I’ll never forget the look on his face as he realized that his reign was finally over. I’ll never forget that day when I crushed Josh seven games in a row. The deck was expensive, but I had some random lands and artifacts that made mana that people wanted to trade me for. It was in the dark, moist basement of Fun Times Together Comics and Games that I understood that you could buy not just singles, but could get entire decklists built by professional players. It was there that I first heard two words that would lead to the end of my friendship with Josh and the beginning of my rise to near-pro status: Ravager Affinity. That was the first time I stepped into a card shop, having heard that Josh didn’t open his Reiver Demon in a pack, but in fact purchased it from a store that sold individual cards. “To Fun Times Together Comics and Games.” Calm and cool, I stared her straight in the eyes. I composed myself, wiping the tears from my eyes. I needed to find a way to beat it… I would do anything…

I only had blue and white cards, which meant Josh just dragged out the game until he cast his Demon, always winning a couple turns later. I threw my cards onto the table and stormed out of his house, practically sprinting back home. “Then, I’ll tap seven lands and play Reiver Demon.” Josh smirked. My stomach sank, for I knew what was coming. “I’ll tap my Llanowar Elves to search my deck for a Forest and put it onto the battlefield,” announced my ex-friend, Josh. It’s commonly referred to as the “arms race” format, and maybe this anecdote from my younger, pre-near-pro, more innocent days will help to elucidate why. This isn’t quite a sanctioned, real format, but it’s how the majority of players experience the game. “The casual ‘format’ is a paradox you can only play if you have friends, but you will quickly hemorrhage friends once you start playing.” -LSP In this section, I’m going to take you through the major formats and what you can expect from each.

One of the greatest things about Magic is that there are so many different ways to play the game. Welcome back! My name is Charlie, and in the two weeks since Part I, I not only crushed at GP Vegas (4-4, drop, baby, not a losing record!), but I won yet another FNM! It’s results like this that qualify me to dispense wisdom to the masses as a near-pro, you can rest assured that my credibility and writing chops is inimpeachable.

Madcap experiment gearhulk