Sunday, September 23, 2018

Magic Cards vs Dungeons and Dragons Spells


Abstract: Exploring the link between the five (5) colors of mana in Magic: The Gathering and the eight (8) schools of magic in Dungeons and Dragons, through specific names shared by both spells and cards.

Methodology: Using a proprietary database I made of D&D spells from various Player's Handbooks, and a lot of copy-pasting into Scryfall, I determined that nearly 200 spells had names that were the same as, or extremely similar to, Magic cards. By adding the colors of those cards into my database, I was able to sort by both color identity (which all cards have) and school of magic (to which all spells belong) to determine any correlations between the two.

I am also aware that in the flavor of Magic, cards are also technically "spells," but I'm using CARD to refer only to the strategy game side of the equation, while reserving the term SPELL only for the role-playing game side. For reference, the players handbookses I used for my database are from Advanced D&D (printed in 1980, hereafter referred to as 2nd edition), Third Edition (printed 2000, 3rd), and Fifth Edition (printed 2014, 5th).

Findings (listed alphabetically):



Abjuration (protection, disruption) is the least well represented school among Magic cards, with just three spells sharing exact names, and three more sharing partial names (or similar ideas). Only one of the top three spells appear in multiple editions: Death Ward was in 3rd and 5th, but was only in the Abjuration school in its latest version - it started out in Necromancy (see below). Meanwhile, the card Death Ward is a White instant from Magic's very first set (Limited Edition Alpha and Beta), that basically mirrors the effects of the 5e spell. If that doesn't cover the "protection" aspect of abjuration enough, consider that White also has a cycle of cards all titled Circle of Protection, and the majority of the cards in the game that refer to the static ability Protection (cf. rule 702.16) are White.

As for the disruption side of ABJ, let's look at the phenomena of countermagic and bounce. Counterspell, also from Limited Edition, is an exact match for the spell in 5th of the same name (countering spells was a much more complicated process in 2nd and 3rd). Then there's the spell from all three D&D editions Dispel Magic, the effect of which is actually more similar to the White Magic card Disenchant than it is to the Blue Dispel, which is just a conditional counterspell. In another strange yet appropriate disconnect, the 3rd edition spell Dismissal is basically as close as you can get to a D&D phrasing of "return target creature to its owner's hand," which is an effect commonly found in Blue mana (e.g. Unsummon). Incidentally, there are four cards with dismissal in the name, three of which are Blue and contain either counter of bounce effects. In terms of utility spells, the card Intruder Alarm shares some important similarities with the 3rd and 5th edition spell Alarm.

Conclusion: White and Blue pretty accurately sum up Abjuration, full stop. This one was like the tutorial level of a video game.




Conjuration (creation, summoning) has one of the clearest connections to Magic of the schools, but somewhat of a disconnect between specific card names. On the one hand, Summoning is a subtype of Conjuration in 2nd and 3rd editions (not just a descriptor, like the two words next to Abjuration), and Magic's oldest Creature cards all have "Summon" printed on them. So technically, the relative majority of all Magic cards correspond to the Conjuration school. While all colors of mana obviously have access to Creature cards, the one that immediately comes to mind is Green, since the relative majority of all creature spells are Green. Although it's worth noting that five 2nd edition spells outline the type of creature being summoned, which line up with Creature cards that are either Red (Conjure Fire Elemental and Conjure Earth Elemental), Blue (Aerial [Air] Servant and Invisible Stalker), or Black ([Dread] Cacodemon).

On the other hand, there are ten other Conjuration spells with Magic card names, out of which all five colors of mana are represented. But the most puzzling part of this school is that nine of these spells appear in all three D&D editions, but NONE of them are part of the Conjuration school more than twice. Fog Cloud (originally Alteration) and Web (originally Evocation) are the only two-fer's, as they are CONJ spells in both 3rd and 5th, but the former of these is a bit of a stretch, since Fog is an effect in Magic that's most associated with Green, but the summoning (i.e. creature focused) element also points to a Blue element. The only one-for-three I think really belongs here is Teleport, which was originally in the Alteration/Transmutation school in 2nd/3rd (see below for details on the name change), and then made the switch to Conjuration in the latest edition. I guess they thought that when one teleports, they effectively summon themselves to a different location, rather than altering their position in space/time? Makes sense to me. I'll be sure to cover the other eight of these spells in the ensuing schools where they're more appropriate.

