My testing took place in a relative vacuum — with help from friends back home, but little to no access to pro testing information, I pieced together a fairly accurate picture of the metagame and I built my deck accordingly. I want to make sure that everyone who wants it — the PTQ win, the PT, the gravy train — really understands that it is possible.
In the forums, someone told me that I was obsessed with Cabal Therapy in my article on Extended… But of the most-played cards at the Pro Tour, Therapy finished behind only Forest, Island, Mountain, Chrome Mox, and Bloodstained Mire. Likewise, there are a few key cards that define the Legacy format — and instead of trying to predict the decklists that will appear, I’m going to step through the most powerful cards to see how they shape the environment.
Eternal fan favorite Geordie’s back — again! — this time packing a new deck that he thinks can clean house against Flores Blue and Combo. If you’re sick to death of Hinder and Keiga, he’s got a deck packing a card that you’ll never expect. No, really, you won’t expect it.
Ruud finds wealth and fame in Los Angeles, visits the Price is Right, and shares his thoughts on the best decks in Extended.
Adrian Sullivan returns, with a fantastic new deck for Standard that brought him home the trophy in Wisconsin, as well as scoring Top 4 berths for the other two players piloting it. Get the inside scoop on how to build and play the deck, as well as a bit of legal theory on the side.
Flores identifies a pernicious type of error most likely to affect strong players, draws up some illustrative anecdotes from his Champs and Pro Tour LA matches, and sprinkles the whole thing with a generous heap of cryptic initials.
Fresh off his 4th place finish at Pro Tour Los Angeles, Chris “Star Wars Kid” McDaniel returns to discuss the powerful Heatbeat Combo deck, recap his entire Pro Tour experience and offer his perspective on the controversial semifinals match against Billy Moreno!
No Stick is one of the best control decks available to anyone trying to qualify this PTQ season. This deck list has a number of changes from Arita’s PT: LA list, but it’s tested very well. In addition, this version has already qualified my friend Max McCall (T8 GP Seattle), who used it to win a PTQ last weekend. In other words, this deck is simply amazing.
So you want the list? Sure. Here’s Silvestri Scepter. Copying Flores deck names for the win!
This will be the actual best report written about GP: Nottingham. Yes, I do dare to say that. The article you are reading now just has all the good stuff you were waiting for in part 1: an epic competitor’s story, the stories of not one, but two DQs at the GP, photos of your Magic heros in compromising situations…
Gadiel dissects the many Extended archetypes seen at Pro Tour Los Angeles, then follows it up with his recommendation for the current PTQ season.
Pro Tour Los Angeles showed just how great the new Extended format can be, with rogue decks and old favorites duking it out for the title of best deck and $200,000 in cash and prizes. However, there is a ton of information out there to sift through, so where do you even start? I’m here to throw you a lifeline in this sea of information and give you the insider scoop on what the coverage staff saw at this past weekend’s Pro Tour, including news on the controversial semifinals, good decks that flew under the radar, and what you should and should not play in the upcoming PTQ season.
For three years, Vintage was in a perpetual state of expansion. Every other month a new deck emerged that seemed to shake up the format. The first half of 2005 was no exception. Uba Stax, Gifts, and a plethora of new Mana Drain decks emerged as contenders in a constantly fluctuating field. Vial Fish briefly surfaced as a great metagame deck and Oath has been in a constant state of revision. However, several things have noticably affected Vintage in recent months…
This was meant to be a series of articles leading up to my trip to Worlds in about one month’s time. A little a bit about Standard, a touch of Draft and maybe even a bit-sized portion of Extended, but no. Now it’s a freakin’ tournament report about how I won my champs with some silly Black/Green/White aggro deck. What can I say?
Flores overcomes the “bad player” label (however briefly) to make the finals of the New York State Championships, where Flores-designed decks utterly dominated. It sounds like one of Mike’s wet dreams, but for once it’s reality. If you want to know the updated build of two of the strongest decks in the new Standard metagame, check inside.
Far be it from me to say that Wizards doesn’t know what it’s doing, but sometimes people like to play with cards from a different set. A non-existent set, to be fair, but no less fun for its lack of mass production or corporeal presence. A bunch of us were sitting around one day, drafting Cube/Champs block, and having a fun, although pedantic time. “What if”, someone suggested, “We draft with cards the players made? What if everyone creates cards for a draft, and then we draft them? Wouldn’t that be a fun time?”
Yes it would.
