Pro Tour – San Juan will be held this weekend (May 28-30), at the Puerto Rico Convention Center.

The Magic Pro Tour is considered to be the highest form of competitive play for Magic: The Gathering, hosting a “main event” for the world’s top players. However, not only will the world’s foremost Magic players be present, but Wizards of the Coast are inviting local fans and friends to the event as well. New and seasoned players will have the opportunity to participate in side events, including tournaments, game demonstrations, and artist signings.

The Pro Tour is also boasting a Massive Multiplayer Magic event, something that sounds creatively chaotic!

There will be a multitude of contests over the weekend, with the ultimate prize being a free trip to the next Pro Tour, to be held in Amsterdam.

For those of us who are stuck at home, you can tune in to the Magic Pro Tour information page for more details and a live webcast on May 30.

I bet you want to know what the prize is, don’t you? First place wins travel and accommodations for the winner and a guest to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the Pro Tour: San Juan stop at the end of May. Second place will get travel and accommodations for him or herself.

So by now you’re thinking: ‘I just have to tell a story and I could win all this? What’s the catch? There has to be a catch.’ Well, the only downside is that you have to be 18 years of age or older and be a legal United States resident. Any story you submit can NOT be published anywhere else, so it has to be new and unique for this contest.

Do you want to try to win, but need some inspiration? Think about these things:

-What is the most fun you’ve ever had playing Magic?
-How long have you been playing Magic, and what keeps you coming back for more/what keeps you playing?
-How have you helped your Friday Night Magic community evolve?
-How has Magic: the Gathering changed your life? Has it changed your life for the better?
-How has Magic affected other parts of your life?
-Where is the most unique place you’ve played Magic?

You can read the official rules here and the participant agreement form you have to fill out is here. Along with your story and signed waiver, you need to provide your contact information (name, email, phone number) and, optionally, the store where you attend Friday Night Magic. You can email your entry to mymagic@wizards.com.

The contest runs until March 31, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. Winners will be notified by April 5, 2010.

1. Simon Görtzen (Aachen, Germany)
2. Kyle Boggemes (Waterford, Michigan)
3. Luis Scott-Vargas (Oakland, California)
4. Craige Wescoe (Cincinnati, Ohio)
5. Daniel Gräfensteiner (Nürnberg, Germany)
6. Niels Viaene (Gent, Belgium)
7. Yoshihiko Ikawa (Nishitokyo, Japan)
8. Jeroen Kanis (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

I am especially proud to see Luis Scott-Vargas’ name grace this list as I had the chance to see his games at Grand Prix Oakland. It’s great to see players representing so many countries, proving that this is definitely a worldwide past time. Next stop on the professional circuit is Pro Tour—San Juan in Puerto Rico, May 28 to 30.

Magic: the Gathering
Februrary 13-14: Grand Prix Oakland, CA; the first Grand Prix
April 3-4: Houston, TX
July 31-August 1: Colombus, OH
October 9-10: Sydney, Australia
October 23-24: Toronto, Canada
November 27-28: Florence, Italy; the last Grand Prix

I’d like to say before I get started that this is, in no way, the only way to make a deck. After playing for over 5 years, this is just the way I’ve discovered works best for me and my group of friends and local players. It’s meant to be a guide and to offer tips and a new way of thinking and looking at everything, not the sole way. That said, let’s get started.

The first thing any deck needs is an idea. This deck’s idea is mill, so I’m going to search my collection for any and all cards that have that effect. For, say, a burn deck, you would want all your cards that have instant effects on opponent life loss. A big creature themed green deck would need big creatures (base power/toughness of 3/3 minimum usually) and cards that give trample and +1/+1 or bigger counters.

After you’ve searched all your cards for the ones you want, lay them out. Do you have anything that really sticks out? For mill, it would be something like 3+ Hedron Crabs or a large number of Tome Scours. If you have a good collection of rares, then you might have a couple Twincasts or Traumatizes. If you’ve been playing for a long time, then you might have things like Glimpse the Unthinkable or Wall of Denial. With Zendikar released a few months ago, Archive Traps are available.

