I began to realize that there are maybe 25 to 30 heavily played staples that repeat in most Vintage decks, focused on the on the end game or win condition. Yes, some of those cards (like Power) are super expensive, but it seemed to me that if we were allowed to proxy Power, it would be worth investing in the rest of the cards since you would get to play them in many different decks. I ended up in contact with @JoeMac399 and found out that he had been working hard at building up the local Las Vegas community and was holding Vintage tournaments at Action Comics and Games (my LGS) every five to six weeks. On top of that, a group of guys gathered every Friday to sling Vintage while the masses FNMed. He was allowing 100 percent proxy decks for now in order to encourage people to show up and try Vintage. I knew I had found my home. The pros of Vintage just kept adding up:

• Play with the cards that made me fall in love with Magic in the first place.
• A more flexible time commitment than Standard.
• Invest in 30-40 cards and use them in multiple strategies and deck designs (forever).
• Allowed to proxy if I can’t afford the current “it” cards.

It was time to get my Vintage on.

Legacy has always been a format that many people say they would love to play, but then quickly add, “but I could never afford to,” and then never bother. However, there are many strong Legacy decks that can be built for a very reasonable budget and, in some cases, can cost about the same as a Standard deck. Hopefully I can help shed some light on these decks.

As much as I like Esper, I have to admit that its results haven’t been great. Many of us played it at the PT, and only Ben did well, with Josh doing OK. Luis, Web, and myself went 2-3. Shuhei went 4-6. Shuhei! He never loses! Then, at GP Quebec, I played it again. I had a decent enough result (Top 64), but Esper as a whole did not do well, even if theoretically I thought that it should. I looked at the top tables and I saw a lot of good matchups for Esper (at the PT more so than at the GP), and I don’t understand why everyone lost. If it’s just me, then maybe I got unlucky, but why did no one else win with it when I strongly believe that the deck is good?

That put me in a bit of a situation. Should I trust results, including my own, or should I trust playtesting and theory? It’s not like I just looked at the decks and decided what beat what, mind you. I playtested for both events. I’ve always been taught not to be results-oriented. That the mark of a great player is to make the right decision 10 times, get punished 10 times, and then still make the same decision the 11th time—but how many times is too many times? How long before you start asking yourself if the “right” decision is not actually right? Well, more times than it had happened, I decided. I settled for Esper.

Today, I am going to show you how to get better with one simple word.

Maybe you spend hours getting ready for a PTQ/SCG Open. You and your friends, who are of a similar skill level, build your decks and play a bunch of games. You think you have a good idea of what's going on, head out to the event, and finish 5-3. Maybe this is a very consistent occurrence.

The definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over again and expecting a different result.

What's the word? Is it "sleep?" Everyone knows you play your best when you are well rested. Is it "determination?" You have to be dedicated to practice as much as you can, right? Is it "sideboarding?" You play over half your matches with a sideboard, so if you don't practice sideboarding, how are you ever going to get better?

While all of these things are important, they are almost irrelevant to the fundamental idea ofimproving as a player.

After a couple of specific questions about the Pro Tour invitations granted at Grand Prix tournaments, this e-mail interview took a more general turn toward the Grand Prix circuit's place in the Organized Play system; in short, "What is a Grand Prix supposed to be?" The answers show a remarkable balancing act between players' divergent wants—Grand Prix attendees are far from a monolithic bloc—and Wizards' business needs, a balance that continues to evolve.

Special thanks go to Helene Bergeot and Tolena Thorburn, Senior Communications Manager for Wizards of the Coast, for making this interview happen.

Lynnwood, WA in the fall of 2011 was cool, crisp, and thick with strip malls. I was focused on my work as a card alterist at the time, and I found myself in a booth at StarCityGames’s event—nervous, star-struck as usual (to my husband: “I think I just walked past Cedric!!!”), tired but hopeful, gettin’ my hustle on. Still finding my place in the MTG community at the time, I was intrigued when a well-built, ivory-skinned man in black set up in the booth next to us. Bald and bespectacled, he exuded a disenchanted charm that marked him as either A) over 40 years, B) English or something, or C) an artist.

It was, of course, Goblin King himself Pete Venters whom I was sitting next to. I purchased a Mons's Goblin Raiders and a Recollect for my print collection, and I blushed when he complimented me on my taste in Goblins. Since I was trying to learn Adobe, I asked him some questions about moving into digital media from paper and found he was sweet and affable, eager to share advice. He was also quick to tell stories, and he dispensed some industry vignettes that were good-naturedly snarky and riddled with f-bombs.

Today, Venters is heading up two fabulous Kickstarter projects that feature great art and should appeal to your Vorthos sensibilities, my lovely readership.