Don't they look freakin' awesome?





Hello fellow old-schoolers. I hope we are all having a blast dueling and collecting as Summer rapidly approaches. I know that my local old-school group is enjoying our weekly meetings immensely. Since I got into the format in December after a 20 year Magic coma I've made some awesome new friends, interacted with an amazing community, and rediscovered a passion that gives me a great outlet from the rigors and grind of adult life. That being said I plan on posting more regularly than once a month. I will also be expanding the focus of my blog. Each post will now include thoughts on another Old-School related topic in addition to the regular update on my quest to collect a fullset. Now that I have started to settle into the community I will have a lot more to talk about!Since my last post I was able to get my hands on three new cards, all black commons, all great cards:and. I am running bothandin my deck right now (some of you may remember that I was playing white weenie but I have blown that deck up and am now running black/white.)is the poor man's, and it is really a blast to drop 2 of them turn one and lay down aand aor an epic. I nuked my friend Matt's whole hand in a game recently and the look of horror on his face was priceless, especially since he usually beats me. Theandcombo is also quite entertaining. Speaking of, I always thought it was good back in the day, but I did not realize as a kid that you could tap it to kill an attacker DURING the assault! How cool is that? I definitely find myself embracing the art, flavor, and play style of black cards the more I play these last 6 months. I think my first major purchase will have to be a, though I am a few pennies (or silver dollars) away from such prized treasure...As I enter the second half of my first year in the Old-School scene I have a lot of ideas all swirling in my head at once. Beyond my overwhelming satisfaction with finding this hobby again after two decades and making a few new friends, some thoughts stick out in my mind. First off, I don't understand why 1994 rules re:(and other creatures) are not used when it comes to being able to tap and block. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. I get it that in an effort to not make it too confusing for modern players people want consistent rules, but aren't we underestimating the abilities of MTG players? We play what I would consider relatively speaking to be a pretty complicated game, I think people can handle a few rule changes going to a different format. Allowingto block AND give itself +1/+1 is absurd, from both a rule and a flavor standpoint. If a creature is blocking another and engaged in combat how can it also tap itself to do something else? Also, the cards were not designed with modern rules in mind. It is almost as if we have errata'd every creature from 1993 and 1994 to make it more powerful. Why not just play with 1994 rules if we are playing 1994 cards? In my house rules we even allow the first player to draw, though I understand and agree with the necessity to change that one...Another thing that has really made this experience enjoyable for me is the complete avoidance of net-decking. I know that my deck building skills are not that great, but at least I know that when I put a stack together the idea came from my noggin'. I am not begrudging how anyone else puts together a brew, nor am I conceited enough to think that when I make a build I am the only person to ever think of it, I just don't get the allure in copying another deck. When I played back in the 90's decks were really personal. You had your deck and you slowly made changes to it over the years. It was yours. My black/white deck does not have a title or possibly even a theme, but it has held its own against my friend's powered blue/white control/flyers deck and even taken a few. Again, the thing I love about the format is everyone does what they feel and is chill about it, I am just saying that what brings me the most joy is sitting there scratching my head over my mediocre builds trying to make them a little bit better so I don't get eviscerated on Tuesday nights...The last thing on my mind tonight is that I really want to participate in more tournaments moving forward. When I played in the Cleveland Rocks tourney in February it was one of the most fun days I've had in years. Getting to meet people from all over and hear their stories over a cold brew and some sweet cards was awesome. Getting to see cards I had only ever heard of for the first time was really cool. I don't anticipate winning any tournaments, but I do know I will have a blast no matter what, and isn't that the beauty of this thing we call Old-School?Stay tuned...