Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week I fight through hardware failures and flight cancellations to bring you the first half of my Worlds 2007 experience. I talk to Patrick Chapin, Mark Rosewater, Tiago Chan, Zac Hill, Paul Cheon and more while I chronicle my Friday and Saturday experiences at the biggest Magic tournament of the year, and it’s all thanks to your support.
Looking at the Hideaway lands, it’s very easy to misinterpret their values. The Blue one is reasonably easy to trigger in Limited, but a good deal closer to useless in sixty-card formats, while the Black one more or less seems terrible all around… though sadly I can confess to having won a game with it out of nowhere in a draft, because it required my opponent to be an idiot in order for me to do so.
Another week, another bile-fuelled rant from John Friggin’ Rizzo! In today’s offering, the mighty JFR lays into Limited, advertizing executives, and himself, with his usual acerbic style. He also updates his funky Red/Black Madness deck in Standard, and reveals his New Year’s Resolutions! As always when reading Rizzo, remember: buyer beware.
Today’s Down And Dirty sees Kyle in a reflective mood. With pos-Worlds ennui setting in, he gazes back across the Magical year and chooses his personal Top 10 Decks of 2007. Is there space for the Chapin Mono Red Dragonstorm? What about Extended… did Gaea’s Might Get There, well, get there? Read on to find out!
Tiago Chan, Portugal’s Level 6 Magic dynamo, takes us by the hand and leads us through the choppy waters of a triple-Lorwyn draft on Magic Online. He shares each and every pick, from one to forty-five, and supplies expert commentary on the draft and the games. For more detailed information, visit the forums!
The learning curve can slope both ways; while you have to learn a lot of stuff to go uphill from “bad” to “decent,” at some point too much knowledge can screw up your head and send you back downhill to “bad.” Eventually, improvement becomes an issue of thinking less about the game, rather than more. The higher level of players you face, the more your game needs to simplify, rather than get increasingly complex.
Welcome back to our corner of cyberspace where the articles are dedicated to the realm of the casual. Last week, I told you about the loss of my laptop for a while, which had about five or six articles already written on it. Therefore, I had to write an article quickly for the week. It still hasn’t come back, so I am had to write another article and find a new idea.
Historically, the tribal mechanic has included the ability to make competitive decks without going overly expensive. Lorwyn is no different, and the recent success of the Faeries deck is just the tip of the iceberg of good, inexpensive, and successful Tribal decks that you can build.
[Editor’s Note – Dave will be replacing Chris Romeo until Chris returns… enjoy!]
That’s right, folks… it’s the article you’ve all been waiting for! For those of you that’ve been hiding under a rock these past few days, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin turned up to Worlds with an exciting Mono-Red Dragonstorm deck, and proceeded to rock out all the way to the final! For part 1 of his entertaining report, read on!
A truly massive amount of decisions are made in the course of a game of Magic. As a competitive player, the way you handle these decisions is the only influence you get over the outcome of the game. Plenty of articles talk about how to improve your knowledge as a player, some try to improve your intelligence, but very few discuss how to improve your focus. Today, Richard attempts to do just that…
Tiago Chan, Portugal’s Level 6 Magic dynamo, takes us by the hand and leads us through the choppy waters of a triple-Lorwyn draft on Magic Online. He shares each and every pick, from one to forty-five, and supplies expert commentary on the draft and the games. For more detailed information, visit the forums!
A number of people told me that it’s time for me to Level 3, no excuses, and to that end I’m going to step up the game next year and do what my heart’s been telling me to do for awhile: become invested enough in Magic that I force myself to achieve the maximum of my ability. It’s been a long time coming, but I love this game, and anything you love you have to take as seriously as you can. This article, though, is going to talk about what you should do when that’s just not possible.
Some of you may know that the Magic World Championship happened this weekend. Some of you may know that Rich Hagon was there, and that he writes a column here on a weekly basis. This is that event. This is that man. This is that column. Late.
Honesty in our mistakes, and learning from those mistakes, seems to be the current topic of choice. Today’s Sullivan Library sees Adrian look back over his illustrious tournament career, and some of the mistakes he’s made, in order to reveal the important lessons that each one taught. If you’re looking to improve your game, let Adrian show the way!
Today’s Peebles Primers attacks on two fronts. The first sees Benjamin cast his steely eye over the top two decks from Worlds, offering insight into why they performed as well as they did. The second is a lesson in Limited play that we all should learn… When faced with a powerful pick over a potential yet unreliable choice, what is the correct choice of action?
