My Magic history

I first heard about Magic when my childhood friend told me about it in 1994. It was before I transferred to be in school with him. He talked about this card game, how they would go to a place called The Armory in Baltimore. I still recall him saying they had Unlimited packs for sale, but they didn't buy them because no one could tell them if they could use them with the new sets coming out. Yeah, those were the days.

When I did finally start playing, I quickly fell for blue. The one card that made it all amazing was The Counterspell. (hence the name of this blog) I could STOP other players from doing things with two simple blue. Entire kingdoms could end with even the threat of two blue available. Oh those were the days.

I never really took place with the epic 100+ card decks many people were running. They would mass huge armies of creatures, large stalemates, until someone broke it, or just launched a HUGE fireball at someone's head and end the game. Those took 30+ minutes apiece. I didn't like those to be honest. I liked the more strategic, slightly quicker pace games.

We even held our own Magic tournaments back in the at the school. The only players were friends we knew, almost all from the school. Nothing amazing like Mox and Power cards played, just friendly games playing for rares. Pseudo ante.

When I left college I kept playing. Going to local game stores to play some, trade, etc. I would participate on-line quiet a bit with a site that was fairly popular- The Dojo. (I'm still listed!) I loved the discussions, considerations, trades, and community. It was great. It was in this late 90s time period that I aquired a set of Power 9. I had them all...

Then I realized in 2000 or so, that I wasn't having fun anymore. Almost all my friends stopped playing. I was going to a mall on a Sunday morning in my 20s to play against high school kids who were punks. I was done, I didn't want to play anymore.

I sold every card I had. I took what I couldn't sell, and traded to my friend Rob for some help with stuff. He still plays with some of the cards I gave him to this day.
I was out of the game for 15 years basically. I was good, no regrets. I had a ton of other things I did. I missed out on a lot... but I got back last year, and well- its been fun. I don't worry about the money anymore, I just play to have fun. Collecting is a side result.


Thats the short of my story... I will hopefully be posting commentary about the game, things I know, stories I have, and if I ever get around to it- videos of game play. (who knows)