Wed. afternoons and Saturdays you can find people at Frank and Sons.
http://www.fs-collectibles.com/fs_directions.htm

There is a Power tourny about once a month at Gems in La Mirada.

Hope to see ya there!!

Just a second note..
You can pay for Madness off LED mana.

LOL under the table money makes the small buisness world go round. Without it probably over half of the card shops you know would close. You see the IRS holds no value on secondary collectables such as comics and cards. Therefore there is no write-off on the sales of these type of items.
Take for example a Lotus I buy for $500, I sell it for $1000. Instead of only showing the $500 profit, I have to show the whole $1000. Do this a few time and suddenly I'm paying taxes for double the money I'm making, Showing increased revenue can often raise my annual business tax, etc. etc. How long do you think I'll stay open paying double my tax base?



Not that you said so, but you leave the impression that illegal activity done as a friendly gesture is ok. The bottom line is a store has one main function, and that is to stay in business.
Sure friends are made, great deals are given as possible, but the bottom line is the store must succeed.




I might ask where you get your statistics? Chances are alot of people you know/will know have committed such violations. Know anyone who ever cut the grass, wash cars, or other various odd jobs? Did they make more then $600 that year? Bet they didn't claim it on their taxes. How about cards sold on Ebay or to friends, see anyone filling out tax forms, or collecting sales tax, or produce a vendors/sellers permit? I doubt it. How many of these people do you consider unsavory?



Hell, my eyebrow would be frozen in the Spock position.



There are actually a couple of points here.
The fact that he "insisted" could indeed cause a bit of concern. In general if a business accepts various forms of payment, then they must accept them. Not to mention the fact that, insisting that a customer pays a certain way, when they wish to offer payment in another form you accept, is poor form.

Even in a cash transaction a hand written recipt should have been offered. Yes I know this goes into the whole double reciept books issue. Of course it would be in the store owners best interest to offer a refund if something was wrong. Chances are he doesn't have much of an advertising budget and relies heavily on word of mouth. The thought of some pissed off gamer telling everyone in the neighborhood what a rip off they are should keep the owner on the straight and narrow. Let alone the thought of said pissed off gamer camping on his doorstep protesting.

Then there is the fact that if your buying high dollar cards you should be able to evaluate them yourself. As long as your comfortable with the card it should be good.

This is a common practice in many small buisness'. Not the "insisting" part but definately the no tax for cash part.

By using cash on singles he doesn't ring it on the cash register, which means there is no trace of the sale happening. Therefore he doesnt have to report the income,, which means he doesn't have to pay taxes on it. While he has to report some sales (all new product, anything like credit cards, checks etc.) there is an old tradition about the "under the table" sales that go on.

White was the Ications.
I used to have a book years ago that had 5 decks ( 1 for each color ) The decks were pretty well balanced amongst themselves and were alot of fun in multiplayer.

I'm gonna have to see if I can find that damn book!!

Sounds good to me!! You might want to talk to Pat (TracerBullet) for some ideas on how to make things easier on yourself.

If the stores only open till 5 you should start asap. As long as it's on Sat. and doesn't conflict with the main tourny I'll be there.

Phil Hendrie is the BOMB!!!
For those not in the know the voices of the interviewer (Phil), and the caller (Chris) are done by Phil.

The callers Mark, Bill, Susie, Larry are actual callers who do not know that Phil is doing the voices.

Phil's show is a true classic satire extravaganza. How the hell he manages to keep everything straight while doing the voices of the interviewer, and multiple guests (I've heard him do 4 voices at once) is beyond me.


Phil has many regular interviews with a cast of characters he has invented including:
Steve Bosell who is sue happy including the time he attempted to sue the makers of "Elmers Plumber Putty", and some lumber company for injuries recived after an encounter with a knot hole in a 2x4 when he saw a large chested Asian woman. Apparently the putty was not as slippery as advertised.

Ted Bell who is a steak house owner that belives his money and importance should get him thru airport security lines faster. Like he tells everyone "Hey, I'm Ted Bell". Ted also invented putting backed potatoes in aluminum foil.

