When some alien race, say thirty or forty thousand years down the road, happens upon the charred cinder in space that used to be Earth – I think they might find an epitaph that tells a similar tale. A nearly blank tombstone standing in the middle of what used to be New York, or Mexico City, or Delhi. Just one line engraved in an otherwise featureless marble column.
“Just an upgrade.”
I’ve come to the conclusion that Goblins are terrible. They must be! Almost everyone I talk to plays a deck that crushes the Little Red Men. A deck that goes no worse than 70/30 against the marauding mono-coloured menace.
In a field in which Goblins are rightly feared, it seems everyone is gunning for them. Everyone has that special build, that ultra tech… Which ensures that a quick red rush has no chance of succeeding. Right?
Some of you may be thinking of tearing up cards that go to the graveyard, but that’s not what I’m talking about – that’s a different”Ironman.” This was an equally crazed version of normal Magic: Five-hundred card decks of all five colors, ten card hands and a hundred life, played at a table with as many opponents as you could find. And one more thing: Every single card, basic lands excepted, was restricted.
The Legions pack is a veritable treasure trove for the U/R drafter, and even with several U/W mages at the table, you can still clean up on quality U/R cards. Enemy mages will be grabbing Stingers and Deftblade Elites, and you should happily let them. With Echo Tracer, Willbender, Wall of Deceit, Keeneye Aven, and Mistform Seaswift all ripe for the plucking, you’re the real kid in this cardboard candy store. After a while, the cracking of pack two might start to trigger an almost Pavlovian response.
So you’ve got forty-five cards, thanks to my advice on how to pick them in this article. Some are bombs, some are solid, some are last-pick garbage. Now, what do you do to put them together?
I recently received this e-mail from Grand Prix Atlanta Organizer, Anthony Edwards. He asked that I try to help spread the word. Well… consider it spread!
Speaking of Grand Prix Atlanta, be sure to visit StarCityGames.com for LIVE COVERAGE of this monumental event… courtesy of The Ferrett, Ben Bleiweiss, Ted Knutson and the rest of the StarCityGames.com Event Coverage Team!
NEW! Level III judge and StarCityGames.com rules guru, Sheldon Menery, has been confirmed as Head Judge of Grand Prix Atlanta!
The Onslaught pack is where you build your foundation. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Lavamancer’s Skills were a dime a dozen, this is where you’d turn when you wanted to feed your U/R deck some gas. Well, the more things change, the more things stay the same; many of the most powerful cards in the U/R archetype are to be found here. Though Onslaught cards have been done to death with regards to pick orders and analysis, you’ll still want to pay close attention here. OLS is a strange new world, and the Onslaught pack is your doorway into it. You have to study up before it gets slammed in your face.
The goal of the deck is to get enough mana to cast Insurrection and Day of the Dragons in the same turn. Win or lose, people are impressed by this deck – or at least, the sheer audacity of running a four-color deck based around a fifteen-mana combo. It has no real creature removal, no counters, no disruption… Just pure, solid, combo-assembling fun.
You might remember passing notes from the coverage about how Randy Buehler and some other people passed by the Type I Championships and watched a few matches. Players reported, however, that they weren’t just watching idly. Rumor is some serious talking was done. Something about… Updating the Restricted list?
When I saw a fifty – fifty! – page article cross my desk, I knew that once again Geordie Tait had come through in spades. And if you want the most utterly-exhausting guide to drafting an archetype people once thought dead, Geordie will provide. Tomorrow, he’ll be discussing the Onslaught picks – but if you want to know how and when to go U/R, he tells you in intensely loving detail that reads like a”Dummies” book.
Anthony Alongi considers Lifeline to be a pretty stupid multiplayer card; he’s right in many ways. Lifeline is pretty close to a mistake. It is way too easy to abuse. If you play a Lifeline deck, have fun – because your opponents won’t.
The OnBC round of qualifiers is underway… and StarCityGames.com is your one-stop source for the latest information!
[The Internet’s Most Extensive Onslaught Block Tech Center!]
[Discuss Onslaught Block Constructed in the StarCityGames.com Forums!]
What do Gerard Fabiano, Ed Fear, and most of the Magic-playing community at large have in common? By and large, they have terrible mulliganning habits. I don’t do a lot of things in this game perfectly, but one thing I feel I am awesome at is the Paris Mulligan – so let me show you three guidelines on when to throw back and when to keep, and give you solid examples from both Limited and Constructed games.
I’ve been following the procession of articles on how to abuse Mind’s Desire in the current Extended format just in time for Worlds, and the question that keeps coming to mind is: How can people honestly expect to play silly tricks with Snap and Cloud of Faeries and expect the resulting deck to be good?
Not long after our game was born,
When aggressive decks were looked upon with scorn,
The great Dave P sang of Goblin Might,
And you’ve got to admit – The Price was Right.
But the Day of the Goblins has long since gone,
The slow train of ‘progress’ keeps rumbling on…
Then it pulled to the station of Onslaught Block,
And I’m pleased to report that the Goblins rock.
