I woke up Monday morning to find this message in my e-mail box:”My suggestion is that you not tease your readers with unfinished stories. Especially not after telling them they would only have to wait another blog to hear the finale.
Oh and you have a cute butt.”
Rich Jacques (one of our regulars) got the Wall deck at my deck challenge. Rich got paired up against Erhnam and Burnem in the fourth round, and complained bitterly about losing to River Boa two of the games. “He has four Boas, and I have only four Swords! I have no other way to deal with them!” I picked up his sideboard to find he had sided out Stinging Barriers. “Uh Rich, these guys are pretty good against one toughness creatures. “Oh my God!” yelled Virginia State Champion Wes Moss, one of Rich’s friends. “That’s like the best card in your deck. Why’d you side it out?”
I’ve been teasing to the main event for nearly a week now, but it’s finally time to talk about Steve and Keith’s big Power 9 tournament, held monthly at the Quality Inn in Metarie, Louisiana.
Serendib Jim was named after, of course, Serendib Djinn from Arabian Nights. Much like the mythical Arabian merchant in these old stories, Jim was a wheeler and dealer. He wasn’t much for organizing tournaments or rules knowledge or playing the game, but he knew how to trade. Back in those days, nobody could trade cards as well as Jim. This is how he kept Magic in the store even after the tournaments there floundered – the profits he brought in from one lopsided trade after another made the owners of the business very happy indeed.
You might notice that Neil had invested in power cards. I had bought mine online in the rec.games.deckmaster.marketplace newsgroup. This was pre-Magic newsgroup days, pre-any website selling Magic singles, and pre-any sort of way of getting cards. The way it worked was this: people would post lists of cards, some with or without a buyout price. You’d send them bids via e-mail, and they would post updates on auction prices 2-3 times a day. If your bid survived for four reposts, you’d win the cards.
In this mall was Electronics Boutique, the only shop in all of Uptown and Downtown New Orleans which sold Magic cards. I remember that I bought a starter and three boosters on my first trip down there; I had budgeted myself $20, and that was as many packs as I could buy with that money. All the packs were Revised, and I remember I opened Northern Paladin, Swords to Plowshares and Wall of Swords, along with Wall of Wood, Craw Wurm, and Living Wall.
Everyone remembers how they initially got hooked on”cardboard crack”, and today Ben shares his story of the initial hit from everyone’s favorite addiction.
Hey R&D! Ben has a hot new tip about how to change Magic for the better. It involves…..the Legends Rule!
Looking to become a StarCityGames.com employee someday? Perhaps you can take a few hints of what (and what not) to do from the story of how Bleiweiss got his job.
Jim Ferraiolo, no matter how he is photographed, looks like an ugly transvestite in pictures. He doesn’t look anything like this in real life, but the lens makes him looks like an ugly man in a wig with bright red lipstick. I don’t know why this happens. Jim may have kicked a puppy as a child, and now karma is getting him back.
Yesterday, I talked about my first experience at Fogo de Chao, the amazing Brazilian meat house located in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago. Today’s Fogo story takes place at Pro Tour Chicago, 2003 and revolves around the exploits of one Geordie Tait.
For the reporter that’s always on the go, it’s food that makes the world go round.
Recently, Bleiweiss managed to unapologetically piss off the entire Type I community. He said their decks were unoriginal. He told them they were bad players. He called them whiny elitists, and he showed no remorse for his actions. What could he possibly have been thinking and what is he going to say next? If you are a Type I player (or just someone who really dislikes Ben Bleiweiss), then this is the article for you!
I have gotten to see Mike many times, and I can say without hesitation that he is one of the kindest, nicest, and most pleasant people in Magic. Note that I didn’t just limit this to the Pro Community (which at times can be cliquish and downright off-putting), but to all of Magic. He wears a smile, a pleasant demeanor and a cheery spirit as if they were clothing. Let me tell you a couple of stories about Mike.
Look at all the different writers on this site. They all share one passion — a love of the game of Magic: The Gathering. I too share that passion. If you read between the lines in the outline of my life, I can filter the Magic out from between the cracks — but that would not do my life justice to this point.
