Wednesday, August 6th – Alongside Nationals competitions in a multitude of colors, last weekend also saw the latest Block Constructed Grand Prix in Kobe, Japan. While the winning deck was depressingly Blue and Black, the Top 8 did contain a few surprises. Marijn Lybaert takes us through some of the cooler cards on show, in preparation for the approaching Grand Prix: Denver…
Wednesday, August 6th – A stampeding herd of buffalo. The thunderous rhythm of Hannibal’s army storming through the Pyrenees. Volcanic eruptions. Supernovae. I would fancy each of these a “loud thing,†but only because, prior to this past weekend at Nationals, I had yet to room with Grand Prix: Indianapolis Top 8 competitor Ben Rasmussen.
Wednesday, August 6th – Apologies in advance for those of you looking for the typical Bennie-romp through some fun Magic topic. This week is not going to be one of those. I debated begging off this week, but… despite the many roles I play in Life, at heart I’m a writer, and writing is often how I make sense of things, how I connect with the world, how I cope…
Tuesday, August 5th – At last weekend’s U.S. Nationals, 2007 Vintage World Champion Stephen Menendian attempted to repeat his victory of last year. Unfortunately for Stephen, he fell at the final hurdle… but he answered a variety of questions on the metagame along the way. Today’s So Many Insane Plays is part 1 of an epic-length tournament report… enjoy!
Tuesday, August 5th – Drafting with Eventide allows a plethora of options and opinions, and the debate over the strongest available archetype rages across the world. Many of the top players at U.S. Nationals enjoy drafting White… if that’s your own view, you’ll enjoy today’s draft walkthrough. Is drafting to your preference a key to the new format? Read on to find out!
Tuesday, August 5th – Faeries wins… again. That said, for those of you who haven’t read the coverage, if not for a missed Treefolk Harbinger attack (Doran was in play) we’d likely have a different champion and I’d be prancing in the streets. So all hope has not been erased… yet.
Tuesday, August 5th – Magic’s 15th birthday party took place over the weekend at the home of U.S. Nationals. From Standard to Vintage and back again, join Rich for a cornucopia of tales from the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Tuesday, August 5th – Turning 30 is supposed to be one of major turning points in life. I think I’m supposed to buy a new sports car, or have a kid. Neither seems likely, but I did do my share of soul searching as it were. At this time last year, just after turning 29, the highest level event I’d worked at was a PTQ. One year later I’ve certified for Level 2, judged at 3 GPs (soon to be 4), 1 PT, and my first Nationals.
Monday, August 4th – Today’s Premium content is a little different today… with Patrick and Stephen bringing us packed Nationals articles later in the week, today we have Richard and BPM. Richard brings us a deeper look at his excellent Counter Elves deck for Block Constructed, and runs us through the deck’s particular mana needs in exquisite detail…
Monday, August 4th – In the second of today’s rescheduled Premium articles, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy takes a close look at the Mono-Red phenomenon. With the Little Red Men powering through Nationals competitions across the globe, BPM dissects the winning build from U.S. Nats and provides an clear overview for those of us with their own high-profile tournaments on the horizon…
Monday, August 4th – The sky is falling on Kithkin… again. This time it is a tandem sucker-punch from Eventide that many players are sure are the final nails in the coffin: Hallowed Burial and Soul Snuffers. Both of these cards are a real beating on the stoutest of Lorwyn’s tribes. But let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Monday, August 4th – When you have a gauntlet of ten decks, it’s pretty easy to test the ten against each other, make a metagame prediction, and pick a deck. When you have a wide open metagame, picking the right deck is important. But how do you approach a format in order to pick the right deck?
Friday, August 1st – While the battle for U.S. Nationals rages on, the PTQ crowd still search for the Holy Grail of Block Constructed: the deck that can take down the Fae. In this evocative article, Mike makes a claim for a new and exciting deck that may have the steel required…
Friday, August 1st – Block Constructed, it seems, may not be the ultimate playground of those frisky Fae after all… Richard Feldman managed to rock out a Top 8 performance backed by Elves and Cryptic Command. It seems that harnessing the so-called “Blue Wrath” may be the key to the format… Adrian investigates this Brave New World.
Friday, August 1st – Historically, any Black-Green deck no matter what it actually does picks up the “Rock” label. Slow and ponderous control deck? Rock. Flores is probably overjoyed that Extended got to keep Onslaught Block for one more year, not because he wants his fetchlands, but because that is going to give him another chance to make Undead Gladiator good again…
