I spent some time in my first post discussing how I encountered the varied planes of Dominia back in the spring of 1994. My brother Jim and I started playing with my dad and sister, though after about a year our "play group" consisted of mostly just the two of us. We played together until 1999 and then took an almost 20 year break. While I will always treasure the thousands of games we played together back in the day, it has been really interesting and exciting having a larger playgroup this time around. When I discovered the Old School Magic community over the holidays I was able to connect with two local players in my area and we have been playing on an almost weekly basis since. They have been playing in the old-school scene for several years and have been truly helpful and patient as I dusted off the cobwebs that go along with an almost 20 year Magic hiatus. This is a game of imagination, strategy, and smarts, but also of camaraderie. I am certain that anyone reading this would agree that the bonds forged through our shared passion are just as important if not more so than the thrill of building a great deck, discovering a killer combination, or winning a close duel. Meeting and playing with Sean and Matt has been a real joy and I am glad that my local area has some excellent, friendly old-school players for me to duel with and learn from.A few weeks ago I received two gifts. The first of these unexpected bounties came from my oldest friend and original Magic buddy. My brother Jim jump-started mycollection with a generous offering of five cards, two of which I had never seen!I have many copies of, andin mycollection but never have I encounteredor. I've always really been drawn to the art and flavor of black cards. Creatures like, andalways stood out to me.is just such a cool card. For one black mana turn any land into a swamp. It may not be, but it is still a pretty effective way to slow down an opponent early game. The dark powers of the black mage can poison even Dominia itself!is a card that will always represent frustration to me. It was my dream as a kid to be able to cast and then animate. Needless to say at ten years old my deck-construction skills were lacking and I couldn't quite figure out how to get the lamp out, let alone draw my one copy.is one of the quintessential cards of Magic: The Gathering. Watching your opponent build up mana in a stalemate was always nerve racking when playing against the red mage for fear of the coming inferno.The two heretofore unseen cards that Jim gave to me wereand. I must say I am enamored with. Everything from the name to the flavor, art, and mechanic of the card makes me happy. I love the idea of a team of dwarves haphazardly blowing up a wall with little regard to the principles of safe demolition. The art on the card is amazing as well, my favorite artists from back then were Mark Poole, Jeff Menges, Doug Shuler and Quinton Hoover, though now I may have to seek out other cards drawn by Kev Brockschmidt.is beautiful in its simplicity. Two colorless mana to cast and everyone gets one damage per turn. The art and the mechanic are simple. Needless to say this gift from my brother was awesome. It was almost as if he shoved me out the door and told me to get moving on my quest, but before sending me out he gave me some provisions for the long journey.About a week after the aforementioned contribution from Jim, my new friend Matt surprised me with two awesome additions to mycollection:These are also two of the iconic cards of the original Magic set! I remember vividly my first encounter with both of them, my dad's blue and black deck fielded several Vampires and he pummeled me mercilessly with his army of the undead, each Vampire growing as it cleared my side of the board. Anson Maddocks drew a lot of great cards back in the day as did Douglas Shuler, and their artwork is certainly part of the reason both these cards are so memorable (notice the misspelling of his name on this card, from what I understand this is the case on every card in the set.) I was totally floored by this contribution,is the best card in mycollection! Thanks to two friends, one old and one new, plus an insert in a 20 year-old issue of The Duelist magazine, I have eightcards and have not yet purchased one on my own. This will certainly change after the upcoming Magic Grand Prix in Cleveland in a few days...stay tuned.