CategoryMagic The Gathering

In my experience (I’ve played in I think seven or eight Regionals by now) the tournament is more or less a representative sample of the field, but a few trends tend to take hold. First, people love “cute decks.” It’s hard to explain exactly what I mean by that, but maybe you’ll get what I’m saying. Trendy decks. Decks that are a rage on the Internet but people are trying to keep “hush-hush.” Does Dredge fit that bill? Hell yeah.

Quantum Mechanics, Bolivian Dance, and Standard. Three things Rich Hagon knew nothing about last Wednesday. Join him as he attempts to rectify one of these deficiencies. Yes, soon you’ll know that Bolivian dance repertoire, like other Andean cultures, consists of pre-Colombian dances performed in rural areas during religious and secular community celebrations, as well as the European influenced mestizo dances performed at popular festivals and celebrations of patron saints. Welcome to SupremelyCulturedGamers.com.

It’s that time again. Time for Ted Knutson’s usual metagame breakdown and tho… Oh right, he doesn’t write anymore (insert sad face here). Well, then it’s time for all the Standard players to come out from their holes in the wall and actually buy physical cards. Come out into a world where Project X is actually playable, because a bunch of annoying pop-up screens won’t time you out. Time for the 2007 Regionals preview!

When I’m testing for a big tournament for Regionals, the modus operandi is usually to build a gauntlet, test, read, test, read, rebuild the gauntlet, settle on a deck, and, usually in my case, audible at the last second. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This year, I thought, might be different. For, you see, I found the deck I wanted to play very, very early in the testing process.

With Regionals a week away, I have had zero time to playtest or innovate. I’m going to play at Regionals, basically, cold. I’m guessing I’m not the only one in that situation. I’ll talk about how I’m going to choose a deck, in the hopes that it might help others in the same boat.

Frankly, if you haven’t decided on a decklist by now, you probably shouldn’t attend a tournament this weekend. Most people have a pretty good idea about what they’re playing, or (as in my case) they have it narrowed down to a deck or three and they just need to choose. So instead of just ordering you to play Awesome Deck #1, #2, or #3, I offer you the lessons you really need to know for this Saturday…

Regionals is coming… and Chris is prepared. This year, he’s armed with a funky-looking deck courtesy of a close friend. It’s black, it disrupts, and it beats down. Who knows, maybe it’s the missing tech that you’re clamoring for. If you’re still undecided on your 75 of choice, maybe Chris has the answers.