R.C. Collins who only has 1 nut, was part of a high school goth club who drank red KoolAid because blood is nasty, and started a neigborhood magazine featuring the local school girls gone wild. He is now a cadet in a military academy.

Bobbie Dooley who is the president of the Western Estates HOA. She thinks we should be able to run over children in our SUV's out here in California because we are so busy getting to script readings and screen tests. Her oldest son recently died while driving drunk after his prom, Bobbie claims his death is his dates fault because she wouldn't put out for him, forcing him to get drunk.

IMO trying to equate distant and diverse metagames is next to impossible. The differance between the Global, Regional, and Local metagame is extemely pronounced.

The Global metagame is the easest to predict. In a way this seems couterintuitive but the fact remains that it is. This is mostly because the Global metagame is almost purely hypothetical. By nature it is assumed that most players will be reasonably skilled and decks will be mostly optimal. The reasoning of card availability can be dismissed and decks are easily broken down into tiers. This would seem to be because on paper it's a relitively easy game to figure out.

The Regional metagame is a first step into reality.  Regional metagames seem to be much more geared towards archtypes. For example, as a general rule the Europeans seem to play much more combo then the US. Likewise the East Coast runs heavier control and prison while the West Coast trends towards a more aggro style.
My first sence of this came some years back while living in Utah. At that time it was common to do very well with tuned "rogue" decks against the decks coming in from Nevada or Cali. However these decks just fell flat when played in other areas.
At the Regional level more focused info begins to filter in, # of proxies, real time test results that factor likely play skill, card choices and availability, etc. while still using alot of "it works on paper" logic still prevelent. Regional metagames trend with the Global metagame with some cool innovation thrown in as well as the occasional surprise.

The Local metagame is where reality takes the steering wheel. This is where actual player skill, deck choices etc. really count. It is also the place where "tier 1" decks fall to WW and Sui on occasion. In my observations this usually happens at one of two times,

1. A sudden shift in archtypes. Usually the new archtype being played is not quite optimized yet, and the players are still working on playing the deck. It's at times like this when consistant aggresive decks can win thru to the T8.

2. The Local metagame becomes so inbred with one or two decks that they are basicly built to beat each other and themselves. At times like this these decks haven't had to deal with alot of other types of threats and have cut cards to make room for answers to themselves.

These windows tend to very short, but when they appear you can rack up the wins with "loser" decks.

Too often it seems that threads get out of hand when posters are talking about metagames because there is usually no "compass" as to which one we're talking about. Local metagames tend to lean towards the Regional decks to beat, but are often totaly random.






Yes and no. Again it depends on what metgame your talking about. On a Global scale, card A, isn't worth the cardboard it's printed on. Regionaly it has been considered and dismissed. Locally, card A is uber tech!

The first thing I thought of when I saw this question was Matt Place needing to be payed to play Stasis in the middle of Black Summer, because it sucked so bad. Who knew??!!

I think alot of the time people who don't understand that their local store is a microcosom end up getting the one liners. Of course at Danny's Cards and Diner they'll trade you 3 FoW and 1 DoJ for your 1 Savannah Lions cause the cats rule down there in the bayou.

They haven't broken the list since they revamped it, and the idea behind the last reworking of the reprint policy was to streamline it and leave it alone. However you are correct they have done it before.

Since you asked, I can't post in community threads.

Heres the thread:
Masticore

It's highly unlikely that it's an actual Masticore, considering it's on the Reserved List.

Welcome back!!
My advise, get over it. Hell I'm 40 and play at most of the local stores and T1 tournys. Hehe, I actually drag my son along alot of the time. Actually besides myself and Chris (my son), David Hernandez and his son are regulars also!!

I personally have never encountered any "geriatric bias", and if the youngsters wanna talk smack behind my back thats cool, I can always get a good laugh knowing all the fun changes in attitudes and changes in lattitudes coming their way.

Seriously though, even when I was playing T2 alot, there was the occasional guy up in his 50's/60's playing. MTG is a hobby that we all share regardless of age.

