Tag: Good Gamery

  • Judge’s Corner #4: Special Ixalan Edition

    Welcome back to the Judge’s Corner. This week we have a special Ixalan edition of Judge’s Corner where we go over some important rules notes and reminders about the new set in preparation for the upcoming prerelease.

    Q: When I deal damage to my opponent with Gishath, Sun’s Avatar, what I am supposed to reveal about many cards from the top of my library?

    A: You’re supposed to reveal that many of them are Dinosaurs.

    Q: Can you explain how explore works?

    A: Explore is a sorcery that costs one generic mana and one green mana and allows you to play an additional land (sometimes two) that turn and draw a card. You may cast it during the main phase of your turn.

    Q: I tried to play Torment of Venom on my opponent’s Carnage Tyrant, but he said that Carnage Tyrant’s ability stops that. Is he right?

    A: Yes, your opponent is correct. Carnage Tyrant can’t be countered.

    Q: Jace, Cunning Castaway has the type Legendary Planeswalker – Jace. What does this mean?

    A: No, Jace has the type Planeswalker. Legendary is a supertype and Jace is a subtype.

    Q: What is the difference between the new Treasure tokens and Gold tokens?

    A: Treasure tokens are colorless artifact tokens with the ability, “T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.” Gold tokens are only produced by the card Sword of Dungeons and Dragons from the upcoming Unstable set.

    Q: I control Admiral Beckett Brass and attack with Angrath’s Marauders. If my opponent doesn’t block, will I be able to gain control of one of his nonland permanents?

    A: Yes. Note that the name “Angrath’s Marauders” is plural, as you can clearly see three different Pirates in the art. Plus, they deal double damage so that’s already like, six Pirates in all. So you can totally gain control of one of your opponent’s nonland permanents this way!

    Q: My opponent claims he can Demolish my Hostage Taker, but that doesn’t make any sense to me. What gives?

    A: Your opponent is right, he can Demolish your Hostage Taker. This is because Hostage Taker was unfortunately printed with a word omitted in its rules text: it has been errata’d to say “When Hostage Taker enters the battlefield, exile another target artifact or creature until Hostage Taker leaves the battlefield.” This means that Hostage Taker is an artifact.

    Q: What does Tocatli Honor Guard’s ability do?

    A: Tocatli Honor Guard is the newest of a category of cards we affectionately like to call “rules reminder cards.” Frequently newer or less enfranchised players think that their creatures do whatever they do immediately when they play them. Tocatli Honor Guard is there to remind them that just entering the battlefield isn’t necessarily going to cause their creatures’ abilities to trigger. The ability doesn’t actually do anything. Some examples of older rules reminder cards include Heartbeat of Spring, Kami of the Crescent Moon, Vernal Bloom, Cavalry Master, and Dauthi Slayer.

    Submit your questions to @goodgamery on Twitter using #judgescorner.

  • Judge’s Corner #3

    Welcome back to the Judge’s Corner, where our extremely high-level Good Gamery judges answer your questions about the MTG rules.

    Q: Can I use Cephalid Snitch to make Iridescent Angel lose protection from black?

    A: “Protection from all colors” is just shorthand for having protection from each color individually. So you can make the Angel lose protection from black without affecting its protection from white, and so forth.

    Q: How does Reflector Mage interact with morph creatures?

    A: As a 2/3, it can block them and kill them in combat without dying itself.

    Q: Can you explain exactly what happens next when a Goblin Test Pilot is activated?

    A: When a Goblin Test Pilot is activated, the player who activated it then chooses whether they want to pass or retain priority.

    Q: My opponent claims that she can cast Cabal Ritual with less than seven cards in her graveyard and still get the five mana, because “it’s a mana source, and nothing can stop mana sources.” Is that really how it works?

    A: “Mana source” is no longer used as a card type, so that argument doesn’t hold. However, remember that ‘threshold’ is an ability word with no actual rules meaning, so the Ritual effectively reads “Add BBB to your mana pool. Instead, add BBBBB to your mana pool.”

    Q: Can you explain what it means for a player to “have Book Burning”?

    A: The meaning of private property, while indeed a very interesting question addressed by such prominent thinkers as Locke, Rousseau, and Marx, is beyond the scope of this Magic: the Gathering rules column.

