Sadly, Nick Eisel is no longer with Star City. His presence will be missed, but we have the good fortune to have hired another fantastic player from CMU to pick up where Nick left off: Paul Sottosanti. And while Paul is going to show you a different road, I believe there is only one card to put as the second-best common pick in White: Daru Lancer.
In Blue/Red, it is simply the best card; in Blue/Black there is nothing that really fills its slot, and in Blue/Green or Blue/White you aren’t likely to win anyway. Mistform Wall is truly one of a kind in Onslaught, and therefore should be picked as highly as possible. You will find replacements for Ascending Aven in both Blue archetypes – not so for Mistform Wall.
While a face up Skirk Commando usually means that either Sparksmith is ready to go or you have something to make the Commando unblockable, it has no single card advantage. Battering Craghorn, on the other hand, can step in quite nicely on turn 4 and stop the bleeding. Drop a face up Craghorn, and the beats just stop.
This is not an archetype to be glossed over. Extended is not nearly the insanely fast format we knew years ago. There is plenty of time for a lock-type deck to operate, and this one is incredibly powerful.
The card in question this time is Screeching Buzzard. My dilemma with this card, which I discovered while doing a Rochester Draft at CMU: Rachel took a Buzzard over a Severed Legion, and it was unanimously decided that this was a mistake. A little later, I stopped to think. Was this such a bad pick? I brought up the idea to Crosby that perhaps this was not such an error.
Nick Eisel fails to recognize the dual nature of the Elf and Green in general when he says that”Elvish Warrior is hosed by two morph creatures,” and thus disputes my entire theory of tempo in Onslaught Limited… And Nick is not alone. News flash: Green is the control color in this set.
"Wow, I haven’t written in a long time." My articles always seem to start out that way. The fact of the matter is, I was in quasi-retirement for a while. I still played, but I didn’t playtest or practice; I just went to PTQs. Let me tell you this strategy is bad if you are…
Well, it has been a long time since my last article. Once again my life has been insanely busy and I haven’t been motivated by a topic enough to stay up all night writing about it. I had planned on writing a synopsis of my trip to Nationals, but I didn’t think the material would…
I was in FYE (For Your Entertainment) the other day and I decided I needed new tapes for the car. I had one tape in mind going in, the Magnolia Soundtrack), but I wanted something else. I was already in the soundtrack section, so I kept browsing. I came across the new Broadway Recording of…
I am completely demoralized. My Limited and Extended ratings have both fallen below 1800. My writing was attacked by Tom Guevin. I failed to qualify for yet another PT. And it looks as though my magic future is in jeopardy. I need to save money. I can’t afford to go traipsing around any more trying…
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I know I said that these would be weekly, and I know this means that the third chapter won’t be out until after GP Philly. I can tell you all the reasons it didn’t come out on time, instead I will get right to the article. Last time I discussed…
Over the next three weeks I will be getting more specific on deck types. Last week I gave you a peek at my thoughts on the main decks in the format, specifically the types that made top 16 in GP Seattle. Now I will give you my versions of these decks and deeper thoughts. Aggro-Control…
Well folks, it has been quite a long time since my last article. Down but not out, I’m back to talk about extended. The last article you got from me was my last attempt at PT Chicago. I lost in the top 8. Since then I have competed in four qualifiers for PT LA, missing…
