Ink & Antiquities #5, Josh Burgoa

 

Ink & Antiquities

    Welcome back to another Ink & Antiquities. This time we look toward Tennessee as long standing OS player, tattooed card collector, and winner of the "best AirBNB guest award" Josh Burgoa. Josh was kind enough to share his journey toward "Every restricted card group signed" as well as several cool prize cards and alters he has picked up along the way. 

An original Josh B, from the best event in the Midwest! 

    A particular vibe is felt from this one that many "night sky" type alters seek to achieve. I especially love the 3 color gradient to a glowing aura around the cliffside folk. We were also lucky enough to have Susan herself at Thrash IV to sign! 

Having a sick Quail alter is an OS right of passage

    Possibly the coolest Quail preacher alter (of which many have been done.) Josh is the lucky holder of this one. How does Q get white posca down so smoothly? 

Bootlegger's Xmas 2018

    My favorite yet, an original Brossard. Being able to make paint look like needle-pointing is insanely impressive, and what an incredible job with the reflection inside the orb. Brossard now does a yearly raffle alter for Bootlegger's ball. "True king" in Josh's own words! 

    

It would be a shame to exclude great stuff due to age! 

    This is Josh's favorite "Pre- OS" alter. Like many of us before we found OS, we had invested into what we were able to play! 

CamJam prize card!

    While we were all stuck inside during covid, Cam Wall was keeping it alive with virtual tournaments. This was Josh's prize card for an 11-0 win streak in the original Cam Jam, which was played with the Alpha to Alliances format. 

Great theme matching the card!

    Sometimes a card just works perfectly with an idea. A very well done Dragonball alter to match the demonic tutor from before! 

Heroes in a half shell, turtle power!

    Many of you might not  know this, but the reason for universe beyond was Josh staying up for several days and nights filling out WOTC intake forms that he wanted Dragonball and Ninja Turtles magic cards. 

New-frame or not, that's a Klug!

   Really incredible to own a Klug seeing what they are going for on ebay these days! This one is from 2011. The glowing effect on the sword really speaks to me with this one, and an incredibly appropriate alter for the Sword of Feast and Famine. 

Hating something you did in the past is a sign of growth

    Josh picked these up when he met Quail at the Oldschool Player's Ball in 2018. He gave me the note that Quail hates these. I always think its funny to find older work from great artists that they can't stand that are still infinitely better than anything 99 percent of the population could create. The amount of "GET OVER HERE" spam I received from friends as a kid make these resonate with me. 

Secret Santa still Secret

    Many OS groups do some form of gift swap. This was what Josh received in his very first OS secret santa. To this day, he does not know who sent it to him, and he still plays it! Maybe if the person who made it sees this they can reach out! 

Josh's first posca alters, with an interesting method of distribution

    If you want one of these bad boys or similar, you have to beat Josh with a rather specific win condition. These Karma alters go only to those who beat Josh in a game of magic with the card "Karma." Ben Revell, Cam Wall, and Charlie Hahn are the current holders of this prestigious award. 

Josh collecting Dogtags

    Unlike many group signed cards, these were not obtained simply by attending. These Berserks were signed by Josh's early OS opponents who died to berserk during his "Rug Berserk" days. He mentioned that it is like collecting ears from killing a player in Diablo II. 

Blue gets all the breaks

    Possibly my favorite misprint, Josh, the madman that he is, not only has a full playset of this pricy time elemental Angel, he got one group signed! Yes these do function as Serra angels on the battlefield! 

First alter of his own he liked

    Josh claims that this was the first altered card he made that he actually liked. In OS for 8 years and I can still count on one hand the number of alters I have produced that I actually like. 

Out there somewhere in the world waiting to be reunited

    Josh recalls Bootlegger's Ball 2018. Jaco won the event, and one of the prizes was this bottle of Jack Daniels. Upon winning he gave everyone a shot, where in typical Fashion, Josh asked for another. (It was his birthday after all, he gets a pass.) Jaco gave Josh the rest of the bottle and he had all 26 people at BLB 1 sign it. It travelled from event to event with him being refilled and collecting names from all that drank from it. Tragically, at the Orbvitational, the bottle was thrown away and was not recovered. This bottle is truly missed and will likely remain Josh's favorite OS item floating out there in the world somewhere. 

