Tiago Chan, Level 6 Mage and one of Portugal’s finest, has had many ups and downs in his successful Magic career. Today’s Levelling Up sees Mr Chan in a reflective mood… he looks back at five of the most important matches he’s played, and shares how they molded his career and outlook on the game we all love. Who knows, maybe his insights will help us in our own quest to level up…
Hello everybody, and welcome to the Magic Show. This week we’re going to talk about the upcoming Lorwyn prerelease and its follow-up block, Jelly and Doughnut. Wizards of the Coast has been saying over and over how they will be linked but not in a very obvious way. I think I, and many others, may have found this missing link.
Those of you who are actively trying to avoid spoilers can back away from your “Back” buttons. We aren’t going to talk about a single unofficially-previewed card… in anything resembling its actual form. I for one don’t feel like it is my place to make the decision to spoil or not to spoil for our good proprietor Pete Hoefling, and every time I write one of my prerelease preview articles I hear Groundskeeper Willie’s voice screaming “Hush, boy, d’ye want to get sued?”
Kevin Binswanger takes a look at two of the most discussed cards from Lorwyn and tests out whether they help against the most important deck in Legacy. Then he tries his hand at explaining theory in the context of Legacy.
Lorwyn is coming, and it’s full of prime, juicy Elves. Our resident Red guru, Dan Paskins, takes us through a list of some of the more irritating little pointy-eared idiots, and shares his thoughts on how to dispatch them. He also brings us a couple of new aggressive decks for the upcoming Standard format, and rolls out an interesting Red Deck for Extended.
Last week, Richard walked us through some of the non-graveyard decks that may feature highly in the upcoming Pro Tour: Valencia. This week, Deep Analysis concentrates on those very graveyard-centric decks that last week he was trying to beat. Utilizing the yard is the strategy du jour for any serious Extended mage… so how do you maximize your chances to prevail despite the inevitable hate?
Right now, the card that has me the most torn up is Mobilization. I love that card. I was enamored of it back when it was first printed in Onslaught, and I’m no less taken by it today. It makes token Soldiers, no less. They have Vigilance. I can make as many as I can afford to pay for. What’s not to love?
It’s kind of eerie how Boggart Shenanigans, with the spoiled casting cost of 2R, seems to fit as perfectly for a Goblin beatdown deck as Astral Slide did for a White control deck. It’s almost like one card is a photonegative of the other. The Shenanigans turns each Goblin card (note that this includes Tarfire) into an extra point of damage without extra mana spent or loss of card advantage.
It’s been three weeks of 150 cards from the uncommon and common sections of Magicdom. Today we count down the Top 50 cards remaining. The previous 150 were all at approximately the same level, but today’s cards are going to be in the form of a countdown, taking you all the way to number one. [Editor’s Note — 200 Articles! Nice work, Abe!]
The unrestriction of Gush has thrown a spanner in the works of Vintage, with GroAtog deck making Top 8s left, right, and center. Today’s So Many Insane Plays looks at the forgotten draw spell of the format, Fact or Fiction. It’s currently restricted… but should it be? Stephen argues its case. He also explains the difference between Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast, and goes through the math behind popular decks and Top 8 appearances.
When folks start talking aggro, especially in Standard or Block, talk soon turns to White Weenie. With the Kithkin tribe looking particularly strong in Lorwyn, today’s Peebles Primers takes a look at two possible directions for the little White men. Benjamin brings us two decklists using the new goodies from Lorwyn — an all-White beatdown machine, and a Green/White build featuring man of the moment Gaddock Teeg. Warning: Contains Spoilers.
If you can successfully stop the fastest deck in the format from killing you while simultaneously not packing to the optimally-positioned control deck’s late game, chances are you can handle a less streamlined version of either strategy. This doesn’t necessarily mean, either, that every deck that isn’t positioned along the poles is “sub-optimal” to take to a tournament strictly speaking; it just means it’s less unilateral.
Like most of the Magic world, I have been looking forward to Lorwyn. I have the spoiler. I also have written a lot of set reviews over the years — and I tend to get them wrong as often as right. I’m not going there. Instead, I’ll look at Magic Online’s old school, throwback set, and try an old school, throwback deck design to use those cards.
Last week I mentioned strategic giants of the game Flores, Feldman, and Sullivan clashing over proper deckbuilding and how correct Flores’ 4/1 theory was. Recently Magical Hack Sean McKeown weighed in with his thoughts too. I wonder what these fine gentlemen would think about this new deck sweeping the country recently? Perhaps you’ve seen it…
This weekend, we finally get our hands on Lorwyn! The prerelease is one of the most eagerly awaited weekends in the Magic calendar… but how can we maximize our chances of success? Without experience in playing the cards, we must rely on our evaluation techniques when faced with all-new pristine cardboard. Today’s Limited Lessons sees Nick Eisel present us with some fine advice on card evaluation…
