Ryan Overturf

For me, it was a Tuesday.

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Magic is at its best when competition makes the table better, not bitter. 💖

At Shoebox, the competition is honorable and the glory is real. Competitors could take home one of three stunning trophies sculpted by our special guest @cutemonster.bsky.social with @andy.luckypaper.co 's patterns! 👇🧵

As I get older I'm coming to increasingly radical views like "you have to do things to get good at them" and "you have to think about problems to solve them"

it being pretty universally hated. I wanted to play the best blue and red commons, and Sprout Swarm was one of very few green cards that could compete. Sprout Swarm is emblematic of my stubborn attachment to a specific vision. It's maybe not a favorite, but it speaks to something that defines me.

9. Sprout Swarm. Finally coming in with a weird one, but I had to pick a card that was emblematic of my Cube journey, and the card that really stands out if I'm talking about formative experiences was Sprout Swarm in my first Cube, a Pauper Cube. I stubbornly clutched the card despite...

8. Lava Dart. Modern Prowess simply doesn't exist without Lava Dart. Making Top 4 of a Hogaak Grand Prix with essentially a sock full of batteries is for sure a top Magic moment for me, and Prowess remains my baby to this day.

7. Chromanticore. The Chromantiflayer deck was an obsession of mine, and the tool I used to earn my second PT qualification. Having played at least two PTs was a minimum qualification for commentary when SCG first contracted me, so I've gotta shout out my boy here for getting me over the bar.

6. Delver of Secrets. I played Delver in Standard and Legacy at my first SCG Invitational to a 12-4 record and 18th place finish. I would later win a Legacy Open with the card, and a Modern Open Top 8 later as well. It's easily the card that kept me into competitive Magic. And I LOVE Innistrad.

5. Tempered Steel. Tempered Steel was the deck I should have played in my first PT and the deck that won me the Super IQ that I gave myself the ultimatum that I had to do well in if I was going to keep playing Magic after making day 2 but not cashing my first PT. A financially dubious time for me.

4. Vampire Nighthawk. Later that Extended season, 4x Vampire Nighthawk scored me my first PTQ win in Grixis Control. I could shout out a lot of card like Jace the Mind Sculptor or Cryptic Command, but those were the easy part of the decklist and Vampire Nighthawk was the workhorse.

3. Bloodbraid Elf. Bloodbraid Elf Jund in Standard was the first deck I ever piloted to qualify for a larger tournament (the Midwest Master's Series if that means anything to anyone) and a variant thereof was also the Extended deck that scored me my first PTQ Top 8.

2. Death Cloud. I'm fast-forwarding a lot here to the first time I ever played a playable deck in a PTQ. It was Extended and my deck had exactly one Death Cloud and four Sensei's Divining Top to make it easy to find. I started 5-0 before losing out, but I got a taste of competing and was hooked.

1. Counterspell. The first Magic deck I ever owned I bought from my friend Joe who was trying to sell me on the game. It was mono-blue with four Counterspells. There's something of a stereotype that new players hate Counterspells, so I consider this formative for how I learned what the game was.

It turns out that nine cards was a more limiting prompt than I expected! I took the prompt as meaning foundational stuff on my Magic journey, so nothing too recent made the spread. Thread on my picks:

Obama’s change in policy towards Cuba and the JCPOA happened, the world didn’t end, everything was fine. Part of manufacturing consent for more war is purposefully forgetting the very recent memory when it was proven to be wholly unnecessary.

Played through a run of Ironclad and Silent in Slay the Spire 2 today. Good mix of familiar and new context so far. I've been loving the quest mechanics that pay you off later. Excited to discover more of new things!

I know that the people who need to read this aren’t here, but here goes:

Rules of engagement aren’t for the enemy. They’re for you. They’re for your soldiers when they’re captured or wounded. They’re for your civilians when they’re in range of the enemy. They’re for your allies, to reassure.

An image of a ticket with the text: "PRISMATIC PARTY. Location: Insight Brewery. Tasty Food & Open Bar & A Good Time. March 14th, 2026. 8:30pm - Late."

If you're still considering joining us at Shoebox next week, or maybe just want to pop by for a day, we're now offering single-day passes for just $40! 🎫✨

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.
You can also now snag a Prismatic Party ticket as an add-on to ANY regular badge! Hope to see you there on Saturday! 💃

This is closer to what I'm exploring. My working title is "Mundane: The Gathering" or "Mundanity". I'm just kind of going through Scryfall slowly for things that are just things and guys that are just guys. It has been fun to read Magic cards looking for creatures where I can say "that's just a guy"

Somebody pitched just ordinary New York stuff as the concept for a Twobert. I've started to think about a list that's just all completely mundane stuff. Unclear what kind of play experience it would be, but the idea is very funny.

The Magic card Koth of the Hammer Add to Deck Koth of the Hammer {2}{R}{R} Legendary Planeswalker — Koth +1: Untap target Mountain. It becomes a 4/4 red Elemental creature until end of turn. It’s still a land. −2: Add {R} for each Mountain you control. −5: You get an emblem with “Mountains you control have ‘{T}: This land deals 1 damage to any target.’” Loyalty: 3

The Magic card Darksteel Plate. It's stinky, but the relevant flavor text is "If there can be no victory, then I will fight forever." attributed to Koth of the Hammer.

I can't remember the last time I cast one, but I will always think fondly of Koth of the Hammer. The character also gave us the hardest flavor text of all time.

I really enjoyed his post saying he didn't mean for it to go down this way, that of course meaning he did not want to have been caught.

One of my favorite things in all of Magic is keeping a one-lander against a Thoughtseize/Duress deck, them seeing my hand on turn one and knowing that I drew out of it.

That dude certainly went down with the ship...

Dido - White Flag (Official Video) YouTube video by DidoVEVO

Me when I keep a one-lander with a cantrip

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-fW...

Oh my god I love that he tagged you in OP.

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This is a deeply layered TMNT bit.

My experience with the Burst Lightning thing is that you almost always want to just be using as much mana as possible every turn, which tends to inform my decisions more than specific cards. I completely agree that Standard is too nuanced for limited characters. Format's massive and challenging.