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Autopsy Of A Draft: Who Won This Draft, And Why?

Drafts containing lower-level players play by a different set of rules than those that take place at Pro Tours and Grand Prixs. I wanted to dissect an amateur draft and try to work out exactly where certain players went wrong. Not top-level drafts – but drafts with players of varying skill, such as those you may take part in at your local store or on Magic Online. In order to do this, I had to talk to the players after the draft and find out what decisions they made and how they affected the draft. Hopefully, the results are worth it; they certainly opened my eyes to a few things.

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Magic Art Matters: U/G Madness!

Regardless of whether you chose to run U/G yourself, you are going to see a boatload of Wild Mongrels that first Saturday in May; many Wonders will be pitched and there will be numerous flying Wurms, of both the Arrogant and Roaring variety. So why not take a closer look at the art on the core cards, and let your right brain take over for a bit?

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Back to Basics #4: Recounting Card Advantage

I wrote last week’s Back to Basics column because I thought I had to clarify a concept discussed in the previous week’s column. Now, it turns out that I have to clarify the clarification, and people ribbed me that the beginner’s article still went over the beginner’s heads.

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Eliminate The Lifers!

I have no quarrel with people who throw around twenty-point Drain Lifes or someone who triple-Spirit Links their Exalted Angels. These may be examples of sick, disgusting excess – but at least these people are advancing the game state. They are actually doing damage, not hiding behind unassailable walls and gaining life for the pure sake of gaining life. Well, friends, I want to say that I have the cure for this never-attacking, death-by-boredom madness…. And it’s something I work with every day.

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Mixed kNuts: Choose My Regionals Deck!

Ted’s contest has been screwed by random circumstance twice – once by getting it in just a little too late for a Friday posting, and once by the technical problems we were having yesterday morning. So let’s try this again: HELP TED SELECT THE DECK HE’LL PLAY AT REGIONALS AND WIN A FOIL!

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Now Open! 8th Edition Core Set Tracking Center!

It’s the 8th Edition Core Set Spoiler List… once again, courtesy of the MTGNews.com Rumor Mill


[PRE-ORDER 8TH EDITION CORE SET FOR AS LITTLE AS $64.99 PER BOX!]

[DISCUSS 8th EDITION CORE SET IN THE STARCITYGAMES.COM FORUMS!]

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Understanding In A MODO Crash: The Minimums

How many cyclers do you need to run Astral Slide in the maindeck… And how many do you need to make it a good deck? What are the minimum number of soldiers you need before you can reliably use Piety Charm? How many birds must you have before you can play Airborne Ai – okay, that was a trick question. But if you wanna know the bare minimums before you can start putting tribal cards and Peer Pressures in your decks, start here – oh, and I’ll give you ten hints as to how NOT to name your team so you don’t sound lame.

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Now Open! Scourge Tracking Center!


With considerable help from our friends at the MTGNews.com Rumor Mill, we’ve assembled a partial Scourge Spoiler! Know something we don’t?
Drop some knowledge on us!

[PRE-ORDER SCOURGE FOR AS LITTLE AS $64.99 PER BOX!]

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Bowling For Regionals: The Successful Rogues

Going through the deck database, I also ran across some distinctly”rogue” builds that qualified some enterprising players who dared to turn their back on netdecking and go their own way. I thought I’d present the decks that I found particularly fun.

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Why You Should Start Up A Casual Night At YOUR Store!

Pete Hoefling has been running StarCityGames.com successfully for years – even before it was a world-class website. He’s made a lot of great decisions and has truly had a positive impact on Magic as a whole. And just this past weekend, Pete started up a new format called”Casual Magic,” and it’s a combination of tournament and casual Magic that has been getting casual players old and new out to play together.

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The Rogue Deck For Regionals: Elvish Succession!

In addition to being incredibly fun to play, Elvish Succession is a very powerful deck. I’ve had better results with this deck than any other deck I’ve tested in the current Standard. If I were playing in Regionals, this would be the deck I would play. And what do I mean by fun and powerful? I mean drawing your deck as early at turn 4, having infinite mana, gaining infinite life, having infinitely-large Husks, Elves, and Fallen Angels, creating infinite bear and insect tokens, and rebuilding your library into all creatures whenever you like.

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Back to Basics #3: Counting Card Advantage

Magic has a small number of fundamental rules: One land per turn, one attack phase per turn, a certain maximum power-to-mana ratio for creatures, and one card drawn per turn. Breaking this last rule – one card per turn – is one of the most basic yet most powerful strategies in the game.

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Walk With Me, But Be Sure To Tie Your Shoelaces

I was at least respectable enough to play Magic Online for free for almost five months; take that for what it is, but I felt it was time to write a draft walkthrough. But I don’t know about you, my gentle readers, but I learn an awful lot more when I lose a draft than when I win one. So let me analyze my bad picks in exquisite detail so you can avoid my mistakes and possibly learn from them.

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Winning The Kentucky Open With U/G Madness

I could spice up the story by saying that I prayed to the almighty and dropped a flying elbow on my deck, but I just calmly flipped the top card of my deck onto the table… And it was Upheaval. So I played my land, and ended with a hand of five lands and Wild Mongrel. Her board didn’t have any early drops – just Arrogant Wurm, Wonder and Equilibrium, and her next two draws didn’t reveal a chump blocker. I realized that I no longer had the right to complain about any topdeck ever.

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Mining the Crystal Quarry: Counter This!

I met jeers of”you suck” and”You have no skill.” People were furious, ready to slap me across the face, fuming in frustration. I definitely felt unwelcome, and I wanted to leave as quickly as possible to avoid any confrontation or possible problems. People were screaming, angry. All because I tapped two Islands, played a card and said,”No.”

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