The Mirror Match

Now, I haven’t exactly been keeping tabs on the MTG tumblr community lately, what with work shenanigans and life sort of clogging up a lot of my free time, but I recently noticed an interesting series of confused comments about the spoiled card, Very Cryptic Command, and several different variations it’s being printed in.

Now, as per the different rulings for cards of the same name, that’s just Unstable for ya, but as for the alternate art, there's a different and slightly more unique explanation behind that, and it’s all due to the artist behind it, Wayne England.

So, Wayne England. You may have heard of him, you may have not, but his work has been fairly proliferated throughout the fantasy world. For decades, he had worked on numerous illustrations for Games Workshop (Fantasy, 40k, etc), D&D, that Wheel of Time game nobody remembers, and of course, Magic the Gathering.

Perhaps you’ve heard of a few cards that he’s illustrated? Cryptic Command, Ghostly Prison and Stony Silence, just to name a few from numerous other cards. His work was fairly well known through numerous sets, and I’m certain that most players, if not all, have glanced or drafted a card inked by Wayne at some point in their playtime.

However, all good things must come to an end, as he unfortunately passed away in February 2016. It’s also doubly sad to note that Christopher Rush (yes, THAT Christopher Rush), passed away only a day later….

But now, back to the Very Cryptic Command at hand, you may notice that it’s looking fairly uncolored, and dare I say, unfinished?

Well, that’s because it is, as Wayne never got to finish it before his passing. But that didn’t mean his work would never come to light, for with all their corporate mindsets, even the folks at Wizards managed to give one last shout out to Wayne, and in remembrance, they allowed the printing of his unfinished piece on the V.C.C. as an alternate artwork. 

So should you be out there drafting Unstable this Friday, and you come across that alternate art, think about the significance of the inclusion of this artwork, even if it’s for a few seconds, and think about all that art one man got to bring into this awesome game.

yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

FUCKIN YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

no BULLSHIT I KID YOU NOT! Look what I found while walking Home…..

OH MY GOD

OH MY F*CKIN GOD

THIS POST FUCKIN WORKS?!?!?! THIS IS PAST A COINCIDENCE NO WAY!??! NO FRIGGIN WAY!!! 

Sheriff

Some folks were confused earlier when I posted a picture of a board with a card called “Sheriff”, so allow me to explain!

Sheriff is a variant of multiplayer Magic for 5 or more players (most commonly 5 though). It’s typically played with Commander decks. It adds politics and speed to a game that would normally go very long, as rather than needing to beat everyone, you have specific goals.

At the beginning of a game of sheriff, everyone receives a random role card from the 5 above. These are kept hidden, except for the sheriff. If someone leaves the game, they give their role card to the sheriff, so they can see if the game ends or not.

The Sheriff starts the game with an extra 20 life and always goes first. The Sheriff wins if they find and defeat the two outlaws.

The Outlaws both win if they defeat the sheriff. Some will go all out to try and attack them straight away. Others will be sneaky and try to win their trust before stabbing them in the back. The choice is yours.

The Deputy only wins if the sheriff wins. This means you cannot win by an alternate win condition. You must help the sheriff beat the outlaws.

The Renegade is typically most difficult, as you must defeat everyone. To make this possible, if you defeat the sheriff, the game does not immediately end. When you defeat them, you take the role of sheriff and are the outlaws’ new target! You can of course, go other routes though, say dealing everyone lethal damage all at once, or making them draw their deck out.