Magic is a game of words: keywords and rule books, playful banter and Terms of Service agreements, judge calls and carefully negotiated agreements. Magic largely exists in the written realm.To this end, there are articles of all manner telling us how to improve at playing Magic: Practice, play against those who are better than you, playtest more sideboarded matches, practice some more, don’t charge the cards, test, and practice. Posts exist examining the art of the game and ways to maximize the value of your collection. Profiles of the pros exist, and there’s event coverage: minutes-later updates on events that just happened. Magic is more than just a game—it exists in its own pocket universe complete with slang, stars, arts, and literature.

We live in Magic’s information age. Unlike the Dark Days of the late Nineties, every tournament is recorded, and relevant decks are preserved. Archiving is commonplace, and reliance on Mr. Peabody’s time-travel methods are becoming less necessary. In spite of the information deluge, there is still a dearth of work on how to actually make this biodome a better place. We have the community embracing pieces that expound on Wheaton’s Law. Yet . . .

Who watches the Watchmen?

Scratch that.

Who teaches the writers how to write?

Ding!

That’s it.

Wait, what . . . the hell . . . is this place? It’s Dack Fayden’s home world. He’s the comic-book Planeswalker made famous by IDW Comics.

Fiora isn’t a normal Magical town. It has a secret of cogworks and puzzles.

You’re a Planeswalker with a helper boy . . .

If you take steampunk and subtract the hard-to-believe parts and remove mana, you have a city and world inhabited by Professor Layton—of which, by the way, the first in the series—and the Curious Village—is one of the greatest puzzle games I’ve ever played. I love allusions and little tie-ins to popular games. While Mark Rosewater’s Plants vs. Zombies card didn’t really fit the world, as it was flavorful but kitschy, I feel, if anyone—I mean anyone—saw this tie in, that person deserves more than a few peanuts. I always say, “If you remove the border, does the art still have something to say?” If Professor Layton determines a point of time, I’m happy to see the allusion.

Vintage Masters has been released on Magic Online, and with it a watershed moment for Magic and MTGO has finally transpired: The Power Nine is available on Magic Online. The long-awaited release of these powerful and iconic cards finally makes possible something that many people have dreamed of for years, which is online Vintage Magic anytime, anyplace, anywhere…

There is no doubt in my mind that online Vintage play is going to change the format in a variety of ways. First of all, more tournaments means heightened awareness, popularity, and play for a format that has always struggled to cobble together enough players with the cards, commitment, and drive to explore the format. The fact that players scattered all about the world looking to get in some games can now log on and link up against other like-minded Vintage fans is a really big deal. Eliminating the “it's really hard to get 25 players in the same place at the same time to play Vintage” element from the equation by having daily events will go a long way to improving the visibility and playability of what had been, in recent years, a niche format.

Vintage is a ton of fun. The games are fast-paced, exciting, full of critical decisions, and fun to play. There is no doubt in my mind that its popularity will grow and grow as players are able to pick it up and start playing the format online. In today's article I will break down the key decks that matter in paper Vintage (what they look like, what they do, and why to play them) so that newer players can get a general idea what to expect once people start acquiring Power and the online Vintage metagame starts to take shape.

Before I get started looking at a bunch of deck lists and discussing them, I'd like to first make a few statements about what Vintage IS

My son… he's still learning.

If you don't remember my previous article entitled “Reflections in the Eyes of my Son,” it might be worthwhile to take the time to read that piece first. This is the next chapter.

…

…

…

I didn't prompt him at all, I swear.

In fact, I asked Sarah to make sure my wife didn't prompt him either. When I asked, “Chris, what do you want to do this weekend”, he thought for a bit then answered “Play Magic.” Sarah's eyes met mine and we chuckled, fully understanding that he had just answered perfectly.

“Well, I supposed that's good, because this is the weekend I finally get to take you to your first tournament.”

His eyes widen a bit and that huge boyish grin spreads across his face, though he didn't speak. I spend a lot of time joking with my kids and giving them a hard time, so they're all predispositioned at this point to wait to see if I'm being serious or not. My lack of follow-on laughter shows him I am.

“Oh wow…” he starts before adding “…but I don't have a deck.” I reassure him by telling him that I used up some of the chunk of credit I had on my StarCityGames.com account to buy him R/W Burn and myself Jund Monsters so we could go play in the free SCG Super IQ in Culpeper, VA at Comics and Gaming.

The smile grows when he realizes that it is real.

When the cards arrive later in the week, I open them up in front of him. He knows exactly what the box contains, but I try to play coy anyway. “No, this is… um, new underwear and socks. No big deal man, you can go back to playing Minecraft.”

The kid's smart; he knows the deal.

“Nuh uh, those are Magic cards.” He stands next to me until I get them open so he can proudly declare “I told you so!” I smile as I show him the new “haul,” pointing out which cards I got just for him. I even pre-purchased my sleeves for this tournament so I could sleeve our new decks up in new sleeves for a new experience for a new tournament player.

With the Modern PTQ season just having started, I'd like to explore the history and the possibilities of Twin. There has been a wide variety of approaches to Splinter Twin decks, and taking a look at these can serve as an inspiration for future decks.

Twin won the first big Modern tournament, Pro Tour Philadelphia, and has been a pillar of the format ever since. Unlike the other pillars, Affinity, Pod, and Rock, Twin has been successfully played in very different forms. Twin decks only have a comparatively small core of 10-12 combo pieces, which leaves a lot of room to flesh out the rest of the deck. By comparison, the core of Affiinity is probably something like 50 cards. Rock and Pod have some flexibility in deck construction at least in theory, but somehow large parts of the deck lists always seem to be the same. And it's not that figuring out if you want to play Noble Hierarch over Birds of Paradise in Pod or Terminate over Abrupt Decay in Jund doesn't have its merits, yet Twin has displayed a higher versatility so far, going beyond exchanging cards in a specific role on a one for one basis.

The first Twin decks here are mostly of historical interest. If you don't care just skip ahead to the "Modern Era" section. For the evolved Twin decks I will try to explain what makes them special and under which circumstances they might thrive again.

Week in and week out, this column focuses on what the best players in this game are taking from the game—money, Pro Points, accolades, and the occasional trophy—but for the past couple of years I have had a chance to talk about a handful of gamers and what they are giving back to the game. Gamers Helping Gamers is a nonprofit organization founded by Grand Prix Montreal Top 8 competitor Tim McKenna and a group of veteran Magic players, including Pro Tour Hall of Famers Jon Finkel and Bob Maher, Grand Prix winners Matt Wang and Eric Berger, and three-time Pro Tour Top 8 competitor Chris Pikula. Their organization provides college scholarships to Magic players who submit to an application process that includes essays about their most- and least-favorite Magic cards. This year marks the third wave of students getting scholarships, with three recipients that I am able to announce here to you.