Greetings once again! For the past week I have been absent from all things Magical. Since I have been returned to my normal schedule of activities, I’ve had only a normal time for reading Magic-related articles. Therefore, catching up has been a bit of a problem. I hope that nothing drastic has happened in my week of absence. But, here I am, back in the flow of things! Aren’t you relieved? (Your answer means nothing to me; my ego will be boosted despite your lack of caring!)
So last week, I wrote about Carnival of Souls. Well, I must admit that I received quite a few responses to that article. You’d expect something along the lines of, "I can’t believe you tried to make a use for Carnival of Souls! What was the staff of Star City smoking when they put you up as a featured writer?!" However, expectations were not to be met. When bait was laid in the field before the forbidding forest, the cowering fans of Carnival of Souls crept out of their sylvan hide-out and snatched it. I got several replies about more combos with Carnival of Souls . . . combos that might actually be able to be pulled off! However, because of such ridicule towards the card, the bright players who actually spent their alone-time (for what person would consult with someone over Carnival of Souls?!) mulling over these combos would never bring them into the light of day. A boycott will indeed result when a Carnival of Souls deck wins a tourney.
Wouldn’t that be a change of pace? What if Wizards started printing more cards like Carnival of Souls? They’d just pile up and pile up until that’s all that’d be available in all formats except Type 1, 1.5, and 1.x. Then, players would be forced to play with awful cards. Bad cards would be good. After a couple years, players would forget the good old days of "going off" with less than six different cards. Carnival of Souls will be remembered as the first card of a new generation, and it will be the most powerful . . . just like Ancestral Recall is with all of those card-drawing cards (Brainstorm, Opportunity, Whispers of the Muse, etc.) Then, all of a sudden, Urza’s Saga will be reprinted! Players would go crazy! They wouldn’t know what to do with their newfound power. Sure, there had been rumors of cards like Stroke of Genius and players like Jon Finkel, but those were just stories, right? The mentality of Magic players across the world would crumble, and there would be nothing left behind but broken husks of selves. Then, there would be only one salvation: Pokemon. Magic would then, truly die.
So, in other words, don’t slow down the environment TOO much, Wizards!
Speaking of change, Star City CCG is no more. The site’s undergone a lot of changes over the years, but I’ve just noticed that they’ve changed their name from Star City CCG to Star City Games. Out with the old, in with the new. The name reflects more accurately what Star City deals with: Games. Not just CCGs, because they have plans for video games as well. Also, when you’re looking for something and you have a host of random sites, Star City Games is more open to outsiders checking it out than Star City CCG is because CCG is a vague term in the outside world. At least, these are all things that I’m speculating. Who knows Star City’s reason to do anything? Maybe Wizards put them up to it. We, the people, shall never know.
So, there’s just two more weeks left in the Prove I’m Human contest! You didn’t think it was real, did you? Well, it is. Right now, there’s no definitive leader, but there’s still time for points to be racked up. Remember, the person who gives me the most polite, constructive criticism gets public recognition: The best prize ever!
It seems like I’m running a little low on ideas for an article this week. Therefore, I’ll resort to what everyone else is talking about: Worlds!
Worlds doesn’t really excite me as much as it does a lot of other people. I mean, I read a match report about Mike Long and someone else, and it was interesting and all, but I just don’t scour the ‘Net for every report out there. I don’t/can’t participate in Worlds, and the only effect it can have on me is what happens afterwards. That is, the decks are Worlds are what a lot of people are going to be playing. But, in order to find that sort of thing out, I need not listen to coverage; I simply need to pay attention to follow-ups about decks and so forth and an article or two about why decks placed where they did. So, if the choice came to me as read a Worlds report or play an interesting game of Magic, I’d choose the latter. That’s just the way I am.
Wow, isn’t it interesting how I gave my opinion on Worlds in a paragraph where some people write entire articles about it? Concise, informative, and enlightening: That’s my writing! 🙂
Speaking of writing, you can expect more of it from me next week. I promise that it will be more organized around a central theme than this one. I’m still recovering from my vacation and my jolt back to the real world. Please forgive me. Until next time!