Thursday, March 13th – The goal of this article is to articulate why a certain card should or should not be banned given a particular set of circumstances. I believe it’s useful to examine these situations because it provides a de facto gauge for the health of a given format, and also assists us as consumers of information in deciding whether we should waste time clamoring over something that may or may not actually be bad for Magic in the first place.
Wednesday, March 12th – With the results from Gran Prix: Shizouka in the books, it appears that there’s a new king: Blue/Black Faeries. With a favorable matchup against the major players, including the old king Red/Green Big Mana, the entertaining Reveillark combo, and the popular Black/Green Elves, the flittering faeriefolk are a serious force. Today, BPM takes a look at the GP-winning build, and walks us through the pertinent matchups, including the important mirror…
Wednesday, March 12th – Last week I detailed how I drove Adrian Sullivan’s beautiful Ferrari right into the ditch, and afterwards jumped into a draft, in which I did pretty well. I don’t talk about Limited much here because a) I don’t do it often, b) I’m not all that good at it, and c) I have a lot more fun building Constructed decks. Still, I do enjoy the occasional Limited games, so I wanted to let you all know how it went and elicit any advice from those of you out there who are much better at the format than I.
Wednesday, March 12th – It was almost exactly three years ago that I first started to play Magic Online. MTGO has been a huge part of my Magic ever since. Given that it is an anniversary – and that other things are also seeming to repeat – it seems like a good time for a retrospective.
Tuesday, March 11th – Drafting with Morningtide is now available on Magic Online, every other day at least. In celebration, Nick brings us a Lor/Lor/Mor Draft walkthrough, and demonstrates how remaining flexible in the early stages of the draft can reap considerable rewards later…
Tuesday, March 11th – Magic Online: a blessing and a curse. Testing and drafting on MTGO can be a fantastic experience when flowing smoothly… but throw a server crash in there, and we have tears and tantrums galore. Today’s Arcane Teachings sees Tom look at the strengths and weaknesses to online play from a self-improvement perspective, and argues that although the benefits are there, they maybe aren’t as tangible as it appears…
Tuesday, March 11th – Today I’ll be having a look at the fresh results from the Standard Grand Prix in Shizouka, hopefully giving us some insight into the Standard format a month before Pro Tour: Hollywood.
Tuesday, March 11th – Join Rich Hagon as he sifts through the Pro data from Kuala Lumpur. Who’s up, who’s down, who might be heading for Player of the Year Contention, and who might be heading for the exit… it’s all here.
Monday, March 10th – So I played Rock Band all weekend with some pals, staying up until five in the morning to live the high life by strumming a plastic ukelele. And now, bereft of sleep or good sense, I get possibly one of the most complex Sealed pools I’ve ever opened. What would you do with good cards scattered across the colors like this?
Monday, March 10th – Patrick Chapin, it seems, is in love with Counterbalance. Not content with shaping the Extended metagame with Next Level Blue, or watching Threshold take the little Blue enchantment and run to the hills, The Innovator is determined to see it played in every format available. Today, he squeezes the Coldsnap control staple into Vintage Flash, with surprising and promising results…
Monday, March 10th – Stephen has been working overtime this week… In today’s edition of So Many Insane Plays, the Vintage World Champion brings us the lowdown on every single playable deck in the format! From the top decks, to the Contenders, to the Marginal Players, to the Dark Horses, this article has it all. Brilliant stuff from the format’s finest…
Monday, March 10th – When Wizards of the Coast made the recent announcements about changes to their Organized Play programs, it seemed everyone and their mother had something (unkind) to say. A month later we’re still waiting for the gang in Renton to hit us with what they’ve cooked up for replacements. While those program re-designs are in more than capable hands, today we’re going to look at the OP programs of two card games which have sought to compete with Magic directly to find out if there’s anything Magic might benefit in learning from them.
Monday, March 10th – Christopher Coppola updates his standing banned list recommendations and discusses the reasons for the changes.
Friday, March 7th – This week, Mike turns away from the vagaries of the seemingly endless Extended season. Instead of thrashing out metagame data, he turns to deeper theory. He tackles the concept of “never settling,” a fine adjunct to his popular article How To Win A PTQ. After that, he moves into practical tips on how to improve one’s mental and mechanical game, offering sage advice on a number of interesting topics…
Friday, March 7th – Last weekend, Adrian Sullivan took his powerful Miser’s Rock deck to a PTQ win and an invite to Hollywood! While this article does contain details on his victory, it focuses instead on what Adrian describes as the true story of the PTQ: an innovative aggro deck named Spirit Stompy. Two players sleeved up the cards, and both made Top 8. Intrigued? Read on!
