Monday, August 17th – At the Vintage World Championships GenCon last weekend, Patrick Chapin played The Deck, updated for the 2009 metagame. However, instead of bringing us a Menendian-style play-by-play, he turns the discussion to the decline of Vintage. The format is diminishing in popularity, and Patrick believes he has the answer…
Monday, August 17th – Since I received so many positive responses to last week’s article about my first online M10 draft, and also because I’m pretty bored with the current Standard environment (the only relevant environment at the moment), I thought I might do a few more drafts for your viewing pleasure.
Monday, August 17th – One of the things I’ve learned about myself is that I have extreme difficulty managing my expectations. I know that I am not alone in this respect. For whatever reason, during certain tournaments I feel a considerable amount of pressure to succeed, and come in with an expectation of success (whether or not it is warranted).
Monday, August 17th – 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!
Friday, August 14th – Olivier Ruel arrived at Grand Prix: Brighton with little fire in his belly for the tournament. M10 Sealed is not popular, and Oli knew it. However, with a modicum of luck, he powered through both days of competition and won the whole thing! This is his story…
Friday, August 14th – M10 Limited play is polarizing opinion. While most people enjoy the drafting side of things, you’d be hard pressed to find an advocate for the Sealed format. Today, Brian Kibler looks at the theory behind making the most of your underpowered cards, and shares his underwhelming cardpool from Grand Prix: Boston for analysis.
Friday, August 14th – With the heat of summer upon us, Standard is taking some interesting twists and turns as we explore the format more and get a feel for how the metagame plays through. Boston and now Brighton are behind us, and unfortunately it seems that even if people feel as if they can control their destiny in M10 Sealed Deck, I have yet to really hear of anyone who said they had fun.
Friday, August 14th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’ve got a lot to talk about: Zendikar spoilers have begun and we’ll take a look at some incredible new cards and artwork, From the Vault: Exiled is here and will blow your mind, and the new Pro Tour schedule is out… and you’ll never guess how you can qualify for the Pro Tour in 2010. Let’s go!
Friday, August 14th – Last week I was musing on playing some sort of Green-based deck with Thousand Year Elixir, and while they all seemed “cool†to some degree, I was also somewhat worried about not having any sort of removal spell available. It would be a bit embarrassing to be fiddling around with my Elf deck and then have someone else “go off†with their Elf combo deck and kill me and I have nothing to do.
Friday, August 14th – Any time someone approaches me with interest in becoming a judge, there is one thing I will always ask them: “Why do you want to become a judge?” I’ve gotten a wide range of responses, but one of the ones I hear more than almost any other is: “I want to know the rules really well.”
Thursday, August 13th – In today’s contemplative edition of Innovations, Patrick Chapin trawls the Magic history books to find the most powerful and influential decks from throughout the game’s illustrious past. He selects a deck from each year of competitive play, from 1993 to the present day, and shares insights on how lessons from the past can prepare us for the future.
Thursday, August 13th – Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa rocked up to Grand Prix: Brighton and received a completely insane card pool. While it was not enough to catapult him to Day 2 play, it certainly had power in spades. Today, he takes us through his deck construction process, and recaps the games from the tournament floor. Did he misbuild his deck?
Thursday, August 13th – One deck which shouldn’t need any introduction is Faeries. The deck has controlled Standard with its winged legion since Bitterblossom was manifested into existence, and throughout its reign cards have slowly been released to counteract its dominance. With the recent addition of Great Sable Stag to the ranks of anti-Faeries cards, the empire of Faeries looked to finally be crumbling.
Thursday, August 13th – In years past, this would be the summer doldrums – the period where Magic has been slowing down while we all wait for the fall set release. This year, M10 has changed that. I’ve been monkeying around with a lot of Standard decks, which has got me wondering. How do the current batch of Standard decks stack up against the best decks from years past?
Thursday, August 13th – Goblins was one of Legacy’s defining decks. In the past, it was both very successful, and usually had a large presence at many of the larger tournaments. Recently, not only has its success become more limited, but so has its appearance at tournaments, especially on the East Coast of the United States. This decline did not occur overnight, but much can be learned from why it was successful in Legacy, and why it is no longer winning.