Conclusion: While all colors use Conjuration for casting Creature cards, Green is clearly at the top, not just because of the abundance of Green creatures, but also for effects that focus on finding creatures and bringing them into play (e.g. Summoner's Pact, Savage SummoningLurking Predators).




Divination (information, prediction) is not only the name of a spell in the Divination school in all three D&D editions (I know, very meta), it's ALSO the name of a Magic card... I mean, what more do you need? And that card lets you draw cards, which IS exactly Magic's version of information. Well, it's technically information AND resources; scrying (rule 701.18) is closest to Magic's approximation of pure information, and most of the cards that involve scrying are Blue. Another Blue card that has to do with information is Clairvoyance - the DIV spell version was paired with Clairaudience in 3rd, but in 2nd the aural version was its own spell.

Looking at the other aspect of this school, we see that Foresight is about as perfect a Magic synonym for "predication" as possible, even though the spell only showed up in 3rd and 5th. As a notable exception, we should look at another so called three-for-three spell, Commune with Nature, which is, predictably, a Green Magic card. Green has a lot of "look at the top X cards of your library" type cards (not as many as Blue), but they generally only allow you to pick a creature or a land from them, showcasing a form of selective, nature-based Divination.

Conclusion: Divination is Blue -- it works for the card and the school. Also maybe with a small Green splash.




Enchantment (mind-affecting, compulsion) has by far the largest disconnect between D&D and Magic, since Enchantment is also the name of a card type, which encompasses many various strategies, only some of which are covered in the Enchantment school. In fact, some of the top Enchantment spells correspond to cards that aren't even Enchantments, such as [Ray of] Command. I stretched a little bit with the name because the effects are so similar - gaining control of a creature's actions for a limited time. While Ray of Command is of course a Blue spell, it's notable that this effect shows up a lot more in Red (e.g. Threaten, Act of Treason, Enthralling Victor - Enthrall is also an Enchantment spell in 3rd and 5th). However the more permanent control effects (e.g. Control Magic, Mind Control, which are actually more akin to charm spells in D&D) are mostly Blue.

That takes care of the mind-affecting subtype, but the compulsion aspect also has roots in Blue mana (beyond it being the name of both a card and a 5th edition spell). The only true exact-name card/spell combo to appear as an ENCH spell in all three editions is Sleep, the Magic version of which taps creatures, effectively removing them from usefulness in the most Blue way possible. Going back to Red, the most on-color way to compel creatures out of the way is to make them confused, such as the 2nd edition spell Chaos and the Apocalypse split card with half of the same name. Adding a new color into the mix, Black has an even nastier way to get into the minds of creatures with a spell like [Tasha's] Hideous Laughter, the Magic card version of which is significantly more deadly than the 3rd/5th edition spell.

Hey, remember all those Conjuration spells that became associated with different schools? The first one that's coming back is Bless[ing] (moved to ENCH for 3rd and 5th), which increases the blessed (i.e. enchanted) creature's ability to fight, and thus I don't see how it ever really made sense in CONJ to begin with.

Conclusion: Enchantment is mostly Blue (even though most Enchantment cards are White, but by a slim margin), with a sprinkling of Red and Black in there. In Magic, this combination is also the color identity of the story mode's main antagonist, Nicol Bolas.




Evocation (energy - both damaging and healing) has perhaps the strongest connection between spells and cards, since the strategy of energy manipulation is ubiquitous and effective in both competitive-strategy and role-playing environments. One need only look at the iconic spells/cards Fireball and Lightning Bolt to see both that Evocation is primarily Red, and the immediate link between color and school. But the similarities don't stop there: Fire Storm (i.e. Firestorm) is the only other Red card that's 3-for-3 in terms of editions, but Shatter and Earthquake are classified as Evocation in both 3rd and 5th (they were Alteration in 2nd - see below), and Chain Lightning is 2-for-2 in the same editions, having not been added to the PHB spell list until 3rd.



