Well, hello there again.

[Azhrei]

Hey, wow. I think this might well be my first post here in a couple years. I happened to stumble back this way while looking for an old piece of writing I'd done, as my name appeared in http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=33389.0.

Steve, I just wanted to say that I think it is totally awesome that my legacy in this format is such that it's still around to be tarnished, oh, what, 3 years after I sold my collection and closer to 4 since I stopped playing much? That put a smile on my face, and brought back a lot of fond memories of all you guys, especially of the very steep learning curve that most of us went through around 2000. I recall a time when you argued against using Force of Will because it cost a control deck a card to use. I'm pretty sure we all had some theories that we can look back on and laugh at. I'm personally a much bigger fan of remembering the first big GenCon tournaments for Vintage, but I fully admit my bias there. 

In case anyone is wondering (or cares!), I'm still heavily involved in the SCA and am about as deep into the research of historical European martial arts as I used to be in Magic, though I daresay that I've a bit more talent at this than I did with the cards. I'm still teaching, which I love. I also got married early this year to the same woman I was seeing when I stopped playing, and I'm very happy. I hope that all of the rest of the old guard turned out as well as I have; I haven't been in touch at all for a long time and that's my own fault.

Every once in a while I think about visiting an SCG event just to say hi; I happen to stab one of the level IV judges in the head from time to time so I'll have someone to whom to talk shop.  I'll keep an eye open for a forthcoming event.

And a small part of me is, of course, wondering just how many people are on this board who are going to wonder, "Who is this guy?"

[Smmenen]

Hey!  I tarnished your reputation to make a worthy point    

I wish you were still around making grandiose proclamations to make my behavior look cute in comparison.

Glad you're doing well.

Maybe some day, some how, you'll get back into Vintage.   

[Shock Wave]

Hello there sir. Good to hear things are well and that life is running smoothly for you. Congratulations on your marriage!

[Jacob Orlove]

Hey, awesome. Congratulations, and nice to hear from you. I gotta agree that teaching is great.

[Zherbus]

Darren!

Congrats on the marriage. I'm in the South now (Georgia). I still have you on AIM, I'll say hi when I see you on and we can catch up.

[Azhrei]

Maybe some day, some how, you'll get back into Vintage.   

I still have a Stompy deck and a 5 color, all basic land control deck I used to play when my school still had a gaming club, but I don't see myself getting back into Vintage any time soon. I'm way too out of touch and it'd be too expensive to rebuild my collection to where I could play something that would satisfy me, even with proxies. I'm going to go out on a limb and take a wild guess that the best decks in Vintage are a combo deck and/or a highly disruptive control/combo deck that's 1-2 turns slower than the combo deck, so right there I'd need hours of playtesting to be competitive again. If the urge ever struck me, I'd probably draft.

Plus, the way that GenCon went down I feel like I went out on top in terms of my demonstrable understanding of the game. If I made a serious return I'd be a worse player than a lot of people, including you. I'd rather stay out and remain a vague specter that, apparently, still haunts your dreams.    Matt V can tell you I'm a much better fencer than I ever was a Magic player, anyway. I think I went 10-1 "matches", 21-3 "games" in my last tournament.

Right now most of my "playtime" is devoted to learning quarterstaff combat from various sources and working through the unarmed combat in the Codex Wallerstein. Europeans actually have a very rich martial heritage, and a brutal one at that. I think my favorite grappling technique thus far is the one that dislocates the shoulder by tearing out all the tendons around it, breaks the elbow sideways to the joint, and, "if done properly", also breaks the wrist in two places. Brutal, I tell you, brutal.

I'm leaving for Pennsic in a couple hours, so I'll be AWOL again. Pennsic is sort of the GenCon of my current hobby, but with fresh air. 

Have a good one, all, and if anyone's interested I can share some stories upon my return. If not, okay too.

It's good to hear from all of you. Oh, and I just saw Matt D'Avanzo about 2 weeks ago. He lives in NC now.

[Klep]

I'm leaving for Pennsic in a couple hours, so I'll be AWOL again. Pennsic is sort of the GenCon of my current hobby, but with fresh air. 

Bah, fresh air is overrated.  You should get back to slinging the magical cards.

[Green Knight]

Whoa Azhrei! Glad to hear that life is treating you well. Congrats on getting married, that's awesome buddy. Vintage seems to be thriving at the moment, which we are all glad to see (even thought Juzam isn’t played ).

Take care of yourself,

Zach

[Machinus]

Vintage is quite a different game these days.

Any tournament reports coming up?

[Vegeta2711]

I totally remember you, you and Matt D. back on BD.

[Raph Caron]

Fellow teacher, it's good to see that you still devote that much energy to your passions. I will always remember the «good ol' BD days» and you're an important character in those memories. Congrats and keep up the good results!

-The person known as «K-Run» in another life...

[kirdape3]

My God this is like old home week.

How's life in the great white north treating you?

[Raph Caron]

Well, I wouldn't want to hijack Azhrei's thread, but let's just say that I've let the Power cards aside when I became single again, four years ago. I guess I'll be back when I'll be in a relationship again - a guy needs some manly hobbies, right?

I'm a French teacher now, and I only play casual Block and Standard with my roommate. I wish I could play some serious Vintage again, but right now it's complicated. And the format isn't that great at the moment. Oh well... we'll see what happens sooner or later.

[JuJu]

Big Hello and Good luck to Azhrei, and even to my fellow Canadian Raph.

We have way too many/not enough of these threads, by the way.

[Toad]

Whoa Darren and Raph posting in the same thread. Someone call Oscar Tan !

Nice to see you are teaching French Raph. You should come to Paris at some point, Luc and his blonde had great fun here
Now get some Plains and Land Taxes, and go shuffle a bit

[Azhrei]

I got back this weekend. I had a decent time, if a rainy one. My team won the 5-man melee tournament with a 9-0 record. I think there were 25-30 teams overall. I won a couple other things and ended one with a 20-3 (63-8 overall) record.

K-Run, it's good to see that the format still "isn't that great"-- makes me wonder when "at the moment" becomes "always".

I'm going to try and stay aware of when the next big event rolls through my area so I can swing by; if it's sealed deck I might even play.

[Faustus]

Wow, Azhrei is still around! Bloody hell, I remember Azhrei from the days of Beyond Dominia. Man, I'm old.