CategoryMagic The Gathering

The Wescoe Connection – Rise of the Eldrazi Draft and Another PTQ Top 4

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Thursday, May 20th – In today’s edition of The Wescoe Connection, Craig discusses the Rise of the Eldrazi Draft format, highlighting a selection of interesting archetypes that every serious spellcaster should consider. As a bonus, he provides tales from his Top 4 PTQ performance with Polymorph!

Feature Article – Mono-White at the Nationals Qualifiers… Seriously?

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Thursday, May 20th – The day started out well enough at 2-0, wrecking Mythic and Grixis with Geopede Jund, but then in round 3, I ended up being paired against an old acquaintance of mine, Joel Allen. He was running some strange mono-White creation – I couldn’t make heads nor tails of it initially. Emeria, the Sky Ruin? Kor Cartographer? What in the name of Hazezon Tamar was going on here?

One Step Ahead – Green in Standard: Jund and Vengevine Naya

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Thursday, May 20th – Deck building maestro Gerry T has done it again! Fresh of breaking the Extended PTQ format with his Dark Depths / Thopter Combo hybrid, he’s returned to a viable yet underplayed strategy and created a deck that powered a selection of players to a Nationals Qualification slot. Today, he talks about both Jund and his new creation: Vengevine Naya.

Ideas Unbound – Good Play versus Best Deck

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Thursday, May 20th – Patrick Chapin famously pointed out that “tight technical play decides more games of Magic than all other factors combined.” Given this, how does waiting until the very last minute to pick a deck make any kind of sense? Playing a good deck well will get you much farther than playing the ‘best’ deck sloppily.

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #326 – What Went Wrong at Nats Qualifiers?

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Thursday, May 20th – I was judging at the National Qualifying tournament in Wisconsin last weekend. I was – but only for the first few rounds. Ingrid and I were part of a six-judge crew, headed by Jason Lemahieu, which was a ridiculous judge staff for a 105-player tournament. Attendance was far below expected, and that was true across the country. Last fall, attendance at The2009s (a.k.a. States) was nuts – what has changed? What went wrong?

The Kitchen Table #338 – Retiring the Most Underused Cards of All Time: Volume VI

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Wednesday, May 19th – This is a series of articles dedicated to the Gorilla Chieftains of Magic. Outside of Limited, where do they get played? The once in a blue moon Ape deck, and that’s it. It’s the same with Rootwater Alligator. When do you see Living Airship soaring overhead? Cards like Village Elder and Soot Imp are the many cards between Awesome and Great on one side, and Suck and Awful on the other.

Fishing Lessons – Shadow Puppet Theater

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Wednesday, May 19th – It’s that time again. My articles are usually very polarizing, where some people think I’m a stupid jerk and others think I’m a genius. That polarization finds to be even stronger for my more abstract rants. If you are in the former group, please select any one of the other fine articles on this fantastic website instead. If you are in the latter group, please enjoy.

Thirst for Knowledge – Choosing a Deck For DC

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Wednesday, May 19th – Regionals is over, and now the push is toward Grand Prix: DC. A week ago, I would have told you to choose either Jund or UW and just smash. Now, though? Now we have a bit more to work with, as Regionals is a fairly large event that is spread out across many groups of players in drastically different metagames, and so it is becoming more and more clear as days go on what the “best” decks are and which ones just aren’t cutting it.

Feature Article – Esper Flare for Standard

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Wednesday, May 19th – While there are a trio of strong decks underpinning the Standard metagame, it doesn’t mean there’s no room for innovation. Today, Gerard Fabiano shares his Esper Flare control deck, which preys on the format’s behemoths. Could this be the deck that cracks Grand Prix: Washington DC wide open? Read on to find out!

MTGCast #207 – IDs, New Sealed Formats, and 2x Gideon Jura Giveaway!

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Wednesday, May 19th – On today’s edition of MTGCast, the guys discuss a rumored new Sealed format, Nationals Qualifiers, UR Distortion Strike, and much more!

Black Magic – Processing U.S. Nationals Qualifiers Results

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Wednesday, May 19th – The results from U.S. Nationals Qualifiers are trickling in, and Sam Black is here to crunch some numbers. He looks at the Top 8 results from eleven tournaments, breaks down the archetypes, and suggests the future of the Standard metagame for Washington this weekend!

The Nose Knows – Deck Design for Grand Prix: Washington

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Tuesday, May 18th – With Nationals Qualifier results beginning to crawl in, and Grand Prix: Washington DC on the horizon, Kyle Boggemes brings us a look at a selection of successful Standard strategies that are sure to be well represented in the weeks to come. Naya, Control, and Jund are all tackled here, in perfect time for the upcoming premier events!

The Long & Winding Road – A Tournament Report?

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Tuesday, May 18th – Saturday, May 8th I played in a the Vintage portion of the Philly Open VI. Coming off a tournament where I did well is always awkward for me. For some reason, I’ve really struggled to string together successful back-to-back Vintage tournaments in which I repeated my deck choice from the previous tournament.

Feature Article – Rise of the Eldrazi Draft Archetypes

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Tuesday, May 18th – Triple Rise of the Eldrazi draft continues apace, and Quentin Martin has been very busy. Having played a selection of interesting and successful drafts, Quentin presents his thoughts on a selection of powerful archetypes that will surely see you marching to the final table!

Embracing The Chaos – Where Beasts Lurk

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Tuesday, May 18th – This week, I delivered on the promise of playing the Darigaaz-turned-Karrthus deck, and it was a smashing success. In stark contrast to the philosophy of Second Best which I espoused last week, I was a frontrunner for the entirety of the first game…