Friday, April 10th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week is a bit of a quiet one, so I wanted to reflect a little bit on some recent articles seen here at StarCityGames.com. This week we’ll delve into how you play better magic, the skill levels argument, and what I think are the five pillars of Magic success. Let’s go!
Friday, April 10th – In Extended so far, I have found I have a very high variance in my results: either I am very much on the ball and am pushing up around the top of the leaderboards, or I am not quite able to wrap my head around the game and make a ‘trivial’ mistake which costs me a match.
Friday, April 10th – Last Friday night I was hanging outside Richmond Comix with Jay Delazier between rounds, and he mentioned he didn’t like last week’s column very much. When I asked him why, he said he thought I was contradicting myself…
Thursday, April 9th – For the second article chronicling Paulo’s extensive Magic travel, we have ruminations on Legacy and Extended. Paulo shares the testing, the stories, and the plays involved in all three tournaments. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 9th – Earlier this week, Sam Black brought us a thoughtful article on the topic of sideboarding. Today, it’s the turn of Richard Feldman. He outlines the method of sideboarding used by Brian Davis, and shows how, in the right circumstances, it can reap substantial rewards.
Thursday, April 9th – You’ve been locked in a tight game three, but the match is edging towards an unfavorable closure. The last few turns have been an attrition war, and the life totals are close, but you look across the table and the sinking feeling that your opponent firmly has the upper hand sets in. As is, you’re dead on his next attack step… Or are you?
Thursday, April 9th – A few weeks ago, we held a pair of PTQs at the Star City Game Center in Roanoke. Happily enough, I was able to judge both of them – head judge on Day 1, and then floor judge on Day 2 – and I would like to make particular note of the zero disqualifications issued over the weekend. Of course, there were warnings, and game losses, but no disqualifications.
Thursday, April 9th – Singleton 100 is a Magic Online-only format. It is singleton, meaning that, with the exception of basic land cards, a player’s deck may not contain more than one of any individual card. The 100 means that decks must contain a minimum of one hundred cards. The format used to forbid sideboards, but that has changed…
Thursday, April 9th – it’s the third entrant in the Shandalar Deck Series. If you have missed them so far, allow me to get you caught up to speed. I have been taking the decks played by the foes in the 1997 Microprose game Magic: The Gathering, with a campaign called Shandalar, and then modifying and updating the lists.
Wednesday, April 8th – Extended season draws to a close this weekend, and players are still looking for hot new options. Today, legendary Magic writer Jeff Cunningham returns with a no-nonsense primer for Extended Bant Aggro. If you’re looking for a deck packed with aggression and a good matchup against the format’s main contenders, this is the article for you!
Wednesday, April 8th – With Shards of Alara and Conflux offering a plethora of multicolored options, and Alara Reborn promising more, is there anything to be said for running straight two-colored tempo beats in AAC draft? Manuel Bucher believes there is. He examines three two-color tempo archetypes, and rounds things off with an interesting Block Constructed deck!
Wednesday, April 8th – 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!
Wednesday, April 8th – Rap Sheet, Chatter’s last seven PTQs: 9th on tiebreaks, Finals, Finals, Top-8, Top-8, Top-4, 9th on tiebreaks. Oh, and a GP top-32 somewhere in there. But guess who isn’t qualified, guess who isn’t as of yet going to even start thinking about leis, tropical fruits, and slack-key guitars?
Wednesday, April 8th – Kudos to WoTC for some pretty decent April Fool’s jokes, including the most amazing draft viewer ever seen. Today, we discuss a few more cards spoiled via various magazines in the unofficial MTGS spoiler.
Wednesday, April 8th – I really enjoy playing Zoo. I played a similar concept last year, and knowing that it would be viable still this year, I spent the past year refining and tweaking it. When Wild Nacatl was first revealed, I remember actually letting a girlish squeal escape my lips. “This could be the final piece,” I thought. In doing, so I cemented my deck of choice for this Extended season….