    Submit your questions to @goodgamery on Twitter using #judgescorner.

  • Exclusive Sneak Peek: Randy Buehler’s New Biography “Year One: The Skull”

    We at Good Gamery are glad to announce that we were asked to preview an excerpt from Randy Buehler’s upcoming biography, Year One: The Skull! We didn’t have time to read it however, both because we didn’t see the e-mail right away and we weren’t that interested, so we’re just printing it here as it was sent to us instead. Enjoy!

    My recollection of the events leading toward Pro Tour Chicago, despite lending themselves to my future recognition and fame in the greater Magic community, are somewhat hazy as I did not see fit to document them at the time. Some of the following descriptions and places have been recollected for me by those present to witness them, and as I began chronicling them for this book I found myself leaning on their oral accounts more readily. The following events are therefore transcribed with the best possible accuracy I could muster. It must be noted here that I do not seek to embellish or exaggerate my story, and the greatest portions of this tale are matter of historical record.

    Where my memory is clearest is the day I purchased my first Ice Age starter deck. At this time in my career I was a fan of the concept of snow-covered lands, as they enhanced the mystical flavor the game of Magic is known for, so I saw to fill my decks with as many of these lands as possible. I harbored a secret bet that snow-covered dual lands would follow soon, possibly in the next expansion, though this was a trivial wish as it relates to my story: I simply wish to impress upon you what the game meant to me during this era.

    Upon touching the pack of cards, I felt a cold pulsing feeling emanating from within its shrink-wrapped cardboard exterior. For the first time in my career, I felt something ominous and perhaps foretelling in that instant, as though there were some higher power and it was looking down upon me. However, this pack was not particularly great, as it sported four rares — lucky — but they were all Necropotence, a known junk rare that players were loathe to open — unlucky.

    About an hour after skimming through the cards and putting the Necropotences away in my trade binder, a sudden illness fell over me and I felt quite faint. I thought not of it, perhaps a reaction to the addictive ink we knew the product contained but that we had built a tolerance for — maybe this newest expansion was targeted at the hardcore addicts, those of us who had felt the hooks and developed the shakes yet could never be sated by something as simple as Wednesday drafts. After arising from a short spell my mind remained clouded, and I had not thought about the contents of the starter pack until some weeks later, when a small child of no more than ten years of age inquired about the four copies of Necropotence now on display. He, wisely and beyond his years, simply pointed at the card rather than making direct contact, and remarked that the art was “gnarly.” I agreed with a wry chuckle, thinking it ironic that such evocative art would grace such a terrible card; it will become clear later, dear reader, that “terrible” is not the most inaccurate way for me to describe the card.

    I resigned to my apartment to sleep off whatever malady had struck me, hoping it was either some seasonal flu, a mild headache, or a reaction to the several cans of Jolt I had consumed while at the store. After a lengthy, dreamless nap, I awoke to a dark-lit room, aglow only with the pulsing of my computer monitor which, to my memory, was not on before my slumber. Approaching it, my eyes were not yet able to focus until reaching the desk proper; at that moment, they focused onto the familiar yin-yang symbol taken as a banner by the now-legendary Magic theory site known as The Dojo. The specific page it was loaded to would contain a deck list that would seal my fate and impress my person upon the collective Magic player base: Necro.

    I immediately recalled that I had acquired four copies of the namesake card in a prior hour, and dashed to my bag and binder to ensure I had not traded them away or perhaps not acquired them at all. It was then that I opened the binder straight to the page containing the Four Skulls of Apocalypse, as I had nicknamed them in the years following this story. I resolved then and there, from the bottom of my stomach and parts of my small intestine, to assemble the deck and give it a couple of tries before I wrote the concept off and went back to playing other decks.

    After taking the symbolic oath to Tourach and playing some test matches, progress was in short supply: I took to the deck immediately, as though I knew instinctively how to pilot it to victory. This period of time is admittedly somewhat of a blur, but the short version is I put a couple of smaller tournaments under my belt unde rmyb el t un and therefore felt comfortable enou gh t ota k e it to ta a k e i t t o the Pro Tour I had managed to quality for with a lesser, pitiable deck, not worthy of my devotion or love despite our good times together in the past — I clutched the deck with the fire of Hell in my eyes and threw it on the ground. There was no room for inferiority before this precious, precious gem with four heads and four Skulls.

