We’re a mess these days.  Archenemy was released not long ago, Magic 2011 is only weeks away form release, and crazy new spoilers are being unearthed daily.  Yet somehow WotC is still laying things on us like Duel Decks and Premium Decks.  With all these distractions it can be tough to concentrate on one topic long enough to produce a decent column.  Keeping that in mind, let’s skim over some random musings from throughout the multiverse.

"Despite the clattering for answers and the rampant speculation, we still don’t know for sure what Planeswalkers are showing up in Magic 2011.  The consensus is still the OG Five, but why all the mystery surrounding the non-Garruk walkers?  Perhaps this is only feeding our pipe dream of seeing Jace, the Mind Sculptor in M11.  Thanks WotC, for keeping hope alive…. only to dash it later."

"Speaking of Jace, our favorite blue representative, why is it that Cryptic Command costs 1UUU, but Jace does not?  Aren’t they symbolizing basically the same thing – Blue in its purest form.  The answer from Renton seems to be, ‘we tried to make Jace easier to splash in contemporary decks.’  That is not good enough of a reason, not by a long shot.  Hate to beat this dead horse, but it still sticks in the Gathering Magic craw."

"Our two major thoughts regarding Archenemy and how it plays:  First, it matters much more than you would think what deck the archenemy plays.  Not so much the format (EDH vs Extended and so forth), but the type of build.  Crazy bombs usually mean easy victory, while a well-crafted aggro deck doesn’t stand a chance.  Second, the order in which the schemes are flipped can decide a game before it begins.  A turn one Introductions are in Order into a turn two Embrace my Diabolical Vision usually spells doom for our heroes right there.  Trust us, it has happened more than once."

"Kitchen table Magic players (the group Gathering Magic identifies ourselves as) have taken to calling their games Casual Legacy.  What defines something as a format?  Must there be tournaments, and prizes, and universally accepted rules?  Or does it just mean a certain card pool all the players feel comfortable with.  In addition, why do so many of us feel the need label our casual games with a specific format?  Do we really need to describe our games as ‘basically Extended with a few tweaks’.  Just explain that you play Magic the Gathering, and leave the complicated descriptions to others."

"In the not-so-distant past, when players wanted to collect the chase rares from a set while saving money, they bought them as singles.  With current card prices as high as they have been in a while (ever?), is it a safer financial bet to play the Lottery and simply buy boosters hoping to pull that BSA?   More to the point, was this all some evil conspiracy by WotC to get us buying more packs from the start?"

"Duel Decks: Jace vs Chandra – Japanese Language Only is coming out later in the year.  The exact same decks we know and love, only with spells we can’t read.  Sounds like a devious ploy to get fanboys like us to buy another $20 product we don’t really need.  Will it work?  Of course!  Two alternate art foil Planeswalkers alone are worth the MSRP, so the enjoyment of casting an indecipherable Fathom Seer, while a confused opponent looks on, is all added value."

"As the Titans of M11 remind us, we love a good every-color-gets-its-due rare cycle in our MTG expansions.  This got us thinking of not only the coolest cycle ever - the original five Lorwyn walkers (a cop-out but still true) - but also how Lorwyn had the best cycles period.  Wizard’s land of perpetual midsummer contained the PWs, the Commands, and the Elementals all in one 300-card set.  That has to be the gold standard to which future expansions measure themselves."