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AuthorJay Moldenhauer-Salazar

Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar (feel free to call him JMS) started playing Magic for fun during Ice Age and for prizes during Mirage. He has since abandoned the big tournaments to focus on creative deckbuilding, moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to the San Francisco Bay Area, and has a wife, a child, a dog, a corporate job, a weekly column at Magicthegathering.com, and a novel ("Birthright," published by Virtualbookworm.com). What the hell happened?!?

Blog Elemental – A Big Fat Egg

A double dose of this week’s Blog so that we’re finally caught up on JMS bloggage and so Knut can stop apologizing.

Blog Elemental – The Madness of DoctorJay Part B: 30 Decks in 1 Day

Dear Jay,

Still Sorry.

Sincerely,

Knut

Blog Elemental – Rogue Drafting

My Limited rating on Magic Online bounces steadily between 1650 and 1700 for two reasons. The first is obviously skill level. I draft once or twice per month, so I never really accumulate enough practice to gain what you might call expertise. The second reason for my anemic rating is that, just like in Constructed, I have a tendency to, shall we say, experiment. Sometimes -okay, often – I see a deck forming that just… might… maybe possibly… work out, and I lunge for it.

Blog Elemental — Wood

Every so often I hit on a deck idea that several people actually like. The most dramatic example was a mono-Green controllish deck meant to generate lots and lots of mana to play overcosted bombs. I called the deck Wood or sometimes Fattie Wood, and won a few local tourneys with the thing. My whole group of friends played it at Regionals, as did a guy named Jason Spears who went 7-2. Today I’m going to examine what a current rendition of the deck might look like.

Blog Elemental – Three Shades of Dawn

As I started working through the Red portion of my Fifth Dawn menu, I realized there weren’t a lot of cards on the list. Then I worked through Green and Blue with the same result. So here’s a triple-dose of menu, combining all three colors.

Blog Elemental – Time to Land

This week I’m in a decidedly Green Mood. Beware.

Blog Elemental – Constructing Preconstructed

I have a running list of ideas I’d like to make into interesting articles, article series, or even a weekly column. The”Magic blog,” unsurprisingly, was on this list, and so is another idea I’m planning to try out when Fifth Dawn reaches Magic Online…

Blog Elemental – In Search of Kaldra

I think the first question a deck trying to summon Kaldra is going to face is how many pieces of Legendary Equipment it wants to use.

Blog Elemental – The First Gray Shade of Dawn

There are sixty-five artifacts in Fifth Dawn and only twenty cards of each color, so it’s hardly fair to do all of the artifacts in one menu installment. Here are my faves through roughly the first half, letters A through I.

Blog Elemental – Up All Night

I think I like theme decks more than the average fellow. In fact, here’s a quick recap of my first year of Magic…

Blog Elemental – A Creepy Shade of Dawn

Today, for no reason whatsoever, I’m continuing my Fifth Dawn menu with a look at the Black cards.

Blog Elemental – Defining Casual

The many meanings of the phrase”casual Magic player.”

Blog Elemental – Practicing My Roar

Today Jay designs some decks built around Roar of Reclamation.

Blog Elemental – A Pale Shade of Dawn

The beginnings of Jay’s Fifth Dawn Menu are revealed.

Blog Elemental – An Unlikely Tribe

Today Jay chats about golem.dec for Standard and Online Extended.