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In real life, when I'm not trolling the internet I live on the coast of North Carolina in a small booming port town at the foot of I-40 - Wilmington, NC. It's semi-famous for several reasons and while it has nothing to do with what I'm talking about I'll share them with you. For one, we're known as the Hollywood of the East - putting out such classic TV shows and films as Dawson's Creek, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Crow, Blue Velvet, and the teenybopper favorite Empire Records. As such we've also received some notoriety for a few memorable events - Joshua Jackson (Pacey) running around drunk with a Canadian flag, Brandon Lee dieing in a botched stunt, and at the Firebelly Lounge (one of my favorite drinking spots) Steve Buschemi almost died when Vince Vaughn got into a fight with a couple of townies who played dirty. To highlight how much the TV and film industry is involved in our town literally half of the 400 in my graduating class in high school had been extras on Dawson's Creek. There's also a rich historical background in the Port City such as our government being the result of the only known successful coup d'etat in the United States. That's right, the whites here overthrew a black Republican government and took the land in a bloody riot of racial tension. This act still makes news 100 years later to this very day. Wilmington also has its own battleship, the USS North Carolina, and several fun festivals including the Azalea Festival and Riverfest. Back on the celebrity front we also are the hometowns of both Sugar Ray Leonard and Michael Jordan - amongst others. First and foremost beyond all those other things Wilmington is a beach community, nestled off the waters made famous by Blackbeard and the movie Cape Fear. Every summer brings the roar of tourists and the threat of hurricane season - I'm still not sure which is more annoying. Having grown up here since I was a youngin'' I've seen my share of major storms. Hugo, Floyd, Bertha, Andrew...Diane to show my age as well. As such I feel qualified to let ya'll know some major storms are coming. All the signs are there. People are stockpiling things, talking about the future and all over the online world of magic is abuzz with the coming clouds. Master's Edition
Why do I say they are highly collectable? Well beyond the fact that the cards revealed so far are literally some of the absolute strongest cards in Magic history, the set will only be on sale a limited amount of time - making it instantly collectable. The exact time frame is from September 10th to what many are predicting early December. There will be events and tourneys built around the release as with all sets. Whether or not the traditional two avatars will be released in conjunction is unknown, but I'm rooting for at least a Juzam Djinn avatar. Right now the major speculation is revolving around what cards will and won't be included. Since the intention is to make the currently-ignored Classic format popular and feasible in Magic Online - many are predicting the inclusion of the most used Classic cards. So far a few powerhouse cards have been released giving credit to the theory, but the question still on everyone's minds.... will Dual Lands and the Power Nine be included? The all revealing oracle won't be released until days before the set goes live in a month. So until then, the debate will rage in online-geared forums and players will cross their fingers each and every midnight to see the next Wizards Card of the Day to be revealed.
Magic Online version 3.0
While I have yet to take Magic Online III for a proper test drive due to a recent unwanted change to Vista, I have explored certain aspects of it. And, unfortunately, like many others I find it too much. Less is more in my book, and getting overcomplicated and with too many gadgets just complicates things (which is why I have already turned off a vast majority of Vista's features). It is still in Beta process and while it's exact release date is unknown, the open beta is garnering a lot of praise and even more hate. The one thing I can say is they are taking everything the players say to heart - after all it's for us. For instance, it was to be released in July, but was shelved when players who were in the closed Beta naysayed the GUI (graphic user interfact). Now a large portion of beta tester players are working hand in hand with development to fix what they claim and many agree is a broken product. As is, I do believe most of online population that has handled the software hates certain aspects, while some digital love is given to other portions. The effects, art, readability of cards, avatars, and sound were given well-received overhauls. The problem area seems to be a clunky over complicated user interfact. After handling it without cards, I found myself instantly lost. The GUI and menu like Vista just has too much and is garnered to a more power-user who can immerse themselves in learning hotkeys and customizing menu after menu. However, I did find that many things that I always questioned their absence about in the previous version were now included. Such as an in game store area that doesn't require you to use your browser. My concerns though are beyond the GUI, I've always have difficulty understanding how or why they choose to do their programming. It has always seemed to me that obvious areas of improvement area:
I'll briefly speak on these issues only to mention and clarify them. As far as Data Storage the methods they choose are vastly primitive instead of packing files and cacheing them into memory they are stored as basic files anyone can read (.png files for example for images). Which I feel is helping to bolster the Memory Leaks that overtime cause Magic to slow-down and create a hardware lag that then impounds on the server. The next area is while Wizards does support chat rooms, it gives absolutely no power to the players. Player run rooms such as the auction channel gradually were overrun by bots or pissants and there was no power for the players to stop it. There was also no support for player-run tourneys which could have been easily implemented and welcomed by the players. The final area was a lack of skins to make the game appear as you want, you had to conform to sights and sounds Magic offered. Hopefully those issues and more will be addressed, and in some ways I understand that it is now skinnable, but as mentioned I've yet to take it for a proper test run. While, there's no word on a release date, I hope it's not soon as it's just not ready from what I did experience and many are saying. Form your own opinions on the GUI by taking the 1gb beta for a spin yourself if you like: CLICK HERE. Farewell to Ravnica
There are several distinct types of players online. There are competitive players who earn tickets and packs playing in non-stop drafts and components, serious players with massive collections, casual players who value every card, and self-starters who much like the e-bay entrepreneurs eek out a meager living selling and buying cards online. Due to the nature of the competitive players and shop owners, Standard cards get flooded and enter into a regular market that resembles a stock market. Unlike the real world, the value of an online card can literally change moment to moment. For instance Flash went from a crap rare and is non-stop rising now thanks to the deck storming thru Legacy. One major event that affects a card's price is a set cycling out of Standard.
