Search Content

Thursday, May 7th – Since the prerelease, I have been fervently drafting the full block as much as possible in preparation for the Pro Tour. Spare time on the weekdays has turned into frantic phone calls looking to cobble together eight people for a draft; weekends have become a blur of shredded booster wrappings and stacks of tips and Tricks cards. While I’m not a weak drafter by any means, I’ve got a lot of drafting to do if I want to stand up to Magic’s finest in Honolulu.

Thursday, May 7th – It’s not very often that a 63/63 Legendary Human Warrior gets shut down by a 1/1 Frog. Yet there I was, staring down David Rappaport (a good friend and a great judge from Michigan), completely cold to his Spore Frog/Volrath’s Stronghold recursion. Meanwhile, Kresh the Bloodbraided glowered at me, craving blood and finding no joy.

Thursday, May 7th – Late this fall, the World Championships will take place in Rome. I so want to be there, but I know the limits of my play skill, and the amount of time I can devote to playtesting. If I make it, it will be as a judge. However, if you want to play in Rome, you can get there either by playing in real life, or online. Let’s look at how the two compare.

Wednesday, May 6th – Today, we’re talking about the mechanics of how people are affected by space. This article is about how we can most effectively manipulate the tournament environment – or, more commonly, how we can best accommodate the realities of that tournament environment by changing some of our own habits – to be most conducive to our success.

Wednesday, May 6th – I’m excited by Thought Hemorrhage. It seems like a strong sideboard card for more than a few matchups, taking away a card that’s a central theme for them before they can deploy it. I know that a lot of people are dismissing it as a narrow card, and I agree that it’s probably not maindeckable, but it still seems relevant in some matchups. Besides, isn’t that what sideboard slots are for?

Wednesday, May 6th – Regular readers may remember that I write an article for my column when the newest set comes out and build some decks around the new cards. This is a chance for me to take the new cards for a spin and test them out. In other words, in this article… Decks!

Wednesday, May 6th – Conley Woods joins Tom this week for a great show! There’s more in-depth discussion of Alara Reborn impact on Limited, Standard, Block Constructed, Conley gives some great insight and tips on the preparation for Pro Tour: Honolulu, Tom discusses the lack of release announcement for Duels of the Planeswalkers… and much more!

Tuesday, May 5th – Now that my wife’s birthday celebration of last weekend was over, I got to go to an Alara Reborn draft this Friday. (I wanted to attend the Sunday draft as well, but I stayed up too late partying with bellydancers. Yes, it was as fun as it sounds. No, you can’t have the videos.) I played six matches and went 5-1, so here are my initial impressions of the cards as I played ’em!

Tuesday, May 5th – In the past seven days, The Starkington Post (Bill Stark’s daily Magic blog) has brought us a draft with Alara Reborn, some Quick Hit discussions on some of the hyped cards from the new set, talk of changes at Pro Tour: Honolulu, and much more!