Monday, May 25th – Last Friday night, I had to make a decision for the next day’s Vintage tournament: Ichorid or Oath of Druids? I’ve piloted Oath to two Top 8s in my last three events including one win, and my overall win percentage is still north of 70% with the deck, even after going 2-2 at the Philly Open 3.
Friday, May 22nd – Some of our best Magic moments come from the games in which we snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Indeed, when we are on the brink of victory or loss, feelings can overflow and cloud our judgment for good or ill. Today, Olivier Ruel presents some excellent advice on how to turn a loss into a win, and how to ensure you win when you’re ahead in the game…
Friday, May 22nd – With Regionals behind us, the next slew of Standard tournaments takes place on the Grand Prix stage. Today’s PV’s Playhouse sees Paulo talk us through his personal preparation process for high-level tournament play. With Grand Prix success on the mind of many a mage, Brazil’s finest is here to lead the way!
Friday, May 22nd – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to take a look back at Regionals 2009 — How I scrubbed right out, the awesome new decks revealed from all across the country, and how I redeemed myself by Top 8ing the PTQ the next day. Let’s go!
Friday, May 22nd – All of the buzz on the few days leading up to Regionals was somehow about Turbo-Fog. A Japanese Regionals tournament was won by a deck that confidently played 4x Holy Day, and the imagination of players everywhere was seemingly throwing off all sorts of sparks.
Friday, May 22nd – For the U.S., the Regionals Championships are in the books. For me personally, it’s been an exhausting couple of weeks between the Star City double-PTQ weekend and then Regionals the following week. I characterize myself as a “casually competitive†player, who mostly just likes to have fun with Magic, but who likes to step up and compete when PTQs, Regionals, and States comes around.
Friday, May 22nd – The following are passages from “Next Level Magic,” Patrick Chapin’s Strategy Guide that is being released as an e-book, here on StarCityGames.com, at the end of the month. Each week this month, there will be an excerpt from the book for your enjoyment. This week: How to Use Bottom-Up Thinking to Improve Deck Building and Qualify.
Thursday, May 21st – Magic Elder Statesman Brian Kibler, back on the tour for PT Honolulu, is no stranger to high-level play. At the deep end of competitive Magic, the premier players all share a number of qualities and habits that set them aside from the rest of us. In this enlightening Feature Article, Brian takes us through the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Gamers…
Thursday, May 21st – In Richard’s final edition of Deep Analysis, Richard Feldman imparts the best advice he has to offer any Magic player looking to improve their game. Drawing from excellent articles in the communal archives, his philosophy is sure to ring true with anyone serious about reaching the pinnacle of our game. Thanks for all the great articles, Richard!
Thursday, May 21st – I was talking with Anna a few days ago about a big part of my Magic game that bothers me: I get really sloppy when I’m winning. She was interested to note, she said, that almost never was a guy fully on top of his game when he played against a girl…
Thursday, May 21st – It was two days before Regionals, and I still wasn’t sure what to play. I had been testing Chapin’s 5CB deck and liked how it felt, although I was thinking about removing the Cryptic Commands (sacrilege!), and I was also talking with Adam Prosak about his merfolk deck. Then I got this text from Max McCall: “Check your Facebook. Bill Stark has a Fog deck he claims is insane.â€
Thursday, May 21st – For most of the Magic-playing world, last weekend was all about Regionals. For a few of us unlucky ones who could not attend, we had the Alara Reborn prerelease on MTGO. The player response was surprising. I expected a few events to fire – but my best guess was somewhere between 75 and 150. We blew that out of the water.
Thursday, May 21st – At the end of the first day of Grand Prix: Vancouver, head judge Seamus Campbell told the staff that a total of two Slow Play penalties had been handed out. He then asked us “how many do you think there should have been?†to which someone responded “a lot more.â€
Wednesday, May 20th – With Regionals now behind us, and the Standard Metagame evolving as the results roll in, Manuel Bucher takes a look at the second-most popular Tier 1 token deck in the format: Green/White. He shares his personal build, which sports some unusual choices, and walks us through the sideboarding plans for a selection of important matchups.
Wednesday, May 20th – At Regionals this past weekend, Kyle Sanchez and friends sleeved up his intriguing Cascade deck in their attempt to crack an invite to Nationals. While they never made it, they came pretty close. Today, Kyle shares his thoughts on the deck, and talks us through its good and bad matchups.
