The Main Phase – Almost: A Regionals Story
Tuesday, June 10th – Like so many of you, I participated in a Regional Championship this past weekend. My personal story takes place in Columbus, Ohio this past Saturday morning…
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Removed From Game – Disappointment
Tuesday, June 10th – Once again it’s time to dip into the travel itinerary of the bouncing Brit, as Rich takes us from 371st all the way up to the lofty heights of 200th at Pro Tour: Hollywood. Readers should be aware that this article contains jokes that may contravene their Human Rights.
Deconstructing Constructed – Block Control With a Side of Rants
Tuesday, June 10th – Today will be a bit of a mixed bag. I’ll be going over some rants on Regionals, the so-called announcement of new restricted list in Vintage, and then Lorwyn Block Constructed control decks. Let’s get started!
Unlocking Legacy – VoroshStill and the Philosophy of the Ban List
Monday, June 9th – The new banned and restricted list announcement shook up Vintage but left Legacy unscathed. Kevin looks at the philosophy of the banning arguments, and asks readers to take another look at a Legacy deck.
The Riki Rules – Don’t Lie To Me
Monday, June 9th – In my first hour on duty with Public Events (formerly Side Events), I saw a bunch of wacky things happen. One of them resulted in a DQ for Cheating-Fraud. Since I was busy with one of the other odd happenings, I only caught bits and pieces of this one from separate judges and players, but it basically amounted to this…
Magical Hack – Hacking Regionals: Perception Versus Reality
Friday, June 6th – With Regionals knocking on our doorstep here in the United States, ours will be the opportunity to take the Standard format as it played out in Hollywood and put it through its next iteration of the metagame. Decks come and decks go, but the song remains the same… last weekend’s tournament results are this weekend’s Decks to Beat, and the Deck to Beat is not always the Deck to Play.
The Magic Show #99 – Pro Tour: Hollywood Part 2
Friday, June 6th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. As we head into the home stretch regarding Hollywood content, we discuss the importance of testing, R&D’s thoughts on the design and development of Bitterblossom, check out the Chapin Cam, and talk with the Pro Tour: Hollywood champion, Charles Gindy.
The Kitchen Table #236 – The Casual Toolkit: Creature Removal
Thursday, June 5th – Today, I am writing a sequel to my previous casual toolkit article that talked about countermagic. In this article, I intend to give you kind folks a chance to see different sorts of creature removal.
Tribal Thriftiness #26 – TT Goes Mythic
Thursday, June 5th – Big news was announced on June 1st – the creation of the mythic rare. Will mythic rares bring in new players? Or is Wizards hoping to sell more packs as people search for the elusive Secret Ghost Mirror Rares?
Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #229 – Is MTGO Magic Done Right?
Thursday, June 5th – I don’t have any useful Regionals tech. Sorry. Instead, I want to hit a couple of topics. Many of these will be controversial – but Green versus Blue will not be among them. Promise. Instead, I will talk about conclusions from Pro Tour: Hollywood, MTGO’s drafts, chess clocks and lack of intentional draws, and the new Mythic Rarity.
You Lika The Juice? – Gilt & Consistency
Wednesday, June 4th – When I was asking various friends what I should play for the Star City $5K, Adrian Sullivan and Ben Bleiweiss both told me I should play Green/Black Elves. Green/Black Elves?! How boring!! That archetype has been out there kicking around since Lorwyn was released, and I’m always drawn to the shiny and new.
Chatter of the Squirrel – The Reveillark Fallacy, and the Application of Theory in Standard Pro Tours
Wednesday, June 4th – I’m not known for my Regionals technology, since I’m notorious for hating Standard. Nevertheless, I can guarantee you that your chances for qualifying for Nats will demonstrably improve as a result of reading this article. Why? Because for the last week, the internet has been awash with a deluge of disinformation, leading to a series of terribly-misinformed but oft-repeated quote enlightened unquote conclusions about the “true†state of Standard in the Pro Tour’s wide-cast wake.
The Riki Rules – Lights, Camera, Judge!
Tuesday, June 3rd – Statistically speaking, it’s safe to say that most of you have never played in a Pro Tour. Even more likely, very few of you have judged in a PT. I’ve never done the former, but now that I’ve joined the ranks of the latter, boy do I have stories to tell. I’ve been telling people that judging Pro Tour: Hollywood was the best weekend of my life. That’s a tall claim, and for it to be true it either means I’ve led a boring life or the PT was that damn awesome
Removed From Game – There and Back Again
Tuesday, June 3rd – How dare Rich Hagon not submit an article last week? Who does he think he is? And where does he think he is? Turns out he answers that last one quite extensively, taking us on a guided tour of Seattle en route for the latest Pro Tour. Scatalogical humor abounds in this latest down and dirty piece from the man with more words per minute than anyone on the PT.
Deconstructing Constructed – Grand Prix Lessons
Tuesday, June 3rd – Grand Prix: Birmingham is now done. Shock of shocks, Kithkin and Faeries took the top two slots, and both featured three copies respectively in the Top 8, joined only by Raphael Levy’s Elemental control and Manuel Bucher’s Command control deck. These results are basically in-line with what a number of people thought might happen at this Grand Prix considering the short break from Pro Tour: Hollywood for this new format.