But while Red has the most cards that are also EVOC spells, the school is actually represented by spells in all five colors of mana. White is easy to explain because all healing spells as a group moved from Conjuration to Evocation in 5th edition, such as Heal - which actually started as Necromancy in 2nd (see below), then later moved to Conjuration in 3rd (see above). There's also the more general mostly-White-aligned practice of life gain (such as in the card Hallow) and some damage buffs that are also associated with the Enchantment school (i.e. Divine Favor), both of which appear as spells in 3rd and 5th. But White also has some holy-themed damage dealing of its own, such as the 3rd edition spell Searing Light (and also generally any D&D spell that deals radiant damage). Across the color wheel, the only Black Evocation spell is Darkness, but just in 3rd and 5th, as it too was listed under Alteration in 2nd.



A particular disconnect between some Red and Green EVOC spells and cards can be chalked up to a quirk in the Magic rules. Three different spells refer to walls - Wall of Fire, Wall of Ice, and Wall of Stone (the latter of which was actually originally in Evocation in 2nd, then jumped to Conjuration in 3rd, then back to Evocation in 5th). Wall is of course a unique Creature types in Magic, and thus subject to the Conjuration school. However, when you put Red and Green together, as in the card Meteor Storm (which I've linked to the spell Meteor Swarm, for obvious reasons), the distinct Evocation feel is on point. The same is true for the Green card Ice Storm, although it's strange to me that both the above cards involving ice aren't identified with Blue mana. Speaking of Blue, the only Evocation cards in that color are Telepathy and Contingency [Plan], although for me both of those spells seem like they should surely be in the Divination school.

Conclusion: Due to its damage dealing element, Evocation is Red first and foremost, then White for healing... and I honestly don't see a great thematic reason to branch too much into Green or Black. Blue is right out.




Illusion (deception, perception) as a school is all about tricking creatures into seeing/believing things that aren't there. On the contrary, the term Illusion in Magic describes a Creature type, one that is generally either hard to block or easy to remove. There are a couple of card/spell combinations that combines these two aspects: the first core set's Phantasmal Force[s] (which appears as a spell in 2nd and then again in 5th, after skipping 3rd for some reason) and the most recent core set's Mirror Image (from all three editions). But if we're looking for cards that more closely mirror Illusion spells, look no further than Invisibility, Misdirection, and Simulacrum, which are Blue, Blue, and Black, respectively. Speaking of Black mana, one card that is sort of an inverse of the spell of the same name is Fear: the spell makes its target afraid, whereas the card makes its target fearsome to creatures trying to block it. Incidentally, the spell Fear is only in the Illusion school in 2nd and 5th, as it took a brief trip to Necromancy (see immediately below) in 3rd. The only White ILLUS spell is Silence, at least two-thirds of the time, as it began its tenure in the Alteration school (see farther below).

Conclusion: Even not taking into account the fact that most Creature cards of the Illusion subtype are Blue, it's pretty clear that messing with perception and reality is a Blue mechanic. Black is a strong secondary color here.




Necromancy (death, rebirth), as with Divination, has a Magic card with exactly the same name, which pretty clearly sums up what color the school is associated with. Furthermore, there are eleven Magic cards with Necromancer in the name, and all but one of them are mono-Black. What's more, is we have one of the most iconic spells AND cards in Animate Dead, from Limited in Magic and in all three D&D editions. Other Black cards that are Necromancy spells in two of the three editions are the more straightforward Raise Dead (this spell is a 3-for-3 overall, but for some reason found itself in the Conjuration school in 3rd), [Ray of] Enfeeblement (which started out in Enchantment in 2nd, but quickly migrated to Necromancy), Contagion, and Vampiric Touch (both of which appeared only in 3rd and 5th).



