ABSTRACT
The queue of eight players being ready is marked with a resounding clang of cymbals. Following a brief “waiting for servers” notice, I am thrown into a different screen. Fourteen Magic: the Gathering (MTG) cards, neatly arranged, file from the right to the left of the screen with celerity. This is the digital equivalent of opening a pack of MTG cards. It is pack 1, pick 1 – the first of 42 picks. Immediately, I am drawn to the rare/mythic card at the top left corner. It is, disappointingly, Obscura Ascendancy. It is known as a “build-around” card: too many colours, too many conditions. Next, I look at the three uncommons. They’re not the ones that I’m looking for but Riveteers Decoy is an “efficient” creature. Next, the commons. I see Hold for Ransom and proceed to wonder if “pacifism” style enchantment effects are good now. I remember that Pacifism in Ikoria had been terrible but also that Chord_O_Calls had praised them in Crimson Vow. The other cards all appear to be middling and escape my notice. Yet as the timer ticks down, and without the gravitational pull of a strong card, I find my mind wandering as I entertain the possible sequence of events in which each of the commons shines. There isn’t enough time to scry through these potentialities and I snap out of this reverie. I will pick Riveteers Decoy as a “safe bet” but will proceed to wonder what I had overlooked, what Chord or Sam Black would have picked. Numot, I’m sure, will undoubtedly have picked the Obscura Ascendancy (and done well with it).
