Hump Day: Even more EDH

Let's just get started with the report! Two games and standings!

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The first match is between Nekusar and Karador.

In game 1, Nekusar was stuck on 3 lands while Karador quickly ramped into a sylvan primordial

An early sylvan primordial usually spells a quick death

hitting lands. That quickly ended the game.

In game 2, Nekusar came out on turn 4 followed by 2 incendiary commands for their wheel effects meant that Karador lost a lot of life very quickly. Karador was ready with a Hornet queen defense, but Nekusar had a decree of pain ready for all of the queen's hornets. Thus, game 2 went to Nekusar.

In game 3, Nekusar was slowly building up his combo of Spiteful visions + Nekusar. However, Karador had already summoned the mighty vish kal. With Karador and Golgari Grave Troll, Vish Kal became a 14/14 very quickly and was shooting stuff down left and right.

Nekusar (MGR) 1 - Karador (QSP) 2

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The second match was between Oloro and Rhys!

Rhys got out an early doubling season in game 1 with a lot of elf tokens, then followed up with a

For the right price, you can find anything here

quick humility to negate all of Oloro's big creatures. However, Oloro was able to mindslaver Rhys, and make Rhys use his own return to dust on Humility and Doubling season. Oloro then followed up by opening Lim Dul's Vault, finding Academy Ruins, thus locking Rhys out of the game.

In game 2, Rhys got out a few early elf tokens on turns 2 and 3. Then started using his special redeemed powers to quickly double his army. He had 16 elf tokens that were pumped up by the spear of heliod. Oloro's life gain could not match that much damage output.

Always surprises me when this land does well

So we went to game 3. Oloro seemed to be doing well with a putrid imp pitching some strong creatures, and reanimating a consecrated sphinx, a Drogskol
Reaver, and a Myr Battlesphere. However, Rhys was able to sacrifice the Grove of the Guardian land, making an 8/8 token that he started doubling every turn. Rhys had 8 8/8 tokens with vigilance that Oloro could not draw any kill spells for.

Oloro (MGR) 1 - Rhys (QSP) 2

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Finally, here are some standings as we go into the Thanksgiving Break!

More EDH fun

So here we go, some more EDH reports!
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First off, we had Kaalia versus Lyzolda!

He loves eating Karoo Lands

Game 1 was a sad experience. On turn 2, Kaalia lays down a karoo land, and Lyzolda counters with a simian spirit guide to an avalance riders, effectively putting Kaalia's board state to starting, where as
Lyzolda had 3 lands in play. By the time Kaalia had a chance to recoup, Lyzolda had a bunch of lands and a sire of insanity out. It was a quick game by that point.

Game 2, was the game of answers. Kaalia was summoned quickly, but Lyzolda quickly bitumous blasted her. Kaalia then summoned Oros the Avenger and equipped some Lightning Greaves, but Lyzolda then used Chainer's Edict to get rid of the dragon. Kaalia just ran out of gas at that point.

Kaalia (MGR) 0 - Lyzolda (QSP) 2

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Apparently even Progenitus can't escape the Eye's Doom

The next match we have is Progenitus facing off against Nekusar. The battle of last place!
In game 1, Progenitus called upon the superfriends Koth, Ajani Goldmane, and Gideon, Champion of Justice. He was attacking Nekusar's open board for 11 a turn. However, Nekusar summoned the army
of the damned, and Progenitus was having a hard time getting through. Nekusar was at 10 life and Progenitus was on the field, but Eye of Doom spelled an end to Progenitus's lethal swing. The following turns, the army of the damned overran all the superfriends.

In game 2, Nekusar seemed to be building up all of his pieces. He was out on the field with a spiteful visions, and Progenitus was taking 6 a turn just on his draw step. However, Progenitus summoned Sorin Markov, bringing Nekusar to 10. The following turn, Nekusar took 3 damage to his own draw step, followed by Sorin's +2 bite, and Ajani Vengeant's Lightning Helix.

