Wednesday, October 22nd – With Shards of Alara Draft going live online this coming Friday, Nick Eisel brings us a breakdown of one of the fastest archetypes in the format: Aggro Black/Red. Drafting With Nick, and Drafting With Rich, returns this coming Monday, when Nick will be putting all this theory into practice!
Wednesday, October 22nd – Bucking tradition, I have actually been writing about Magical strategy the last few weeks, and because of that there are a few things I wanted to talk about that have been kicked, at least momentarily, to the curb. I’m about to embark on what amounts to 4 weeks of travel over six weeks, so this is one of the last times to like collect my thoughts and cover a broad variety of topics. I’ll end with a brief discussion of Extended, and as a minor bonus, some Standard “technology†that will hopefully improve your matchups across the board.
Wednesday, October 22nd – In a follow-up to last week’s number-crunching festival of stats, Rich ups the ante with another 53 Sealed Pools to analyse. But these don’t come from a PTQ. Oh no. Ruel, Ruel, Levy, Fortier, Mueller, Thaler, Joens, Lybaert, Gregoir, Meulders and 43 others make up the largest detailed Pro analysis of this Limited format.
Wednesday, October 22nd – We had two major tournaments this weekend, Grand Prix: Paris and Grand Prix: Kansas City. We give you a rundown of the winners and some general strategy for Shards of Alara sealed deck. Gavin talks a bit more about the rapidly approaching Pro Tour: Berlin and his preparation. We are exceptionally excited for the upcoming Jace vs Chandra Duel Decks with alternate art Counterspell, Fact or Fiction, Incinerate, Seal of Fire and of course, the two planeswalkers…
Tuesday, October 21st – Last week, Billy Moreno brought us an exciting anti-control Reveillark deck. Yesterday, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy shared the latest installment of his popular “My Lark†series. Today we complete the Reveillark Trifecta, as Gerry Thompson puts down the Vivid lands and picks up the 4/3 flying elementals…
Tuesday, October 21st – In the current Standard, the supposed top-dog is Five-Color Control. The optimal build is hardly unanimous, if such a thing even exists right now, and it causes at least four articles a week to be written about its awesome visage. From the limited reports coming in, it seems as if Reflecting Pool Control decks of all shapes and sizes have become the majority of the metagame.
Tuesday, October 21st – The addition of a fourth rarity was always going to impact the secondary market… or was it? Dave explores the financial side of the new mythic rares in Shards of Alara.
Tuesday, October 21st – England’s finest deckbuilder, pro player Stuart Wright, wades into the current Standard format in perfect time for this weekend’s StarCityGames.com $5K Standard Open. He presents some stock metagame lists, plus a few funky ideas straight from his Standard playbook. If you’re looking for something off the beaten path, look no further!
Monday, October 20th – The Vintage metagame is brimming with powerful cards and strategies, and Shards of Alara adds a new level of intricacy to the mix! Today’s So Many Insane Plays sees Stephen Menendian take an unassuming Blue artifact for a spin, pairing it with some of the most broken cards in the format! [Editor’s Note – Patrick Chapin will be appearing later in the week!]
Monday, October 20th – Last week made for a rather interesting article. Most people seemed to stay on message about the Outside Assistant (OA) issues and wanted to discuss said issues in the forums. A couple of people brought up some legitimate concerns about OA, specifically about what Gerry Thompson wrote, which I hope to clear up today.
Monday, October 20th – Every multiplayer group you play with has certain, shall we say, tendencies – a group gestalt that encourages some behaviors at the cost of others. And if you know your group, you can start building decks that play to take advantage of your group’s habits….
Monday, October 20th – At the beginning of the year, BPM played Reveillark at the StarCityGames.com $5K Open. He made Top 8. At the $5K in Richmond in May, he played Reveillark again, and again posted a high finish. Guess what he’s playing for the StarCityGames.com $5K Standard Open this coming weekend? Here’s a clue: it’s a 4/3 flying elemental…
Friday, October 17th – It seems that, despite the loss of some key components, those flighty and fickle Fae are at the forefront of the Standard format once more. With the world going mad over Esper Charm, Luis Scott-Vargas is championing a different, albeit eerily similar, direction. Exactly where can the perfect Faeries list be found? LSV is on the case…
Friday, October 17th – With Faeries at the top of the Standard pile, the other stand-out strategy appears to be Five-Color Control, or “Quick n’ Toast.” While there are many variants of this Reflecting-Pool-packing monster, they all seem to stumble to similar weaknesses… and today, Billy Moreno exploits these weaknesses with a couple of new decks! If you’re attending the StarCityGames.com $5K Standard Open, you can’t afford to miss this!
Friday, October 17th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re getting you prepared for two big tournaments at the same time: For those preparing for next week’s huge $5K Tournament in Richmond, Virginia we’ll have interviews with the top two Cruise Qualifier finishers and complete deck techs from both. For those headed to Kansas City like me this weekend, we’ve got another even more in-depth sealed breakdown from Patrick Chapin & Friends. Let’s go!
