Friday, May 14th – I actively enjoy the playtesting process. I view matchups as puzzles to be solved, and am happy to sit down for an afternoon and just iterate games, keeping exhaustive notes and wondering what could have caused games to go differently until I figure out optimal strategies and important tactical plays.
Thursday, May 13th – In Magic, there have been a handful of cards that have been printed with activated abilities that can be triggered by opponents. Going all the way back to Arabian Nights with Ifh-Biff Efreet, this has been so. Some of those cards everyone will want to activate, like Squallmonger. Others will only want one person to activate them, like Zerapa Minotaur.
Thursday, May 13th – In the last week hanging out with Zvi Mowshowitz, he said something that struck me: approximately, ‘I don’t build decks the way most people build them. First I look at the mana and what I can do with it, and then build everything else on top of that.’ This didn’t come as too much of a surprise to me since land selection is the first step of every deck design in my process, but I had been overlooking the fact that most people do not do this.
Thursday, May 13th – The Suicide archetype has an impressive record of success in Legacy’s history. Earlier builds like Deadguy Ale (B/W), which were slower but much more disruptive, made an early splash. As the metagame and the card pool changed, so did the design of Suicide decks. There was a brief period where Red Death (B/R), a much more aggressive deck using cards like Phyrexian Negator and Lightning Bolt, performed very well.
Thursday, May 13th – While people are clamoring for Standard tech, and sleeving up UW Planeswalkers, Jund, and Mythic Conscription, it seems that the pre-Rise hype for Polymorph has died down. Today, Craig Wescoe rekindles the fire for this shape-shifting strategy… He presents a detailed Polymorph primer in time for Nationals Qualifiers this weekend!
Thursday, May 13th – Last week, Gerry Thompson regaled us with tales from the Standard portion of the StarCityGames.com Atlanta Open Weekend. Today, it’s the turn of the tournament story we’re all eager to hear: Gerry’s excellent Final finish in the Sunday Legacy event!
Thursday, May 13th – Last weekend, I played in the online Rise of the Eldrazi Prerelease. Between rounds, I skritched the dogs, made lunch and otherwise killed time. I thought about past prereleases and release events. After some quick math, I realized that this was probably my fiftieth set release event. That’s a decent excuse to get nostalgic, so come with me while I wander through history.
Thursday, May 13th – Today’s edition of Pro Perspective sees Raphael Levy offer a selection of playtips for sharpening your skills. He suggests that while practice is important, imperfect practice merely reinforces imperfect play, and he presents a number of ideas to help us break from such a downward spiral.
Wednesday, May 12th – With the Standard metagame continuing to take shape with Rise of the Eldrazi, Antoine Ruel takes a break from the format and enters the bear pit of Legacy. Today, he battles Manuel Bucher in two Legacy matchups: ANT versus Zoo, and Reanimator versus Bant Survival. Who will emerge victorious? Read on to find out!
Wednesday, May 12th – We have a lot of ground to cover today. With the StarCityGames.com Atlanta Standard Open and about a month of Rise of the Eldrazi play under our belts, it’s time to focus our attention on picking the best deck for the National Qualifiers (I’m still going to call it Regionals) and getting a grasp on the evolved metagame.
Wednesday, May 12th – One of the fastest and most devastating decks in Legacy, Reanimator morphs into a different animal when faced with a mirror match. With symmetrical cards like Show and Tell or Exhume, it is easy to help an opponent out while executing your game plan. In this article, Doug goes over the common card interactions and illustrates how cards like Entomb change how mirror matches are played out. Find out why you shouldn’t side out all those big monsters and why your Show and Tells depend on your Duresses, all in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!
Wednesday, May 12th – The Standard Metagame is beginning to solidify, and with Nationals Qualifiers and Grand Prix: Washington DC fast approaching, it’s time to select your weapon of choice. Kyle Boggemes presents the case for three popular and strong archetypes today: Planeswalkers, Mythic, and the perennial Jund.
Wednesday, May 12th – I’m really excited about playing Magic right now. I know this isn’t news. I’m always pretty excited about playing Magic. It’s just that I’m excited about playing Standard, and I haven’t said that in a long time. There’s more going on than just Standard, of course…
Wednesday, May 12th – On this week’s edition of MTGCast, the guys discuss FNM Promos, Rise of the LOLdrazi, Mythics, Chandra in Duels of the Planeswalkers, and much more!
