A lot has happened....

....and not much as well. It's been a few weeks and I have been busy. But nothing has really happened except MarsCon, for some multi-player fun, and a fun first - I got paid to play M:tG!

MarsCon was a blast. Not only did I get in to several multi-player free-for-alls, my favorite nerdcore rapper was there - MC Lars! I unfortunately missed mising another second set only draft with some CON-CON-CON action. A nice 5-color domain deck won. I saw good spells and lots of Exploding Borders, always for 5! No wonder he won. I think he also had Ethersworn Adjudicator as well.

At the middle school where I work, there is currently a program to give kids some remedial catch-up opportunities while rewarding those kids who are on task and up to snuff. It's called HOP (short for Hour Of Power). One of the activities this time around is Yugio, Card Games and Other Games. One student I am acquainted with was in this HOP and prompted me to bring my Magic cards in. I did. I sat and played an hour of Magic with him as I helped 'supervise' the classroom. So I actually got paid to do Magic. Am I a professional now? LOLOMGNB! (laugh out loud, oh my God, Nicol Bolas)

On the ULC/Limited EDH front, I am pleased, after a few more acquisitions of product, to list the sets involved as of this date:
Mirrodin
Darksteel
5th Dawn
Champions of Kamigawa
Betrayers of Kamigawa
Saviors of Kamigawa
Ravnica
Guidpact
Dissension
Time Spiral
Planar Chaos
Future Sight
Coldsnap
Lorwyn
Morningtide
Shadowmoor
Eventide
Shards of Alara
Conflux
Unhinged (only one booster, to avoid too much silliness)

That's twenty sets! Woohoo! I only wish I had started the ULCs earlier. I do have a box of Legions on it's way and have been keeping an eye on Scourge and Onslaught. I'm not really sure if I can justify to myself going back any farther with the cost of boxes. Most of the older sets I have acquired have been priced similarly to newer sets, or maybe up to $10.00 a box more. I'm not sure I want to pay much more than that at this point. Alara Reborn comes out soon as well. I am also contemplating whether or not to pick up basic sets, as some of those can be picked up on the cheap. Thoughts? Sound off!

Another great thing that has recently happened: My wife has picked up cards again. I have been stating for some time that she needs to get back to playing some and that I would help her to get up to speed. When it is not competitive, she is more willing. If it's competitive, I don't really give any quarter, so she gets frustrated as my knowledge of the rules and combat tricks, etc. seem like cheating to her. This time I am teaching her. We'll see if it takes enough for her to get in to it. I will try real hard and keep my fingers crossed.

Here's a few neat links:
Neal's blog: Lifegain is bad!
The MTGCast network where Tom does his thang
Starcitygames.com - for all your magic needs (buying and reading)
MTGSalvation.com - where there are good forumns, spoilers, nice card creation contests, and a few good articles wnow and then
Joel's blog - he does a lot more console gaming and shares his thoughts

Until next post,
Rodolfo