Weekend Previews: Upcoming Drafting Trilogy and Standard Pauper Deck Challenges

Welcome back to Cabel the Pauper!  Everybody please silence your cell phones and take note that there there is No Exit!  Today's brief update is a teaser of what's to come and has been approved for all audiences by the International Committee of the Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth-and-a-Third Internationale (Depending on Who's Counting).

The following pieces are currently being composed and will hopefully challenge everything you know about blogging, drafting, and Standard Pauper, coming soon to an Internet connection near you.  In other words, here's what I'm working on for next week on my little blog:

"To Draft Or Not To Draft" will be an epic trilogy about ONE MAN and his heroic journey into the evolving wilds of limited play with limited resources.

BASS-BOOM-BOOM-BASS....

Will our hero find that the pen is mightier by the sword?

BOOM-BASS-BOOM-BASS-BOOM...

Or will his life by the sword result in his death by the sword?

BOOM-BASS-SUB-WOOF-BOOM-Boom-boom-bomb-bass-bass-fade-fade....

[insert cheesy advertising tagline and social media icons here]

In addition to this series, I shall chronicle a Standard Pauper deck challenge taking place tonight.  I will bring one of the top decks in the online Standard Pauper metagame to a Friday Night (Money) Magic event at my local game store.  There's already plenty of Web-based promotion for this endeavor posted on this thread at PDCMagic.com for more information.

Finally, I'll be making a very important announcement regarding competitive Standard Pauper play In Real Life by the end of next week.  If you're in my geographic area and are hard up for tickets and entry fees and as frustrated as I am with MTGOv4's lack of functionality, but still desire to play the best Magic: The Gathering ever devised, you definitely want remain seated and stay tuned...

That's all for previews this Friday.  I hope you enjoy your weekend, are able to sneak in your own refreshments without having to make any concessions in your casual or competitive gaming outings the next few days.  Thanks for reading and good luck & have fun!  Peace,

- C

The Last Facebook Post

Yesterday I mentioned that I am taking great pains to reform my writing activities online.  This is why I am back to blogging here regularly, hopefully on a daily basis.  Over the past several years, I have cultivated a habit of posting hard Left-wing and critical commentary on social media several times a day on my Facebook page.....

Actually, that's not entirely true.  The gardening metaphor conjures up images of healthy botanicals and attractive perennials.  I've realized that a better analogy is to the weeds that must be uprooted in order to grow a garden properly.  My Facebook page has actually become overgrown with rantings and ravings that are not at all attractive.  In fact, it is shameful.  I was not cultivating anything of value.  I was screwing myself the same way we get mana screwed in Magic: The Gathering if we fail to build the proper mana base or include such fixing spells as Cultivate itself.

 But even that comparison lets me off the hook for what I actually doing: stacking the deck against myself.

So a couple of days ago, I determined that taking the first step to getting back to blogging here was not unlike taking the first of the twelve steps required for sobriety.  I had to admit to myself and to others that I had a problem with excessive posting on social media.

And I do!  That's a problem.  So I'm fixing it so as not to be so damned off-color.  I may be a Red, but that doesn't mean I have to spend my time online sinking deeper into a Swamp of egotistical self-indulgence.  That's the common bond between this blog and my other online activities.

I have already written about this on in my last Facebook post, which I will quote below in its entirety.  I'm already in the habit of writing online as soon as I awaken each morning.  But I need this to be a good habit, not a bad one.  I used to wake up feeling the craving to post, troll, post again, agitate, post some more, and before I knew it I would be through a whole pot of coffee with no food in my belly...and my writing would have remained just as grandiloquent as before and having failed to make my point as best as I could.  I was trying to agitate and educate and organize...but it was just agitating to others and resulted in a disorganized life for myself.

Now that I'm no longer trolling about that social media platform, I'll also note that I have taken to Twitter.  I find the restriction to 140 characters is doing wonders for my writing skills as I've probably exceeded a 140 sentence (or even paragraph!) limit on Facebook.  I hope my dear readers will follow my Twitter account as well as this blog.

