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This summer has been completely insane for me. I’ve covered U.S. Nationals, Pro Tour: Seattle, Grand Prix: Orlando, The StarCityGames.com Power 9 tournament, Grand Prix: New Jersey, and the first Vs. System Pro Circuit event so far, and on Tuesday I will be heading out to San Francisco to see my first Magic Worlds. Today I’m going to tell you what I learned about Block Constructed during that period of time, take a brief look forward to what you can expect to see at Worlds, and tell some more tales.

Since the last Rule of Law dealt with the difference between playing something and putting it into play, it only makes sense to have this one deal with the actual mechanics of playing spells and abilities. Most spells and abilities don’t need the detail I am about to describe, but those that do have important subtleties that make them special.

At the local store where I draft, we draft a format known as chaos draft where people are allowed to draft any sets they choose. Most choose to draft sets from Mirrodin block, but often opt to draft 555 or DDD rather than MD5. My question is given such an environment, what combination of packs would you choose to draft?

I love Magic and I love the movies. Isn’t it about time that we combined the two? I took five classic lines from movies both recent and of yore. Those five lines form the title of five different decks. Each of these theme decks, therefore, revolves around that classic line.

I’m horrible with directions. I get lost going from my house to work at StarCityGames.com, and I live right around the corner. The stories of me losing my way on the road are legendary, and so it’s imperative that I have a good navigator to get me to where I need to go. Here are a couple of stories about trips to Magic tournaments where my own navigational skills have let me down

Thunderstaff is soooooo underrated and soooooo good. Cards like it and the aforementioned Fatespinner and Sun Droplet seem innocuous enough, and you often don’t realize that they defeated you until after the match is over. Thunderstaff ended up being key in several games this draft. One-power creatures do nothing and two-power creatures are as worthless as one-power creatures; since these comprise the bulk of one’s draft deck, Thunderstaff provides virtual card advantage by neutralizing multiple threats at once.

The Fifth Dawn picks plus the draft recap.

The road trip. It’s a time honored tradition in which you get a bunch of your buddies together, cram into a small car, and talk about Magic for several hours while you drive to the PTQ/Grand Prix/Pro Tour/bathitorium. Road trips are part of the reason many people play Magic – it’s an opportunity to travel with your friends for several hours, with nothing to do but shoot the breeze. Friendships are formed on these drives, tech is distilled, and many a fast food meal is consumed. Every now and again, you’ll get a minor inconvenience, but it’s those truly horrific road trips that not only stick out in the mind long after the tournament has ended, but also make for good stories and bonding experiences.

How often do you buy new deck protectors? Do you use new ones before every tournament and do you sleeve your sealed/draft decks?

The basic reports from New Jersey, like decklists and top 8 match results, have been on the Wizards site for a week. No doubt reports have also been trickling in to the esteemed editor of this site and should be up soon, detailing the specifics of Day 2 glory. Unfortunately, this is not one of those articles. Despite grand ambition and an attempt at deck-building genius, I managed to finish 6-2-1 in 132nd place. But isn’t there more to playing cards than ridiculous cash prizes?

I liked playing this deck so much more than Affinity. It had game against every deck in the field – it could burn away Affinity creatures, wasn’t very vulnerable itself to the artifact hate of Freshmaker and U/G Shard, could counter key spells again Tooth and Nail, Ironworks, and B/G control, and could out-creature and out-counter Big Red. I began winning again – although I had dug myself into a huge hole with my Affinity venture, Cheesequake was the meal which nourished me back to a non-embarrassing 1650. Please, do not ask how badly I had fallen. Let’s just say that breaking 1600 was a cause for celebration.

What was Magic theory like when the game first came out? What was the metagame at that time? Who were the big players (the Kais) of the day?