The prerelease is our most-anticipated and best-attended event. It's always had a special place in my heart, because it's also the most fun. I enjoy meeting with folks, talking to players, both experienced and new, and just enjoying the feeling of a less-competitive tournament. Still, there are a few things, some new, some old, to look out for tomorrow at your BoK prerelase.

Remember Bushido! I can't tell you how many times that I've gotten tripped up in casual games by forgetting about this annoying ability. When you're looking over your opponent's blockers, or deciding to block yourself, remember that Bushido will trigger--and if the creature has Bushido more than once, it will trigger more than once, making the dude huge.

Watch Out for Ninjutsu! This sneakier-than-sneakerson ability may define the evironment, and will certainly make us rethink the way we look at combat. Ninjutsu [cost]" means "[Cost], Reveal this card from your hand, Return an unblocked creature you control to its owner's hand: Put this card into play from your hand tapped and attacking." It means your opponent can replace a crappy unblocked creature with a good one. Note that activating the ninjutsu ability before combat damage goes on the stack allows the Ninja to deal combat damage. Using Ninjutsu after combat damage goes on the stack will mean the original creature is dealing combat damage--because, as we've discussed previously, once combat damage goes on the stack, it will be dealt as assigned.

Channeling our beloved editor for a second, and inspired by Ninjutsu, here's #10 on my 2005 Annual Traffic Jam list.* She's the one on the left. Kicking butt and taking names.

Give Us Your Offerings. This may be may favorite mechanic in the set. To make a long story short, you sacrifice something that's of the type of the offering in order to play the Patron, reducing the cost to play the Patron by the cost of what you sacrificed--and you can do it as an Instant. The offering is sacrificed as part of the cost of announcing the Patron spell, so it can't be responded to. You can only sacrifice one object to each offering.

Here's the Pitch. There's a cycle of pitch cards in BoK, called Shoals. Unlike previous pitch spells, Shoals have X in their mana cost. The value of X chosen for the Shoal and the converted mana cost of the card removed to pay the alternate cost must be the same. The cost of removing a card is announced with the spell and paid with all other costs.

Variety is the Splice of Life. There are some Splice onto Arcane cards with costs other than mana--such as Horobi's Whisper requiring you to remove four cards in your graveyard from the game. Again, these payments are made at the same time as all other payments.

My Heart of Glass. "Glasskites" is a nickname for the three creatures in the set that cause the first spell or ability that targets them each turn to be countered. The ability is a triggered ability, so the Glasskites won't counter things that can't be countered by spells or abilities. Targeting a glasskite with a spliced spell counters the entire spell (if it was the first time the Glasskite was targeted that turn).

Don't Flip Out. Remember Champions of Kamigawa cards like Nezumi Graverobber have flip conditions that only check as part of the resolution of their activated ability. Don't confuse this with state-triggered abilities. There are new cards whose flip is a triggered ability that happens at the end of the turn if there are two or more ki counters on the flip card. These flip cards differ from those in the Champions of Kamigawa set in that the flip is optional. And speaking of counters, if a flip card has counters on it and flips, the counters remain.

Looks Like the Old Days: Eradicate, Quash, Scour, Sowing Salt, and Splinter have returned. Remember that the copies must be found if they are in publicly viewable zones; finding copies while searching private zones is optional. And there are some Tetsuo Umezawa relatives running around.

If It Smells Like a Rat...then it probably is. If something looks funny, whether it's your opponent being confused over a mechanic or you not understanding the way a card works, call a Judge. They're there to help, and they want to see all the cool cards, too.

Enjoy your prerelease--with this challenge. If you're an experienced player, take the opportunity to help a new player understand the game better. Sit down and go over the steps of combat with him, or explain Bushido. Give the new guy the benefit of your experience instead of just trashing him in a match. If you're a new player, try to hang around with some of the experienced folks and convince them to give you tips. And listen to them when they tell you the card you think is good is really suboptimal.

See you next week.

*If you see me at Star City's own event in Richmond, I'll tell you who the other nine are.