Anyone who's taken a look at my decks and other Magic commentary has probably realized that I'm something of an "old-school" Magic player. I prefer to play with older cards (preferably ones printed between 1993 and 1996) and to play traditional deck archetypes. I prefer the classic Type I tournament format.

I don't have a lot of respect or patience for the current state of Magic, dominated as it is by WotC's desire to cater to the watered-down and faddish Type II tournament format, a format that disallows all but the newest cards.

Why? Because a great card in Type I is great forever. A great card in Type II is worthless crap six months or a year down the line when "set rotations" force you to blow triple digit figures on a ton of new boxes, boosters, and singles just to be able to continue playing at all.

Type II was hyped as the savior of the little guy. A much-needed change from the dark, decadent days of old, when "broken" cards like Black Lotus ruled the scene and mere mortals cowered in their fearsome presence.

But it was all a lie. Type II was a wolf in sheep's clothing all along. WotC knew that they needed some way to compel players to buy tons of new cards for tournaments even when their existing collections were good enough to field a decent deck. Even though they didn't need them to stay competitive.

This bears repeating: Type II was never intended to be a fair, inexpensive, or somehow more accessable format. Its sole purpose from the very beginning was to sucker competitive players into constantly wasting money on more and more cards they didn't need.

WotC quickly moved to disallow older cards in tournaments and to push the rightful king of Magic formats, Type I, out of the spotlight. At first, equal treatment for Types I and II was promised, yet sure enough, slowly but surely, Type I tourneys were scaled back in favor of more Type II events, more Type II coverage, more Type II prize money. WotC's little scheme was proceeding exactly as planned. Complaints by long-time players were either shouted down, laughed at, or ignored outright.

Eventually, the constant marginalization and demonization took its toll and the great old format that gave competitive Magic its start became virtually extinct. The classic cards and legendary decks of old were left by the wayside, forgotten.

It was a mortal blow to the integrity of a once great game, and a titanic victory for the WotC marketing department.

I've never scored a first turn kill in my entire time playing. That's not what old-school Magic is about. Those are just two of many tired old stereotypes that should have perished years ago, but were kept alive by the malign power of ignorance.

I'm an old-school player because I believe that if you're going to play Magic, you should play Magic. All of it. Not set X or cycle Y or only sets A, B, and C. My card pool is every non-ante, non-Portal/Unglued card ever printed. That's why I consider myself old school and that's what it means to me. Playing the whole game, not just a tiny portion of it.

Type I is the one true incarnation of Magic: the Gathering.

Playing Type II is like chopping everything but Baltic and Mediterranean off your Monopoly board before you start playing because "Boardwalk is so broken, dude." It's an abomination. A true affront to the game, and a ridiculous one at that.

This is why I identify myself as old-school. This is why I speak out against the deplorable state of Magic today. Because I remember a time when things were better, and deep down I know that they can be that way again.

You don't need to have played since 1993 to be old-school. It's a state of mind. Don't limit yourself and don't compromise. Most of all, don't buy into WotC's cynical ploy to make true Magic obsolete.

Play the game it was meant to be played and you, too, can be as old-school as they come.