Friday, June 20th – With a brand-new PTQ season starting, we begin to see the development of a metagame that at first glance seems inbred and static. With literally only three good decks – because really, the difference between one Mannequin-Firespout Elemental deck and another is a matter of greed, not ultimately something that creates a unique archetype – our first impressions could not help but be “Faeries / Kithkin / Mannequin.”
Thursday, June 19th – With the Lorwyn / Shadowmoor Block Constructed metagame seemingly solidifying around Faeries, Kithkin, and Five-Color Control, Richard Feldman is suggesting a different strategy: Five-Color Fatty Beatdown. Today, he shares his exciting list, plus informative deck evolution data and comprehensive sideboarding plans against the three main offenders. Will this deck be the next big thing in Block? Read on to find out!
Thursday, June 19th – With Grand Prix: Indianapolis this coming weekend, Kyle Sanchez is preparing in style! Today’s Down And Dirty sees the curly-haired Kyle examine three separate Shadowmoor Sealed cardpools, looking for those important synergies and top-notch bombs. He also outlines his personal five picks for the Grand Prix Top 8, including one guy he fingers as the winner…
Thursday, June 19th – I have been playing a little in the online Shadowmoor Release events, and playing some paper Magic. I have also been thinking about what Wizards can do to pull more people into the game – both in paper and online. To figure that out, I want to look at why Magic is not like other games.
Thursday, June 19th – Hey, we all start out as Timmies. Okay, maybe not some of the hardcore Pros… but Dave certainly did. Shadowmoor has sent Dave on a trip down Memory Lane, fondly remembering the big tramply creatures with which he used to attack.
Thursday, June 19th – Hello readers! I am your Charon, charting a course across the River Styx of Magic. Today I am going to concentrate on some happy decks with the main card determined by casting lots. (Otherwise known as rolling dice.) However, this time I am going to do something different. Each time I roll a new card, I have to use all of the old cards in the new deck…
Wednesday, June 18th – In his debut article for StarCityGames.com, Belgian pro Marijn Lybaert takes us through his Lorwyn / Shadowmoor Block Constructed that nearly made Top 8 at Grand Prix: Birmingham… Faeries with a twist! He also updates the list for the coming PTQ season, walks us through sideboarding for the relevant matchups, and shares his latest version of the Red/Green Mana Ramp Standard deck that took him to the Pro Tour: Hollywood Top 8.
Wednesday, June 18th – When Manuel Bucher rocked the Top 8 of Grand Prix: Birmingham, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy knew he’d found his deck for the coming PTQ season. Today’s Peebles Primers sees BPM share the details of his latest PTQ attempt, which saw him storm the Swiss before falling from the final table in the semifinals. If you’re looking for a primer on this incredibly taxing deck, look no further!
Wednesday, June 18th – My experiences over the course of the last several Pro Tours have demonstrated more than anything else the tremendous role of play skill in determining wins and losses. This is not to say that your choice of deck doesn’t matter, or that people don’t get lucksacked out of tournaments. That’s not the point. What I am saying, simply, is that in most cases the degree to which a given deck has an “advantage†in a given matchup is frequently within the gradient that can be determined by playskill.
Wednesday, June 18th – Mark Rosewater recently mentioned that, starting with Shards of Alara, each set is going to be comparably smaller than the sets sizes we’ve currently been seeing. Personally, this thrills me. As someone who likes to play competitively, it’s difficult to acquire a playset of so many cards out there that you want to build decks with, especially since we’re living in the era of Tier 2 cards, which widens the pool of “must-have” playables.
Tuesday, June 17th – While Regionals is in the books, the Standard format is never dead… and today, Luis Scott-Vargas brings us a funky looking deck based on two popular strategies: Quick n’ Toast and Reveillark. By smashing the concepts together, LSV produces something with game across the board and a possible powerhouse in the current metagame. And if that’s not enough, he shares a speedy Red deck too!
Tuesday, June 17th – For his final article before he is swallowed by the Wizards Machine, Tom LaPille takes a look at the Kithkin mirror match in Lorwyn / Shadowmoor Block Constructed. While it appears to be little more than luck at first glance, there are tried and tested strategies that can tip the balance in the battle of the Little White Men. Good luck at Wizards, Tom!
Tuesday, June 17th – Today’s Deconstructing Constructed contains talk on Block Constructed, Vintage and the new metagame, and an entertaining Regionals report from guest writer April Yu!
Tuesday, June 17th – From 200 all the way up to Charles Gindy in first, Rich Hagon runs his eye over the results sheets from Pro Tour: Hollywood, bringing us his usual blend of insight, wit, curiosity, root vegetables, controversy and – on this occasion – an abject, grovelling apology. Spineless, that’s what I say.
Tuesday, June 17th – I was born in Japan, and I am still a citizen of Nippon. I live and work in the United States as a Resident Alien. That means I have a Green Card (which is physically pink), not that I am a zombie face-sucker. Technically speaking, English is my second language as I grew up with Japanese in the home, but they are more like 1A and 1B. I took Saturday Japanese school classes all the way through junior high. I am conversationally fluent in the spoken language, I can read a newspaper, but my writing has really atrophied to the point where I probably couldn’t compose a halfway decent e-mail in Japanese.
