Hey guys I haven't been around for a while. Life just catching up with me and I haven't been able to play as much as I'd like. Can anyone give me a quick rundown on what's going on in the world of MTG these days? (I'm catching up on the podcast so anything that's different from that?)

Sitting around my room i've come up with yet another way to keep things new and exciting.

Death Match Combat.

In DMC if two opposing creatures would kill eachother in combat a quick coin toss is held. Winner's creature survives. The loser's of course dies.

Example:

Player 1 attacks with Gladecover Scout a 1/1 creature
Player 2 blocks with Elite Vanguard a 2/1 creature
A coin toss is held. Attacking player chooses first. Player 1 chooses heads, Player 2 gets tails.
Coin is tossed.
Lands on heads.
Player 1's creature takes no damage and survives.
Player 2's creature takes all damage and dies.

This could also be done with dice and attacking player chooses odds/evens.

Yet another format idea of mine.

A copy of Omen Machine is placed in the game. This card is'nt controled by any player and cannot be targeted, destroyed or removed from game by any means.

Players follow normal deck construction.

Life starts at 40

Play procedes as normal

After several weeks of tweeking and work i've come up with a new format that takes you back to a simpler time of MTG, Core Brawl. The only restrictions: ONLY CARDS THAT WERE IN CORE SETS ARE PERMITTED. All others are banned. Normal play rules are used. The format is very simple and clean and would make a nice introduction for new players. Its caught on rather well with me and my friends and i thought i'd share.

Had to create a thread because comments were closed on the new DC podcast. I was very very impressed with the episode. Lots of good information on there that I didn't have to go find myself. So thank you Alex for a well prepared and presented show.

The biggest thing that hit me was these pre-constructed decks that you can buy from stores that include certain chase rares in them. This is probably one of the greatest moves by Wizards to help players construct competitive decks for a more cost effective price. If wizards continues a pattern of putting choice chase rares into easily acquired packs the price to play magic will go down. I for one fully support this decision.

I don't collect magic expecting these cards to hold massive value. I expect them to be reasonably priced so that playing isn't excessively expensive. Magic is first and foremost a game. I'm glad to see Wizards do something to make me think they still remember that it is.

Yep, the whole of the set has been spoiled, be it official or not. Im in the process of writing a full preview of it, and ill be posting it here some time over the weekend, so kep your eyes open for it.

I need a catch up. It's been way too long.
What's new in the Magic scene guys?

Having watched a recent episode of "the professors" over at blackborder, I have decided to follow through on one of my lines of thought from after listening to that. One of my main problems is with Standard, and my general disgruntlement with losing money just a bit too quickly on my cards, that are borderline useless for legacy.

So, In response now I will just stop playing standard, and embrace Extended. If I hold an event at my house, extended and EDH. No more standard. Extended.

Hopefully this will encourage others to do the same. Just a spark, please feel free to help start a fire. It really is that simple.

Next is the war of Dragons and Knights, but the real question is, what side are you on?

I know this is not a huge thing, but I thought discussing it would be worthwhile. I personally am going Knights, but not because of Knight of the Reliquary which was allegedly one of the best cards in Shards. But because, well I'm not really sure about that, but one thing that does pull me into the Knights is the fact that they use a lot of white mana. I mostly play white, but I feel that white pumps out a bunch of small creatures, gains life, and then it takes forever for your opponent to kill you (Am I right?), at least that’s what happens to me.

Anyway back on track is the pros and cons of the Knights/Dragons.

Knights; they can get a lot of knights out, but lack power till you either level them up or get Knights out like Kinsbaile Cavalier, and Kabira Vindicator. Be sure to use your early advantage while you can or fire will reign down on you and your Knights. Use some of your instants earlier than others, like using Mighty Leap to fly over the chump blockers, or use Loxodon Warhammer to trample over them.

Dragons; lack speed when it comes to getting Dragons out, but when you do you get very powerful flying Dragons that can swing for massive blows. Again the drawback is slowness only with a few quick summon creatures that will most likely just chump block till you can get a Dragon. When you do get a Dragon out you can wipe Knights off the field and still do crippling blow to your opponents’ life when you swing with Mordant Dragon, and Kilnmouth Dragon.

Those were some of my thoughts. I'm very interested to hear yours.

The Machines have won and the new set is coming out with Pherlexi being the victor. I'm not honestly surprised by the overwhelming support that side had, but to know my people are now dead and a new world is being built greatly saddens me. Curse the day that Urza and his brother made the mistake of opening a portal to that world. I do however look forward to draft and playing in the pre-release and release. The spoiler card that Hobojackal showed me nearly made me wet myself with glee. I hope to see some interesting cards in the coming days spoilers.