Wednesday, March 19th – Patrick “The Innovator†Chapin, purveyor of Blue decks with Tarmogoyf since the beginning of time itself, rocked up to Grand Prix: Philadelphia with the latest incarnation of his signature Extended deck. After a perfect 9-0 Day 1, Patrick’s Wild Ride slowly ground to a halt… here’s how.
Wednesday, March 19th – In Magic, as in life, everybody has ideas. As a member of the writing world I always furrow my brow and narrow my eyes whenever anyone talks about an “idea†they have for a story, or a screenplay, or a poem, or a novel, or whatever. “Can I read what you’ve got so far,†I’ll ask, and they’ll eye the ground sheepishly like a late-eighties shoegazer.
Wednesday, March 19th – A few years ago, I asked Chris Richter to critique my judging – what I should change, what I needed to work on and so forth. His review – “suck less.†Since my online play has sucked recently, that review came to mind. I decided to analyze my play, online and off, and look at the different results.
Wednesday, March 19th – While restocking my trade binder the other day, I ran across a foil Jhoira of the Ghitu, a card that I’ve always found intriguing but had not yet fully tested out her potential. The foil Jhoira looks awesome – her eyes flash and it’s like she’s radiating power!
Wednesday, March 19th – Anyone who knows my writing from other websites knows that I need little provocation to write a tournament report. If someone looks at me cross-eyed: I’ll write a tournament report. If I stub a toe on the coffee table in living room while drunk: I’ll write a tournament report. And when I have two first place finishes at local Legacy tournaments fresh in my memory, you can bet your ass I’ll write a tournament report.
Tuesday, March 18th – In Standard Reveillark mirror matches, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy has a fantastic record of success of late: twelve wins, one loss. Today, he takes us through three mirror match games in exquisite detail, play by play and card by card. The deck is a definite contender in the modern metagame, and knowledge of the mirror is of paramount importance if you’re looking to succeed…
Tuesday, March 18th – Tom finished Grand Prix: Philadelphia in twelfth place, and he did it with Domain Zoo – a far cry from the Next Level Blue variants he has been playing all season. He explains why he changed decks and the logic behind the decklist that he and Ben Wienburg played to the Top 16 and Top 8 respectively, then walks you through the matchups that he played in the tournament.
Tuesday, March 18th – Ever since I saw the results of the burn deck that succeeded at Grand Prix: Shizuoka, I’ve decided that it would be one of my main decks to try out for the new Standard format. Of course, I’d love to play my Faeries deck some more, but on Magic Online there’s the slight issue of procuring a set of Mutavault and Bitterblossom without trading in an organ or two. As they say, if you can’t join ‘em, play Red and burn them to a crisp.
Tuesday, March 18th – “Why not?†and “Because†might get you a University interview on a Philosophy course, but when it comes to explaining to a new player why twelve four-drops is too many in a Goblin rush deck at their first ever Standard FNM? Time to relearn some lessons the easy way, in the company of Rich Hagon, the man with more hair than PT Top 8s. Which is probably true of most of us, actually.
Monday, March 17th – I’m trying hard to get a handle on what makes a good Sealed deck in the format, but what look like decent builds collapse underneath me. And today, I got a deck with cards I would have sworn would have been a raging aggro deck, only to find that the real aggro deck was buried beneath.
Monday, March 17th – Whenever a new set is added to a well-explored draft format, there are a number of things up for consideration. One of the most overlooked aspects of exploration is the need to re-evaluate the cards of the first set in context with the cards from the second. Today, Nick brings us some of the overrated and underrated hits and misses now that Morningtide is in the mix…
[Editor’s Note: Patrick Chapin will be appearing later in the week. Stay tuned!]
Monday, March 17th – At present, Vintage is full of entertaining and powerful options. The metagame is packed with great decks that run the gauntlet of Magical strategies. Today’s So Many Insane Plays sees Vintage World Champion Stephen Menendian break down the important Vintage results from January and February… so, exactly where is the metagame headed?
Monday, March 17th – When Lorwyn first started leaking to the Web forums, the world over got excited about two cards: Thoughtseize and Gaddock Teeg. Both promised to disrupt combo and control decks in a significant way, but Thoughtseize has gone the distance a bit more successfully than our 2/2 Kithkin hero. After all, at the end of the day the Teegster is just a 2/2 and every deck this side of the Mississippi ought to be able to deal with that. Enter Rashad Miller…
Monday, March 17th – Players receive penalties all the time at Magic tournaments because of carelessness and laziness. Kevin Binswanger is here to give you advice and step-by-step instructions on tournament operations to let you concentrate on playing Magic without having to worry about an illegal decklist or slow play.
Friday, March 14th – This weekend, thousands of players will descend upon the Grand Prix halls in Philadelphia and Vienna. Only eight will survive to the final table of each, and of those eight, only one will triumph. What skills, exactly, do you need to make it all the way to the GP top? Mike investigates that today, with input from some of the greats (Dan OMS, Mikey P, Osyp to name but three). If you’re looking to elevate yourself to the next level, here’s the place to start!
