CategoryMagic The Gathering

A Deck is like a Car – Engine Designs and Development

When you think of a deck “engine,” what comes to mind? Is it the fueling of resources, a la Affinity? Is it the fueling via tutors, a la Tooth and Nail? Is it the synergy of types, such as Kamigawa Block Legends decks?

All of these decks work with one another in different ways. Whenever you think of two cards providing each other an advantage (fueling a win condition with an Urzatron piece, making another spell cheaper as a result of it being play), then that is a part of the deck’s engine to win.

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From Right Field: Electrolyze This

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

For his Independence Day article, Chris cooks up a Red, White, and Blue special! If you’re looking for a patriotic deck to cut a swathe through your local tournament scene, then this is the deck for you. Even so… Izzet Chronarch? In Standard? Surely some mistake! Ah well, if the deck don’t thrill ya, the cheesecake will…

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Drafting With Rich #6

Rich returns for another walk through the Draft streets of Ravnica. As usual, he presents each pick of his draft, from pick one to pick forty-five, and appends a brief overview on his final deck and performance. For a more detailed draft deconstruction, come join the forums!

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U/R Vore for Standard

With Nationals just around the corner, it’s time to focus on the Standard scene and hone our weapon of choice. Today we have the thoughts of one of England’s premier Constructed minds, Pro Tour regular Stuart Wright. His personal choice for the strongest deck in the format? U/R Vore. Stu presents his own take on the deck, shares his sideboarding strategy, and runs through a few sample games. Looking for the perfect mana-denial strategy? Then read on…

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SCG Daily – A Deck is Like a Car: The Two Engines

Engines in Magic are relative to the cards around them. They are, at their best, pure synergy. The cards in an “Engine,” whether that is a combo, aggro, or control deck, work best when they’re all in play. When you draw all of them, you almost always win. Your “engine” is running. Your “game” has begun.

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #146: Playing Magic!

Ingrid, my wife, was out of town for a few days. I had Thursday off, and nothing but some chores over the weekend. I had a couple dozen tix, a virtual pile of unopened packs, and some ideas for new decks I wanted to try out. I was ready to play Magic — what could possibly go wrong?

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Drafting With Rich #5

Rich continues his excellent series of RGD Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!

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A Ravnica Draft Walkthrough

We have a second StarCityGames Featured Writer making his debut today – Paul Jordan, one-third of the Flores/Sadin/Jordan team for Pro Tour Charleston, Two-Headed Giant. In his first article, Paul takes us through his drafting process, providing a full RGD Draft walkthrough from first to last pick. He shares his opinions behind each chocie, and runs through the games he played with the resulting deck.

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RGD Limited: The Beauty of Bad Cards

In our neverending quest to bring you the best writers and theorists, today sees Daniel O’Mahoney-Schwartz join our ever-growing ranks of Featured Writers. In his first article, Dan shares his thoughts on some of the undersung heroes of Ravnica Block Limited. Do some of those fifteenth-pick “powerhouses” require a second look?

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The Weekly Guild Build: Happy Birthday To Me

Read The Ferrett... every Monday at StarCityGames.com!In the days of yore, back when I was the managing editor of This Here Site Here, I used to hold an amnesty day, wherein all articles sent to me to be published on my birthday were published without any editing at all. This is now a proud tradition of StarCityGames.com, and it helps to make you all understand just how much work we do here to make the articles appear, you know, readable. But alas, what can I do to give myself a birthday prezzie in an article?

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SCG Daily – Attack of the Week of Lists, Part 5

Mark rounds off his Week of Lists with a look back at the articles that have particularly pulled his chain. He presents his very own Top 10 Non-Tournament Report Articles… have you read them all?

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Vore: Still Awesome

Mike returned from his nearly-man Pro Tour with a clear goal in mind: play more Constructed Magic. Armed with a number of viable decks, he cut up the floor of the MTGO 8-man Standard queues… and came to a Blue/Red conclusion. Magnivore, powered by Steam Vents, is still the deck to beat. With strategic deconstruction and game walkthroughs, he pitches the case for the so-called Strongest Deck in Standard.

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Selecting 10th Edition: Erhnam Djinn, the True Hollywood Story

“I am not a bum. I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things: my friends, and my thermos. My story? I was born a poor Green child…”

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Selecting 10th Edition: Ravenous Baloth!

Teddy Card Game, fresh from his glorious victory with the mighty Paladin en-Vec, is convinced that this vote is a complete no-brainer. In the battle between Beasts and Trolls, it’s Boom Boom all the way…

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Selecting 10th Edition: Troll Ascetic!

Troll Ascetic is one of the finest Green creatures ever printed. Ravenous Baloth is also one of the finest Green creatures ever printed. Why should you vote Troll over Baloth? The answer, my friends, is freedom of design constraint. Read on!

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