fbpx

AuthorBennie Smith

Bennie Smith began playing Magic in 1994 and started writing about it shortly after. A Virginia State Champion, he enjoys few things better than winning at tournaments with home brews. Commander is one of those things. He loved the format so much he literally wrote the book on it: The Complete Commander.

The Customer Is Always Right

When I think of Magic’s customers, I think about players like you and me, who purchase this beloved cardboard crack made by Wizards of the Coast – and in terms of product, they’ve been knocking the ball out the park. But there’s more to the health of Magic than decisions made by R&D in designing and developing good sets; the way Wizards treats the distributors and game shops that sell Magic is important, too. And according to our game shop owner and some recent events I’ve been involved with, Wizards is the hands-down worst gaming company to deal with, period.

By

The Scourge Of Detroit

While I imagine the top decks from Detroit will be dissected and analyzed in depth, I decided to zero in on how has Scourge impacted the metagame. I compiled all of the cards used in the Day 2 decklists to see what Scourge cards had the most impact. We’ll start with the Top 10…

By

The Legend Of Chuck

Everyone at the shop fully expects me to have the ability to kill everyone at the table at any point in the game, and I’m a threat that needs to be eliminated regardless of what I have in play and how friendly I’ve been so far… So I find myself the target of”random kills” all the time. The watchword is if someone can take me down, they will, no questions asked… Because they figure they may not get a second chance.

By

Initial Thoughts On The 8th Edition Rotation

I’ve already seen people howling about the loss of Counterspell as a sign that Wizards is still hell-bent on making blue the worst color in Magic. I don’t think blue is in that bad shape. It’s just not the blue you’re used to, and that’s a good thing.

By

Tribal Report Card: How Did The Theme Shake Out?

When Onslaught first came out, we were tantalized with the prospect of powered-up theme decks that were actually competitive. There haven’t been a lot of those in the history of the game – Slivers, Merfolk, and Rebels have been pretty much it. Randy Buehler called Clerics, Soldiers, Birds, Wizards, Zombies, Goblins, Beasts, and Elves the”tribes that matter” in the Onslaught block – so I’m going to take a look at how each theme panned out over the course of the block.

By

Ignoring The Problem: Why Won’t Wizards Fix Regionals?

Basically, the system is set up to punish the regions that have a more active Magic community. The odds are grim if you competed in the Ohio Valley Regionals; with 674 people brawling for eight slots, you had a measly 1.19% chance to qualify. But fortune smiles on you if you live in the Southwest, where attendance was 213 people, giving you a 3.76% shot at the top 8. Your chances of qualifying go up 315% percent depending on where you live. Is this fair?

By

Bowling For Regionals: The Successful Rogues

Going through the deck database, I also ran across some distinctly”rogue” builds that qualified some enterprising players who dared to turn their back on netdecking and go their own way. I thought I’d present the decks that I found particularly fun.

By

Bowling For Regionals: Tech From Foreign Lands?

Life has prevented me from fully dedicating time to one of Magic’s greatest pleasures: Deckbuilding. Unfortunately, I’ve basically been relegated to netdecking like everyone else, allowing myself the pleasure of tweaking the decks to give it a slight rogue flavor – and hopefully not ruining the gumbo in the process. What variants on classic builds are people running these days, and do any of them have good ideas?

By

Legions: What Does Wizards Think?

Richard Garfield’s deck uses a strategy that has gotten zero attention on the net… But with Garfield’s 3-0 record in the Standard portion of the Wizards Invitational, perhaps it’s worth checking out. Let’s review his deck, as well as all the other decks with winning records, and see if there are any lessons we can possibly glean from three rounds of Swiss in a very insulated metagame.

By

Interlude: I *CAN* Play Type 1!

The idea of Earthcraft/Squirrel Nest kept tickling my fancy. Could I possibly make it just mono green? Obviously, Earthcraft demands basic lands, and playing mostly basics would make Wastelands much worse against me. Just how can I compete with the speed of the format with just monogreen?

By

My Road to Regionals Begins With Legions

I’ve already heard some buzz about Seedborn Muse – and justifiably! A non-symmetrical Awakening that can swing? Sign me up! Unfortunately, all I’ve heard so far is adding him to an Opposition deck. While he certainly won’t detract from the deck, I don’t think he’s necessarily worth the slots. Sure, he combines well with Opposition but… Shouldn’t you already be winning if you’ve got an Opposition out?

By

A Tonic For White

Black has great creature removal and hand destruction. Blue has card drawing and counterspells. Green has huge cheap efficient creatures. Red has burn and land destruction. And White? Well, White has weenies, and good weenies alone aren’t a good enough reason to want to play white.

By

One Man’s Junk Is Another Man’s Tech…

I had put together a synthesis of Rock and Oath I called”Black Oath” back in early December – and I think, in time, it would have become Kibler’s build. That’s sad. With that in mind, here are three decks that I’ve only done some light playtesting on, but I think they have potential.

By

Onslaught In Extended

Let me focus on what Onslaught brought to the Extended party. Was it champagne and caviar, or Night Train and pork rinds? Which cards got the most play, and in what decks?

By

Dancing With The Dead, Part 1

Okay, it’s a little early for Halloween – but let me tell you, I’m all excited about the graveyard recursion that Onslaught opens up. I’m diggin’ Onslaught’s graveyard cards… And is that a deck I smell a’brewing? By the pricking of my thumbs…

By