Thursday, April 8th – At last weekend’s Grand Prix: Houston, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin rocked an excellent Grixis Control deck to a high finish. Today, he talks us through the genesis of the deck, through Verhey and Tsumura, and discusses the strategies and sideboarding plans behind the build.
Monday, March 29th – Rise of the Eldrazi is on the way, an Patrick Chapin is here to walk us through some of the cards spoiled thus far. From massive fifteen-mana monsters to innocuous common mana ramp cards, the Innovator spills the beans! Warning! Contains spoilers!
Monday, March 22nd – The current Extended season is continually shifting, with the strongest decks adapting to the freshest metagame trends. Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin takes a look at the Top 8 decks from Grand Prix: Yokohama, and suggests a control build based on a deck from Kenji Tsumura.
Friday, March 19th – As a preview for the upcoming release of his Next Level Magic paperback, Patrick Chapin discusses understanding signals in draft. Enjoy!
Monday, March 15th – Jace, the Mind Sculptor is proving to be a hit across a number of Constructed formats. Patrick Chapin is one of the card’s biggest fans, and today he suggests strategies and decklists that utilize the powerful planeswalker in everything from Block Constructed to Vintage!
Monday, March 8th – Patrick Chapin is a dedicated Control player. Of course, he’s not the only one; Guillaume Wafo-Tapa is another player addicted to the Blue cards. Today, Patrick examines the philosophies behind Wafo’s deckbuilding choices, with special reference to his Extended Teachings deck. He also discusses tells, and the need for a strong poker face.
Monday, March 1st – Patrick Chapin and crew created a controlling monster for Pro Tour: San Diego. Today the Innovator talks us through the card choices in depth, and rounds out with a tournament report that highlights his sideboarding strategies throughout the event!
Wednesday, February 24th – Patrick Chapin rocked up to Pro Tour: San Diego with a cool new deck: U/W Control. Backed by the power of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Everflowing Chalice, he bartered the deck to a 14th-place finish. Today, he discusses the genesis of the strategy, and shares some of the thinking behind the exact build and sideboard…
Tuesday, February 16th – Grand Prix: Oakland proved that the Extended format is versatile, intriguing, and fun. A massive seven distinct archetypes rocked the Top 8, including two decks that truly define innovation. Patrick Chapin discusses the strategies, and suggests how the format may evolve…
Monday, January 8th – With Grand Prix: Oakland this coming weekend, Patrick Chapin investigates a some interesting approaches to the format, powered by the planeswalker of the moment: Jace, the Mind Sculptor! With New Jace set to kick Standard into the stratosphere, will he do the same to Extended? Read on to find out!
Monday, February 1st – With the Worldwake prerelease weekend now behind us, Patrick Chapin talks about some of the stronger Constructed cards that appear in the new set. He also mentions a handful of weaker spells, suggesting it may be prudent if you don’t believe the hype…
Monday, January 25th – The recent demise of Blue has been much discussed (and in some cases, celebrated). Of course, you can’t keep a good man(a) down, and Worldwake promises to revitalize the color with a vengeance! Patrick discusses a few Blue goodies from the new set, alongside some other exciting Worldwake offerings…
Monday, January 18th – Extended PTQs are in full swing, and Patrick Chapin provides the latest metagame statistics! Channeling the great Frank Karsten, Patrick takes a detailed look at the tournament results so far, and creates a breakdown of the Winner’s Metagame. This is a fantastic article for anyone serious about cracking into Pro Tour play.
Tuesday, January 12th – This is it, folks. This is the big one. Building on strategies and ideas introduced by the finest writers in the game, Patrick Chapin starts us down the long road of unifying their work into the Theory of Everything. This is one article you’ll not want to miss…
Monday, January 4th – While the amount of Magic lingo centered on theory continues to expand at an exponential rate, such language for the subject of deckbuilding is relatively sparse. Today, Patrick Chapin discusses ideas first suggested by George Baxter, ideas that help clarify deckbuilding technique. He also discusses a selection of spoiled Worldwake cards! [Warning! Contains Spoilers.]
