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My foray into mediocrity at the last Houston Qualifier led me to try it again at one of the early PT: Chicago Qualifiers. After all, what’s a better way to spend an afternoon than going 3-3 with your friends?

Anthony’s last week at StarCity starts off with the thirty-five best red cards in multiplayer… Plus over ten”staples” every self-respecting mountain mage has in their collection! Which Onslaught card has zoomed to #9 on the list? No, it’s not Insurrection.

This is the reward for winning the Invitational? Ouch! If I were to ever be immortalized on a Magic card, I’d be hoping for a better overall effort. I think an Invitational card should be clearly-focused on the character, and it should faithfully capture the likeness of the winner of the Invitational. This is, unfortunately, not the case with Voidmage Prodigy.

Wizards shouldn’t write articles how they’re vexed with the fact that I’m allowed to judge a set on its own merits – and not as it is presented in their carefully-presented propaganda induced visions. Strangely enough, they weren’t featuring Skittish Valesk as one of their preview cards.

Anyhow, I was playing this Etherlords computer card game with a couple of other guys. I had a good time, and after about five games, I wondered aloud to myself what was so different. Then I realized: There were no lands. And hot on the on the cranial-pathway-burning heels of that thought was this:”Man, this is nice.”

Before you start the Hall (which begins today), read this primer so you know how to get the most out of its new, interactive features! Damn, we’re starting to look good on this site – and we’ll look even better now that Alongi’s announcing his StarCity retirement, which should also boost our image.

Thoughtbound Primoc really reads:”If your opponent is playing bad cards, he may gain control of this creature sometime during the game, if your removal and Sparksmith doesn’t get rid of the 1/1 after he pays 2U for it.”

I asked a few of my friends why they hadn’t gotten into Five Color yet; after all, they enjoyed watching Five Color play. Was it the ante? Getting the cards? Not having any powerful cards? Not wanting to use sleeves? Nope; they didn’t want to build the deck, because they didn’t know where to start. And if that is you and why YOU’RE not playing Five Color, then just read on.

Goblin Sligh might just be fast enough to work in Extended. First turn Lackey, second-turn Flunkies, attack for one, drop Goblin Piledriver. Third turn Piledriver #2, Reckless Charge it, attack for twenty-one!?

Geordie won his PTQ this weekend drafting W/R. No less a figure than Kai Budde says that W/R is the way to go in Onslaught Draft. And what card is key to the W/R archetype? Well, you know it’s not a card that begins with”G” or later, but maybe you oughtta read the article to find out.

Island

This is the land that makes blue mana. If you have two of them untapped, your opponent will always worry that you have a Counterspell. As such, many people consider this the best land ever printed. And for good reason! If you have two Forests untapped, what is your opponent going to be scared of? Double Giant Growth?

In recent years, some midwestern players out of Iowa City, Iowa have taken preventative measures a step further. They have begun employing the use of something referred to as”the card count.” The card count is a nearly foolproof manner in which you are able to monitor if your opponent has drawn more cards in a game than they were supposed to.