Game 3 was a quick one. Progenitus was stuck on Black and blue when he needed green and white to even be effective. Nekusar once again had spiteful visions out and progenitus could not recover quickly enough.

Progenitus (MGR) 1 - Nekusar (QSP) 2

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The final match for today's report, Karador versus Marath!

In game 1, Karador had a Teneb and himself out dealing a lot of damage. However, as Marath seemed

Marath's trusty hammer

down for the count, he got a sunforger to get all of his answers. A selesnya charm for Teneb, a condemn for Karador, and a boros charm when Karador tried to sunblast angel to wrath Marath's board.

In game 2, Marath had out a witch hunt and was constantly being resummoned after removing all of his counters to ping Karador's life total. Karador had a vish kal out, but because of witch hunt and all of the exile effects Marath had, Karador could not come through.

Karador (MGR) 0 - Marath (QSP) 2

Sample Saturday: Value menu!

So here we are with another sample saturday. This time, it will be a bit short but with some burger king value items!

First up, here is pictured a BBQ Rib sandwich, one of the 1 dollar value menu items:

The first thing I will say is that this sandwich is trying hard to copy the McRib. The meat that it uses is somewhat similar. The best way I can describe it is reheated pork. If you ever have had a frozen dinner before you will understand what I mean. In this sandwich, the pickles are extremely overwhelming and do not feel like they belong in the sandwich at all. The BBQ sauce is tangy, it is the same sauce they give you. I felt that the amount of BBQ sauce was a bit on the lacking side. Additionally, the meat is so thin that you cannot even taste it with everything else. 2/5


Next time is a picture of BK's new french fries, the satisfries:

These are one of the few items that actually look as advertised in the posters they have on the wall. They have the same crunch as a regular french fry, but because they are thicker, they taste more starchy and less greasy as a regular fry. They have less salt than a regular french fry. I personally prefer the regular french fries, but these are pretty good too, and tout a "healthier" alternative. 3/5.


The final item for today's review is the Big King:

This is burger king's copy of the Big Mac.
It tastes very similar to a big mac. If you haven't had a big mac, go have one just so you can taste how similar it is. The sauce tastes very very similar. The only differences are the chopped onions in the mcdonald's sauce, versus the straight chopped onion here. The chopped onions taste better. The bun used here is way thicker, it almost takes away from the taste of everything else, especially the middle bun.
For those who haven't had a big mac, this burger tastes like a regular double cheeseburger but with extra bun and the special thousand island dressing that is in it. The dressing is something that some people love, and some people hate. I personally like it, I think it adds a mild zest to the burger that does not overwhelm but compliments instead. Overall, I would give the tip of the hat to the Big Mac over this burger, although honestly, both the big king and the big mac are overpriced compared to almost any other burger you can get. 2/5

Hump Day: EDH adventures

So time for some EDH adventures!

First up, we had a new commander on the block! Derevi (piloted by me), who took the place of Rafiq as master tactician in charge of the bant army vs Rhys (piloted by QSP) and his token armies.

Will she have what it takes to become master tactician?

The bane of Bant armies

Game 1 between these two was extremely close. Rhys got Derevi down to 1 life very quickly with an aggressive start. Derevi had to oblivion stone twice (with the help of academy ruins) to live through. Then Derevi was able to wargate a thragtusk back in and start blinking it to regain life, thus shutting down Rhys's intense pressure.
Game 2, Rhys got an early torpor orb, and most of Derevi's creatures were useless. However, a
bribery into elesh norn was able to seal the deal as most of Rhys's creatures and tokens could not even live through an Elesh Norn.

So, Derevi (MGR) 2 - Rhys (QSP) 0



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Not as good as a lotus petal however

40 dollar powerhouse

Next up, we had more new contenders on the block! Lyzolda, the Blood Witch versus Jeleva, Nephalia's scourge!
In the first game, Lyzolda was able to get out a quick dwarven blastminer thanks to a simian spirit guide, and start taking down
all of Jeleva's lands. Avalanche riders and Lay wastes made sure that Jeleva never had any blue sources, sealing the deal in that game.
In the second game, Lyzolda was able to get an early Sire of Insanity against Jeleva, and with the land destruction to keep Jeleva off of red, Lyzolda was easily able to win despite Jeleva's True Name Nemesis.

