Inside Magic Colony
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Thursday, February 21, 2002Jeff Cunningham
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 It's The Grand Experiment. Magic meets MTV's The Real World. It's crazy, but just crazy enough to work. Eight Magic players whose skills are matched only by their relaxed attitude towards preparation. One house in the middle of nowhere. One month to break the Odyssey Block Constructed format wide open.
My name is Jeff Cunningham, and I live in a Magic Colony.
Allow me to explain.
A month ago, I'm sitting in my dorm room, in Toronto, with a 15,000 word essay due in a couple hours, and I receive the following email from Peter Szigeti:
"Are you in school currently? If not, I have a GREAT opportunity for you... free rent, Sideboard coverage, and playtesting all day every day for a month with me and six other pros... lots of drafting. Let me know I would love it if you could come to this function. Can you get out of school?"
A. Finish the last three months of school. Take it seriously. Study. Get good marks. Go to every tutorial, read every book, attend every lecture.
B. Attack for two. Months.
 And so it began. I made the necessary arrangements, and told my professors, parents, and friends what I would be doing during the month of February, to a few mixed reviews ("you're going to live with Jeff Fung?!") As it turned out, I didn't even need to drop the semester at university, and I'm taking my midterms when I return from Osaka.
The colony wasn't an attempt to put eight good players together in order to break a format, it was to have not-so-strangers from a similar area (west coast)... since we all know each other, we know who works best at what tasks, which makes the processes more efficient. Players were also chosen in accordance to play style - the Colony members all have very specific preferences, and their own ideas, which prompt many discussions about game, and deckbuilding decisions. Besides letting me test with friends I usually wouldn't be able to test with due to geography, I also get the opportunity to play enough Magic that I can expect a noticeable improvement in my game. Even so, last year, when I was in grade 12, this wouldn't have even been an option. The nice thing about university is that you can pull strings if need be.
Yeah.
So now I live in a Magic Colony.
Just outside Wenatchee, which is about three hours from Seattle, the Colony house is secluded. I mean, I think it is. I've left once in the past three days, so I can't really be sure. The Colony house is actually pretty close to a mansion. But it's one of those mansions that has a movie theatre, computers everywhere, stereos in every room, but only a single chair. I'm squatting on a garbage can typing this. I sleep in a room that has a laptop, a TV in the wall, two computers, a DVD stereo system, and no bed. I choose from over 100 DVDs to watch in a movie theatre, and I sleep on the floor under an old sheet.
But all that's not important. The reason I came here was to play Magic.
Yeah. I've been playing some Magic.
Though OBC testing has gone extremely well (thanks in no small part to the contributions of one Brian Kibler), the first major breakthrough has been the discovery of Dinner Sealed. What makes the "Dinner Sealed" different from the many other sealed decks we play in a day, is that it takes place during the evening meal. For "Dinner Sealed" you don't have to be sitting in the dining room, either. Whether you're "brown baggin' it" away from home and just pack a starter for a quick 2/3, or you're just watching TV and snacking in the basement, the dinner sealed is an integral, and celebrated aspect of the Colony lifestyle that's sure to spread outside the house.
 We're also working on a few other variations: The Midnight Sealed and The Jeff Fung Celebrity Sealed. All the rares get stacked in "the rare stack", to be divided up evenly at the end of the month. Though we have upwards of five Cantivores, and other gems, we currently have 0 Call of the Herds, and a single Shadowmage Infiltrator (turned in by yours truly). Apparently, it's every man for himself in the Colony house.
Another benefit of living in a house full of dedicated Magic players and avoiding the conventional routines that plague conventional homes is the ability to tune one's internal clock. The Colony house is currently running on Osaka time. Grand Prix-Tampa may throw a wrench into that (if the sun's up, we're not), but we're all going to attend nevertheless.
The Limited statistics are being recorded, and the current leader is Terry Tsang, who appears to be on a hot streak as of late. Watch for him to post a high finish at Grand Prix-Tampa this weekend. USA is winning the Team Drafts 3-2, but the tide could swiftly turn. Complete Limited statistics are being recorded, and will be revealed and discussed at a later date.
Though we don't plan on giving out our top decks, obviously, I thought that it would be prudent if, in celebration of the first colony article, we revealed an OBC playtest deck.
 There are several variations of the deck - Fried Eggs relies on a heavy burn component, Goose Eggs wins with Nimble Mongoose, and Eggs Benedikt was designed by Pro Tour Top 8 competitor Benedikt Klauser, and is tuned to his play style.
One final note: if there's anything you would like to see addressed in a future article, either about the Colony or Magic strategy in general, email us at JeffWCunningham@yahoo.com. We have plenty of time to test all sorts of ideas out around here, so if there's something you've been wondering about, we can probably figure it out between the eight of us. Also, any questions regarding the Colony itself, or its members should be directed to this address. We're happy to answer questions, and if necessary, they may be tackled in a future article.
Everything is just getting started here, and as soon as the dust settles, you'll should see multiple articles each week on a wide variety of topics from all residents of the Colony house. Expect a more in depth update as the week progresses, a sealed deck strategy article from Peter Szigeti, Constructed suggestions from Brett Shears and The Colonial News from Jeff Fung.
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