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    This Week in Magic
    Mea Culpa from Tom, thank for the correction regarding the Warp World deck from the Indianapolis PTQ was in the top 8, but did not win the PTQ. The winners of the Agents of Artifice fan art competition have been announced and you see the winners here. Grand Prix Seattle was this past weekend and the winner was Yann Massicard playing Doran, Faeries was popular and we have a ton of MTGCast hosts in the running including Stan Bessey of Deck Builders placing 14th, Gavin in 73rd and Conley 187th. We also had Nick Bonham, Pedro Rodriguez, Bryan Greer and Shannon Ericson also doing well! Here is the general info for GP Seattle and here are the top 8 decklists. We have officially seen the M10 release and prerelease promos (Queen of Ants and Vampire Nocturnus) and confirm the use of the term “battlefield” for being in play. There is a great debate article on fivewithflores.com discussing some topics brought up in the latest The Magic Show regarding table shuffling and deck randomization. Randy Buehler posts on his blog some info on the block constructed metagame for PT Honolulu and a round-by-round coverage of his monthly MTGO championship. PT Honolulu is this weekend and wish good luck to Gavin and Conley! We also hear from Kenneth Nagle’s twitter that he will be previewing an M10 card at PT Honolulu.

    What Have We Been Playing?
    Gavin and Conley have been playing some Standard and likely turning their sights towards draft and block constructed. :^) Tom playing some more limited EDH and dreaming of busting out some Vanguard.

    Listener Emails
    Tons of great emails this week. Kudos to MacDaddy for his Hrbek the Planeswalker submission.

    MTGCast News
    A huge thank you from Tom to Marshall of MagicLifeCounters.com for sending him a custom Pit Imp and Unearth life counters. Tom is also happy to announce our next big give-away and contest!

    The contest: Write flavor text for the card Sorrow’s Path
    Prizes: 12 prize packs of 3 Alara Reborn booster packs
    How to enter: Write your entry in the comment section for this episode on MTGCast.com (direct link)

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    Tom & Gavin & Jack & Eric & Conley – Your Monday Night Magic news team!

  • 141 Comments to “Monday Night Magic #157 – Hrbek the Planeswalker”

    • Ben Ahrendt on June 2, 2009

      “Sometimes, when paths cross, everyone loses something important to them.” -The Endless Dark

      I was hoping this was the contest that you’d pick.

    • William Bradworth on June 2, 2009

      I prefer a more comical bent myself, so here goes:

      “The explosions were followed by cursing as intended targets were flung around the battlefield and sudden pain was visited on the unwise wizard’s allies.”

    • Matthew Blumenfeld on June 2, 2009

      “Those that travel Sorrow’s Path shall share Sorrow’s fate”

    • plarp on June 2, 2009

      marengo’s is excellent :)
      my submission: /He wished for rare lands, but not for ones that produced mana./

      is this card worse than Adventurers’ Guildhouse? They both make you miss a land drop, but the Guildhouse literally does nothing while Sorrow’s Path has an ability. Granted, there are almost no circumstances where using that ability won’t worsen your position!

      cheers for the solocast Tom, they aren’t nearly as dire as you make out :) all the baseball stuff went right over my head though, I’ve never seen a more boring sport! though, have you got a youtube video of Kent picking that guy up?

      I’m not a fan of the battlefield change, its an incredibly awkward wording. We’ve already got an awkward wording that everyone understands! The flavour of magic is created in peoples imaginations, prompted by the cards. If you’re picturing in your head a mighty wizard summoning Shivan Dragon onto a chessboard you’re doing it wrong, and I don’t see how changing the wording to “enter the battlefield” makes it any easier to imagine.

    • Aaron Capp on June 2, 2009

      Flavour Text…

      “It’s a Trap” – Admiral Ackbar

    • Steve G on June 2, 2009

      Flavor Text:

      What?

    • Andy Truong on June 2, 2009

      Mistakes on this path are never repeated

    • Dan S on June 2, 2009

      In Haiku:

      “Dragon and Wizard
      Nonsensically switch places
      Use land drop for this?”

    • Derek on June 2, 2009

      Here’s some original flavor text .

      “Have the need to feel disdain?
      I’ll show you where to bring your wrath;
      A place where everyone is full of pain.
      Come follow me to Sorrow’s Path.”

    • Tokwana on June 2, 2009

      “Wars were fought over Sorrow’s Path. Never did anyone realize that it brought more pain than gain.”

