You are clearly the most handsome, intelligent, charming, witty, selfless, kind, mentally-stable, engaging writer the internet, and indeed the world, has to offer. How do you deal with the jealousy of those like Nick Eisel, Mike Turian, Paul Sottosanti, and Woodward and Bernstein?
Jim hates to write. I hate to playtest. So basically, what I intend to do from this day forward to satisfy my contract (and I really, really mean it this time) is to use Jimmy and myself as a kind of half-man, half-monster machine; I’ll write about Jimmy’s playtesting data whenever he’s too lazy to do it, and he’ll write whenever the hell he feels inspired to throw one of his crazy metagame-smashin’ decks into the shark pool that is the StarCityGames community. We’ve got a new one for you, so hang on to your knickers and dive in!
In a way I hate to see the end of this dilemma series. I mean, sure, I’ve been getting the butt-end of most of them, but who doesn’t love an underdog?
Ken is very good at being wrong. The only statement he might ever be right about is calling himself the wrongest man ever, but he may be so wrong that he is wrong on that too.
It has been a year now since I unleashed the secret of the”perfect deck” upon you, and my, how the time has crawled. In any case, I have returned to inform the masses that, with the release of Mirrodin block, the “perfect deck” can now be translated effectively from Type I to Type II! Rejoice, all – for another major archetype has entered the arena and will undoubtedly establish a Tier all unto itself!
A while ago I said that countermagic is a key component of Type I. Since that time, Wizards has seen fit to add more and more spells that counters things. As always, the Type I environment is changing, and it is obvious that the need for counters changes with it. One of Stephen Menendian’s recent StarCity forum discussion pieces has been on the utility of Stifle. That’s a valid recognition of one facet of the Counterspell problem that I want to examine today.
My constant requests for article ideas finally yielded the suggestion from Oscar”Cinnamon Buns” Tan that, in lieu of a substantial issue to discuss, I develop a new deck, like in the days of olde tyme Tog-Growing. So I skimmed over a list of set mechanics, figuring it shouldn’t be too hard to find one that hadn’t been broken yet. Kicker was wicked bad, so I finally settled on Threshold.
Johnnny-who-ain’t-written-‘bout-Magic-in-a-while is back for a one-shot. One shot, and I’ll be spent. But, you’ll really enjoy it and say how good it was. Heh.
Aoccdrnig to rseracaeh cnodutced at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
So, long story longer a favor was called in and I was compelled to put my level two judging skills to use at a National Qualifier in the tiny nation of Wachovia in Eastern Europe somewhere. I’m not sure exactly where it is, but as long as the pilot knew where we were going, and the taxi man after him, well… why worry? Everyone is somewhere, and as long as I didn’t lose track of myself I wasn’t going to worry about finding myself on a map.
9. Enter the event! Why come to a Grand Prix, if you’re not going to enter in it? Don’t have a team? Don’t worry! A JSS event will be held on Sunday and plenty of younger players will turn out early, most of which will be teamless. This will provide you with a plethora of players to select from, as well as the few other players who turn out to watch the event. The tournament will also be held in a highly populated area with many people with which you could teach to play and have join up with you. This will also help increase the community of players and longevity of the game.
Three weeks ago, I did something that I had thought I had sworn off – slinging of the magical spells. Last year, at PT: Boston I laid down the cardboard and called it quits, but I came back, and just like everything else, it’s all Flores’s fault.
I haven’t done a tournament report for a while. It’s time. I also haven’t written about T1 for a while. It’s time. I also haven’t won a big tournament for a while. It was about time. March 20, 2004. The big 5-Proxy T1 tourney. It was time.
