Language is the paintbrush by which we express ourselves to the word, so why limit yourself to the basic spectrum when there’s a panoply of colors upon which to call? If you’re interested in learning what many of these words and phrases you’ve encountered on Magic cards mean, then please, read on. I’ve tried to throw in a funny joke or two. You never know, if you’re not careful, you just might learn something.
A list of archetypes was thankfully made available to us via Brian David-Marshall’s time-shifted “Swimming with Sharks” article – which, when stacked up next to the Round 6 Standings from Worlds, neatly sums up to a list of archetypes matched with the players who played them and the results they had after six rounds of play. This gives us the opportunity to go running with numbers some more, and to learn some very interesting things about the Standard metagame in motion.
The true tragedy of Sensei’s Divining Top is that it made everyone ignore Crown of Convergence… But those days are over, my friend. In today’s Standard, there’s no reason whatsoever not to play Crown of Convergence, assuming that’s your idea of a good time. And I’m going to try to make it fun for you, with not one, but two decks…
I would imagine it would be hard being a Sliver. I mean, you meet a new friend one day and up sprouts an extra head out of nowhere. Then another friend joins the group and your arms turn into some kind of weapon. Then one of them goes away and your extra head disappears. Another one comes down and you start shooting webs out of your butt or you grow spines on your back. Seems like it would be frustrating, to say the least.
Two weeks ago, in the recorded casts heading into Grand Prix: New Jersey, Brian David-Marshall couldn’t keep himself from showing his love for his newfound creation, Pickles. He didn’t give a decklist in the podcasts, but with the key parts of the combo revealed, it was a giddy challenge trying to reconstruct his vision without actually looking. The day those podcasts were released, I went out and started building and testing. Many iterations later, this is what I devised for the Battle Royale.
This format, more than any Sealed format in recent memory, is defined by bombs. There are twice as many rare slots to open something ridiculous, so you can be sure that pretty much everyone you’re up against is going to have at least one card that will be a complete blowout if it resolves. It’s a double-edged sword, though, because that means chances are you have a nuts guy yourself. So how do you deal with that?
Josh takes aim at the sacred cows of Time Spiral Limited, telling you why the cards you love aren’t as good as you think. (Some of his picks? Controversial, to say the least.) And as an extra-special bonus, he’ll tell you what cards aren’t being picked high enough!
And for the final draft in the “Drafting with the Nationals Team” series, we have Luis “fob on Modo” Scott-Vargas, with commentary by Tim Aten and Paul Cheon.
When Wizards announced their “Great Designer Search,” we voted to run a search of our own to see who would replace Roland Chang on Vintage superteam Team Meandeck. We want the best! This test will challenge your understanding of the format, your knowledge of the community, your comprehension of proper Vintage etiquette and lingo… All to see if you have what it takes to make it in Vintage.
Why Draining Whelk? What’s with the Circle of Protection against Dragonstorm? Here are a few words on the sideboard from yesterday’s U/R/W Standard deck, since the plan might not be all that clear.
Last weekend, I did two Coldsnap drafts. In the first, I had five Skreds, four Elves, six Snow Lands and four Auroch Herds into double Rimehorn… And I lost in the first round. I entered another 8-4 queue, and realized I didn’t really want to play about two seconds after the draft started. I rare-drafted like crazy, ended up with a very marginal pile, and split in the finals.
That got me to wondering — how much influence does luck play in drafting? So I performed a wide-scale experiment, taking several old draft decks both losing and winning, to see how much of a difference luck made… And the results were surprising.
Continuing with the “Drafting with the U.S. National Team” series, today we have National Champion Paul “Seven Bells” Cheon, with commentary by one Mister Tim Aten. How does the U.S. of A. fare today?
Kenji dissects his final draft at Pro Tour: Kobe… But more importantly, he gives you his Top 10 common picks from every color! (He promised you just the top 5, but he couldn’t stop himself.)
The report from Day 2 of Pro Tour: Kobe arrives, and Tiago’s mad Time Spiral Limited skills come with it! Watch as Tiago shares the good times involved in running around Japan, then goes into phenomenal detail on each of his matches and talks about the drafts he wanted to have versus the drafts he got.
Predictions are funny things. I tend to predict things when I see patterns: American Idol winners, how drivers act on highways, how someone will take a compliment or a criticism. And in the world of Magic, prediction means finding “the next big thing” — the angle that everyone is either missing or simply leaning towards, and it takes that one big finish to get everyone on board. So let’s peer into the crystal ball, with Worlds looming this weekend, and see what we can see.
