Most of the people in Magic R&D like playing Magic a lot. Many of us like drafting. Unfortunately, not being able to play in sanctioned tournaments or on Magic Online makes it hard for us to get our drafting fix. In order to get that fix, we sometimes play one-on-one Limited formats over lunch at restaurants.

We're taking a two-week holiday break and will be back with new stuff on Monday, January 2, 2012. Until then, please enjoy our favorite Arcanas of 2011. This article originally ran October 20, 2011.

Mark tells the origin story of magicthegathering.com, looking at where it began to where it’s come.

There are a lot of Vampires and Werewolves in Innistrad. You know what else has both of those things? The Underworld movies! Well, it has Lycans instead of Werewolves, but that's close enough. The important part here is that we've got a contest that involves the movie Underworld Awakening, which will hit movie theatres on January 20, 2012. Here's a trailer!

What do you tell yourself when bad becomes worse? How do you hold onto hope when your worst fears turn out to have been a mere overture for what is to come? When the power of light fails you, what atrocities might you contemplate?