The Dark Magician Girl

If you are one of the millions who watched the cartoon series, then you probably already know about Yugi's Dark Magician. A few players reading this article may even have entire decks formed around Black Chaos or Dark Magicians. In case you have done the latter, you will probably want to make sure you a particular card in your deck: The Dark Magician Girl.

The card can and may be the perfect card to compliment your magician based deck. Why? Because, Dark Magician Girl not only starts with 2000 attack power, but the card also gives a special ability. The special ability is that it's attack power is raised by 300 for every single magician card in either player's graveyard, or both!

Think about going head to head against a player with a magician deck while you simultaneously use your own magician deck. Playing this card after a few magician cards have hit the graveyard can help your Dark Magician Girl easily break 3000 attack power and become a super powerful monster.

The card might be a rare, but it can easily be worth paying more to get a hold of just to add to your duelist arsenal.

Clearly the actual Dark Magician card is still more powerful than "the girl version" since it has the same special ability in addition to being able to increase attack power for all dragon cards. However, using both cards in combination can make either considerably stronger. Owning one or the other should cause you to consider getting the other card since they compliment each other so well.

Even more powerful are the Chaos Magicians. Despite the fact that these magicians have higher attack power, if you lose them in play they can each add 300 attack power to your Magician Girl. Using these magicians first can be a strong way to open an attack while using your girl card to bat clean up after losing them, and make her comparably as strong as each of the Chaos Magicians. Finally, you can follow up with a Dark Magician and have an attack power of 3700!

Clearly there are many ways to play these cards in combination and you are encouraged to try them out on your own.

by Shandon Lewis

How to Play Magic the Gathering

Setup of Magic the Gathering

- Each player has their respective Magic the Gathering decks.
- Each player begins with 20 lives. Make sure you have a counter or piece of paper to keep track of your lives.
- Choose who goes first. You can do this by rock, paper, scissors. Or rolling dice. Whoever goes first skips their draw phase.
- Each player will draw seven cards in the beginning of the Magic the Gathering game.

How to Play Magic the Gathering

The first player begins with the untap phase. Since you don't have anything at the moment, there is nothing to untap. The untap phase is when you untap any lands, creatures, or artifacts that was tapped the turn before. Untapping means you can use them again. This will be further explained later on.

Also during the untap phase if you brought out a creature the turn before, the creature will be healed of summoning sickness. (Summoning sickness is when a creature is first brought into play and cannot attack or use its activated abilities if it has a tap symbol).

The next phase is the draw phase. You draw one card.

The following phase is the main phase. In the main phase of Magic the Gathering you can do several things. You can skip this phase if you can't do anything. The following things you can do in any order.

Play a land card. This will be your main source of bringing out creatures, artifacts, enchantments, instants, or sorceries (you can only put down one land per turn).

Play a creature card. You can play a creature card if you have enough mana. Mana can be obtained through other creatures, enchantments, or artifacts. Although it is obtained mostly through lands. The more lands you have the bigger creatures you can summon. Remember the creature has summoning sickness so you won't be able to attack or use its activated abilities this turn.

Play enchantments, artifacts, sorceries, and/or instants. You can play these in any order and if you have enough lands or mana sources.

Remember to tap the appropriate lands and mana sources to summon anything. Tapping means to turn the card sideways. This signifies the card is being used. Untapping mean to turn the card back to normal. This signifies the card has not been used.

The next phase is the combat phase. Declare your attackers, creatures you choose to attack that don't have summoning sickness. Your opponent decides on his/her blockers. And then you assign combat damage (this will be explained more in depth later on).

After the combat phase, is another main phase. It is exactly like the first main phase, except if you put a land card down on your first main phase you cannot put a land card down in your second main phase.

The last phase in Magic the Gathering is the end phase. All creatures that were damaged this turn are healed.

Your opponent begins his/or her phases and it continues on until someone loses. You lose by your life points going down to zero or you can't draw any more cards.

