Tiago is currently bunkered up in Valencia, cracking fetchlands and preparing for Extended onslaught. Today’s Levelling Up takes us through his playtesting regime and shares his opinions on the format going in. He brings us an excellent overview of the metagame as he sees it, with sample decklists for all the major players. Will his testing translate into a Top 8 performance?
Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re returning to our roots by inspecting the new Lorwyn Standard landscape, and we’re also detailing what may or may not occur in Valencia at the Pro Tour I’m attending. Did I also mention that Cap’n Tickles is due for a new mana cost? Let’s go!
With the State Championships right around the corner in two weeks’ time, it’s very easy to forget that even before States we will be seeing the start of the next Pro Tour Qualifier season. Starting as early as a week from tomorrow, players around the world are going to start having the joy of deciphering piles of 75 Lorwyn cards to craft playable Limited decks, and then navigating the tribal ebbs and flows of a draft to earn a flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Lorwyn is here — and that means Ravnica is about to be gone from Standard! Ben returns to his weekly column on StarCityGames.com with a look back at Ravnica done entirely with Top 10 lists! Goodbye, gold-block, we will miss you well and good.
Steve Sadin is one of the emerging talents of Magic. Of course, he was once a complete
beginner, battling to learn the rules and collect the cards. His growth as a Magic player has seen him
become confident enough to pay thousands of dollars in travel money to attend top events. The stories
behind his decision to make the leap to the big leagues may inspire others to do the same.
Ever dreamt of shuffling up at the Pro Tour? Then read on!
Standard Champs are looming large, and with Lorwyn promising to shake the metagame like a Polaroid picture, Richard Feldman offers up some decklists for those beatdown fans among us. There’s the perennial Red/Green offerings, another look at the popular Green/White Kithkin deck, a few interesting versions of Haakon Aggro, and an excellent build featuring Doran, the Siege Tower…
Two weeks ago, as a way to focus my time and attention, I asked you kind and thoughtful readers to vote on which of five cards I should feature in this week’s article. You voted for Ana Battlemage. Let me deconstruct this card and see what I’ve gotten myself into…
Just as promised last week, an invitation-only Magic tournament took place last Saturday at the New Yorker hotel in New York City. Sponsored by top8magic.com, it was known as the Mockvitational. I played in it, and here is my story of what happened. Sadly, some deadline problems related to Fearless Leader’s trip to Valencia means that I will be unable to give you the Standard results until next week. Up until then…
Hello folks, and welcome back to your regularly scheduled articles, already in progress. This is my traditional Five Color review of the latest set. I’ve done these for years, and you can expect to see me continue for a long time.
Stephen is having a well-earned break in preparation for Pro Tour: Valencia and The Invitational. In his place we have the irreplaceable John Friggin’ Rizzo with another entertaining rant! This week, JFR takes a look at Standard decks that discard cards for fun and profit, featuring the 3/1 flyer for two mana that may well be the sleeper hit of Lorwyn: Oona’s Prowler. So, has JFR broke the format? Read on to find out!
If you haven’t noticed, Lorwyn is a block about creatures. You know what’s really good in a format where a whole ton of creatures just appeared? Wrath of God. Damnation. Molten Disaster. Today’s Peebles Primers takes a look at some of the more entertaining directions such a strategy may take for Champs, and throws up a slew of interesting decklists and ideas. If you’re looking for an edge on the Standard competition, look no further!
Over on the premium side of StarCityGames.com, I imagine those guys are busy testing, tuning, and working through the strategic nuances of new, post-Lorwyn Standard decks for the upcoming States/Champs tournaments that will be here before we know it. Over here on the free side, we’re all in the strategic vat together, stirring a big ol’ pot of Standard spaghetti, throwing noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Greetings from sunny Valencia! My good buddy Zac is currently occupied with a beautiful Spanish maiden so I’m taking one for the team and filling his post for the week. As I know Constructed about as well as a chimpanzee knows Chess, we’re going to dive into the realms of Limited…
I don’t really want to reopen the ideological debate. Debating beliefs is pointless — debate is a rational exchange of data attempting to prove something, while beliefs, by definition, are idea held despite a complete lack of proof. Instead, I’ll look at data, and let people draw their own conclusion. It’s also a retrospective — I’ll look at creatures every few sets from Alpha to Lorwyn.
Adrian is jetting off to Valencia soon, but before he departs for some Extended chicanery he spills the beans on the new Tribal cards from Lorwyn. Will they have an impact in Standard over and above the obvious pump for Tarmogoyf? Or are they merely smoke and bubbles, designed to deceive us into believing their hype? Let Adrian reveal all…
