We get new readers coming in all the time, and as has been said numerous times so far this week, First Impressions may be the most favorite of all article series we do here at Magic Deck Vortex.

This is an unplanned Editorial that I decided to throw together at the last minute which will give a taste of the history of First Impressions for the new readers of MDV.

First Impressions was originally the brain child of a crazy person who thought it would be a cool idea to give his very first thoughts of each and every card that came out in the newest set. Of course that crazy man is yours truely. The very first First Impressions series was me banging away on the keyboard for about a week and a half, trying to give my opinion of each card, grade each card, gather all the information I had generated due to my grading system, and then submitting the entire six part series to Streetz. It was such a cool idea while still inside of my mind, but a nightmare once I started doing it.

I can remember thinking during the first two articles, "This is great! The guys will love this!" By the time I got to parts four and five, I was thinking, "What the heck? Two more colors to go? Holy Crap!" Disaster! I vowed to never do it again.

That was back in Planar Chaos. Four sets (including 10th Edition) later, we are at it again.

The best part of First Impressions is that once I decided it was too much and dropped the ball, the rest of the guys stepped up and gave the old man a helping shoulder. Instead of me doing six articles myself, I did one, and each other guy did one. We came together, and in the end it was even better.

As you can see with this edition of First Impressions, we are looking to make this into a week long event, where we celebrate the new card sets being released. We are striving to increase it each time; to see how far we can take it.

You will notice that starting in Morningtide's First Impressions, Luther stepped like a mad man, and has added his Alternate Format Impressions. During Lorwyn, Maleficent added his Flavor Impressions and Cashew began doing a contest for the week (starting with the Planeswalker contest). We want to go further with this concept, and I need your help.

I need more men!

I want to have more articles for First Impressions weeks. I want several different guys giving their impressions of whatever the new set brings. Are you a Casual guy? Give me an article about how the new set will impact your Casual play. Are you a Standard Honk? Send me an article about your impressions of the impact on Standard. Would you just like to give a second opinion on your favorite color? Send me your article!

We have had numerous topic ideas, and I really want to expand them to give the widest coverage possible. Some of the unused topics were:

My First Impressions (Your thoughts on the set as a whole)
Top Tens (Top ten best, worst, etc cards)
Standard Impressions
Extended Impressions
etc.

So there you have it. The history behind and future ahead of First Impressions.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the series as a whole. Hop over to the forums and leave a Letter to the Editor - me - and let me know what you like or don't like about the series.

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.
Find other articles by this author here.
Find other articles from this series here.

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