I'm sure you remember how it's done. Walk on in the local shop, go up to someone and ask if they wanna play. Just let them know up front your playing a T1 deck. It usually doesn't matter, as long as you don't surprise them with 1st turn mox, mox, land, lotus, ancestral, time walk etc.

Growing old the best I can,
Shawn


"Gather all around the young ones, they will make us strong...." RJD

Well if your going to allow proxies the 5 proxy standard seems to work well, at least out here in Cali.

If you want to change it just allow any card on the restricted list to be proxied.
At least you avoid the;
"Why can't I proxy card"x" from pre-legends even though it was reprinted in the last base set?"
or the
"Hey that card is below the "x" dollar cutoff according to Scrye."
"Yea, well according to SCG it makes it."
"Hey I just checked on Ebay and that card dropped in value your deck just became illegal 5 min. ago, JUDGE!!!"
discussions.

:shock:

Pat, last time I looked this is Cali. not West Virginia or Kentucky. Our moms are neither our sisters or wives!!  :lol:

I'm there anyways!!
Shawn

From the DCI floor rules.....

25.   Conceding Games or Matches
Players may concede a game or match at any time within the following guidelines. The conceded game or match is recorded as a loss for the conceding player. If a player refuses to play, it is assumed that he or she concedes the match.

The following actions are prohibited:
•   Offering or accepting a bribe or prize split in exchange for the win, loss, concession, drop, or draw of a match
•   Attempting to determine the winner of a game or match by a random method, such as a coin flip or die roll

Players who engage in these actions will be subject to the appropriate provisions of the DCI Penalty Guidelines.

Players are allowed to share prizes they have won as they wish, such as with teammates, as long as any such sharing does not occur as an exchange for the win, loss, concession, or draw of a game or match



From the penelty guidelines....161.   Cheating-Bribery
 
Definition
A player attempts to bribe an opponent into conceding, drawing, or changing the results of a match, or two players attempt to determine the outcome of a game or match using a random method such as a coin flip or die roll. Refer to section 25 of the Universal Tournament Rules for a more detailed description of what constitutes bribery.
   
Examples
(A) A player in a Swiss round offers his opponent $100 to concede the match.
(B) Two players roll a die to determine the winner of a match.
(C) A player offers his opponent a card in exchange for a draw.

Philosophy
Bribery disrupts the integrity of the tournament and is strictly forbidden. Randomly determining the outcome of a game or match is also specifically prohibited. Please refer to section 25 of the Universal Tournament Rules to ensure the proper application of this penalty.

Penalty

Cheating-Bribery
                 All Levels   
   Disqualification without prize   



Seems pretty clear to me, but then I was certain on the situation before. Even though T1 is mostly unsanctioned and we tend to bend the rules a bit (proxies), overwhelmingly we follow the rules (B/R list etc.) How the judge or TO handles it is of course thier own matter, but then their actions, or lack there of, say alot.

Shawn

Saturdays work best for me. The next best would be Friday but that would be hard on those traveling so thats no good. Sunday is a no go as I go back on the road on Sundays.

This is a much better option for larger tourneys due to the time limit, seating, etc.

For those that aren't in the know, THE T1 tourneys will be the ones Pat (TracerBullet) is holding. As far as smaller regular weekly get togethers Scott's might work for now, but I can see Gem's (Mike's store in La Mirada) getting organized also for weekly small tourneys/playtesting. Having to deal with Scott is just about unbearable for me personally.

Here's the store info:
Gems
14934 Leffingwell
La Mirada, Ca
562-941-1403
MAP

Also of note I'm setting up a Yahoo Group for the West Coast Players, so we can start to get a bit organized and all. If you live out here and would like to join PM me here and I'll get you added.

Go Pat!!
The West is the Best

Shawn

Hey,
I'm Shawn, a young 39 yr. old who's been playing M:TG since Ice Age. My wife and son both play and my two daughters (8 and 7) are starting to learn.

I'm currently a truck driver and own a print shop, hopefully within a year (we're putting together the funding now) I'll be opening a card shop out here and give the West Coast T1 scene a shot in the arm. Being on the road Sunday thru Thursday makes posting a little hard as I can't keep current on threads ::SIGH::

I'm fully powered and play T1 almost exclusively these days, though I do like the occasional FNM at a local shop with some friends of mine. My favorite decks are Keeper, Suicide, WMud.

