Friday, April 24th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to be delving into Alara Reborn spoilers, and what can I say? This looks to be the best set in years to play and purchase. Future Sight-level goodness all around, we’ll look into just how good Cascade really is, and my favorite cards from the set. Let’s go!
Friday, April 24th – Whenever Prerelease time rolls around, I like spend my column on the before taking a look at the ins and outs of that upcoming format, taking advantage of the fact that my weekly deadline is usually a day or two after the complete spoiler is compiled by mtgsalvation.com. As of the time of this writing it is Wednesday afternoon and we have 145 out of 145 cards spoiled, and while there is no guarantee that each and every card has the exact correct text it is still more than enough to work with in order to figure out how Shards of Alara-Alara Reborn Limited is going to feel.
Friday, April 24th – Hello, everyone – I’m here to announce that Happy Bennie is back! I know over the last few columns my attitude may have been a bit of a downer given that the metagame was stinking and stagnant once you peeled back the veneer of so-called diversity. What a difference a week makes!
Friday, April 24th – Hello folks, and welcome back to the column that investigates various aspects of the casual world. Today I want to discuss the Divine Vs. Demonic decks after having played with them after I got the set from my order with StarCityGames. Luckily, I have a few staff who like the occasional game of Magic, so I was able to get some games in with the new decks, facing off against each other.
Friday, April 24th – In the first of a four-part series on Shards Block Draft, Olivier Ruel and Manuel Bucher discuss the top common and uncommon picks in each set, for each archetype, helping us build the strongest decks we can. For part 1, Oli and Manu take us through their personal Top 20 lists in Esper, Grixis, and Jund. This excellent series is a must-read for anyone serious about forty-card play.
Thursday, April 23rd – Bluffing is a complex subject. Generally, the quality of your cards, the strength of your draws, and the tightness of your play dictate the outcome of any given game. However, there are techniques that can increase your chances of utilizing bluff in order to pick up a vital edge in close encounters. Olivier reveals all…
Thursday, April 23rd – With the upcoming release of Alara Reborn on everyone’s mind, Richard Feldman concocts an intriguing Red/Green Beatdown deck utilizing a selection of the multicolor goodies on the table. He shares his list and sideboarding strategies, runs the deck against a pair of the format’s top contenders, and records the results!
Thursday, April 23rd – One of my all time favorite Magic articles – and one of the most influential on my play – is Chad Ellis’s “The Danger of Cool Things.” The article covers a simple, yet fundamental angle of Magic strategy. Ellis talks about how flashy plays, even ones which put a second copy of Verdant Force into play, are easy traps to fall into…
Thursday, April 23rd – What exactly is a regular rules enforcement level event? In essence, it’s kitchen table Magic gone pro. Such events attract players from all walks of life, but they’re targeted at people that will probably never play in an event with a higher enforcement level.
Thursday, April 23rd – Some of you may have seen the BBC shows Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, where modern cops were shifted back in time to the seventies and eighties. My week has felt a bit like that. Last weekend, I was playing in Stronghold release events. This weekend, I’ll be attending Alara Reborn Prereleases. It’s like jumping backward and forward a decade at a time.
Wednesday, April 22nd – Alara Reborn, Magic’s first all-gold expansion, is unveiled this coming weekend at Prerelease tournaments around the world. Manuel Bucher, the creator of the popular Five-Color Quick n’ Toast strategy, is excited at the goodies the set will bring. Today, he shares his opinions of some of the cards unveiled thus far, and suggests a couple of decklists for Standard and Extended…
Wednesday, April 22nd – Everyone is excited about the upcoming Gold Madness that is Alara Reborn… and Kyle Sanchez is no exception. Concentrating on the creatures spoiled thus far, Sanchez takes us through the highs and lows of Magic’s hottest property…
Wednesday, April 22nd – 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 22nd – My original intention was not to discuss Vintage this week, but Stephen Menendian’s recent article Reviving Vintage, and its accompanying discussion both here and on the Mana Drain forums, threw my intentions aside…
Wednesday, April 22nd – Why do we rarely run four of a Legendary card or a Planeswalker card? Most of you probably gave the obvious answer of “Well, the second one is worthless until the first one is destroyed.†Economists have a term for this. It’s called Diminishing Marginal Utility.
