well damn..  

information like this would be most helpful. Funny though, website says it's 20 minutes from Geneva but now it takes 40? oh well, I just canceled the booking and will start again.

Flight and hotel booked.

Question: I'm flying out of Geneva 19:00 on Sunday the 20th - day of the big Vintage event that starts at 9:00. I'll have plenty of time right?? Around what time do you think the tournament will be over?

my favorite movies I saw this year:

Moneyball
Sucker Punch
Green Lantern
Transformers 3
Bad Teacher
Thor

honorable mention: All Star Superman (DC animated movie)

i was greatly let down by X-Men First Class, thought it was terrible. Capt. America was just ok, I thought both movies were incredibly overrated though.

Can you describe more the purpose and intent behind the Bitterblossoms in the MD? how did it work out for you in real play? i long since stopped playing them but still have my foil playset.

I lost my Imperial Seal so right now it's the only proxy I would play with. Kind of embarrassing, I hope it turns up one day.

so it's come to the point now WOTC is ripping off the old CCG Rage? It's so blatant I doubt they even care whoever notices.

Lame.

Rage >> these wack Innistrad werewolves

I think the only problem with this format is the price of P9 and Wizards put the nail in the coffin by sticking with the reserve list. Vintage is the only format I've ever cared about and the Reserve List decision - and ultimately the cost of entry - killed it for me.

Alot of my key cards like my playset of Underground Seas, Moxen and Time Walk/Vault I've had for 15 years. Problem is through the years I've encountered situations where I've had to sell off cards like my Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall ect. I've had ups and downs but I'm not broke, I just have a family/larger responsibilities and having $500-$700 invested into a piece of cardboard becomes the last priority when a real situation arises to bite you in the ass.

Keep in mind these cards I owned since the 90's so I paid < $200 for my Black Lotus and I've never had a chance to really buy back a Lotus or Recall at current prices because it is just too steep - point blank it's too much $$$ something needs to drive the prices down and I was really hoping some day these cards would be re-printed. Since Wizards killed that idea once and for all I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I live in Europe and do have access to serious tournaments like in Milan, there are even local tournaments a few times a year where I live. But why bother with a sub-optimal deck? I don't like to play with proxy cards and agree with a non-proxy environment but the prices are too crazy.

Now most every vintage player in my area has moved into Legacy as their primary format. I've tried it and really don't like it at all, not playing with P9 is one thing but no Demonic Tutor or Yawgmoth's Will? Naw that ain't even the game of Magic to me, those cards are cheap and plentiful so everyone should have one. The Legacy banned list is stupid.

As for this site I'm happy how it is, the changes were fine. I don't think what you're seeing is a TheManaDrain.com issue, it's a Type 1 Vintage issue. In a way I do hope the format dies a sort of death so the price of Power takes a dive. Then I'll be able to buy at a reasonable price and just teach it to my kid like my pops did.

the best way to clean dirt from white bordered cards is to use a clean white eraser like on a pencil.

I've been putting together a Dark Times deck and this thread has been a great help.

Question for you guys, has anyone thought about or tested Voltaic Key + Time Vault somewhere? I was thinking in the sideboard maybe in case Leyline is a dead card in a match-up why not side out 4 Leyline of the Void + Helm for Key/Vault + 3 more specific disruption cards like Bitterblossom for the Shops match-up? or what about throwing in Vault/Key in the main board as a 3rd 'oops i win' option?

Put aside these already stated rationales like Magic is just a playing card game or the beta Mox Jet is only a 17 year old collectable and consider the monetary value alone. No matter what you're talking about taking something that already exists in very limited quantities, worth $500 or more, and destroying the value forever.

How many Baseball cards are worth > $500? Consider if an owner of a Ted Williams rookie card decided to draw on it, do you really think this would be deemed acceptable, let alone praised by other Baseball card collectors? Hell no, c'mon now.

in a top 4 match in front of an audience I cast Tinker while holding the robot in my hand. no, really.. it was really embarrassing.

What would you cut for Imperial Seal? Hard not to cut a card you invested $200 in you know   any particular reason, strategically speaking, that you cut it?

I'm still not sold on Jace, I'd probably cut him for a Ponder. Could you elaborate on how Jace performed for you?

