(Editor's Note: Having left a copy of Michael's latest article archived at work but not on my home PC, I was unable to get his article in time to make the usual Monday deadline. He has graciously forgiven me for mucking up his Monday slot, so long as I properly flagellate myself in an introductory paragraph for screwing up - The Ferrett)

I've mentioned a couple of times that I have a new group of players to work with this year. (I'm an academic and a Magic player; my year begins in the fall with the start of school and the release of a new stand-alone block.) I'm going to take some time to introduce my new group to you and tell you what we've been up to.

This group seems to me to have materialized out of thin air at a time when I was ready to give up Magic for a few years - at least until my boys were old enough to play. It's a definite sign that I am supposed to continue playing and writing about Magic.

Last spring I was playing with Fredrick, a student from Belgium who was in the States for one semester. We had a regular weekly game. This was a great treat for me, as I'd always had trouble finding time for regular play before. I regretted Fredrick's leaving, as I was sure that I'd once again be in a position of having no one to compete against.

During the last couple of weeks of Fredrick's time here, who should show up to watch us play but another international student, "Mulan"? (Yes, she really is Chinese. No, she's never saved China from the invading Huns... at least I don't think she has. And yes, I am giving these folks aliases until they decide that they want to be publicly identified.) Turns out that Mulan is an avid gamer who was intrigued by this strange new game. So I gave her and Fredrick a couple of all-common decks so that Fredrick could help her learn the game. (They were decks that I had built a couple of years ago in case I ever found someone who was interested in the game and wanted to try it out without spending much cash.)

She didn't get up to speed last spring before Fredrick left, so this fall I gave her my Starter 2000 stuff once I had finished playing around with it.

Somehow Mulan ended up showing her new cards to another grad student, "Neechee"*, who then came and asked me if he might have some cards too. (He seemed downright offended that I hadn't immediately spotted him as a gamer last year. Geez, it's not like we all walk around with tattoos on our foreheads, saying "gamer"!) So I tossed him another deck of commons, told him about the Starter 2000 CD-ROM** I'd given to Mulan, and told him to come back when he was ready to play.

So Mulan, Neechee, and I played a couple of games using all-common card decks and had a blast.

We were ramping up a bit, agreeing to change the commonality count to one rare, five uncommons, and however many commons. So far Mulan hasn't been able to play in any more games with me, but I understand she and Neechee do get a chance to play occasionally.

So it looks like it is just going to be Neechee and me playing duels for a while. This is okay; he is learning quickly, and the commonality-limited format keeps me from stomping his face in with an evil $200 deck.

But before Neechee and I can get any duels played, one of the first-year students, "Hanna,"*** has been telling some folks about this cool game she recently started playing and was trying to find someone locally who played it. She got pointed in my direction, and now my group has yet another new member.

(Are you keeping track boys? Two women joined this playgroup! I wasn't even really looking for new players; they just showed up one day. I'm already married, so I only care about the number of players available, but there really are women who will play this game. I'd heard rumors, of course, but these are the first women that I'd actually met who play Magic. I guess if the guys aren't hopelessly obnoxious, the gals will come around to play Magic.)

Anyway, Hanna joins Neechee and I for a three-person chaos game the next day and we had a blast. (Well, I did anyway.) So now it looks like we have a regular threesome for a weekly game of chaos, with an occasional fourth. I've gone from ready to give up and quit, to having a full-fledged playgroup in about six weeks. How cool is that?

For those of you who read regularly, this was the group upon which I was going to test out my twisted ideas on a 6th edition-only format. But, of course, I shared some Masques block commons with my new playgroup, and they immediately got hooked on the wider variety of cards. (Okay; I only shared with Neechee and Mulan, since Hanna already had some cards and knew about sets beyond 6th edition.)

Despite having loused up my plans to try out a 6th edition-only format, I'm very happy with the commonality-limited formats we've been playing. So far I haven't found any way to put together some ugly combo deck using only commons and uncommons. (Okay, I haven't tried any of the Tutors yet, since I suppose if I do there is still some evil combo that only requires a single rare. But then, I don't like that sort of combo, so I'm not going to look for it.)

Absent card searchers, it is tough to build a deck around any rare card you might like to play. In one deck, I just had to try and play Vitalizing Wind. It seemed just so perfect for chaos. I played out a bunch of small critters, some regenerators, and a couple of swampwalkers and forestwalkers. The strategy is obvious: Get out some little regenerators to keep myself from dying until I can draw and cast the Vitalizing Wind. By that time I should have superior numbers and enough landwalkers to devastate, if not destroy, my opponents in one massive attack! Bwhaaa haaa haaaa!

Funny thing happened on my way to the attack. Only Neechee showed up to play that day and he didn't have any swamps...so now my swampwalkers were just regular critters. Neechee didn't know what I was up to, but he sure wasn't going to let me build up an army if he could help it.

The first game he got a mana drought and I nicked him to death with little critters before he could get going. (Darn, says I, I wanted to cast Vitalizing Wind.)

Second game went better for Neechee. I forget the details - sorry - but he got better mana development that game and kept me on the ropes. By the time I had the mana I needed to cast the Wind, it was too late. He let two of my guys through, lived to tell about it, and finished me off on his next turn. Third game, I didn't last long enough for me to cast the Wind.

Ok, without Gaea's Cradle and some other decent mana acceleration (I was looking for regenerators and landwalkers when I built the deck, not mana generators), the Wind was just a wasted card. Something big with trample would have been much better. Heck, I had some 3/3s on the board... even a Rancor or an Overrun would have been better than the Wind. (Yes, I am evil enough to introduce my newbies to an Overrun deck. Only this time I would put in some decent mana acceleration, so I can cast them early and often.)

I still can't make any tournaments on a regular basis, but at least I'm playing again. Neechee, Hanna, and I have ordered a few boxes of Invasion and I will be trying out some new decks soon. (By the time you see this I should think.)

Until later,

Michael Granaas

Michael owns shares of Hasbro Inc, parent of WotC.

* - I know, I know, but I'm just too darn lazy to type Nietzsche
every time I mention him. (And thank God, since I'm too lazy to have to spellcheck that guy - The Ferrett)

** - Two new players and I haven't had to show either of them how to tap a land. That CD-ROM is great for beginners, I tell ya.

*** - I chose this because Hanna likes to hide behind a wall of critters and ping you to death with an unblockable critter or two. Kind of a U/W player... just like the Hanna card in Invasion.