Before I get into the weirdness, I figure I’d toss out some red meat for Spike to feast upon. Last week I got a message from Thomas Leveille, the guy playing in the Virginia Beach City Champs program that was kicking ass on points about halfway through. So, how did it pan out? Thomas pinged me on AIM with this message last week…
With the Block and Legacy Grand Prix over, the next major event coming up for you, John Q Draftsalot, is Regionals. This means slogging back into the Standard metagame. I’ve been doing a running test log in an attempt to build around the basic structure of the format. These are the basic tenets of the format I’ve followed thus far when creating or tuning my decks.
Join Rich as he finds yet more inventive ways to lose at Magic. Featuring a dozen MTGO matchups, he muddles and befuddles his way through Time Spiral Block Constructed, sharing stuff that you either knew already, or feel really dirty about not knowing. But that’s okay, Rich is your friend, and he’s Making Mistakes So You Don’t Have To…
Jamie returns to his roots with some good old-fashioned fattie-lovin’… as he says himself, there’s nothing sweeter than casting a huge guy, watching your opponent struggle to deal, and once they have… casting another one. He also brings us up to speed on his European adventures, and shares a few Future Sight Green cards that have been tweaked with a touch of the Wakefield magic…
As you may have read in the official coverage, Richard Feldman and Zac Hill took a fresh-looking Trinity Green deck to Grand Prix: Columbus… and Richard came very close to making the final table. Today’s Deep Analysis looks at the creation of the deck, and provides a game-by-game rundown of the Grand Prix action!
Chris dives deep into his Well of Budget Decks, and surfaces holding a deck with a twist. With Time Spiral packing our binders with old-fashioned cards, it’s time to send out some deck lovin’ to the Old Guys who’ve never thrown away a Magic card. As an Old Guy who never throws away my Magic cards, I approve of this message.
Armed with a freshly-cut Hatching Plans Storm Combo deck, Mark takes to the eight-man queues… and comes up short. He can’t buy a win with this deck. Yet similar builds have been rocking up premier Event Top 8s without batting a metaphorical eyelid. Where’s Mark going wrong. Is it in his play, or the deck, or the simple strategies needed to succeed? Read on to find out!
At work, I have a mug that says “Everyone’s Entitled to my Opinion.” My coworkers know that that’s my mug. So, if Flores and Bennie Smith are arguing about Green, and Zac Hill writes more about concessions, is there any doubt I’ll jump on my soapbox? No, didn’t think so. This week I’ll opine on concessions, but I’ll add some facts to the debate.
I just returned from Grand Prix: Columbus, after watching it explode past everyone’s expectations with a gigantic 883 people showing up to slap dual lands and crazy old cards down. But what format were those people really playing? Was Hulk Flash actually – *gasp* – good for Legacy? And what in heck should we ban?
He’s been away for a while, but Mr Rizzo is back with a bang! Today’s dose of Rizzo Genius takes us through his long hard haul towards this year’s Regionals, with update after update to his popular Nearly Mono-Black in Standard deck. Expect no maindeck Black cards by the end of the article. He also recounts something rather frightening… I’ll let the great man tell that tale in his own irreverent fashion.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a popular TTT draft strategy called U/R. It was the biggest and strongest draft strategy in the kingdom. Then, suddenly, along came Planar Chaos, and the strategy got a little weaker. Then came Future Sight, and the strategy fell to pieces. What went wrong? Nick answers that question, and provides an excellent breakdown of all the U/x color parings for TPF draft!
Stephen takes a split-level look at the two older formats today. First up, he looks at Vintage. He brings us an interesting Doomsday list for those Vintage players who enjoy a good puzzle, and says a few words on the hardy perennial Meandeck Gifts. In Legacy, he shares his personal build of Hulk Flash, a build that he believes is the definitive version of the deck thus far…
Ahoy, puzzle fans. After the well-received paragraph puzzle from a couple weeks ago, I thought I’d present another class puzzle archetype, fitted to Magic: the 3×3. In a 3×3 puzzle you are be presented with nine words. Your job is to group the words into three sets of three, each of which are connected by another word. After you make this grouping, you once again group the three new words to get the final answer. Simple, right? Now win those RGD draft sets!
This week, I’m forgoing the usual metagame breakdowns — the format is about to radically shift, after all — and I’m bringing you an interesting little Black/White Control deck for the current Online Standard. It has a brilliant matchup against Dragonstorm and a good game versus Gruul. Intrigued? Then read on…
With Regionals just around the corner, Mike ups the ante… with not one, not two, but three Standard decks packed with Future Sight cards! Each deck has a controlling feel, and there’s copious input from Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin, who “fixes” one of Mike’s deck (much to the Resident Genius’s delight). Mike’s creations constantly warp the Constructed metagame, and these decks are no exception. If you’re looking for an edge in the coming Standard environment, look no further!