    I will not belabor you with a retelling of events that have been well-documented, so instead I will speak only of the Finals, so as to impress upon you the majesty of deck design that we mere mortals havvvvve beennn blessd d ed to experience in our short, insignificant lifetimes. It was during this match that I felt what the believers of the gods of light would describe as an “unholy power” emanating from the ender of all tournaments, the literal representation of trading my soul for the pursuit of something greater, something distructive, something that allowed me to feed off my opponent’s very essence, their raison d’être: the Skull.

    I felt this power as a slow build, sometimes waning whenever I cast a Disenchant, but coming on strongly when tapping Lake of the Dead. It was in these brief low moments that I felt weak, cold, and somewhat abandoned, though by who I could not say. I would regain my draw step, and every single time, I hoped the top of my deck was another Necro Necro Neexrro xmecro nnnnnno

    It was during the Finals that you felt most powerful. It was when I was with you the closest, consuming all that you were and replacing it with a being higher-evolved, capable of ravaging the world and laying waste to all of these pitiful, verminesque humans. You would have your worldly crown and reclaim My throne as the ruler of this dimension, and I would accept the demise of our strongest opponent, David Mills. You once felt a fondness for him as a friend and confidant, but now only saw him as the most dangerous challenger to our ascendancy, worthy only of scorn and terror. His body count, after all, was as high as yours.

    You have done well to spread My majesty and infect others with My power. This power was manifested in even more perverse and sacrilegious ways, for example NecroDonate. No, seriously, that deck is terrifying even to Me.

    [Editor’s Note: The transcript of this report ends here. There is additional writing in his hand-written copy submitted for publication, however it remains untranslatable, resembling some sort of arcane symbolic language. After its crimson glow hypnotized one of our editing staff, we elected to not reprint it intact here.]

  • Judge’s Corner #2: Special Kaladesh Edition

    Welcome back to our semi-regular series Judge’s Corner. This week we have a special Kaladesh edition of Judge’s Corner where we go over some important rules notes and reminders about the new set in preparation for the upcoming prerelease.

    Kaladesh mechanics and general notes

    Vehicles

    skyskiff

    ● Vehicles are a new artifact subtype that can be “crewed” by creatures in a way similar to how Equipment can be equipped to creatures. To understand how Vehicles work, just think about what makes intuitive sense: e.g., a Blind Seer cannot crew a Vehicle, and so on.

    ● Note importantly that Vehicles are not creatures themselves. Thus they are not affected by summoning sickness and can tap and attack the turn they come into play.

    ● Vehicles can crew other Vehicles. In a pinch, a Vehicle can even crew itself! Step aside Google; in Kaladesh, self-driving cars are already a reality. :)

    Energy Counters

    attunewithaether

    ● Energy counters are a new resource in Magic: the Gathering. Certain cards in Kaladesh give you energy counters. Unlike mana, energy counters don’t go away at the end of the turn.

    ● We’ve created the following “energy economy” chart to show what you can do with energy counters:

    energyeconomy

    Thus at any time you may spend one energy counter to deal two damage to your opponent, spend two energy counters to put a +1/+1 counter on target creature, and so on.

    ● Players will need to keep track of their energy counter total at events. Unfortunately, energy counter token cards were inadvertently omitted from the initial print run of Kaladesh. They will appear in subsequent print runs. So for the prerelease, please use the following downloadable energy counter token:

    energyreserve

    The return of gold-bordered cards

    swordoffireandice

    ● Kaladesh marks the long-awaited return of gold-bordered cards, which will be randomly inserted in certain Kaladesh boosters.

    ● Gold-bordered cards, originally available in World Championship Decks from 1997 to 2004, are “official proxies”: they’re a great way to represent powerful cards like Sword of Fire and Ice when playing with your friends, but they are not legal for tournament play in any setting.

