Well, dear reader, it has finally happened. A milestone that I, Mike Robles, didn’t think I would reach. As you read this, I am no longer the man I once was. Treasure hunting has changed me. Made me . . . different somehow. Last Friday, it happened. I turned thirty-three. Somehow, over the course of writing Treasure Hunt, I’ve aged. I fear that I might not have much time left on this plane. As of now, I feel older, wiser—as though some passage of time has happened yet again. Quickly now, let’s view our treasures together—while we still have time.

Planeswalker Watercolour—CONTAINS STRIP SEARCH SPOI—never mind

No! No more spoiler tags. It’s over. Strip Search is over. Katie won; Abby came in second. There. If I ruined it, I’m sorry, but you had your chance. I gave you plenty of chances to watch it!

Now back to my article. Ahem. Abby Howard may not have won Strip Search, but she won the hearts of the Internet with her trademark sass, art style, and confidence . . . or lack thereof. I follow her on Twitter, and she’s an absolute riot. You might have noticed that after Strip Search started airing, a lot of the artists have been creating more and more Magic: The Gathering–related artwork. I can’t get enough. Here, we see Abby’s unique style in a beautiful watercolour that she created for a charity tournament that was held on June 16 in Montreal (hence my Canadian spelling of “colour”). I’m darn envious of whoever won this art piece. I would display this proudly. Abby, my favorite planeswalker is Ral Zarek . . . I’m just throwing that out there.

If you like Abby’s work, she’s running a Kickstarter for her graphic novel. It’s already funded, but if she hits her stretch goal, she’ll move to Seattle—which would be awesome because she seems to be someone who would be cool to hang out with.

Reasonable Decks

Back when Magic: The Gathering exploded onto the scene, there were countless books on strategies. Mastering Magic Cards was one such book. Originally released in February of 1995, this book contains various strategies, decklists, and other tips to help you Master Magic. I mean, just look at the example decklist above. This was in the “Reasonable Decks” section. Back in 1995, this was probably a very reasonable deck. Could you imagine trying to put this deck together today? The mana base alone is a couple hundred bucks. I love me some Magic: The Gathering nostalgia, so seeing old books like this—complete with decklists like this—makes me feel all warm and squishy inside.

Hulkamania

Hulk Hogan: He is a real American. He fights for the rights of every man. I am a child of the 80s. I grew up watching the WWF (now the WWE) and was a proud little Hulkamaniac. My little brother and I would wrestle and rip our shirts just like we were the Hulkster. As much of a sucker as I am for custom deck boxes, I have the same obsession with play mats. At the house, Tifa and I have a lot of play mats. This custom play mat is straight-up awesome—the Hulkster on a dragon. Epic doesn’t even begin to cover the majestic nature of this play mat! In fact, I may have listened to Hulk’s theme song a few times while writing about this play mat. “SO SAY YOUR PRAYERS AND EAT YOUR VITAMINS BECAUSE WHATCHOO GONNA DO BROTHER? WHEN HULKAMANIA AND HIS DRAGONS RUN WILD . . . ON YOU!?”

Fan Mail

The entire Magic: The Gathering community suffered a great loss when Quinton Hoover passed earlier this year. This Imgur user was clearing out stuff from his parents’ closet when he came across this correspondence from Quinton. There are many emotions that came to me when I read this letter. Quinton obviously cared enough to read his fan mail. He wrote back, and included a signed card and some artist proofs. When he mentioned that he couldn’t include any original art, he sketched on the actual letter. As I read the letter, I was filled with happiness and sadness. It made me feel so grateful that we had Magic artists like Quinton who would take the time to reach out to his fans. It made me sad to realize that he is no longer around, and letters like this will cease to exist anymore. R.I.P. Quinton; we miss you.

Guilds of Return to Ravnica

Magic: The Gathering fans are among the most hardcore when it comes to collectables. They can take just about any collection of cards and create some inspiring pieces of art. The image above is one great example of what I am talking about. Taking the guild cards from the Dragon’s Maze prerelease and each of the guild Charms, Guildmages, and Guildgates, this user has created quite the tribute to the Return to Ravnica block. This tribute is just one shining example of what your passion for Magic: The Gathering can create.

Angel Case

Wow. Not only is this a custom card box with the Restoration Angel on it, but the art was created using Pyrography. This box was a birthday gift (no, not to me) and was a custom creation. Inside are wood dividers to hold a number of cards, decks, dice, and more. I always say that Magic: The Gathering players need a separate bag—or in this case . . . case—for their Magic stuff, so this is a perfect carryon. I hope this person had the happiest of birthdays and enjoys showing off this awesome present.

Combat in Standard

I’m not saying there are only two types of matchups in Standard right now. Oh wait. Yes I am! The current Standard metagame had some ups and some downs, but that’s what keeps us driving. That’s what makes us want to think outside the box. DeviantArt user Internet Ninja has depicted a great and humorous look at the current metagame of Standard. It’s also just a super-sweet drawing.

#GPVegas

It’s that time for tweets! Grand Prix: Las Vegas is here, and the Magic community cannot stop talking about it. Let’s check out some tweets from the #GPVegas hash tag.

I'm not at #GPVegas but I'm happy that Magic has gotten so big that an event like this can happen. Good luck everyone.

— Richard Lay (@tomalsmcwheat) June 22, 2013

So we are just gonna have a giant game of heads up seven up at #GPVegas

— Dr ScratchNSniff (@DrScratchSniff) June 21, 2013

#GPvegas mini-masters has begun! pic.twitter.com/djkkJ1KH8n

— BJ's Geek Nation (@BJGeekNation) June 21, 2013

The product has arrived at GP Vegas., just now. 1 huge 18 wheeler full... #GPVegas

— Christopher E Otwell (@otwellc) June 21, 2013

"I'll cast Tarmogoyf, and I'll pass." -No One #GPVegas

— Tristan Gregson (@TristanGregson) June 22, 2013

The following tweets are some ridiculous facts about #GPVegas.

Around 241 Kikki-Jikki and 2,864 Pestermite to be opened. Will they find each other? #gpvegas

— paul jordan (@magicPJ) June 21, 2013

Each mythic rare should be opened around 241 times in #gpvegas sealed decks. 16 foil and 225 regular

— paul jordan (@magicPJ) June 21, 2013

Each rare should be opened around 478 times in sealed decks at #gpvegas (32 foil and 446 regular)

— paul jordan (@magicPJ) June 21, 2013

Data is hard to find, but I think there are approx 16k US cities with smaller populations than #gpvegas

— paul jordan (@magicPJ) June 21, 2013

All the cards for #gpvegas in a single pile is about 455 feet tall. Just about 2.5 space shuttles high

— paul jordan (@magicPJ) June 21, 2013

That’s all for me this week! I hope everyone who was at Grand Prix: Las Vegas had a great time. If you weren’t at the GP, I hope you had an amazing weekend. Until next week, this is Mike Robles getting hungry—I think I’ll go for some . . .