How does this equate to profit? Well lets look at it. Card prices plummeting, lots of people selling, leads to desperate situations. If you are player still in need of cards from those sets, all of a sudden power house cards you can use for regular play in Extended, etc. are dirt cheap. Prices do and will go back up, but it takes a year or two. There is also the chance that in two years a rotated card will cycle back into Standard via the Core Set. For instance, lets look at Pithing Needle who didn't drop quite as sharply as Jitte did , but definitely loss some value when it rotated out. Then the very day it was announced in 10th, it's price rose back up instantly. The next step to profit - the new set release. A smart player online knows they have a month to research and check out a cards relative worth before it hits online. Watching decks evolve quickly and seeing tournaments being played out give major clues as to value online. Then all one must do is buy the packs the day of release and sell, sell, sell at extortion prices. With demand super high and supply still low thanks to no events generating a flood of cards, prices are high, and only the rich and the overeager buy. When Future Sight came out, I sold 4 Korlash's for 18 a pop, now they're down to 7. Every card is like that, way overpriced and prime to sell.
The last place to look is the future. When RAV cycles out, what will become needed? Well without revealing too much of my plan to make some loot, lets check out the obvious. The biggest are shock lands. Ravnica had amazing lands and with many two-three color decks getting tourney play duals are vital. As a side effect of Ravnica going out standard players will need new tech to replace it. The obvious choice are the dual lands of Future Sight, as a result of the loss of shock lands, these lands will receive a halo effect and rise. On a smaller level the loss of signets and the neo-karoo's will cause a rise in the totems and prismatic lens. The rest are up to you, I've found no less than 150 cards that should go up in value in Coldsnap, Time Spiral Block and 10th thanks to Ravnica going out. 10th Edition August 6th - 10th Edition comes online. With Version 3.0, the first sparks of Lorwyn, and Master's Edition all looming on the horizon, it's no wonder most online players don't even have this as a blip on their radar. I know I forgot 'til I got to see the two avatars. 10th will go live for the next two years and for the most part if you've been playing at all you already own most of the cards. So it's important to note, when it comes out very few cards will support the Day 1-5 super high selling price. So if you're one of the players who like to take advantage of selling overpriced cards when a set is first released, you may want to hold off until Master's Edition. On the other hand the Premier events run August 10th - August 20th and participation of at least one is recommended to pick up one of your avatars - Arcanis, the Omnipotent for everyone, Squee, Goblin Nabob for the top 8 of each event. Enjoy the festivities!
PoxNora
The goal in PoxNora is to kill your opponents shrine. Using a deck of 20 runes you summon creatures that gain experience with each battle (and upgrade as you see fit!). Supporting your creatures are equipment, relics, and spells. All of this is based off several factions and much like Tribal - the more runes you play of the same faction the more of a bonus you receive. This helps to negate people who merely pick the best runes only as they are at a disadvantage. Summoning and playing spells is based off mana - which is obtained from shrines and your runes themselves. Each turn you reveal more runes and cast more creatures. If one dies it drops mana orbs that either player can pick up for a mana boost, then the rune begins to recycle before you can cast it again.