    Card-specific notes

    animationmodule

    Animation Module: We recommend stores running prereleases have some extra copies of Failed Inspection, Disappearing Act, etc. on hand to give to players lucky enough to open up an Animation Module.

    bomat-courier

    Bomat Courier: If the controller of a Bomat Courier accidentally looks at it he should be given a “looking at extra cards” penalty. Players may cover their Couriers with pieces of paper to avoid looking at them. At the professional REL, Bomat Couriers will be double-opaque-sleeved during drafts to avoid inadvertent looking.

    ceremoniousrejection

    Ceremonious Rejection: Remember that, even if they produce colored mana, lands are colorless.

    empyrealvoyager

    Empyreal Voyager: “That many” means with respect to the energy economy; e.g., if Empyreal Voyager deals 2 damage to your opponent, you get one energy counter.

    saheelirai

    Saheeli Rai: A token copy of an artifact created with Saheeli Rai’s -2 ability counts as two artifacts for the purposes of cards like Welding Sparks.

    Now go have fun at the prerelease!

    Submit your questions to @goodgamery on Twitter using #judgescorner.

  • Judge’s Corner

    Welcome to our new semi-regular series Judge’s Corner, where we will answer your rules questions.

    Q: I attacked my opponent with a dragon and he cast a Summary Dismissal and said my dragon was exiled because creatures are actually creature spells. Is that true?

    A: Actually, everything that isn’t a land is a spell, so all creatures, enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers, and even cards in your hand and graveyard are exiled. Lands stay around but since their mana abilities are countered they can no longer tap.

    Q: I cast Savage Punch targeting my Hooting Mandrills and my opponent’s Dripping Dead. Does the Mandrills survive the fight?

    A: This is something that confuses a lot of players: if you read Savage Punch closely, you’ll see that it gives the Mandrills +2/+2 “until end of turn before it fights”, i.e. until end of last turn. Thus the Mandrill is dealt four damage and dies.

    Q: What does the ◊ symbol mean?

    A: ◊ is the new colorless mana symbol. 1 is the old colorless mana symbol. For example, World Breaker’s ability reads “2 ◊, Sacrifice a land: Return World Breaker from your graveyard to your hand.” This indicates that you must pay 2 old colorless mana and 1 new colorless mana to use its ability. This is similar to how there is both old and new white mana.

    Q: At the pre-release yesterday, my buddy opened a mythic rare card. It was something I had never seen before, in the text line under the art, instead of creature or sorcery or enchantment it said planeswalker. Can you explain what that is and how it works?

    A: Mythic rare cards show up in boosters at a rate of 1 per 8 boosters. Your buddy only got 6 boosters in his pre-release box so if he claims he got a mythic rare card there, he’s cheating. You should contact the nearest judge as quickly as possible.

    Q: I cast Infinite Obliteration against an opponent, who then calls a judge claiming I must choose a number for “any.” What gives?

    A: This is correct; instances of “any,” “infinite,” et al. are considered to be arbitrarily large rational integers to avoid gameplay issues like gaining infinite life, etc. To avoid confusion, we are issuing errata to change the name of the card to Arbitrarily Large Obliteration, along with cards such as Pull from Eternity (now renamed as Pull from an Arbitrarily Long Stretch of Time) and Endless Horizons (which will now be named Arbitrarily Quantifiable Horizons).

    Submit your questions to @goodgamery on Twitter using #judgescorner.

  • Horrorcane

    Avacyn Restored is a set about the good guys. Thalia has freed the archangel Avacyn from her millenia-long imprisonment, and now a host of angels has returned to reclaim the night from the dark beings preying upon the plane.
    But they haven’t won yet.

    If people expect the forces of darkness to just roll over and give back the world to a bunch of losers with wings, they are sorely mistaken. Demons, devils, spirits, werewolves, zombies and vampires have enjoyed free reign on Innistrad for a long time, and they like it just the way it is. What’s more, they know a thing or two about fighting dirty. They’ve got a few tricks up their collective sleeves that no-one quite expected. Here’s one of them.

    Horrorcane!

    If your first reaction on seeing this card is “black can’t do that,” then you obviously have not spent much time hanging around black mages. Black is the colour of breaking rules. When black is forced into a corner, you can bet it will do everything it “can’t do”. Black will do anything to win.

    So while you might be right in thinking that black is not the colour of dealing damage to flying creatures, black definitely is the colour of slaughtering angels, and that is exactly what Horrorcane is best at. Black is also the colour of eating the last piece of the pie, so if green is going to leave a slice lying around, what does it expect to happen?

