Monday, July 6th – Olivier Ruel recently provided some good advice for self-improvement – ways to make you a better and more successful, Magic player. I thought it might be useful to focus and expand on this idea by looking at what actions you can take before, during, and after a tournament with the specific goal of realizing self-improvement.
Monday, June 29th – I’ve got something of a grab bag of items to discuss this week, including the StarCityGames.com $10000 Open weekend in Boston, the changes to the Vintage restricted list, and the M10 rules changes. Let’s get right to it!
Monday, June 15th – Comparing Magic with Poker is actually incorrect on many levels. Magic is more like boxing in that the best player doesn’t always win, but you need to have it if you’re actually going to win a match. Yes, yes, I know, you can come up with examples where that isn’t the case…
Monday, June 8th – Last week, I discussed the potential advantages you can gain by playing a deck that, despite being a solid performer, is off the “radar†of the majority of players. This advantage can be magnified when you take the core of an existing deck and move it in a different direction, or create a new deck that other players haven’t seen before.
Monday, June 1st – When I was younger, I used to play a lot of basketball. . One of my coaches had a saying that he repeated ad nauseam: “Game spots, game shots!†. If you were spending your time in practice taking shots that you weren’t going to be taking during games, you were wasting everyone’s time, especially your own. The best way to improve your game is to treat practice as the real thing, and develop the skills you need to actually succeed come game time.
Monday, May 25th – Last Friday night, I had to make a decision for the next day’s Vintage tournament: Ichorid or Oath of Druids? I’ve piloted Oath to two Top 8s in my last three events including one win, and my overall win percentage is still north of 70% with the deck, even after going 2-2 at the Philly Open 3.
Monday, May 18th – You know that feeling you get when you know you’re making a mistake, but you feel helpless to stop yourself? For example, have you ever been at the bar and known that this drink, the one you have in your hands, is the one that’s going to push you over the limit? That was how I lost two matches at Regionals.
Monday, May 11th – The Philly Open 3 is in the books, and it was another awesome event. In addition to a Standard event with nearly 80 players, there was also a Vintage event with nearly 60 players battling for a Mox Sapphire for first and a Mox Emerald for second. I’m going to recap the top 8 of both events, starting with Standard as that is most relevant for the majority of players.
Monday, May 4th – Before almost every set’s release, we see a predictable pattern of extreme hype (wow, this is the best set ever!) followed by over-stated backlash (man, worst set ever!), when the reality tends to fall somewhere in the middle. Personally, I think this is a solid set with plenty of role-players for all the formats of Constructed Magic.
Monday, April 27th – While it is true that Vintage contains the best of every piece of acceleration ever printed, it also contains every answer. The existence of Null Rod, Gorilla Shaman, Pithing Needle, Wasteland plus Crucible of Worlds, Magus of the Moon, Chalice of the Void, and so on not only allow “slower†decks to be played in Vintage, but they slow down the format as a whole.
Wednesday, April 22nd – My original intention was not to discuss Vintage this week, but Stephen Menendian’s recent article Reviving Vintage, and its accompanying discussion both here and on the Mana Drain forums, threw my intentions aside…
Monday, April 13th – We’re entering a very exciting period that puts Standard front and center, with Regionals leading into a PTQ Season featuring the most popular Constructed format on the planet. The month of March featured several large Standard events in the United States and Europe, and analyzing that data should give us an idea how the pre-Alara Reborn Standard format is shaping up.
Monday, April 6th – Sorry, Extended, but it turns out that I’m just not that into you. No, it’s not you – it’s me. I know we started off on the right path back in January, but things cooled off from there. I just never got felt… comfortable around you. I felt like I couldn’t be myself…
Monday, March 30th – I know most of you have absolutely had it with Faeries. You’ve circled its rotation out of Standard and Extended on your calendars, and have already ordered the strippers, balloons, and cake to celebrate the joyous days ahead. I’m with you. However, there is some value in taking a look at the process of PTQ preparation as far as what changes need to be made to a deck, and more importantly, why.
Monday, March 23rd – There are a lot of articles out there about winning, and why shouldn’t that be the case? When you read an article, you want to read about LSV winning 18 consecutive matches because that’s what WE want to do. We all want to win.