The one Necromancer-titled card that wasn't mono-Black has White as its second color, which makes sense when we consider the flip side of Necromancy's focus on death. In Magic, this is only seen in the card Resurrection, which represents another one of those Conjuration-in-3rd-edition-only spells. But believe it or not, there's also a Blue and Green element to NECRO. In Blue we have Clone, which is more battlefield-focused than graveyard-focused in Magic. Green actually has two cards that share names with Necromancy spells, but both are only in that school in 2nd edition: Reincarnate (i.e. Reincarnation), which moved to Transmutation in 3rd and 5th, and Regenerate, which has been all over the map, starting in Necromancy (or Necromantic as it was known in 2nd), then moving to Conjuration (the final one of those eight spells I mentioned earlier), and finally settling in Transmutation in 5th. However I'm listing them here, because I feel like they both have a distinct Necromantic feel.

Conclusion: Given all the graveyard/reanimation shenanigans going on in Black, it's clearly the primary color of Necromancy. White is a strong secondary, though, with Green's involvement a little questionable due to the above-mentioned changes in schools.




Transmutation (Alteration, transformation) might not have the widest representation in the color wheel (it's lacking a compelling Black option), but it is for sure the most prolific school in terms of D&D spells. Considering that this school was formerly known as Alteration in 2nd edition, there are 302 combined TRANS and ALT spells, compared to 196 spells on the Conjuration list, the second-most common. (Necromancy is in last place with just 81 spells across all three editions.) The best example of spell(s) to epitomize the top colors of Transmutation is (are) Enlarge/Reduce, which were encompassed by the same spell in 2nd and 5th, but broken up in 3rd. In Magic terms, Enlarge is a Green spell that gives a creature a huge bonus to power and toughness, while the Blue Reduce is actually a class of counterspell (which as we've seen is clearly in Abjuration territory), but as one half of a split card, wordplay was perhaps more important than content. These colors largely make sense: buff cards like Enlarge have been ubiquitous in Green mana since Magic's very beginning - starting with one of the "boon" cycle Giant Growth - and the converse "de-buff" style cards are a staple of Blue - one that comes to mind is the Core Set 2019 card Dwindle.



The only other Green card that corresponds to a Transmutation spell from all three editions is Spider Climb, which is a pretty specific example of changing the properties of something in a beneficial way that's not just "better at fighting." But there are five Blue spells that link up sickeningly well to iconic 3-for-3 Transmutation spells. The first is not a perfect match, at least name-wise, but the effects are exactly the same: the spell Fly and the card Flight. The card Jump is basically a short-term Flight, while it's a bit more literal in D&D. Telekinesis is strictly defensive in Magic, but it has a wider application in D&D. Time Stop is a game-breaking spell in D&D, while the Magic version combos nicely with the upcoming Guilds of Ravnica card Chance for Glory. And perhaps the biggest stretch is from Animate Object(s) to Animate Artifact, but it's basically the same in spirit, right? To further Blue's case, we have two spells from 3rd and 5th only, Gaseous Form and Fabricate. To round things out, Polymorph and the various spells with Polymorph in the name are some of the most powerful spells in all of D&D, while it's considerably more chaotic in Magic.



The Red element of Transmutation is a bit muddied, since while you definitely change the properties of something if you Disintegrate it, and while Pyrotechnics requires a fire to transmute in D&D, those cards in Magic each deal direct damage, which is the foray of Evocation. There's only one White card with a name that corresponds directly to a Transmutation spell: Erase from 2nd and 3rd, which is spot on flavor-wise. But the 3-for-3 spell Blink recalls the mostly White-aligned mechanic known as Flicker, and which appears on the similarly named card Momentary Blink. The only mono-Black Transmutation spell is the 2nd edition version of Darkness (see Illusion, above), which also specified that it covered a 15-foot radius in its full name. But the upcoming set Guilds of Ravnica has a multicolored Black/Green half of a split card called Statue, which is fairly similar to the 2nd and 3rd edition spells of the same name. (The other half of that card, Status, actually corresponds to a 3rd edition Divination spell, but they have wildly different effects, so I'm just going to ignore it for now.)

Conclusion: Green and Blue cards dominate the effects generally seen on Transmutation spells, but there is a good case to be made that all colors make use of some Transmutation magic, with White, Red, and Black bringing up the rear, probably in that order.


