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By: BlippyTheSlug, Volker Kirstein
Dec 18 2014 1:00pm
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Holidaze

So here it is, Wednesday evening, and I feel the pressure of having to put this puppy biscuit in my editor's hands tonight after just exiting the editor window without saving. Again!

Which in turn means I have to start this whole thing over, decklists and all, from scratch. Again.

Now I'm staring at this almost empty page, willing words to re-appear, and nothing is happening. How metaphoric.

Buck up, boy! Take a deep breath, and start typing! Third time's a charm!

It's hard for me this time of year. I love the holidays. Back before my deportation, we were always visiting relatives, decorating, the whole none yards. I was the Clark Griswald on our street: there was one year I was requested by the Sheriff's Department to take down the lights from my roof. (I used red lights along the peak and corners, which apparently looked like a red H from the air, and it had concerned an air ambulance pilot) (We lived a mile from the hospital)  I wrapped the antlers of my Elk skull in white lights, put a large olde skoole red bulb in the nose, and hung it over the garage door. Light deer under chokecherries strewn with lights. People would drive across town to see our house. (we were obnoxious on the 4th if July, too)

My first "pity christmas" was when I was still in Germany, which I spent with my aunt & uncle in Bremerhaven. It was not fun; I was still reeling from having been torn from my family and thrown in a strange land where I didn't know anyone, and didn't speak the language very well.

After I came to Canada, and moved to Lethbridge, home was only a 3 hour drive away. Everything was relatively hunky dory. Well, as hunky dory as 200 miles and a border crossing could make it. Then, my world collapsed again, and I ended up in Quebec. Home wasn't a hop, skip, and jump away anymore. My own future was in a constant state of uprooting, with fairly regular calamities forcing quick relocations with no notice every year or so. Even now, even though I've lived in the same room for almost two years, I still feel apprehensive. I still feel like something is going to come and turn my life sideways again

With each move, a little something was lost, some little part of me forgotten by the roadside. Little by little, I lost everything I ever cared for. My kids don't remember me; I'm a voice that calls on holidays and birthdays. My ex has moved on, I never had a chance to say good bye.

And here I sit, with every meaningless thing I own within arm's reach, and everything I love forever out of reach.

So yeah, the holidays are rough.

I swear I spent almost three quarters of the weekend working on the piece of gibberish your eyes are scanning at this very moment, without being able to string together three coherent sentences, let alone paragraphs. I wanted to make up something grand and pretentious, verging on obscene, about Milan, and the GP, and yadda yadda...

But noOOOooo! The GP was like a microwaved burrito with a tall glass of luke warm Ovaltine, through no fault of anyone's. That's just how it turned out. Then I lost my first two drafts of this mess. So you get the hurry up and what did I write before again?

Then someone asked me today: when are you going to start writing about playing MTGO again? Short answer: when I start playing MTGO again.

There used to be an MTGO community, and I like to think I was a big part of it. There may still be, it's hard for me to tell. If there is, it isn't an MTGO community, per se, anymore. It's more like a bunch of strangers, acquaintances, and buddies, who like MTG, some of whom play MTGO, who all eat lunch at the same park every day, along with a host of other people. It's an online community, granted. Maybe I'll even stipulate a heavy MTG element. And sure, us longtime MTGOers will wave to each other across the park. But it's not a MTGO community.

Every part of MTGO, and the MTGO community, that I've loved over the years, has been systematically burnt to the ground, the ashes scattered to the winds, and shoddy facsimiles put in their places. Over and over and over again.

Don't even get me started on the promise of Leagues. 

The latest build lets me play a game without my laptop going into conniption fits, which I suppose is progress. I was even in the Just For Fun room getting a few games in. So I am playing, somewhat. This is as close to a glowing recommendation as you're going to get from me. With WotC's track record in all things online, it's going to take a hell of a lot more than promises, some phantom points, and a foil whatsit for me to get jiggy with it again.

 

Terra Incognita

It has been said of Modern: "The most important thing about Modern is [its] diversity. It's by and far the most open format right now, there are huge tracts of land no one has explored. It's the new frontier of competitive Magic.", and "The nice thing about Modern is that the format is very open. There's a lot of room to explore and find decks that can work".

To hammer home this point, here are maps from some recent explorations:

 


A box without hinges, key, or lid
Yet golden treasure inside is hid

Whenever I think of Geist decks these days, my brain kind of  jumps to Scotty Mac, who recently has been a big proponent of the deck.  He brought it to Overdrive! a few months back, but fell quickly, and hasn't been back since. That I'm aware of.

Anyway, Geist still shows up in the lists once in a while, but nowhere near the frequency he did a year ago.

About a month and half ago, I showed you an Abzan (nee Junk) deck that was splashing for Treasure Cruise.

This one takes it a step further by running a pair a Geists.

What I'm impressed with, though, is the sideboard. That is quite the diverse tool belt to be strapping on, and it seems to get the job done.

 

 

 

The Twitterverse 

Magic Online

Other MTG/Wotc

 

 

Overdrive!, which started on July 4th, 2011, is the original Modern format Player-Run Event! In fact, Overdrive! is even older than Modern, having started out as an event in the Overextended format. Overdrive! is a single elimination event: two men enter, one man leaves. Registration is done via Gatherling. You can find more information at the main event thread here.

 

 

 

 

Overdrive! #162
Players: 15
Champion: ChineseNotebook / Angel Pod
Runner up:  wutang08 / Tempo Twin
Decklists and results from all Overdrive! events can be found here.  

ChineseNotebook brought his Pod deck to the brouhaha, and proceeded to Pod his way through Ghostpants, RDW Aggro, RDW Burn, and Tempo Twin to come out on top as Overdrive! #162 champion.

wutang08 brought Kiki Pod to the party, and turned the hurt machine on Robots, GB Infect, and Living End before falling to Angel Pod.

 


BlippyTheSlug on MTGO
Blog: Read At Your Peril (NSFW!)

 

 

Blippy's GP Vancouver Fund
All proceeds used for MTG travel/accommodations/reportage

 

3адерганный!

1 Comments

I'm hoping for at least 2 out by Joe Fiorini at Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:05
Joe Fiorini's picture

I'm hoping for at least 2 out of three playable hands next time on overdrive.