So there I was, holding Darigaaz in my hand, just waiting to drop him in once my mana untaps and I lay that fifth land (I had a Fertile Ground in play already). My opponent's horde will slap me around a bit, but I have a few chumps - and then the Dragon King will be in play. Fast-forward back to reality; my opponent uses Barrin's Spite and a kickered Nightscape Battlemage to make sure I end this game like the last one - no non-land permanents in play, no cards in hand. I'd like to scoop as an interrupt, please...

The technique of "in media res" may work for Fight Club -but this is a Magic casual play article, so I'll go back to the beginning. For me, Magic has gotten stale. Each expansion is overpriced, full of blah reprints, uninspiring artwork and flavor text, and creatures that obviously will never see tournament play. On the other side of the coin, there are overpowered rares; Absorb and Undermine could have been uncommons, and then most of us wouldn't have to sit around wishing we could afford one. I know there are reasons for rarity choices, but I am glad that Battlemages and lairs are uncommons so that we can actually open them. Furthermore, most of these cards will be useless once they rotate out of standard, and my puny investment in Type 2 will devalue 50-80%. From an investment point of view, this is a Bad Thing(tm). Okay, as I ponder this, there are two options available to me: quit Magic, or find a format where card retail value is irrelevant, where bad creatures are good, and where the limited lifespan of standard cards doesn't affect their ability to be played (I'm sure there are more than two options, but I'm a black-and-white kinda guy).

That's right, this El Dorado of cards is the intersection of casual play and Sealed Deck! Little did I know that I was in for a Magical card adventure thrill ride featuring: Envy over Cards opened by Partner, A Steep Learning Curve, Crushing Defeat, Glorious Victory, and ACTUAL LIMITED STRATEGY! Cost of admission: Two Invasion tournament packs, six Planeshift packs (which I got from the Planeshift fat pack - an excellent deal I would recommend to anyone), and my inflated opinion of my ability to build a deck. Ooh, ooh, here comes the Steep Learning Curve right now...

I finally convince my Magic buddy to try out this "thrill ride," and we commence busting open packs. These will all be my cards after the game, because he doesn't want to shell out for them. Fair enough, and he's good at opening packs with expensive cards. I hope I'm not using up his karma on Magic. Neither one of us have seen many Invasion or Planeshift cards, so we open a pack at a time and collectively goggle over the cards. The lead car on this ride is about to go over the edge of the Steep Learning Curve; I am as yet blissfully unaware that this is going to be a free-fall.

Strategy Tip #1: Try actually thinking about card interactions. No really, think harder than that even. Really think, darn it!

I am wrapped up enough in my own cards to think about what my partner opened. I had deep black, with five or so zombies and a Lord Dralnu, a Terminate, Darigaaz, and Meteor Storm. I was CONVINCED that B/R/g was the way to go. However, had I thought about it, my removal was limited to a Terminate and a Magma Burst, I had a Bog Down and an Exclude for backup, and my two green creatures were Kavu Climber and Serpentine Kavu. My mana curve was horrendous, and I knew it. I think I was mesmerized by a huge dragon that roars for damage. Thinking about my card interactions, I should have concluded that I needed a different build, BUT that doesn't even factor in what I knew about my opponents deck. I knew he opened: a Nightscape Battlemage, a Bog Down, Hypnotic Cloud, a Probe, Plague Spores, Breath of Darigaaz, and a Barrin's Spite (MVP for him) plus Death Bomb for removal and a Phyrexian Infiltrator and three in-color Familiars for mana acceleration and a Lair, Meteor Crater, and a Star Compass. Plus decent fat in red. And some card drawing.

I think this is the part where my car goes over the edge of the hill and I scream all the way down.

He is pretty lucky with opening cards.

I'd like to think that I could have come up with the same build. An organ-grinder's monkey could have built a forty-card deck around these cards. It has card drawing, land destruction, heavy discard, bounce, direct damage, and mana smoothing. And I played black... red... and green. Trying to best his deck with the same colors was a horrible idea. And folks, if you're playing Invasion Block Limited, people are playing R/B/U if they can. That means you should think twice about playing R/B/U yourself - I think a good player would call that the "metagame."

Strategy Tip #2: Don't open bad sealed decks. It's not good for your match record.

So I got crushed like the American technology sector, and I was left wondering what hit me. Seriously, he ate my lunch. One game I just quit when he blew up my land and my hand, Barrin's Spite'd my creatures, stole my dragon with the Infiltrator, and then killed my remaining creatures plus the Infiltrator.

Strategy Tip #3: There are five colors in Magic. R/B/U is only one combination. No, really, try something using G/W... Really. Especially if your R/B/U sucks.

Hmm... Trying to salvage my pride, I asked my opponent if I could play another game, using the rest of my cards. He agreed, and for the first time, I seriously looked at my G/W cards.

Kwesting Phelddagrif. Omigosh, flying hippos are SOME good against red/black. Angel of Mercy and two Honorable Scout are also good against R/B and work well with gaters like Silver Drake and Steel Leaf Paladin. There was a Samite Archer for control, some white and blue tricks, an Amphibious Kavu and Llanowar Knight for hosing, and two in-color lairs and a Dream Thrush to prevent color screw. Then it was my turn to eat lunch, and it was filling indeed. It helped that my partner drew no discard spells, but I had no idea just how much Honorable Scout hurt a deck that races, let alone once it gets gated. And there were two. Also, when hippos fly through the air, it is a bad omen for the receiving end. And these were the cards that I chose B/R/G over. Ouch.

When all was said and done, I had a good time; I redeemed myself by winning a game, and got a lot of cool cards that I wanted. I also got a foil Goblin Game, which my friend and I think is a very funny card. I learned a bit about what cards are good in a Limited environment:

-Barrin's Spite is unbelievable. If you are depending on big creatures to block or attack for you, this card can wreck you

-Unless your B/R is really good, the hippo is better than Darigaaz. For one thing, the dragon legend isn't coming out for a while, and any land screw or discard is going to keep it out of play. Also, his ability isn't so hot after the seventh turn, because your opponent has probably played his or her hand by then. Which is not to say that he's a bad card, but flying hippos are turn 4 and hose R/B, which seems to be the principal component of everyone's decks in Limited.

-Battlemages + gating creatures = some good strategy. Utility is king in this environment, provided you have the mana for the kickers. Adding familiars just sweetens the deal, and really makes you think about what your deck has the capability to do.

-Meteor Storm sucked for me. To be more precise, if your opponent's goal is to make you discard your hand, paying four mana to help them seems a bad idea. My observation was that if I had cards in hand to discard to Meteor Storm, I couldn't afford to lose them. It probably comes from a mana plateau instead of a curve, but then again maybe it is just a sideboard card against B/W/G archetypes and is bad against rush or bounce. Fact remains, it still sucked for me.

- When two decks with discard play against each other, the first to cast a discard spell wins. This must have been obvious to everyone but me.

-Don't tap out before sending flying hippos to attack. Good players read the abilities, and then save mana to USE them.

-This was much more enjoyable than just buying $40 worth of packs and looking for playable rares.

-Writing tournament reports on a single opponent using Magic lingo, I am much too old and uncool to actually utter has created the temporary illusion that I am a topdecking pro. I will now retire to sit on a soft pillow.

-Alexander Scott
thinks he's a member of team AWWaJaLOoM, but hasn't checked mailbox for acceptance yet (He is -- The Ferrett, desperately weeping sick with a crippling flu)