CategoryMagic The Gathering

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #335 – UST and an Open Letter to Jamie Wakefield

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Thursday, July 29th – We have the brackets. Play has begun, both online and off. This week, Ponza tries to stomp Nasiff 5c Control, Affinity faces Goblins, and Chapin 5CB duels with Squirrels. All that, plus an open letter to Jamie Wakefield.

Black Magic – The Rise of Combo in Standard

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Thursday, July 29th – The Standard metagame is in a state of continual shift, and a current trend is a return to the Combo strategies. Sam Black looks at a slew of interesting Combo offerings that have found recent success, such as Pyromancer’s Ascension and Polymorph. He examines the state of the format, and suggests ways in which we can attack in coming tournaments.

The Kitchen Tale #348 – A Trio of Commander/EDH Decks

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Wednesday, July 28th – Over the last month or so, I’ve been playing a lot of Commander multiplayer online. Today, I thought it would be cool to show you my EDH/Commander decks from online. Everybody loves a fun Commander deck, and one of the decks today features cards I have never played before in a Constructed environment. It includes a bunch of cards I haven’t even used in a decklist for this column.

Duel With Ruel – French Nationals Analysis

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Wednesday, July 28th – Last weekend, Hall of Famer Antoine Ruel achieved one of his more elusive Magic goals at the fourteenth time of asking: his third-place finish sees him as a member of this year’s French National Team! Today, Antoine examines the post-France Standard metagame, and shares some advice on M11 draft. Congratulations, Antoine!

Thirst for Knowledge – All Eyes On Columbus

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Wednesday, July 28th – At this time last year, Legacy was still going nuts over the new-and-improved Phyrexian Dreadnought, and the power of the recently-released Progenitus was all the rage. While it was true that Nassif won the event without either card, it was easy to see that those two strategies were the stars of the show in terms of numbers.

One Step Ahead – Examining Extended

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Wednesday, July 28th – With Pro Tour: Amsterdam looming large, Extended is shaping up to be an exciting and vibrant format. Gerry Thompson, breaker of Extended formats past, examines a slew of recent online results in order to get a grip on the top decks and strategies. He provides a collection of interesting lists, and a host of stats and advice to digest along the way!

Constructed Criticism – Building a Better Player

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Wednesday, July 28th – Building a new archetype is difficult work. It takes skill, intuition, experience, and plenty of trial and error. Building a better player is much more difficult, and requires a lot of thought and effort. Each Magic article should be dedicated to helping you increase your skill level, and I hope this one is no different.

Fishing Lessons – PTQ Video Walkthrough: Mythic Conscription

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 27th – It’s that time again, folks! I played in another Magic Online PTQ and the event didn’t crash this time, so I got to record it for you. I brought Mythic Conscription to battle this time around, and it did not disappoint. I thought it was going to be a good choice for the metagame in that tournament, and I felt like I wasn’t too far off.

Legacy’s Allure – Under the Mosswort Bridge

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 27th – Lurking under that Mosswort Bridge is the biggest troll you’ve ever seen, more like a giant cosmic squid! Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, gets summoned with regularity thanks to the Green land and this week, Doug explores the Aeon Bridge deck, crafted to exploit the Bridge. Find out the many combinations in the deck, get tips on playing Aeon Bridge, explore scenarios with the deck, and find out how to best fight it in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!

(Way) Too Much Information – Compiled Legacy Results

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 27th – With the Grand Prix fast approaching, Jared gives us a comprehensive look at the past six months of StarCityGames.com Legacy Opens. What decks are you most likely to see, what archetypes stand out among the crowd, and what decks are seeing entirely too little play? The answers lie within!

The Nose Knows – If You’re Not On The Inside, You’re On The Outside

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 27th – Building a team of worthwhile Magic connections is tricky. Kyle Boggemes presents some tidbits of advice that could help a player gain some firm friendships, both in the game and beyond. He also discusses a selection of exciting Standard decks from the recent Nationals Championship results.

The Pro Perspective – Red/Green Tokens at French Nationals

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 27th – While French Nationals did not exactly go to plan for Hall of Famer Raphael Levy, he believes his Standard deck was a fine choice, and claims great matchups against those that made the final table. He shares his story, decklist, and strategy tips today!

Embracing the Chaos – Embracing the Originals

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 27th – After a few weeks off from playing in the League due to travel commitments, I was back for Week 7, with some very important guests in tow, people that had an unintentional but significant impact on the EDH format…

Feature Article – Give ‘Em Hell, Kid

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Monday, July 26th – I’m honestly not entirely sure what AJ Sacher was trying to accomplish in his article, but I have my guesses. I’m not offended by it, nor am I terribly insulted by it. The overarching message I got from it was “deconstruct the best decks, and put them back together instead of just reading decklists,” or something along those lines.

Flow of Ideas – A (Slightly) Extended Look at Elves

Grand Prix GP Columbus July 30-August 1, 2010
Monday, July 26th – Though my hopes of going to Amsterdam have unfortunately been dashed like a semi-colon in an undergraduate essay, Extended is always a format I have always enjoyed. Eager to see what the new rotation would be like and to help my qualified friends playtest, I began work on a deck which has an incredible amount of potentiality and pseudo-survives the rotation: Elves.