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AuthorChris Romeo

Chris Romeo writes about cheap Standard decks. He married the woman of his dreams, Luanne Hall, in May of 2004. A lifelong Red Sox fan, Chris doesn't know how 2005, 2006, or 2007 could be better than 2004. He wrote his name on the back of a lot of Magic cards.

From Right Field: Gimme a “G!” Gimme an “r!” What’s that spell? “Gr?”

Let me start by saying that it looks like the MD5 block is going to shape up to be more diverse than I thought it would when I wrote last week’s piece. In my defense (and it looks like I’ll be the only one coming to that particular party), when I wrote the thing a few weeks before it was put up here, the MD5 metagame really did look like it was going to end up being Affinity versus anti-artifact and that was it. I’m glad that it’s looking like it will be more open than that, and as a reward, I’m posting a whole article full of Block decklists to tickle your fancy!

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From Right Field: The King is Dead! Long Live the King!

I think this time Chris may have finally gone off the deep end, but as usual with this sort of thing, it’s kind of fun to watch. Tune in as Chris rants about the Block metagame as well as some artifacts with names related to your head.

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From Right Field: Letters. Oh, We Get Letters.

Once or twice a year, I try to answer some of my fan mail and/or death threats in a column. This serves two purposes. First, I get to share some of the answers to the more common questions that get sent my way. Second, I get another quick, cheap column. Then, everyone’s happy. Or at least, I’m happy. Really, in the end, that’s all the counts.

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From Right Field: “I’m Super, Thanks for Asking!”

I had been playing with Steely Resolve in the sideboard. I’d bring it in against Goblins and really anything else that tried to target the Elves – which, using my keen sense of observation, I noticed was just about everything. Then, a funny thing happened in game three of a Goblin matchup. I got two Resolves. The first one I dropped and called, of course, Elves. Then a light bulb went on: I dropped the second, calling Goblins. No more Clamping up Goblins for cards. No more activating the Sledder’s ability, unless he wanted to call Insects. But there’s one difference between this and a regular Elves deck…

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From Right Field: You’re Sick, You Know That?

Combos abound thanks to Fifth Dawn. Who cares? Skullclamp’s been banned. Who cares? As far as I can tell from what people have been e-mailing me, all anyone cares about is details from my honeymoon. You know what? You’re sick. Truly.

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From Right Field: The Great Skullclamp Debate

I’m just going to jump in with both feet and get the ol’ fire stoked. Okay, that line is a horribly mixed metaphor because, barring some sort of Far Eastern mind trick, your feet would be burned in the most disgusting manner, leaving you with useless chunks of charred flesh and a sticky sweet stench that will haunt your nostrils forever. You should get my drift, though, because I contend that: The DCI did not need to ban Skullclamp.

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From Right Field: The Official Bad Player’s Fifth Dawn Review

You could get a fast, cheap column out of doing nothing but cataloging the bad predictions from previous set review. I was even going to do that, but Ted said”No way, Josephine.” Because of the time off for my wedding and honeymoon, he wanted me to do some”real writing” not just”copying and pasting” and”quoting other writers” like”you’re doing right now.” So, I promised I’d do something. Without further ado, then, I present… something.

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From Right Field: It’s Marryin’ Time!

As I type this sentence, I’m getting married in 104 hours. There are a ton (literally) of things to move and a ton (figuratively) of little things to do. So, I’ll have to give you a form that you can fill in to write your own column.

[Congratulations to Chris Romeo, who either got hitched this weekend or was shot and killed as he tried to escape the bonds of holy matrimony. StarCityGames.com would like to wish him our very best. – Knut]

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From Right Field: Regionals Report, 2004

If you read this column regularly, as the Surgeon General suggests (it promotes”intestinal and rectal health”), you know that I couldn’t make it to Regionals this year. That doesn’t mean that I can’t file a Regionals report, though.

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From Right Field: The Aftermath

You probably didn’t win your Region. Since I like to state the obvious, you probably aren’t a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, either. Interestingly, there are about the same number of U.S. Regionals champions as S.I. swimsuit models. Go figure. Anyway, you didn’t win your Region. You most likely didn’t finish in the money. Heck, you may not have had a winning record. Yet, you were sure that you had a good chance of at least winning some prizes or else you probably wouldn’t have wasted the time and energy to participate. So, what happened?

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From Right Field: Dr. Romeo’s 100% All-Natural, Unadulterated, Feel-Good, Have-Fun Regionals Recipe

This week isn’t about a deck or that final sideboard card (although Black decks really need Echoing Decay for use against Soldier, Goblin, and Insect tokens). No, this is about being ready for The Regionals Experience.

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From Right Field: An Issues Issue – MTGO = Magic: The Gathering’s Offline

Here’s what I propose. During the week after Regionals, from Sunday, May 2nd, 2004, through Saturday, May 8th, 2004, spend no money on fake cards. Buy no tickets. Just play with whatcha got. And play. And play and play and play. If no one spends any money for an entire week, I think Wizards might get the idea that we’re serious. Businesses get the hint when you hit ’em where it hurts.

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From Right Field: Come Tumbling Down

Three Words: Competitive Wall Deck. Well, at least it was until Chris got his hands to it. Peep the carnage inside…

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From Right Field: The Princess Bride Conundrum, 2004

To find a deck that satisfies The Dread Pirate Roberts Solution in Spring of 2004, your deck must hate artifacts without falling prey to the artifact hate that other decks will be packing. How do you do that? Well, you’d either have to play no artifacts at all, or so many that your opponent is overwhelmed by the choices. If you choose the second option, though, you might be walking into a Furnace Dragon

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What the Hell Are You Lookin’ At?

Johnnny-who-ain’t-written-‘bout-Magic-in-a-while is back for a one-shot. One shot, and I’ll be spent. But, you’ll really enjoy it and say how good it was. Heh.

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