Disciple of the Cards

In my game today one of my opponents commented that I ran a lot of commons. He said this after only seeing me play three common spells. He even went as far as saying that I could play Pauper Commander. It made me think, though, and counting nonbasic lands I guess I have 20 commons in my Glissa, the Traitor deck that I played last Thursday. That certainly is more than the 16 in my Rafiq deck and the 12 in my Kaalia deck. But is 20 commons really a lot? Even if it is, liking a lot of commons in one of my decks doesn’t make me think I’d like a whole deck of them; I’ve enjoyed Pauper in 60/4 formats, but there I’m allowed multiple copies of those commons I really like. I think I’d miss out on the Timmy rares that I like so much in this format if I went and built a Pauper deck.

Anyway, let me know what you think: Is 20/100 commons a lot, and how many do you run in your decks? (remember that basic lands are their own rarity, and are not common).

Last fall I had to give up writing for this blog regularly. When the summer came to a close and my duties as a graduate student became greater with the new school year, I simply didn’t have the time to write as often as I had gotten myself into. I continue to post to the blog occasionally, and these posts have gained me even more followers than previously. As much as followers have the ability to look back on the archives of those they follow, there’s a lot there, and I know they don’t really have time. I still don’t have a whole lot of time to write weekly articles with any regularity as I used to, but for now I’d like to provide something regular on here, even if it is a “Best of Disciple of the Cards.” There are some posts as well as card designs that I’m really proud of, and reposting them should make it easier for newer followers to check out my past work. I started by reposting the details of Booster Cap Magic, a constructed format I created, to make it easier for my brother and his friends to find. Until the summer, when I may have time to get back into writing more regularly, I would like to continue to repost some of my favorite work (with edits) during these Friday Flashbacks.

Embracing Vorthos was one of the most enjoyable posts I wrote for this blog, as evidenced when I made it a weekly post for each and every Wednesday (to coincide with the day Gathering Magic focuses on Vorthos). My post on Solemn Simulacrum was my favorite, as it was not a card a Magic player would normally consider to be flavorful.

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I can’t wait until Dark Ascension is released so I can go and 4-5 star all of my favorite cards on Gatherer.

Last fall I had to give up writing for this blog regularly. When the summer came to a close and my duties as a graduate student became greater with the new school year, I simply didn’t have the time to write as often as I had gotten myself into. I continue to post to the blog occasionally, and these posts have gained me even more followers than previously. As much as followers have the ability to look back on the archives of those they follow, there’s a lot there, and I know they don’t really have time. I still don’t have a whole lot of time to write weekly articles with any regularity as I used to, but for now I’d like to provide something regular on here, even if it is a “Best of Disciple of the Cards.” There are some posts as well as card designs that I’m really proud of, and reposting them should make it easier for newer followers to check out my past work. I started by reposting the details of Booster Cap Magic, a constructed format I created, to make it easier for my brother and his friends to find. Until the summer, when I may have time to get back into writing more regularly, I would like to continue to repost some of my favorite work (with edits) during these Friday Flashbacks.

Friday Flashback this week and every other week until the summer are cards I designed using Magic Set Editor. They were previously posted along with the descriptions of 15-30 other cards I’ve designed, so it was easy to lose the gems amidst the chaff. Instead, I’d like to showcase the cards each week one at a time, where, standing alone, they can shine all the brighter. May I present to you the newly named…

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Happy Friday the 13th!

Last fall I had to give up writing for this blog regularly. When the summer came to a close and my duties as a graduate student became greater with the new school year, I simply didn’t have the time to write as often as I had gotten myself into. I continue to post to the blog occasionally, and these posts have gained me even more followers than previously. As much as followers have the ability to look back on the archives of those they follow, there’s a lot there, and I know they don’t really have time. I still don’t have a whole lot of time to write weekly articles with any regularity as I used to, but for now I’d like to provide something regular on here, even if it is a “Best of Disciple of the Cards.” There are some posts as well as card designs that I’m really proud of, and reposting them should make it easier for newer followers to check out my past work.  I started by reposting the details of Booster Cap Magic, a constructed format I created, to make it easier for my brother and his friends to find. From now until the summer, when I may have time to get back into writing more regularly, I would like to continue to repost some of my favorite work (with edits) during these Friday Flashbacks.

I guess this week’s flashback fits today’s date, as removing rules from Magic can be a scary prospect for veteran players. R&D evaluates the rules of Magic and occasionally makes changes to the game. They do so to open design space for future cards as well as to remove excess rules that only serve to make the game more difficult for newer players to comprehend. Some people call this “dumbing down the game,” but I can assure you the game still requires quite a lot of intelligence to comprehend, and will only get more complicated as more cards and mechanics are announced. So clearly I understand R&D’s reasoning behind doing so. However, when Mark Rosewater let it slip during an article on the Great Designer Search 2 that the maximum hand size rule was the rule most considered by R&D for removal, I new I had to defend it. While never having to discard down to 7 again might sound like a great idea to you, I feel removing the rule would be a bad decision. What follows are my reasons why.

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