1. Most illogical event. From my own history: I cast Wall of Ice & gave it firebreathing (with what lungs it exhaled I don't care to learn). My opponent paralyzed it, somehow preventing my wall from protecting me by rendering it motionless (unlike all that hyperactive ice in my freezer, which likes to disco while I'm at work). After a few turns it was untapped again and he attacked me with a vampire. I cast jump to let it block (It has legs, hmm, that might explain the paralysis working!), but he proceeded to frighten it to death (read: cast terror), which gave the vampire a +1/+1 counter from drinking its blood and getting stronger...
2. A day in the life. Match reports from the point of view of the cards themselves. "So there I was, gnawin' on a bone, wondering what me and the lad'z was gonna do when dis flash of light sends us scamperin' and some wind rips us outta da caze and drops us smack infront of da biggest, meanest snake ever. Some guy in robes hid behind us. Well we weren't havin' none o that and we hid behind him! Den he muttered something and da ladz near jumped in front of the snake and it et all of 'em. Rotglob an I tripped which is why we lived. Da guy then pulled out a stick and wiggled it, a bit of light smacked da snake and it burned up. Next ting I knew we wuz back in da cave and needed changin' like we were still lil mumps." From the journal of Gorbag, Goblin Raider. For those who are curious: player taps a Quicksilver amulet, summons a goblin raider, uses it to block a Ribbon Snake, then kills the snake with a rod of ruin.
3. Why the big obsession with websites that list deck composition and articles on deck construction, but nothing that talks about actually playing the game (except in the form of tourney reports)?
4. Worst Moves in a Clutch Situation. Hmm, I'll cast Necropotence, Ivory Tower, and Library of Leng, Mwa-ha-ha-ha... uh... I have to skip my discard phase AND my draw phase? Uh oh. (From the days of Ice Age when Necropotence read "in your discard phase" instead of "At end of turn" and the Library read "Skip your discard phase" I actually made this mistake myself *blush*)
5. 101 uses for a pre-eratta Ring of Ma'Ruff. Personally, I liked the time a friend used it to get one of the 7-inch promotional Chaos Orbs, though going for the Ace of Spades was fun too. If only he'd had some Tarot Cards at the time... I once leaned over to the guy at the next table and asked to borrow a card he'd just traded for. $#@%&! DCI team ruined a great card!
6. An open letter to Magic R&D: Please bring back Ante cards and make playing for ante mandatory at all DCI events! (Actually, I'm dead serious about this one, I think it would have a wonderful effect on deck strategy at the pro level)
7. Multi-Genre Magic, or how to beat you friend's B5:Narn deck with Big Green Stompies.
8. Top ten reasons the players on the pro tour are idiots. "10. They are impressed with the Masticore's ability to regenerate in a game that includes cards like splinter, detonate, crumble, swords to plowshares, wrath of god, disintegrate, incinerate, control magic, snuff out, shatter storm, balance, Avatar of Woe, Shauku Endbringer, Pit Spawn, Abu Jafar, Apocalypse, Jokulhaups..."
9. Viral Marketing, or How to get your friends addicted to magic as a way of increasing your own potential pool of tradeable cards. (no I'm not really that mercenary). Seriously though, articles on how to introduce new people to the game are in short supply and quite a useful thing. I personally collect the precon decks for this reason. They're themed, decent decks, and you can trade the whole thing to a new player for a single good card giving them a great starting point, and you a $12 card (which they got lucky and pulled from their second booster) for $9.95.
10. Uh, that's all I can think of on short notice.
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On a totally unrelated side note, I can't say as I like Apprentice for the selfish reason that it won't differentiate between types of counters and I love playing with counters. This means that putting +1/+0 counters (with a dwarven armorer), +2/+2 counters (with a dwarven armory), and +1/+1 counters (with tons of different cards) onto a pack of critters with fading just gets messy and nearly unplayable. Not to mention I can't use my favorite Thallid deck, which includes Thrive and a few other +1/+1 counter cards. And if I can't play my favorite decks, why play?
Anyone ever try playing with the Interactive Encyclopedia? How well does that work? Does it work?
