I'm back with another look through some classic MTG magazines, this time Inquest #21, published in January 1997.

This issue started off as all magazines do: with a word from the editor.

There's nothing particularly remarkable here (the luck versus skill argument gets made all the time), except that apparently the "play or draw" rule was not mandatory until January of 1997. I started playing a year or two before that, very casually, and my playgroup always used that rule*. I'm surprised it took tournament Magic that long to institute it. Tournament players back then: what was the rule before this? Both players got to draw? That's just madness.

*Incidentally, we never used dice to determine who went first. We would just cut our decks to a random card and whoever got the highest casting cost would go first. I never see anyone do this anymore, but it was everywhere back in the day. Anyone else remember this practice? If you do remember that, this image will probably disturb you more than the young whippersnappers who read this site:

Seriously, the card needs to be transparent to work.

Here's a letter to the editor that is relevant to financiers:

Okay, then.

Here's some discussion about Type II rotating. There's one paragraph in particular that stands out to me.

Did you see it? "Each new set rotates into Type II play 30 days after release..." Emphasis added.

Could  you imagine if Wizards let a set be sold for 30 days before making it legal in Standard? It boggles the mind. I guess what with shortages back in the day, WOTC might have been looking to give people time to acquire cards, but this seems in direct contradiction to the company's interests. Oh well, they got it worked out eventually (anyone know when, exactly?).

Here's a cool craft project:

Not that we see nothing like this these days, but I feel like nowadays most of this creative energy has gone into cosplaying.

Many players already know that Lion's Eye Diamond was considered to be the worst card in Mirage upon its printing, but here's someone trying to make a case for the card.

Most of these cases are terrible, right?

Finally, there's this whole discussion about Chaos Magic, which as far as I can tell is just multiplayer free-for-all.

Which cards do you think they'll name? How many of them do you think are Commander staples today? (Bearing in mind, of course, that Commander wasn't yet a thing, so this was a 60-card, 20-life format.)

The answer is... none of them (and my apologies for the cut-off image. I know you wanted to read about what Inquest had to say about Lhurgoyf and Syphon Soul).

That's it for today! I always liked Inquest more than The Duelist and Scrye, so I'm happy to get to one. Until next time!