Due to some timing issues, Chris couldn’t finish the Rat’s Nest evolution article this week, but in its place you get a budget deck that includes some swell things to do with three colors, Lifespark Spellbomb, and Eradicate.
This has been a fun mini-column to write. For my final installment, I’m not going to talk about Magic – at least, not entirely – I’m just going to share a random stream of consciousness. Why? Because that’s who I am.
You want to know how one of the best Limited players of all time added yet another Grand Prix Top 8 to his busty resume? Today StarCityGames.com delivers.
Did you ever notice that certain decks out there always seem to have cards moving from place to place… It’s not accurate to call what these decks do card drawing per se; their focus, or advantage if that is the element in question, is not based on bulk or even necessarily qualitative card advantage. Like sharks, these decks need to move in order to live… Should they stop, they don’t typically get up again. That’s the topic we will be discussing today, along with a look back at some great decks in history that have exhibited these traits.
More proxies.
More prizes.
More Bleiweiss?!?!
Absolutely.
What must it be like to be Chad Ellis? Beautiful wife and baby, designing games for a living, gets frequent hugs from lesbians. Oh, and he has now qualified for three out of the four Pro Tours available since he came back from an extended retirement. Find out all the details from this latest PTQ victory inside.
Mike wrote another fantastic column about a new deck he has developed. What’s new, right? Read the title of this column. That’s what’s new, or at least unusual.
Some time ago, Ben Bleiweiss started a bit of a ruckus over the “decline of American Magic.” He wrote that “The single most problematic element hurting American Magic…is a highly destructive communitywide attitude.” I propose the following: The single most problematic element hurting American Magic is our inability to argue with one another.
Some games of Magic are close. Others aren’t. When one player’s deck craps out, that’s boring. But sometimes your deck works fine and the other person’s deck works fine and neither of you makes any horrible plays and it’s still a rout. That can be a lot of fun.
blisterguy makes his triumphant return to regular writing today by covering the goings on in the Standard Premier Events on Magic Online – events that should be an interesting barometer for the early Regionals metagame.
One of the editorial secrets here at StarCityGames.com is that we know our readers love bad decks. No no, don’t try to deny it – you guys are absolute suckers for them. Therefore it is completely without reservation that we present Mark Young’s latest article, which is filled to the brim with a series of Type Two abortions. Do these decks have potential? Oh, most certainly. But are they ready for prime time? Well, you make the call…
I would guess that most people reading my columns have never played on the Pro Tour – simply because the great majority of Magic players have never played on the Pro Tour. I would also guess that many people reading my columns would like to play on the Pro Tour and compete regularly or semi-regularly in their area’s PTQs. The unfortunate news is that when you finally qualify and go to your first PT there is a very good chance that you will fail to make Day 2 and be back on the PTQ circuit again.
That said, it’s all worth it. Playing on the Tour is a tremendous experience.
Something I notice time and time again is that Magic communities, much like high school, have a special social structure and many different cliques. A community divided is in much worse shape than one that’s unified. This, unfortunately, will never change. This alone is unhealthy, but it’s worsened further by plain ole’ simple bad manners. A new generation of players comes to replace the old guard, and with them come naivety, immaturity, and crass adolescents.
Jamie’s reintroduction to Magic has had a few bumps in the road, as expected. It’s hard to win when your collection consists of five-year-old cards and a few Lone Wolves. Today you get a peak at the evolution of his current Green deck, math problems with Joshie Trash Talker, playtesting setbacks, and much more. Please, come join the King of Fatties as he rediscovers Magic and comes to the conclusion that thus far he’s having a surprising amount of fun.
It’s Worlds – I wasn’t expecting to go, but somehow I made Top 8 at Barcelona and suddenly I’m invited to everything. A lot of my deck was proxies since I knew I could buy the cards I needed onsite. I actually had (or traded for) the rares, but I couldn’t find copies of some of the non-rare cards, like Merchant Scroll, and no one ever carries around cards like that in their trade binders. Thankfully, I knew what Merchant Scroll did. It was a Sorcery, it cost 1U, and it fetched two different kinds of Blue spells that aren’t creatures. That can only leave Instants and Sorceries, right?
