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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.

Do any notable pros have obvious and exploitable tells, like scratching their head, or swearing furiously?

If I received a dollar each time someone said”Affinity has been hated out of the metagame”, I’d be Dave frigging Williams. Victims of their own success, Affinity decks have been rightfully feared since the Block began. Fast, consistent, devastating and deadly. But nowadays, their chances are scoffed and derided. Apparently, Ravager is as likely to win as a dolphin at a dog show.

So what’s changed?

It’s still early days for the MD5 metagame, and I’m a bit short of decklists. However, I can give you the breakdown of the results so far. I will also do a card by card count for Mono-Green T8 decks, and do a very short report/analysis on the Mono-Green I took to T4 in a thirty-eight-player GPT last weekend.

I’m not going to bother with foreshadowing. I won the PTQ, got the girl, and saved the day. By that of course I mean, I won the PTQ with the deck that my teammates and I worked on, tweaked, and felt was the best deck since day one, and my preparation was rewarded with a dominating day that included four total game losses on the way to a 9-0-2 record and qualification for Pro Tour: Columbus. If you’re still searching for the best deck in Mirrodin Block Constructed, Joey Bags is here for you. He will tell you about the deck, all the matchups, and why he’s playing Ouphe Vandals in the main.

I have the quick Chromatic Sphere, Leonin Squire, Leonin Squire start and am attacking early and often. He has removal, but it comes in the form of Devour in Shadow, so his life is still going down. By the time he gets Consume Spirit, I have a Trinket Mage and Aether Spellbomb, so his spells fizzle (and grab me more cogs). To add insult to injury, I have a Leonin Elder, which brings my life up to twenty-five. He Fireballs to try and clear the board, I save a Squire with the Spellbomb, drop a second Trinket Mage to join him and my opponent concedes.

Which of all the Mirrodin block mechanics makes you gurgle with joy and why?

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.

Game One: Osyp is, simply put, a national treasure. His outlandish tales and bubbly personality are the envy of the whole Magic-playing community. As has been said before, women want him, and men want to be him. Osyp’s deck is Red/Green with like, you know, guys I guess? And some spells? Lands too, I think. This game, he kills Glissa and plays a haste guy, kills Tangle Golem and plays a haste guy, then plays another haste guy. Since I am incredibly non-masterful, I actually, somehow, did not win this game. I can think of at least two people who would have won it, but I’m not gonna name names. I don’t want to make anyone blush.

You thought Friday was big? As MyFeetStink said in Thursday’s Forum thread,”The fun is in the journey, not in the destination.” Well strap yourselves in, kiddies, because we’re going on a bit of a roller-coaster featuring more game recaps and ch-ch-ch-changes!

What’s the best place you’ve eaten while at a Magic event? What’s the worst?

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.