Untap, Upkeep, Draw

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Welcome Back!

It's been a while since I have updated the site, but plan on adding a lot this year...especially as "Gatecrash" approaches in less than a month. For starters, here's a good article from the Wizards site about the art of the chump block, something that I think might be lost on some in regular play.

Chump Blocking

Read and enjoy...then implement!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

New Thinking

Okay, so with my impending return to Jersey and to Magic within the Inner Circle, I bring with me a few ideas for changing up our game play. Some are old school ideas and some are new...but hopefully they all add a little more fun, excitement and flair to our Magic experience. As always, all suggestions are welcome.

Magic: As It Was Intended

First, I want to stress playing more 1 on 1 duels. 5-way games are nice sometimes...but, honestly, take up most of a night. Wouldn't you rather play more games than just 2 or maybe 3 "big" games? I would...and will.

Tribal Magic

For those that enjoy the bigger games more, I want to see if we can turn those in to the "Tribal" games. Bring out your vampires, zombies, elves, angels, goblins, etc. and see who has the reigning champions of our world. Free-for-all, two-headed, whatever...let's make multi-player maybe mean something other than random politicking that wastes the better part of the night.

Playing for Prizes and Ante

I have always been a fan of playing for something in 1v1 duels. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular ( unless you are up for it, that is ). It can be a play-set of commons you don't have, or an uncommon, whatever. As long as it is something we both want for some reason, it can be anything. For me, and many people I have played with in the past, it just adds an extra element to the games. Also, it hopefully makes people pay attention and play better. Just an idea.

Also, concerning prizes, we can run tournaments where we all drop a Rare in to the pot and divvy up the spoils to the winners. We can, of course, discuss the "hows" and "whos" when it is time to get down to it.

Make no mistake, these ideas are not intended to make the games all serious and whatnot...but to add that extra element to the games we play.

Competitive Magic

I'm not sure how many of you care to take your game to the shop and test your deck building skills against other players outside of the Circle, but for those that do...let's do it! I would love to see how the group represents itself in a competitive atmosphere. Mike and Pat just did it for the Avacyn Pre Release and had a really good time, as did I here in AZ.

I would gladly sit and playtest with anyone from the group for these Friday/Monday Night Magic events at Close Encounters. I would also gladly loan ANY of my cards to anyone in need of that extra bit to make their deck stronger for that purpose. Sort of a "card pool" of sorts. Anything to help you out.

I understand that some of you might not care enough to bother, but even storming the shop one time in force and seeing how we come out would be a good time, I think. At worst you could raid their $1 Rares and leave with some good stuff.