If you’ve heard of The Art of War (the book, not the crappy Wesley Snipes movie), then I’m sure I’m not the first person to tell you that many of its lessons apply in all of life. As it went for turn-of-the-millennium Chinese war, so it goes in modern war, business, sports, romance… and, since this is a Magic strategy website, you can bet that it also applies to Magic.
I finally got out of the house on a Saturday and played actual, honest-to-goodness tournament Magic against real human beings who sat across from, beside, and diagonal to me. I wanted to commemorate this occasion with a tournament report worthy of our own Jamie Wakefield, King of the Fatties, Conqueror of Beautiful Women from Exotic Places and Exotic Women from Beautiful Places, Tournament Report Writer Extraordinaire. I will probably fail, but at least I’ll have tried.
You’ve got Liliana Vess in the car with you, this hot, demonic babe whom you can fool around with a little bit right off the bat and have some fun. Sadly, you can’t score right away… you’ve got to give Liliana what she wants, whisper sweet nothings (target player discards a card), tell her you love her (target player discards a card), buy her dinner (target player discards a card), get her some jewelry (target player discards a card), tell her that you’ll love her ‘til the end of time (target player discards a card).
A lot of players, many forum trolls, and some judges have a lot of misconceptions about what Magic judges are, and what their job is. I want to talk about that a little — about what a judge should do, and should not do. I’ll also look at issues like burden of proof and judicial certainty – and explain why they don’t apply to judging Magic. I’ll also throw out a couple scenarios, to illustrate how these principles apply.
In today’s only Charles Dickens reference here on StarCityGames.com, it’s time to go all Scrooge-like with Rich Hagon, as he starts to explore ways to get the best value out of your cards. Now’s your chance to learn all about Snooker Draft, Triple Sealed, The Joys Of Saturday, Hunger Pangs, and much more. It’s time to get More Bang For Your Buck.
Right now, the Vintage metagame is an odd anomaly when you look at it from a competitive point of view. On one hand, the best players are winning and making Top 8s at all the decent sized and major Vintage tournaments over the last few months. On the other hand, part of this is because a substantial chunk of the metagame is playing decks that don’t maximize their chances to win. I’m reasonably sure the only four decks that should be seeing play are GAT, Flash, Ichorid, and Stax.
I’m writing this article to promote a program I’ve written, called “MTG Forge,” that lets you play Magic against a computer opponent using all the rules of a real game. It’s really fun. Currently there are 400 cards available, and you can play in three modes: Constructed (all the cards), Sealed, or Draft.
[Editor’s Note: It’s a quiet time for Magic at the moment. Roll on Lorwyn, say I. In the meantime, here’s something a little different…]
When the word on Masters Edition finally broke out, I couldn’t believe it. An Online only expansion? Whoa. Masters Edition is an attempt by Wizards to give people a taste of the classics of yesteryear, but not too much of a taste so that it becomes an actual copy of the paper Legacy metagame.
Without a doubt, Tarmogoyf is the best creature in Legacy. Unsatisfied with current Threshold decks, Kevin presents several ideas on how to best use the Goyf. He also looks at ways to build around and play around Counterbalance.
Sportsmanship is a gray area in Magic. That’s because everyone has a different idea about what sporting play is. Take, for instance, use of headphones while you are playing. To me it’s a sign of disrespect, but others won’t think twice about it. You can just think about it in terms of game play… for instance, what if someone calls you on the cell phone and gives you advice? That’s clearly against the rules…
Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to take a look at the first new card type since the introduction of the game, my upcoming performance in Pro Tour: Valencia (yes, you read that right), and more. Let’s go! Warning: Contains Spoilers.
Now that we know that Lorwyn has a tribal theme, it seems like a solid idea to actually explore some tribal ideas and make some decks in homage to the new set. If Lorwyn really changes the nature of Tribal decks, then these might be the last old school tribal decks I will build for a while.
The sun is setting on Block Constructed season. The last tournament in my area was last weekend (I finished an unceremonious 2-1-2, after picking up a pair of draws with U/B Mystical Teachings). DragonCon’s website is a little confusing, but it doesn’t seem that they have any Magic tournaments this weekend, much less Block events. Grand Prix: Florence is next weekend, and then it truly will be over. For most of the Western Hemisphere it’s already time to move on to Lorwyn Block.
While I am often referred to as “Dr. Romeo“ in this column, I‘m not a doctor in the conventional sense of the word. I’m a doctor of jurisprudence. In other words, I just have the title of doctor, like Dr. Henry Kissinger with his Ph.D. from Harvard, or Dr. Dre with his degree in funkology. So, before writing this column I had little knowledge of the physiology and neurology of Zombies. I had to find out if Zombies dreamed…
Last weekend I had a chance to head judge the very last (at least locally) Valencia PTQ. I’ve got the Top 8 decklists (for those of you planning on playing the format on MTGO, I guess), plus one “how the hell can that be in contention” deck, and the mystery of the phantom judge. It’s the dog days of Magic writing, with only a handful of Lowryn cards released. Could be worse — I could be writing about how the Lowryn basic land artwork will impact Legacy.
