



Super Old School

Now there is no turning back....

How could this possibly get any more ecxiting than the amazing drying abilities of Shamwow?

Remember that second letter I mentioned? A gentleman by the name of Mikael Mallroth (apologies for the lack of umlaut, not working in blogger) who is buddies with Mg sent me a really nice letter along with a sweet little bundle of Unlimited cards. This would have been really, really nice if I had already communicated with him in some way, the fact that it was sent without us even having ever talked is just mind bendingly gracious. Thank you Mikael.





Fire Elemental is a babe...

As you can see, no gun fights, trains, spies, or Soviet love interests...just this community continuing to amaze me with its inclusiveness, generosity, kindness, and generally excellent ways. I hope to meet some of you at Eternal Weekend in a few weeks, I will be there with the rest of the Akron Legionnaires looking to sling stories and brews of both the magical and the alcoholic variety. Cheers friends.





**Please note that this article is in no way a solicitation for contributions to my quest. I am extraordinarily humbled by the kindness of these gifts in addition to those from my brother and good friends, but I am happily trudging along at my snail's pace only getting cards at conventions and LGSs.





Greetings fellow duelists. Halloween will soon be upon us here in the states and nothing puts me in the mood for Magic: The Gathering like chilly nights, ghouls about, and stuffing my face with candy. I was going to (finally) post about my various decks this month, but then something totally awesome happened: I received not one, but TWO letters in the mail from all the way across the ocean in Europe. That's right, a missive arrived in my post box from the Scandinavian mecca of Old School. This was a very special mail day.Back in August, Magnus over at the Old School blag was gracious enough to highlight my quest to acquire a full set of Unlimited Edition . I have really enjoyed reading through his old blag posts and have come to appreciate the Swedish roots of Old School. While I used to think it was crazy not to allow reprints, I now see that the price of the cards is the only real way to recreate the scarcity of the original Gathering set and early expansions. While I am not going to rid my main deck of reprints andanytime soon, the Alpha/Beta 1,2,3 format is of course Swedish legal and a hell of a good time. One of the absolute best things about Old School is the very fact that there are so many different regional variants and house rules, that in and of itself is absolutely in line with what the good doctor envisioned back in the MC Hammer days.Those of you familiar with the world's favorite spy know that one of the best Bond flicks of all time was, an awesome romp starring Sean Connery and the smoking hot Daniela Bianchi as his Soviet double agent love interest.I chose the title for this post because I recently took a train trip across Scandinavia in an effort to acquirecards. During this trip I was pursued by agents of WOTC hell-bent on snuffing out Old School and forcing me to buy Standard-legal cards...is the crazy story I dreamed up while convalescing on the couch with a broken ankle for the last month unable to drive or walk. The real story is however just as awesome. I was watching another episode ofwhen my wife came in with the mail and a big smile on her face. She had not one, but TWO letters from across the ocean blue in her hand. I got my crutches and hobbled over to her so I could open them at the table. The first letter was from the aforementioned Magnus, and in addition to a very kind note he sent proof of the devil's contract I had entered into to help me complete my quest.This is not only amazingly cool, it is also my first altered card. I will admit that I am not usually a fan of changing cards, but this is totally bodacious and will take an honored spot in my binder. Thank you Mg.