Friday, November 7th – We currently face an unusual paradox, one that we reach every so often: with the mana of the Gods at our disposal if we want it, we can cast anything in the format at all… and when we are given the ability to cast anything at all in the format, we always end up wanting to cast the same damned cards over and over again.
Friday, October 31st – While we are clearly motoring on ahead to the State Championships, I felt I should take a moment veering off the Road to States in order to look at the variety of things going on in Magic this weekend and in the past few leading up to it.
Friday, October 24th – The Star City Games $5K Standard Open is this weekend in Richmond, and it is bound to be the most influential Standard tournament of them all when it comes to reshaping the States metagame. But what shapes its metagame?
Friday, October 17th – The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, but the road to States is littered with decklists. Some are good, some are bad, and I’m sure that things will begin to change as more strategies are tried out and things begin to hone in towards the razor-sharp edge of good technology.
Friday, October 3rd – Taking an early look at Shards of Alara for Constructed play, it’s not hard to see why the Bant shard is getting the attention for Standard. While it is Naya that claims the most efficient monster, with a Thoctar so big you can see Russia from atop it and the low price of just three mana, it is Bant who claims the miniature Exalted Angel at that same price.
Friday, September 26th – We’ve had a few weeks now to get used to the new realms of Shards of Alara, to learn the names ‘Grixis, Esper, Bant, Naya, Jund’ and figure out which color combinations they each espouse. We’ve seen some previews, but when it comes to playing at the Prerelease you’ll want to have more knowledge than just seeing a few cards (mostly rares) and assuming they define the set.
Friday, September 19th – At this time in the year, it’s always crackling with excitement in the realm of magical spells and fantastic creatures. All the latest buzz is about the new world that will be playing host to our imaginings for the next year, with high hopes for a fun and interesting Limited environment and the people digging for spoilers to see whether this year’s offering is a stud (like Ravnica) or a dud (like Mercadian Masques).
Friday, September 12th – With most of Extended a ‘known quantity,’ the potential impact of Shards of Alara remains generally small. We have been told already that all of the creatures from the shard of Esper will be artifact creatures, regardless of colored mana cost, and thus we can expect that there will be a reasonable number of cards that deserve consideration for the ‘best deck in Extended’ (so-called), Affinity.
Friday, September 5th – Having finally put Lorwyn Block Constructed to rest, I thought I would start decompressing for the upcoming format shift by having a look at Tenth Edition as if it were a newly-released expansion we were adding to Lorwyn Block Constructed, to best prepare us for the addition of Shards of Alara to Standard in a month or so.
Friday, August 29th – The Wheel of Time turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. And so the ages pass, grinding mages into grist a hundred or more at a time in more than one place each and every Saturday… but at the conclusion of this weekend, the Wheel shall turn no more for Lorwyn Block Constructed.
Friday, August 22nd – To break from the monotony of over-analyzing Lorwyn Block Constructed, I decided I might have a little fun doing small-set draft on Magic Online. Having opened a decent number of packs of Eventide now on MTGO, I feel confident in saying that Runed Halo is in fact from Shadowmoor, no matter how many times I say it’s from Eventide.
Friday, August 15th – This weekend past has been an interesting one for the Block Constructed format. Just when everyone settled in to think that it was the same-old, same-old format with Faeries on top, a vanishing deck archetype got enough ‘Innovation’ to win the Grand Prix in Denver.
Friday, August 8th – We could have hoped for a bigger impact… but we have to deal with what we’ve got. Grand Prix: Kobe has come and gone, and once again the Fae hoist the trophy… but one cannot forget that it was one mistake away from being knocked down in the finals 2-0.
Friday, August 1st – Historically, any Black-Green deck no matter what it actually does picks up the “Rock” label. Slow and ponderous control deck? Rock. Flores is probably overjoyed that Extended got to keep Onslaught Block for one more year, not because he wants his fetchlands, but because that is going to give him another chance to make Undead Gladiator good again…
Friday, July 25th – With just one last Pro Tour Qualifier to go before Eventide rotated into the Block Constructed format, my mission (should I choose to accept it) was to drive myself and four compatriots to Boston for the weekend and play a deck with Bitterblossom for eight hours…
