The Starkington Post – Weekly Digest
Tuesday, June 2nd – In the past seven days, The Starkington Post (Bill Stark’s daily Magic blog) has brought us extensive coverage from Grand Prix: Seattle, a look at some cool Magic tattoos, and more!
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Removed From Game – Pro Tour: Honolulu Preview
Tuesday, June 2nd – No time to waste, it’s the preview show for the biggest event of the year so far! While Pro Tour: Kyoto saw Standard action, this time around it’s Block Constructed, so only Shards of Alara, Conflux, and Alara Reborn are legal for play. As to the specifics of the format, they remain deliciously unclear…
Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #277 – Drafting Triple Reborn
Tuesday, June 2nd – Online, the Alara Reborn release events are allowing us to draft Shards / Conflux / Reborn, or triple Reborn. Since we have pros looking at the more normal formats, I decided to take a look at drafting pure gold. What works, what doesn’t, and what happens when you draft a whole lot of a small set (besides seeing visions of Reborn cards as you are falling asleep).
Insert Column Name Here – Pat Chapin, Multiplayer, and the Stages of Magic
Monday, June 1st – I recently had the pleasure of volunteering to edit Patrick Chapin’s new book, and reading Next Level Magic really illuminated some of the fundamentals of the game for me. I’ve been mulling over about how some of those principles they affect multiplayer Magic, and how the Stages of Magic explain why some of my decks win and others languish in the “loss” pile.
Innovations – Five-Color Blood: Sygg, the Missing Link
Monday, June 1st – At Grand Prix: Barcelona, the story was Swans. At Grand Prix: Seattle, aside from the resurgence of the Fae, everyone was talking about Five-Color Blood. Patrick shares his development tales on the deck that took Michael Jacob to the Top 8, talks about his personal record, and explains how the deck got over that final hurdle with the help of the dark half of Sygg…
Feature Article – Attacking a Metagame
Monday, June 1st – With Stephen Menendian taking a well-earned week off, Brian Kibler returns with a Feature Article examining the process behind attacking a metagame. Looking at the pre- and post-Regionals metagame awash with Tokens, he breaks down the popular successful decks and highlights exactly how they brought the good fight to their Token oppressors. Knowledge such as this is invaluable to any of us hoping to crack the metagame puzzles going forward.
Drafting With Olivier – Shards/Conflux/Reborn #4
Monday, June 1st – Hall of Famer Olivier Ruel takes us through an 8-4 draft queue on Magic Online. He shares some comprehensive thoughts about both the picks and the games, and talks us through each step of the way! If you’re looking to improve your Limited game, this is the article series for you!
Constructed Criticism – Constructed Chop Suey: Standard and Block
Monday, June 1st – Pre-Seattle, it seemed as if Cascade-Swans was the new “deck to beat,” taking the top slots at a few PTQs, and also GP: Barcelona. After talking with a few friends about the deck at the PTQ in Nashville last week, I had thoroughly decided against playing it myself, and here’s why.
The Long & Winding Road – Game Spots, Game Shots
Monday, June 1st – When I was younger, I used to play a lot of basketball. . One of my coaches had a saying that he repeated ad nauseam: “Game spots, game shots!†. If you were spending your time in practice taking shots that you weren’t going to be taking during games, you were wasting everyone’s time, especially your own. The best way to improve your game is to treat practice as the real thing, and develop the skills you need to actually succeed come game time.
PV’s Playhouse – Swans in Barcelona
Friday, May 29th – Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa was instrumental in the design of the Standard deck that took Barcelona by storm: Cascade Swans. Today he shares the story behind the creation of the deck, and talks us through his perfect performance on Day 1 of the Grand Prix!
The Magic Show #144 – Much Ado About Swans
Friday, May 29th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to take a look at the GP: Seattle metagame, how Swans crushed in Barcelona, and how this new combo deck will be seen everywhere this weekend. Let’s go!
Magical Hack – Examining Barcelona
Friday, May 29th – There is something so very clever about the Cascade Swans deck. Cascade is clearly at its most powerful when it is pure tutoring instead of merely card-and-mana-advantage but with a random effect generated on top of the spell, and one of the potential answers to doing this is to just play an awful lot of lands and not a lot of spells.
You Lika The Juice? – Standard: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
Friday, May 29th – Windbrisk Heights shows up in 45% of all Top 8 decks at Regionals. Forty-five percent! That’s just insane. Used to be when formats grew so warped around a particular card or strategy, the Magic Community would let out a howl and Wizards would listen and react in some way…
Drafting With Olivier – Shards/Conflux/Reborn #3
Friday, May 29th – Hall of Famer Olivier Ruel takes us through an 8-4 draft queue on Magic Online. He shares some comprehensive thoughts about both the picks and the games, and talks us through each step of the way! If you’re looking to improve your Limited game, this is the article series for you!
Reflecting Ruel – Intelligent Netdecking 2: Turbo Fog in Barcelona
Friday, May 29th – Earlier this week, Manuel Bucher and Olivier Ruel discussed the process of Intelligent Netdecking, or taking a deck from an established source and improving on the choices. Today, Oli and Manu discuss their changes made to their Turbo Fog deck before Grand Prix: Barcelona. They also share their sideboarding strategies, and update the deck with an eye to upcoming GPs and PTQs!