Ask the Judge, 11/18/2006: Feature Friday

Odds and Ends

After a real wall of Magic work a few weeks ago, I've settled into a bit of a holiday lull. The only Extended PTQ in Portland this season was the same weekend as Pro Tour: LA, and I've got no plans to hit any of the winter Grand Prixs, so the next event I work may well be the Guildpact prerelease. While I enjoy working events, it's also nice to take a break. I hoping to really have some fun playing with the new set.

While I have a substantial amount of unopen Ravnica product languishing in my basement, I have had no time to touch it yet. My old draft group broke up some time ago, and I can't quite bring myself to crack packs just for the heck of it, so it wasn't until Ravnica came to Magic Online that I had an opportunity to play.

My first efforts were in Sealed release leagues. That format is fun, even when you don't know what you're doing and you keep losing. Which I did. I'm not sure if my pools were subpar, or if I was clueless about building, or what, but it did not go well, and three separate release leagues netted me a grand total of two prize packs.

Drafting has been somewhat better. Chris Romeo will be startled to hear that I've opened four Watery Graves in my last four drafts. This set feels great for draft—challenging, interesting, and drastically different than the last few blocks. I suspect that as players get comfortable with the various archetypes, triple Ravnica may not feel like the richest format ever, but it's certainly reasonable to expect that the expansions will shift things more than usual. It seems rare that I'm able to make time to draft much in all three draft formats for a given block, but this could be the set that holds my attention well for an entire year.

A lot of judges and players I know enjoy chess; some casually, and some very, very seriously. I tend to have periodic binges of online blitz play, though since I've been seriously involved with Magic I haven't played much at all. There's a fun little variation I've been wanting to share here for some time. It's a useful exercise for illustrating the value of tempo, which makes it marginally relevant to Magic strategy. But mostly it's just fun:

Black Wins

That's it, really. There are a number of rules tweaks to accomodate.

• Black's king can move through check, as long as it doesn't end the turn in check
• Black's king can win by capturing White's king.

Most people's initial reaction to this setup is that Black's position is helpless, but usually the initial impression you get from playing is that Black is much too strong. With a little practice, the two sides even out remarkably well.

There are a number of strategies for each side, though Black is usually just in the position of exerting pressure in the center and reacting to White. White can try racing pawns down the outside of the board, or just make a concerted effort to trade off or lock up the center pawns. White can afford to trade off some material, but not too much, as the Black king can smash up seemingly impregnable fortifications without too much difficulty. White needs at least three Rooks to mate Black on an empty board. If Black promotes a pawn to a queen, it's generally all over, but it is very much possible for Black to mate White on White's back rank with nothing more than the King.

Try it out and let me know what you think. I don't see a Black Wins Pro Tour popping up any time soon, but it's a good quick game.

I'm not sure what the StarCityGames publishing schedule is like next week. If we're publishing on Friday, we'll have a column from either myself or periodic Feature Friday guest Lee Sharpe. If not, we'll see you in a couple weeks. If you're in the States, enjoy your Thanksgiving. I'll be in beautiful Port Townsend, Washington.

Cheers!