Without further adieu, here is the adieu I bid to Facebook the day before I said buneas días to Cabel the Pauper: the Last Facebook Post:

Colin DavidMarch 8 at 1:02pm · 

This will be my final status update on Facebook for at least the next 40 days. It will also be the last post that I comment on publicly. This is an extension of my second-to-last update below inspired by two things: an interview with John Mayer and my recent decision to convert to Catholicism.

Turns out that I am a few days late to an annual party called Lent. I have yet to undergo the Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults, but my meeting with the local Deacon is this coming Wednesday. So even though I missed the beginning of Lent last Wednesday, I'm just going to go ahead and get started now:

For Lent, I give up posting status updates and comments here on Facebook. This is likely going to be very, very challenging. I tried to do this a few weeks ago and it turns out I've failed miserably. Again. This time, I'm getting help from above to make sure I halt this destructive, egotistical behavior.

I'm not changing my ideas about the subject matter I post about most often. I am not just becoming a committed Christian. I remain a committed socialist, a dedicated amateur philosopher, a serious hobbyist historian, and a hard-line foul-mouthed antiracist, antifacsit, antisexist, anticapitalist ect., ect., ect....

The time has come to be *antiegoistical* in addition to these qualities. I need to oppose this aspect of myself instead of opposing all sorts of things I find wrong with other people, dammit.

But I'm *not* deleting my profile, here. That would just be too easy. If I am to learn how to resist temptation, then the temptation has to be there for me to resist successfully.
Furthermore, this platform is meant to keep in touch with people who have touched my life with their friendship and family ties and common interests. I had high hopes for Facebook as a means of rubbing opposing ideas together, engaging in meaningful political and philosophical debate that moves us forward as a collective brotherhood of humanity. But after years of testing this hypothesis, I have to make a scientific conclusion that moves from theory to law:

Facebook is NOT the place to debate politics or philosophy. My hypothesis was incorrect. And in fact, my referencing it as a hypothesis was every bit as much a tactic of denial as an addicts insistence that they don't have a problem. Nope. I've got a problem wit this thing. So it's up to me to fix it once and for all.

That said, is a Private Message option here that I intend to keep using in order to keep in touch with my family and best of friends. After acquiring one of these iPhone doo-hickies, I find that many folks just plain don't call or text...but they do make use of Facebook Messenger.

So in order to avoid slipping back into isolation by cutting off this means of communication, while you won't see me posting status updates or making public comments, I encourage you to contact me via private message and we can have a one-on-one conversation. I think that's better than spewing forth my rants for the world to see when I only ever reach a handful of folks anyway.

But now it comes down to it: This post itself is already too damn long and self-indulgent and egotistical! So I'm done. I hereby give up posting Facebook status updates and comments for Lent. I think it's fitting that I'm late getting started, but this is something that is better done than never.

40 days and counting starts of no new Status Updates and Public Comments. Starting now!

Starting now...

Whew!  Thanks for reading through all this verbosity.  This time - for the last time - I think it was necessary.  Now that I've satiated my daily desire to get writing first thing in the morning, it's time to get back to work on my proletarian IRL M:TG projects, one of which will be the subject of my next update: The Great Purge of 2015!  Until then, good luck & have fun! Peace,

- C

Back to Blogging and The Five M's of Cabel the Pauper

It has been nearly a year since I have posted anything new here.  And what a year it was!  I shall spare the details for the sake of my readers and myself.  All you need to know for the purposes of this long-overdue post is this: I've returned to playing Magic: The Gathering in real life at the same time I am reforming my writing activities on the Internet.

That means it's time to get back to blogging here after breaking several promises to update regularly about Magic Online and far too many other topics.  On this Monday, I will begin (again!) by directing your attention to the changes already made and my plans for the future.

First of all, this blogs description in the header has been shortened from its former declamatory incarnation to be more concise and accurate regarding the intended content.  I've distilled what I'll be covering to one main point and five other interrelated interests of mine worth writing about.  The most important is now listed at the top of the page and the rest of these - all beginning with the letter "M" by some strange coincidence - you will find in a revised list of links in the sidebar.

