Continuing today’s Vintage theme, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin lives up to his name in style. He throws down the gauntlet to the Powers That Be, and proposes some sweeping changes to the Banned and Restricted list… and includes some interesting new cards especially for Vintage play! However, he’s not content with mere specuation and theorizing: read on for exciting news of proposed “Vintage-Ultra” Tournaments!
Recently, Stephen has faced a Vintage dilemma. As the leading voice for Magic’s broken format, discovering that all you ever knew about the strategy and the metagame now lies in tatters after some shocking in-game revelation… well, let’s just say that he’s a little peturbed by this. Today’s article tackles the issues faced, and also contains an exacting tournament report in Stephen’s signature meticulous style.
Welcome to Tribal Bible #11, my “Golden Issue”, so to speak, given that my birthday also falls on the 11th (of August, for what it’s worth), and I wanted to do something special, something that would be noticed, and something people would talk about. As such, while there may be only one deck this week, I promise it’s a doozy – it’s legal in every format except Vanguard, Block Constructed (any), and Singleton. What could it possibly be? Well, have a look, why don’t you?
So it’s time to finally get my stint on the weekly series of articles known as SCG Daily. Yes that’s right, for one week I get to hijack the entire StarCityGames.com website and turn it into a shrine to my favorite subject… namely, me. And you can’t escape! Bwahahahahaha!
After a short hiatus, Rich Hoaen returns to continue his daily article series! Each day, the grumpy Canadian draft master takes us through a Magic Online draft, from pick 1 to pick 45, and shares his insight into the cards, the deck, and the games themselves. For more detailed analysis, Rich answers your questions in the forums!
Last week, Josh took a look at the Standard metagame both before and after Worlds 2006. Today, he expands on this theme and shares his own personal performance. Over six gruelling rounds, his Flores-designed deck took him to a 3-3 performance. What went wrong? What went right? Read on to find out…
Worlds Extended saw a plethora of interesting and innovative decks… and a shedload of Boros. In today’s Extended offering, Josh looks at some of the Aggro builds available to the old-school spellslinger, with an examination of successful goblin and Zoo builds. He also casts an eye over the dying Affinity archetype, lest we forget the horror and let it creep back into the metagame.
I stuck to my guns. And lost matches I shouldn’t have. What should I have done to win?
Valkyrie
From Norse mythology, the valkyries (multiple pronunciations, but stick with val-KY-ree and you won’t be slapped by any Norwegians) were Odin’s handmaidens who would escort the souls of fallen warriors to Valhalla and wait upon them for eternity.
So, if I get killed in battle, I’ve got Lucy Lawless at my beck and call until the end of time? No wonder the Vikings were so ferocious in combat.
Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week wraps up with the Top 2 match between Justin Perdue and Charles Anderson, playing Fader and Solar Fires respectively.
What’s this? A Pro Tour regular submitting a super tight aggro deck with a curve that uses a sexist metaphor? I wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting something a little more controllish. A mirror, perhaps.
Before the matchup, I did some testing, and it went all the way for Sanchez. The games reminded me of Hobbes’s definition of human existence in his seminal work of political philosophy, Leviathan. That is, brief, nasty, and short.
Friday, 1st of December, 2006
The dark sky flashed and the clouds became illuminated as bolts of lightning struck down across my precious city. I had a date with Eli, and I couldn’t disappoint. I’d had power problems the entire day, but the battle must go on…
The Extended coverage of Worlds provides an excellent pile of information: what was played the most, what “dark horse” decks made themselves known over the course of the six rounds of the format, and even plenty of decklists besides. Of course, I like to go data-mining and play with numbers, so I was disappointed… after all, there wasn’t a complete tally of decklists for all 350 people still playing…
After a short hiatus, Rich Hoaen returns to continue his daily article series! Each day, the grumpy Canadian draft master takes us through a Magic Online draft, from pick 1 to pick 45, and shares his insight into the cards, the deck, and the games themselves. For more detailed analysis, Rich answers your questions in the forums!
Mike often makes bold claims regarding the relative strength of cards. According to him, Skred was once the most powerful card in Standard. Worlds has come and gone, and many folk gambled on the metagame and packed their decks with backbreakers… but what were, and what are, the Top 10 cards in the format? Mike reveals all…
