time spiral...
Went to SM San Lazaro today for the Time Spiral Prerelease.

Unfortunately, only 64 slots were available... unusual for a prerelease.

The reason?

520 players attended yesterday's prerelease (counting repeat players). Much more than Grand Prix Manila.

Time Spiral is that exciting.

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There are a lot of things going for Time Spiral.

First off, it's a nostalgia set. It's set in the planet Dominaria, the original planet where most of the Magic sets take place. Throw in temporal distortion as a plot device, and you've got something that you only see in comics and fanfiction.

Take for example the Ice Age card Incinerate. Anyone who has played Magic back in the day remembers the pyromaniac Jaya Ballard and her one-liners.

She now has a card.

Not only does her card refer to Pyroblast, Incinerate, and Inferno; it also refers to the Spellshaper mechanic of the Mercadian Masques block.

That's not all. Time Spiral also has a gimick: instead of having 11 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare in a booster pack, one common slot is replaced by a "timeshifted" card. These timeshifted cards are reprints with their old card face and a purple Time Spiral logo (probably a reference to the infamous Inquest article). Since they aren't silver bordered and they have the Time Spiral expansion symbol, they are legal in tournaments where the said set is legal.

The list of timeshifted cards is scary. I'm sure some of them will shake up Standard.

And yeah, old artists like Quinton Hoover and Richard Kane Ferguson made new art for this set.

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Gastos nanaman ito next month online. :P

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On the plus side, I updated the Metro Manila map in my head with this trip.

* LRT Tayuman Station added to your map *

* SM San Lazaro added to your map *

* Rotonda FTI jeepney terminal updated for 2006 *

Magic tournaments make me go places I would never normally go. I got as far north as SM Fairview and as far south as Alabang Town Center for tournaments. And I usually go to those places alone. wheee!