NOTE: This is the most random stuff you're going to read today hands down, so continue at your own leisure.

How much do you like Magic?

Do you make two or three road trips a month to make your stab at the tour?

Do you playtest twenty hours or more in a week for that upcoming PTQ in a city miles away from where you live?

Do you miss twenty or more hours of sleep the night before?

Do you scour the net looking for the latest "tech" everyday?

Do you spend a whole day putting the final touches on that multiplayer deck you've tinkered with all week?

Those are a lot of questions above, but they're all very much meaningful to anyone who plays this game. From the day you first decided to hand that sales clerk money, you had no clue how much of an impact that Magic would have on you. I myself have been so enraptured by the game that no matter how hard I try to see myself NOT playing Magic, I'm unable to produce an image that could justify it.

Maybe everyone's confused right now about where this column is headed. Well, let me warn you ahead of time - IT'S NOT HEADED ANYWHERE..yet. I rant. Hell, often times I just type whatever flies into my mind. Because of that, you probably won't see a link to any of my articles on Meridian Magic, nor will you walk away with any newfound information on any existing Magic format.

(Points to the exit sign for those who are looking for an Invasion Sealed deck article)

I wanted to do that Rizzo thing right there, but I'm sure it's copyrighted or something....oh what the hell, I'll live a little.

BSV<~~points to exit sign, yet again

BSV<~~answers phone to hear Friggin' Rizzo's lawyer warn him: )

Wow, that was fun. I should do that more often.

Anyway, back to the column. What I'm jabbing at above is that I spend A LOT of time thinking about Magic. I roam the net every day, searching for interesting Magic columns. It's like a cycle of website to website, I tell ya'. I get the most entertaiment from people like Flores, Sol Malka, Paul Jordan, Zvi, The Ferrett, and especially Rizzo (all just my opinion). I get all giddy when I see a new Rizzo article up. It's like that excitement that overwhelms you when you pick up your comic book subscription. Anybody with me on this? You tear into that new issue of "whatever you like inserted here" and just can't get enough. You even get sad when you get to the end, because you want more. I swear Rizzo's stuff is that good. I read a lot of other stuff as well, but just can't remember the names right now.

After reading the net forever, I spend a couple of hours fooling around with a few decks that I've worked with. They're a variety of Standard decks that would all fall under the rogue tag. I can't seem to convince myself, that my beloved Pirates LD deck is just not the same without the powerful Urza spells. Still, I struggle to make a new version that can compete in the mighty field of Nether-Go, Fires/Red Zone, U/W Control, and Rebels/Counter Rebels.

You know what's crazy? I spend in excess of fifty hours a week doing something Magic related for over two years now, and all that I get back out of the game is the joy of the game itself. No Pro Tour wins, no qualifications (yet), and certainly no crazy amounts of money. But the joy of the game itself is enough for me, and I guess that's all that really matters.

Anyone else out there tired of not opening a dragon or some other form of random brokeness in their Sealed deck? Sign me up. I open more Bend or Breaks and Binds that any human being alive. It's just sick I tell you-plain SICK. Did I mention I despise Sealed deck? Well, I do. Give me draft - Rochester, Booster, or Solomon! Give me anything, but don't give me sealed deck. They should drop the ".dec" and put in ."luc." Look at the decks from the last Grand Prix that made day two. Buckets of brokenness. Thank God for the new removal in Planeshift. Now, I don't have to just scoop to random dragon that's black. Check out the spoilers for Terminate, because it will be the be all end-all of removal in Type II for awhile.

I'm going to go out on a ledge here, folks, and make a wild and crazy prediction - no, not Baltimore by ten. I have this feeling that we'll see some new bannings in Extended, before the next qualifier season begins. My prediction for ban targets? Illusions or Donate. The DCI is too stubborn to admit that Necrootence is broken to nine hells, and Force of Will just doesn't seem to be as bad as many are saying. If you think about it, Illusions or Donate would be the better ban anyway. Trix has to have Donate or the other to operate. As much as I would like to see a lift on the Dark Ritual ban, I know that the DCI won't even consider that for fear of a ressurgence in Cocoa Pebbles. Maybe they'll ban some portion of the 21 deck as well.

I've recently began playing some Type I Magic and a little 5-color as well. Type I is so much more fun and challenging than most give it credit for. Ryan O'Connor has me so stuck on Type I that I've actually gone and traded for six of the nine power cards. Thanks, Ryan!

Well, until next time!!

Richie "BSV" Proffitt
AngelOfTheAbyss@WebTV.net
All replies welcome.