Wednesday, May 21st – My suitcase sits here next to me, packed for the LA plane. Still no real idea what I’m running in Hollywood, but since when has that gotten in anyone’s way? Blasted Fae, stupid Swans. Standard has always been my worst format, and I feel about as clueless now as I did a month ago when I started testing in earnest.
Wednesday, May 21st – In the first age of Magic, Blue was dominant for two perceived reasons: its ability to counter spells, and its ability to draw cards. These elements were considered to be “in-flavor” for Blue, when in reality this was giving one color dominion over two fundamental, basic mechanics of the game – playing cards and drawing cards.
Tuesday, May 20th – Triple Shadowmoor Draft offers up a variety of exciting strategies for the more discerning Limited player. There are the usual strategies, like Blue/White Aggro or Black/Red Heavy Removal. There are the fringe strategies, like The Gun and the Mill archetype. And there’s Green/Red, which requires an unhealthy reliance on mana acceleration…
Tuesday, May 20th – With Pro Tour: Hollywood only days away, the debate still rages over what can be done to curb the Blue/Black Faerie menace. One popular option is Mono-Red Aggression, with copious amounts of burn ready to keep the Bitterblossom players on their toes. Is such a strategy ready for the big time, or will the Fae seize the day?
Tuesday, May 20th – Grand Prix: Brussels was one of the truly great GP Sundays. As we head for Pro Tour: Hollywood, another Box Office production from the team that brought you ‘Lightning Helix: The Craig Jones Story’ and ‘The Magic Is Back’ starring Jon Finkel, join reviewer Rich Hagon as he talks you through the story of a spectacular Belgian weekend and looks ahead to what could be a very special three days in the land of dreams. Showtime!
Tuesday, May 20th – I visit Sonic to get myself some breakfast, which today consists of a double cheeseburger, tots, and a Coke. Breakfast of champions. I’m sitting here in my pajamas and moccasins, with Mike and Mike in the Morning in the background, attempting to write my first article for Star City Games…
Monday, May 19th – The Ferrett writes letters to Evan Erwin, MODO 3.0, you the readers, and his local gaming store as he discusses the vagaries of his latest draft!
Monday, May 19th – Hollywood is fast approaching, and pro players everywhere are preparing to break the format. Of course, the biggest threat in the metagame flies on gossamer wings. What can be done to conquer the Fae? Do we act like Evan and bring the burn, or do we pack a dangerous 0/5 treefolk…?
Monday, May 19th – At the StarCityGames Mega-Magic Weekend, Stephen Menendian took full advantage of two days of competitive Vintage play. Unfortunately for the Vintage World Champion, things didn’t quite go his way on an intriguing Day 1…
Monday, May 19th – With so much of the field on Day 2 of the StarCityGames.com $2000 Open tournament being Fae, not to mention the combined wins and Top 8 numbers of the deck, the only reasonable thing to do is focus all efforts in beating it.
Monday, May 19th – Designing competitive decks is difficult. It requires building something better or at least as good as the best decks in any given format. The best decks represent the gold standard of which any new deck aspires to be. These decks can provide a wealth of information about how to build decks and why their designs work.
Friday, May 16th – Come join Mike in the madcap mathematical adventure that we call metagaming. Why is The Basic Test of Metagaming Competence the most useful article in modeling metagaming that you will ever read? Because just one paragraph in you may realize that everything you ever thought about metagaming was a lie… Or at least a gross series of very sad misunderstandings. And we can prove it. A must read.
Friday, May 16th – With the data from the StarCityGames.com Mega-Magic Weekend pointing to a cold winter of Faerie dominance, Adrian looks at the various Fae builds from the two Top 8s in Richmond in order to discern the direction of the deck. Come Hollywood, will the Blue/Black flying menace be victorious?
Friday, May 16th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. In this week’s episode we talk about the fallout from the Mega-Magic Weekend in Richmond. What happened and didn’t happen on Saturday, just what in the hell we’re going to do about the Faerie problem, and how I ended up in third place on Sunday. Let’s go!
Friday, May 16th – As the astute reader would know, I did in fact not win either day of the Star City Games mega-weekend Standard events this weekend… after all, the tag-line “By Sean McKeown†will tell you that just by not being “By Alex Bertoncini,†or as the real pessimists in the forums will likely latch onto, just because the tag-line says “By Sean McKeown.â€
