Wednesday, June 2nd – Gerry Thompson built the Naya aggro deck that stormed U.S. National Qualifiers. Recognizing that Vengevine is completely insane against Jund and U/W control decks, Gerry built an aggressive deck designed such that Bloodbraid Elf cascades nearly always triggered Vengevine. Then he added the combination of Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar to fight other creature-based strategies.
Wednesday, June 2nd – Gerry Thompson rocked into Puerto Rico a day late without a deck to call his own, and then cruised into Day 2 play on the back of a deck he thought was terrible. Nevertheless, the fun times and good beats he had make compelling reading.
Wednesday, June 2nd – Not surprisingly, Standard is the hot topic right now in competitive Magic. Although I don’t feel as though there is a lot more to be said about this format that hasn’t already been said, it wouldn’t hurt to discuss the decks in Standard post-GP: DC and pinpoint the direction things are going. I’ve always said that playing the right deck for any given event is probably the biggest edge you can give yourself, so let’s get right to it.
Tuesday, June 1st – I’ve often dreamed of an EDH Invitational. Maybe someday, we will even make it a reality. Until then, we’ll play it out in our heads. For an EDH Invitational, I would invite 16 players, and play in four pods of four, probably in some kind of round-robin fashion, giving everyone the opportunity to play with as many others as possible…
Tuesday, June 1st – Ingrid, my wife, was head judge of Grand Prix: D.C. I was also judging. This gave me a fairly unique perspective on the largest North American event ever held.
Tuesday, June 1st – Going into Pro Tour: San Juan, Kyle Boggemes was unsure of what to play. After a few mock tournaments, he was ready, but he sadly failed to capitalize on his excellent performance at Grand Prix: Washington. Today, he shares stories from both his preparation and the tournament, including his decklist and sideboarding guide.
Tuesday, June 1st – Now back to testing Standard with Rise of the Eldrazi, Antoine enlists the help of his brother Oli to thrash out the details of the Mythic Conscription versus Time Sieve matchup. Today, Antoine presents the match from the perspective of the creature deck. Who will be victorious?
Tuesday, June 1st – Hello all, and welcome to the column dedicated to the casual player in all of us. Today I want to do something that a few other writers have already done, and I don’t care, because it seems like a cool idea. I have purchased a Deckbuilder’s Toolkit and will open the cards, tell you what they are, and then build a multiplayer deck.
Monday, May 31st – The first of many questions that may arise when one looks at my list is “No Siege-Gang Commander?†While Siege-Gang may be the five-drop of choice for any deck packing a significant amount of Red, I’m not really convinced that it is head and shoulders above the Malakir Bloodwitch which is taking its place now.
Monday, May 31st – In this reflective article, Stephen Menendian examines the future of our great game, and considers the average age of a Magic player in particular. While the current push is towards Player Recruitment, is that the best way to ensure Magic’s long-term success?
Monday, May 31st – Vintage Champs 2010 is two months away, so this seems like a reasonable time to catch up with the current state of the format. I get a lot of emails about various decks; most of my time playing and testing Vintage lately has had to do with Noble Fish, MUD, Oath of Druids, and Dredge, so I’m going to give you some updated versions of all of those decks today.
Monday, May 31st – King of Fatties Jamie Wakefield continues his quest to qualify for the Pro Tour with a Mono Green deck of his own devising. Recent results have proved very promising… but are these wins mere anomalies, or do they signify an upturn in his beatdown fortunes? [Editor’s Note – Patrick Chapin will be here later this week!]
Monday, May 31st – Hello everybody! I’ve got a kick ass spoiler of the list from the Archenemy deck “Scorch The World With Dragonfire.” Check out the list, and the wacky / campy names of the Scheme Cards inside!
Monday, May 31st – Doomsday has always been at the fringes of Legacy, setting up precise Storm combo stacks and killing opponents with Tendrils of Agony. It retains standard storm kills with Ill-Gotten Gains and Infernal Tutors, giving it more flexibility. Now, thanks to Doomsday’s library thinning effect, players can trigger Shelldock Isle easily to cast a giant spell. What giant spell would be worthwhile to cast in Legacy? What about Emrakul, the Aeons Torn! Check out this week’s article to see how to get giant monsters and lethal storm counts in Magic’s best format!
Friday, May 28th – While a collection of top pros opted for Next Level Bant, courtesy of Patrick Chapin, at the recent Grand Prix in Washington, Raphael Levy teamed up with Kazuya Mitamura to create a solid non-Conscription Mythic Bant build. Raph supplies strategy, advice, an sideboarding options today!
