As a writer whose mandate is to come up with cheap decks, I spend a lot – if not most – of my ponderin’ time asking the question “Why not?” That’s exactly how this column’s deck came about. For eight months now, I’ve asked myself, “why isn’t anyone playing with Phantom Wurm?” The answer I usually got was “Because Spectral Force is better.” As you might expect, that didn’t satisfy me…
I was playing Steve Sadin’s Gruul deck in an eight-man queue online right after Regionals, and in the first round I did exactly what Sadin’s deck was designed to do: crush one of those Llanowar Elves plus Giant Solifuge Gruul decks. As my Tarmogoyf and Greater Gargadon were staring down his whole lotta nothin’, I realized something: Tarmogoyf needs a nickname.
For the past four weeks, I have been revisiting an old series of mine from over four and a half years ago. In that series, I broke down building a Five Color deck into five steps, although I continued with several articles after that. Although much of the strategy to building a large deck remains the same, the sheer number of cards and changes to the format over time warrant a new series. In homage to the old series, I am cutting and pasting the old article, and then deleting out the old examples.
With the recent upheaval to the Vintage format, and the restricting and unrestricting of key cards, the Vintage metagame is in constant flux. Today’s So Many Insane Plays sees Stephen pitch two of the prospective powerhouses — Fish and GroAtog — against each other in a titanic match. By leading us through the thought processes in the early game, we can see that the decisions made on turns 1 and 2 are vital to achieving success. If you’re looking for that Vintage edge, Stephen — as always — has the answers!
This past weekend saw Tarmogoyf – admirably aided by Mystic Enforcer – take the title of Time Spiral Block Powerhouse at Grand Prix: Montreal. Celso Zampere Jr. piloted the deck all the way to the top, and today’s Peebles Primers takes us through the ins and outs of the well-honed Green/White aggro machine. This deck is sure to be out in force for the approaching PTQ season… be prepared!
You all know the drill by now… Rich Hoaen, Canada’s finest and grumpiest draft export, takes us by the hand and drags us through the rollercoaster ride of an 8-4 TPF Draft on Magic Online. From pick 1 to pick 45, Rich shares them all, and his final deck and draft performance are analysed in the article, the forums, and beyond. Come join in the fun!
Bennie rounds out some of the more eye-catching decks from the recent Regionals weekend, and supplies some interesting facts about American cities along the way! Aside from this comprehensive Standard rundown, he also has a special request regarding the nomination of your personal Hometown Hero… Intrigued? Then read on!
When Fate dealt Zac a bum hand in regards to Grand Prix: Montreal, did Zac stew in his own juices and bemoan his luck to the sky? No sir! Instead, he took up a PTQ challenge down in Mobile, Alabama, and walked away with the precious Blue Envelope. He shares his winning decklist today, a deck he claims is the current best 75 in the format. If you’re after the cutting edge of Block technology, look no further!
It’s the very beginning of the Block Constructed PTQ season. What people want, more than anything else, is Block tech. However, since I am writing this just before the first big event in the format — GP: Montreal — I’m going to have to talk about something else. If I do say anything about Block, the odds of looking like an idiot are much too high. A quick trip to the “drafts and ideas” folder showed me one possibility: my Future Sight review. The main focus of my set reviews is multiplayer and casual play…
In the build-up for Grand Prix: Montreal, Craig “The Professor” Jones supped from the same well as Dan Paskins — if the cards weren’t Red, then they weren’t good enough. This illuminating article traces the evolution of the Red deck in Time Spiral Block Constructed, and touches on some of the more strategic decisions you need to make when piloting the fire to the final table.
In this article, Nick Eisel brings us a truly desperate Time Spiral Sealed cardpool. Yes, it has powerful options… but which way should you turn? Nick takes us through a number of prospective builds, and asks for our input in the forums. If you fancy yourself as a Sealed Deck expert, then now is your chance to shine!
You all know the drill by now… Rich Hoaen, Canada’s finest and grumpiest draft export, takes us by the hand and drags us through the rollercoaster ride of an 8-4 TPF Draft on Magic Online. From pick 1 to pick 45, Rich shares them all, and his final deck and draft performance are analysed in the article, the forums, and beyond. Come join in the fun!
Since Block Constructed season has just officially gotten underway, I’ve decided to split this article. The first half will be me finishing the Designing Decks piece I started last week. The second half will be some pondering on TSP Block including bits and pieces of information from the first couple of PTQs and GP: Montreal thoughts. That’s a lot to tackle, so let’s get started!
It’s time for another Magic Puzzles article! Last time out, we looked at a ridiculous game state in which there were enough errors to make any judge’s head spin. This time, we’ll look at a couple of the situations that are not quite errors, even though they shouldn’t come up in your average game of Magic. Can you make sense of all the red herrings?
Of all the decks in Standard today, I personally feel that Dredge is the most difficult to design correctly. This mainly stems from the fact that each matchup plays completely differently, and you must know your most effective gameplan against each deck. Certain cards are MVPs in certain matchups, and it’s not always clear why until you have logged many games. I see a lot of play mistakes, even in premiere event Top 8 replays. Knowing the matchups inside and out is key.
