There’s been a lot going on lately, both with StarCityGames.com and with my personal life. Have I mentioned lately that I’m getting married in August? No? Well then, let me catch you up with all the latest goings on in both Bleiweissville and the land of StarCityGames.com!
In recent months, playtesting for Magic has become more and more difficult — moving in with a fiancee was one part of it, and moving an extra hour away from my would-be playtest partners was another. Faced with these conditions, there’s only one sane thing to do…
Quit? We seem to have differing views of sanity. Why, I moved online!
For a long time, Kevin Binswanger has pushed for traditional Blue-based control decks like BBS or Psychatog. Today he is ready to admit that he was wrong and talk about why Nimble Mongoose and Jotun Grunt are the future of the format.
In today’s Chatter of the Squirrel, Zac ponders the reasons behind our belief that we somehow “deserve” to win certain games, matchups, and tournaments. He denounces the “logic” behind such perverse conclusions, and posits the theory that, to truly excel at this game, one must ignore such idiocy to break through to the next level.
When it comes to Black mana, you can do anything… whispers the ferryman, If you but pay enough. Green is the color of resources, but Black… Black is the color of exploiting resources. Give me enough Black mana and I will tear this world apart, render it as a silver platter, and upon it, lay the heads of thy enemies.
Today we are going to take a look at a large highlander, Five-Color deck entitled The Essentials. As a highlander deck, this contraption cannot have more than one of each card except for basic lands. As a Five-Color deck, it abides by all of the rules of that format, including use of the banned list and a requirement to have at least twenty cards of each color.
It’s Release Week on Magic Online, and that means one thing… Planar Chaos Sealed Deck! In today’s Online Outlook I share four complete Release Week cardpools, and the decks I built. I’m looking for your input… come share your views in the forums!
I will be phrasing my Burning Issue in the form of a question, even though I am not on Jeopardy, and I will not give a definite answer once again. Last week, because I was looking for opinions, this week because I’m going to discuss the big, scary unknown. Shall we get started?
Very simply, my question is, “Could Armageddon be making a return in Tenth Edition?”
Josh takes a look at Ichorid in Vintage, and underlines a few principles from the current Extended format that could aid those looking to succeed in Magic’s most broken format. He also takes us through a Vintage Threshold build that substitutes power for options… has it the pedigree to affect the metagame?
With the Magic Online Planar Chaos Release Events in full swing, Mark takes time out to run through some rookie tips in regards to the mulligan. He takes us through the math behind the mulligan, and investigates some of the more esoteric reasons behind keeping or ditching our opening seven.
What is the best Extended deck ever played? How do current Tier 1 decks fare against the decks your grandparents played? We’re about to find out. It’s a single elimination tournament featuring 32 of the best Extended decks ever, going head to head.
Romeo makes with the Sarpadian Empires volume of Quick Hits, tackling a number of Magical and non-Magical topics in machine-gun fashion. He brings us a couple of new budget Standard decks, talks a little about his sometime-“Angry Man” persona, and gives us some much-missed cheesecake!
While we wait for the dust to settle from the first round of global Grand Prix, Rich Hagon takes a two-part look at deckbuilding for Time Spiral Block Constructed, starting from the very, very begining and going extremely slowly. Assume nothing, and join him on a ten-deck voyage of discovery through the nursery slopes of mono-color goodness, before throwing all decorum and good manners in the bin next time as he looks at decks that – gasp – might be good.
Morphs are not the most trustworthy fellows. They go parading around like Gray Ogres for a while and then all of the sudden… surprise! Before you know if you’ve lost a quarter of your life and you’re skipping your next untap step. Despite (or perhaps fact due to) their deceptive nature, though, morphs are a lot of fun to play. As you take on “Bad Beat” Phil this week, will your morph hordes be enough to overwhelm him, or are all your tricks for naught?
Bennie had high hopes for his Two-Headed Giant Champs this weekend… sadly, with a weak cardpool and some questionable play mistakes, the glory was out of reach. He shares his team’s decklists, and brings us an update on his Standard Deck of Choice: Green/Black Dredge!
