Friday, October 3rd – With both Grand Prix: Kansas City and the current PTQ season focusing on Shards of Alara Sealed play, all eyes have turned to the forty-card format. Today, Paul Cheon takes us through a couple of PTQ-style Sealed cardpool, each consisting of a starter and two boosters… and each replete with a variety of tasty options to explore.
Tuesday, September 23rd – In this entertaining tournament report, Paul Cheon takes us through his recent jaunt to Italy for Eurovino 3 and Grand Prix: Rimini. He placed well at both events, and brings us a thrilling play-by-play for the GP. There’s also a handful of road-trip stories, tales that draw back the veil to reveal secrets of top-level tournament preparation. [Editor’s Note – Ben Bleiweiss appears on Friday with his customary “Financial Value” article for Shards of Alara… watch this space!]
Having tired of the Standard metagame after Worlds, and having lost faith in the DragonTron deck that took him to a commendable 12th place finish, Paul began casting around for something new to play. After tinkering with a Mono-Blue Morph deck dubbed “The Answer,” he soon moved on to fresh pastures. Today, he shares his discovery of a patriotic deck that harnesses the powerful Martyr of Sands…
Paul rounds out his enlightening Worlds report with a comprehensive rundown of his Day 3 performance. His deck of choice for the extended showdown? Gifts Rock. Needing a 4-1-1 to cement a Top 8 berth, he sadly fell at the final hurdle. Nevertheless, a strong perfomance all round left him high in the standings with a pocketful of cash. Gifts Rock is a potent choice for the current Extended metagame… and this article shows it in action.
After a passable 4-2 in the Standard portion of Worlds, Paul went into the Day 2 Drafts feeling supremely confident. Testing with the team, and Professor Tim Aten, had been successful, and Paul felt he could produce a 5-1 or 6-0 record with a little luck. Today’s report focuses on the games themselves, with special attention paid to the stonger and weaker plays. Looking to improve your 40-card game? Paul has the advice you need…
In his last article, Paul shared the U.S. Team’s preparation for Worlds. Today’s follow-up deals with Day 1 of the main event itself. Paul audibled at the last minute to a new deck, and posted a positive result. Of course, that’s not the whole story… as with all tournament reports, there’s a healthy dose of humor and color to be had.
Paul begins a two-part series today dealing with his preparation for Worlds and his eventual performance. The U.S. National Team, carrying the hopes of a nation, spent a lot of their pre-tournament time studying under professor Timothy Aten at the team-dubbed Vermillion University. Standard, Draft, Extended, and Team Rochester were all discussed and tested… and the results were mixed. This is an entertaining opening to what promises to be an illuminating series.
Paul concludes his exciting report on U.S. Nationals 2006! With fourteen rounds of swiss play behind him, seven men stood between him and an oversized comedy check. Yesterday’s opener had thrills and spills galore… today’s installment is packed with high drama! The best writers, the best players… only at StarCityGames.com!
Paul took his untested Solar Flare deck, armed with a single Kokusho, to the very top of the U.S. Nationals pile! His entertaining report on the tournament, covering the match-ups and sideboarding plans in great detail, is an excellent read. Part 1 deals with the full fourteen rounds of swiss play… join us tomorrow for the exciting Top 8 conclusion!
