To do this properly, we need a hypothesis. An easy hypothesis would be: “The player playing first has a higher chance to win the game than the player on the draw.” The null hypothesis would then be: “Being on the play does not influence a player’s chances of winning.”

The two charts above show the average number of creatures at each converted mana cost in a given DGR draft. The second chart compares DGR with both RTR and GTC. The first thing that we should notice is how similar these three formats appear when we look at charts of their converted mana costs. The full block format is definitely skewed slightly to the right, but it has very similar numbers to the other three sets on each part of the curve, with only the six drop slot being a true exception, which is mostly due to Dragon’s Maze having the common maze elemental cycle. However, although the average converted mana costs look very similar, this should not lead us to believe that the full block will have the same speed as the other two sets. We can just compare RTR and GTC for an example; the two sets have fairly similar CMC charts, but they play out at vastly different speeds.

When I was struggling my way through college, I got asked the questions "what are you going to do when you get out?" and "where do you see yourself in five years?" roughly seventeen million times. My answer was always "I don't know" followed by some generic potential line of work to hopefully appease the person asking the question. If that didn't work, then I kind of stammered out some unintelligible phrases for a while, hoping they would take pity on my poor soul. If that didn't work, I began convulsing uncontrollably until the subject was changed. That always worked.

I had no clue what the future held for me, and my mind kind of just melted down when I tried to think seriously about it.

Thankfully, in a much more controlled environment—say a good old game of Magic: The Gathering—I was able to do a bit better in coming up with some long-term plans. Coming up with a plan is something that doesn't get touched on that often, but I believe it is one of the most important skills for a Magic player to have and one that a lot of players simply don't even think about.

"UR Stasis - Legacy | Adam Prosak, StarCityGames.com

• Lands (24)
• 10 Island
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Volcanic Island

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 3 Ral Zarek

• Spells (30)
• 2 Vedalken Shackles
• 4 Stasis
• 4 Brainstorm
• 2 Chain of Vapor
• 2 Counterspell
• 3 Fire // Ice
• 4 Force of Will
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 3 Spell Snare
• 4 Ancestral Vision

Buy This Deck

That's right, the most fun Magic: The Gathering card ever printed returns! Don't you just LOVE Stasis?The key to this deck is the interaction between our new friend Ral Zarek's +1 ability and Stasis itself. Untapping a permanent per turn allows Stasis to be paid for indefinitely, while the tap ability is somewhat kismet. Once your opponent is locked, there are a few ways to win.1) Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Probably the easiest path.2) Get a bunch of lands in play, and then use Chain of Vapor to bounce your own Stasis, giving you an untap step so that you can pay for your Stasis for a while without the help of Ral Zarek. Then do one of the following:a) Use Ral Zarek's -2 a bunch of times. It's not unreasonable to get Ral well into double digits just keeping your Stasis alive.b) Attack with a creature stolen from Vedalken Shackles, using Ral to untap the creature.

Our prize structure is fairly flat. What I mean by "flat" is that I don't give out most of the prizes to the few players at the top. Everyone, no matter where they place, gets a free pack. For every match you win, you get another free pack. While this means that a player going 4–0 will only get five packs, it does mean that the players at 0–3 still have a chance to win a pack. I also offer what I call "Consolation Boosters." For every match a player loses (or ties), he or she receives a booster that includes ten older commons, three older uncommons, a rare, and a foil card. These cards are provided by me and players in my regular Thursday night play group. Many of the foil cards are promos that were left over from previous tournaments, so the occasional Mayor of Avabruck or Wurmcoil Engine can end up in a pack you received for losing a match.

What's so unique about that?

The average age of the players at my Prerelease was twelve.

Fblthp Plush

Forget Ral Zarek, forget Aurelia, the Warleader, forget Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius. Everyone knows who the real hero of the Return to Ravnica block is. We just have a hard time saying his name. Fblthp, the runaway star of Gatecrash, has taken the community by storm. He’s spawned websites, he has his own Twitter account, and his story gave us all the feels. It was only a matter of time before someone made this little homunculus a reality. That’s where Tally comes into play. Tally is known as the “crafty one” from LoadingReadyRun. Her monsters, beasties, and other items are extremely high-quality, and she continues to impress any community she’s making monsters for. This life-sized Fblthp looks amazing! I just want to give him a big hug and whisper, “Shh . . . Don’t worry, little guy. Everything is going to be okay.” It’s adorable, and I want it.