As many of you know, I’m currently planning my wedding and when I couldn’t decide what to write about I decided to use the theme of Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue to cover all of my basis. I’ve had a rough few weeks with Magic and wanted to share the changes I’ve been making to improve that.

Something New and Something Blue

Last week I discussed issues I’ve had with members of the Magic community accepting me and treating me with respect. This week I am going to discuss a part of Magic that I’ve had trouble accepting myself: playing blue. My dislike of blue is old news, I’ve written about it before. From day one as a Magic player I’ve hated blue, counterspells weren’t my thing, however, I found myself having trouble being a truly successful Legacy player while remaining so stubborn. It was time for something new so I finally caved and built infect to run in both Modern and Legacy.

I’ve chronicled my struggle to find a deck that I both enjoy and is strong enough where I feel I can be successful with it. Over the last several months I have tried numerous new decks before finally picking Infect as my newest deck. I immediately realized, while I had valid points in terms of my overall dislike of blue, my opinions were too harsh and I was being unnecessarily stubborn. So far I am finding that Force of Will, Daze and Flusterstorm are all cards that take practice to master, which can be frustrating at times, but are overall rewarding. I’m not used to having responses to my opponent’s spells and learning when the appropriate time to use countermagic is can be challenging. The closest I’ve ever come to countermagic previously is running Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere in MUD, which is definitely not the same. Fortunately, so far, a majority of my opponents have been understanding of the fact that I am learning a new deck and have shown patience. Another thing I’ve enjoyed about infect, especially coming from Mudpost, is having access to card draw. Previous decks that I’ve played have always had minimal card advantage or card selection which meant losing to your own top decks way too often. Finally playing a deck where that isn’t a problem has been a welcome change. Overall, Infect has been a great first blue deck for me since it has a lot of elements that I enjoy in other decks while still forcing me to play legacy staples I’ve ignored for too long.

Something Old and Something Borrowed

I guess this also counts as something new but I finally caved and made an MTGO account. I’ve been fortunate enough to have received offers to lend me decks while I stumble around deciding what I’m going to play (and if I even like it). The reason I’ve decided to start playing on MTGO is an age old problem, I’m lacking in places to play. Up until recently I was spoiled, having stores offering tournaments three days week. One store recently hired me however, removing one of my places to play and where I play Modern at has been unable to fire tournaments as of late. So I’m left with legacy one day a week (when I’m lucky, it’s a drive) which has left me wanting.

This isn’t a new problem for many people, finding a store to play at isn’t as easy as players would like it to be. I’ve put off using MTGO for quite some time due to the large number of complaints I’m used to hearing about it. However, playing one day a week isn’t enough to satiate me so I’ve made the leap. Day one, after complaining loudly to everyone about the price, I forced a friend to spend some time walking through the basics with me. He explained the very strange economy that makes up MTGO, the dated browser and happily informed me that my deck would cost far less online than it did in paper. At least I have one thing to look forward to. To be frank, I don’t enjoy that both these issues exist. I’d love to spend more time in stores, supporting owners, and practicing directly across from my opponents. My fiance and I often will sleeve up multiple decks in order to have enough people to play modern, lending them out to whomever asks. On the other hand, being able to play magic without getting dressed or leaving bed is pretty sweet. While it feels strange to be the one borrowing a deck this time around it makes me happy to see how supportive this community can be. It’s quite often I see people lending out decks, giving out cards to new players, etc and it warms my heart when I see people sharing Magic in this way. I’m still hoping my local community can come together to jump start Modern again.

Overall it’s been a very turbulent few weeks for me Magic-wise, both unfocused and unrewarding. This happens to all players from time to time, the lesson to learn is to realize that when you find yourself stuck, make a change. You won’t get out of the rut by yourself, so look to both the new and the old and figure out your next step.