    • Raymond Buffington on June 2, 2009

      The fighting erupted when someone yelled bingo.

    • Gaura Ely on June 2, 2009

      My last flavor text sucked so here’s my new text:

      “I am The Pursuit of Happiness.” -Sorrow’s Path

    • Tyfer on June 2, 2009

      Flavor Text:

      “I am the way into the homelands of woe
      I am the way unto a fallen empire
      I am the way along the path of sorrow”

      It’s a quote from dante’s i believe….seems fitting.

    • TheCassiusKid on June 2, 2009

      Submission

      …and that’s when the bridge broke.

    • cyrax777 on June 3, 2009

      “Judge!”

    • DanPlatt on June 3, 2009

      here goes

      “Pain is the price you pay to walk the path of progress.
      Sorrow your only companion”
      Vervamon the Elder – just before his martyrdom

    • Default User on June 3, 2009

      “The Path of Sorrows is lined with bad comboes.”
      -Spike

      As the only player in my old playgroup having any of these I have many good memories of Political Trickerying Paths to opponents and tapping the Paths with Repercussions out. The deck had something like:

      4 Repercussions
      4 Rogue Skycaptain
      3 Sorrows Path
      4 Political Trickery
      4 Earthquake
      4 Mogg Maniac
      4 Propaganda
      2 Mogg Infestation
      2 Pyroclasm
      2 Donate
      4 Mind Stone
      3 Stalking Stones
      4 Mishra’s Factory
      + Islands, Mountains and Volcanic Islands

      Most likely the numbers are off and at that point of playing I rarely had 4-ofs of all the rares I wanted, but anyway the deck was loads of fun to play in multiplayer, but as opponents learned what the deck did doing well got progressively harder.

      As a aside have any of you noticed that it is much easier to remember what you played casually 10 years back than what you ate yesterday (or when was your wedding day, oops.)

      –Default User

    • Default User on June 3, 2009

      Oh and Icy Manipulators also somewhere there. Propably I was playing only 2-3 of the important comboparts and full sets of all the uncommons. x_x

      –Default User

    • Mark on June 3, 2009

      Here goes mine.

      “I’ll take on the small little gob… WURM!”
      -Squee, Goblin Nabob.

    • RobertSafferstein on June 3, 2009

      “Warned be those who tread the path, for within, the cost of fortune is the pain of sorrow.”
      -Entrance sign to Sorrow’s Path

    • CoryAshline on June 3, 2009

      Submission:

      The first step is often the hardest. Just make sure it’s not your last.

    • desCoures on June 3, 2009

      Off the top of my head..

      “The cursed land blinds all with bloodlust; waking only to the fear and sorrow of their own impending deaths.”

      On paper, a strategic asset. In practice, a poisoned pill.

      This thin, treacherous bridge between Rhodia and Hazan has changed hands many times. The wisdom of each new ruler is said to be measured by how willingly he relinquishes Sorrow’s Path.

    • Mellowcow on June 3, 2009

      “Who? What? When? Where? Why?”
      Yeah, seems fitting for Sorrow’s Path.

      By the way, I don’t want to win. I’m happy with my shiny Lord of the Pit.

    • MHinsz on June 3, 2009

      “If sacrifice forces the choices of tradgedies,
      The path to victory is eased with the choosing of enemies.”

      - The Bylijo Poet’s Guide to Strategic Warfare

    • Ragette on June 3, 2009

      First time so wish me luck =D

      “The sorrow is not for those affected by the path but those who choose to use it”

    • quetzilla on June 3, 2009

      “I looked at Shartri, and then at the ground beneath my feet. Again? Nevertheless, I charged into the fray, deaf to the wails of the dying all around.”

    • Gabriel on June 3, 2009

      “Wizards of the Coast: Inventing stupid combat tricks 10 years before VS.”

    • Jimi on June 3, 2009

      “You’ll take the high road and. I’ll take the low road and I’ll be in Dominaria afore ye.”

    • DMantel on June 3, 2009

      I stepped in a dragon’s path once…Of course I don’t know what happened to the rest of my squad once I cut the goblin down.

    • PhoenixPrince on June 3, 2009

      Good show! I hadn’t notcied the new M10 cards. My entry-

      The Wizard turned from his latest victim only to see his army on the verge of defeat. Without a thought, he cast the spell he thought would save them. He was mistaken.

    • Ryan Youngbar on June 3, 2009

      “Sometimes the cost of the upper-hand is one of your own.”

