This isn't the place i left before, WTF is Ravnica?
So 10+ years after i sundered from the world of Dominaria, i found myself in Neutral Grounds, quite litterally...LOL. I was looking for a particular board game when i saw an Ad of what is to be War of the Sparks.
Its been such a surprise for me to know that MtG has finally had some amazing advertisement, something that L5R has been doing before with their promotions a decade before with moving images, a "real" storyline and cast of characters that the Legend of the Five Rings gave me and the fans, something to identify myself with.
For the months ahead, i was engulfed in ceaseless promotions and information as my curiosity again grew for the game. It was not the same when i started, i knew what the game is about but the cards, the format, the environment itself was utterly new that it was a new game altogether.
It was that time also that i opened my long forgotten relic of card boxes to check and see what i can sell out to kickstart my return back to this expensive hobby.
I knew i had some good expensive cards left but imagine my surprise to know that some cards i own that was never really a thing was actually now a piece of expensive cardboard realty.
Its 2019 and let me introduce back - these gems of cards
In between these four cards (i have three Grim Monolith and two Lions Eyes)- that's a 700 $ worth of money to get from selling these, and sold them i did.
It was enough to get me a box of War of the Sparks Booster Box, two Planeswalkers Decks, two PR Packs, a Core 2019 box, a box of Amonketh (yeah...silly me) and a slew of different packs.
I intended to start with Standard again, because realizing that trying to get all relevant card information from 18 years of expansion is a futile effort.
Having my affinity to Blue, i focused my card pooling and deck construction with the blue cards in mind.
It was also this period that i realized how vast "Dojo" decks has become. Its a term we use back then for what is called "Net-Decking" today.
[FLASHBACK]
The Dojo refers to the site that first introduced deck listing in the internet for every MtG players to see. It was all an uproar back then, and players like me are split between heaven and hell as we wanted to know ahead of any speculation the kind of decks and cards that are making the rounds, as well as possible deck constructions we have overlooked using some cards we deemed potential or duds.
It is actually where i found my favorite all time decklist - the TIME AND TIDE deck by Kai Budde.
It was also the site that helped propel Five (5) astounding decks to the tournament levels that a massive turnout of similar decks bagan those days. Those were Mono Red "Sligh", Tolarian Academy, the first successful iteration of delve with Recurring Nightmare, the MonoGreen Oath/Survival and the R/G Flametounge Kavu led R/G Mid-Range.
It is because of that, that a lot of players petitioned (or somehow) the closing of the "Dojo.net" page - and so it did, but the can of worms has already been opened, like a Pandoras box, we have seen it began and we know too well that its the new normal for the game.
Fast Forward again....
So in all, it was an uphill climb for a come-backing player like me. It wasn't easy as someone could tell. I felt that my own history has had a VOID century of sorts. I've missed great expansions in Lorwyn, Innistrad, Alara and the Eldrazi.
Imagine the slight surprise also of seeing Urzas lands now called TRON lands taking up the limelight. We only have them in fun decks for artifacts based decks and FIREBALL/DISINTEGRATE/PROSPERITY heavy decks...LOL.
For anyone wishing to go back into the game, do so, at your pace. Do not thread on like you own the game like you used to. Its a different game altogether now, a different community, and a lot more toxicity between players (now that's the one negative thing i need to let out).
Find your own community, accept that your an "oldie" not a "veteran" because that's a big difference.
Play Standard first, and from there slide into Commander with 100 card construct and card pieces you may well be very familiar with mostly. In actuality, Commander is probably the format that helped Magic: the Gathering survive the decline most TCG has had. And at that note i'll be probably making another entry about my Commander (EDH) experience as well.
So with that, this has been a great return to the game. Not a great start but a good one still.
So until L5R makes a legit comeback (the LCG concept is not really for me, they should revive the old concept that works).... I'll see you somewhere soon in Dominaria.
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