Cool list, I play something very similar. Although I'm missing a few Moxen so I include a Mana Vault and 2 Trinket Mage, +1 Mana Drain and -1 Top +1 DC and +1 Darkblast dropping the Repeals.

Why no Imperial Seal though? That's one card I can't reason to cut.

thanks.

I forgot my age for a while there, not a good look. I voted 28 but I'm actually 29

it may not hit Force but it hits a lot of blue cards you'd need to pitch to it, so you still have a decent chance to stop Force i think. still not better than Cabal Therapy though. sucks cause it has great art and it's uncommon, the colors will look nice in foil.

what about Nevy's Disk?

anyway, what a bunch of lame crap.

hopefully the Sol Ring has new art at least so my DCI foil isn't made completely useless. maybe that was what we thought was the Disk?

Lol at the picture. horrible!

nothing worse then watching them go up like crazy after you sell them. I cringe thinking how I sold 4 Volcanics and 2 Tropical Islands like mint condition for $20 a piece just a few years back. I didn't even need the money that bad I just wasn't using them. doh!

Maze of Ith sees play, and will probably see even more with this guy around. no trample so maybe Bitterblossom would work as a sideboard card.

cool art, Mark Tedin FTW

edit: sorry, what's Annihilator? did I miss something or is this new?

so i'm assuming you can 'level up' as much as you want each turn?

I can deal with white border, I actually prefer it with a few cards like Time Walk. it's the higher price for English that bothers me, I don't own a single Asian card and don't plan to start now.

Excellent, so there is precedence.

some great stuff in this thread, thanks for contributing.

I went ahead and bought some German Volcanics instead of a Seal, seems like a better investment. I just can't get over how pricey the English Imperial Seal is, that card is peaking at like $300 on ebay, that's damn near the price of a beta Timetwister or Time Vault, or UL Mox. naw, that's unacceptable to me, here's hoping for a reprint as I have to agree it seems likely, especially since it's strictly worse than Vampiric which already saw a reprint in a basic set..

..which leads me to ask, has there ever been a card from one of these Portal sets reprinted? If not then I wonder why.

1. How do you calculate the value of FBB dual lands? I've heard everything from 3-4x the price of Revised. Also is there a rough estimation on how many were printed in each language versus Revised? I've noticed German duals tend to go for a bit more, is that because there was a lower run of German 3rd?

2. What do you think are the chances of WOTC ever reprinting Imperial Seal? I'm thinking about buying one now but the white border and higher price for English is annoying. Also why are the Asian versions of Imperial Seal cheaper than the English version when it's vice versu with cards like a Japanese Goblin Welder? Is it simply down to rarity? If so is there a rough estimation on how many Chinese/Japanese Imperial Seals exist versus English?

Thanks

old time player that luckily still has my Lotus, Ancestral, Time Walk and Mox Jet and Sapphire from back in the day. I for one would absolutely LOVE to see reprints. I'd be nice to have access to the off color Moxen but no way in hell would I ever pay the prices they're going for these days, it's just too ridiculous.

DCI Foil Phyrexian Dreadnaught:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MTG-Magic-1x-DCI-JUDGE-FOIL-PHYREXIAN-DREADNOUGHT-PROMO_W0QQitemZ220564828928QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item335ab03300

is it real?

i forgot that Observe & Report came out last year, i'd pretty much say that was my favorite movie of the year. that film makes me laugh to no end. I haven't seen the other two comedies yet but i really want to.

In this shell i don't get how Confidant is better then Night's Whisper though. you have to wait 3 turns to get the same effect you get instantly from Whisper, and the extra card in the yard supports Tombstalker and Goyf. Also Whisper has been better with getting Storm count for Tendrils for me. Suicide Black is slow enough, i'd think it really needs a boost on speed instead of risking 2 more turns against a meta where almost every other deck is much faster, and Confidant can easily get killed before delivering those two cards.

Can someone explain the rationale of Confidant over Night's Whisper? Even in more general terms, I fail to see why Confidant is always played while Night's Whisper rarely sees play. Maybe it's my luck but I tend to die to Confidant in my Tez build and so have started playing 1 Top and even 1 Skullclamp sometimes (in a more aggro build) to help save myself from lethal Confidant damage.

edited for grammar