Old School Mtg

Last weekend marked one of the more brag-worthy tournaments in casual Magic; the PWP Invitational. One of the more amusing things with the Invitational is that the competitors travel from all over, hundreds of miles, to battle for no tangible reward. The only thing to show for that we even came is that it's the only tournament where each player gets to bring a card for the other participants to sign, and then keep it to play with. Player-signed cards are very rare in the northern European meta, and even though they are technically close to worthless, the player-signed cards in circulation are considered "bling" due to their implication of solid performance. So why do we go? Because the people involved make it a great experience. I arrived in Arvika Friday night to stay with KungMarkus and his family for the weekend. Markus was also invited to the tournament, and this year it was to be hosted by Mällroth in Karlstad, a little less than an hours drive from Arvika. We sp...

For the last four years, we've hosted an invitational tournament sometime after the 93/94 season has passed. The eight top rated players in the PWP-standings are invited to a showdown to determine who's the true Master of old Magic cards. Got nine problems but Power ain't one As most of us have some combination of work and family to attend to, it is customary to pick a date and place that works for the majority, and offer passdown if any players might not make it. Of the 122 players who collected points last year, these eight will gather to battle: Kalle "Egget" Nord (1) Tommy "Artelas" Aaen (3) Markus "KungMarkus" Guldbrandsson (4) Mikael "Mällroth" Mällroth (5) Magnus "Mg" de Laval (6) Erik "Sehl" Larsson (8) Joakim "Jocke" Almelund (9) Andreas "JummJumm" Leo (10) Last year's invitational winner and 2nd ranked player Elof declined to play this year but will join as a spe...

I should have written this post two days ago. My focus is a little off today. I get that there are agitators and populists in every political landscape, and I can't blame the next president in that large country on the other side of the ocean for who he is. But I find something amiss with the culture when tens of millions of voters supports a demagogue, even when given other options on the ballot. I can't help to feel disturbed. This is a rough day, and my best wishes goes out to my friends in the US. I hope you manage to bridge the political divide. That's all I have to say about that. I guess that most people today need some time off from the politics, so let's drop yesterday's election and travel to BSK. Magic: The Traveling. Somewhere on the train between Gothenburg and Borås, it hit me that it was 19 years since I first visited BSK. 1997. In a pre-9/11 world, when you could fly with a bottle of water, Star Wars was a single trilogy, and talking too lou...

Across a vast ocean of unseen depths lies the Ocean State . I n this land of revelry and confusion, the Mountains of Madness are no home to blind penguins, but sleeved up to conjure those smiling devourers of intricate tools. And in his house at Boston living Dave Firth Bard waits dreaming. It is my pleasure to present Dave's witness of Providence. Enjoy! /Mg out Here in the United States, there has been an upwelling of interest in 93/94 and related Old School Magic variants, especially over the past year or so. But despite the increasing momentum, outside of a few established and well-known playgroups in Chicago, the Bay Area, and recently New York, most American fans of the format still find themselves few and far between. In my own case, there were several months when I was doing a lot more daydreaming about 93/94 (“Which card should I buy or trade for next?” “I wonder how this tech would work?”) than actually sitting down and playing the game, mostly for lack of a local group...