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Revelations of a Magic Writer

Refusing to give in to the system, I decide to write today’s article. No Magic article has been in me longer than this one, yearning to breathe free. Writing this article is my greatest fear. And maybe my greatest joy as well.

The Best Deck You’re Not Drafting

In the past month of playing at least a draft a day, I’m fairly certain that I’ve broken the MD5 draft format wide open with a single archetype. I basically go into every draft with the idea of forcing this deck in some shape or form, since the deck is extremely flexible and maximizes the power level you can obtain, while still keeping up with the tempo of the format.

Straight Shooting Mirrodin Block

Now with free Rogue Deck List! Recently Chad Ellis and others have published on a deck that I was working on (shh shh secretly) a while back. I will go into detail later as to why I disagree with a lot of what Chad thinks. First of all, here is my version…

The Art of the Bluff

I’d like to turn my attention back to the things that can make small differences in games. Maybe these fundamentals will only increase your odds of winning by a few percentage points, but that can add up. Let’s say your mulligan decisions increase your odds of winning by 5%, attacking properly increases it by 5%, proper playtesting boosts your chances by 7%, and identifying some of your errors and preventing them gives you a 6% edge. You have just increased your chances of winning by 23%. On a long enough timeline, if you keep plugging holes in your game, your losses will exclusively be to bad luck.

Ask Ken, 08/12/2004

Today’s question of:”Can you explain some of the nicknames some players on the Pro Tour have acquired? How did William Jensen get to be known as ‘Baby Huey?’ Why is Eric Taylor so ‘Danger’ous? Since when is ‘Beverly’ a nickname for ‘Nicolas?'” is answered by none other than the Dragon Master himself, Brian Kibler!

Blog Fanatic: Why we play Magic

My thrill, when it came to pro competition, was the accomplishment and not the reward. When I won money at Pro Tour: Mainz, I was thrilled that I had finally finished in the money, more so than with the money I had won. Sure, the money was good, but the part I felt best about was having done so well. This attitude is what separates the true professional Magic players from the weekend warrior Pro Tour players. Gung-ho, must-win Pro players have their eyes on the prize.

Blog Fanatic: Divorce

The only constants, from October of 1995 until the summer of 2002, were the specter of my parent’s divorce, and the game of Magic. The divorce would take me on a soul searching journey up and down the Eastern seaboard, across the seas, and into my heart and mind.

Ask Ken, 08/11/2004

Do you think it’s a good idea for Wizards to let players decide which cards will tournament-legal and easily accessible for the next two years?

Selecting 9th Edition Dilemma – Hammer!

Since Phoenix is a creature, I figure it will win this week’s vote regardless of whatever silly words Ben and I put on the page discussing the merits of each card, but this is a vote the mtg.com readers may get right. For once.

Selecting 9th Edition Dilemma – Phoenix!

Here’s the updated Oracle text for Hammer of Bogardan as of August 1st, 2004:
Hammer of Bogardan deals 3 damage to target creature of player wayyyyyy slower than Barbed Lightning and a turn later than Volcanic Hammer.

RRR2: Skip the rest of your turn. Use this ability only during your upkeep.

The GFC Freshmaker and the Lost Art of Deckbuilding

Four PTQs have gone by in the Ohio Valley for Pro Tour: Columbus, and all four have featured at least one copy of the GFC Freshmaker in the Top 8. In the first PTQ of the season at Origins 2004, three people (including myself) made the final cut with the deck. There have been eight Top Eight appearances by teammates/partners of the GFC in those four PTQs, with more than twice as many top sixteen performances in the same PTQs. I only have one question for you: Why aren’t you playing this deck?

Blog Elemental — My Job Here Is Done

As a special thanks to Jay on the last day of this tremendous experiment, we are running Blog Elemental in the Strategy section. For those of you just catching up with Jay’s deckbuilding, we encourage you to relive the excitement by checking out the Blog Elemental archives. Here’s a snippet from today’s article:”It’s also interesting to note that since version 2.0 of the deck, I’ve had a very respectable 64-11 record in the Casual Constructed room of MTGO. That’s probably a higher winning percentage than I would expect from an evolved preconstructed deck built for casual play.”