Keep in mind while you go through your stacks of cards that you can only have four of each. After you have all of your cards that fit your theme, sort out what you want in the deck. Not all decks will find the benefit of a Tome Scour when a Glimpse the Unthinkable is available. Some walls are better than others, so a Wall of Denial would probably be preferable over a Wall of Air. This is the first time that you have to start narrowing down what you might want in the final product. A good number for this stage, before land, is between 40 and 60. Keep in mind that a good deck won’t just focus on the style of it. For this deck, for instance, you might want to save room for Path to Exile.

A good deck has 24 lands, 36 spells. That’s 60 cards and the minimum for most tournaments, the exception being sealed and drafts. After you have your first round cuts, that stack of 40-60 cards, start narrowing it down to the key pieces. For this mill deck, you’ll probably want to make sure you have the Hedron Crabs, Traumatizes, and other big mill. Once you have this pool of creatures and spells, it should be at about 36 cards. That’s where it should be, but there might still be a few things that you’ll want to take out. Just because you have a lot of mill cards doesn’t mean the deck will work.

Once you have your base, then you should see where your deck is weak and what it’s not set up to deal with. For example, a slower deck like mill might have a weakness against burn cards. Aggro decks might be weak against quick swarm like Elf-themed decks. Keep in mind, no deck will be strong against everything or at least not without hours and hours of work and a very large collection of cards. If you know what your deck is good and bad against, then you know how to work on your sideboard. In most tournaments, you are allowed a 15-card side deck that can have any cards you might want as replacement.

A good side deck has a couple cards to work against any deck. A mill deck might have a couple extra bounce or removal cards, a few counters, and a couple extra walls. A burn deck might have bigger, more expensive burn sitting there in case they go against really big creatures. It really depends on what the current “big things” are, like Naya Zoo, in tournaments as to what you might be going up against and what you should prepare for. Like in Extended (Mirrodin and newer), Affinity is popular.

After you have your mana/lands in your deck of 36 spells, then it’s time to test it out. Either you can play the goldfish, which is a means of testing your deck in a mock game against an invisible opponent, or you can get a friend or two that want to play. Play a few games against different decks so you have a feel of what your deck can handle and how it plays overall.

Don’t be afraid of editing your deck in between games and after your testing session. A really good deck doesn’t come out of one shot. It requires some work and some thought. Keep at it and don’t be afraid to lose a few games. Even the pros lose. Now, a special treat for the curious. Below, in the little table, is my mill deck. I’ve spent a few months (and probably more money in trades) than I really should have, but I plan on testing it and taking it to the Grand Prix I mentioned earlier.

Happy Building!

First of all, Wizards of the Coast unveiled the third of three sets that are in the Zendikar block. Rise of the Eldrazi, codenamed “Prosper”, will be joining Zendikar (October 2009) and Worldwake (January 2010) to complete the block. The set is announced for April 23, 2010, with prerelease events held in participating WPN (wizards play network) locations the week before. This will be a 248-card set and previews will start on April 5th on magicthegathering.com.

The upcoming Pro Tour and Grand Prix schedule was also posted. The stops cover 16 countries and numerous states. Some of the big ones are Oakland, CA and Houston, TX for the States, as well as events in parts of Europe. All grand prixes will feed into the pro tours for the respective area, IE Oakland’s grand prix and others in the surrounding areas will feed to the San Juan pro tour. The promotional card is an old favorite from Kamigawa, Umezawa’s Jitte. This card will only be available while supplies last. The first stop is, in fact, Oakland, on Valentine’s Day weekend (February 13-14).

In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, there has been an announcement from Konami about a new Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s league. The Pegasus League is already proving to be a test for any duelist’s deck-building skills. Konami will regularly select a new deck format for players to test their skills. For November, the challenge is for any deck built must contain four monsters of the following elements: Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind. Every time the format is updated, the changes will be posted on www.yugioh-card.com.

The final stop on the Shonen Jump Championships came to Columbus this past weekend. More than 800 players showed up to compete, and one man, Vincent Ralambomiadana, took the top prize. He was playing a French Twilight deck against second place Kevin Slapnik’s Destiny Hero / Zombie deck. Again, the top finalists from this championship have earned invitations to their respective country’s 2010 National Championships.

It’s been a busy few weeks in the world of competitive card games, so bust out those deck you’ve been meaning to play and have some fun!

The Magic Pro Tour is the highest realm of competitive play for the popular game. It’s a series of tournaments with high payout that are held all over the world. The next stop is the World Championships in Rome, Italy mid-November.