Magic: the Gathering will be what I post about the majority of the time.  It will not be about bourgeois Money Magic formats, which I oppose. Instead, this will be the place for what I have christened Rarity-Restricted Casual/Competitive styles of play.  I explained what this was in the post immediately preceeding this one three days shy of one year ago.  If you are unfamiliar with what this approach to Magic is, I encourage you to find out below or by clicking the link provided.

In fact, I intend to make it known to you and every other Magic player I come into contact with.  Much, much more on this in future posts.

Last, but not least, are the other Five M's of Cabel the Pauper.  I will elaborate on these sub-topics in the future.  For now, two elements of each are alluded to in parentheses as sub-headers for the new link lists featured to your right.  Here they are for reference below:

• Marxism (Philosophy & Politics)
• Meditation (Buddhist & Franciscan)
• Music (Performance & Enjoyment)
• Mixology (Professionalism & Recovery)
• Media (Social & Traditional)

You'll note that there are five of these just as there are five colors in Magic: The Gathering.  The idea here is to connect these areas of interest and inquiry to the game itself, as well as combine them together in the same way the five colors join forces into guilds, shards, and wedges.

Perhaps someday I'll be good enough a writer to compose a piece that connects all six!  But that post is for another day and, after having said all that needs to be said for now, this post itself has become too magniloquent.

In closing, I hope you enjoy the new format and subject matter.  This time I make no promises with regard to a set blogging schedule. But I plan to explain reasons for returning to playing Magic: The Gathering in real life as opposed to Online; for returning here instead of continuing to post elsewhere on the Internet; and for settling upon these specific five topics.

It's good to be back!  Thanks for reading and following along and good luck to the Standard Pauper players still struggling with Magic Online.  Peace,

- C

What Is Rarity Restricted Casual Competitive Magic?

Introduction

What do I mean when I refer to a Magic: the Gathering format as a Rarity-Restricted Casual-Competitive variant?  If you've read my previous PureMTGO articles or followed my forum posts as a Standard Pauper player and PRE host, surely you've heard me refer to two key different standards of building M:TG decks:

Money Magic versus Rarity-Restricted Casual-Competitive Magic

You can probably guess the difference by the keyword "Money" and the phrase "Rarity Restricted."  Money Magic is what I call the game when it is played with no rarity-based restrictions to building decks.  In other words, you can use any card in your deck regardless of rarity.  The primary forms of Money Magic formats are Standard, Modern, and especially Legacy and Vintage.  These are the formats that are the most expensive to play as the most powerful rares and mythics end up costing quite a bit of money on the secondary market, or one has to spend a lot of money chasing the cards.  This may not have been Richard Garfield's goal when designing this incredibly fun Turing complete game, but it is clearly the profit motivator of Wizards of the Coast.

Important Distinction & Philosophical Roots

This brings me to an important distinction: Rarity-Restricted Casual-Competitive arose in opposition to Money Magic because the rarity system itself, combined with the power of the secondary market, operating under the principles of capitalism, has engaged the very same oppositions in economic social classes as described by Marxist, anarchist, and other Leftist economics and philosophies.  I'll have more on these ideas as the philosophy of Rarity-Restricted Casual-Competitive (abbreviated as "RRCC Magic") but first, a few examples of existing formats.

RRCC Magic Formats

The prime example of RRCC Magic is Pauper, which of course restricts the cards allowed in deck building by the rarity of the card rather than what set the card is printed in.  In Pauper Magic variants only cards printed at common are allowed.  Another example, Peasant, also restricts rarity by allowing an unlimited number of commons and a limited number of uncommons (up to five) between the main deck and sideboard.  Finally we have Silverblack which restricts rarity by allowing an unlimited number of commons and/or uncommons in the deck.  I consider all three formats to be RRCC Magic because they are defined by the rarity restrictions applied to deck building.

