CategoryMagic The Gathering

The Magic Show #26 — Magic Online and the Best Card in Coldsnap

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. I’m your host, Evan Erwin. Today we’re going to take a look at Wizards of the Coast’s own little money maker, Magic Online. I know I’ve spent a fortune on those untouchable digital objects, and there are new players joining every day. But what is there to know about the game online? How does it differ from the delicious paper we know and love?

Magical Hack: Name This Deck

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This week, I could try to be one of the “cool kids” and tell you how 1337 my Extended deck is, and that Scepter-Chant is one of highest-quality decks to play in the current Extended field. After all, PJ talked about how Boros is great (again), and Flores will tell you that his Green/White deck must be great because it won someone some PTQ somewhere… but not him. Instead of following the trend, we’re going to look at progress in motion and the herd mentality.

Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #26

Rich continues his excellent series of Time Spiral Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!

Manaless Ichorid Versus Meandeck Gifts – A Matchup Analysis

Stephen Menendian has made some mighty big claims regarding his potent Manaless Ichorid deck… in this comprehensive matchup article, he puts his creation to the test. Ten games against one of the strogest decks in the Vintage metagame – Meandeck Gifts. So, can Stephen’s Ichorids bring home the proverbial bacon, or will Gifts be laughing all the way to the bank?

Extended 2007: Week One, Part Two – Mock Tournament Strikes Again

With MagictheGathering.com concentrating on all things Planar Chaos, today’s Flores Friday brings us the tournament lowdown from last weekend’s round of Extended PTQs. Mike breaks down the numbers from all the results that are in so far, sharing some of the winning and high-performing deck builds. He takes a long look at why they won, and makes his own personal suggestions for those hoping to succeed in Week Two of the PTQ roller coaster.

The Legacy Metagame, Part II: The Essence of the Format, Plus Aggro-Control Decks

Now that we’ve established that the current Legacy environment is dominated by three decks (Goblins, Solidarity/Reset High Tide, and Threshold), how can you use this information? That is, to what extent is Legacy a “three-deck format” that is ripe for decimation by a well-designed rogue deck?

SCG Daily – I’ll Take “Magic Writers on Jeopardy!” for $200: My Experiences on America’s Favorite Game S

I’m praying I got those early jitters out of the way, and will always, always remember to give nothing but last names from here on out, and that hopefully won’t be just for this round. During the break, Jeopardy! staffers come out to offer encouragement and exhort us to keep the round going — clear the board, that’s their mantra.

The Kitchen Table #163: The Trials and Tribulations of a Multiplayer Group

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Today I want to explore a few multiplayer dynamics, and maybe share a deck from our “new” group. I hope that you’ll enjoy this tale of a multiplayer group and how as it changed over time – the strategies that were successful also changed…

Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #25

Rich continues his excellent series of Time Spiral Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!

Why I Threw Solar Flare Away — Part 2: Scryb & Force at Worlds 2006

In his previous article, Naoki Shimizu shared the reasons for ditching his popular Solar Flare deck in favor of something with a little more beatdown kick: the powerful U/G Scryb & Force deck. In today’s article, Naoki gives us the sideboard plan and matchup guide for all the metagame’s stronger contenders, and tells us the story of his own Standard odyssey on Day 1 of Worlds 2006.

Extended 2007: Week One, Part One

Going into the PTQ weekend, Mike had two choices: U/G or G/W. He told the world that if he rocked the mock tournament with U/G, that’d be the deck for him. If not, the G/W machine would be his weapon of choice. True to his word, Mike took his innovative G/W anti-Boros anti-TEPS Extended deck to his local PTQ… and as suspected, it rocked the house against the good matchups. For the story of both tournaments, and both decks, read on…

Food for Thought: Two More Mono-Colored Decks

Joshua continues his unconventional look at mono-colored strategies in the current Standard metagame. We’ve had Green and Black… today’s offerings are White and Red. Is the mono-colored strategy a real contender in this multicolored Magical age?

SCG Daily – I’ll Take “Magic Writers on Jeopardy!” for $200: My Experiences on America’s Favorite Game S

We’re up to the fourth taping and we’re running out of contestants. There are always a few extra would-be players, mostly locals who are generally the last chosen since they can always come back, whereas those of us who fly are kind of restricted to the day(s) we arrived. There’s five people left for four slots, so I like my chances.

Magic Online Musings: This Week on MTGO #43

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Blisterguy’s 43rd foray into the Magic Online Metagame sees him wax lyrical about both the Standard and Extended Premier Events on MTGO. While we all know of the popularity of Boros Deck Wins and Dragonstorm… what about Mono-Black Aggro? Blisterguy also revamps the card price data.

Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #24

Rich continues his excellent series of Time Spiral Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!