Tuesday, January 26th – I want to talk about Extended today, specifically Hypergenesis. In preparation for Grand Prix: Oakland and the PTQ season, we’re getting down to testing and tweaking decks. I decided to take a look at Hypergenesis and see exactly what people were playing…
Tuesday, January 26th – Extended is probably the best format in Magic at the moment, offering tons of diverse archetypes that are all playable and powerful. Top 8s across the country have offered tons of ideas for new archetypes, as well as exciting twists on old ones…
Friday, January 22nd – I woke up on the Friday morning before the Chicago PTQ still undecided on what deck I wanted to play. On the drive back from the Indy PTQ, I had talked up the positive sides of playing Martyr to my friend, who was looking for a deck that had good matchups against a field of Scapeshift and Zoo…
Thursday, January 21st – The Extended PTQ season is upon us, and we finally have enough data to do some analysis. I break down the PTQs, online and off, as well as the MTGO tournaments that might help define the upcoming metagame. I’ll finish with some decklists that you may have overlooked.
Thursday, January 21st – While Cedric is a purveyor of the weenie aggro strategy, he is not averse to playing Blue deck if they’ve proved themselves to be significantly stronger that their format counterparts. According to Ced, Thopter Foundry Combo is one such dominant deck. He takes us through his initial builds of the strategy, and presents us with a tweaked list that has seen some success…
Wednesday, January 20th – With the rotation of Wirewood Symbiote, Wirewood Hivemaster, and Birchlore Rangers, many set the Elves deck aside. Like a good story retold slightly worse, an elf deck appeared on the Standard scene after M10’s release which had pieces of the Berlin deck. But, with the rotation of Lorwyn block, it vanished…
Wednesday, January 20th – Extended is packed with unfair decks. There are 20/20 guys on turn 2, seemingly infinite flyer/lifegain combos, one-card land-fueled combo decks, and much more. Kyle Sanchez, however, believes in the power of mid-range fairness. He shares his latest Extended Bant list inside!
Monday, January 18th – As most of you know, I’ve advocated Zoo as one of the best decks in Extended since I think it is both versatile and aggressive. These two qualities combine to apply a ton of pressure to the sluggish combo and control decks of the format, forcing them to attempt to go off too early, or find answers before you nail the coffin shut.
Monday, January 18th – Extended PTQs are in full swing, and Patrick Chapin provides the latest metagame statistics! Channeling the great Frank Karsten, Patrick takes a detailed look at the tournament results so far, and creates a breakdown of the Winner’s Metagame. This is a fantastic article for anyone serious about cracking into Pro Tour play.
Friday, January 15th – My friend Charles and I decided to take the trek down to the Indy PTQ this past Sunday and, while I would love to regale you with tales of epic comebacks or one-sided slaughters, that unfortunately was not the case. There were a few points of interest that came up from this weekend, but first here’s the deck that I chose to run…
Thursday, January 14th – The Extended PTQ season continues apace, and deck builders worldwide are looking for the elusive strategy that can bring home the blue envelope. Fan Favorite Gerard Fabiano believes he has found such a strategy, and he spills the beans inside…
Thursday, January 14th – The current Extended format is proving to be full of interesting decks and strategies. Adrian Sullivan decided that the format needed one more, and brewed up an intriguing Black/Red Scepter-Ascension deck, powering through a PTQ field on the way to a Top 4 result. Today, he discusses the genesis of the deck.
Wednesday, January 13th – With Extended in full swing, I think it’s a good time to start examining the existing archetypes of the format. Today, I want to look at the different builds of Zoo that exist, how each differs in its game plan, possible keys to look for in both the new set, and possibly old favorites.
Wednesday, January 13th – While all along I had expected to have an additional week to playtest Extended before I played in my first PTQ of the season, it has come to my attention that I will be attending the PTQ in Chicago in just a few days. That being said, I need a deck – and fast.
Tuesday, January 12th – Cedric Phillips, purveyor of the linear aggro strategies, has something to say about Extended it all its glory. While there are many decks that he believes are below par, the rarefied air of a healthy Constructed format is enough to get his creative juices flowing…
