Sealed Luck #5
The fifth installment of this very solid series seeing Martin discuss fetishes, an encounter with Tomi “Mountain Man” Walamies, power vs. consistency, and his latest PTQ adventures.
CategoryMagic The Gathering
Introducing… The New And Improved Deck Database!
We’ve been working on it for the past three months. And now it’s time to reveal the new and completely revamped deck database in all of its glory!
Step in. Take a look around. Don’t be scared.
SCG Daily – Pimp My Precon: Expulsion
I’m following in the footsteps of JMS and Chris Romeo and turning precons into powerhouse decks, at the rate of one per day. I’m also doing it on the cheap: using the precon plus whatever I get from five drafts. Given that, I’m aiming for winning half my games in some competitive format – in other words, I want the decks to have a reasonable chance.
The Back Door to E3 and Grand Prix: Detroit *16th*
Taking Back Sunday not only won a Pro Tour this weekend, but members of the team were posting solid results two weeks ago in Detroit as well. In today’s article, TBS member John Pelcak explains how the Online E3 tournaments helped him prepare for Detroit, and how he ended up fighting for the Top 8 after starting Day 1 with a loss and Day 2 all the way down in 63rd place.
Pro Tour: Philadelphia
Today Zvi reviews everything that happened at Philly, including his own performance at breaking down the format (one that Randy Buehler and Mike Flores said he nailed in the coverage), plus he discusses the payout structure, the surprise decks, and the two topics that had everyone at the site buzzing all weekend: The Players Hall of Fame and the Pro Tour Players Club!
Kamigawa Block As We Know It
With the advent of the new deck database (which will be unveiled tomorrow), we can now:
- Get the round-by-round matchup information from Wizards’ site.
- Match each round’s results with the deck each player was piloting, showing us what deck beat what deck.
- Come up with a full matrix, showing what each deck’s win percentage was against all other decks that each archetype faced in the entire tournament.
You wanna know what decks did well at Pro Tour: Philadelphia, and which decks underperformed? Merely click on the headline and all will be made clear.
SCG Daily – Pimp My Precon: Lifeboost
This week, I’m ripping off JMS and Chris Romeo for the tuning precons idea. Since those worthies have taken the good precons, I’m stuck with those from Eight Edition. On the plus side, I can do one per day for a whole week.
Insider Trading: Becoming a Better Trader Part II – Meet the Cast!
Successful traders know that trading Magic: the Gathering can often be just as rewarding as playing the game itself, if not moreso. Today I’m going to introduce you to the diverse cast of characters that you’re likely to encounter at a larger Magic: the Gathering event, and explain how to identify who’s who. Afterwards, our friends at Digi-Cardz.com are back with more Magic Online trading tips!
Greatest Win Week: The Winner, and Next Week’s Challenge!
This week’s winner was a slam dunk, except for one thing: He’d won the contest last week. Thus, I took a much closer look at the other entries; Spencer Bogan’s Breaking Wind was a funny look at a ridiculous deck, whereas Edd Black’s Three Deadly Wins were hysterical wins – but two of them were about wins that involved, well, cheating. Yet when it comes down to it, it’s hard not to give the award to an article with this punchline:
“I used my Scandalmonger to win game one in the last round of a tournament, playing against a legally blind little old lady, who was using an Elf deck she hadn’t seen until that morning.
“She went on to take the match.”
Thus, Sean Coleman wins the prize, making him (I believe) the first person ever to win any SCG article contest back-to-back. So what’s next week’s $20 Casual Challenge?
The Top Three Best Multiplayer Enchantments.
The difficulty? No Pernicious Deed. And remember, we don’t want just three cards; we want to see the decks these enchantments fit neatly into, and show us why they’re so darned spiffy when two or more players are facing you down. Send your best writing into Mail us at https://sales.starcitygames.com/contactus/contactform.php?emailid=2, and you could win $20!
In addition, we’re looking for future Casual Challenge themes. If you’ve got a format you’d like to see highlighted or just have a neat idea you’d like to see other people writing about, let us know in the forums!
Abeth Edition, Part 5: The Final Groupings, And Wrap-Up
Of course, there are lots of ways to gain card advantage in Abeth Edition, the alternate Core Set that I’ve created. The concept is so important that it should hardly be limited to Blue. Additionally, other colors get sweeping effects or multiple targets: Wrath of God, Wildfire, Shatterstorm, and Tempest of Light are excellent examples. But while White and Red get plenty of sweeping effects, Black and Green get hardly any. To compensate, both get some pure card drawing. Black gets Reprocess (which is hardly used) and Phyrexian Arena, which may be the first balanced Necropotence. Add in Skulltap and Skeletal Scrying and you have a solid amount of card drawing from common to rare.
SCG Daily – Episode 5: Revenge of the Pith
Pugg joins the 8-4 queue on Magic Online to try and go out with a bang for his final installment of SCG Daily. Hijinks ensue.
The College Dropout: Giving Gifts
So what are you supposed to do if you want to play Standard, but absolutely abhor the idea of having to play one of the established boring decks? I know casting a Vedalken Shackles and taking control of a dork is not a lot of fun to me, nor is casting a Plow Under, and hoping to draw an Eternal Witness. What else is there? What decks are exciting, and powerful and let you not play with nine-mana sorceries? What decks can you play with that are different – that can take the tournament by surprise and let you have fun while winning matches?
Winning the Sideboard War
What do Jon Finkel, Control Magic, Boil, and Spectral Shift have in common? Flores explains it all today, as he focuses on one of the critical challenges players will face in the upcoming Constructed season – Winning the Sideboard War.
Bad 80s Movies and Kamigawa Block Constructed
Today everyone’s favorite Kiwi takes a final look at the decks you are likely to see at this weekend’s Pro Tour, explains why paying attention to them can help you go infinite on MODO, and generally says a lot of blisterguy-ee type things. In short, it’s brilliant!
From Right Field: In Which Romeo Rips Off a Much Better Writer, Part 2
Romeo’s back this week with part 2 of his Rat’s Nest Precon deck conversion. How many steps does it take to turn a lowly precon with a broken piece of equipment into a contender?