I will go more in depth on how to play Magic the Gathering later on. In the mean time I hope these basic steps guide you into playing a good competitive Magic the Gathering game.

by Russell Nquyen

How to Choose a Tattoo Design

Choosing a tattoo should be a thorough process. They are intended to be forever, and removal is expensive. The more planning that goes into your design of choice, the more likely that you will enjoy your tattoo later in life.

Steps

1. Be happy with what design you have on your body. As long as you like it, that's the most important thing. That being said, there are factors that can make you love or hate your tattoo.
   
2. Find a design that has meaning for you. Even if you cannot draw, a little practice and patience can get you a good outline, at least. Most tattoo artists will help you redraw and redesign a tattoo.
   
3. Stay away from the art (known as "flash") shown in the studios except as inspiration. It is better to go with a unique and original design than a mass market design - "flash" is designed by excellent artists then sold to tattoo artists around the country and around the world.
   
4. Find an artist or designer and ask them to make a custom design for you. Many tattoo artists are also conventional artists, or can at least reproduce a traditional drawing, sketch or painting onto your skin.
   
5. Find a style that you especially like, and an artist that works in that style. Most artists will do what you want, but also excel in certain "looks." Check portfolios, and compare the different styles: old school, new school, naturalistic, Asian, black and white, etc.
   
6. Writing, in any form or language, should be thought over twice as long. Check and recheck the meanings of any words or idiograms of a language you aren't fluent in. Choose quotes carefully. Search for a font you like, or create your own.
   
7. Consider carefully what body part you want your tattoo on. Some places you'll look at it every day, some almost never. Consider how likely it will be that you will need to cover it with clothing or otherwise at some point.
   
8. Try to get a printout of the design, and see how the design will fit against your skin.
   
9. Use henna to get a temporary version of the design. You won't be able to see different colors, or certain looks, but you will be able to judge the feeling of a tattoo. Henna lasts a week to a month.
   
10. Think about it a lot. When you are certain, wait some more just to make sure.
    

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Tips

• Think back to 10 years ago. If you had gotten a tattoo back then, what would it most likely have been? If you don't like the idea of having that on your body, don't get a tattoo now. Chances are, in 10 years, you'll regret getting it.
  
• Think forward, as well. Is your tattoo going to look good even when you're old and wrinkled? Chances are, a tribal dragon or Hello Kitty won't.
  
• The number one tattoos that artists are asked to cover up, after homemade tattoos, are names. If the person is not dead, or your child, names are usually not the best idea.
  
• Asian characters are a popular choice, as it is a way to get a meaning in a design. The tattoo studio walls are not the place to trust when looking for a character. Many have double meanings, nuances, things that may give an impression that wasn't intended.
  
• Often members of a family will get matching or complimentary tattoos. Often, younger generations will incorporate elements of older family members tattoos in their own designs.
  
• A band, TV show, or comic book character you love today may not be something you want to carry around forever on your skin. If you're thinking about getting a tattoo such, think about how big of an impact it had on you. If you've fallen in and out with others like this, then wait a few years before you decide to get it. But, if it made you have hope in a rough time in your life, helped you find out who you were or something along those lines, then it would be better.
  
• Don't be afraid to get a tattoo that doesn't have a deep meaning if you love the design. If you love Winnie the Pooh enough to look at him forever, get that Pooh Bear.
  
• The darker and more filled-in a tattoo is, the longer it takes to remove. Which means more money, more pain, and more time. Multicoloured tattoos will take longer to remove as they will require multiple treatments with different wavelength lasers for each pigment type. Completely black ink however, is easiest to remove by laser as it absorbs the beam on all wavelengths, breaking up the pigment easier.
  
• Feet, hands, and faces need more touch-ups, and more attention to heal properly. Expect to pay more for these areas. Some artists refuse to do facial or hand tattoos on a person that doesn't already have visible tattoos.
  
• If you feel hesitant, either about the design or the artist, don't go through with it.
  
• Go temporary before going for the permanent.