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Magic: The Gathering News

a closer look at keywords: wither

to be honest with everyone, this is probably the first thing ive written about magic the gathering, but i figured i might as well start somewhere. in the game of magic the gathering there are countless different keywords, some being common, like trample, or rarely used or seen, like splice. what i wanted to do was take a closer look at some of the different keywords out there, and see just how they change the average game.

Blue: The Color of Schadenfreude

Does the above card seem a bit unfair to you? I see that Bacheeze has already poisoned your minds with his anti-blue propaganda. These are the words of one who has had his 7 mana-Force of Nature Unsummoned one too many times. He seems to think that those of us who play blue are all a bunch of malcontents who deal with our misery by spreading it around. This is entirely true.

Emerald Knights: A Palace of Nerdery

Before last Sunday I hadn't been to a proper game store since I was in middle school. Over ten years ago. If you decide to stop reading right now because I obviously don't care enough about MTG to be writing this thing, I don't blame you. But I tell you, friends, as someone who has denied the utter awesomeness of their hobby for too long, that going to Emerald Knights in Burbank made me feel at home. I want to tell you about it and explain why I will be back many times in the future.

A Symphony of Evil: Javi's Black Deck

My friend Javi (who will join this group eventually that lazy sack) is a masterful MTG player and deck-constructor. Hell, he's damn impressive nerd all around. One time he made a Black deck out of my cards, and it is pretty devestating despite the fact that I never really collected Black and thus don't have multiples of good cards for it. It has more creatures than most Black decks (again, my fault) but uses it's excessive Mana to deal absurd amounts of damage with them.

Blue: The Color of Dishonor and Subterfuge

When I used to play Magic every day during 7th grade, one of my regular opponents was a kid named Eddie. He played an all-Blue, deck, the first I'd ever seen. At that point I was even more creature-obsessed than I am now and my deck were unwieldy hulks practically begging to be shamed by an all-Blue deck. I couldn't hurt him. Every time I tried to do something he had a response, a way to negate what I was doing. He would barely ever hurt me. He would win games just by making me play for so lo...

Old Magic: A Rant

Running this World has prompted me to think about MTG on a deeper level than I ever have before. In attempts to contextualize it, explain it, research it, and understand the parts of it that I don't yet understand, I have come to an unexpected conclusion: I'm old.

News: A Quick Homage to Our Benefactor

Without Richard Channing Garfield the world would be a much grayer and less interesting place today, at least for all of us. He created Magic in college, playtested it throughout, accidentally found a publisher for it, and wound up the the most well-known and successful paper game designer in the world (sorry Guygax, make something new why don't ya?). He does not seek the limelight, has not had a snappy biography written about him (or his game, amazingly enough) and I thought we should pay a ...

Shadow: Why, God, Why?

Any time a feature is introduced in an MTG set and not replicated in subsequent sets, balancing issues are surely forthcoming. You wind up with one set that can do things the others can't, forcing players to counter that set with other cards from it, and generally limiting the creativity with which one can effectively play the game. Playing these types of cards is like playing trap defense in hockey or boxing like Floyd Mayweather: you might win, but neither you, your opponents, nor the peopl...

Fallen Empires: The Worst Ever?

I started playing MTG in 1994, the same year that the Fallen Empires set hit the market. It was, in fact, the first new set released after I started playing, making me one excited nine-year-old. I harangued my father, he took my friends and I to Gameworks again and again, and the booster packs started to mount. The problems only started to occur once we got them open.

News: My Game

Where were you in 1993? Thinking about starting a tech company? Starting elementary school? Awaiting a 1996 Daft Punk party after which you would be conceived? It's been eighteen years, but the game that solidified my dorkdom for good is still coming out with new sets, still fun as hell to play, and deserves some love dammit. To that end, I have started this World: A Magic: The Gathering Spot.

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