Monday, March 2nd – Stephen takes a break from his preparations for the Legacy Grand Prix in Chicago this coming weekend, turning his eye toward the next Waterbury Vintage tournament, or “Mana Drain Open.” Today’s article sees Stephen developing the GroAtog archetype in face of the bannings and recent inclusions. Will the deck be good enough to take home the prize?
Monday, March 2nd – With Faeries clearly coming to the forefront of Extended, I feel it necessary to give it a little spotlight. It seems like every week at least one Faerie deck wins a PTQ, and rarely are two copies the same…
Monday, March 2nd – From a practical standpoint, playing TEPS is a relatively questionable proposition right now. The “dumb aggro†decks that TEPS could feed on have mostly died out or adapted by running Pyrostatic Pillar and sideboarding Ethersworn Canonist, and the Death Cloud decks are on the decline. Right or wrong, TEPS is in a position of prominence as far as its influence in deck and sideboard choice.
Monday, March 2nd – Magic players everywhere were stunned by the announcement of the major core set changes coming with the next core set “Magic 2010” or “M10.” Aaron Forsythe was nice enough to take some time and talk about the core set changes, why we should be excited, and how this set is going to rock.
Friday, February 27th – In part 2 of his trip through the most valuable Uncommons of all time, Ben takes a look at the Uncommons of Legacy. Which pre-Invasion Uncommons are Super Uncommons? Which fall short of this designation? Find out in this edition of Insider Trading!
Friday, February 27th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to take a good, hard look at the upcoming core set changes that is Magic 2010 Hyper Fighting Edition, one of the most significant play shifts in this game we love since the release of Planeswalkers in Lorwyn. You ready to learn about the new core set, the new cards found within it and how your zones are getting renamed? Let’s go!
Friday, February 27th – Hello everybody, and welcome to the last 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, we hear Pro Player mega-personality Patrick Chapin and his thoughts on Conflux, Standard, and the power of the Fae. Enjoy!
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.
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.
