Loaded up with a full set of Coldsnap packs, I did what any struggling student trying to manage a part-time job, a failing education, and real-life responsibilities would do, I decided to join a league. I was leaning towards another Coldsnap league, but after chatting with MTGO Traders, he mentioned in passing that Masters Edition would only go up in value. "Hey, I've never played that!" I thought to myself. I pondered for a bit and decided “why not!”, placed an order for packs, and became the 9^th member of a newly spawned league.

Opening my pool, my enthusiasm slowly faded (One reason was was no Force of Will, but mostly because I spent two hours trying to understand what Chains of Mephistopheles actually did). There’s one upside to playing MED, it’s cringe-worthingly hilarious and absolutely random at the same time. What set’s it aside from other sets is the lack of consistency. With Coldsnap, you already know the decks you’re going to play- it all depends on what cards you open. Same applies to guilds in Ravinca and tribes in Lorwyn. With MED, virtually any deck idea is plausible because games last on so long and the cardpool is so vast. There is a downside however, many decks are influenced not by what cards you open from your MED packs, but by how many playables your Tenth Edition packs may have. So, on to my pool:

Rabid Wombat made me cry.

So, there it is. 75 cards of glory. To be fair, it’s not a bad pool… it’s just not really a good pool either. There’s the benefit of having 4 Green Fatties and a Whispersilk Cloak, Abundance, and lots of sexy removal in black. Icatian Town is the closest thing I’m going to get to a bomb, with the not-so-small exception of Forcefield. I toyed with the idea of going blue, but personally- I’m not a control player. I already have to learn advanced econometrics. Magic should be a hobby, not a chore. Red is blessed with useless cards. The only real decision is to choose to go second colour black or white. I opted for the removal, but decided to splash for the little Townspeople who could (not).

After three frustrating matches, I finally settled on this blue/green build. Damn the mind.

I ended with a respectable 5 losses and 0 wins. After the fourth match, a player sent me a private message “Unlucky… your deck is not bad”.

"Not bad." The words stuck with me. I didn't think it was too bad either, but I guess I'm just not used to MED sealed. In hindsight, I might have actually played red just for the Soulblast if I understood the format better.

I took this league as a learning experience. Like most epic beatings, it was as a chance to build character and provided a great entry in my diary. I originally intended to post match summaries, but considering this is MED, I don’t want to bore you with “Turn 24, my opponent passes the turn… again”. So, I’ll end with a list of lessons learned and some of the more interesting match situations. As the sayings goes, "now we know!" "And knowing is half the battle."

1) Any deck is possible: That’s right, with MED- let your imagination go wild. In most sets, you want to design a deck that will end the game on single-digit turns. In MED, the game can, and usually does, last to turn 15 to turn 20. I once saw my friend die to a Blaze for 28, courtesy of Mana Flare. This has a downside, because games end up as “Who can draw their finisher first”, and that’s fine- but… what if you’re like me and open a pool with no finishers?

Turn 20. Me: Hah, I use my Abundance to topdeck Shambling Strider! The game is in my hands!

Opponent: I play Reya Dawnbringer/Shivan Hellkite/Avatar of Might.

Crap. Ces’t la vie.

2) It is a Nostalgia Block: I think one of the reasons Masters Edition wasn't as enjoyable for me is because it s more suited for old timers who’ll fondly remember the good old days when President Clinton was in the white house and Seal was singing about roses and kisses. But, it's an understandable fondness when you put things in perspective. For us  younger players it would be the equivelant of getting the chance to reopen Kokusho, the Evening Star and Umezawa's Jitte (Note: Pronounced J-height. I will take this cursed pronunciation war to the death) or swinging with a Phantom Nishoba. Still, seeing old cards for the first time and screaming “You did what to my lands??!!” might not be the funnest experience for us young ones, but the old men might get a chuckle. However, seeing the Banding  mechanic again was nice. My first deck at Friday Night Magic was a motley banding deck I made from Portuguese Ice-Age era cards given to me by my uncle. That night, I was introduced to the dark, competitive, side of Magic ruled by Morphlings and Worldgorger Dragon combos using Blood Pet. I still have nightmares, and my perspective on Magic has never been the same since.