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A bit more to say than usual this month, since there's a local tournament to cover, and a discussion about one of the important lands in the format (and maybe not the one you think!).



We'll have our



A couple of us are talking about running a tournament in February, so if you'd like to be part of the discussion, that would be a good opportunity to do so!



As always, I will have budget battlebox decks on hand to play for anyone who doesn't have a deck with them or just wants to try something else.

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Last time, one of our meeting regulars, Jason C, got first place. The tribal winner last time was orcs -- all the orcs (the deck played literally every orc-themed card in the format, along with Mill Stone to go with Orchish Spy)! The best budget finish was truly awesome: The youngest old school player in the country built a black weenie deck the morning of the tournament out of cards he'd picked up the night before and got 4th place without ever having played a game with the deck. I gave him some important cards for the deck -- and his only match loss. (I sorta feel bad about it now!)



Oh, and I played Faeries because I thought it was one of the least playable tribes, and ended up playing a Faeries mirror match in the fourth round. Go figure.



I've mentioned the rules about tribal in the past, but here they are for good measure:

1. It's a creature type referenced by another card in the format. For instance, Lord of Atlantis references Merfolk, and Fungal Bloom references Fungus (i.e., Thallids).



and/or 2. It's one of the original creature types printed on a card in the format. You can recognize these as, for example, "Summon Cleric" on Samite Healer, or Summon Soldier on Icatian Javalineers. (This was added to allow things that seem like they should be tribes under rule 1, but aren't actually referenced, like Elves.)



To qualify as tribal , you must be running at least 8 cards of the chosen tribe in your deck, but you do not also need to have the card that references the tribe . "Ideally" your deck will contain 12 cards of the chosen tribe .



Here's the poster for the event, featuring the beautiful art from Conch Horn (which I may be playing in my deck on the day of!).





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Lastly a little bit of news and some discussion:

New England Old School has decided to restrict Strip Mine. While this doesn't affect the Eternal Central Ruleset that we are using, it may give some data on whether it's safe to restrict the card. (Many people feel it's not.) As some of you might know, I rarely build a deck with more than one since it makes the Battlebox decks less fun, and I try to keep them somewhat balanced.



However, it brings up another point that has also been on my mind: Mishra's Factory is ahistorically powerful in this format, to the point where many of the format's fun and interesting creatures are considered unplayable if they can't attack into a Mishra's Factory. Many people feel that it's at least as big a problem as Strip Mine, and certainly one of the reasons to leave Strip Mine unrestricted. Most of us who played in 1994 remember that tapped creatures did not deal damage in combat. Reinstating this rule is one of the alternative rulesets I've had posted on



Cheers,

Jon Hey, everyone,A bit more to say than usual this month, since there's a local tournament to cover, and a discussion about one of the important lands in the format (and maybe not the one you think!).We'll have our usual monthly meetup at The Crown this coming Friday, October 19th. We'll be downstairs in the restaurant area, probably near the front, from ~6 - 9.A couple of us are talking about running a tournament in February, so if you'd like to be part of the discussion, that would be a good opportunity to do so!As always, I will have budget battlebox decks on hand to play for anyone who doesn't have a deck with them or just wants to try something else.---- Dice City Games is holding the Sarpadian Cup on Saturday, October 20th. Doors open at noon. Usually deck photos are taken first. As is traditional, please bring an old-school playable to add to the community prize pool to be signed by everyone in the event. (I got a Stone Calendar last time! Though I haven't figured out what to do with it.) As before, there are prizes for Most Creative, Best Budget finish, Top 4 tribal by panel vote, and of course Top 4 by record.Last time, one of our meeting regulars, Jason C, got first place. The tribal winner last time was orcs -- all the orcs (the deck played literally every orc-themed card in the format, along with Mill Stone to go with Orchish Spy)! The best budget finish was truly awesome: The youngest old school player in the country built a black weenie deck the morning of the tournament out of cards he'd picked up the night before and got 4th place without ever having played a game with the deck. I gave him some important cards for the deck -- and his only match loss. (I sorta feel bad about it now!)Oh, and I played Faeries because I thought it was one of the least playable tribes, and ended up playing a Faeries mirror match in the fourth round. Go figure.I've mentioned the rules about tribal in the past, but here they are for good measure:1. It's a creature type referenced by another card in the format. For instance, Lord of Atlantis references Merfolk, and Fungal Bloom references Fungus (i.e., Thallids).and/or 2. It's one of the original creature types printed on a card in the format. You can recognize these as, for example, "Summon Cleric" on Samite Healer, or Summon Soldier on Icatian Javalineers. (This was added to allow things that seem like they should beunder rule 1, but aren't actually referenced, like Elves.)To qualify as, you must be running at least 8 cards of the chosenin your deck, but you do not also need to have the card that references the. "Ideally" your deck will contain 12 cards of the chosenHere's the poster for the event, featuring the beautiful art from Conch Horn (which I may be playing in my deck on the day of!).----Lastly a little bit of news and some discussion:New England Old School has decided to restrict Strip Mine. While this doesn't affect the Eternal Central Ruleset that we are using, it may give some data on whether it's safe to restrict the card. (Many people feel it's not.) As some of you might know, I rarely build a deck with more than one since it makes the Battlebox decks less fun, and I try to keep them somewhat balanced.However, it brings up another point that has also been on my mind: Mishra's Factory is ahistorically powerful in this format, to the point where many of the format's fun and interesting creatures are considered unplayable if they can't attack into a Mishra's Factory. Many people feel that it's at least as big a problem as Strip Mine, and certainly one of the reasons to leave Strip Mine unrestricted. Most of us who played in 1994 remember that tapped creatures did not deal damage in combat. Reinstating this rule is one of the alternative rulesets I've had posted on our community's site since the beginning. When we talk about the possible February tournament, we might discuss testing reinstating this rule for the format or possibly doing a community errata to Mishra's Factory to not deal combat damage if it's tapped and blocking.Cheers,Jon