Monday, October 20th – Last week made for a rather interesting article. Most people seemed to stay on message about the Outside Assistant (OA) issues and wanted to discuss said issues in the forums. A couple of people brought up some legitimate concerns about OA, specifically about what Gerry Thompson wrote, which I hope to clear up today.
Monday, October 13th – With the Prerelease nonsense finally running its course, I sat down ready to write an article on shuffling when fate struck me a random blow. I was reading GerryT’s informative and entertaining “A Shards PTQ Story *Top 8*†and came across an odd and worrisome incident in his report…
Tuesday, October 7th – The Shard deck construction rule for the Launch Party came and went without incident. I’m sure that a story will trickle in from some corner of the world where a careless player received a game loss for building outside a Shard, but my LP wasn’t going to be that story.
Tuesday, September 30th – Okay, I tried it. Now can I say that I really hate it? Of course, I’m talking about the new Prerelease structure. You might suggest that I was predisposed to hate it, so obviously I self-fulfilled my prophecy and had a terrible time, but that doesn’t explain the fact that the literal everyone I talked to this past weekend was bummed for various reasons.
Tuesday, September 23rd – I now dread spoiler season. It comes around three (or four) times per year, and all the people rejoice in the journey of discovery, joy, and confusion. What does a judge look for in spoilers? As of Eventide, I am looking out for the next Snakeform, the card that will lead to the most questions at the Prerelease and thereafter.
Tuesday, September 16th – Today, I’m going to take a little time to tell you a little bit about myself, because one of my messages is that judges are human. Playing in that PTQ three weeks ago got me thinking about my Magic career and the constant seesaw battle for my soul. Play or Judge? Clearly I’ve chosen a path, but it wasn’t always so easy. My story began, like so many others, with a botched Judge call…
Tuesday, September 9th – There’s no doubt that Sensei’s Divining Top is a very powerful card. In conjunction with fetch lands, it provides repeated top of the library manipulation, resulting in free “virtual card drawing.†The ability to keep good spells floating near the top of the library until needed has also led to a slight depowering of discard spells, with former standouts like Duress and Cabal Therapy seeing a decreasing amount of play.
Monday, September 1st – “Wait. Are you playing?†I got some variation of this question about ten times last Saturday, which by the time you read this is two Saturdays ago. In fact, you’ll notice that Josh Silvestri and I attend the same PTQs and I am constantly one week behind him. What gives?
Tuesday, August 26th – Calling the draft at Nats was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my judging career. By all accounts, from players and judges alike, I did well. I got through my lines without making any flubs and my voice never made any awkward cracks.
Tuesday, August 19th – I’m a little shell-shocked over the decision to cancel the Invitational. We all know the U.S. economy is in the toilet, and responsible companies need to look for measures to cut costs and keep afloat. Is Wizards of the Coast one of those companies? I’m not an economist, but I play one on TV, and the report is that Hasbro, the parent corporation of Wizards of the Coast, had a very good 2007…
Tuesday, August 12th – It’s another busy week for me. I was home for just a few days before heading back out for GP Denver. But my column is still a week behind, so here’s a few random stories from U.S. Nationals…
Tuesday, August 5th – Turning 30 is supposed to be one of major turning points in life. I think I’m supposed to buy a new sports car, or have a kid. Neither seems likely, but I did do my share of soul searching as it were. At this time last year, just after turning 29, the highest level event I’d worked at was a PTQ. One year later I’ve certified for Level 2, judged at 3 GPs (soon to be 4), 1 PT, and my first Nationals.
Tuesday, July 29th – Riki looks back at last week’s intriguing Demigod of Revenge debate, and discusses the rights and wrongs involved when calling a judge over an opponent’s repeated infractions.
Tuesday, July 22nd – Two weeks ago, several articles caused a fair amount of forum chatter with their accounts of rules lawyering. Unfortunately, due to the two-day Prerelease, I had most of my article for last week prepped when these articles came out, and I didn’t have time to whip out this response. Hopefully you all remember these cases…
Monday, July 14th – A full 189 players showed up to do battle for a slot to Berlin on the Fifth of July. After just a few rounds we discovered that Mirrorweave is hands down the most rules intensive card in this Block format. Let’s just hand it the Humility Award now.
