Islandhome #1

==ISLANDHOME #1==
March 5th 2008 ---- 5 cents

Welcome to the first edition of Islandhome! Why the name change? Mostly because the newsletter didn't actually HAVE a name until now. The name comes from an old obsolete ability certain blue creatures used to have:

Islandhome (Obsolete)
Some older cards were printed with the term islandhome, which means "This creature can't attack unless the defending player controls an Island" and "When you control no Islands, sacrifice this creature." Cards that previously had islandhome now simply have the two parts of islandhome written out without using the keyword.

I thought it was a fitting name for a newsletter about Magic on Long Island.

==UPCOMING EVENTS==

As most of you know, starting this month I'm going to be running Friday night events at Brothers Grim in Selden. This month isn't actually FNM, but it is Magic that happens to be on Friday nights. FNM's 8k (the k value is the maximum amount of rating points you can win/lose from a match), regular events are 16k, but don't have the FNM promos. Don't worry though, I have plenty of promos to give out!

FNC events run Saturdays at 3 PM sharp. Standard format, $5 entry.

Brothers Grim events run Friday nights starting at 7 PM. If we have eight players we'll start an event at 7, but we'll wait a little while if there aren't enough players for a sanctioned event. Depending on who shows up for what event, there'll either be a draft ($13.25 entry, or $3.25 if you bring your own packs) and/or a Standard constructed event ($5 entry).

March 14th-16th: Grand Prix Philadelphia (Extended)
I'll be judging at the GP, which means no Friday/Saturday events for me that weekend. If you're planning to play or just make it down there to play in the side events that'll be going on, it should be a lot of fun. The last GP I went to was Montreal, and I hope to come back with significantly less Canadian money this time.

March 22nd: City Champs Store Finals at FNC
The top 8 players from FNC's 2007-2008 City Champs season will compete for two invites to the City Championships in April! And then they'll compete there for an invite to (or byes at) US Nationals. The Store Finals will most likely go on during the regular Standard event being held that day. And remember, if someone from the top 8 doesn't show up, the Store Finals invite passes down to the next player in line!

For a full list of rankings for FNC's 2007-2008 City Champs season, click here.

April 4th-6th: I-Con at Stonybrook University
Magic events will be run by me, in association with Brothers Grim, on Saturday and Sunday (5th and 6th). I'll probably still be running a tournament at Brothers Grim on Friday night. See iconsf.org for more information about attending I-Con.

April 19th-20th: Shadowmoor Prerelease
Long Island and New York City prereleases will be held on Saturday the 19th, and New York City on the 20th. Not much is known about this set yet, but read The Rumor Mill forum on MTGSalvation.com as we get closer to the release date for up to date information. I'll most likely be judging Long Island Saturday and NYC Sunday

==TOURNAMENT REPORTS==

Saturday's tournament at FNC was intense! I was supposed to be in the city for a PTQ, but I wasn't feeling well (got that cold that's been going around) so instead I went to FNC and played in Dean's tournament. I played WG Ramp, splitting with Grego McConnell in the finals, who was playing Token Elves.

==HOT RATING UPDATE==

Every Wednesday (though sometimes Tuesday night, and occasionally Thursday if there's a holiday on Monday) the DCI updates the ratings of every player who's played in a sanctioned tournament the previous week. Just go to the DCI's Ratings & Rankings page and type in your DCI number. If you don't have your number memorized, if you've played in at least one City Champs event you can click on the City Champs season standings I linked to above and find your name.

Remember, everyone's rating starts at 1600. Even though your rating might be below 1600, everyone's steadily getting better.

Constructed Ratings of FNC regulars as of 3/3/08*:

Frank Barbato: 1612
Mark Baron: 1645
Michael Bauer: 1703
Matt Brocking: 1660
John Cahill: 1578
Lee Cruceta: 1564
Dean Duprez: 1694
Dylan Duprez: 1599
Michael Evans: 1685
Bryan Fazio: 1512
Melissa Fischer: 1527
Jose Gonzalez: 1667
Dan Gould: 1607
Rob Grippa: 1748
Rich Griffin: 1545
Michael Innace: 1910
Jon Lorig: 1572
John Madonia: 2035
Grego McConnell: 1653
Chris McLeod: 1632
Chris Nielsen: 1675
Tanner Nowicki: 1569
Tim O'Donoghue: 1645
Brian Paskoff: 1712
Jack Plumb: 1574
Billy Quinn: 1628
Cutter Redman: 1582
Chris Redman: 1594
Will Sliva: 1529
Travis Trocolli: 1661
Michael Weissman: 1604
Cris Willis: 1450
John Winant: 1492
PARAT WATTANA (from CHIANGMAI, Thailand): 987

* I won't do this every week. Apologies to anyone I left out by accident!

==STORE CONTACT INFO==

Brothers Grim
1244 Middle Country Road
Selden, NY, 11784
Phone: (631) 698-2805

Friendly Neighborhood Comic Shop (aka FNC)
3 Grant Ave, Suite 2
Islip, NY 11751
Phone: (631) 470-7984

==FIN==

Well that's it for this week! Hopefully lots of you make it to Brothers Grim this week for my first tournament there!