hermitgeecko

It would help if I remembered that anteaters and aardvarks are not exactly synonymous. No amount of searching is gonna help anyone if I don't use the correct lingo. Sorry.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/424a3 (Warning: BIG link.)

Magic now has... (drum roll) "Summon Anteater Beast". No kidding! It's wonderful!

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...what're you lookin at me funny for?

Darnitall, I thought it was about time.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/cm80

The temptation to submit a horsemanship deck including Xiahou Dun is very high, but there's no way in hell that they'd choose it -- and I'm confident that other people are going to do it. (Pity.)

Disclaimer: I'm not very good at Magic.

I recognize this may come as a surprise to a few people (if a very few.) I do, after all, judge Magic every other Tuesday. But if I make it to round 2 of a tournament, that's a good day for me.

Why? Honestly, I'm not sure. It's a bit puzzling to me, because I feel as if it's something I should be good at. In practice, I just don't have the strategical mindset, or I don't spend enough time researching and reading other people's opinions, or I just don't... something. But I still have fun with it.

And, after all, I can understand and enforce the rules without being any good at the game. Many people know the rules of games they are not good at. (I know the rules of chess, for example, save a slight fuzziness on en passant, but this does not make me a grandmaster.)

This disclaimer comes about because I took the limited pointing quiz from Aaron Forsythe's column this week (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/af179), and I'm posting my results, so I'm sure there will be a few things I've done that make people blink and go "erm... no." (Especially because it's supposed to average out to 1.6, and my results average out to 1.9.)

Anyway, here goes.

( Limited Pointing Results! Click through! )

I'd be interested to see anyone else's results, either here or in their journals.

...yes, I'm looking at you, vicalis -- but if anyone else has the answer, feel free to sing out!

Can someone please point out the number in the Comprehensive Rules that shows how the converted casting cost of X is treated while a spell is on the stack? Specifically:

I understand that Chalice of the Void, while in the library, has a converted mana cost of 0.
I thought that Chalice of the Void, when cast with 2 mana and sitting on the stack, still had a converted mana cost of 0. I'm told it's 2, but that doesn't seem to be what the rules support, and the person I would normally ask isn't available.

Thanks.

I picked up a box of approximately one thousand commons yesterday. Now, my brain is producing sentences like "Shiny Rotwurm, will you be my friend?" While playing online, I had forgotten the sheer joy of acquisition, and now I must snuggle my treasures like Smaug. (But without any pesky hobbits interfering, I rather hope.)

Unrelatedly (I presume), my computer monitor appears to be dying -- went dead black without warning earlier this morning, and did a weird green wiggle a bit later. I suspect I need a new monitor. Argh.

In fact, it went out again while I was writing this post. However, I was reminded that this isn't my monitor -- it's my roommate's. Mine is being stored in the basement. So this is good and bad both.

But I am distracted. Shiny! More later.

Despite my crabbiness yesterday, I promptly sat down to play Magic Online with m'lovie when I got home tonight. It was much less offensive once I changed the background and adjusted the sizes of some things (though I still wish I could get a full-card-sized preview.) So, dunno, this could grow on me.

Not that I really need another expensive hobby.

Me, staring at my computer: "It won't connect."
Him, in a particularly aggrieved tone: "That's because I think YOU'RE EVIL."

On a side note, if anyone out there plays Magic (besides vicalis, obviously, I know about you) I found a great program for playing online. It's Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com/).

www.cardkingdom.com has a great card search, too, and you can see the artwork. This will alert you PROPERLY to something being from the Unhinged set, so you won't include something like Secret Goblin Agent (yes, I'm looking at you, beloved!)

As far as I'm concerned, Magic is FAR cooler when you don't have to buy cards and you can have things like 4 Howling Mines. It takes the $$$ factor out and leaves the game as a skill on skill issue. (Granted, I'm not superb at skill on skill either, but I'm more skilled than rich!)

Drop me a note if you'd enjoy a match or two.