Every once in a while a school does something significant. Weather it's a State Championship in Football or a scoring a 1 Rating at a Band competition a school should recognize and reward these accomplishments. Our School has made "School of Distinction" for the past three years. To be a School of Distinction you must meet multiple requirements. Many of these requirements are student driven like Graduation Rate and Attendance. Other requirements are based on both school and student performance like Standardized Test Scores. To have all 14 factors covered is a BIG deal. To reward the students for doing their part we do a student appreciation day. Basically, it's a day off of school while being at school where we allow the students to join in multiple different activities instead of going to classes.

To do my part I host "Geek Games". This started as a Chess only competition but branched into other games as well while waiting for others to complete their Chess game. Soon it flourished into a free for all including Star Wars Mini's, Chess, Risk, Magic, and Diplomacy competing for attention. Most students would jump from game to game during the day and never get bored or left out. On the Magic side we often did a Commons draft where I would rubber band up 15 Standard commons in a "pack" and then we would run a draft. Since the day was so informal I would just set up a Round Robin table and tell students to play each other when they could between their other activities.

The students really love this because I NEVER let games enter my classroom from bell to bell. Sure, if a student wants to hang after school or peak in before class to ask about a card it's fine but not during the day. I just want to be clear on this in case there is any misunderstanding out there. I don't want my fine readers or fellow teachers to think that I would devalue my professionalism in this manner. Games are for outside of class, the school day is for learning.

This year Magic was the least played game during Geek Games. There were a few reasons why. First, a multitude of players graduated last year. Nothing can be done about that, Students graduate. I had hoped to use the Geek Games to find some potential newbies. Second, my collection of Standard cards has significantly dropped. I always let my students have free reign on my commons with the unwritten code that one day you'll put in as many as you took out. Last years graduates haven't chipped back in yet. Also, the common pool has dwindled due to my Online focus and lack of charity from others. By charity I mean donations from outside sources. Trick gave me a big bundle when I first started writing here and my local store owner gave me a bunch once but those cards have mostly rotated out of Standard. Third, Magic isn't as popular locally since Scars came out. I don't know exactly why but it saddens me that Scars hasn't had the same appeal.

If you are one of those players who draft a lot and find yourself with a plethora of commons email me. daneckstein@hotmail.com. I can't reimburse your shipping but we would gladly take any donations.

The Challenge

Since we only had a few potential players interested in doing a draft I issued a designers challenge instead. I put a Foil Voltaic Key up as a prize and told everyone whoever came up with the best 60 card list to abuse it would win it. Each entry had to jot down something about their thought process in building as well. I would like to share five of those entries with you today. Please post a reply as to which deck you would vote for to get the prize. I will try to use the student's notes as much as possible to give you their mindset.

Matt's Mill deck

As with most Magic players Matt is a different bird. He's even different than the rest of us. I can honestly say that Matt's decks are always intriguing and never intentionally copied. If Matt shows me a deck that he's made I can KNOW it's not copied from anywhere. He can be very inventive and rarely reads any internet source. Here is his entry:

Trying to break the Key. I'm sure my compatriots will all go Palladium Myr and mana up so that won't be where I'm going. Instead I'll go with a total different tapping artifact. Grindclock. The clock by itself won't do it alone even if I can tap it up a counter and tap to mill every turn. So I will add to the effect by bringing in the Jace Package. Jace's Erasure needs some further assistance and to promote finding the Grinds and Keys I'll put in Riddlesmith and Enclave Cryptologist. For Artifact count and defense I'll use Wall of Tanglecord, Darksteel Myr, and Contagion Clasp. Of course Trinket Mage can fetch a Key at need and Everflowing Chalice is nice mana when you need it.

"Livin' the Grind"

• Spells (22)
• 4 Voltaic Key
• 4 Grindclock
• 4 Jace's Erasure
• 3 Jace Beleran
• 4 Contagion Clasp
• 3 Everflowing Chalice

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Riddlesmith
• 3 Enclave Cryptologist
• 4 Wall of Tanglecord
• 3 Darksteel Myr
• 2 Trinket Mage

• Lands (22)
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Forest
• 13 Island

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Addison's Destruction Construction

If there is a true Control Mage in our group it would be Addison. Addison doesn't play Counterspells though. There is something about blowing stuff up that makes him happy. You will always see Addison with a Mountain or a Plains on his side of the table and by far his favorite card is Wrath of God. You should see him salivate when he see's my Beta Wrath. (Even though he can't pronounce "bury" very well). Given that I wasn't surprised by his list. Here is his entry:

"Blast 'em all"