Lyzolda (MGR) 2 - Jeleva (QSP) 0

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The next match was the battle of kings. Oloro, king of his own island, the ageless ascetic versus the Reaper king!

A better damnation

A great reanimation creature

In game 1, an early toxic deluge keeps reaper king off the table. However, Oloro could not get through Reaper King as mishra's factory was constantly making tokens. So Oloro decided to get off of his throne and start drawing a bunch more cards. However, reaper king was able to set up an eternity vessel at 17, and Oloro could not punch through 17 damage. Additonally, Reaper King was setting up the maze's end win, so Oloro had to act extremely fast. However, Oloro was able to get the mindslaver lock, effectively winning the game.
In game 2, Oloro got an early buried alive putting karmic guide, sharum the hedgemon, and sphinx of steel wind in the graveyard. Next turn, he exhumed the karmic guide, getting sharuum, getting the sphinx. Reaper king once again summoned his eternity vessel at 15, but the trio of creatures was able to punch through for enough damage.



Oloro (MGR) 2 - Reaper King (QSP) 0

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Devastating

Next up we had Lyzolda vs Oloro. Would Lyzolda be able to keep Oloro off of colors, or would Oloro's life gain be too much for the blood witch? We had to find out!
In game 1, lyzolda had a manaforge cinder which was great at filtering mana in the early turns, as all
she was drawing was swamps. Lyzolda had set up orcish settlers and was one turn away from destroying all of Oloro's lands, but Lyzolda's greediness didn't pay off as Oloro killed the goblin settlers. Filigree angel and Oloro's life gain was then too much for Lyzolda's aggro plan.
In game 2, Oloro was able to get a putrid imp to discard a sphinx of steel wind then exhume it. Lyzolda had 0 ways of dealing with it, and with the sphinx's life gain, it was all over very quickly.

Lyzolda (MGR) 0 - Oloro (QSP) 2

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So Oloro was doing pretty well, we had to see if the king of the throne could continue. His next opponent, the champion of meletis, Daxos!

Anti-equipment girl

A naked man's favorite spell

In game 1, Oloro and Daxos were duking it out when Daxos decided to create a catalysm, destroying all but 1 land, creature, artifact, and enchantment. However, Oloro was able to rebuild his mana within a few turns and reanimate a karmic guide into a sphinx of steel wind. Oloro
ended up winning soon after.
In game 2, Oloro was going for the quick kill. He tried to buried alive but Daxos decided to daze it. Additionally, Daxos had an isochron scepter with a swords to plowshares imprinted. Things were not looking good for the ageless ascetic as all of his creatures were getting exiled! (And thus could not be reanimated). However, Oloro was able to get a mindslaver and enslave one of Daxos's turns. When he did, he decided to have Daxos cast cataclysm. Oloro was able to recover his mana faster and animate a sphinx of uthuun. However, Daxos had a banisher priest with a sword of light and shadow equipped, and the two were racing. Daxos had a decent setup, however! Sydri, Galvanic genius was there to decide Daxos's fate by making the swords of light and shadow a creature, thus it fell off the creature it was equipped to!

Oloro (MGR) 2 - Daxos (QSP) 0

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And the final match of the night, could the Ageless king take down the bant tactician?
In game 1, oloro was able to get out an early oona, queen of the fae. It was facing off versus a derevi

Sometimes being queen isn't enough

Bant armies are very persuasive

and a sun titan. Derevi was able to keep oona off her back with a maze of ith. Then, Derevi casted a bribery that would end up becoming a big bribery chain: Bribery got a karmic guide from Oloro's deck, the karmic guide brought back the sun titan in Derevi's graveyard, which got back the eternal witness, which got back the bribery. The bribery was then cast again to get a consecrated sphinx! That ended the game soon after, as the card advantage and creature advantage proved too much.
In game 2, Derevi was able to strip mine a lot of Oloro's early lands with a sun titan to recur the strip mine to keep Oloro off of white. Derevi had an army of X/2's and Oloro was going to cast a famine to get rid of them; however, Derevi was able to Time stop to counter that plan. Then Derevi opened a wargate and get a Mirror Entity, and start swinging for X=7, Oloro could not recover from it.