I use Magic WorkStation for online play and can be found in the irc room under MagicDad and yahoo as mageofdreams and am always up for a game.

What to cut is the question, if I had to choose between Pearl and Mystical, I think the Pearl would be the one. But I don't like that option either. Even though I often felt like I was working to find the Tog at times thats not always a bad thing, all that draw and search just helps feed him once you do get him resolved.

Like I said I always had the mana I needed, but again Wasteland wasn't a factor in my testing session. It seems like it would have a hard time recovering from any standard 5 Strip Package. But until I get a chance to deal with one it's only a guess.



I pretty much agree here. If you play the Strips you would want to keep them for mana over using them and there is no need for more colorless mana. Again, I think my only oposistion to them not being there is purly a comfort thing, which I'll get over after playing the deck more.

I would like to know, Steve, if you have tested Stifle at all? Between stopping Strips, Maze, and any number of things it seems like a possibility. The problem may be again that it's more of a control card then is wanted. Even then you would want at least two and trying to find room for one is a bitch. Either way I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Shawn

Here's my thoughts after I sleeved it up and played a few games tonight,

1) Mana Crypt - Like Steve said, if its useful drop it, if not don't. It will always feed the Tog.

2) Low mana count - While I was never mana screwed, I often felt cramped. Luckily Wastelands were never a factor, if they had been I think they would have been devistating. I'm curious how others are fairing against Waste/Strip.

3) No Waste/Strip - I don't really like it but it seems more of a comfort thing then an actual problem. The trade off not stunting your opponent's development while not stunting yours seems good, but again opposing Strip effects seem like they will be exceedingly dangerous.

4) No Shamans -  No problem, good call.

In response to some of the posts, I don't think running both Sol Ring and Crypt are necessary and the Crypt seems to be a good replacement. This can boil down to play style and Sol Ring is still a viable option. I do have to go with Steve here though, Crypt seems superior.

Sometimes I felt like I was straining to get to Tog, trying to work in the 4th one seems like a likely evolution.

Gush at least for now is a must stay, between the mana exceleration, and the draw it's a "I wish I had more" card.

Dropping a tutor is not an option, you need to assemble the pieces asap. This build would prefer never to see a late game if at all possible.

So after one nights test runs, I like it so far. More testing and a few tweaks and we'll see I guess.

Shawn

'nuff said.

Shawn

He's correct...
Rule
502.16.Ruling.2 - Cost reducing effects can be applied to Buyback costs. [D'Angelo 1997/10/17]

Shawn

My bad, I misread the "charge counters" and "It doesn't matter what kind of counters the destroyed artifact had on it".

Thanks for the reply Jebus, while not as good maybe theres still a use for it.

Dismantle

Sorcery
Destroy target artifact. If that artifact had counters on it, put that many
+1/+1 counters or charge counters on an artifact you control.

* Dismantle targets only the artifact that will be destroyed. When Dismantle
resolves, you choose which type of counters you want and choose an artifact
you control to put them on.

* It doesn't matter what kind of counters the destroyed artifact had on it,
only how many. If an artifact had five bomb counters and two trap counters
on it, that converts to seven +1/+1 counters or seven charge counters.

* You can put +1/+1 counters on a noncreature artifact. They won't do
anything unless the artifact becomes a creature, at which time they'll add
to the creature's power and toughness.

* If the artifact regenerates or is indestructible, it won't be destroyed,
but you still put the appropriate number of counters onto an artifact you
control.


Holy shit!! WMud will most likely find a use for this. This turns Tangle Wire into four counters for Smokestack which it will just Goblin Welder away after it clears your side of the board.

Rules Question: If the artifact destroyed by Dismantle has "Modular" do you get double the counters? I think so since Dismantle doesn't move the counters.

502.35. Modular

502.35a Modular represents both a static ability and a triggered ability.
"Modular X" means "This permanent comes into play with X +1/+1 counters on
it" and "When this permanent is put into a graveyard from play, you may put
a +1/+1 counter on target artifact creature for each +1/+1 counter on this
permanent."

