Wednesday, May 28th – I arrived in Hollywood laden with hopes and expectations; I left disappointed but eerily satisfied, defeated but irrevocably changed. As a player and as a person I learned a great deal about myself as a result of this trip, and in this article I will attempt to chronicle some of those changes…
Tuesday, May 27th – As the Pro Tour plays havoc with our schedule, Richard Feldman shifts forward from Thursday to bring us the lowdown on the Top 8 Standard decks from Hollywood. He also cogitates on the format as a whole, and brings a fresh decklist looking to position itself in the evolving metagame.
Tuesday, May 27th – The last time I went to battle at an Elder Dragon Highlander game, I got horribly color-screwed nearly the entire game and vowed to play Mono-Green the next time around in the hopes that mana troubles wouldn’t be nearly as bad. Green isn’t exactly known for its powerful multiplayer cards, so I wanted to use that notion as camouflage to lull people into not really regarding me as a threat.
Tuesday, May 27th – Is Akroma scaring you? Do you fear that your combo deck will be stopped just as you are ready to go off? Perhaps you fear someone else playing the combo, and defeating your creature deck? That’s why you need… countermagic!
Tuesday, May 27th – Self-improvement is at the heart of the modern Magic article. You want it. We, the writers promise it. And you complain when you don’t think you’re getting your money’s worth, whether it’s free or Premium. My goal in my articles is to make you a better Magic player. I have a sure-fire tip that is guaranteed to help you improve…
Monday, May 26th – I have never been to a Constructed Pro Tour. But as the Editor-in-Chief of StarCityGames.com over the past eight years, I’ve noticed a distinct trend in how the Internet as a whole approaches large, high-stakes Constructed events… Particularly when there’s a dominant deck that’s clearly head and shoulders above anything else. What can we learn from the past patterns of hype, crazy rogue decks, and deflation?
Monday, May 26th – Last week, Vintage World Champion Stephen Menendian shared his ponderous run in Day 1 of the recent StarCityGames.com Power 9 tournament weekend. While he didn’t lose a great deal, he did pick up a slew of unintentional draws. Today, he investigates why that may be, and takes us through his far more successful Day 2 performance…
Monday, May 26th – In this installment of The Main Phase I want to explore what has worked in the past in the hopes that perhaps it will lead us in the right direction for the future. I admit that it is entirely possible that there may be nothing here… but we’ll never know if we don’t dig around every once and a while. There may be a diamond in the rough.
Monday, May 26th – Patrick Chapin is busy recovering from Pro Tour: Hollywood, and thus his article will appear later this week. In his place, we have Nick Eisel’s take on the innovative Milling draft strategy available in triple Shadowmoor. If attacking for two just ain’t your thing, look no further…
Monday, May 26th – Do these decks have what it takes to survive? Doug pores over four new Survival of the Fittest builds, evaluating their potential for current play and seeing if they solve the problems that have typically plagued Survival decks. Should you play the straightforward Survival Advantage deck, planning for a consistent stream of Green men? Is the classic Full English Breakfast kill worth revisiting? What would it take to make Slivers playable in Legacy? All this, plus the hottest Survival tech cards in this week’s Unlocking Legacy!
Friday, May 23rd – In a follow-up to last week’s incredible “The Basic Test of Metagame Competence,†Mike sets out his case for avoiding decks that auto-lose to the most powerful deck in a metagame, even if they do crush the rest of the field. He also expands the theory of the Anti-Deck, and outlines some of the pleasures and pitfalls involved in running such a strategy.
Friday, May 23rd – As you’re reading this, Adrian Sullivan is slinging spells at Pro Tour: Hollywood… and hopefully tight play and excellent deck choice will see him still slinging spells on Sunday. Today’s Sullivan Library looks at his testing philosophy, examines the nature of a technology curve, and presents an interesting rogue deck that is both fun and powerful…
Friday, May 23rd – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re in Hollywood, and I’m going to tell you what I think you’ll be reading about in the coverage this weekend, just what in the hell we’re going to do about Magic Online 3.0, and more. Let’s go!
Friday, May 23rd – There’s one more night before Hollywood… and one last chance to get a message out there before the rounds and rounds of Hollywood set the stage for Regionals. I have been on many sides of the argument about “the best version of Faeries”, arguing some of the points just to play Devil’s Advocate. You have a lot of options… I mean, already we’ve seen several dissenting opinions with varied results.
Friday, May 23rd – A few weeks ago, Wizards announced that it was pushing organized play resources farther out. Some of the emphasis was moving from Pro Tours, States and store events to supporting casual play groups. Casual play means more than just non-sanctioned drafts and Two-Headed Giant – I want to give you some idea of just how much more by brainstorming about a bunch of formats, targeted at different numbers of players. Just five players in your group – no problem, I’ve got some formats for you.
