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If you regularly follow some of the columnists who are also DCI judges, or read the “behind the scenes” coverage of pro tours, you’ve probably heard about Elder Dragon Highlander, a format that is quite popular for judges to run casually after hours on the Pro Tour. Right now I have zero interest in Time Spiral Block Constructed, and little interest in Standard. So I decided to set up a multiplayer game at our local game shop on Sept 1st… and just to make it interesting, I’m making it Elder Dragon Highlander!

Over the next two weeks, Rich Hagon takes a long hard look at the shape of the Magic year ahead. This week, bold predictions abound, including all the formats and locations for PTQs and PTs alike, plucked God-like from the air, and an insight into the new world of four-expansion Magic. Plus the best accountancy joke in the world

This weekend I attended the first PTQ in Northern California of the season, because it literally wasn’t even scheduled until recently. To get the obvious out of the way, I lost. I went 3-0 then 0-2, drop, because I was so annoyed after round 5 that I most likely would’ve just played like garbage the next two rounds anyway. I played W/G Aggro heavily metagamed against U/G and Pickles. I’d been working on it for the past few weeks, tweaking for the expected metagame…

When did the MTGO crash become so frequent? It seems like it happens every few hours, and it’s so pathetic. Think about the insane amount of income Wizards get from Magic Online. In the draft room alone, a some form of draft starts every 2-3 minutes. That’s twenty times an hour that Wizards made roughly $13, multiplied by eight for each draft. That’s $49,920 a day, from the draft room alone. It seems like they could afford a decent server, given how long Magic Online has been operational.

Eighteen games, all of which ended in horrific face-beatings. And here’s where the sadomasochism kicks in: Honestly, I wanted to know how bad it could get. How long could I endure playing with this same set of cards before the universe broke down and handed me a win? It was Tenth Edition — would I go zero-for-ten on Tenth? The writer in me went, “Wow, that’s a pretty good title,” even as the player in me cringed….

Say hello everybody to your 2007 Invitational Storyteller! Oh man, am I excited! I’ll be sure to share said excitement with you next week, but I still have a show to produce and this week is a goodie. I have a nice long chat with our own Richard Feldman and Zac Hill on getting better at Magic, the Invitational, Xth, Block Constructed, and more while I let you hear the worst Bad Beat story of all time.

Last year, I had a few choice words to say on the subject of the Hall of Fame voting… and rather than go on again about how Mike Long most emphatically does not, double-underscore exclamation-point, belong in the Hall of Fame, I would raise the one guideline that matters when it comes to voting for the Hall of Fame:

“…The Hall does not bestow the luminous shine of greatness to the Players, it is the Players who grant esteem to the Hall.”

Sean is currently taking a brief break from his column… so today’s Magical Hack comes from Phil Barker. He brings us a comprehensive breakdown of the Time Spiral Block Constructed metagame, before turning his eye to something a little different. What do you think of playing a little Core Set “Block” Constructed?

I was recently thinking that I wanted to do something special for my 200th article. After come consideration, I have decided to pull out 200 cards that I think are really keen and that you should be playing with and write them all up. As I search through my cards for the goods, I have come across some real stinkers. These are some of the worst cards of all time. What I thought I would do today is to share some of these classic bombs, and then build some decks around them…

Hello everyone, I’m back. August is not an easy month for someone whose job is to write about tournament Magic, but at least we have Block Constructed season to talk about. Plus, some Lorwyn information is starting to leak out; MTGSalvation has already spoiled 21 cards*. And there are always the random strategic concepts that I’ll see applied in a game and I think, “that would make a great article.”

My last two columns were about staple rares that I think that budget players should try to pick up. Many people commented on the fact that the lists were “too long” and had “too many cards” on them to be considered “staples.” While I addressed that issue at the beginning of last week’s column, I want to come back to it from a different angle.

Last week was a long, hard slog, with too much work, a nasty cold and no Magic. In short, exciting things failed to happen. What was worse was that I had already bought some online Tenth Edition packs, but the release events didn’t start until Friday. I knew the packs were there, and that I had to wait to open them. It was like being a kid two weeks before Christmas. The weekend, however, promised to be better. My goal was to play a lot of Magic, and to hit as many formats as possible.

I have to say, Aaron Forsythe’s column last Friday put a huge grin on my face. When they first listed the categories for the Magic Invitational this year, the “Storyteller” category certainly raised an eyebrow and got the imagination working. Then, when they pushed back the ballot announcement, that raised expectations further – why the delay? What had changed? What was going on behind the scenes? Let’s dig into what Aaron said and figure out what’s going on…