Four Things That Rarity Restriction Does

Once one has decided on a system of restricting the rarity of cards one uses, a four distinct things happen.  First, the monetary value (or exchange value) of the cards used in the RRCC Magic deck falls dramatically when compared to Money Magic decks.  Second, the way that cards work and metagames develop (by the use value of the cards) changes, turning otherwise overlooked weak looking cards into Pauper and Peasant powerhouses.  Thirdly, one can apply the agreed-upon rarity restriction to the Set-Restricted Money Magic formats and play something like Standard Pauper in which only commons from cards printed in the current Standard card pool may be used.

But the fourth and most important things that happens when RRCC Magic formats come into existence is this: it allows Magic players who love the game but do not possess the economic means to play Money Magic formats competitively to play the game in a format they can actually afford.  In other words, my knowledge of Marxism leads me to believe there are two classes of Magic players: those who can afford the Money Magic formats like Standard and Legacy and those who can only afford to play in formats where the rarity of cards allowed is restricted.

Personal Experience and RRCC's Existence

If it wasn't for the existence of RRCC Magic formats like Pauper and the communities that foster them like PDCMagic.com and Gatherling.com, I would not be able to enjoy the game competitively.  This brings up the final distinction of RRCC Magic: they are designed to be both casual play formats and avenues for competitive play at the same time.  What that means is that there is a casual element to the game that does not destroy the competitive element of Magic via tournament play.  One can impose rarity restrictions on deck building parameters simply for the fun of it or for the challenge involved.  Hence the "challenge" part of the PDC acronym, which stands for "Pauper Deck Challenge."

The Acronym Evolves

The way I see it, this acronym needs to evolve to keep pace with the evolution of  Magic formats.  Peasant in the paper world and Pauper, a chiefly Magic Online phenomenon, are both a part of the same family and now Silverblack has joined the fray.  The goal of this piece is to raise awareness of R/C Magic variants so that good Wizards of the Coast customers never again feel that a rewarding casual or competitive gameplay experience cannot be had.  RRCC Magic can be either a stepping stone for somebody just starting on before moving on to playing with rares. Or one can do as I have done and dedicate oneself to only RRCC formats for both real world financial reasons and for the mental athletic challenge.

TL;DR Summary Definition

So there you have the basic definition of Rarity Restricted Casual Competitive Magic.  It says exactly what it means: any Magic: The Gathering format that restricts cards by rarity in order to produce a casual or competitive game play experience for the player who  does not have the money to play Magic without rarity restriction and/or desires the extra challenge of building decks with greater restrictions.  Magic guru Mark Rosewater is always repeating the same maxim "Restrictions breed creativity."  I agree, and I hope that Wizards itself realizes the creative force that rarity restrictions brings to the game as well as how R/C Magic can keep the game alive in times of economic hardship.

To Be Continued...

In the future, I will elaborate on some of the issues that R/C Magic brings to the table and what brought R/C to that table in the first place.  I'll explore how formats like Peasant and Pauper came to exist and why their existence is crucial to the survival of Magic: the Gathering as a living game...and why Wizards of the Coast should officially support these formats with the same energy and focus as they do Money Magic.

Conclusion and Farewell

For now, I hope you find yourself philosophizing a bit on these issues yourself in between sessions of building your Pauper or Peasant decks and playing on a level playing field in a format you can actually afford to invest your money and time in.  And as always I hope you have good luck and good games doing so, no matter what class of Magic player you fall into.  Peace,

-C

Revised Blog Posting Schedule

As I promised when I announced my return, I have revised the posting schedule for the blog.  Cabel the Pauper will now update three times a week and will feature the following revised format:

Mondays - The MPDC Pre-Game Show will go live on Monday morning for some final thoughts before the MPDC tournament starts the same day.  If you haven't been able to catch up Standard Pauper news all week, I'll link the reader up with all that can be found on other blogs, too.  

Wednesdays - I've decided to get rid of any "wacky" themes for this day and simple commit to any random post about Magic: The Gathering.  At least half the posts will be about Standard Pauper while the rest of the time other Rarity-Restricted Casual-Competitive formats will be covered (and I'll finally elaborate on the philosophy of this style of Magic play). 