    • jweiss on June 3, 2009

      your dragon is bigger than mine lets switch so now i have a bigger dragon

    • maddogawl on June 3, 2009

      “Sometimes picking your battles is worth a little pain.”

    • Emmett on June 3, 2009

      “That is some WICKED acid, man…”
      – Ajani Goldmane, on a bad trip

    • Loben on June 3, 2009

      “We’re you TALKING TO SQUEE, when you made this so called PLAN?”

    • Kevin on June 3, 2009

      “As high as we have mounted in delight
      In our dejection do we sink as low.”
      – WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

    • Ting on June 3, 2009

      Thanks for the solo Tom, it was great and got my pod-craving under control!

      Contest:
      During the Dark Age, a forbidden herb, the Sorrow’s Path, was a favorite past-time amongst war-ridden wizards of Terisiare. Its abuse inevitably led to the demise of its civilians and the destruction of the continent.

      Methinks this land should have a supertype – delusional

      M10:
      You forget to mention about the Exiled zone. I think this will be another sixth edition ruling or new card frame episode. I remember the outspoken were very unhappy about these. And the rants about this game being more kiddy were similar to the argument about the new card game. I reckon people will get over it and given the fact that WotC had made a lot of controversial calls in the past and that they survived them, I am inclined to sit back and let M10 roll around. Some people have a weird attachment to mana burn which really doesn’t affect most game plays. The relevant cases I can think of right now are Mana Drain (which actually gotten better!) and Braids of Fire. As with Battlefield, I think it ok, just another word for play, but I guess it is more clunky since it’s a longer word and that it would appear inconsistent with old cards. But then again we have inconsistency with different card frames, erratas, new card types/subtypes… etc.

    • YoshiOfADown on June 3, 2009

      I’m taking on a different angle. Here’s my submission for the Contest:

      “Welcome to my garden.” – Sorrow, Mage of Terisiare.

      I’ll email you the mockup too.

    • Jake on June 3, 2009

      “The people of surrounding village cringe at the very mention of sorrows path as none have returned from its dark clutches”
      -storyteller from the village

      i thought that using cringing in the flavor text could reflect how most people feel about the card since many people probably cringe at the mention of the card and i don’t know what they would do if someone actually was playing it.

      Also on the category of M10 personally i don’t really care about the new wording as we will probably get over it after a while since we’re magic players and we’ve been through worse. also even though there are a lot of changes i the one i like the most is the addition of new cards which i am getting very excited about.

    • Rastem on June 3, 2009

      Quote for Sorrow’s Path:
      “Beware: Walking the path feeds the fens’ denizens many tired feet” -Sign along the Sorrow’s Path

    • Matt on June 3, 2009

      “This path was created to make us humans complain less in hell!”-Preacher

      (preacher is from the darkness)

    • Lord Faust on June 3, 2009

      “No one goes there anymore. For *obvious* reasons.” –Lord Ith

    • Bryant on June 3, 2009

      “I shall be telling this with a sigh
      Somewhere ages and ages hence
      Two roads diverged in a wood
      And I took the one less traveled by
      And whether or not it made much difference
      We’re all laughing now”
      – Robert Frost: level 1 wizard; level 100 timmy

    • YAY Bant on June 4, 2009

      Submission.

      Some who travel on sorrows path have bridges to cross but some just get stoned.

      By the way I live in Australia so on the very small chance I win will there be a problem sending stuff. Thanks.

    • Kristion on June 4, 2009

      Submission

      I think it’s funny.

      ‘If you lived here, you’d be confused by now
      (taken from ‘if you lived here, you’d be home by now’. Sorry if you already knew, I just wanted to make sure)

    • Anthony on June 4, 2009

      “I think you should pay more attention to me and not to your friends over there, my pet’s already keeping them company”

    • Anthony on June 4, 2009

      oh and I’m concerned yay bant’s problem as well since i live in new zealand(not that i’m gonna win or anything)

    • talldarkandgrusome on June 4, 2009

      keeping with one of the suspected themes for zendikar…..

      “upon seeing the calamity before them,chief Sitting Bull says to Geronimo ‘and we thought the trail of tears was bad’

    • Julian on June 4, 2009

      Submission:
      “You say ‘chumps’? I say ‘Trades’!”

    • WolfmanMTG on June 4, 2009

      “Only those who have walked the path can truly understand its futility”

      -Gamer comment after playing with this card

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