The long and short of it is that there is new batch of fake cards from China which are extremely difficult to detect. That a company is now selling high quality fakes in such a large quantity has serious implications for the secondary market and buyer confidence. Quiet Speculation published an article that reviewed a lot of the common ways to spot fake cards and addresses the newest batch of fake cards from China.

Insider: Spotting Fakes
BY DAVID SCHUMANN – JANUARY 8, 2014
http://www.quietspeculation.com/2014/01/insider-spotting-fakes/

As someone who is still acquiring Vintage & eternal staples, its a really good read and something to keep a keen eye out for.

Where (and why) is the next event in Waco, TX?

Played at the event on Saturday and had a blast. 14 players turned out. The store & tournament staff were great hosts. Additionally, the player bases was awesome and very friendly.

Prize support was also excellent.

First place was winner choice between an Underground Sea (WB German) or an English Mana Drain
Second place was which ever card first place did not select.
Third & Fourth place: $86 dollars in store credit (each).

If you can make the drive, I would highly recommend making it out to the next Vintage event at Madness Comics and Games!

Does anyone have an update or comments on the new security measures that were supposedly put into place at GenCon this year for the Vintage players?

No one's mentioned this, but Imperial Seal probably gained and lost some playability with the printing of Snapcaster Mage depending on how you look at it. The obvious positive interaction is to use Snapcaster to recur Seal. On the negative side of things this line of play has to be done on your turn and it only puts it on top your library making it almost always inferior to Vampiric and Demonic. However, the aforementioned weakness was already inherent to Imperial Seal. A new argument against the use of Seal seems to be that you already have the ability to recur both Vampiric and Demonic Tutor, so why is it necessary to add in a third effect that is almost universally inferior?

Regarding the era of Mental Misstep and its impact on Imperial Seal, Snapcaster Mage seems to solve this as well. Additionally, such a deck running both Vampiric and Imperial Seal would likely be running Mental Misstep as well for protection. I played storm combo during the Mental Misstep era in Legacy and the best method I found for combating Mental Misstep was to play through it. Perhaps if you're worried about Mental Misstep and your deck is heavily reliant on resolving tutor effects, adding a third one in the form of Imperial Seal may be a way to overcome the presences of Misstep (combined with recurring it via Snapcaster Mage).

I'm sure SCG consulted with a lawyer prior to issuing that policy and withholding the prize money. I don't see what Alex's standing would be to challenge their decision. Even if he proved a contracted existed, the fact he was found to of cheated by the governing body will be a difficult hurdle to overcome. Additionally, from a strictly rules based standpoint, SCG didn't violate their own rules or break a contract. The rule prior to the statement issued on Friday was that players were to be paid out regardless of standing with the DCI. The new rules indicates they will not pay out players who are banned/suspended by the DCI; they're applying the new rule to him since he had not been paid as of Friday. Wording it this way prevents them from specifically targeting Alex and the fact it was instituted immediately would lead one to believe that SCG has the right to change the rules of their events whenever they want to. As an aside, if Alex has something he could sue on, it would be when, if and how SCG can alter its prize policy. Furthermore, SCG could also argue that since Alex was found guilty of cheating at previous Open events, he obtained access to the Invitational through cheating (fraud) and that would of been disqualified from participating.

The cash comment is probably true; especially in the Midwest and South were the more conservative laws of those regions prevent cash as the reward for games of chance (except Bingo). As an aside, does SCG payout in cash or it is a prepaid Visa? The latter would probably be a way to get out of some of those laws.

The actions taken by SCG does seem like a relevant thing to discuss. They've essentially taking his prizes ex post facto and stripped him of his titles. Removing his titles seem to be well within their rights to do. However, Alex did win the tournament and part of winning included the payout. SCG is retroactively deciding not to pay Alex, despite his good standing with the DCI at the time of winning the tournament. Personally, I believe their decision had more to do with an attempt to maintain credibility and public support over other concerns. The decision seems to be unprecedented in MtG events as far as I can tell.

My name is Patrick. I currently live around Kansas City and have been playing Magic since Ice Age. I started playing competitively in 2004 and almost exclusively played Legacy up until this point. While I plan on continuing to play Legacy, I am starting to transition myself away from Legacy into Vintage. My move toward Vintage would probably have been accelerated had the Open Series not offered me a chance to play Legacy on a somewhat regular basis. Additionally, I suspect that Modern will supplant Legacy as the second most popular constructed format sometime in the future. This trend toward Modern will likely attract new eternal players (which is awesome) but also directly trade off with Legacy players and support (Open Series events for example).

Regardless of external factors that may have influenced my decision, my primary reason is because of changing priorities in my life. I use to spend a few hours a day going over Legacy related material and/or testing. However, I am getting older (25) and find my interests changing. Between working toward a PhD and other commitments, I think Vintage offers a better way for me to manage my life and still include Magic as a part of it. I've always found the card pool and the skill intensity associated with Legacy to be appealing. I feel that Vintage offers an even greater opportunity to test one's mettle and the card pool is obviously more diverse...and powerful....and in general more awesome. I believe it would be more rewarding to travel to play Vintage since its the lower number of tournaments means each event attended is more significant. Finally, from a cultural standpoint, the grassroots support the community gives to Vintage is very appealing.

Overall, I'm happy to be moving toward Vintage and am looking forward to getting to know some of the members on this site. If you're in the Kansas City area and want to playtest, just send me a PM.