Christmas has come around, and this will be the year is coming to a close - so let's see if we can keep this series going for a long time. Anthony Alongi handed the e-Pen to Sheldon Menery, Star City's own rules guru... Who has an interesting story that includes some famous Star City writers. So what will it be? Will it be something that includes some serious play error (judges can't play, right?) or crazy rules interactions (Full English Breakfast, anyone?).

The ICY on the cake. by Sheldon Menery
It was one of the first times I played multiplayer after arriving in Alaska. I had thrown a deck together rather quickly, but I figured it would be good enough. I had actually tried to make a viable Type II deck out of it, but it was too slow. It involved Yavimaya Elder, Pattern of Rebirth, and Wildfire.

The game had started rather slowly, as I noticed that most MP games here do. There were eight players, including Star City's own Ferrett and David Phifer (and honestly, they're the only players I remember, but I think Adam Staley and Steve Dixon were present). With the help of an Elf and a Mox (we played Type I legal at the time), I got an early Elder and enchanted it with the Pattern. Everyone thought they knew what was going on - that I would sac the Elder for a card, get lands and a cool creature. That's a viable strategy, but only second-best.

On turn 4, I played Wildfire (sac lands, baby!). Seven jaws hit the table. It completely wiped out the board, and I merrily went and fished out my Multani. Mouths agape turned to moans. Ferrett was sitting to my left, so he was the first victim: Forty-plus to the skull. I started working my way around the table clockwise, killing people one at a time.

By the time I got to David, it was five turns later. He had played a land each turn and managed to get an Icy Manipulator into play. The player to David's left had gotten out a creature - a regenerator, so he could hold off my Multani indefinitely. I announced that I'd like to declare attackers.

David, reminiscent of the bear in that one Far Side cartoon, pointed at the other player.... And used his Icy Manipulator to tap the other player's creature. The move was so cool, had so much chutzpah (he may have even said"yoink!"), that I had to interrupt my schedule and kill that player instead of David. From then on, if I ever played green and red mana sources, I became an instant target of the entire table (so it was time to move to the Eternal Living Death deck... But that's another story).

Next Week
We'll be well underway in the New Year when Wednesday rolls around next week. Sheldon handed the e-Pen to The man with the Icy himself: David Phifer. It should be a very interesting story, as his oldest archived article is called: "Cheat, Lie, and Piss People Off: The REAL Way To Win Multiplayer Games". Maybe he'll be able to come up with a story in which he uses all of those techniques.

Until then, have fun,

Gis