The best things I've learned about Magic in July '09:

Verdict on the financial analysis of M10 (See here, here and here)? Just crack that pack! M10 will be one of the best payout sets for those who choose to crack their packs open. Myself? On that advice I bought 12 packs (at half price!!) and opened both Jace and Chandra, a Pithing Needle, a Ball Lightning, an Elvish Archdruid and a foil Glacial Fortress. I've also been trying to get to Draft events, because the prize pool tends to be The Nuts. My only two M10 drafts have scored two dual lands from the prize pool. You can't argue with that.

American's love their 5CC, their Great Sable Stags, their Volcanic Fallout, and their Reflecting Pools. Every other country? not so much. What's caused this phenomonomonomon? Access to the card pool? Philosophy of power? Influence over the metagame by particular players?

Going to a tourny? There's a lot of needless mistakes out there, and you don't have to make them. I'm a big believer in the sleep + sustainance factor. But I'm getting old, so, hey, I need to keep my blood-sugar levels just right if I'm going to avoid having the mental tar beaten out of me by a bunch of savvy young players.

Grand Prix Melbourne is coming up on the horizon, and there are Trial Events to win. The format will be Shards Block Sealed, so it's time to start boning up again on how to win in that format. I've played a lot of Shards draft, but little Sealed. Maybe it's time to join the 8-man sealed queues on MtGO.

Platinum Angel is clearly the best card ever printed, regardless how fatal it is to it's owner. Incidently, I played against someone who'd drafted Platinum Angel in an M10 draft recently. Seeing that land on the table is just brutal. Knowing your opponent is on zero life but still not dead is pretty demoralising. But you tend to get over it when you top-deck a Doom Blade.

So this month my limited rating improved both IRL and on MtGO. However, I seem to be stuck going 2-1 at every draft event I play, regardless of the type of draft, the set, playing analogue or digital, etc. I'm wondering is it a skill level issue, a practice issue, or a psychological barrier I just need to get over. Hopefully I'll be able to push through it in practice on MtGO over the next few months.