On Saturday, December 20th, someone broke into our Roanoke, Virginia warehouse and stole some cards from us.
That”someone” now has a $10,000 bounty on their head, which will remain in place until we find them.
Do you have information about this crime? Let us know, and you could end up $10,000 richer.
What a mess. What a mess. First of all, as I’ve read the forum thread to Geordie Tait’s article, I’ve grown sadder and sadder.
GT has decided to write a card advantage article for new players. Fine. We start debating the finer points of it. Fine. People get heated. Even this is fine.
There are two not-fines. One from Oscar Tan. One from GT.
10 G’s for helping to catch thieves, Sullivan and Aten are qualifyin’, and Knut season greets with some Christmas beats all in the lastest edition of the StarCityGames.com Digest.
Wizards has apparently taken a liking to the Blue/Red color combination in the last two blocks, as it has been completely dominant in the format before either of the small expansions are released. Last year it was Sparksmith, Lavamancer’s Skill, and Mistform Wall. This year it’s Electrostatic Bolt, Spikeshot Goblin, and Neurok Spy. Go figure.
While I wouldn’t go as far to say the U/R is absolutely unbeatable in triple Mirrodin Limited, I’ll say that there have been very few times when I’ve had a solid version of the archetype that I’ve actually lost.
It’s probably no surprise that I felt that Bonesplitter needed to be in here. Nothing says”aggressive” like a spell that gives +2/+0 and keeps on giving even after the creature dies. I also wanted something cheap to stop other creatures. Pacifism had been my spell of choice ever since those impotent, slack-jawed cretins in R&D decided to drop Reprisal from 8th Edition. Why did you do that? Why? Why, dear, God, oh, why? What Rhodes Scholar decided that a White spell that costs 1W and only blows up creatures that are really big was too good?
I’m sorry, what were we talking about?
To begin, I’d like to go back to something I glossed over in”Counting Card Advantage.” A lot of the forum discussion touched on”virtual” card advantage, but I doubt all readers know exactly what this is. It was a term coined by Eric”Danger” Taylor in”Virtual Card Advantage in Urza’s Block, a Sub-Category of Card Advantage Theory” (The Dojo, August 4, 1999). EDT’s classic article actually discussed two specific sets of scenarios, and the first concluded:
You can’t ignore tokens when counting card advantage.
Continued discussion of Card Advantage Theory, including cards headed to the graveyard, and a treasure from the Usenet archives.
When you read this, I’d like you to e-mail me the most confusing, perplexing, tooth-gnashing, ball-breaking card advantage conundrum you can think of. And I’ll do my best to explain it to you in one stroke, using a very short checklist. In other words, I’d like you to help me write the next column.
If I can’t – again, take note of the grain of common sense needed – then I admit defeat and will shut up.
The colorless cards in 8th Edition are a mixed bunch. There are some very good, first-pick quality cards. There are also a large number of awful cards. Here are some points to note about artifacts in the format. Note that I have also included the non-basic lands in this section, for the sake of completeness. Not that there are enough of them to interfere with the flow of the article much.
Wow, I can’t tell you the last time I wrote an actual”Mixed kNuts” column. You know, the kind with the Kitchen Sink, and the Cheesecake, and the randomness generally associated with, uh, me? Since it’s Christmas, I’m gifting myself (and verbing too) the time to write something fun, and since it’s not particularly fair to post some other writer on Christmas (nobody reads Christmas Day, silly), I’ll proudly fill the void.
Jingle Bells
Mike Aten Smells
Geordie Laid an Egg
Nick Eisel Lost To Ken Krouner
And Somebody Qualified For Kobe
We attempted to find Christmas cheer in Tim’s article, but we are not miracle workers.
Ben Rubin shows his Blue Collar, Romeo returns from the dead, and Type I Week causes a raucous ruckus, all in the lastest edition of The StarCityGames.com Digest.
Metagame/hate decks are something I never recommend for the reason that they aren’t very powerful – and even if they are, they usually don’t even approach the power level of the targeted decks. Despite effective hosers, the lack of inherent power is most visible in match-ups outside the scope of its hate. Another risk is that you may not even play the deck you are supposed to be hosing. The second reason is that in degenerate formats, more powerful decks have the best chance of just being more broken and faster than another incredibly powerful deck.
I want to talk about how Ken Krouner isn’t right when he says Green is the best color in Mirrodin draft.
One of the things posted recently in response to an Eisel article on Red pick orders was that when you argue with someone, you’re saying they’re”stupid and wrong.” I feel Ken is wrong in his observations – but I don’t feel Ken is the least bit stupid. The man is known for being somewhat unorthodox and at times even a little ahead of the curve; neither of which are attributes I personally find offensive in writing. That being said, I do disagree. And I do bite my thumb at him.
In essence, this deck does what Baron Harkonnen did back in 1997. It tries to devote itself to just making sure that the opponent does not win. When you play Chronoscepter, your basic plan is this:
If you are looking for a completely rogue creation to play both before and after the Bannings, don’t miss this article!
