Broke Back Cards

Most of you have heard of 'broken' cards.  For those that haven't, we'll get into that in a bit.  This is the first in a semi-regular series of what I'm calling broke back cards.

It Looked Good On Paper...And Now It Really Is

Back in December of last year I posted a list of cards that looked good on paper, but in real life, not so much.  One of the cards I profiled there was Dark Depths.  A land that would eventually yield a 20/20 black avatar had to be awesome right?  The cost of counters, though, seemed to ruin the whole idea.  Case closed?  No, its not because along comes Vampire Hexmage and that's where things take a turn.  Recently someone pointed the combo out to me and that's when I had one of OMFG moments.

Allies – The Human Slivers

Okay, that headline is a bit of a misnomer since not all allies are human, but a large number are and the point is not to profile (and as comedian Ron White tells us, profiling is wrong) but rather to give an evocative description.  Anyone whose ever played a Sliver deck knows that Slivers in themselves are less than overwhelming creatures, until they get together for a Sliver party, then all hell breaks loose.  Allies are similar in a lot of ways.  Alone they seem weak and useless, but when they begin to feed off eachh other they can become more than the sum of their parts.  There are some important strategy tips to keep in mind though.

  

Breaking The Habit

People are creatures of habit.  We do what we know and we take a certain amount of comfort in the routine, relying on that routine to add a certain level of certainty to our lives.  When that lends to our comfort and ability to function in the world and deal with others in a beneficial and cooperative fashion its a good thing.  When it stifles our creativity and prevents us from enjoying and reveling in the unexpected it isn't  That's true whether its our careers, our relationships and even our games.  Breaking habits and trying new things can lead to unexpected pleasures, new outlooks, and a wider set of experiences.  That's true when we play MTG as well as in the other aspects of our lives.