After two Constructed performances that, under examination, can’t be described as successful, Craig “The Professor” Jones is taking stock. While he made Day 2 at Grand Prix: Columbus with a strange hybrid Fish Flash deck, he admits he fell prey to the deadly curse of Fancy Deck Syndrome. Today’s From The Lab sees Prof offer up some sage advice on how to avoid such a perilous fate.
On the 20th, I played in a Future Sight-legal Standard tournament… which was won by a U/B speed Dredge deck, previously unseen on the online tournament circuit but apparently popular on bulletin boards everywhere. It used Blue dredge enablers like Magus of the Bazaar and mana acceleration effects to play them turn 1. It’s currently known as “Under The Bridge,” and it’s the deck of choice today.
Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. You ready for a whole weekend’s worth of video compressed into just twenty minutes? But that’s not all – I have full deck tech rundowns from U.S. National Champ Paul Cheon’s “Bigger Fish”, Zac Hill and Richard Feldman’s B/G Skyshroud Poacher deck, and the Grand Prix champ Steve Sadin’s Billy Moreno-designed Flash Counterbalance deck!
When a new set release hits the streets, people invariably go gaga over the new tools. “Look at Aven Mindcensor,” they’ll say. “It totally hoses Dragonstorm! And Yixlid Jailer spells death for the Dredge strategy!” However, while such cards do have obvious applications in the metagame, they come with a considerable amount of baggage. Are these hidden costs worthwhile? Chad is keen to find out…
The Standard metagame has crystallized around three Tier 1 decks: Dragonstorm, Gruul, and Dralnu du Louvre. Of late, it appears that the decks with Red have eclipsed the Control deck… but lately, the counterspells have been fighting back! Benjamin takes the Blue/Black masterpiece and updates it for a Brave New Metagame, just in time for Regionals!
I was not the only person who believed that the existence of Flash was good for the metagame. It set a very clear bar that all rogue decks had to be able to beat, and it weeded out many of the more random combo decks both by virtue of being “better” in the abstract and because of the necessity to try and hate it out. After Future Sight it probably gets ridiculous, but in Columbus it was simply a very good but very vulnerable combo deck that defined the metagame without unhealthily warping it.
One of the core problems with Future Sight, going in, is that “the future” isn’t just a vague theme, it’s a stupid theme. The future is unbound, featuring possibility all over the place… and they’re going to print cards that supposedly fit from these potential futures that offer us both a view of the future mechanically, and that give us a view of the future with flavor as well?
Hello all, and welcome to another entry in that most casual of columns, here at the Kitchen Table! I am your host of all things happy. Today I intend to explore a few more complex strategies in multiplayer. There is a solid amount of multiplayer material on the Net, from strategy to formats to theory. Today I am going to give you some advanced theory.
Fresh out of the 883-person event in Columbus, Doug Linn looks back on this weekend’s Grand Prix and sifts through the data for tech and commentary. Find out how useful the information from the GP will be and look at the apparent futility of testing Legacy. Trace the historical development of the Flash deck with insider information and see how many pros he name-checks! All this and more in what Doug promises is the last article about Flash he will write.
So far this year, Tiago Chan hasn’t quite lived up to his Level 6 billing. Going into the tournament, he was looking to put a few uninspired results behind him, and power himself back into the running for Player of the Year. While he didn’t quite crack the final table, he finished high on Day 2 and picked up some cash and an extra point or two. With Block Constructed the format of the approaching PTQ season, now’s the time to get aquainted with the top tech…
Sadly for Player-of-the-Year-chasing Raph, Grand Prix: Strasbourg was nothing to write home about. A few wins, a few losses, and no Day 2 action. In a change of pace, Today’s Pro Perspective sees Raph asking some pertinent questions regarding cheaters and cheating. To answer these questions, we have a Level 4 and a Level 5 judge ready and eager to help! So, if you’ve ever wondered about infractions at the top level of sanctioned play, this is the article for you!
Last week, Jeroen cast his dignity in the dirt and literally begged for your questions. You responded in your droves, packing his inbox with enough content for five or six weeks! Today’s Ask The Drama begins thinning his inbox, and Jeroen answers questions on coping with playing a Big Name Pro, Mono Black in Standard, and much much more!
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…
