Friday, February 29th – The Goblin tribe in modern Extended is an unusual beast. Recent printings have given Goblin players new tools if they want to use them… but change is always a contentious thing for some, and thus we see decklists with numbers like “1x Frogtosser Banneret†or “2x Frogtosser Banneret.†People like what they are comfortable with, and tend to not respond well to change… even changes for the better.
Friday, February 29th – Grand Prix: Vancouver was an interesting event. It was nice to see some PT friends before heading back home, and I had some interesting conversations with all manner of people. On the topic of Ninjas, LSV had the following to say: “It seems like a good Tier 2 deck, if you play it perfectly and your opponent makes mistakes.â€
Thursday, February 28th – The results from Grand Prix: Vancouver are in… and the Top 8 decks are a genuine shock to the metagame. Blue/Green Tron, TEPS, Previous Level Blue… and no Doran or Dredge decks?! For those of us slogging it out at the PTQ, what exactly does this Top 8 mean to the local metagame scene? Richard takes us through the ins and outs of processing Top 8 results…
Thursday, February 28th – While there are many aggressive options for the combat-loving mage, it seems that the whole Magic community has fallen in love with Obsidian Battle-Axe. The Japanese brought us the Green elf versions of the deck, and today Kyle brings us his own spin on the archetype. He thrashes it through some games against the other top contenders in the metagame, with pleasing results. Intrigued? Then read on!
Thursday, February 28th – Obsidian Battle-Axe has certainly gotten a lot of press and has been seeing play in Standard. Today, Dave explores how each of the races with Warriors can use Obsidian Battle-Axe to beef up into… the Ultimate Warrior! Or, at least, a pretty good Warrior.
Thursday, February 28th – My name is Abe, and I’m your doctor with an MD in Casual, bringing healing to the casual masses. Today I want to do something that seems like a lot of fun. I want to bring to you a bunch of top ten lists, and then discuss my choices. Sounds simple enough, right?
Wednesday, February 27th – At present, the Vintage metagame is evolving at an alarming rate. With successful deckbuilds in a state of constant flux, it pays to be flexible when planning for events. For a recent Vintage tournament, Stephen decided to shelve a deck on which he’d lavished months of attention in order to run with the New Guy in Town: Rich Shay’s innovative Tyrant Oath. This is his story…
Wednesday, February 27th – Each week, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy takes us through some of the more intricate and popular Standard decks, examining builds and showing us the way to success. At the StarCityGames.con $5000 Standard open, it was time to put his money where his mouth is. If you followed Evan’s video coverage this past weekend, you’ll know he did well. Click here for the story straight from BPM himself!
Wednesday, February 27th – Going into the tournament, I suspected that the metagame was changing in a way that was bad for actual Counterbalance decks. The card Counterbalance itself is best against the mirror and against midrange decks that actually give you time to set up a lock, and quite bad against decks that are very fast, play spells that cost tons of mana that you can’t use Counterbalance to stop, or both.
Wednesday, February 27th – Magic skill, like the term “intelligence,†is fairly difficult to explain. It’s not hard to define; “ability at manipulating specific sets of operations†works for most cases. But that definition doesn’t really cast light on the number one question that follows from it: namely, “Why can some people manipulate more of those operations than others?â€
Wednesday, February 27th – I spent the weekend in Charlotte, at the StarCityGames.com $5K on Saturday and the PTQ on Sunday. My plan was to work the $5K, then qualify for Hollywood the day after. If you know how I play, you may guess how that worked out… but you’d be wrong.
Tuesday, February 26th – A few weeks ago, Paul Jordan brought us a statistical explosion. Working with an entire PTQ’s worth of pairings and archetype data, he thrashed out the runners and riders in the developing metagame. Today, he brings us Stat Attack 2, with data compiled from two recent tournaments. As before, Paul wrings every ounce of pertinent data from the information. Warning: This is not for the faint of heart…
Tuesday, February 26th – The popularity of Tournament Reports tends to ebb and flow with the tides. Today, Adrian Sullivan brings us a report on his latest Extended PTQ, in the style of the classic reports from the days of USENET. He also brings us his latest version of Miser’s Rock, a deck he backs for success in future tournaments…
Tuesday, February 26th – With Kuala Lumpur now, as they say, in the books, Rich Hagon belatedly returns his attention to the Extended season. With Grand Prix: Vienna looming large, he casts his eye over a PTQ field in the mighty UK, and brings you detailed play-by-play on a full octet of matches.
Tuesday, February 26th – Today I was supposed to tell you all how I did at the big $5K Star City Standard Open down in Charlotte, North Carolina. With any luck, I would have kicked ass and been featured in the Magic Show making my way to the Top 8. At least, that was the plan…