Derevi (MGR) 2 - Oloro (QSP) 0

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So that is the matches for this week. Here are the standings if you are curious!

The seedings are a bit messed up but hopefully will get fixed. The reason we are keeping track of seeds and records? QSP will talk about it in a future post...

Until next time!

Mistform Mondays: Pack Wars

A day late but like they say, it's the late wyrm that catches the bird that rises too early. Here we go!

Unfortunately, due to being busier and long distance from my good bud and blog partner in crime MGR, the Mistform Monday articles are going to be rather short as I can not meet with him to test different formats as often as I'd like. I'll still try to get a game in when I can but most of my articles will probably be on my thoughts of new formats I've learned about and want to try.

It's sort of the same. You do all get to ride a tank together while playing.

Today I'll talk about one of the more popular casual formats: Pack Wars. Well, there may be competitive pack wars players out there and maybe I'll join their ranks one day. GP Vegas had a single elim pack wars wherein you added an additional pack each time you won a game and kept going up the ladder until you were the last man (or woman!) standing with a bunch of Modern Masters packs and presumably a 300 card deck. It sounded like great fun for all involved. It was free so that was even better. Alas, I wasn't able to make the trip but I'm hoping this is a tradition that continues with GPs in the future. (Edit: just learned from MGR that GP Sacramento's site is up: http://www.gpsacramento.com/. Check it out! It features a nice Friday pack wars event for those who can make it.)

I'm not the best rules writer out there so here is the info copied directly from the MTG website:
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Mini-Master (also known as Pack Wars)

You and your friends have just bought some booster packs. You're going to open them to get to the good stuff inside. But wait—why not play some Magic as you're opening your packs?

Setting up for Mini-Master is very simple. Each player needs a single booster pack of Magic cards. Without looking at the contents, each player opens his or her pack and adds in three of each basic land (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest). They then shuffle up and play a game of Magic just like normal. Because players don't know what cards are in their decks, Mini-Master offers up the same surprises players get when they open a fresh new pack of Magic cards. Is the rare you're hoping to open going to help you beat your opponent? Or will you lose the game but still walk away happy with the cards you managed to crack? Mini-Master is great for letting you play with new cards while still keeping the excitement of opening a new booster!

Many Mini-Master variants exist. A different way to do it is for each player to open a booster and have that entire booster become his or her opening hand! During each player's turn, that player may choose a basic land from outside the game and put it into play. Players play without libraries; effects that say to draw a card have no effect, and there is no penalty for being unable to draw.
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Seems pretty simple, right? Setup just involves 2 booster packs and 30 basic lands. I've been a big fan of this format ever since I've heard of it as you get to open that sweet booster for a hopefully sweet reward but also turn it from a solo booster opening experience (with maybe a friend or two viewing and cheering you on) into a cooperative expeirence with the friend that makes all those probably tossed away commons and uncommons (and the occasional Meletis Charlatan) usable! And sometimes, winning with the jank rare vs your opponent's foil Thoughtseize is worth having opened a junk rare to begin with.

I strongly recommend this format if you find yourself planning to pick up some packs or have just won some packs. It definitely beats going 1-2 in Swiss draft and thinking, "sweet I won a pack!" and then getting home and being welcomed home by this friendly sight:

You should have stayed in the shadows, man. But good to see you too.

I'll end this article by saying I've never seen a rare table a draft table so often and I may finally have a rare I can collect to fill one of those Ultra Pro binders. So far I've got a playset. Only 356 more to go!

Oh yes, random creature type of the week: Dragon.

Big mana! Doing devotion style permanent checks before it was cool.