    We asked the estimable Jarvis Yu to weigh in on this card’s impact on the Standard format:



    The Estimable Jarvis Yu

    “Horrorcane shows that Wizards is willing to push color boundaries even further. Delver and Esper Spirits are certainly going to have problems with this card. It’s a great tool for Zombies to deal the last few points of damage on a stalled board. Esper Spirits itself can play this card for mirror matches and it has good synergy with Snapcaster Mage.”

  • Elder Dragon Highlander Extreme

    As Commander Week wraps up on Daily MTG, we’d like to reveal our biggest surprise yet – a new variant to the Commander format! Elder Dragon Highlander Extreme (EDHX) is super exciting, and you will be able to get products for it starting in August of 2011.

    Extreme: To the Max!

    You can probably tell that EDHX is extreme, but why is it that way? We’ve removed all of the dusty old rules for no-fun-havers, and replaced them with interesting, insightful, interactive rules that just make more sense. We hope you’re as excited about this new format as we are, because frankly, we’re frustrated by the stagnant and restrictive EDH rules that were dropped in our laps.

    Card Restrictions: Breed Creativity

    You get 200 cards and an Extreme General. Each card must be unique! The general has to be a Legendary Creature.

    Bonus extreme rule: You can have two Kawasaki Samurai if they are your Extreme Generals, as well as any number of Relentless Rats, and up to seven Squadron Hawks.

    Color Identity: It’s me, God. What color am I?

    Each card has a color identity tied within its mana symbols and text, but sometimes things aren’t so clear. What about snow and Phyrexian mana? Hybrid mana? Purple mana? This is an easy area to be confused about, so we’ve redone everything. The only thing that stays the same is that the color identity of your Extreme General has to be the same as every other card in your deck.

    Every spell has a cost – imagine paying that cost! It turns out, sometimes you can pay it in different ways. All you have to do is choose one of the legal ways, and lock that in as part of the color identity of the card. This means that hybrid can be either or both colors, alternate costs can go either way, and Phyrexian mana can be treated as colorless – but only if your general includes life payments as part of its color identity.

    Costs as part of abilities on a card also count as part of the color identity, with a couple of caveats. If no one is ever known to have used an ability, ever, then you can skip over it. Armorer Guildmage’s green ability is an example of one of these. Remember, if you skip over one of the abilities, you have to cross it off with a marker.

    If an ability is actually paid by your opponent, such as that on Quenchable Fire, then your opponent has to play with a General that includes that color. This rule is included for fairness, because wildfires are a serious problem, and if left unchecked, many people could become homeless.

    Get a Life: I wonder how many times people wrote that in MTG articles?

    Players in a game of EDHX start with 29 life, and take 14 poison counters to become poisoned.

    Summoning your Extreme General: A new creature is born!

    Your Extreme General starts in the Extreme zone, and you can summon it as if it was in your hand. Each time your General dies, put it back into the Extreme zone – unless it died in a really lame way, like to Snakeform and a 1/1 Citizen token.

    Each successive time that you summon your Extreme General from the Extreme zone, it costs an additional 2 colorless mana.

    Extreme Generals do an additional type of damage to players – not only does the helpless defending player take regular combat damage, but they get Extreme General Face Ouch tokens, one for each Extreme General damage. (A player with 17 or more Extreme General Face Ouch tokens loses the game.)

    FAQ

    Q: What is EDHX?

    A: Elder Dragon Highlander EXTREME.

    Q: Like EDH, but EXTREME?

    A: Yes.

    Q: In EDHX, can I use a Sharpie to change my general’s name to “He Hate Me”?

    A: Of Course!

