When I went to college, the game that was on everyone’s mind— much the same way that Magic is today— was a card game called Setback. And we played it continually. Every moment between classes, you could always find three to eight people sitting at the same table, dealing cards and drinking coffee. We used…
[shamelessly taking a page from Taylor’s last article…] Belbe frowned. The hulking automaton was certainly impressive in size, but its movements were a study in inefficiency. For every step of the metallic beast, it would creak, spin its torso, wind a tangle of gears and eventually let loose a blast of steam. Belbe found the…
“I’m going to try this, and see what happens,” I said, trying to sound confident.“During your End Step, your .” “Ok.” “ your Ramsian Lieutenant.” “Ok.” “ your , with a Squee.” “Ok.” “My turn, untap, get back Squee, draw. Cast on your and (inactive, of course). your Lin Sivvi.” “Ok.” “Cast . Done.” “Ok….
Here’s something for you to stab up your smart-hole: when you think about dying, do you think about it as missing out on a whole bunch of stuff that you would have done, but now won’t get to because you’re corpsified? In a weekend rife with missed opportunities, I’m surprised to have come away with…
For those of you who don’t know {laughter}, and have been banned in Extended. Normally, this would mean just about as much to me as the going price for chicken feed in Afghanistan, but I know it’ll affect a lot of people out there, so I thought I’d give my two cents. Two cents I…
I think most of you know that I’ve been pretty pleased with the Masques block when it comes to casual play. From impractical, killer beasts like to fun strategic elements like the Mongers, Wumpi, and , the block so far reeks of success for casual players. Every time I read another missive from the "Magic…
You may remember my brief advert last year for the reunion tour? No ? Yes ? Well, suffice it say that I managed to lay my hands on a couple of tickets for their Laccolith Gig at the Milton Keynes Dustbowl, part of the ‘Urza Rock N’ Roll But I Like It’ Telim’Tour. As the…
General Sherman, the man who burned Atlanta, has been much maligned in recent years — but ya know, he had the right idea. Hold on a sec, though. I’ve noticed that one of the odd things about the Magic websites is that the guys who write the LEAST about actually PLAYING Magic are invariably the…
I have to commend StarCityCCG.com on its newer, happier web look. See all the snazzy pictures up there now? And those entry-page graphics! WOOOOOOSH! A star! Was there a star there before? Whatever, I didn’t notice it, which might be the point. And I had no idea Manuel Bevand was so dashing. (Though with that…
I organized my first Magic tournament last Wednesday. Well,”organized” might be overstepping a little. I had contacted Ballpark Cards in San Francisco to see whether they still ran weekly Type 2 tournaments as their website said. The manager, Matthew Scott, told me that the website hadn’t been updated in literally years (“how did you find…
The list of what went right this weekend is too short to warrant space on Star City’s server. I’ve broken this week’s story into Mini-Series form. This will be a long one, but it’s chock full of funny, and more than worth your while. Episode 0: The OMC consults an , Adam Consults for the…
and are banned in Extended. And, I think, they needed to be. Because of them, ultra-accelerated decks are dominating one of the most interesting environments ever. rotated out of Type II, as it was too powerful– giving each color access to a virtual , but the bona fide remained, by virtue of its presence in…
The Pro Tour New York Qualifier season ended rather unceremoniously for me; my last shot at qualifying was waylaid by a family emergency and I couldn’t attend. So, I never got a shot at throwing Dancing Dead Things in front of the /Illusions juggernaut to see if my theories worked. On the plus side, my…
I’ve let the last Extended PTQ pass me by. Despite my initial enthusiasm for the”new Extended,” I only played in one qualifier with my cool Limey deck. It’s too bad, too, since Iain (the co-designer) and I combined for a 9-2 record in Swiss with the deck in our two PTQs. My brain has almost…
The wait will be an hour and forty minutes,” the hostess told us. looked aghast. We walked out. I said“I told you… everyone in this town goes to Outback on the weekends.” “Yeah. But that’s ridiculous.” And it is. Really. But hey, people are willing to wait for a place like that. Why? Atmosphere. So,…
