If you haven't heard of or played Scrolls, it's a CCG kind of like Magic: The Gathering, but with a small board. Other people have done much better jobs than I can in explaining or demonstrating what Scrolls is all about, so I invite you to watch TotalBiscuit's intro.
I've played quite a few online games, and what makes Scrolls such a great game (aside from the game itself, which is fairly strategic) is the community. Sure you'll always have your internet trolls, but in general Scrolls has been quite a pleasant environment (shoutout to the Reddit community in particular). The game is still in beta so a lot of features are missing, but people in the community have really stepped up to keep things fun and interesting. A group of people have even donated real money in order to run a tournament with real prizes for the top players!
Compared to the Dota communities (Dota 2, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth), the maturity level in Scrolls is fairly high. The game is such a great deal right now at $21, and was a large help in my aforementioned resistance against the Steam Summer Sale.
In much darker news though, the Leafs have made a series of crazy moves that will probably send us back to the dark days of fighting for a playoff spot and failing. We brought in a goalie to replace Reimer. Someone who has less experience, and equal or worse stats on a better team. Unless Reimer is having some health issues, this move is ineffable.
There were some other things like letting a depth winger like Clarke MacArthur walk and re-signing third -line-center-in-stats-but-first-line-on-roster Tyler Bozak, but I want to talk about the big one: The Grabovski Buyout.
Grabovski was an important part of this team, but the coach's inexplicable hatred of the hard working two-way forward has driven him off the team. Randy Carlyle greatly reduced his playing minutes and demoted him to the fourth line. Instead of believing in one of the most consistent players on both ends of the ice, he chose to ignore him instead. Now he is separated from his "second wife" and linemate, Kulemin. We will miss you Grabbo.
For me, the Leafs were a lovable bunch. You have the young star with swagger in Nazem "The Dream" Kadri, the ever-grateful James "Optimus Reim" Reimer who brought us from the depths of goalie hell, and the hard working, lost-in-translation Mikhail "Grabbo" Grabovski, who constantly gets knocked down by bigger opponents and tenaciously gets back up again every single time. But with Grabbo gone and Reimer possibly being forced into a backup role, I just don't know what to think of this team anymore.
And to combine the two main topics of today, I've created this:
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