    Additional Rules

    • Players must have a glass of liquid next to their deck at all times (no lids or sippy cups)
    • Rickety card tables are optional, but recommended
    • You have to play with Planechase and Archenemy cards
    • … and Vanguard
    • … and Old Vanguard
    • The entire time you must have both feet standing on a skateboard
    • Life totals must be kept on over-sized 30-sided dice
    • At all times you must have a slim jim in your mouth
    • If your deck falls over, each card becomes all Chaos Orbs
    • For each game you must have a separate general
    • You start with 1 additional life per foil card in your deck
    • To determine who goes first, hold a round-robin arm-wrestling tournament
    • If you only have one card in your hand you have to shout Uno
    • You start with 15 cards in your hand
    • You can play unglued cards, but only if their mana symbols match EXACTLY to your Extreme General
    • At the end of each turn, you must assume form of the something, and strike the appropriate pose
    • Whenever there’s a coin flip, you have to use a POG slammer instead of a coin
    • If a card is exiled, it is dipped in your glass of liquid
    • Rhys, the Exiled starts in your glass
    • Whenever you sacrifice a creature to Devouring Strossus or Doomgape, you must eat it
    • If you would create a copy of a spell or a token that is a copy of a permanent, you must immediately produce another actual copy of the chosen card or else the copied spell or token is not created.

    Bannings

    • No sleeves allowed (on cards or shirts)
    • Commons are banned, except in some cases
    • Edged weapons (Maces and nunchaku are encouraged)
    • All other spells are legal in the main deck, except Shahrazad
    • Shahrazad is automatically cast when your life hits 20, then again when it hits 10
    • Subgames are played in the nude
    • 60-card decks are banned in EDHX, except for the event deck that has two Stoneforge Mystics
  • Introducing Ggameria





    You’ve seen it on the Internet. You’ve overheard your buddies at the local card shop talking in hushed and excited tones about it. Your mother even tells me that it’s the most stimulating thing in her life right now.

    But what is Ggameria?

    Why, Ggameria (gǝh-MƏH-ree-yuh) is a brand new plane in the Magic: The Gathering multiverse! And it just so happens to be the setting for the upcoming Magic set, enitled Events Upon Ggameria.





    Set: Events Upon Ggameria

    Abbreviation: GG1

    Block: Ggameria

    Cards: 300

    GG1 is not a joke set in the style of Unglued or Unhinged; none of the spells ask you to throw cards around like Frisbees or to take off your pants. It does have a lot of jokes, however (subtle jokes in card function, ridiculous flavor text, etc.), so feel free to LOL out loud as your gut directs.

    GG1 can be used as a stand-alone set or played with other Magic cards.


    Surely this news has caused your face to melt and brain to explode. But I’ll keep making this article anyway as a matter of principle.



    The plane of Ggameria is the only plane in the multiverse that entirely rests upon a creature. A massive, plane-sized turtle, to be exact. That turtle’s name is Ggamerion. His disposition is pleasant, but the action upon his back is anything but!

    That’s because Ggameria is home to no less than 15 different tribes. All of the tribes hate each other. And the intratribal situation isn’t very peaceful either. And all of this, while bad news for the tribes, is great news for a Magic player, who enjoys the thrill of Magical conflict far more than just sitting around the card shop, talking about plotholes in Star Trek movies.

    Anyway, tribal conflict = fun Magic. But who are these tribes? What’s their deal, anyway? Let’s take a look!

    We begin with the 5 monocolor tribes, whose flavor is so centered upon their piece of the color pie that Mark Rosewater himself would write 28 design articles about each one if WOTC employees were allowed to read about Ggameria. Which, of course, is forbidden.



    The first is the homunculi. These amorphous, tentacled abominations enjoy drawing cards, countering spells, and long walks on the beach — because they’re the mono blue tribe! The homunculi are one of the youngest races on Ggameria. But who created them? and for what purpose? Secrets.

    Click here to see the homunculus preview card.



    Then come the humans. Whereas humans on Earth come in a variety of colors and tones, humans on Ggameria are all white. And thus, they are the mono white tribe! The humans gather in little towns, work endlessly to perfect their little houses, elect inept governors, have too many children, and eagerly take advice from corrupt religious leaders. But more importantly, they often have activated abilities that target others and abilities that trigger when they’re targeted. Just like your average white collar office environment.

    Click here to see the white human preview card.



    Who’s next? The turtles! Called the Testudians on Ggameria, these quiet, elderly, shamanistic forest-dwellers would like nothing more than to find lands and generate mana in peace, as they’ve done for thousands of years. But these damn whippersnapper tribes with their hootin’ and a-hollerin’ are making that real tough. Turtles do not have a significant presence in the first set, Events Upon Ggameria. You’ll see why later.

    Click here to see the Testudian preview card.



