This week will feature some hardcore gaming. The show, the drama ? Magic has it all, and since last weekend Magic has even more. All those new cards added to the already insane amount of toys we get to choose from; Anthony Alongi already had his go at the three coolest cards in the set over at magicthegathering.com. So what do we have left to discuss, and construct new crazy decks with? Transcendence is definitely a card that could have a lot of multiplayer potential (Anthony probably would”love” it when you played it against him); I just have no clue how to break it yet (other than Forsaken Wastes, of course).
But if any of the players in Wayne Mittlestead?s story would have had a Transcendence, would the outcome have been different?
Poker Was Never This Much Fun! by Wayne Mittlestead
Five guys sitting around a smoky table. Beers, whiskey, and snacks accompany the cards in hand. The stakes are high. In the middle of the table lies a Vindicate, an Absorb, a Death Grasp, a Rakavolver, a two Dragons and an Urza’s Rage.
The turns are incredibly tight considering these are casual players come for a night of emperor, two-headed giant or ? as this game was ? chaos. No one anticipated an ante such as this. Adrenaline was pumping. Every mistake counted. No take-backs. No laughing off stupid mistakes. But it was still Magic… Poker was never this much fun!
Of the five of us playing, I guess you could call Collin the scrub. He had a great mind for Magic, but he hadn’t been playing the game long, which meant his experience was the least out of all of us ? as was his card pool. (We play with any card unless it is banned in Type I.)
Consequently, he was viewed as the least threatening opponent. Sitting beside Collin was a mono-blue control deck played by Mark. Mark kept letting Collin’s spells resolve and concentrated on threats across the table from him. (Radik was playing a deck that cast card drawing spells to either deck opponents or Rack them to death.) And truthfully, it probably was a good call to counter that second and third Viseling with seven cards in hand. But it was a lethal mistake to ignore Collin for so long.
Before anyone knew it, Collin had two Necra Sanctuary enchantments with several white/green creatures in play. Oops! By this time everyone was dangerously low on life and one by one, we lost six life during Collin’s upkeep. I could have handled this if I drew just one Tranquility. (My deck was red/green fatness that was independent of artifacts and enchantments running four Shatterstorm and four Tranquilities.) Collin walked away with some of our best cards.
Lessons can be learned here: Never underestimate the underdog; and playing for high stakes is worth the intense game play, even if you lose. Don’t undervalue the power of new cards over old cards. And don’t smoke too much if you want to win! 😉
Really though, once you get used to the idea of losing a great card to ante, it’s a hella fun!!!
Bring back ante!!!
Next week
I have a story lined up which would love to have a Cephalid Vandal in there somewhere (shred… shred…), but maybe some of you have something better for me. Send stories and comments to [email protected].
?Til next week, have fun,