Many of the tournament-worthy decks we see to day would be crucified in a casual or multiplayer environment. They are too focused on one goal, or one opponent. Today, Abe takes a look at some of the more powerful decks in Standard, and adapts them for the casual scene. Wanna beat down like the pros? Then this is the article for you…
As we know, Magic strategy is largely a forum of opinion. Everyone has their own take on the strongest deck, the first-pick card, the bombiest of bomb rares… but how, in this age of Information Overload, can we sort the wheat from the chaff? Richard brings us an insightful article that tackles this most nebulous of concepts…
Flores comes a day early to bring us the tale of the best deck he’s ever created. Spawned by an article by Richard Feldman, Mike’s Aggro-Ideal deck has been providing strong results across the board, and today’s article deals with its creation, development, and game-plan. However, a rather large spanner has been thrown into the works of late… read on to find out why.
In Charleston, we finally got the chance to have all of us together at the same time. For the final tweaks in our decklists, we grouped ourselves by archetypes. Since every team agreed with sticking to Plan A, and each player was concerned the most with his own deck, why not discuss the final changes with someone who’s going to play the exact same deck and leave your team mates to do the same?
Blisterguy shares the latest news from Magic Online, with Premier Event results and card price fluctuations. He also brings us the highs and lows of reporting on control mirror matches…
In the second article by a new Feature Writer today, we bring you Nathan Waxer’s take on the Coldsnap pick orders. He concentrates today on the Blue and Green cards, and has some surprising values and views on certain cards. Pick orders are, of course, a matter of opinion… and these two articles will surely fire up the forums with hearty debate.
Today we present the debut article of Benjamin Peebles-Mundy, one of a new crop of Featured Writers! He brings us a comprehensive primer of the triple Coldsnap draft strategy, packed with pick orders for each color, draft archetype discussion, game strategy theory, and much more! This is a fantastic read, and we look forward to many more articles of this caliber in the future.
At Pro Tour: Prague most of the teams for Charleston were already formed. I was teaming with Bernardo da Costa Cabral and Kamiel Cornelissen. We approached some other friendly teams, inquiring about playtesting together. I let Bernardo know about my availability — I could move at any time, to any place, for testing purposes. In the end it was decided we should all gather in Brussels in Bernardo’s own house, after Grand Prix: Torino.
It’s one of my favorite times of the year: new cards, potential for new decks, and my creativity gone wild. I’ve learned my lesson from trying to do the card-by-card reviews. I don’t have the patience. I’m prone to burnout. So this time this review focuses on the only cards you need to worry about.
Chris revisits his popular “Train of Thought” article format… and no, I’m not talking about the card-drawing sorcery. He tackles a number of interesting points, throws in a decklist, and shares some quality cheesecake. What’s not to like?
Nick brings us the stories from his recent PTQ win, qualifying him for Pro Tour: Kobe. After receiving a fine RGD pool, the first he’s received in some time, he highlights the cards that brought home the metaphorical bacon. With detailed match walkthroughs and some interesting Limited insights, Nick’s report is a fine primer for those attending RGD Limited PTQs in the future.
Julien completes his look at the Limited application of Coldsnap with an examination of the Artifacts. He also runs through a number of the more powerful two-color combinations, supplying some excellent advice on picks and play strategies. While U.S. and English Nationals have been and gone (and believe me, you’ll be hearing about English Nats a lot from me…), others have still to sample the vagaries of the triple Coldsnap format. Julien’s article is a fine primer for those wishing to improve their chances.
June was a crazy month for me. I found myself dashing from one place to another. I had the idea of writing an article about my experiences playing Magic in four different countries, but eventually I realized that writing a series would be better, because of both the size and content of the article.
I now have the time to come back home and write for StarCityGames.com on a consistent basis. Writing the Dailies the other week was a lot of fun, and I look forward to the freedom and flexibility afforded to writers here. It feels good to be back – I started writing for Pete back in 1999! When I saw that Steven Menendian was recently celebrating his 100th column for Star City, it made me wonder – how many columns have I written here?
