Tuesday, April 15th – For many of us the next big tournament will be a combination of City Champs and/or Regionals, and while it’s true that Shadowmoor’s imminent release will no doubt shake up Standard as we know it, today we’re going to look at a few of the top decks in Standard as they are right now, where they win, where they lose, and what they might benefit from in Shadowmoor. Buckle in…
Monday, April 7th – In just a few weeks time I’ll be headed across the Atlantic to join a legion of fellow Magic players competing for prizes at Grand Prix: Brussels. The format will be Shadowmoor sealed followed by booster drafts on Day 2, but studying how to prepare for a brand new Limited format can help all of us prepare to get the most bang for our buck at our upcoming Shadowmoor prerelease.
Monday, March 31st – Did you know that Coat of Arms actually protects ELVES! from losing to the Reveillark combo? Forum user bretblair recently started this helpful thread to point out that cards like Elvish Champion, Goblin King, and Coat of Arms all stop Mirror Entity from wiping out the Reveillark player’s team.
Monday, March 24th – A hearty congratulations is in order for Ryohei Masuno and Taischi Fujimoto who both managed to navigate through a difficult two days of Japanese GP competition with Elf decks. That said, they weren’t really playing Elf decks… I’ll show you an Elf deck!
Monday, March 17th – When Lorwyn first started leaking to the Web forums, the world over got excited about two cards: Thoughtseize and Gaddock Teeg. Both promised to disrupt combo and control decks in a significant way, but Thoughtseize has gone the distance a bit more successfully than our 2/2 Kithkin hero. After all, at the end of the day the Teegster is just a 2/2 and every deck this side of the Mississippi ought to be able to deal with that. Enter Rashad Miller…
Monday, March 10th – When Wizards of the Coast made the recent announcements about changes to their Organized Play programs, it seemed everyone and their mother had something (unkind) to say. A month later we’re still waiting for the gang in Renton to hit us with what they’ve cooked up for replacements. While those program re-designs are in more than capable hands, today we’re going to look at the OP programs of two card games which have sought to compete with Magic directly to find out if there’s anything Magic might benefit in learning from them.
Monday, March 3rd – Like many players this Extended season, I’ve grown a bit frustrated with a format that allows so many variables to be relevant. Affinity, Dredge, Next Level Blue, Previous Level Blue, Goblins, Enduring Ideal, TEPS… the list of playable archetypes stretches on and on and on. With that in mind, I set out to sculpt an archetype that would focus on beating the most popular decks most of the time…
Friday, February 29th – Grand Prix: Vancouver was an interesting event. It was nice to see some PT friends before heading back home, and I had some interesting conversations with all manner of people. On the topic of Ninjas, LSV had the following to say: “It seems like a good Tier 2 deck, if you play it perfectly and your opponent makes mistakes.â€
Friday, February 22nd – Bill continues his Magical travels, discusses the victories and defeats at Pro Tour: Kuala Lumpur, gushes over Jon Finkel, and speaks his mind regarding the Players Q and A with the Wizards Organized Play team…
Friday, February 15th – Last week was my first article for StarCityGames.com in a number of years, and the beginning of a (hopefully) fruitful relationship. What you read was the first part of a four week series that will see me literally travel around the globe as I cover two major events for Wizards of the Coast’s official event coverage team. This week is all about Kuala Lumpur and my week in the country traveling with friends before the event…
The assignment at hand is a simple one: expound upon traveling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia site of the upcoming debut of the 2008 Pro Tour season, and discuss the brand new format for said Pro Tour: Lorwyn-Lorwyn-Morningtide draft. Let’s just get right to it, shall we?
Back in the days of Academy, Duress was a turn 1 Godsend, capable of grabbing the explosive turn 1 Dark Ritual, the largest monored burn spell, or Academy’s first Windfall. But in the new and much slower environment, is turn 1 Duress always the best play?
It’s easy to discount the actual process of deck shuffling as an afterthought, instead focusing on play ability and deck choice. While these characteristics are naturally important, it’s also very important not to make the mistake of overlooking the necessary skill of shuffling. Shuffling improperly or carelessly can give your opponent a decided advantage throughout the duration of a match.
In recent years, some midwestern players out of Iowa City, Iowa have taken preventative measures a step further. They have begun employing the use of something referred to as”the card count.” The card count is a nearly foolproof manner in which you are able to monitor if your opponent has drawn more cards in a game than they were supposed to.
Anyone willing to say what happened with Steve OMS was in any way Jon’s fault is severely misguided. I say that you’re all full of crap.
