Thursday, September 11th – States has always been my favorite tournament. It was a “big” tournament that didn’t feed anything else, so it drew many more casual players than the PTQs and Regionals tournaments, and it had a nice, laid-back flavor even as people tried hard to win the bragging rights of State Champion.
Thursday, September 4th – When we left off last week, I was trying to make some last minute adjustments to my Black Doran deck. Intellectually, I liked the deckbuild… it was certainly chock full of strong cards with a couple of surprises. Yet there was something missing there; I didn’t have that giddy, crush-like feeling I’ve had playing my Saffi or Dredge decks.
Wednesday, August 27th – I’ve been kicking around Necroskitter quite a bit lately, and I have to admit he’s much more impressive with a Doran in the house. Bulkowski’s got some seriously good quality creatures here with Fulminator Mage, Colossus, and Cloudthresher… Firespouts, Soul Snuffers, and Incremental Blight gives some serious creature-sweeper power.
Wednesday, August 20th – Last week I mentioned the “deck tech” from GP: Denver featuring Conley Woods’ Kelpie deck. I found it really exciting since I’d been kicking around the idea that River Kelpie hadn’t been getting the respect it deserved as a card advantage engine, not only just for Persist cards and Makeshift Mannequin, but the also the new Retrace mechanic.
Wednesday, August 13th – You know, for all the complaining that I and other people have regarding Block and how Faeries is too good and such, if you look at it from a bigger scale the problem isn’t really Faeries per se. It’s a certain four-mana Blue instant…
Wednesday, August 6th – Apologies in advance for those of you looking for the typical Bennie-romp through some fun Magic topic. This week is not going to be one of those. I debated begging off this week, but… despite the many roles I play in Life, at heart I’m a writer, and writing is often how I make sense of things, how I connect with the world, how I cope…
Wednesday, July 30th – Isn’t it interesting to think that Oona’s Prowler never got much play? It’s a three-power flier for two mana, with a drawback that is not really much of a drawback. Pitch Evershrike to the graveyard on turn 3 with Oona’s Prowler, then spend 3 mana to put it into play with, say, Edge of Divinity attached, for a 7/7 flier. Is that worth all the trouble?
Wednesday, July 23rd – When last we left our hero, he’d dug into the White and Blue cards of interest in Eventide. Let’s move on and try to finish things up…
Wednesday, July 16th – The Eventide spoiler is out, and ‘tis the season for set reviews. While you’ll be getting the Spike-side view from the Premium gang, and the casual review from some of the free side regulars, I figure I’d go ahead and give my takes on it too.
Wednesday, July 9th – In Part 1 last week, I talked about settling on the deck I wanted to play for Richie Proffitt’s Memorial Tournament on June 29th, and I was incredibly happy with my choice both leading up to the tournament, during the tournament, and afterwards. My choice? Aggro Zur…
Wednesday, July 2nd – You know, the Pro Tour tournaments are a great contribution to Magic’s identity. However, while it dominates much of the Magic dialogue, the Pro Tour is only a narrow sliver of the Magic Community; for the vast majority of Magic players, the game is all about friends and fun, playing Magic when life’s commitments allow you the time. This “silent majority” got to grab the spotlight a little bit this weekend, in a fantastic tribute to Richie Proffitt, PolarBearGod.
Wednesday, June 25th – I was all ready to shift gears and totally dive into preparing for the Block Constructed PTQs, but then Pete pulls together a memorial tournament for Richie Proffitt that’s turning into an event you simply cannot afford to miss. The cause is fantastic, the prize pool is insane, and those two facts are sure to draw a great crowd of Magic players to Roanoke, Virginia this Sunday, June 29th.
Wednesday, June 18th – Mark Rosewater recently mentioned that, starting with Shards of Alara, each set is going to be comparably smaller than the sets sizes we’ve currently been seeing. Personally, this thrills me. As someone who likes to play competitively, it’s difficult to acquire a playset of so many cards out there that you want to build decks with, especially since we’re living in the era of Tier 2 cards, which widens the pool of “must-have” playables.
Wednesday, June 11th – As of Thursday last week, I’d pretty much settled on the deck I was going to play as detailed in last week’s column. Friday, I get an instant message from Adrian Sullivan asking me what I was going to play. I sheepishly tell him B/G elves; I say “sheepishly” because I feel like a sell-out.
Wednesday, June 4th – When I was asking various friends what I should play for the Star City $5K, Adrian Sullivan and Ben Bleiweiss both told me I should play Green/Black Elves. Green/Black Elves?! How boring!! That archetype has been out there kicking around since Lorwyn was released, and I’m always drawn to the shiny and new.
