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.
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!
With the advent of the new deck database (which will be unveiled tomorrow), we can now:
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!
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?
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.
Also on the menu today is the latest from the Malaysian Sensation, Pro Tour: Nagoya semifinalist Terry Soh. In the past we’ve consistently featured articles that discuss taking cards that might be slightly lower in overall quality while passing your opponents multiples of cards in the same colors. Terry’s article today sets that theory on its head, as he explains exactly why you should always be taking the best card at the beginning of a draft. Once you’ve read both of the Premium articles today, tell us in the forums who you think got the better end of these two sometimes contradictory articles.
We’re trying something a little different today, as we bring you practical draft theory from two of the better drafters around. First on the menu today is the practical draft application section of Chad Ellis’s examination of Draft Archetypes, where Chad gives you a series of guidelines 99.9% guaranteed to improve your Limited game.
JP chimes in with his thoughts on Interactivity, the changing applications of Force of Will and Mana Drain, plus some words of advice for those of you attending all these giant, rocking Vintage tournaments coming up.
I am blown away by the improvements to Green since I have been gone. For you youngsters out there, Green was the color of sharing. Anything it got that might have been good was made horrible by the fact that it shared the benefit with your opponent. These days Green positively rocks.
If you’ve been around Rich Hoaen for any period of time, you’ll understand that he’s probably better known for his powers of flatuence than he is for his Magic play. This is in spite of the fact that he’s consistently one of the top Limited players in the world. Today you get the story of how he finished second at Grand Prix: Detroit and while you’re reading, feel free to count the number of his opponents that actually had no idea who this “Rich Hoaen” guy is.
Today’s primary focus is the last deck I worked on before I called it a day: Five-color Green control, with White as the secondary color. The goal as I’ve said before is to get the most of the good cards in the format that you can and sling the big spells to the best of your ability. This is at the very least a noble attempt to achieve that objective.
The reason I wanted to wait an extra week or so on describing the March data was to find some continuity between Trinisphere and post-Trinisphere metagames. Fortunately, the connection isn’t “games are over on turn 1”. The connection is Mana Drain. Any look at the March tournaments begs the question of what will now disappear from the Vintage metagame, and what will be playable that wasn’t before.
In his second-to-last article before the Pro Tour commences, Zvi takes a look at the various Hana Kami decks and searches for broken synergies with this seemingly innocent 1/1 spirit.
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.