Final Tally:

It's no surprise that Blue shows up in the most schools of any color (five by my count) since Blue is the color of most Wizards (in Magic) and Wizards are the class that's most concerned with the schools of magic (in D&D... confusing terminology, I know). White is next, with three schools as either the clear primary or secondary color - Green and Black feature prominently in three schools total, but one school for each of those colors could be described as a splash. And Red only really features prominently in one school (with one more as a splash), but it's such a powerhouse in that one school that it almost makes up for what it lacks in diversity.

Of course, by focusing only on names shared between D&D spells and Magic cards, I'm really only scratching the surface of this subject. I'm sure there are dozens of cards that have similar effects as some spells, but with completely (or just slightly) different names. And of the ones I did cover, I didn't even get into what classes can cast those spells (and at what level) or how many times (and when) those cards were printed in Magic's history. But as far as I'm concerned, I think we've drawn some pretty solid conclusions here today, and this whole exercise will surely make me think of both casting spells and playing cards in a new light.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Karma and the 2018 Baseball Playoffs

The defending World Series champion Houston Astros are undoubtedly a fun team to watch. Their roster is filled with both tremendous talent and compelling personalities, with perhaps both culminating in young infielder Alex Bregman. Not only is he sitting on a 30 HR, 100 RBI campaign, but he has spearheaded a movement where he and his teammates will stare directly into the camera after an accomplishment on the field. But, as Matt Vasgersian pointed out on a recent edition of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, Bregman and the gang ripped off the camera stare from Cubs minor league catcher Taylor Davis, who has been a master of that stunt for over a year. Houston's appropriation of dugout hijinks - coupled, of course, with the most egregious ethically questionable transaction of the 2018 season - got me thinking about how the effects of karma might come into play in the 2018 playoff picture.

When I posed this question to a fellow baseball fan friend of mine, his response was something along the lines of, "Dude, karma has nothing to do with the playoffs - how many championships have the Yankees won?" While it's true that New York's AL team is arguably the most hated franchise in the sport, due to many of their recent wins coming as a result of throwing their financial weight around, but, as noted by SBNation's Grant Brisbee earlier this summer, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than a fat wallet. In any case, they haven't won the World Series in nearly a decade, so it's not like they're a perennially annoying juggernaut on the level of the Patriots. With all that in mind, and given that I've already said my piece about the Astros acquiring a still-suspended Roberto Osuna at the trade deadline, let's take a look at some of the 2018 playoff contenders who might have put themselves in the karmic "penalty box" heading into the stretch run.

Oakland Athletics: In a situation that could be described as "Roberto Osuna-lite," the A's picked up dominant late inning reliever Jeurys Familia from the Mets this summer, despite the fact that he has a domestic violence suspension on his resume. Unlike Osuna's, however, Familia's case was closed and the charges dropped before he even served his 15-game ban last year (which was just one fifth the length as Houston's new closer's). It's a tricky situation, because the difference in severity surely doesn't excuse Familia's conduct, but you also don't want to suggest that past offenders are incapable of remorse and rehabilitation.

Cleveland Indians: The Tribe made a controversial trade of their own this year, but not due to anything the acquired player did, but rather his health status. Former AL MVP Josh Donaldson's injury plagued season was not enough of a deterrent to prevent the Indians from trading for him at the August 31st waiver-trade deadline, and understandably so, given his upside when healthy. The problem is that Donaldson was clearly not yet in game shape at the time of the trade, a situation that is expressly prohibited by MLB rules. Sheryl Ring of Fangraphs did a great job summing up the validity of the transaction, and the league did issue a "buyer beware" caveat regarding any potential Donaldson trades, but that apparently wasn't enough to prevent other contending teams from bellyaching about the situation.

Chicago Cubs: This is more of an instance of karma already coming back to bite this team, but I feel like it's relevant to mention. On September 13th, in the top of the 10th inning of a game in which the Cubs had just taken a one-run lead, manager Joe Maddon sent arguably his best reliever Pedro Strop to the plate. He promptly grounded into an inning-ending double play, but what's worse, he injured his hamstring running to first base, and will now be out for multiple weeks. Is this Maddon's fault for not using a pinch hitter to try and extend the lead? Is it Strop's fault for not jogging to first base and preserving his body to pitch the next inning? Is it the league's fault for not implementing the universal DH? Without diving too deep into all the separate factors at play, it's not a stretch to describe this whole incident as karmicly significant.