• Creatures (11)
• 3 Sunblast Angel
• 4 Darksteel Juggernaut
• 4 Palladium Myr

• Spells (26)
• 3 Lux Cannon
• 4 Ratchet Bomb
• 4 Voltaic Key
• 4 Everflowing Chalice
• 3 Chimeric Mass
• 4 Dispense Justice
• 4 Day of Judgment

• Lands (23)
• 4 Mystifying Maze
• 4 Glimmerpost
• 4 Kabira Crossroads
• 11 Plains

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Evan's TALL TALE

Next up is a young freshman named Evan. While new to Magic Evan was a Yugioh player for a number of years. I would see him in the Middle School section at our chess tournaments crunching a calculator to figure Life and I would laugh. This year I finally got him into a real TCG but he still has bigger is better tendencies and still doesn't look at card advantage the same as the rest of us. Here is his entry:

Well, being new to this I don't know if I'm doing this quite right but here it goes.

The basis of this deck is the glory days speech so many of you give me when we play. You know how it goes. "One time I had two Mimic Vaults in play under one was a Liliana's Specter the other a Grave Titan. After my opponent draws for turn I put in the Specter and for damage a 6/6 plus some friends." There are other examples as well but that's the most recent. It reminds me of my Grandpa when he talks about fishing. "I once caught a Bass this big!" So I'm going to make a big turn deck so when I'm old like you guys I can say "I once cast a Fireball this big!"

"Big Ball"

• Spells (20)
• 4 Voltaic Key
• 4 Fireball
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Galvanic Arc
• 4 Everflowing Chalice

• Creatures (20)
• 4 Lead Myr
• 4 Galvanized Myr
• 4 Palladium Myr
• 4 Perilous Myr
• 4 Iron Myr

• Lands (20)
• 20 Mountain

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Crafty Andrew's Negativity

Every teacher in school has certain kids they get along with best. In the high school setting these teachers pets are often students that remind teachers of themselves. Andrew is that kind of kid to me. He is highly intelligent but a bit lazy. B's and C's are satisfactory even if he is capable of A's. Andrew is a bit more mischievous than I was but other than that he reminds me of me. I mention his inclination for pranks because he mentions one in his deck description. A couple of years ago Andrew was part of the Chess team attending a local tournament. Normally we take a bus but because Band also had a performance that Saturday we only drove the school van. During the day Andrew had somehow gotten a hold of the van keys and decided it would be cute to move it to the other side of the parking lot. When the tournament was over it was a bit of a freak out on my part. Of course this made the prank even more fun for him. The cool part was the straight face that Andrew kept until everyone on the team was convinced that the Van had been stolen.

When it comes to Magic Andrew is like me. Neither of us can stay with a deck long enough to really fine tune. Building from our newest idea is just more fun than working to make a list tight. Because of this Andrew's deck is the most surprising for me. Here is his entry:

"Glass Half Empty"

• Spells (23)
• 4 Voltaic Key
• 4 Contagion Clasp
• 3 Contagion Engine
• 4 Everflowing Chalice
• 4 Trigon of Corruption
• 4 Grasp of Darkness

• Creatures (14)
• 3 Ichor Rats
• 4 Fume Spitter
• 4 Skinrender
• 3 Carnifex Demon

• Lands (23)
• 4 Mystifying Maze
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 11 Swamp

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Bill's Build

Billy is a quiet yet sharp mind. By far one of the best players on our Scholars Bowl team his focus is intense. Magic is something he can only do in his spare time. In fact he and Andrew are almost polar opposites. Buddy works hard and strives to achieve a 95% instead of a 94%. I really expected him to give me a list that was ALL tapping artifacts. I was a little off but not by much. Here is his entry:

Sorry Eckstein but I don't have time to write up all the interactions in this deck but here is the list:

[cardlist]

[Lands]

4 Quicksand

4 Dread Statuary

4 Glimmerpost

4 Mystifying Maze

4 Tectonic Edge

1 Eldrazi Temple

[/Lands]

[Spells]

4 Voltaic Key

4 Everflowing Chalice

[/Spells]

[Creatures]

4 Palladium Myr

4 Myr Galvanizer

4 Myr Propagator

4 Steel Overseer

4 Golem Artisan

3 Myr Battlesphere

1 Lead Myr

1 Iron Myr

1 Gold Myr

1 Silver Myr

1 Copper Myr

3 Wurmcoil Engine

[/Creatures]

[/cardlist]

The Voting

There is the list of student's entries. Some fiction was used to protect the innocent but I know who did what. What I need from you is help deciding the winner. Who should get the prize? Just vote in the comments and I'll see it all. Thanks for your help.

Class Dismissed.

Updated 2:37pm EST - Replaced Grindstone with Grindclock