Pauper sounds pretty cool. It feels like it would keep the power of the net deckers to a minimum and allow me to play the jank I love. I know no one who plays it, though.

To be clear, I liked Standard when I came back, but the constantly rotating card allowability (WOTC’S Quest for More Money™) killed it for me–i refuse to pay as much for freaking cardboard as it would require for me to be marginally competitive.

I even liked Arena for a while, but keeping up just became exhausting.

More than anything, I guess I miss a point in time where the game was young and not discussed to death. It wasn’t very deep back then, and there were so few cards that I had a chance to have at least heard about just about everything I played against. I miss my Circles of Protection, Drudge Skeletons, Plague Rats, Serra Angels, Shivan Dragons, and Craw Wurms. I miss my white deck being a menace because I could band my weenies into a threat on defense and offense.

The closest to what I want that I’ve gotten was a draft I played, because everyone had the same starting point and had to deal with what they had. Even I, an uncultured casual, had a chance to enjoy it and not be bulldozed.

I’m sorry to be a dick and rant incoherently, y’all. I think I just hate that the game passed me by and that I’m pushing 50.