Strip mines with a story to tell

    While all 5 of these strips are included, Josh noted the top left in the picture of 4 is the most special. Josh managed a 3 way tie for third place at the 2018 Oldschool player's ball, sharing third with Aaron West and Will Magrann. Jaco had all 120 people at the event sign a strip mine of his own to give out as a prize. It says "3rd place" on it but is impossible to make out due to all of the signatures. 

    Following his impressive placement in OSPB, he snuck back to Chicago in 2025 (for the first time since 2019) for Fall Brawl and stole the win, his prize card being the 5th strip mine pictured. 

Kumite Mural alters!

    A prize card foreign to me, apparently 6 alters of local Murals were made as prize cards. Josh mentions that all 6 Kumite Mural Alters are owned by MCOS and the Knights Taplar (the local group,) with MCOS being the majority owners. 

Yes, this is a real Chaos Orb. 

    Josh's favorite type of OS card is "tattooed." He has a longstanding goal of having a group signed card of every single restricted card. You can see his progress above. Several of these are real, including Chaos Orb, Ancestral Recall, and Time Walk, making this endeavor quite impressive. 

Bring back unsolicited gift alters!

    Before Nick Viau went boating off into the sunset to live off of Fish and Photography, he was known for his hand in the original "Fuck the Cards" movement. This was an unsolicited gift alter he gave to Josh, featuring himself (Josh) and some amount of the inside of his head as the subject for the alter. What an awesome gift! 

    A strong OS career comes with many amazing cards, items, and friends along the way. Josh has certainly upheld that spirit and we thank him for sharing with us! 

    

The”Infalliabe” rule of 4

​5 AM Magic Theory

I am currently standing in line at 5 AM at an airport Starbucks on 0 hours of sleep because I had the really cool thought 4 hours ago: “Well, I may as well just stay up through it if I’m only going to get two hours of sleep.” What better to do than spew unasked-for Magic theory while my brain can’t think good. I also don’t know how to deal with formatting on mobile, sorry! 

The Rule of Four

The number of a card without the basic subtype or name Plague Rat you can run is 4—unless it's 1, but we decided that one, not the rulebook.

People have a lot of ways to quantify why they run a specific amount of a card. Playing a Burn deck? You are playing 4 Lightning Bolts. Control? You have 4 Swords and counters. We typically accept these answers to be infallible truths.

The Purpose of the Thought Experiment

First, I want to explain the purpose of this thought experiment. My thought is that we occasionally run 4-ofs for the arbitrary reason that is “we can.” If we can identify and analyze what cards we would not want a 5th of, we can reexamine the previous infallible truth of four being correct.

So moving forward, and to properly assess a card, we must assume a few basic things. For one, the card we are considering is the only card you are able to run more than your allotted 4-of. If we don’t restrict to one subject at a time, it warps the field we are actually trying to learn about. Of course, if we can have 8 Mishra’s Workshops, we also want 10 Triskelions. It doesn’t help us understand our choices any better.

Diminishing Returns: The Atog Example

A little background on this is my experience with Atog decks. 4 feels pretty good for Atog. You usually want one, frequently want two, and rarely want three (at least at the same time). Their benefit into cards not named Swords to Plowshares reduces dramatically based on how much you utilized its ability to eat artifacts with previously played copies.

The worst thing in an opener or off of a Wheel is having two or three copies sitting in hand fighting over the same food, relatively mediocre without it. Obviously, you can make opponents make difficult decisions by attacking with two, but your deck only has 14 or so artifacts in it, and your Factories.

Testing the Maximum

My thought is that if I could run an unlimited number of Atogs, I would not increase the number beyond 4. We default to 4 because the deck is Atog after all; why wouldn’t we max out the namesake? Well, to let you in on a little secret: I have been testing 3. It’s obviously matchup dependent, but 3 has felt really good in the “not clogging” department. I’m not claiming 3 is correct; I think it is likely that 4 just happens to be the correct number for Atogs in an Atog deck, as it errs toward the side of having it more consistently.