Fridays - As these are work days for me, I can commit to getting a post up here on Fridays on a bi-weekly basis.  But I cannot guarantee which topic this "freestyle" piece will be about beyond pointing you to this blogs still unchanged description.  You'll just have to stay tuned to find out.

This schedule is manageable with my work schedule, which is not something I'm prepared to compromise after so many years of being out of work.  That situation brought me to pauperism in the first place (and it feels good to be out of it!) so I feel I owe it to the format itself to continue writing about it as I return to playing it.

I hope you enjoy the future posts on Cabel the Pauper.  Thanks for reading goes without saying from here on out.  But I'll always close with a good luck & have fun.  Peace,

- C

MPDC 24.03 Pre-Game Show

Greetings loyal readers!  I finally have the opportunity to play in today's Monday Pauper Deck Challenge Standard Pauper tournament after over a month away from the game due to real life dilemmas.  Now I face another dilemma:

What the heck do I play??

Without any spare time to brew a list of my own, normally I'd choose whatever deck seemed most dominant in the metagame. But it's too early - with only two events' worth of data - there is no easy answer as to which deck is the best in the format.  So far, Bant Hexproof has won an event and a BUG-colored Defenders deck has taken the top spot, both times beating out a uniform White Weenie list.  Decisions, decisions, decisions...

If I were to just netdeck one of these three hoping to repeat their success, I'd probably go for DrChrisBakerDC's Defender Mill for purely sentimental reasons: the last deck I played in an event was a wacky five-colored defenders deck I threw together just for fun.  Dr. Baker has improved things substantially by putting a lot of thought into how such a deck can actually win, turning a quirky casual deck into what looks to be a true powerhouse in the format.

But wait! There are more deck lists to copy and paste thanks to Standard Deviations Standard Pauper Gauntlet contest.  I will not be able to resist brewing a deck at a later date to enter this unique and exciting event:

Or I could browse on over to an excellent article published today on the most important website for Magic: The Gathering articles, Star City Games, to find out What Standard Pauper Has To Offer care of well-known writer Jason Moore.  It's great to see Standard Pauper getting some hard-earned attention here!  Just the fact that so much good reading is available on this little format from such big names threatens to eat up all my deck-building time as well...

...anyway, I hope you are not having the same indecisive problem as I am having today.  I'll simply encourage you to play whatever deck you feel most comfortable with and gives you the greatest satisfaction when the "fun factor" is given highest priority.  That's how I will make my choice today and I'm actually thrilled to be able to face this kind of dilemma again.  It means I've finally come back to my favorite hobby: playing Standard Pauper on Magic Online with awesome commons and even more awesome friends.

See you in the Getting Serious room in about an hour!  Good luck to all and have some good games today.  Peace,

- C

The Return of Cabel the Pauper

Just in time to cover for another Standard Pauper writer going away for a while, I am finally able to return to writing about the game (and playing it!) after having been gone for some time.

Believe you me, nobody was as disappointed about my absence as I was.  Playing Standard Pauper, organizing Player Run Events in the format, and writing about it all on this blog and on PureMTGO are high on my list of things I enjoy doing.  I did not plan my break from hosting and blogging, and sadly I will not be able to host again....

But I do plan to get this blog back up and running and write future articles about the exciting Standard Pauper format and its competitive metagame.  Real life has blessed me with a job that does not require me to work Mondays, so I expect to once again be a regular at the Monday Pauper Deck Challenge tournaments on MTGO.  That is where I will gain the necessary experience required to start writing quality content regarding the Standard Pauper environment and its unexplored nooks and crannies in this earliest of early seasons after the release of Born of the Gods.

I have returned!

Cabel the Pauper marches on!

 In the coming days, I'll have a new blog posting schedule worked out after revising my previous plans to fit with my new real life responsibilities.  In the meantime, feel free to use the comments to talk up what I missed when I went AWOL for a month and a half.  I'll see you in the Just for Fun Room.  When I do, I wish you good luck & good games.  Peace,

- C