Select

In Charleston, we finally got the chance to have all of us together at the same time. For the final tweaks in our decklists, we grouped ourselves by archetypes. Since every team agreed with sticking to Plan A, and each player was concerned the most with his own deck, why not discuss the final changes with someone who’s going to play the exact same deck and leave your team mates to do the same?

At Pro Tour: Prague most of the teams for Charleston were already formed. I was teaming with Bernardo da Costa Cabral and Kamiel Cornelissen. We approached some other friendly teams, inquiring about playtesting together. I let Bernardo know about my availability — I could move at any time, to any place, for testing purposes. In the end it was decided we should all gather in Brussels in Bernardo’s own house, after Grand Prix: Torino.

Chris revisits his popular “Train of Thought” article format… and no, I’m not talking about the card-drawing sorcery. He tackles a number of interesting points, throws in a decklist, and shares some quality cheesecake. What’s not to like?

June was a crazy month for me. I found myself dashing from one place to another. I had the idea of writing an article about my experiences playing Magic in four different countries, but eventually I realized that writing a series would be better, because of both the size and content of the article.

I now have the time to come back home and write for StarCityGames.com on a consistent basis. Writing the Dailies the other week was a lot of fun, and I look forward to the freedom and flexibility afforded to writers here. It feels good to be back – I started writing for Pete back in 1999! When I saw that Steven Menendian was recently celebrating his 100th column for Star City, it made me wonder – how many columns have I written here?

Veteran Japan reporter and Sealed Deck workhorse Eli Kaplan steps in for the Ferrett, with a satchel of issues and miscellaneous thoughts as he brushes up for Grand Prix: Hiroshima.

This week, Wizards of the Coast has given the community a chance to select one of eleven dragons for Selecting 10th Edition. I give you the straight rundown on each of the contenders, including the order they will finish in the vote, and the order they should finish in the vote, all things considered.

I guess for me the moral of this whole blog is that if you want to be a serious gamer, you really need to play as many games as possible. Zelda, Poker, Draft, Worlds Decks, Megaman, Survivor, Standard… they all expand your capacity for strategic thought. The more strategies become second nature to you, the faster you can make correct decisions.

I was a little mean at some points earlier this week, but today’s article is going to be all sunshine and cuddles. I’m not really a vicious, angry person, and the few people who saw me drunk can attest to this. You really have to take what I say with a grain of salt, which of course means it’s what I really think, but I don’t want to suffer the consequences of saying it. Thus, if I insulted you in some way – this week or ever – then I was kidding. Ha ha!

Having myself fallen one round short of the joy of drafting Coldsnap, it is left to the two Grand Prix tournaments from last weekend to illumine us as to what is actually going on with the Limited formats that we will be seeing as key highlights this weekend at various National Championships…

It’s been a couple of days since I got to the Atlanta House, I think. I’m actually not sure if it is Tuesday, Wednesday, midnight or noon. So much happens; with so many monitors my brain is on stimulation overload. Here are some things that I think have happened, but can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of them.

From the time he was a mere pup, Fang knew he wasn’t like the other dogs. While his friends enjoyed fetching sticks, burying bones, and chasing cars, Fang found himself more interested in posting blogs and listening to Panic! At the Disco…