Thursday, December 25th – I know some of my readers get amused at how often I get up on my soapbox about various issues I have with the current state of Magic. A lot of it seems to boil down to 1) Blue is too powerful and 2) Green gets the shaft. Yeah, yeah, we’ve certainly heard that before, ho-hum, next please…
Thursday, December 25th – I like theory as much as the next person. I think there’s a lot of important theory, especially in casual land. Where most players and writers investigate the theory of duels and metagames and sideboarding and tournaments, very few explore the theory of multiplayer. That’s a shame, because casual and multiplayer is more complex than duels so, frankly, it needs even more theorists.
Thursday, December 25th – I play (and follow) five Constructed formats on MTGO: Standard, Extended, Classic, Singleton, and Pauper. I have been toying with the idea of paying to play – in other words, entering tournaments in the formats. That got me wondering whether my decks were competitive, and whether – even if my deck was competitive – whether I could play with the masters of these formats. Are there really Masters of the formats? Time to do some digging.
Wednesday, December 24th – In today’s MTGCast, there’s news on updates regarding 11th Edition, and other tidbits from the Magic round-table held at Worlds 2008. There’s also talk of rumored Conflux cards…
Wednesday, December 24th – Tales from both sides of the curtain abound as Rich continues his inside look at Worlds 2008. Players, pizza, press, Draft weirdness and more, all in a festive bundle of joy… enjoy!
Wednesday, December 24th – The Patrick Chapin/Manuel Bucher Standard list that several people ran to several solid finishes at Worlds is one of the most perfectly-tuned decks in history, one of the single most unfair-feeling and is-everyone-else-really-playing-the-same-format-as-me-seeming machines I have ever touched…
Tuesday, December 23rd – While doing the research for last week’s article, Dave was stunned (stunned!) by the number of Shards rares that were just lingering around in the dollar bin. This week, he picks up a couple to run with.
Tuesday, December 23rd – Now that Worlds has ended we have a solid grasp of what the new Extended format is shaping up to be. Let’s start by looking at the breakdown of decks that went 4-2 or better on Day 3… and heck, let’s add in the top eight of the Worlds PTQ.
Monday, December 22nd – In this week’s installment of The Magic Sock, there’s talk on Worlds, on the Conflux Fat Pack, and much more!
Monday, December 22nd – I’ve been bombarded with a variation of one question all week: “What do you think of Zac Hill’s article?” Zac’s article, “Sealed Redux, and a Little Bit of “Judge!”” lit a firestorm of discussion and controversy that followed me all over the Internet, where I’ve had e-mail exchanges, PM exchanged, IM chats, IRC discussions, and even a Facebook chat on the subject…
Monday, December 22nd – Urza and Invasion Block have so many casual gems that it’s going to take three articles to find all of the cheap, effective cards you can use to devastate your local multiplayer group! Here’s the middle installment, just in time for Christmas – and a poll to see how much further we should go!
Friday, December 19th – Throughout the history of Magic, there have been a lot of special collections of cards that have been packaged and sold, not in random boosters or starters, but in set amounts. We’ve seen preconstructed decks and gift sets, From the Vault: Dragons and Portal Starters. From learning the game to getting your hands wet with mechanics old and new, WoTC has regularly printed materials that are non-random ways of purchasing cads.
Friday, December 19th – While there are some few PTQs left featuring Sealed Deck and Draft as their key component, getting an advanced look at the upcoming Extended format is the attraction of the hour, as we ponder whether there will be a banning or if everything we need to know about the next PTQ format is already right in front of us.
Thursday. December 18th – Last weekend was Worlds. Unfortunately, I got to experience it the way most of the rest of us did – remotely. On the plus side, I played a bunch of Magic Online and watched the coverage. It was a nice snowy weekend, with dogs, a fire in the fireplace, and online release events. It almost made up for not being there.
Thursday, December 18th – So what did you think of Worlds? I know Wizards goes out of its way to promote the personalities on the Pro Tour, but honestly I was much more interested to see what the Pros did to further define the new Standard and Extended formats. Standard to see what netdeckers might be bringing to Friday Night Magic, and Extended to figure out what deck to play at the local PTQ in January.
