Mike Hill, Author at The Chance Cube

An Early Look At Anakin Skywalker

December 16, 2019December 13, 2019Mike Hill

No Lie, Sky-Guy is Pretty Fly

As you have undoubtedly heard, Anakin Skywalker will finally be receiving a proper Blue Hero incarnation in Covert Missions. I was hyped up immediately for this card, but my local guys are skeptical. Is he good, or is he destined to be banished to the binder? It’s hard to know for sure without seeing his support cards, but I believe he will be playable. I’ll be making that argument by discussing his color, health, die, subtype, ability, cost, and available partners. Feel free to disagree, but this is my analysis (and defense) of Sky-Guy in Standard!

Things Aren’t Always As Bad As They Seem

September 13, 2019September 12, 2019Mike Hill

Hey Socrates, It’s Me Ya Boy

The Athenian aristocrat Pheadrus once said that “things are not always what they seem.”

I’m taking this way out of context (sorry Plato), but I often paraphrase this quote and say it a little differently: “things aren’t always as bad as they seem.” We have a tendency to view the world through cloudy lenses sometimes. When we do, every setback seems insurmountable, every challenge feels Sisyphean, and every piece of bad news feels like it’s going to radically alter our lives. Recently, the Star Wars: Destiny community received some unexpected bad news: Covert Missions has been delayed. I want to offer you some perspective on that today, and tell you that I don’t believe things are as bad they seem right now on social media. The ship isn’t sinking, we don’t need to launch the lifeboats, and nobody has to make any SOS calls just yet.

Deck Building • The Blog

How to Build and Play Midrange in Star Wars: Destiny

August 16, 2019August 15, 2019Mike Hill

Wait, There Was a Reason You Were Playing That Stuff?

Spark of Hope officially launched a couple of weeks ago. Many content creators are prepping for Gen Con, and ideas for new decks are flying around like a flock of owls. I personally won’t be playing in a bigger tournament until Worlds, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time crafting decks and trying some new things. My favorite deck to play so far in the SoH meta is undoubtedly Kylo/Rey (SH2/SH57). This article will spend some time talking about why I built my version of the deck the way that I did, how I play it, and why I believe that midrange decks can be successful.

Deck Building • The Blog

Do I Look Like a Guy With a Game Plan?

August 12, 2019August 11, 2019Mike Hill

Do You Like #Winning?

You sit down at your assigned table in the convention hall, nerves keeping you on edge. You open up your bag, take out your deck, and wait anxiously for your opponent to reveal their character pairing. When they flip over R2D2 (SH56), C3P0 (SH77), and Satine (CV91), you know it’s going to be a tough match. The question is this: is it a winnable one?

Articles for New Players • Gameplay Discussion • The Blog

Fantastic Actions and When to Take Them

July 19, 2019July 17, 2019Mike Hill

How do I play this game?!

So you’ve done it. You’ve taken the plunge, purchased a starter set, and are ready to play Star Wars: Destiny. You sit down with a friend, lay out your chosen characters, decide on an epic battlefield, and then… you stop. You look at your friend, and both of you share a comical shrug. How does this game work, exactly?

Deck Building • The Blog

Mike’s Initial Kylo/Rey Deck Build (With Analysis and Commentary)

July 15, 2019July 14, 2019Mike Hill

Reyloren? Kyrey? Reylo?

I’m a Kylo Ren fan. I know he’s a little angsty and a bit too angry, but Kylo has the most interesting character arc in the ongoing trilogy of Star Wars films. He’s a lot of what I wanted Anakin to be in the prequels: tortured, conflicted, divided, and a little tragic. These traits are all on display in the spectacular Throne Room scene from The Last Jedi. In that scene, Kylo kills Snoke and then fights Snoke’s guards alongside Rey. After the fight, Rey turns down his offer of a partnership with him in the New Order. Well choreographed, meticulously edited, and expertly crafted, this battle was the standout scene of the film. Kylo and Rey were not capable of forging an enduring partnership in The Last Jedi, but they did achieve a temporary truce. I’m thankful for that because it gave us this unique Star Wars: Destiny deck!

The Blog • The Chance Cube

Supply, Demand, and Why You Should Download The Chance Cube’s Price Watch

July 5, 2019July 5, 2019Mike Hill

Spark of Hope is SO CLOSE

Spark of Hope launches this Friday, and if you’re anything like me you can’t wait to crack open some packs and build new decks. The day a new set releases is always exciting! My local group is gathering for both a draft event and a sealed event, which inevitably will lead to a flurry of trades and offers back and forth for cards. It’s likely that I’ll make more trades this weekend than I will the rest of the summer combined! I like the guys in my local, and trading is fun, but I also don’t want to lose a lot of value on my new pulls. How do I make sure that doesn’t happen?

Deck Building • The Blog

Three Spark of Hope Decks for You to Enjoy (Or Harshly Criticize, Either is Great)!

July 4, 2019July 3, 2019Mike Hill

I love the creativity that surrounds new set releases!

Spark of Hope, the highly anticipated eighth set of Star Wars: Destiny, is just around the corner! A lot of content creators have been testing and publishing decklists for the next meta. I love reading and viewing this new content! I’m going to join the fun and talk about three potential decklists in this article. None of these decks are tested, and as such I’m sure they’re far from perfect, but this mad-scientist stage of brewing up new concepts is very exciting for me. Enjoy the lists, and if you think you can make any of them better than I did, go for it!

Event Report • The Blog

I Was At Origins, I Played Blue Hero… And I Enjoyed It!

June 21, 2019June 18, 2019Mike Hill

I Was One of the Thousands of People That Attended the Origins Game Fair…

As an Ohio native, I look forward to a few gaming conventions every year. The one that I seem to find myself attending the most is the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, which is about an hour away from where I live. Origins is a pretty big convention (over 18,000 attended in 2018), and there is a lot to do and see. I didn’t play in last year’s Star Wars: Destiny event when I attended Origins. When it was announced that there would be a Galactic Qualifier again this year, I knew I wanted to play.

Organized Play • The Blog

Seasonal Kits Are Awesome

June 8, 2019June 5, 2019Mike Hill

Open Play Nights (FFG is on the Right Track)

Recently, my friendly local game store received their seasonal kits from Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) to support Open Play events. I was really impressed with the promos when our local tournament organizer showed me some of them. FFG made good choices about which cards to print! He asked me if I would be willing to run Open Play (OP) events for our store, and I agreed. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I scheduled our first event; was anyone going to come out for an event that wasn’t an official “tournament?” Was there any interest in playing games without the competitive atmosphere that comes with a formal structure?