 Conclusion

Atog is only the most recent example I felt worth exploring with this methodology. It is the fact that you know you wouldn’t want 20 that makes it interesting. You would likely want 20 Lightning Bolts in some decks if you could have them. You would totally play 12 or maybe 16 Savannah Lions if your opponent would not complain. A lot of decks would love Swords 5 and 6. What other “4-ofs” do we accept as infallible truths that might be worth considering at lower numbers? 

Ink & Antiquities #4, Brett Attmore

Ink & Antiquities

    Welcome back to another Ink & Antiquities. This time we are with a long standing OS member and collector of many cool original artist alters, Brett Attmore. A little magic history on Brett; After starting like many of you in the summer of 94, Brett played mostly type 1 and vintage through 2005 where he sold his collection. He returned to Magic in late 2013 with a goal of getting back into vintage. While buying back, he discovered "The Blog" and quickly became enamored by 93/94. He particularly loved the format's tradition of deck photos from figures like Kalle Nord, Magnus De Laval, and the rest of the Swedish scene. 

    Brett began picking up cards at laughably low prices compared to now. He mentions how lucky he was on his timing of entry. He entered his first OS event in the Fall of 2015, Jaco's own Eternal Weekend II. Perhaps like a contact virus, Brett discovered his appreciation of original artist alters. Seeing Sebastien Dube's collection was his "altersexual awakening." At this point, he considers original artist alter collecting a big subsection of what he enjoys about Magic. That said, Brett's collection is incredibly personal representing tons and tons of hours spent in lines, meeting artists, and traveling. Lets take a look! 

No cards more earned than prize cards!

    

    One of the only photos without a single original artist alter, and my personal favorite classification of card. Those earned by doing battle to the highest degree, a prize card. Brett has had moderate success in at least making top 16s and top 8s over the years, he is still hunting that big win. 

Look at those round corners!

    The majority of Brett's collection are alters he himself acquired standing in lines and meeting artists. These Alpha Icy's are some of his favorites! Crazy to think this picture represents around 0.45 percent of the print run. 

Seasonal sets are always in style.

    Brett play's a variety of decks, including everyone's least favorite, Keeper! These look like fantastic inclusions that might take the sting out of losing your wood elemental. My particular favorite is the snowy Moat, although it looks considerably less effective when frozen over. 

    

Bringing something meaningful into Dominia!

    Brett recalls a hike he went on as a child that he still walks to this day. The tower here is Hublein Tower in Simsbury, CT. These alters were made personal by including a relevant landmark in Brett's own life. 

My fucking God. 

    This pic is sort of the crème de la crème for close to fully OG altered decks. You will see a lot of these cards in later pictures so I wanted to share what I would consider the "master work" or what it all comes together to first. Its hard to quantify the hours and effort spent on this through a few quick sentences. 

Hot and cold sideboard tech.

    A collection of Richard Thomas clearly made to live together. All featuring the little doll from black vise and friends. Its good to see him getting some screen time while not tied to some horrible contraption. 

The nongameiteers

    Only missing Mind Twist for this set of "cards that make you groan on turn 1." A somewhat starry night Evoking Library, a sneaky Starwars Ancestral, and a.. uhm, is it a Harvey Birdman reference?

Bottle Gnome's are only the second best bottle dwelling guys around.

     Why yes that is a complete playset of Arabian Dibs altered by Anson himself, why do you ask? A fantastic OS community artist by the name of Slum once told me "I think they should have a bigger emphasis on the lamp." in regards to the various lamp dwelling Arn dudes. These would be after his own heart! Its also great to see the Cyclopean tomb guy got out of his Amigara fault hole mostly intact. 

    

Frazier fantasy party!

  

    Frazier is pretty well known for those chromatic dragons, and these are no slouches. I would call these some of the more unique ones I have seen due to their second colors in the first 3. He was also generous enough to write most of his name on these! Genies and Dragons and Trolls Oh My! 

KMJ Semi Bipedal musclebound creatures.

    The primary two directions people take alters here living in harmony. "funny" and "classic." I am not even sure if Hoover altered Fellwar stones exist, and this is the best solution I think I have personally seen. 

    

So fucking jealous of those badlands. 

