Friday, February 27th – With the rest of the U.S. having had a nice long head start on the Extended qualifier season, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to analyze and playtest… but not actually take a weapon of my choosing into battle at the PTQ level. With a certain irony following last week’s article, I sleeved up Faeries with zero sideboard cards pinpointed at Affinity, neither playing the robotic overlords nor caring over-much if I faced the matchup.
Friday, February 27th – When last we left off, I had some big plans for the $5K weekend. Friday Night Magic to try and test some tweaks to my Fugees Elves deck. Then Saturday playing in the $5K Standard event, Sunday play in the Extended PTQ, and sometime in between try and fit in some Elder Dragon Highlander…
Friday, February 27th – Imagine a draft format where you can first pick a Black Lotus and second pick a Martial Coup. I have heard the cube simply described as “broken,†which is exactly what it is. The cube is the dream format for the Limited enthusiast.
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Thursday, February 26th – In the first of a new weekly column, Hall of Famer and Magic mainstay Olivier Ruel takes us step-by-step through his Sealed deckbuilding process, focusing on his card pool from Grand Prix: Rotterdam. He also talks us through some interesting games, and produces a few tips on how important it is to Play to Win…
Thursday, February 26th – With Extended PTQs occurring around the world, Richard Feldman takes a lingering look at the current make-up of the metagame. Since the format arrived at Pro Tour: Berlin, the Decks to Beat have risen and fallen with alarming regularity. This handy breakdown of both the major and minor players will prove invaluable to anyone looking to snag a blue envelope in the coming weeks…
Thursday, February 26th – Hello everybody, and welcome to the second of three hour-long talks recorded on the Carnival Ecstasy a few weeks ago. Yes, even though most didn’t get the chance to go that doesn’t mean you can’t take in the discussions had while at sea. In this almost hour-long discussion, I talk about Cube Drafting. What it is, how to do it correctly, what archetypes to look for and what traps to avoid. Enjoy!
Thursday, February 26th – I’m sure you’re wondering what exactly close reading has to do with tournament level Magic. Close reading is an excellent way to analyze cards in a new archetype and why they are important, along with their strengths and weaknesses. This method is easiest to understand when you see it applied, so I’m going to jump in with an example…
Thursday, February 26th – My articles are all going to be dedicated to the penalty guidelines. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding penalties, and I think it’s important to bridge the gap between judges and players in understanding the why’s and what’s of the penalty guidelines. Hopefully, along the way I’ll be able to help some people avoid getting punished for doing things they didn’t even know were worthy of penalties.
Thursday, February 26th – MTGO had a rocky week last week, and Wizards offered Nix Tix 10th Edition drafts to make up for it. Could that get me to draft a core set? Yup. Then, after a weekend of thinking about the core set more, I saw Aaron Forsythe’s article on changes to core sets. That has a lot of implications – let’s look at some.
Wednesday, February 25th – The next stop on the Grand Prix trail sees the Magic populous descend on Chicago for a weekend of Hot Legacy Action. Manuel Bucher, currently living it large in Kyoto, brings us his White Stax deck, and talks about the four artifacts that he believes underpin the format. If you’re looking for a powerful deck for the coming GP, this is the article for you!
Wednesday, February 25th – Every Counterbalance strategy is basically just the same 24 core cards, along with a varying land count of 18-24 and some window dressing to make them seem like completely different decks. Shocking, I know… decks that are based around the same strong card are really the same despite five variations of it existing? Blasphemy!
Wednesday, February 25th – The eyes of the worlds are looking East to the approaching Pro Tour, with Standard and Alara-Conflux Limited on everyone’s mind. However, the Extended Pro Tour Qualifier season continues apace, and today’s Down And Dirty sees Kyle Sanchez bring us an exciting four-color Good Stuff deck that offers decent matchups against a number of the major players in the metagame.
Wednesday, February 25th – Hello everybody, and welcome to the first of three hour-long talks recorded on the Carnival Ecstasy a few weeks ago. Yes, even though most didn’t get the chance to go that doesn’t mean you can’t take in the discussions had while at sea. In this hour-long discussion, Hall of Famer Mike Turian talks about developing Conflux, his favorite cards, development stories, and where certain cards and mechanics come from. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 25th – Today I will be talking about one of the core issues that affect casual deckbuilders, especially those on a budget: Mana. One of the things I intend to do, is walk you through mana over time, and thereby show you what lands are out there for your deckbuilding needs. Not every casual player was playing Magic way back when, so cards like Terminal Moraine or Rainbow Vale might have fallen through the cracks.
