The Ferrett drove seven hours to go to the opening of the new Star City Game center, and discovered something so wonderful that he’d gush about it even if he wasn’t employed by StarCityGames.com! But while he was there, he got in a pair of drafts where he got a crap deck and a good deck, and won with the wrong one.
We’re going to take a dance through some old decks — casual decks — and see what the transition has brought. Now, there are going to be a lot of articles like this in the coming months. Untested, undeveloped, casual decks, that are basically all just showing the really aware what not to do. For the rest of us, there’s still some good to it, because how we’re going to screw up is as important as what we’re going to get right.
Time Spiral has brought back a lot of old cards. Some had a glorious past. Some had flashes of greatness. Some are, well, Squire. We’ll ignore Squire, and look at the tournament history of the other Timeshifted cards instead. The question, of course, is whether any of these are going to make a comeback at States, or in Extended this fall.
This upcoming weekend is the last weekend before the most of the major State Championships, and I have heard of several places that will be running unsanctioned post-Time Spiral Standard tournaments as a State Championships “warm-up”… So talking about what I have seen developing in recent weeks seems like an interesting way to have a good jam session talking about Standard and riffing on what overarching trends are developing. That said, let’s introduce you to an unlikely candidate for “The most influential land in Standard…”
I present to you, dear reader, five U/x control decks, and I ask you to consider them and perhaps comment on them in the forums. I know that they’re not all Tier 1, but each of them has a different intent and focuses on a different area of Blue-style control. Take a look, see what you think, and get to work controlling your games!
Back in the day, we used White Out to fuel Stormbind. Then we used Squee, Goblin Nabob. But what oh what can we use to fuel Stormbind for fun decks everywhere? Bennie has an answer!
Now that no one’s talking about Prismatic much, I figured it was time to give the format a shot. I’d dabbled in Prismatic before, and found myself really frustrated. Initial forays into Prismatic Magic were stymied quickly by the presence of opposing power, and the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. So let’s run down a quick check for the impediments for the casual Prismatic player…
Being a Magic antediluvian has some advantages beyond gray hairs and worrying about Alzheimer’s. I’ve actually enthusiastically shuffled up some of these cards the first time around and can give you some ideas that you may find helpful. I won’t bother with the newer cards, since I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that Akroma and Call of the Herd are awesome. So, on with the Purple traipse through time…
Abe has bravely stepped to the plate… the King of Casual up against a Pro Tour Winner? Can he win this one? With the deck he’s chosen to pilot, he has more than a fighting chance…
Jeroen has a secret… He loves swinging with men. Big men, small men… He loves them all. Today, he faces off against the King of the Kitchen Table, Abe Sargent. Will the Pro Tour veteran prevail?
Being a Magic antediluvian has some advantages beyond gray hairs and worrying about Alzheimer’s. I’ve actually enthusiastically shuffled up some of these cards the first time around and can give you some ideas that you may find helpful. I won’t bother with the newer cards, since I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that Akroma and Call of the Herd are awesome. So, on with the Purple traipse through time…
Timeshift has brought back a lot of old cards. Some of these are jokes (Squire), some are bombs (does anyone not immediately put Akroma here?) and some are more marginal. I want to look at the Timeshifted cards that have seen play in Tier 1 decks in their day, and look at whether these cards can do it again. Times have changed – but have they changed enough?
Evan continues his excellent series of video articles. This edition sees Mr Erwin wax lyrical over his pet Rakdos deck, and provide a list for the ever-popular Zoo archetype.
Blisterguy takes a break from examining the online metagame to bring us some of the possible runners and riders for the Champs tournaments that loom on the horizon. He also brings us his deck of choice for the coming fight… if he doesn’t change his mind at the eleventh hour.
R&D needs to sit down and ask themselves if they’re keeping the promise they gave us to scale Blue down to the levels of the more mortal colors… because I don’t think they’re doing it. Blue looks like it’s about to hit a Golden Age.
