Wind howls down the peaks of the Wingthrone, the desolate, broken fortress looming over Sandsteppe Gate and the rolling hills and lowlands of Mardu Horde territory on Tarkir. The Goldengrave shifts like water underneath the winds that blow across the steppes, waves of grass as far as the eye can see, only punctuated by The Scour, a deep chasm that scars its way into Mardu lands, born from the Qal Sisma mountains in Temur Territory.

On the steppes, the Horde battle and thrive, moving from camp to camp, probing enemy lines to see where their sentries may have fallen complacent, if only for a short while. Above the Mardu Horde flies the Wingmate Roc, a bird of mythic proportions, free from the struggle to eke out an existence on the rocky wastes, flying with its partner, ruling the skies that have been free from dragons for as long as the men and women below can remember.

Hello! 2x Media means I can start banking up some money for my next character! I’ve made 3WW Wingmate-Roc after one of my favourite Magic: the Gathering cards! Wingmate Roc is a stepping stone character while I gather enough money to hopefully max out a player after my go in the J. It’s nice to see that the TPE cap in the J is very readily achievable, and I can just do my ACs and stuff so I’m not considered IA while I bank that sweet sweet cash for my character after this.

So, who is Wingmate Roc? Well, the card is an impressively medium card that was super sweet back in like 2014 when it was printed. It’s pretty laughable now, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Wingmate Roc is a 5 mana, 3 power and 4 toughness flier that comes in with a token bird that’s also a 3 / 4 flier! And it gives you life when you attack with it! So strong, so busted!

I really like Wingmate Roc because it promotes attacking, creating evasive threats, and benefiting you for attacking with multiple creatures. I thought that this might map pretty well to a hockey player who’s a speedy assist machine. Flying probably means speedy, so that’s it right there, and he’s a winger because birds have wings, and a roc is a bird! The assist bit is that he comes with a team-mate, and he gives you more life when he attacks with a teammate (aka assisting!). The one counterpoint to the “ludo narrative” is that this card is a 5 mana card, a pretty late game kinda guy, and if I’m retiring after the J? That’s a little incongruent, but we can’t have everything.

I don’t know what my next character will be, I think making a bird magic card as my render is probably not it for the next time around, so we’ll have to figure that out, but I’ve got a few months to do that.

As for my personal plans for this character, I think by the time I’m retiring Wingmate Roc, I’m probably getting close to retire my ISFL character and will have more time for SHL if I vibe with it, and everyone’s been very nice so far so no reason not to think that I won’t be more involved. I have very little idea or knowledge of how this sim works, or any sim engine tbf, and so I’m really at the mercy of my GMs to figure out what my next character will be like.

If you’re looking to draft me in the SMJHL, I would heartily recommend it, take me in the first! Not a reach! I’m looking to be active in a LR, maybe help out with scouting and stuff cause you get paid for it, and I’d love to see what a live draft is like behind the scenes.

As for giving my player a scouting report:

Pros:
Flying - Wingmate Roc veritably flies down the ice, finding his way to the puck, or wherever he needs to be.
Team-Player - Wingmate Roc seems to be able to tell what is about to happen before it does, he’s got a knack for reading a play as it develops, and is able to get open and fire accurate passes to finish it off.

Con:
Lack of Finishing - Wingmate Roc himself isn’t a finisher, his shots lack power and accuracy at this level, and he is not a strength to converting chances created.
Afraid of Contact - Wingmate Roc plays smaller than he is, having trouble finding the muscle to stand in front of the net to screen passes and to go into tough corners to fight for the puck.
Bird - He’s a friggin bird so he just squawks around and makes nests and it’s really quite a trouble for maintenance.

On the SHL, I think it’s been a great time so far, the Player Portal is great, the forum looks nice and you don’t have to spend so much time on it because the Discord seems pretty busy. I’ve really been enjoying the Rookie Discord after joining today, and the scouting has all been fantastic. I think it’s weird for me to get scouted as a “rookie” because I’m used to sim leagues now, and I know what kinds of questions and vibe checks we’re looking for.

On that note, it’s interesting to me that the SHL and the Juniors as well are so competitive! It’s super cool to see that there are loads of trades being made and people are signing different kinds of minor league contracts, and maybe even moving teams. The DSFL really has none of that so it’s fantastically interesting to see a different approach.

I’ve heard that the SHL has a lot of busy LRs, where a lot of the action and community is driven by the LR and so I’m also looking forward to that after I get drafted. I think it’s relatively difficult to find draft order, but that’s also on me to figure out so blegh.

Uh, in terms of last things to talk about in this intro presser, I really really don’t like the Chicago Blackhawks, I’ve been forced to become a Sens fan after I moved to Ottawa to be with my partner, and I’ll see if I can jam out some graphics for more 2x!