============= PARADISE POST ============= Issue 8. January 2004. This newsletter is sent to all MTGParadise.com Forum Members. To unsubscribe email contact@mtgparadise.com with your forum username and your account will be deleted. FEATURE SPONSORS – Advertisers email contact@mtgparadise.com ---------------- CARDSHARK - www.cardshark.com Cardshark is the ultimate marketplace for BUYING and SELLING collectable games. We currently support Magic, MAGIC ONLINE, and Lord of the Rings. There are NO LISTING FEES to start selling and all payments are made via PayPal. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to buy and sell cards with CardShark.com. Click this link and make a $10 purchase today and get a FREE BOOSTER PACK! http://www.cardshark.com/default.asp?referral=cardshark&source=mtgpnews2 --------------- GAMES PARADISE - www.gamesparadise.com.au Order Online or 1300 139 202 For great MTG box prices including 4th Edition, please visit our website. --------------- I hope everyone has had a great Xmas break ( I certainly did as I am still recovering!) and what better way to start a new year with a Pro Tour, the release of Darksteel and extended qualifiers. Before I go into what has been happening this month lets take a look at the Sydney 500 which took place on the 28th December at Sydney Games Centre. The format was Type 2 and the tournament attracted 50 players - not bad considering the time of year. Despite a strong Canberra contingent the top 8 was comprised entirely of Sydney players with usual suspects Jacky Zhang and Tim He and Ernie Hurst all in attendance. After 6 gruelling rounds the top 8 looked something like this:- Jacky Zhang -Affinity Tim He - Slide Joey Lawrence - Affinity Gary O'Bree - Slide Ernie Hurst - U/W Mark Fabian W/G Aaron Niscatri - W/G Alex Vincent - Goblin Bidding The Type 2 format at the moment is heavily geared towards Affinity and U/W control and it is interesting to note only 1 U/W deck made top 8. Slide seems to be popular in Sydney at the moment as it won the NSW state championships. However, it was not good enough to get past Jacky's Affinity deck (which he also made top 8 with at states) and beat Tim He quite comprehensively in 2 games. This is the third $500 event which Jacky has won in Sydney and is shaping up to be one of the strongest constructed players in the state - watch out for him at Nationals this year. For full decklists and coverage of the Sydney 500 check out this link http://www.mtgparadise.com/~sgc/SGC5002003/. Pro Tour Amsterdam Nicolai Herzog battled through a field of 350 competitors to walk away with the trophy and $(US) 30000 last weekend. There were 6 Australians at this Pro Tour and here are their finishes:- Alex Brown (NSW) 18th Ben Fleming (VIC) 74th Shun Jiang (VIC) 76th Justin West (VIC) 79th Lenny Collins (NSW) 132nd Ben Seck (NSW/VIC) 329th Congratulations to all of the Australians, especially Alex as he now has an invite to PT Kobe in February. PT Amsterdam was 15 rounds of Rochester draft then a cut to the Top 8. It seemed that card valuations differed depending upon who you asked and there was no definitive colour combination that dominated the format. Some players liked to draft aggressive U/B affinity decks with spellbombs, artifact lands, Myr Enforcers and Hoverguards whereas other preferred "beefier" R/G creature decks with lots of artifact removal. Herzog drafted quite a strong R/G deck in the Top 8 with a first pick Molder Slug, double Electrostatic Bolt and double Goblin Replica. This was enough to blast his way past both of the W/G decks on the table (Farid Meraghni and Olivier Ruel) and then defeat Osamu Fujita's U/B affinity deck in the finals. For full coverage of PT Amsterdam (including video coverage of the top 8 matches) check out the sideboard at http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/events/ptams04. Kobe Qualifiers The last of the extended qualifiers are being held this month in Australia and the list is shaping up as follows:- Chris Allen - PTQ Perth Zeke Van Kalker - PTQ Adelaide James Zhang - PTQ Sydney David Zhao - PTQ Melbourne Matthew Blom - PTQ Geelong Alex Brown - Top 32 Amsterdam Richard Grace - DCI Top 50 Isaac Oldham - PTQ Auckland Roger Miller - PTQ Wellington Scott Richards - PTQ Christchurch Canberra Qualifiers are being held on the 24th January at Exhibition Park in Mitchell. For more info contact David Low on 0413 556 683 or dlow@mtgparadise.com. Brisbane Qualifiers were held earlier this month but the results have not been updated yet. PT Kobe will be held on the 27th - 29th February and the format will be Mirrodin block constructed (including Darksteel). For more information check out the wizards website - http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=protour/kobe04/facts Darksteel Speaking of Darksteel, there will be prereleases held all over the country this weekend! The new set looks good and there have been previews of the cards on the sideboard over the last few weeks. There is a new pox, a steal equipment enchantment, affinity golems that are cheaper depending upon how many land you have in play and a Myr Lord! Juggernaut also makes a comeback! In addition to this there are indestructible artifacts and a new mechanic which gives artifact creatures a bonus when they come into and leave play (Modular - pretty catchy name eh!) Indestructible is an artifact specific ability (which can also apply to artifact creatures) that basically means it cannot be destroyed or it cannot die from lethal damage. This is interesting as it renders one of the sets most powerful commons useless (Shatter) and will have a huge impact on limited. This may also spill out into constructed formats as there is only 1 mass removal spell at the moment that doesn't destroy creatures - and we all know what that is! Modular - The name sounds a bit odd but the concept is interesting. There are several "arcbound" creatures which all get +x/+x counters when they come into play, but when they go to the graveyard you can put those counters on any artifact creature in play. The arcbounds also have abilities themselves and they are of different rarities so be careful if you send one of them to the graveyard!! I haven't had a good look through the spoiler yet (only a quick glimpse) but for those of you that have to see the cards before the prerelease check out MTG news.com for their partial spoiler (http://www.mtgnews.com/tracing/darksteel/). Darksteel prereleases will be held across the country this weekend (24th-25th January) and you can check out where your nearest one is at this link - http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=events/prereleases/aunz. Well that about wraps it up for another issue of the paradise post and Craig will be with you again next month for his take on Darksteel and all of the latest news. See you next time Dan