User:American Vigor

American Vigor is an American MTG Salvation user and enjoys contributing productively to this important information source.

Online activity
American Vigor's fascination with regards to the thrills and invigoration of Magic: the Gathering prompted him to join MTG Salvation as a user so that he could help make the game more accessible. He believes this wiki has an excellent and worthy mission of promoting knowledge and understanding of Magic the Gathering, as this can help improve the overall quality of gameplay and also enable new players to have improved ability with which to understand and appreciate the game.

Biography
American Vigor's first two packs of Magic cards, which he acquired before he learned how to play the game and long before he truly learned how to play the game, were acquired around the middle of 1999 and included a pack of the 6th Edition Core Set and a pack of the Urza's Saga expansion. He distinctly remembers that the rare he obtained from the pack of 6th Edition was Sibilant Spirit and that the rare he obtained from the pack of Urza's Saga was Zephid. He cherishes the two cards, as they represent the beginning of his ventures in the game. Interestingly, both are Blue creature cards with a converted mana cost of 6 and in which the toughness of the creature is 1 greater than the power. Ironically, he has over the years developed somewhat of a distaste for using MonoBlue decks and while he respects Blue as a color, he prefers to utilize White, Green, and Black. Incidentally, as Red has not yet been mentioned, one of the decks he has constructed and which he continues to very much enjoy is a Red/Blue Counter/Burn deck that includes means through which to take control of opponents' creatures. It is quite possible that Zephid's shroud ability, which at the time was not a keyword ability and which stated "(This creature) cannot be the target of spells or abilities" inspired American Vigor to incorporate in many of his decks cards that enable players to strategically utilize shroud in their gameplay.

The first block that American Vigor actively played was the Masques block that began in October 1999, and as such, he has a special affinity for the Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, and Prophecy expansions. He continued to be quite active, attending Friday Night Magic from time to time and having casual play with friends, through the Invasion block, the Odyssey block, and the Onslaught block, and went to the 10th anniversary prerelease for the Mirrodin expansion in 2003, from which he still possesses the 10th anniversary Rukh Egg promotional card and the prerelease promotional card Sword of Kaldra.

Through the Mirrodin block, the frequency with which he played the game diminished, and while he kept posted on updates to the game and acquired new cards on occasion, he was largely inactive during the Kamigawa block, the Ravnica block, the Time Spiral block, the Lorwyn block, the Shadowmoor block and the Alara block. He still very much enjoyed playing Magic on occasion, and was a part of casual playgroups during many summers. He especially noticed toward the start of 2008 that the newer cards released after Mirrodin were growing more and more powerful and that his Legacy decks were having harder and harder times standing up to these newer cards because of the increased speed and power and pace the game has experienced. This is especially with regards to the Planeswalker cards, which he was resistant toward acquiring for a long while because he felt they had a negative impact on overall gameplay, although he acquired his first planeswalker card, Sorin Markov, in 2010 and has since incorporated the planeswalker into his MonoBlack Legacy deck. He also was somewhat taken aback by the incorporation of "Tribal" as a card type since the cards they are used for do not seem to be truly unique and distinct from other card types, and personally believes that if this is to be so, there are many preexisting cards which should have Oracle updates to conform with this new card type.

American Vigor began to be much more active again with regards to casual play and recent card acquisition during the Zendikar block, and attended the prerelease for the Scars of Mirrodin expansion in September 2010, echoing back to the Mirrodin prerelease he had attended 7 years earlier.

He is most active now in casual play groups for Elder Dragon Highlander, and continues to thoroughly enjoy this great game.

Major Contributions to MTGS Wiki

 * Contributed a substantial portion of the information and research with regards to the article on functional reprints.
 * Introduced the Notable Cards section for the article on the Mercadian Masques expansion, writing detailed descriptions for Arrest, Bribery, Cateran Overlord, Cho-Manno, Revolutionary</c>, Collective Unconscious</c>, Diplomatic Immunity</c>, Fountain Watch</c>, Ivory Mask</c>, Magistrate's Scepter</c>, Misdirection</c>, Ramosian Sky Marshal</c>, Rishadan Port</c>, Security Detail</c>, Soothsaying</c>, Squee, Goblin Nabob</c>, Story Circle</c>, and Waterfront Bouncer</c>. He wanted to take the time to do this, specifically, since many of these cards among his favorites as Mercadian Masques was the primary set with which he became accustomed to Magic: the Gathering and came to enjoy the game. If Magic sets could in any way be considered "bro's", then he considers Mercadian Masques to be his "bro'."
 * Significant expansion of the article on the shroud keyword ability, most significantly including the creation of a section to describe the "notable developments in relation to Magic history" with regards to shroud, and then writing a detailed history of the evolution of shroud as a game mechanic, covering the period of time from June 1994 - September 2010.
 * Expanded the article on the Power Nine by adding information for Lotus Blossom</c>, Lotus Guardian</c>, <c>Lotus Cobra</c>, and <c>Mox Opal</c>, and also created the section for "Parodies of the Power Nine," adding information for <c>Blacker Lotus</c>, <c>Jack-in-the-Mox</c>, and <c>Mox Lotus</c>.

Decks

 * "Beyond" - Legacy format black deck emphasizing reainmation and shadow
 * "Mr. Ping" - Legacy format blue/red deck emphasizing ping abilities, gaining control of creatures, counter magic
 * "Enchanted Vigor X.5" - Legacy format white/green deck emphasizing "infinites" and protection via shroud
 * "Legendary Battles" - Elder Dragon Highlander format deck with <c>Captain Sisay</c> ("General Sisay") as the general
 * - My nostalgic MonoWhite deck that reflects on a time before I more fully understood the mechanics of more efficient deck construction, largely preserved from my earliest years of playing Magic
 * - My nostalgic MonoRed deck that reflects on a time before I more fully understood the mechanics of more efficient deck construction, largely preserved from my earliest years of playing Magic