u/NostalgiaNerd37

Found two cats abandoned in the park with a bag of food. We lost our sweet cat last Fall and mourned her HARD. Just recently we have been discussing how we are finally ready, and maybe we should start looking soon.

But we forgot. We don’t choose. We get assigned.

Took to the vet for shots. No chips. Have an appt to get them fixed in about a week.

Surprisingly affectionate with us early, even if spooked by the new space for the first few days. They were clearly loved by someone who must have hit rough times. (Let’s be kind in our assumptions) . Definitely cuddle bugs.

It’s especially sweet how they comfort each other. One is more bold and one is more cautious. When our cautious friend gets spooked and retreats to a safe spot, bold friend goes and cuddles with him.

We feel incredibly lucky that they found us.

Edit:
- vet estimates they are 6-10 months old. (Likely the younger side of that)

- their names are Mander and Melee. Inspired by the tv episode of Pokemon where an abandoned charmander almost dies in a rainstorm, which broke my heart as a child. So char-mander and his evolved form, char-mele-on.

I had some lob, mrd and mrl favorites that I wanted to feature not just in their full sets, combined with some tournament and champion pack cards that I wanted to feature somewhere.

Then I realized, there is a story or theme here.

I’m hoping the journey from the forest to the mountain and more, before descending back into the depths of the sea works as well as I hope it does.

I adore every card here.

Green phantom king is a card I’d use in a Yugioh tarot deck. I was going to use Queen of autumn leaves here but thought she overpowered the page too much.

Ancient one of the deep forest just always struck me and felt like it needed to pair with green phantom king.

Hercules beetle is just classic and striking, and I hope, along with Cerynemesia, hints at the forest floor.

Queen bird jumped out at me when I was looking for whiptail crow for the final winged beast guardian of the mountain. I just liked the fit better.

Winged dragon guardian #2 is so fun as an alternate to yugi’s first on screen monster. Also hopefully hinting that this is a more mysterious landscape than might have been expected.

Idk why but Takuhee just feels right at home in the tree tops of a forest.

Using violent rain as a landscape/weather card along with ray and temperature was one of the most fun parts of designing the page.

I love fairy dragon’s simple design, and like to think its inclusion here hints at a more mystical and world beyond the pages.

Sky dragon is just a beautiful design. The kind of card that would be a duelist kingdom ace for some character.

Root water is a favorite. Idk. Just feels like a good sea sovereign to mirror green phantom king. Underrated art imo.

I was thinking of Amazon of the seas or sentinel of the seas, but when I saw enchanted mermaid (and had a spare) it was a perfect fit.

Personally, armored starfish and jellyfish are just cards I really like the art of. I like how they communicate stillness and silence. Hopefully hinting at what lies in the depths of the sea.

The only newer card here is Cerynemesia, but I think the art helps it be at home here, giving life to the woodland animals inhabiting the forest.

Finally ordered some tournament pack and champion pack cards I’ve always wanted. Most of these will be used in either an attempted story art section or to fill in slots at the end of sets.

I don’t know why I’ve always wanted the SR version of Old Vindictive Magician. Like I’m sure many early game users, I used him and man eater bug and tornado bird and penguin soldier and a few other flip effect monsters to gain resources or field control.

Finally completed my library themed page. Actually I finished it awhile back with book of the law in the top right… and then went to a card shop and saw magic formula and thought that better for the theme lol. I got the DUOV ur of magic formula because the se version is super pricey.

Was inspired a lot by some posts here of boo koo and yanatmo dragon scroll (the latter of which had, iirc, a brief appearance in the anime in the capsule monsters filler arc) After a lot of consideration of lots of book and scroll cards, I liked these the best of the ones I found.

Scrolls on the left column. The institution in the middle column with spirit of the books overseeing the royal magical library, and books on the right column.

The top row has spell cards and the book and scroll are closed.
The middle row has ocg vanilla monsters so the book and scroll is alive.
The bottom row has trap cards and the book and scroll are open.
Book of moon gets a prominent spot bottom center as it’s the most iconic book card of the eras I played.

The only card I’d actively keep an eye out for a replacement is Introduction to Gallantry. The image fits the theme, but the card name doesn’t. I think it works for now.

Second pic are the handful of other cards that came in this week. I like putting promos and tournament cards at the end of completed sets to fill out the page.

Mail call. I have a god cards alt art page, a bewd/dm/rebd alt art page, and a third alt art page for other cool/iconic anime cards. This will probably be the center slot.

Just a few left now before I finish MRL!