Boston Red Sox: For the first month-plus of the season, Hanley Ramirez was a force at the plate, maintaining a .330 batting average, an .874 OPS, and a memorable walk-off win that was immortalized in the April 5th version of MLB's Fastcast. However, when a roster crunch arose towards the end of May, Ramirez found himself surprisingly cut from the team. True his numbers had taken a tumble (he ended his season with a .254 AVG and .708 OPS overall), but many would argue that HanRam's approaching $22 million vesting option was the main factor in the release of such an important clubhouse presence. Notably, Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski recently stated that his organization "couldn't touch" Roberto Osuna in trade talks, although to be fair, that might just be posturing after the fact.

Colorado Rockies: In a rare example of good karma, the Rockies brought back franchise icon Matt Holliday on a minor league deal, and he has rewarded the team with a 1.028 OPS and two home runs in an admittedly tiny sample size of 52 plate appearances. Putting aside Holliday's personal grudge against my favorite team, it's nice to see a familiar face getting a second chance and making good during a very important stretch run. Of course, Colorado was just "rewarded" for their positivity with the news that star shortstop Trevor Story is facing a potentially serious elbow injury. Fate is a fickle mistress...

Arizona Diamondbacks: This one is admittedly based more on personal preference than any widely accepted unwritten rule of baseball, and plus the D-Backs are fading fast from postseason contention anyway. There's nothing inherently wrong with removing Brad Boxberger from the closer's role, especially given that he's suffered through a 7.71 ERA since the beginning of August. But the announcement that they plan to utilize a closer by committee approach just doesn't sit well with me. You can show me all the statistics you want that using different relievers for particular ninth inning matchups is the most effective way to utilize a bullpen, but the traditional closer is the one old school strategy that I will hold onto kicking and screaming. But more importantly, it just never seems to work! With the possible exception of this year's...

Milwaukee Brewers: The Brew Crew has divided their save opportunities fairly evenly between Corey Knebel (18), Jeremy Jeffress (17), and Josh Hader (15), with a lot of success. However, when insensitive tweets from the latter of these three pitchers were uncovered during the All-Star Game, the whole vibe of the team was called into question. Obviously no one was hurt, and the game's rules weren't violated, but the situation did bring up some deep seated issues within white baseball.

Atlanta Braves: The Braves have their own lefty pitcher with a questionable social media history in sophomore starter Sean Newcomb. But the baseball issue I want to tackle here is the organization's decision to keep star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. in the minors for the start of the season, despite his MLB readiness, to artificially suppress his service time, i.e. his earning power. The community seems pretty split between whether this is just a quirk of the rules that must be accepted or a travesty that must be addressed (I obviously fall closer to the second camp). But it's interesting to note that the Braves have shown a willingness to fly in the face of this custom in the past in the handling of Jason Heyward in 2010. But then again, Acuna and Ozzie Albies look like they're having so much fun playing together that it's hard to find fault with the organization.

New York Yankees: OK, just a couple thoughts about the Yankees to finish things off. While baseball's lack of a salary cap means there is nothing technically wrong with a move such as trading away pending free agent Aroldis Chapman for a massive prospect haul (including starting second baseman and Rookie of the Year hopeful Gleyber Torres), then turning around and signing him to a big money deal the next offseason, it does rub a lot of fans the wrong way. Plus there's the whole "mystique" surrounding the Yankees organization, as evidenced by the fact that Giancarlo Stanton spurned the Giants and Cardinals - two organizations that pulled out all the stops in courting him - only to approve a trade to New York, because he only wanted to be a Yankee. While these examples of players being eager to play for the Yankees actually paint the club in a positive light overall, they're also the types of instances that cause unbridled frustration for 29/30ths of baseball fans.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Fantasy Astrology Playoffs 2018 - Round 1