How can you not like dragons? Without dragons, this format would not exist! While I may have enjoyed Elder Phelddagrif Highlander, even I am glad we didn't have a one deck format. So to dragons, I say thank you for being so old and awesome. I can see why dragon collectors are out there as their flashiness oozes cool, raw power. WotC knows this too and thus they made the first From the Vault star dragons. I'm also glad that despite forcing a dragon in every set*, they are at least pushing dragons to be more unique, if not just powerful enough to see play. Gone are the recent days of "vanilla" dragons who had some form of firebreathing and flying and 5/5 or so stats. Rather boring and made dragons feel less special and more like Vizzerdrix**.

He eagerly awaits his fated fight against Trained Orgg.

So a couple stories to share. The very first dragon I got was this beauty:

The last one non-modernized!

I got it back in high school from a random Invasion pack. Back then I didn't know it's power because there was no way I was able to make a 3 color deck work on my limited collection. I may have tried but I'm pretty sure it failed miserably. But wow, what a powerhouse it would have been! It may just be nostalgia goggles, but I still think it's decently powerful. Great against tokens (like the ones produced by Rhys and, less so, Prossh) and at worst, ou use it as a sorcery speed Evacuate if you ned to bounce an on color swarm of creatures. I ended up trading it and some other cards for an Avatar of Woe (which I still have!) and a couple random cards. I don't regret the trade but I do miss my very first dragon and want to pick it up again one day.

The second story was when FTV: Dragons was released. I stopped by the store late in the day to try and pick one up and it was then I found out how limited these things were. To give the store credit (Games of Berkeley FTW!), they handled it very well and held a raffle to pick who could buy it at MSRP. I think this is probably the fairest way to do things. Fortunately, all was not lost as many ears later, MGR gave me this other beauty:

Because sometimes you hit 16 mana in momir and want a guaranteed flier to desperately stop your opponent’s storm crow from dealing lethal.

And that's it for the super cool dragons!

*A decision I don't entirely agree with. I'd rather they put them in when they fit and when they've got a good design. Like Stormbreath Dragon being Typhon was something I never knew but was super cool to learn about.

**Yes, Vizzerdrix fans, I apologize for the comment. I'm sure Duel Decks: Dragons v Vizzerdrix will happen soon. Just keep on dreaming!

Tournament Preperation

So something I wanted to talk about today, this Tuesday, was tournament prep. The reason? With GP Sacramento coming up in a few months, and it fresh in my mind, I thought it would be a good time to talk about.

Now this is talking about competitive REL tournaments, but here is a simple checklist of things you should do before and during a tournament:

1. Sleep Well
2. Bring snacks and water
3. Double check your decklist the night before and print out a decklist (if constructed)
4. Write your decklist legibly if in sealed or draft
5. Announce all triggers and life totals
6. Play slow
7. Bring dice, bring a notepad and pen
8. Don't bring anything more than you absolutely need to play
9. Relax and have fun.

 So I'm going to go into a bit of detail with each of these. Following all of these tips will help ensure maximizing your play and giving you the best edge to doing well!

1. Sleep well: This one is pretty obvious. Don't bother test playing the night before, instead just make

Don't let sleep deprivation lead to this

sure you sleep well. It might be especially hard if you are excited to play the next day, but sleeping well is good for many reasons. One, if you have to drive to the tournament location, you want to have the mental capacity to drive safely. Two, again if this is your first big tournament, it will be a lot, A LOT longer of a tournament than normal. You can expect to be playing magic for twelve hours, and when the later rounds matter most, those are the rounds you will be most tired.

Drinking this round 1 will cause a crash 

by round 8

2. Bring snacks and water: This is pretty important. There are probably not going to be any food areas in your immediate area, sometimes the nearest food place will take half an hour to walk there. You do not want to be in this situation, playing against slow decks and never having a long break. You also
don't want your mind being on the fact you are hungry while in the middle of a match, and you can't always depend on having a friend having the time to get you food. Additionally, water is even more important. You must stay hydrated. Dehydration will cause slight lapses in judgment, headache, and make it harder to think in general. I say water and healthy snacks because, things high in sugar will eventually cause your blood sugar to fall faster, which will ultimately mean you will need more sugar to boost you back up or your mind will start to crash.

