Friday, June 20th – Losing… as Magic players, losing games and matches must surely come as second nature. After all, even the best players in the world lose a third of their matches. When we face defeat, what matters most is that we learn from our position… and that we’ve done our best. Today’s Flores Friday sees Mike investigate his own philosophy of loss, while offering sage advice to those who struggle in defeat.
Friday, June 13th – Going into Regionals, Mike was at a loss for what to play. So, faced with a surfeit of appealing options, he did the one thing guaranteed to serve up the goods: he looked towards Japan for innovation. While he won’t be gracing the stage of U.S. Nationals this year, his Regionals report is full of strategy, focus, and fun… and he does indeed learn a valuable lesson about the game we all love.
Friday, June 6th – In this two-part Regionals article, Mike throws the Merfolk deck at Charles Gindy’s Pro Tour Winning Elves build, piloted by Josh Ravitz. He then moves onto an interesting Blue deck that draws on the power inherent in a number of strategies and attempts to thrash them together for fun and profit. Is this the deck with the strength to carry you through Regionals unscathed? Read on to find out!
Friday, May 30th – In the Pro Tour: Hollywood Top 8, Jan Reuss and his Merfolk overpowered Shuhei Nakamura’s Black/Green Elves over four games in the semi-finals. However, in the final, against Charles Gindy’s similar Elven offering, the Merfolk folded quickly. Today’s Flores Friday sees Mike thrash out the Elves versus Merfolk matchup in preparation for Regionals…
Friday, May 23rd – In a follow-up to last week’s incredible “The Basic Test of Metagame Competence,†Mike sets out his case for avoiding decks that auto-lose to the most powerful deck in a metagame, even if they do crush the rest of the field. He also expands the theory of the Anti-Deck, and outlines some of the pleasures and pitfalls involved in running such a strategy.
Friday, May 16th – Come join Mike in the madcap mathematical adventure that we call metagaming. Why is The Basic Test of Metagaming Competence the most useful article in modeling metagaming that you will ever read? Because just one paragraph in you may realize that everything you ever thought about metagaming was a lie… Or at least a gross series of very sad misunderstandings. And we can prove it. A must read.
Friday, May 9th – Today’s Flores Friday sees Mike hop into his Wayback Machine to revisit some of the classic strategic modeling from some of the top players and thinkers in the game. He casts his modernist eye over the various Schools of Magic, and updates them with a nod toward their importance in the current metagames. What can the strategies of the past teach us about the formats of the future?
Friday, May 2nd – The power of a deck’s sideboard is something that is often difficult to quantify. Sure, we may fill our fifteen with cards that should impact the match in Games 2 and 3, but sometimes our meddling does little but dilute our core strategy. Today’s Flores Friday draws on the current Basketball Playoffs to investigate just how we can work to our strengths…
Friday, April 25th – One of the stronger fringe strategies from Extended, Mono-Red Burn, has a number of excellent cards in the current Standard environment. Could it be a contender today? Mike runs the Shadowmoor-friendly burn deck against two of the more creature-packed powerhouses in the modern metagame: Merfolk, and the all-conquering Faeries. Do Mountains hold the key to success in these interesting times?
Friday, April 18th – Earlier this week, Mike Flores took us through some of his initial thoughts on the exciting Constructed cards on offer in Shadowmoor. Today, he continues where he left off, and spices things up with a few preliminary deck lists and ideas. If you’re looking for an edge in Shadowmoor Standard, here’s the perfect place to start!
Monday, April 14th – Shadowmoor is coming, and the world is readying itself for the New Cards. Over on
MagictheGathering.com, official previews have littered the sight for a number of days. Today, Mike looks at each of them and
examines how they might fit into Constructed. If you’re looking for those sleeper hits before they come alive, look no further!
Friday, April 4th – Standard is still proving a tricky nut to crack. Of course, that doesn’t stop Mike trying! Today he updates us on his exciting Mishra strategy, shares his thoughts on a powerful anti-aggro way to wield Bitterblossom, and throws his hat into the Constructed Warrior arena…
Friday, March 28th – With Extended now behind us (more or less), Constructed maestro Mike Flores turns his eyes back to the most popular 60-card format: Standard! Today’s Flores Friday see him try his hand with his beloved Mishra strategy against a number of the top-ranked decks in the modern metagame. Is he on to something?
Friday, March 21st – Grand Prix: Philadelphia saw Mike Flores pilot the perennial Blue/Green Combo favorite Heartbeat of Spring into the heat of battle. Sadly, things didn’t go according to plan on the day… today’s Flores Friday examines the reasons why. Mike shares one particular turn in which he feels the wheels may have fallen off the wagon…
Friday, March 14th – This weekend, thousands of players will descend upon the Grand Prix halls in Philadelphia and Vienna. Only eight will survive to the final table of each, and of those eight, only one will triumph. What skills, exactly, do you need to make it all the way to the GP top? Mike investigates that today, with input from some of the greats (Dan OMS, Mikey P, Osyp to name but three). If you’re looking to elevate yourself to the next level, here’s the place to start!
