Over the next few weeks, I’ll do some Sealed deck builds. If they’ve been battle tested in tournaments or practice, I’ll trace over the pertinent stuff. I divvy up each card into four tiers, and review two cards from each tier. After four or so articles, you’ll have my thoughts on most of the set.
Pat “The Innovator” Chapin dips a toe into the choppy waters of Vintage debate, outlining some interesting ideas on power-plays in Magic’s most broken of formats. He tackles the ornery subject of skill in Vintage, and challenges Stephen Menendian to an interesting match. Away from Type 1, he also presents a debate on the veracity of Magic writers the world over… just how should we gauge the more “off-the-wall” deck ideas and articles?
Last week, Ted covered the cards of each color, rounding out on Friday with the hideous Green offerings. Today’s installment is a lot more upbeat – the Gold shines, the artifacts are in fine working order, and the land is fertile. Indeed, some of Time Spiral’s finest cards dwell in the far-left column of the deck registration sheet. Ted also adds his choices for the strongest non-Timeshifted cards in the set. Do you agree with Mr. Card Game’s analysis?
Strange events in The Ferrett’s life lead to a less-than-perfect tournament environment. Read on for a tale of ugly skin and heart-pounding plays!
Today’s edition of the SCG Daily will take a look at all the slivers available for Time Spiral Standard play, and throw out a first-pass aggro sliver build as a bonus to those hardy enough to wade through to the end.
As a bonus, there’s another installment of the SCG Daily coming later today! See inside for details.
Today’s article deals with the beatdown decks of the format. Traditionally, new formats are defined by the beatdown decks, and if you cannot deal with some of these (Zoo, Gruul, Sand Burn) then your deck may not be the best bet to play for the tournament. Other decks are a little more left-of-center (Mono Green, Dark Boros), and you could be well suited being prepared for them, at the very least.
Having looked almost exclusively at Limited for the past month, Sean turns his analytical eye towards the Standard metagame. He posits an excellent, logical process for determining what cards will be strong in the new format, and presents a number of interesting decklists to test and tweak.
With a few more matches under his Magical belt, Josh feels he has a fine preliminary grasp of the evolving format. Today’s article sees him dissect the power commons for each color of Time Spiral, and rank the colors in order of power and depth. He also touches on possible strong color combinations; invaluable information for those looking to ace their PTQ Top 8 Drafts this weekend.
With Standard States just around the corner, and Time Spiral officially released today, Constructed testing has kicked off in fine style. Mike takes a powerful updated Solar Flare deck and throws it against a gauntlet of possible Standard contenders… and reveals the deck he would take to States if they were to be played tomorrow.
It was all going so well… and then the Green cards came along. Ted takes a long look at the red-headed stepchild of the Magic color pie, and finds it lacking. There are, however, some diamonds hidden deep in the mossy effluvia. Mr Card Game tells us where to dig for gold… plus, a bonus section by Ben “Ridiculous Hat” Goodman!
It seems appropriate that following my 150th regular article will be a review of the nostalgia set from a Five Color perspective. I established myself early as one of the few Five writers running around, and I’ve been around for a few years. This is my fourteenth Five-Color set review, and I’ve done every set from Onslaught until now.
Jeroen brings his considerable talents to the Battle Royale arena, piloting a budget take on one of the more popular decks in the current Standard metagame. Will it be enough to take down the current champ…?
Sean takes his Battle Royale Championship Belt into the ring once more, pitting his wits against Jeoren Remie. What savage tech does he bring to the Battle this week? Read on to find out!
Tim has his States deck figured out already. Sadly, it’s not White Weenie. This article, however, concentrates on the ever-popular beatdown archetype. Where do the Time Spiral cards slot in? Is Knight of the Holy Nimbus a sufficiently fake Hand? What can we do about the loss of Isamaru? And does Griffin Guide warrant a slot in the deck? (Hint: there’s a reason its initials are GG…) Looking to run with the little White guys? Then this is the article for you!
After dealing with the White, Blue, and Black offerings from Time Spiral, Ted turns his attention to the Red spells. Alongside Mr Card Game’s customary wit, we have one Patrick Sullivan sharing his fiery insight on the Red cards he thinks will see Constructed play. The second guest columnist, Norin the Wary, disappeared shortly before commencement of the article and is therefore unavailable for comment.
