CategoryMagic The Gathering

Concentrate on the Boros Mirror — PTQ Two and Out

Boros Deck Wins. That’s more than a deck-name… it’s a fact. Swinging with the Little Red and White Men is a noble pursuit, but it is also extremely popular. With the mirror-match descending into little more than a coin flip, what exactly can we do to gain those important percentage points that’ll translate into game and match wins? With detailed description of his recent PTQ performance, Paul tries to smash the mirror into pieces.

Extended Tech: Flow Deck Wins

Stuart Wright, one of the world’s finest deckbuilders, rocked the Extended portion of Worlds with a deck of his own design – Flow Deck Wins. Harnessing a powerful aggresive start, and the backbreaking Destructive Flow to nobble the control matchups, Stuart’s 6-0 perofomance took him to a lofty fifteenth-place finish at the Big Show in Paris. Today’s article breaks down the sideboarding plans and brings some interesting matchup ideas, for those eager to make their mark at their next PTQ.

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

At 6:30, my alarm clock went off… a loud, abrasive, annoying buzz. There was a light haze over the City of Angels as the fog that had rolled in was slowly vanishing under the early morning sun. I brewed a cup of coffee, turned on the TV to catch the early news, looked out at the early morning traffic and thought…

I am so boned.

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #160: Rare Drafting With Rich

In various prior articles, I examined the economics of rare drafting online. Back then, it did not pay. I wondered whether Time Spiral — with two rares per pack — changed that. The trick was getting hard data, without wasting the money actually rare drafting. Fortunately, Richie Hoaen helped me out.

From Right Field: The Punniest Tribe Around

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In today’s From Right Field, Chris Romeo admits a dirty little secret. No, it’s nothing to do with cheesecake… it’s an admission of a guilty pleasure with few redeeming qualities. It’s a pleasure that, if left unchecked, can mushroom out of all control. Intrigued? Then read on…

Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #23

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!

Extended Examined – Aggro Loam

In the second of today’s Extended articles, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy takes a well-earned break from his excellent Time Spiral Draft breakdown to bring us a comprehensive guide to Aggro Loam. Ben analyses the deck and examines some of the card choices, and takes us through his perfomance at a recent PTQ…

The Black Perspective: Sliding Into The Extended Metagame

Joe Black wades into the Extended metagame debate with an interesting take on a tried-and-tested formula: Green/White Astral Slide. Decks based on the cycling mechanic have a number of inherent advantages, and cards such as Eternal Witness and Loxodon Hierarch bring a number of strategies and defenses to the table. Add to this robustness a powerful lock, and you’ve got a deck with the strength to take on all comers. Looking for an Extended deck for your next PTQ? Osyp has the answer…

Food For Thought — Mono-Color in Standard, Part 1

We have a lot of options in the current Standard metagame, especially in regard to the creation of colored mana. Indeed, the plethora of incredible multicolored lands at our disposal makes playing a mono-colored deck little more than Magical suicide… or does it? Joshua Claytor begs to differ…

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

Okay, so this isn’t strictly a tournament report… actually, there’s hardly any Magic content at all. Even so, it’s a story that bears repeating. Do you think that Mark Herberholz is the only Magic player to appear on a major television game show? If so, think again…

Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #22

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!

Aggro in Extended: Part 3

The first two installments in the series saw Josh tackle some of the best Aggro decks that Extended has to offer – today’s final furlong brings us the popular Trinket Angel concoction and the now-perennial Ichorid dredge deck. The PTQ season is well underway, and it’s plain to see that there are countless viable decks in the current metagame. Be prepared!

Worlds Report, Part 3: Extended and Teams!

Paul rounds out his enlightening Worlds report with a comprehensive rundown of his Day 3 performance. His deck of choice for the extended showdown? Gifts Rock. Needing a 4-1-1 to cement a Top 8 berth, he sadly fell at the final hurdle. Nevertheless, a strong perfomance all round left him high in the standings with a pocketful of cash. Gifts Rock is a potent choice for the current Extended metagame… and this article shows it in action.

The Weekly Shift Sift: Exiting The Spiral

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StarCityGames.com!Well, we have just a handful of weeks to go before Planar Chaos wipes the field as we know it, changing Sealed Deck builds everywhere. It’s hard to get people to read about Sealed Decks when there’s that much change in the air, but I know I could get you in here early. How? Well, it might cost me a good gig, but I could do it.

SCG Daily – Starting Out on Magic Online, Part 4

Thanks for reading this week … and a special thank-you to those readers who already have been on MTGO awhile. A lot of this week’s material may have seemed way too simplistic to you, but if you kept reading, I appreciate it.

Now, to questions…