3. You always want to double or triple check a decklist, have it all ready the day before and don't make any changes on the way there. I have been on the side where you make those last minute changes and forget to write one card, causing game losses. Printing out a decklist is almost always preferred as you can go back and double or triple check it and easily edit it before printing it. Additionally, judges will like it as typed is always easier to read than handwriting.

Can you even read this?

4. Especially in limited, you will always want to write legibly. If a judge deems your handwriting illegible, he might give you a warning or a loss, or even a DQ if he thinks its intentional. Just better to take the extra time.





5. Announce all triggers and life totals. You want to announce everything. In casual games or casual REL you probably may never do this. However, you want everything announced right away in case there is any disparity, the game has not moved forward at all. Additionally, you do not want an opponent accusing you of missing a trigger to a judge, that is usually an automatic warning for missing triggers, even you are trying to shortcut them and just go past them. Always announce everything.

6. Play slow: I will say this with caution. Playing too slowly may make your opponent think you are stalling, and you will be given a warning by a judge. However, always play slowly and think everything out. Do not assume any play is automatic, always take an extra second to think if there is something else you need to do, if you are walking into a trap, etc. This is especially true for those opponents who try to rush you.

You don't need tokens this expensive or fancy, but have something!

7. Bring dice, notepad, and a pen: Dice is always important. Assume that no one will lend you dice, and assume that your opponent won't have any either. Always keep track of life on pen and paper. Never with dice, never with a phone. Some judges may disallow phone apps, with paper you can
always keep track of all life from beginning of a game to end, and if there is ever a dispute the judge will always look more favorably with the person with the pen and paper vs those without. Finally, if you are going to be using tokens, don't use dice as your tokens. You cannot tell if a dice is tapped or untapped, and your opponent may tell you that you cannot use dice. Additionally, in longer games that exhaust you easier, you may forget as well. It's best to play it safe and err on the side of caution.

8. Don't bring anything more than you need: outside of your pen, paper, tokens, dice, deckbox, snacks, water, do not bring anything else. In big tournaments, there will always be people looking to

Type of bag I would bring

get easy steal. These places will easily get crowded and it is very easy to get stuff stolen. If you need to, bring a messenger bag or something that will go over your shoulder and can't be easily snatched, has zippers so people can't easily slip their hand inside and do a quick grab, and you can sit on your lap during a match just so no one else will take it.





9. Finally, relax and have fun. You play the card game to have fun, so do it! Relaxing is very important. Letting your nerves get to you can be really bad, cause you to make misplays, and is very easy to read in terms of body language. Your opponents may even pick up on this and press you, causing further misplays or oversight on simple things. Just relax, slow down, and take a deep breath if you need to.

Finally a bonus tip. Always call a judge when in doubt of anything! Use your biggest voice, and call a judge. Don't think of it as a jerk move, just do it.

Hello! I've been away for quite a long time due to "mysterious" reasons (which probably had to do with trying to assemble a real life Pikmin army) but I am almost settled and ready to make more posts. It's Elder Dragon Sunday so here I am to offer up another report on the matches that MGR and I have been conducting.

Today it's two new decks: Lyzolda (MGR) vs Reaper King (Me). Both powerful additions added to the ever increasing roster of EDH decks we own and actively use. Fortunately we've set a hard ceiling on the total number of decks in contention for the year so we won't ruin our ability to see which is the top deck. Unfortunately, that year ends in just two months and we've already added 5 or 6 new decks. EDH sure does inspire fun new builds that can be relatively cheap. More on that process in a future article I'm sure.

So MGR piloted the aggressive, sacrificial, land hating Lyzolda of the Rakdos Guild and I piloted the artifact and land loving Reaper King. Seems like a funny battle of resources. Will Lyzolda waste the lands before Reaper King reaps and sows? We'll find out after the break!

