ld make the music dreamy and sad
I could tell you a lot, (TB: You too right)

But you've got to be true to your code

Both:

Make it one for my baby
And one more for the road

TB: You'd never know it, but buddy I'm a kind of poet
Yeah that's right, I've got a lot of things to say

JM: And when I'm goony, you simply gotta listen to me
until it's talked away

TB: Let's have another drink, bartender, fill it up again, will you

TB: That's how it goes, John I know your gettin very anxious to close

(JM: You don't know me well)

JM:

Tony thanks for the cheer
I hope you don't mind me
Bending your ear

TB:

Cause this torch that I found, must be drowned
Or it soon might explode

Both:
Make it one for my baby
And one more for the road

(TB: Take it home now)

Both:
That long, (long), long road

(TB: Let's leave a tip, sleep tight)

Alteil: Beating Batora

Was finally able to beat Batora last night. I used an Urgant file, and I must say, the keys to victory are:

• Having returns / tidal wave to remove the Hercules guy - the Batora agent with fully restores HP as a close skill.
• Having Belus in the field to engage a Batora agent so that only one agent is active per turn, or if possible, no agents are active per turn.

Although cyclone would be a good card against Batora files since the agents are either at level 0 or level 1, whenever Batora plays Albert, he also decreases the level of your units permanently (either as an open skill or as an auto skill). So if you play cyclone, you end up returning your own units.

The following is a list of Batora's soul skills:

• SS1: 1 LP send random enemy directly to the cemetery
• SS2: 2 LP both iczers get SP=0
• SS3: 3 LP return all cards to the cemetery (Ala Bulerigid except 3 LP)
• SS4: 1 LP engage all enemy units (Ala Afel except only lasts for the turn)
• SS5: 3 LP revive all batora units, engaged units get HP=0

That last skill is a killer if Batora had units on the field. Guess I was lucky that Urgant and Astaforse were killing Batora agents with a single hit. Faytis was also handy at times.

Good luck to those who haven't beaten Batora yet. Perhaps my experience can help you out.

Mayer Hawthorne

I can't believe that Mayer Hawthorne has been around for about 3 years now, and yet I did not know any of his songs. Or perhaps I've heard some of his songs, but did not know it was him singing. But I was curious about a music video that was a lot like the Mr. and Mrs. Smith's fight scene between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. And at the end of the music video, I saw the title "The Walk", and the artist Hawthorne Mayer.

His sound is a lot like the sound track for My Girl, which was set in the 70s. In some way, I am reminded of John Legend, but Mayer's sound feels a lot older. Right now, my favorite songs of Mayer are "A Strange Arrangement", "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out", and "You're Not Ready".

I hope he comes up with more songs that have the sound of the 70s and avoid the Snoop dog collaboration crap.

Alteil: Batora 2011

Last year, Batora (an AI player) ran rampant around Folrart defeating most of the iczers (a terms for Alteil players). And from that set came great cards like Pulcera, Gafc, Joachim and Leopold.

I'm excited about the next set of cards that might arise from the 2011 Batora set. The following cards are what I have observed so far.

• One card is like merciless death for 0 SP
• Another card is a unit with about 100 HP and the close skill is a full recovery
• Another unit acts like DION, returning a unit card equal or below Level 3. And another skill it has is an automatic lowering of an enemy unit's level by 2
• There's a unit card who's skill is to automatically send an enemy card to the cemetery

I haven't been able to see any of the SS cards of Batora yet. Players are probably trying to come up with a strategy that will over come it. Last year, Crest Spy decks with a lot of returns to take advantage of Batora card's 0 level seem to have had plenty of luck.

I remember that if Batora was beaten a certain number of times, the GMs would award all players with Gran and Point cards. I wouldn't be surprised if they gave the same deal this year.

Recovering Deleted Files in Windows 7

Having acquired the habit of holding down the SHIFT key while pressing the DELETE key, I have gotten myself in some a situation where I deleted files I was not supposed to. Fortunately, there are data recovery programs available which can still give the user a chance at getting back the lost files.

The program I tried out and which worked excellently for me was Pandora Recovery. After installation, it allowed me several options at locating the lost files, namely Browse, Search, and Surface Scan. I initially tried the Surface Scan option, thinking that it would give me the best results. But the files I was recovering under this option were no longer named under the original file names I gave these. I gave the Browse option a shot, and lo and behold, my files were still there. Discovered files are usually marked by a red X mark, and all you have to do is to right-click these files and specify the location to recover these to. You can also press SHIFT and then mass-select in order to recover multiple files at once.