The playoff race in Major League Baseball is shaping up to be pretty exciting down the stretch. Three teams separated by 2 games in the NL West. The upstart A's chasing the World Series champion Astros in the AL West. Two teams battling in the NL East, neither of which is the highly favored Nationals. Three teams in the hunt for the NL Central crown. And don't even get me started on the Wild Cards... However, in certain alternate universes, such as the one occupied by Fantasy Astrology teams, the playoff picture is already settled. This past Monday's Labor Day holiday marked the start of the first of two two-week long matchups between the top four teams in the league... mostly. Take a look at the standings as of the last day of the regular season and you'll see what I mean:



While Aries and Virgo were locks for the Fire and Earth divisions, respectively, the other two were each in a dead heat. Over in the Water division, Cancer and Scorpio were sporting identical 13-7 records, while in a completely unexpected situation, four-time champion Libra had the same .500 record as Gemini in the Air division. It didn't help matters that the former two teams both won their final matchups, while the latter two teams both lost theirs. Thus, half of this league's postseason participants were determined by ESPN.com's proprietary "Points For" and "Points Against" system, which crowned Cancer (my home sign) and Gemini (a first time playoff team) as the winners of their divisions. So with these matchups underway, let's check out the lineups of these four teams and go over what changes I made (as league commissioner) heading into the year-end tournament.



Back during Spring Training, I looked at the four Fantasy Astrology playoff teams from the previous year, starting with defending champion Aries. While the Rams managed the league's best record, their playoff lineup somewhat remarkably has only three players from their projected season opener: Lorenzo Cain, Nolan Arenado, and Alex Bregman (who has already insured shortstop eligibility for next season). Buster Posey (1,017 points on the year, 9.7 points per game, as of the start of the playoffs) was the starting catcher until he underwent a planned season ending hip surgery at the end of last month. All-Star Jed Lowrie has stayed hot all season, supplanting the recently traded (and until-recently injured) Daniel Murphy (723 / 10.6). Travis Shaw has been on a tear recently, even performing better than fellow third baseman Arenado in the last month, but I couldn't justify subbing out such a proven performer - instead Shaw takes over from Starlin Castro (1396 / 10.3), who had been occupying the DH spot.

The 10-day DL placement of Chris Sale (2,207 / 96.0) definitely hurts this pitching rotation in a big way, but the return of fellow Red Sock Eduardo Rodriguez from his injury helps make up for the loss. Likewise, when Kenta Maeda (1,047 / 37.4) was demoted to the bullpen, his Dodgers teammate Hyun-Jin Ryu was ready to step in. Also, Anthony DeSclafani has been pitching better of late than Zach Eflin (951 / 47.6) and Jake Odorizzi (927 / 33.1), despite those two putting up better numbers over the course of the season. With the trade of Keone Kela (1,253 / 23.2) to the Pirates, he saw his save chances evaporate, and thus his fantasy usefulness. I picked Brad Hand to fill his RP2 spot, despite the presence of Scorpio closer Cody Allen on the Indians, over the Yankees' closer committee comprised of two Aries relievers to fill in for the injured Aroldis Chapman : David Robertson (1,000 / 16.9) and Dellin Betances (853 / 15.0).



Virgo has not had quite as much turnover as Aries compared to their preseason projections, with just five position players from the Maidens' projected starting nine in the playoff lineup. Most importantly, they had two key Astros players back from injury: center fielder George Springer (displacing Brett Gardner - 1,374 / 11.1) and shortstop Carlos Correa (coming in for utility player Chris Taylor - 1,339 / 10.1). Two other shortstops on the roster actually had better overall production than Correa - Marcus Semien (1,479 / 10.9) and Andrelton Simmons (1,398 / 11.2), but Correa definitely has the best upside when healthy. Virgo's famed first base trio of Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman, and Joey Votto (1,380 / 11.1) is now down to two, as Votto has both missed time due to injury and also clearly lagged behind his counterparts. While Justin Upton (1,553 / 12.4) isn't technically on the disabled list, he did recently suffer a concussion, so he may be eligible to return when the matchup reaches its second week.

