10/28 - Dan's???

Anyone up for a good old-fashioned cube at my house? Especially now that I've added in a slew of new foils.

Or big deck? That's fine. Unfortunately, my car is getting inspected, so if it's not at my house, I won't be able to attend (I promise to only pull the car inspection card once a year). Anyone interested?

Sounds good to me. We can also plan a Sunday sojourn to Redcaps if anyone else is interested.

I am looking forward to the Phillies game wednesday as well. Is there any way you can set up a tv at your house with the game playing, or even the radio, if its on radio? Ill definately be there to play, just wondering about the game.

I also have my aggro big deck made, and would love to play some games with it.

Sounds like an idea. I'll just need to find the time sit down and make some changes to my big deck.

@John: I have satellite radio on my computer, so I'm sure we can listen to it there (or maybe even see it on the computer live).

Is this Steve's last week out of town? Do Brandon and John O need a ride?

DONT THINK I CAN MAKE IT, BUT ILL CERTAINLY TRY

Yeah, I'm fairly sure John O and I would need ride.

Ill be able to pick you and John O up tonight. Ill be there about 6:30, at the stop sign. Ill call you guys if anything changes.

Thanks John!

(and does John O know we're getting together tonight?)

John O. texted message me to let me know he won't be coming down tonight, he's feeling a bit sick and doesn't want to infect the rest of us. I assume Brandon is still coming though, so there should be 3 or 4 of us attending this evening.

I'm expecting to be going tonight, as long as nothing changes between now and then.

Ok, either big deck, or multi cube draft (or just a mini cube draft).

If anyone has zendikar packs, you can bring them and we can draft that too(I have 6).

Easily, the Big Deck play of the night:

John: At the end of your turn, I Demonic Consultation for Price of Progress. (flips Island, then Price of Progress) FUCK!

Good times last night. I like your aggro Big Deck, John. Really kept things moving.

As for Momentary Blink and the unearth mechanic, from the mother site:

Q: I have a rules question concerning unearth. If I were to play Momentary Blink on an unearthed creature, the creature would be removed from game on the first portion of the spell, but the ability can't trigger midway through the spell resolution, so it would be removed from game and returned to play. The creature is now a new version of itself, and the old creature no longer exists, countering the trigger. Am I missing something here, or does Momentary Blink save your unearthed guys?
–Tim, Jackson, WI, USA

A: From the Magic Rules Corner:

Actually, Tim, you are missing something... but yes, Momentary Blink (and similar effects such as Turn to Mist and Astral Slide) can "save" unearthed creatures from being permanently removed from the game.

First, let's look at what you're missing. The ability that removes the unearthed creature from the game "if it would leave play" is not a triggered ability, as you call it. It's a static ability that generates a replacement effect; you can identify it as such because it takes the form "If [something] would [happen], [something else happens] instead." The ability that removes the creature from the game at end of turn is a triggered ability (these almost always say "when," "whenever," or, as in this case, "at").

Triggered abilities trigger, go on the stack, and can be responded to (and even countered by certain cards, like Stifle); replacement effects simply replace whatever would have happened with something else; the original condition never happens. (Note that you can counter the "at end of turn" trigger, and because it's a delayed triggered set up by a one-time ability, it will never trigger again. But the replacement effect will still be active, and will remove the creature from the game if it would leave play.)

The reminder text for unearth has to muddy the distinction between the two abilities due to space constraints, but the official rules for unearth are clearer:

502.84a Unearth is an activated ability that functions while the card is in a graveyard. "Unearth [cost]" means "[Cost]: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn. If it would leave play, remove it from the game instead of putting it anywhere else. Play this ability only any time you could play a sorcery."

That makes the replacement effect sound pretty straightforward, actually. If a creature that came into play because of unearth would be put into your graveyard due to combat damage, or returned to your hand by Resounding Wave, or put on top of your library by Excommunicate, instead it's removed from the game.

Here's the tricky part, though: The replacement effect doesn't remove the card from the game. Rather, it changes what the original effect is doing. It changes Resounding Wave's effect from "Return [the unearthed creature] to its owner's hand" to "Remove [the unearthed creature] from the game." It changes Excommunicate's effect from "Put [the unearthed creature] on top of its owner's library" to "Remove [the unearthed creature] from the game." In these cases, Resounding Wave and Excommunicate are what remove the creature from the game.

And then we get to Momentary Blink. Its original effect is "Remove [the unearthed creature] from the game," so the unearth replacement effect changes it to... "Remove [the unearthed creature] from the game"! Momentary Blink winds up doing exactly what it was trying to do in the first place. That means that later, when it tries to return the removed card to play, it can do that too.

Because a card is treated as a new object when it changes zones (except in weird corner cases), the creature that comes back into play isn't the same one that was returned to play by unearth. It can now leave play normally, and you won't need to sacrifice it at end of turn.