Thursday, May 27th – I registered a Jund list for the first grinder that was much like my Regionals list but featured more Sarkhans and more removal in the sideboard (Mythic was everywhere in the grinders). My first round mirror match went to a third game, but his deck had Lotus Cobra and by the time I was able to play my first spell he already had four creatures in play. Not surprisingly, I lost that one and packed it up.
Thursday, May 27th – It seems as though every few weeks someone goes on a brief rant about mythic rarity, and how the high prices of chase mythics is killing Magic. I wish to address that claim. In this article, I briefly summarize the literature that has been published concerning literature up to now. Then I address the primary complaints about mythics: that some cards are printed at mythic without “feeling” mythic, and that the secondary market value of some mythics is too high.
Thursday, May 27th – With the Pro Tour hours away, Rich brings you the beginnings of Block Constructed. It may seem as if the Pros have plucked extraordinary decklists out of thin air, but it’s a lot less arcane than that. Hard work, common sense, and a bit of method can take you a long way, even if you’ve never built a deck in your life. Grab a pen and paper, and take your first steps in Block Constructed.
Wednesday, May 26th – I’m a somewhat recent convert to the Church of Jund. I haven’t been on the bandwagon as long as some players. In fact, after last year’s StarCityGames.com Philadelphia Open, more than one local player shot- gunned onto Jund, one of which was Christian, my testing partner. He acquired a full boat of Maelstrom Pulses, and that was it. He was riding the Jund train until it derailed on him.
Wednesday, May 26th – If you’re preparing for this summer’s StarCityGames.com Legacy Open series (including the upcoming Philadelphia stop), Grand Prix: Columbus, and Legacy Champs 2010, it is absolutely essential that you frame your understanding of the format within the new order, as the format exists today. Let’s take a look at some of these decks, frame the new players in our understanding of the unfair decks in the format, and review some options the fair decks have available in their struggle to fight back.
Wednesday, May 26th – On this week’s edition of MTGCast, Tom talks about Archenemy, the StarCityGames.com Gazette, Grand Prix: Washington D.C. and much more!
Wednesday, May 26th – This week we’ll be diving right back into Standard with a Grand Prix: Washington D.C. tournament report, where I was ever-so-close to making Top 16 and qualifying for Amsterdam. The weeks leading up to the tournament were full of me testing both Standard and Block, cementing myself in Blue-White as long as I could get the cards for it.
Tuesday, May 25th – When you play Magic, you want to win. You can certainly hamstring your deck by playing bad cards or a 2000 card highlander deck or whatever. Still, the very playing of a game implies trying to win. It may not be the goal of playing – I’ve long talked about the goal of playing Magic is to socialize with others and spend times with your friends. You are playing a game, though, and that means you should at least put some effort into trying to win.
Tuesday, May 25th – As you’re reading this, I’m on a flight to San Juan for the Pro Tour, after having finished the final week of v.4 of the Armada Games EDH League, in which Emrakul makes a turn 4 appearance at Table 1. Read on…
Monday, May 24th – The five individuals I chose to talk Vintage with in this article are clearly five of the most revered Vintage card-slingers ever to answer this metaphorical ‘call of the wild’: Luis Scott Vargas, Paul Mastriano, Rich Shay, Stephen Menendian, and Tommy Kolowith.
Monday, May 24th – This week, Doug brings an interesting, original and innovative deck running Upheaval alongside some very old and powerful cards. Find out how to exploit the Stronghold classic Horn of Greed and how a Zendikar uncommon is the key to this Blue-Green deck that aims to reset the board two or three times in a game. You’ll see how the engine works, get rules information regarding how to utilize parts of the deck effectively, and suggested avenues for developing the deck in the future. Don’t miss this chance to read about how to use Upheaval, one of the most powerful cards in Magic, in one of the game’s most popular formats!
Monday, May 24th – Playtesting is overrated. How many Magic writers have penned down that phrase? None come to mind. But if you’ve ever spent time at a high level event, there’s a reason why you can see hundreds of pro levels worth of players running around to find a deck with less than 24 hours before a tournament – and how they can still do well at the event despite a last minute switch.
Friday, May 21st – Some of us were trying pretty hard to get a solid list together for Warp World, a deck I wrote about some weeks back. A funny thing happened when we first tried it out—it curb-stomped Jund like nobody’s business, over and over and over again. That’s a pretty good start for a rogue strategy!
Friday, May 21st – Inspired by his own article last week, Dave avoided the five-hundred-dollar decks and played a deck that cost under a hundred bucks at his Nationals Qualifier. How did he do? And is the deck viable going forward?
Friday, May 21st – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to be talking about Grand Prix: Washington D.C. (that I’ll be attending, live and in person), and the decks I expect to be everywhere at the event. Let’s go!