    Next come the fiery amazon elementals. This perpetually aflame, all-female tribe of warrior-vixens is led by the Queen of Flames, Kylorra. Why no males? “Fire ‘reproduces’ just by touching flammable materials,” Kylorra told us while making “air quotes” with her flame fingers. “Frankly, there’s just no need for males.” The elementals excel at doing “red stuff”: fire-breathing, direct damage, haste, stuff like that. You know what I’m talking about.

    Click here to see the fiery amazon elemental preview card.



    Finally, we have the demons. Like the Testudians, the Ggamerian demons are a very ancient tribe. Once, the demons practiced villainy, killed recklessly, administered misanthropy, and wreaked general havoc. But millenniums is long y’all, and to be quite honest, the demons have run out of things to do. Now, they just kinda hang out while liking artifacts and milling people.

    Click here to see the ancient bored demon preview card.



    Now it’s time for a little FAQ.

    Q: Uh, what about the other 10 tribes?

    A: Stay tuned! More Ggameria articles to come! Up next is ALLIED COLOR PAIR TRIBES.

    Q: When will GG1 be released?

    A: Patience, my friend! A future Ggameria article will announce the Advent of GG1, with instructions for playing through Magic Workstation.

    Q: Okay cool.

  • Summer of Emilevin’ (contest)

    Emilevin’, \ˌěm-əl-‘ěv-ən\ (n.)

    1. Hanging out while playing the Magic 2011 Core set.

    2. Relaxin’. Chillaxin’. Warlord’s Axein’.

    3. Friends, Magic cards, and 40s of 211.

    People employ many different strategies to beat the summer heat. But nothing’s more refreshing than popping open a crisp, ice-cold booster pack of M11. To celebrate the great tasting, less filling new Core set, we’re having another content contest.

    Contest


    Every piece of humorous and/or awesome content you submit between now and the end of AUGUST is automatically entered, whether it be fake cards, funny articles, or even set reviews and tournament reports.

    • Submitted content doesn’t have to be about M11 stuff!
    • You can submit multiple items over the duration of the contest!

    Wow!

    How Do I Submit an Entry?


    I’m pleased you asked. Please take a look at these instructions.

    Two Ways to Win!

    The total prize pool consists of a BOOSTER BOX of M11 and a BOOSTER BOX of Rise of the Eldrazi. There are two ways to win packs from this pool: weekly Best Content Item awards, and final Best Overall Contributor awards.


    FIRST WAY TO WIN: Weekly Awards

    Each week during the contest, the Good Gamery community will vote on which single ITEM was the best ITEM of the week.

    Week 1 (July 18-24): 3 booster packs

    Week 2 (July 25-31): 3 booster packs

    Week 3 (August 1-7): 3 booster packs

    Week 4 (August 8-14): 3 booster packs

    Week 5 (August 15-21): 3 booster packs

    Week 6 (August 22+): 3 booster packs


    Each winner may decide his or her ratio of M11 to RoE packs.

    SECOND WAY TO WIN: Final Awards

    At the end of the contest, the Good Gamery community will vote on who were the best CONTRIBUTORS to the overall contest. In the past, this has generally been determined by quality, but quantity can help, too.

    First, we’ll have a vote that narrows it down to the top 3. Then, we’ll have a run-off vote to determine the order of the top 3.

    1st place: 24 booster packs

    2nd place: 18 booster packs

    3rd place: 12 booster packs


    Each winner may decide his or her ratio of M11 to RoE packs from the remaining prize pool (1st picks first, etc.).

    Get involved! Team up!

    Need ideas? Don’t know how to make cards? Want to collaborate on one or more items (and work out any prize splits for the weeklies yourselves)? Get on Java chat! Get into the contest thread and post! Everyone is welcome to participate. And even if you don’t win, you’ll always get constructive feedback to help you for next time.

    How Do I Submit an Entry, Again?


    Alright, one more time. Please take a look at these instructions.

    The Ultimate Emilevin’


    Soon after the contest ends, the biggest event of the summer begins: GGC 2010! Make your way to Portland, OR USA to attend GP Portland on the weekend of September 11, 2010, and you’ll simultaneously attend the Good Gamery Convocation!

    GP events during the day, tabletop gaming and partying at night.

    M11. 211. September 11.

    (remember to snag a shirt in time for the event)