Those games, while fun and challenging in their infancy, quickly stagnated or fell apart with uneven expansions. Magic has been pretty good at staying relatively even-keeled. They didn't release Tempest after Revised, which would have killed 90% of the cards up to that point, and Urza's Block turned out to be one of the more interesting and testing sets of all time, after it had been dismissed early on as a slow kiddie set. Granted there are a handful of overly powerful cards in each set that define an environment, but without them, the environment would be defined by other cards. If there weren't a Replenish or Bargain deck, Tinker would be a strong“combo” deck. Without Control Black, Control Green would become a real contender. Without Donate, Cocoa Pebbles would have been dominant. The list goes on. What keeps us interested is the constant change, and the variety.

Although most long time Magic aficionados have taken one or more sabbaticals from competitive play, we keep coming back because it is always fun, in some form or another. There are always Limited and Standard competitions to be had, and most places have a casual community within driving distance. PTQ and GP Trials are bi-weekly on average in most metropoli, but what really keeps me going is the casual friendships you can make. My playtest partner, Pete, is a Junior at the University of Southern California, and is studying Interactive Game Design (among other things). His girlfriend, Liz, is a pre-Med student at UC Davis, who comes down every few months. I am visiting a seismologist and his wife in Rome when my wife and I go to Italy. I met him by selling cards in an eBay auction about two months ago. I just got a nice card from him last week. I sold this guy $5 worth of cards and we're going to lunch 6,000 miles away! I met the esteemed David Sutcliffe on the Dojo message boards, and worked with him throughout the PTQ UBC season. Although we don't“etalk” as much anymore, I always know whom to look up when in England, and he can crash at my place for the next PTLA if he so chooses. These people are very diverse, and I wouldn't have met them, much less become friends with them if it wasn't for Magic. I am a pretty introverted person, but Magic in more than just a touchstone. I play Cribbage with my wife's family, and we all laugh and drink and have a good time, but the game is very defined and zero-sum oriented. Even though it is the closest thing to team play Magic I can think of, it doesn't have a lot of variety. You can't make 15 off of a Serra Angel. I can play a couple of casual games with a 9 year old or a 50 year old, and relate to both and still have fun. We can generally gloss over politics, educational background, financial status, and relative successfulness in the tournament scene to just enjoy playing this game of magical cards.

In short, these friendships and good times are what most of us will take out of Magic. We are not going to win thousands of dollars on the Pro Tour, we are going to win fifty dollars in store credit for coming in first at Friday Night Magic. We aren't going to sweep through the Standard portion of Worlds, we'll be known as the innovative deck builders and the“players to beat” at our local Saturday Tournaments. Everyone can find a place in Magic. And please, please prove me wrong about the money thing, it would be great to have someone write into StarCityCCG and say“Long time reader, first time Pro Tour top 8…”

Well, since I don't get paid the big bucks for sap, here's the skinny on Standard after Nemesis has had a chance to settle a little. Bargain is being challenged by an evolving Replenish deck that is coming up strong in the combo field. Ponza will need to undergo some major changes to compete with the resurgence of Black Control with Persecute, and in light of the Rebel threat. Black Control is a strong choice in a field light on counter magic and heavy with green and white creatures. Persecute, Perish, Dread of Night and Massacre all put the serious hurt down with the help of Dark Ritual and Grim Monolith to speed up Plaguelords, Wumpuses, and Evincars. White Weenie continues to amaze, and no one has been effectively hating it enough, so look for that to change in the next month. Stompy continues to be a thorn in control's side, due to turn 4 goldfishing. Hermit/Opposition has received a big boost out of Saproling Burst and Skyshroud Poacher, while Diabolical Hermit gets the Poacher as well. With these two decks having access to Lyrist searching, as well as Priest of Titania searching, they look to be very strong, suffering only to Massacre and Ponza's mass removal.

Accelerated Blue is still a great choice due to it's ability to force the opponent to play your game. Control Blue is suffering a double blow to Poacher and Lin Sivvi's minions, and is best left as a metagame choice only.

Tinker is much the same, due to the ability of many decks to Tutor for Seal of Cleansing or outright counter the key spells and artifacts. Suicide Black maybe a good surprise, running Sleepers Guile or Despondency to power the Negators, while maindecking Perish, Persecute, and Massacre with the tutors to find them. Sneak Attack, Deadguy Red/Burn and U/W are on vacation apparently. In all, the field is open and diverse, with several different local metagames dictating deck choices and sideboards.

Which begs the question: Is old school Sligh viable?

4 Flailing Soldier
3 Goblin Patrol
4 Kris Mage
4 Goblin Raider
3 Orcish Artillery
3 Ticking Gnomes
2 Masticore
4 Shock
2 Seal of Fire
2Arc Lightning
2 Hammer of Bogardan
4 Pillage
4 Rishadan Port
2 Rath's Edge
17 Mountain

SB
4 Scald
3 Rivalry
4 Raze
4 Viashino Heretic

The answer, sadly, is no. Sligh was originally successful because, much like Stupid Green Deck, no one expected creatures with abilities to do much at that metagame junction. Without Strip Mine and Black Vise compounding the old mulligan rule, the new Sligh type decks had to evolve into Sped Red with forced mana denial, rather than the virtual mana denial of the old mulligan rule. Without Ancient Tomb to speed it along, Sped Red has morphed with Ponza. By replacing the Tomb with Sandstone Needle, and upping the land count to compensate for the 4-8 CIP tapped lands, Ponza now has to carry fewer creatures and more powerful removal options. The option to screw a control deck one game out of three with Strip Mines, Black Vices, and efficient burn spells is long gone, and Red is left in a more active controlling position. The Sligh deck of old, controlling the board with efficient spells and creatures while beating down with cheap weenies, has passed on.

Good luck and have fun,
Erik Berg
galtwish@hotmail.com