Proxies can be of any legal card, if you own it or not.

Proxies range from Collector's Edition cards (note some tournys don't allow these), Basic lands with the needed info written on them with a Sharpie, a slip of paper with the info on it, printed card pics glued to regular cards etc.

For the most part anything will work as long as it has the name and all relevant information, and is indistinguishable from the rest of your deck while face down and shuffling. Check with the tourny organizer/judge for any special requirements or restrictions.

Shawn

Jacob beat me to it.

In my modest opinion,

1) If your not seeing aggro, add 4 Flesh Reavers along with the rest of your creatures, you need to overwhelm quickly, and 16 critters are better then 12. I would drop the Chalice's for them. Chalice simply doesn't disrupt Prison enough, you would prefer to beatdown. Chalice is at best a S/B option.

2) Look into Sarcomancy, the 2 for 1 isn't bad against Stack/Wire, allowing your bigger threats another chance.

3) I run Power and 2 Diabolic Edicts in the Demonic Consultation, Sol Ring, Null Rod spots. I got something else in there too but damned if I remember off hand.  


Shawn

If he was only 1 mana less, he might have been a replacement for Hypnotic Specter. Not being able to Dark Ritual the Golem out 1st turn is probably to much of a drawback, even if the extra point of power would be nice.

Shawn

Heres a couple of links from pre-crash to help you get up to speed.

RECTOR/TENDRILS
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3521

TRIX
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3495

2R would be a casting cost of 3. Similarly, 2RR would be a casting cost of 4.

G3.5a - Some older cards used the term "casting cost" to describe the mana cost of a spell. In general, cards that were printed with the term "casting cost" now use the term "mana cost." Cards that used the term "total casting cost" now use the term "converted mana cost." [CompRules 2003/07/01]


G3.25a - The converted mana cost of an object is the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.
Example: An Air Elemental has a mana cost of and a converted mana cost of 5. [CompRules 2003/07/01]


Shawn

Heres the rule:

421 - Handling "Infinite" Loops
421.1 - Occasionally the game can get into a state in which a set of actions could be repeated forever. These rules (sometimes called the "infinity rules") govern how to break such loops. [CompRules 2003/07/01]
421.2 - If the loop contains one or more optional actions and one player controls them all, that player chooses a number. The loop is treated as repeating that many times or until the other player intervenes, whichever comes first. [CompRules 2003/07/01]
421.3 - If the loop contains at least one optional action controlled by each player and actions by both players are required to continue the loop, the active player chooses a number. The nonactive player then has two choices. He or she can choose a lower number, in which case the loop continues that number of times plus whatever fraction is necessary for the active player to "have the last word." Or he or she can agree to the number the active player chose, in which case the loop continues that number of times plus whatever fraction is necessary for the nonactive player to "have the last word." (Note that either fraction may be zero.)
Example: One player controls a creature with the ability ": [This creature] gains flying." Another player controls a permanent with the ability ": Target creature loses flying." The "infinity rule" ensures that regardless of which player initiated the gain/lose flying ability, the nonactive player will always have the final choice and therefore be able to determine whether the creature has flying. (Note that this assumes that the first player attempted to give the creature flying at least once.) [CompRules 2003/07/01]
421.4 - If the loop contains only mandatory actions, the game ends in a draw. (See Rule 102.6.) [CompRules 2003/07/01]
421.5 - If the loop contains at least one optional action controlled by each player and these actions don't depend on one another, the active player chooses a number. The nonactive player can either agree to that number or choose a higher number. Note that this rule applies even if the actions could exist in separate loops rather than in a single loop. [CompRules 2003/07/01]

Shawn

Presumably, things will be like the old boards and there will be no access to the Trading Forum ( if indeed Zherbus sets them up again). However, Newbie ones may be set up again if the Mods give the go ahead.

Shawn

http://www.classicdojo.org/bou97/bou.970822eta.txt

Heres a link to an Eric Taylor post from '97. With a few personal tweaks it works great.