    A gorgeous set of blackborder duals, some sick old signatures (Snoddy doesn't sign his full name anymore and Rob signs everything but not like this.) As far as the Rob duals go having them back is a big win in itself, and Brett rolled HIGH on these badlands and underground seas compared to the common "what the fuck are these pen marks" alters you see on them. 

Getting one Tedin alter is hard, 14 is something else!

    I could write a paragraph about most of these but I love when people bring something personal to them into these alters. We see a ton of Starwars, Juzams, and Dragon alters everywhere. Something unique like bringing in a painting from a favorite piece of media (in this example, The Last Spell of Fistandantilus) it makes it all the more special. I am also pretty blown away by the lighting on the brainstorm. Mark Tedin is the master of creating on sight posca alters that look like they were painted with a brush over hours. 

    

Somehow getting Amy to do this many alters is masterful in itself. 

    Some of the better Amy alters I have seen. particularly the disenchants with their fantastic colors and shatter that go outside of the scope we normally see from her. 

Some meta warping lands.

    Some hot Foglio action. I love the little dudes on the different season factories. These gorgeous sigs make it a bit less biting to have your opponent open "workshop mox mox mox trike" on the play. 


    

Will must be honored to be among all of these OG artists!

    The last one I will leave a comment on, having a set of gorgeous alters from within the OS community is always a plus to go alongside your absurd original artist alters. These ones are particularly sweet. Having sick stuff from good friends always makes it a pleasure to smash some face or have your face smashed in good company. 


    

Stacks of absurdity.

    Here are several of Brett's builds that he plays featuring many of the sick cards he has shared with us above (and many more) so make sure you prolong your toilet reading time to scroll through all of them! Thank you so much for sharing what is clearly years of great taste and effort. Much of this is truly a part of both Magic and Magic artist history, as well as oldschool Magic history. We are lucky you took the time to share it with us Brett! 

Ink & Antiquities #3, Caleb Mikolajczyk

 Ink & Antiquities #3

    Welcome back to another Ink & Antiquities! This time with artist and OS player younger than me, Caleb Mikolajczyk! (or Dragonborn, depending on who you ask!) Caleb has a true appreciation for art and puts plenty of cool pieces out into the community. Lets look at what he's got! 

OG prints erasered for white borders! 

    Many OSer's favorite type of card is that which is covered in other people's names. The tradition of group signing lives within Caleb's Berserk Ball deck. Whenever he attends an event he white borders an original print card such as a legends chain lightning, stamps it with the group stamp, and collects names. I am lucky enough to be on a few of these! 

Easily one of the most aesthetically pleasing decks to exist.

    Caleb walks us through some of the history of his deck. Many of the alters he painted himself. Lets dive deeper into some of the favorites! 

Look at that Orb!

    The Chaos Orb. Truly a stunner! Mark Tedin (prounounced Te-Deen, not Teed-in) gave him props on it and signed it. You know you are doing something right when one of the greats loves your work!

Why is this picture backwards?

   I am not sure how this picture came to me backwards, but the Drain Life is another one of Caleb's originals that he had signed by the card's original artist, signified by the "CM" in the bottom corners. 

several certified OS hood classics!

    Most OSers have seen Merhan's swords around the block. I think my favorite is the combo David Mckinven X Caleb mind twist. If I recall, David did the Juzam's base and Caleb added a lot of color to make it pop. A great community colab. Caleb got incredibly lucky to pick up another OS art legend's playset in his winning Cream City Con's raffle for Park Cofield's city of brass set. I think my favorite is the Atlantis one. 

Gems and Dragons go hand in hand.

    A truly earned piece of power. Usually "flipping to power" is a meme to make fun of finance bros taking advantage of oldschool generosity, but this is an example of it being earned! Caleb purchased a scrublands and altered it for another player. He used the proceeds to take his foray into power, and this is the result! An ancient black dragon sourced from a recent DnD book, and painted by one of Caleb's favorite alter artists, "Jay Alters!" This is the first of a planned set of chromatic dragon alters so Caleb might live up to the name "Dragonborn." (what a nerd) 

    Thank you Caleb for sharing your awesome creations with us here! To anyone who might be interested in sharing what they collect, please reach out to me to be the next "Ink and Antiquities!"