CategoryMagic The Gathering

There And Back Again – Examining the OP of Other Games

Monday, March 10th – When Wizards of the Coast made the recent announcements about changes to their Organized Play programs, it seemed everyone and their mother had something (unkind) to say. A month later we’re still waiting for the gang in Renton to hit us with what they’ve cooked up for replacements. While those program re-designs are in more than capable hands, today we’re going to look at the OP programs of two card games which have sought to compete with Magic directly to find out if there’s anything Magic might benefit in learning from them.

By

So Many Insane Plays – The Ultimate Vintage Primer

Read Stephen Menendian every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!Monday, March 10th – Stephen has been working overtime this week… In today’s edition of So Many Insane Plays, the Vintage World Champion brings us the lowdown on every single playable deck in the format! From the top decks, to the Contenders, to the Marginal Players, to the Dark Horses, this article has it all. Brilliant stuff from the format’s finest…

By

Innovations – Counterbalance-Flash in Vintage

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!Monday, March 10th – Patrick Chapin, it seems, is in love with Counterbalance. Not content with shaping the Extended metagame with Next Level Blue, or watching Threshold take the little Blue enchantment and run to the hills, The Innovator is determined to see it played in every format available. Today, he squeezes the Coldsnap control staple into Vintage Flash, with surprising and promising results…

By

Insert Column Name Here – Robbing Peter

Read The Ferrett every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, March 10th – So I played Rock Band all weekend with some pals, staying up until five in the morning to live the high life by strumming a plastic ukelele. And now, bereft of sleep or good sense, I get possibly one of the most complex Sealed pools I’ve ever opened. What would you do with good cards scattered across the colors like this?

By

Magical Hack – Future Sight

Read Sean McKeown every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 7th – While we could very easily focus upon Extended coming up on a week or so until Grand Prix: Philadelphia, I fear the benefits of a further analysis of the field and brainstorming up decklists isn’t the hot-button topic of the week for tournament play. Rather than focus on the now of Extended… or worse yet, continue the stream of Goblin-centric articles… I find it very interesting to look into the changes to Extended set rotation and how they will affect us for the immediate future.

By

The Magic Show #86 – Live From The Nashville Extended PTQ

Watch Evan Erwin every Friday... on StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 7th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we speak to Magic players just like you in Nashville, TN to hear what they’re playing, what they feel about the new Extended rotation change, what should (or shouldn’t) be banned, the loss of States, and more. Let’s go!

By

Sullivan Library – Two PTQ Top 8s for Spirit Stompy

Read Adrian Sullivan every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 7th – Last weekend, Adrian Sullivan took his powerful Miser’s Rock deck to a PTQ win and an invite to Hollywood! While this article does contain details on his victory, it focuses instead on what Adrian describes as the true story of the PTQ: an innovative aggro deck named Spirit Stompy. Two players sleeved up the cards, and both made Top 8. Intrigued? Read on!

By

Flores Friday – Never Settle

Read Mike Flores every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 7th – This week, Mike turns away from the vagaries of the seemingly endless Extended season. Instead of thrashing out metagame data, he turns to deeper theory. He tackles the concept of “never settling,” a fine adjunct to his popular article How To Win A PTQ. After that, he moves into practical tips on how to improve one’s mental and mechanical game, offering sage advice on a number of interesting topics…

By

The Kitchen Table #223 – High-Value Casual Cards II

Read Abe Sargent every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – In my first High-Value Casual Cards article, written over two years ago, I outlined many high-value casual cards, and then I made predictions about the value of some of them. Today, two years later, I want to take a look at those predictions and see which came true, and with which I was wrong. Then, after being honest, you’ll have a gauge for my new predictions.

By

Tribal Thriftiness #13 – Shifty Underhanded Underpinnings

Read Dave Meeson every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – Finishing out with the last of the Tribal Equipment, Dave gets all covert under the protective blanket of Cloak and Dagger.

By

Down And Dirty – Draco Dredged

Read Kyle Sanchez every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – In the current Extended metagame, there are a number of powerful strategies available to the discerning spellslinger. Perhaps the most powerful is Dredge, a turn 2 combo deck that has something like an 80% win percentage against the rest of the field… for game 1. Game 2 is trickier, as people bring their hate… but Kyle believes he’s fixed the problem…

By

Deep Analysis – Enduring Ideal Indeed

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – Both Dredge and Enduring Ideal have been under fire from hate since the beginning of this PTQ season. While Dredge is still largely under fire, it seems the Ideal hate has dimmed in comparison. Today’s Deep Analysis sees Richard Feldman examining options available to the Ideal pilot. He asks whether the metagame is right for the deck… is it the ideal time for Ideal?

By

Chatter of the Squirrel – Acquisition

Read Zac Hill every week... at StarCityGames.com!Wednesday, March 5th – Mark Rosewater just wrote an article explaining the process of “acquisition,” of expanding Magic’s player base and reaching out to people who have never heard of the game. We, the players, are essential to that process. This article will talk about some of the ways we can help out Wizards, and, by virtue of that, help ourselves.

By

You Lika the Juice? – Piloting a Ferrari at the PTQ

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 5th – When last we left our hero – me – he was torn between varieties of mid-range G/B/x decks to play at the Richmond PTQ last Saturday. There was the strong allure of his homebrew Doran deck featuring the quick-kill potential of Tireless Tribe. There were also more stock versions floating around that presumably had more testing behind them and were more reliably “correct” in their build. Should he instead play one of those decks?

By

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #216 – The SCG $5K Deck Breakdown

Read Peter Jahn... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 5th – I got all the decklists from the StarCityGames.com $5K tournament two weeks ago. It’s taken some time, but I managed to read and classify them all. You have seen the Top 16 lists. Here’s a complete breakdown. I have total numbers, percent making the Top 16, etc. I also have a number of decklists that were just plain interesting. If you are planning on playing Standard in the next couple of months, there is sure to be something to think about.

By