This break brought to you by Random Card of the Day. Hey it fits!

...Okay break over. Game 1 was not the best showing for Lyzolda. Stuck on two lands for a while, MGR was unable to destroy lands nor start his Lyzolda card advantage engine while I just ramped more and more till I was able to drop Reaper King unmolested and eventually win. These games are the worst showcases of a deck's ability and unfortunately sometimes that just happens with variance. But we're not here to showcase fixed games and thus Game 1 counted and went to Reaper King.

He didn't do much this time but he's an all-star in Lyzolda.

Game 2 fared much better for MGR in the mana and land destruction department. However, I was able to draw into Summer Bloom and other sources of additional land plays and make the single land destruction spells less effective. Eventualy I controlled the board with the Sunforger and charm package and won.

A great card when you can't afford Exploration or Azusa.

Result: Lyzolda vs Reaper King: 0-2

This wasn't the best opening act for Lyzolda but later matches will prove that her land destruction abilities are rather potent and demand that you not keep a shaky hand with too high a curve. This game also displayed just how powerful Sunforger is if you can afford the mana to equip and use it within the same turn. And at 5 mana, that's not that tough. Especially versatile with access to all five colors. This match showed MGR it's power and he's decided to it into one of his EDH decks as well. A great card that I'll talk about more this Tuesday as that's when I'll post Reaper King's deck tech article.

Sample Saturday: Back, with some food!

So I know that I personally have taken the week off of blogging for more important things (university midterms and such) but I am back (and hopefully to stay)
Anyway, here is some food reviews that I did while I was gone!

First up, here is a taco bell review!

I decided to order the crunchwrap supreme box! I had already tried the new doritos taco in a previous review so I decided to pick something else that was big on their menu.

Here is what it looks like when you open the box:

First up, we have the regular taco:

There really is not much to say about it. They use colby cheese, standard chopped iceburg lettuce, and ground beef with cumin in it. I would say it's a pretty average taco, great for their standard price. I would rate a 3/5. It's something that I would try at least once if you never have, even if just a value item.

Next up we have the supreme burrito. Although they call it a supreme burrito, there was not much in it. Every bite just tasted like lettuce and beans. When I looked inside of it, it just had sour cream, lettuce, and beans. It tasted like a very standard bean burrito, with the lettuce kind of mushy and hard to taste and the sour cream was not able to be tasted over the beans anyway. 2/5

Finally, we had the crunchwrap:

I was curious what was inside the crunchwrap as I never had tasted it before.

So inside, it looks pretty much like a regular taco except with chopped tomatos and with no meat in it. Seems decent right? Well, with every bite there was a lot of nacho cheese in it, so much that it pretty much overpowered everything except the tortillas. There was even points where the nacho cheese was oozing out because there was so much of it. I guess if you are a fan of nacho cheese you would like this. I rate it a 2/5.


Okay, so there is the taco bell review!
Next, onto a place that I went to called Umi Sushi. I asked the waitress there what was one of the most popular items. She replied with the bento box teryiaki chicken. Here is what it looked like:

First, I want to talk about the teriyaki chicken, the main part. The chicken was very dry, but they put a lot of the teryiaki sauce on it. The sauce was good, a bit strong on the sesame seed oil, however overall pretty good. 3/5, is what I thought upon initial bites. However, as I kept eating the chicken, the sauce was starting to get too overbearing, especially the aftertaste. Additionally, it felt like it was getting TOO salty, and needed something like water to tolerate it. I would rate it 2/5 at the end.
The white rice was average, not too dry yet not too moist. Would rate a 3/5.
The vegetables they used tasted very fresh. The cabbage was good, it did not taste as strong as you would normally expect pickled cabbage to taste. Would rate them a 4/5.
The california roll that was at the top was pretty standard. The avacado that they used was very ripe though which I liked, giving it a rating of 4/5.
Overall, the bento box seems like a great value at under 10 dollars, however, I would pick something besides the teriyaki chicken.