Tuesday, July 8th – Regionals has always been somewhat of a hurdle in the Magic season. And by hurdle, I mean that it is a flat out Great Wall of China, at least for me. The weather is hot and muggy, and the tournament always brings out tons of people, making for logistical and rulings hell. Things have actually gotten better recently, but let’s take a look back through the past few years of Regionals…
Tuesday, July 1st – I’ve been asked by a few people, in person and online, to write about some of the recent changes in Magic. First up is Shards of Alara, which brings us two related changes, mythic rares and smaller sets. I think a lot of the focus of the community – too much in fact – has been on the potential negative effects of mythic rares.
Tuesday, June 24th – Last week I detailed one of my major Japanese translation calls at Hollywood. Here’s the second. I joined the call already in the appeals process, so I sped to the table to assist the judge on the call (I believe it was Jaroslav Karban, L2 Czech Republic) and Sheldon in adjudicating the situation. I like using big words like “adjudicating” because they fill me with self-importance. Now if I only knew what they mean.
Tuesday, June 17th – I was born in Japan, and I am still a citizen of Nippon. I live and work in the United States as a Resident Alien. That means I have a Green Card (which is physically pink), not that I am a zombie face-sucker. Technically speaking, English is my second language as I grew up with Japanese in the home, but they are more like 1A and 1B. I took Saturday Japanese school classes all the way through junior high. I am conversationally fluent in the spoken language, I can read a newspaper, but my writing has really atrophied to the point where I probably couldn’t compose a halfway decent e-mail in Japanese.
Monday, June 9th – In my first hour on duty with Public Events (formerly Side Events), I saw a bunch of wacky things happen. One of them resulted in a DQ for Cheating-Fraud. Since I was busy with one of the other odd happenings, I only caught bits and pieces of this one from separate judges and players, but it basically amounted to this…
Tuesday, June 3rd – Statistically speaking, it’s safe to say that most of you have never played in a Pro Tour. Even more likely, very few of you have judged in a PT. I’ve never done the former, but now that I’ve joined the ranks of the latter, boy do I have stories to tell. I’ve been telling people that judging Pro Tour: Hollywood was the best weekend of my life. That’s a tall claim, and for it to be true it either means I’ve led a boring life or the PT was that damn awesome
Tuesday, May 27th – Self-improvement is at the heart of the modern Magic article. You want it. We, the writers promise it. And you complain when you don’t think you’re getting your money’s worth, whether it’s free or Premium. My goal in my articles is to make you a better Magic player. I have a sure-fire tip that is guaranteed to help you improve…
After reading Ben Bleiweiss’ article, I have my own pet theory on the reason behind the supposed death of American Magic. It’s not because of poker. It’s not the result of poor internet etiquette, either. My finger is pointed squarely at geography.
Mirrodin looks to alter the face of Standard more than any other incoming set. The set is chock full of artifacts. It is also chock-full of fun combos. Some of these combos are getting talk as serious Standard contenders; others are, at best, Tier Two, reserved only for casual and Limited environments. But what are the coolest fifteen?
I realize a U/W Control Onslaught Block decklist is nothing new, but it was groundbreaking when my teammate Ian Welter came up with the idea a month and a half ago. The extra month I had to test the deck before Grand Prix: London made all the difference. My deck was better tuned, and I knew how to play it better than the hordes of people who had been playing it for only a week….
The Claw, Darwin Kastle’s top 8 deck from Pro Tour: Venice, is dead… But this doesn’t mean you have to give your Kilnmouth Dragons away to the local kids! Although the modified Explosive Vegetation incarnation of the Claw is now obsolete, Dragons can live on as a version of a R/W Control deck. Basically, the Neo-Claw takes the powerful control elements of MWC, and adds board-controlling burn and important tools for control mirrors from Red to create a nice complement to the powerful flying finishers.
