From: Brian Brokaw To: Craig S. Wright Subject: Re: couple questions(again) Date: Sunday, October 03, 1999 7:37 PM > Brian a friend of my son Bryan has a diglet card and the energy symbol > with the fist in it is turned sideways so the fist is facing to the > right of the card. Is this a legit card or does he have one of those > fake cards that wizards is all worried about coming out of New York > City? Have they released any info on how to tell these fakes from the > real? This Diglett is NOT fake. The most recent info about these error cards is that they ship with all of the Starter decks. (but not in booster packs). This is NOT official info, but from PoJo readers that have responded to my request for more info about them. The only info that WOTC put out about counterfeits is on a single page in their official website: www.wizards.com/Pokemon > My next ques. is about magic: the gathering card game. My son is also > getting interested in this game. I have talked to a few people about > this game and some of the comments were like > 1) there are some really strong cards in that game but to try and get > them now would be expensive. Do you know what some of these cards are?, > and what does the black lotus card do, also what are some of the best > cards you can have in your deck Just like Pokemon TCG, Magic has some GOOD cards and some BAD cards ;-) My advice (especially for new players) would be to ONLY pursue playing in T2 (Type-2) Tournaments. These REQUIRE players to use ONLY "new" cards (from the most recent expansion sets). This will allow you to buy booster packs to get cards, and not try to compete with players using cards from out-of-print expansion sets. For example, Black Lotus has been out of print (to my knowledge) for a VERY long time, and is ONLY allowed to be used in ONE style of tournament play. And in order to compete in this style, you would need to be VERY VERY rich if you haven't played Magic for the past 5 years. So, my final advice here: Stick with T2 tournaments. Only buy boosters from "6th Edition", "Urza's Saga", "Urza's Legacy" and "Urza's Destiny". Starting next week there is a brand new expansion to buy: "Mercadian Masques" (but 6th edition and the Urza's block will still be legal for about another year...) > 2) Are the circle of protection cards as good as they seem to be, also > what can you use for a defense if someone plays this card against you Well, keep in mind, there are 5 colors in Magic. You never know what your opponent will be playing. And with enough COP cards to combat all colors in your deck will leave you VERY little room for cards that actually DAMAGE your opponent (so you can win ;-) Competitive tournament players probably only rarely use these cards. > Brian there are alot of questions here and i am in no hurry to get the > answers, again thanks for all the help, oh and about bryan's pokemon > tourney they had so many sign up and did not have enough room so the > first 24 got seats everyone else had to go home, Bryan did not get a > chance to play but we have an automatic entry in next months tourney! > C-YA CDUB25:-) Cool. Thanks for the note. Take care, Brian Brokaw