Chris begins what promises to be a highly entertaining SCG Daily series by interviewing the one and only JMS. In his own words…
If you read my stuff, I’m as close to a hundred-per-cent sure that you read Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar’s stuff. He really doesn’t need any introduction.
This week, Chris clarifies his position on Staple Rares and Expensive Lands, and examines some interesting casual decks based around Thran Golem. He’s on a mission to bust face with an 8/8 flying, first-striking trampler. Does he succeed? Only he can tell you that…
The perfect man for Valentine’s Day, Mr Romeo brings us his definition of staple rares, giving us a run-down, by set and color, of the golden nuggets any tournament wannabe cannot be without. This one will spark a lively debate, of that there’s no doubt.
Two weeks ago, as part of my mailbag piece, I threw out a Standard Goblin decklist with which I’d been having loads of fun in the Casual Decks room on Magic: The Gathering Online. By loads of fun, I mean winning more than losing and doing it with a really cheap deck. Today, I revisit this archetype, and crank out some surprisingly solid results.
It’s time I put my own spin on the whole “look at the new cards” thing. Hey, I was right about The Patriots not winning The Super Bowl this year. I could be right about some cards, too. Because I love you guys so much, I’m not going to be cheesy and do this in six parts. Because I love you, you get all of Guildpact at once. You’re welcome.
In his first article for SCG Free, Chris answers some outstanding emails from fans. He throws a number of Standard deck ideas into the ring, and waxes lyrical on a certain lawsuit you may have heard about. He also brings cheesecake.
When I accepted this editorial gig, they never told me I’d face articles like this… Chris Romeo at his best, or worst. Love it or hate it, this is one article you’ll definitely remember…
One night, just a couple of weeks or so ago, I’m talking with some of the Magic gang about building a mono-Green beatdown deck for Standard.
“It can’t be done,” someone says.
“Why not?” I ask. “All the tools are there.
Today is not going to be your typical year in review article. No, I’m going to take my own skewed glance at things. Instead of talking about what happened, I’ll talk about what didn’t happen. Then, I’ll have with some predictions.
Chris is on Christmas vacation, but luckily little Billy Horowitz is here to tell you about his “Ewww, Groz” deck.
Chris wraps up his quest for a winning Mono-Black Control deck in Standard.
If you read last week’s column — and if you didn’t, I hope Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo leaves you a loaded dirty diaper for Chrismahannakwanika — you know that I was trying to develop a cheap “creatureless” Mono-Black Control deck. After a week of reader suggestions and a bunch more testing, I think we may actually have something.
Whenever I contemplate a mono-Black deck, This is Spinal Tap comes to mind…. Which leads me to this week’s deck, none “None More Black.” Every spell is Black. No artifacts here. All but two of the lands produce Black mana, and even those two lands do something very Black. So how does it do after a twenty-game spin in the casual room?
For some reason, people are more excited about the Boros deck than the Golgari deck, and I can’t figure out why. The Golgari have Dredge, potentially huge animated lands, and maybe the second-best, three-mana, multi-colored common of all-time in Shambling Shell. Maybe the G/B decks spawned by Ravnica just seemed so obviously powerful that the folks who normally read my stuff weren’t impressed. “Duh, G/B’s strong. We get it.” Maybe they like the challenge of taking a weaker color combination and making it work. Maybe they just like Quaker Strawberries and Cream Instant Oatmeal and/or the color pink.
Romeo embarks on his adventure to turn the Boros precon deck into a lean, mean, winning machine. Can a few minor card substitutions create a bona fide winning deck? The answer might just surprise you.
