This week, BPM takes a break from Constructed strategy in order to bring us a dose of Limited goodness. One of his Pro Tour: Charleston team-mates, Steve Nagy, recently took part in an interesting three-on-three team draft, and BPM was there to take notes. He takes us through each pick of the draft, highlighting the juicier decisions, and opens the doors on the intricacies of the Pros’ favorite Limited format…
Two and a half years ago, I first downloaded MTGO, started playing and wrote my Diary of an OnLine nOOb series. I’ve been playing ever since — a lot. I want to step back and see what the online game is like, how it has affected my paper play, and where it is going.
For those of you unlucky enough to have experienced the wonderment of Magic’s best format, it’s basically the most enjoyable vehicle for card-slinging ever conceived. The rules are simple. Infinite mana of each color. One spell per turn. One additional spell a turn with an alternate cost. One land. You start with an opening hand of four cards, and a carefully-crafted deck of the most powerful cards in Magic. Awesomeness ensues.
Gamers aren’t born, they’re created. I remember as a kid, games were big in my family. I can remember learning Risk at a young age, with my mom and dad and my sister and I battling across the globe some Saturday evenings, quickly realizing that trying to hold Asia was a fool’s errand, and learning the joys of Fortress Australia. Whenever the cousins on my Mom’s side got together at my grandparents’ house, we’d break out various board games. One favorite was Clue, and I was always Mr. Green. Hmm, foreshadowing perhaps?
Nick Eisel is taking a well-earned vacation, so in his place we have an article by the King of the Blue Mages, Planeshifted Dan Paskins. He brings us his Time Spiral Block Constructed deck of choice — Blue Deck Wins — that he played in the recent Grand Prix: Florence. He also looks at some of the reasons that Tomoharu Saitou is almost certainly a better player than you.
We’re all pretty clear on some of our Magic archetype definitions. Aggro? Easy. Control? Slightly woollier, but simple enough. Combo? Obvious. But… Midrange? Aggro-Control? Are the two archetypes the same, or do they have important differences. And while we’re at it, the differences between “archetype” and “role” can also spawn confusion. Today, Adrian takes a machete to this particular linguistic jungle…
The recent discussion of cutting Library of Alexandria or Mana Drain from GAT reminded me of the constant pressure on newer Vintage players not to cut sacred cows from decks. Although this is a good general rule, people tend to stick stubbornly with certain builds/choices until the end of time. For example, there’s the removal of Smokestack in certain builds of Stax for cards that actually do things.
Constructed calculations aplenty this week, as Rich Hagon brings you lots of quality ways to stretch those dollars even further in pursuit of the perfect 75 cards. Also includes the closest thing in Magic to Car-Crash TV – ripping open boosters for No Good Reason! Look away now!
The Ferrett is bored with Magic, so instead of going with correct strategy, he instead opts to run a horrifically creature-light deck to see what happens when you run removal over guys. The results? Well, there’s a secret here for ya.
Rizzo does it again! Today’s Feature Article sees J to the F to the R in fine hyperbolic form, kicking ass and taking names through three tournaments with his usual panache and style. As always, his article is full of decklists, frolics, and life… and should not be attempted by anyone with a weak heart. 13000 words of pure love, from the guy who came fifth in the Storyteller ballot!
In a format as open as Extended, traditional control decks need something special. The Extended cardpool is deep, the threats are varied, and the metagame is undefined. In order to control the match, one must have more than the power to simply say “no.” Today’s Innovations sees Patrick walk us through the matchups for a control deck that can say “no” over and over and over again: No Stick!
Have you ever seen Kenji play a match? Usually he will mount himself atop his left foot, or perch himself in the chair. This helps him not only see the board more clearly (he is a little guy after all), but it also gives him an uncomfortable position to sit in, which will hone his senses and enable him to make the best plays possible. Now take Gadiel’s posture…
Pro Tour: Valencia is just around the corner, and Mike is getting back into the Extended swing. Today’s Flores Friday sees Mike throw out three novel and exciting Extended decks, and run us through some games on Magic Online. While, in their current incarnations, they may not be PT winners, they’re certainly decks to watch. And with Nike’s deckbuilding pedigree, who knows? Maybe one will make a Sunday slot after all…
Time Spiral Draft is dead in the water, pretty much. We’re all keen for Lorwyn, and the excitement of those fresh new-car-smell goodies. Of course, with a little diligence, there are still TPF gems to be mined… one just has to dig a little deeper than usual. Inspired by a Drafting With Kenji aside, and created by Rogier Maaten, Tiago takes us through one of the more peculiar archetypes the field of TPF draft has to offer: the Rogier Special.
It is said that all good things must come to an end. Fortunately, rather than following up on Craig Jones skipping off to finish his doctorate, Matt Cavotta’s conclusion to “Taste The Magic,” or Aaron Forsythe’s conclusion to his run on “Recent Developments,” the only thing ending here on Magical Hack is… my vacation.
