For the last PTQ I entered – Extended format – I put together a Three-Deuce deck on Thursday, played a mini-tournament on Friday (playing six matches total, going 5-1), and played on Saturday, having "tested" the deck for all of three hours. And I ended up going 5-0-2, finishing in the Top 8. For this…
Here’s what prompted this week’s column: A friend of my wife was heading down to Dragon*Con this past week, and they got around to discussing my Magic habits and the stereotype of the Magic player. He said: "Magic players deserve whatever stereotype they get." This coming from a comic book fan who was going to…
Housekeeping items get us started this week: 1) ALL HAIL THE FERRETT. I have been told that all submissions to StarCityCCG.com must begin with this line. I don’t know why I haven’t seen other authors doing it yet; either they are in for a world of rabid-rodent trouble or our new editor is playing a…
Something about my having neither the temporality to be a riverboat gambler, nor the disposition required of an underworld kingpin, is getting in the way of my finding a long-term cash flow. Never mind that I also keep forgetting that the internet cannot yet fully serve me. While I’ve been busy bumbling about the real…
After last week’s article, we decided that we really should put our money where our mouth was and take another Fish deck to Bath’s monthly tournament. I took the Ponza deck that came top-8 in the US, and Andy took Fish deck. I took Ponza mainly because my Counter-Burn deck isn’t ready yet, and Andy…
My wife calls me a weirdo. I personally prefer to think of myself as a concept man. Unfortunately, nobody sees things the way I do. I mean, *I* wanted a Burger King "Titanic" tie-in when the movie came out – I wanted the "Titanic"-sized drink bucket, brimming with 204 ounces of carbonated goodness. When you…
Scene One A convent in the remote snow-covered mountains of the Alps. Nuns are going about their business (fingering their wimples, getting in and out of their habits, pulling the wings off flies, harvesting bees, glaring at small children, etc). Two nuns are sitting in concerned conversation on an ornate garden swing-chair (with Bart Simpson…
Last week, I said good-bye to our former editor-in-chief of StarCity, . This week, I’m saying hello to our NEW editor-in-chief, the Ferrett. Welcome aboard! And now, on to the meat of the article. Okay, now: I want everyone to think of their favorite color to play in Magic. (Thinking of green in all of…
I’m sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t written anything lately. My life has been rather hectic. I’ve been flying between Charlottesville and Seattle, spending a lot of time organizing a move, finding a new apartment and dealing with other miscellaneous stuff. This is all the fun stuff that happens when you move across the country. I’ve…
July 3rd is my birthday, and the first day on my new job as Editor-In-Chief at StarCityCCG. There are definitely worse ways to start off a new year. With that in mind, I figured I’d better answer some questions that ch’all might have about the new guy, and what plans he has in store for…
July 3rd is my birthday, and the first day on my new job as Editor-In-Chief at StarCityCCG. There are definitely worse ways to start off a new year. With that in mind, I figured I’d better answer some questions that ch’all might have about the new guy, and what plans he has in store for…
After Team Paradox’s pitiful performance in Grand Prix – St. Louis, I was a bit worried about our prospects for future Grand Prixs and the Pro Tour. The last minute team of David Bartholow, Rich Frangiosa, and myself managed to ease into 5th place at Grand Prix – Frankfurt with only one bye – one…
Katie Smith, it may interest you to know, is the leading scorer in the WNBA. Why on Earth should you care? Well, my daughter and I have season tickets for the Minnesota , the team on which the talented Ms. Smith plays. We don’t miss a home game. And in a cruel test of devotion…
The DCI generally is heaped with scorn, not praise, but when you think about it, they do a darn fine job under less than optimal circumstances. If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far in the bulk of my MBC testing so far, it’s that there is no one deck that stands above the rest….
As I’ve mentioned in many articles before, I like to build my own decks. One of the things that frustrates me most is when I build a deck that should do well and it doesn’t. What I’d like to explore in this article is the difference between a good deck and an amazing deck. The…