I have learned my lesson and will be very careful especially when deleting entire folders. But I would like to thank the creators of Pandora Recovery for making such a useful app. Perhaps a different name for the product would be better though, since Pandora's box usually connotes a lack of hope. But if you are familiar with the mythology, you know that hope is found in the end. And that is what this program gives its users who are worried and that are at wits end.

Again, a big thank you Pandora Recovery.

Alteil Falkow Prebuilt

Alteil released the new Falkow Prebuilt file dubbed "TAKE TO THE SKY". The cards included are listed below.

SS cards

EX: Forest Sorceress Antilla

SS Lapierre

Pirate King Dub Rido

Pirate King Dub Rido

Twin Wing Knight / Glosfiea

Play Cards

1 owl sage

3 Lightning Wyvern

3 Blade Wyvern

3 Meaning of Failure

2 Bog Wyvern

2 Manta Ray

2 Mildoreo

1 Swan Cavalier

2 Time Stop

3 Elite Mage Knight

1 Strike Wyvern

1 Waterspout

1 Prayer For Safety

In my opinion, the 2 Time Stop cards, 2 Dub Rido cards and 3 lightning wyvern cards are the most valuable. I already had 3 copies of Mildoreo and I was wondering why they even included him. I would have preferred 3 copies of Ex Antilla.

Avengers Movie 2012

I've seen the Avengers Movie Trailer and I am excited. Target release date is on May 4, 2012. From the looks of it, the following are the heroes that will appear in the movie.

• Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)
• Black Widow (Scarlet Johanssen)
• Thor (same guy who played Thor)
• Captain America (same guy who played Captain America, and also the Human Torch)
• Hawk-eye (same guy who played Hawk-eye in Thor)
• Hulk (some new guy, no longer Edward Norton)
• Nick Fury (still played by Samuel Jackson)

It also looks like the main villain in the film will be Loki (played by the same actor in Thor.

Now for some interesting questions.

If Thor was able to beat Loki in the movie Thor, why is there a need to assemble a team of Avengers? (emphasis and drama while stating "assemble a team of Avengers", and yeah, I know, the battle cry is Avengers assemble.)

If there was an Avengers Fantastic Four cross-over movie, would the human torch / captain america be paid double?

Why was Norton replaced for the role of the Hulk? And why can't a single guy stay in that role for a long time? (Bana, Norton, new guy)

With all the money being paid to the big-named stars, what budget will be left for good writing and effects?

Perhaps the trailer below will convince you.

Alteil: New Gowen Pre-built

There are several good reasons for a Gowen player to pick up the newly released pre-built deck for 500 gran.

• The first 3 good reasons are 3 copies of Jerry. It is hard to obtain 3 copies of a card from random pulls on the lottery, or even from buying multiple packs. And Jerry is a 3-star rarity card.
• Get an extra copy of Sakura. For players who are building one of the most dominant metas in Folrart Arena to date, BKR, Winston, Bringer, Sakura is staple. 2 copies would even be better.
• Get a copy of Mitzett. Mitzett is commonly used as a 2 LP SS that deals massive damage as long as you have SP. Literally hitting two birds with one stone.
• Recycle the rest of the cards. Chances are, you have already completed your fire arrows, salamanders, Bazgars, and volcano wyverns even before this build was released. So in effect, you probably are only spending between 200 and 300 gran after getting back gran from recycling.

Hope your deck is stronger with this expansion.

Tresspass 2011

This movie reminds me too much of Jodie Foster's Panic room. Almost exactly the same setting, a house being robbed. Bad guys are after money, this time in the form of diamonds instead of bonds. Nicholas Cage is great but really seems old. Don't know who their kid is, but they could have gone with a better actress.

I don't know who the lead bad guy is. I was betting with my friends that it's Gordon from Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. But out of all the actors, he played his role the best. The plot is predictable... you know that the family will get out of it in the end. Guess that's what you get from the director who ruined Batman. Guess the only real twist in the movie is the psycho stalker robber.

But there are no movies to watch at this point. So if you want to waste some time, then by all means watch Tresspass.