Dear Bob, 

<3

I think there is a general consensus that there are these legendary 2-drops in Magic. And I think there is a general consensus that you are the black one. Created by one of the greats of this game, Bob Maher, you took the game by storm when you were first printed. Taking over Standard, Extended, Legacy and even Vintage. I personally never played you in my constructed grinder days, but I have been playing you a lot in the best format Magic has ever seen: Cube. 

I did play a lot against you. I remember playing you back in 2006 in this random Standard tournament in the beautiful city of Delft. I was playing the Heartbeat of Spring combo deck. I played every tournament I could find in those days, trying desperately to qualify for the Dutch National Championships (which I in the end did). It was going well that day, I needed one more win for top 8. I was paired against the black and white menace playing you: Hand in Hand. 

Hand in Hand was a black and white midrange deck with you at the center of the deck. I remember losing game 1. Then for sideboarding I picked up my whole sideboard and boarded all 15 cards out again. Back in those days, thanks to Maximilian Bracht, most Heartbeat players were playing a transformational sideboard. I didn’t, but I did always fake it. I won game 2, my opponent stuck with all this creature removal in his hand, while I just assembled my combo. Game 3 was a really interesting game where my opponent was applying a lot of pressure and thus also attacked with you, Bob, into my Sakura-Tribe Elder. This might not sound that weird these days, but back then damage still went on the stack. So I could block with my Sakura-Tribe Elder, put damage on the stack, sacrifice it to find a basic land and then you would still die. So without thinking too much about it I did that line. I should have thought about it. 

A turn or 2 later I was forced to try and go off, I was facing lethal. My opponent had played some hand disruption that game so I couldn’t assemble 20 damage. But I didn’t need 20 damage, I only needed 14 because of the damage you did to my opponent. I should have let you live, Bob. Because I could only assemble 13 damage with my Invoke the Firemind. 

These days I am on the other end of that interaction. Even though I strongly prefer to play paper Cube, I do fire up Arena from time to time for a Cube draft. I love playing black and white midrange in the Arena Vintage Cube, preferably with you Bob. Managing your life loss during the draft, deck construction and the games is so much fun. You have dominated constructed for years, but I think that limited, and especially Cube, is where you shine the most. Because I love cards that offer drafters additional context to take into account during the draft. I love it that on the surface you look a lot more like a card that mainly works in constructed, wasn’t a really strong card in conventional limited, but has been a Cube staple since day one.  

With love, 

Hanjo