Does it take the absolute best runes to win? Well against certain decks, just like in Magic - yes. However I made a very simple cheap deck with $20 and managed to go 11-2 with it. As you play more and more you learn strategies of how to beat the different factions and most importantly your runes improve making it easier. The customizing of the runes you summon is neat, you could in theory have two of the same unit that are entirely different. Take a basic archer unit - you could make a speedy scout that can fire a weak shot then retreat, or perhaps make it a sniper who can conceal itself at a distance and unleash powerful hits at the cost of speed, or maybe you just want a powerful archer who fires multiple shots at the longest range possible. There is a catch though - the more abilities a rune has the more it costs to play - so in the end it's a lot like Magic. Do you want one Akroma on turn 6 or 3 White Knights by Turn 4? Above all, PoxNora is free to try. The program is smallish at 50mb and runs out of your browser, so getting up and started isn't an issue. While in the free version you play set decks based on each of the factions with runes that don't gain experience. However, this should be more than enough to get the feel of whether you enjoy it or not. I highly recommend this game as a quick and rewarding experience you can literally play anywhere with a decent connection. If I had to give it a score 4.25 / 5. Well worth the five minutes it might take you to download and install to give it a shot. Now that you know about the coming storms, batten down the hatches and get ready. Starting today major changes will seem to rapidly hit the online world of Magic starting with the release of 10th. Meanwhile a high pressure system is developing as players continue to get previews of Master's Edition and get hands on experience with Version 3.0. There's a lot going on and if you're prepared and plan appropriately you could possibly come out a lot better.
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The first front moving in is perhaps the most exciting to
Magic Online players - while the rest of the Magic community yawns and rolls
their jealous eyes. The Master's Edition is a 195 card set of 60 commons, 60
uncommons, 60 rares and 15 basic lands (from alpha/beta sets). It will be a
Classic legal set designed to bring "staple" cards to the online arena. While
non-redeemable - meaning these cards are for online play ever and can't be
converted to paper - they will be highly collectable. 
Sadly with every beautiful storm there is a period of
destruction. Winds rip down everything in sight, lightning sunders its path, and
rain batters non-stop. As the Magic Online community watches to the east waiting
for the much needed rain from the Master's Edition, to the west an uncertain
gathering of thunderclouds looms. The guttural rumbling of thunder as lightning
streaks down, is foreboding for what many Magic Online players evaluate their
very existence. The storm I speak of that has Magic players nervous is Magic
Online Version 3.0 (it's currently 2.5 and this version has been coming for at
least 3 years). 
Another major event coming soon is the approach of
Lorwyn.
While this will be discussed to a vast length, the other effect I'm sure will
not. With the birth of Lorwyn comes the death of Ravnica in Standard. While
the obvious change is certain decks will experience a death in the Standard
environment - such as Angelfire losing a vast majority of it's tech, the impact
plays an astonishing economic role. A phenomenon that afflicts the standard
environment 10 times as hard as the paper is the immediate loss of value of a
set when it cycles out. I want to explain why, and what this means. If this
doesn't sound interesting skip ahead to the next section as I promise to be not witty
nor fun nor interesting in this section. I do promise to show you a valuable
lesson in economics and profiteering though.
What happens is with each mention of
Lorwyn it's a gentle
reminder of a clicking clock. Already card stores won't buy Ravnica cards for
as much and their prices are starting to come down a little bit. The shock dual
lands are fluctuating rapidly for the most part. I've watched Godless Shrine go
from 12 to 6 to 8 to 10 to 9 over and over in the past weeks. A month or so
before Lorwyn hits the Standard and Casual players will sell off cards en
masse flooding the supply and plummeting the prices of Ravnica cards. This is an
effort to generate tickets to buy Lorwyn packs and cards and to get rid of the
cards they can no longer play in Standard. Last year I witnessed the same thing
happen to Kawi-block and the price of cards like Jitte. In under 8 hours, the
online price of Jitte went from 12 to 4 as the market flooded. 
Finally we come to something seemingly entirely unrelated
to Magic - a web-based browser game called Pox Nora. While at first it seems
similar to Magic - you buy packs that come with runes (cards) of varying
rarities including premium runes called Exotics - from there it goes into the
realm of Strategy games. PoxNora should instantly appeal to anyone who wished
they could summon their Kird Apes and control exactly how it attacks and moves,
while allowing it to become stronger as it gains experience in combat. PoxNora
is a fantastic blend of strategy combat, Magic-style play, and role playing
elements. Much like Magic at a glance it's simple and easy to play - the most
basic runes come into play and you instantly know what to do with them - the
more complex runes take help to make work, but have a powerful effect. Despite
the simple glaze, there is an underlying complexity. Deck balance, rune choice,
interactivity, and mana efficiency instantly come to the forefront of serious
decks - sound familiar? 