CategoryMagic The Gathering

Remie on Sealed, and Firemane Control

Jeroen continues his popular column that answers questions posed by the Magic community worldwide! Today’s offering is the usual mixed bag… we have Jeroen’s take on the Sealed format, plus his thoughts on U/R/W Firemane Control. There’s also a little Extended chatter, and the burning question of frozen yoghurt preference is finally answered. All this and more, inside!

Prismatic Lens – Blue

For my second installment of Prismatic Lens, we’re going to take a look at Blue, and a deck that I cooked up for the Prismatic format using entirely Blue cards. Predictably, this is a fairly strong deck, even barring the fact that my current budget does not allow for silliness like Absorb and Undermine.

SCG Daily – A Deck a Day: Tuesday, The First Chapter of the Living Airship Saga

This week on A Deck a Day, our hero decides that old-fashioned sensibilities will dictate his work. Using old scrying methods such as polyhedral dice, our hero will mine the past for the future. In the old days, our hero wrote such treatises on random factors that were scrying through the dice of old. Today our hero continues that tradition, choosing to focus on the random determination of every expansion set that was classically legal in Classic, before the great Portal opened and the skies darkened with the taint of foul sorceries and evil creatures.

From Right Field: Seor Bloodsucker

Read Chris Romeo... every Tuesday at
StarCityGames.com!

Chris takes his first monthly Magic budget and spends it on some tasty Black cards. With a passing resmeblence to Craig Jones’s Pact Huk deck above, has Chris’s deck got the makings of a true contender? Read on to find out!

Drafting With Tim – Time Spiral #1

With Mr Hoaen off galavanting around the world, top-eighting Grand Prix tournaments left and right, the brave Mr Aten steps into the “Drafting With X” breach until the grumpy Canadian’s return. Tim will be presenting a draft a day, sharing picks one through forty-five, and adding his own brand of lyrical commentary at the end of each article. For a more in-depth critique of his process, be sure to visit the forums!

The Importance of the Sideboard in Extended

There are many ways to gain an advantage in any given format. The power of the cards in Limited, for example, coupled with the knowledge of how to exploit card synergies. Deck advantage in any given matchup is an example that is paramount in Constructed formats, especially traditional Standard. Josh is here to theorize on the trump card in the current “bloated” Extended environment – the use and abuse of the sideboard.

Don’t Try This At Worlds: Pact Husk

Craig “The Professor” Jones has been beavering away at Constructed testing this past month… and as a member of his testing team for Worlds, I can safely say that we’re doing our best to break the formats. The metaphorical night is young, and today Prof presents us with one of the “nearly-decks” that has occupied our testing time. Fun, powerful food for thought… and just maybe, with a little tweaking, it can go all the way…

The Legacy Metagame, Part I: Format Overview and the “Big Three”

And lo! the Powers That Be decreed that the small yet vocal Legacy community be given a third Grand Prix with which to test their deck construction and metagaming prowess. Things couldn’t be better.

In preparation for GP: Columbus, I’ll be examining the current Legacy metagame and summarizing the decks that define it. This article is primarily written for Legacy novices, but I’ll be sure to add enough detailed analysis to make it worth the time of format regulars. You know who you are.

SCG Daily – A Deck a Day: Monday Mogg

Hello all and welcome to the newest smattering of articles revolving around bringing you a daily deck. Each day opens with a warm and welcoming deck, ready for you to play at your local kitchen table. In these series of daily articles, I’ve recently focused on selecting something at random and then forcing myself to build a deck around it…

Ben Takes On The Great Designer Search, Part 3: Silver and Gold

For part 3 of the Designer Contest, Ben was challenged to avoid the official articles on MagicTheGathering.com, and work only with the instructions given by Wizards of the Coast, with a 72-hour timeline. These are his results!

*DISCLAIMER*: If you are a Wizards of the Coast employee, I give you full legal rights to use any of the cards, ideas or concepts contained within this article, without further obligation!

My Trials at Grand Prix: New Jersey, Part 1

As we all know, a Grand Prix in our own back yard is simply too good to miss… and Paul was determined to make the most of it. Armed with a solitary bye, he entered a Grand Prix Trial and attempted to ride the wave to three free rounds. The story of that, plus his Day 1 performance in the Grand Prix itself, is contained within…

Time Spiral Limited – The Complete U/R Draft Guide

Early in the season, it seemed the pros all knew one thing… that Blue and Red were the colors to be! Of course, differing results cast doubt over that assertion, but Nick is back to lay down the law! Today’s article is a comprehensive guide to the archetype, with common pick orders, uncommons and rares of note, and a strong sample decklist. U/R is Nick’s weapon of choice… can it work for you?

The Weekly Shift Sift: Zoom Zoom Zoom

Read The Ferrett... every Monday at
StarCityGames.com!I am typing this at sixty-five miles as I zoom through the winding mountains of Pennsylvania, headed back home to Ohio after a weekend spent with my family. (No worries, my wife’s driving.) But I’m thinking of a card pool that I could not break, and wondering what lessons I can derive from it…

Deal of the Week: Adopt-A-Pro!

Have you noticed that this week’s Deal of the Week? We’re selling all Pro Player cards for only $.10 each. That’s right, you can buy a Pro for just a shiny dime! Don’t you want to bring love to an unloved Pro? If so, read inside!

Prismatic Lens – Green

This week’s offering has to do with a format known online as Prismatic, of which I have long been a fan. Prismatic is a format of wild draws, crazy interactions, and big, flashy cards. It’s a slower format than most others, and lends itself to control strategies. Most interestingly, all those seven to ten mana cards like Myojins and Time Stretch you long ago dismissed as junk? Chances are, they have a chance to shine here.