The biggest loss from the season opening pitching staff was David Price (1,581 / 60.8), who was day-to-day when I was putting together these lineups, after his wrist was hit by a batted ball. He's another candidate to come back if I decide to make lineup changes midway through this matchup. Cardinals ace Carlos Martinez (913 / 38.0) is in a similar situation to Kenta Maeda, re: being moved to the bullpen, but another pitcher who calls Missouri home, Jakob Junis of the Royals, has been pitching well enough of late to take his spot. And with Gio Gonzalez (753 / 27.9) slumping lately, journeyman Edwin Jackson rounds out this rotation for the playoffs.



The last step of my monthly "lineup rebalancing" process - after I put together the highest scoring lineup based on full season fantasy points, then look at how each player performed over the last 30 days and adjust for slumps or hot streaks - is to check the waiver wire to see if it's worth adding anyone who was left off the season opening roster. These factors came into play with the Cancer pitching rotation, so I will start with that part of the Decapods roster. While reinstalling Stephen Strasburg into the rotation after he came back from injury was a no brainer (replacing the now-injured Tyler Skaggs (984 / 46.9)), Lucas Giolito and Wei-Yin Chen weren't even on the team prior to the playoffs. But with Jaime Barria (923 / 44.0) struggling of late and Mike Montgomery (676 / 19.9) potentially moving back to the bullpen, I decided to go with the hot hands.

Not much has changed on the offensive side, except for DJ LeMahieu returning from injury to supplant fill-in Ian Kinsler (1,195 / 10.8). There is a bit of inefficiency what with Nelson Cruz (1,615 / 13.2) only eligible for DH - which is currently being held down by Trea Turner - although it's questionable whether Cruz would even be the best fit for an outfield spot given Cody Bellinger's newfound eligibility and Shin-Soo Choo's (1,630 / 12.6) resurgent season. The big question mark on this roster is Shohei Ohtani, whose fantasy point total has been a bit of a mystery all season. ESPN claims that he only gets credited with either batting or pitching points (not both) depending on his position in the lineup, but the interface shows the same point total whether you plug him in as a pitcher or a batter: 1,538 points and 19.0 PPG. According to my calculations, that is in fact the total of his batting and pitching points - 974 / 12.0 for the former and 564 / 56.4 for the latter - but it's hard to say how the points are actually being calculated in a game setting. Of course now that Ohtani's storyline has ended in the MOST PREDICTABLE WAY POSSIBLE (i.e. Tommy John Surgery), we won't have to figure out this issue until 2020 at the earliest.



When you look at the Gemini pitching staff, it's no mystery why the Twins have forced their way into the playoffs (albeit with a sub-.500 win percentage). Any rotation led by NL Cy Young candidates Jacob deGrom and Aaron Nola will rack up some mondo fantasy points, and that's before factoring in the streaking Mike Fiers and Zack Wheeler, plus rookie sensation Dereck Rodriguez, a group that pushes standout performers Jose Berrios (1,513 / 54.0), Andrew Heaney (1,242 / 49.7), Sean Newcomb (1,234 / 47.5), and Vince Velasquez (1,124 / 41.6) to the bench. And with a legitimate two-headed closer monster of Craig Kimbrel and Brad Boxberger (who also has the most creative Player's Weekend nickname by far), it's almost enough to make you forget that Andrew Miller (259 / 9.6) has been a shade of his former self this year and that Hector Neris (571 / 13.0) lost his hold on the Phillies ninth inning job. And that's not even counting rookies Joey Lucchesi (970 / 44.1), Freddy Peralta (713 / 50.9), and Shane Bieber (711 / 47.4), who I picked up off the waiver wire JUST IN CASE.

Speaking of the waiver wire, adding Kendrys Morales and his suddenly hot bat is the only thing that gives this lineup a semblance of respectability. When the most impactful substitution is to bring in Harrison Bader for Joey Rickard (453 / 7.2) in the center field spot, you know you're not dealing with many world beaters on the offensive side of things. Sure Yoan Moncada (1,266 / 9.8) has been quite good, despite a recent slump, and the team does have two outfielders who are either injured or not performing at present - Avisail Garcia (781 / 10.4) and Corey Dickerson (1,226 / 10.4), respectively - and they would look a lot stronger if Justin Bour (1,126 / 9.2) wasn't relegated to a bench role with his recent trade. But it's still a bit of a surprise to see them battling for the championship given the talent on hand.