One-seventy five! Hello folks, and welcome to the 175th anniversary of my happy column. If I had the gumption, I’d look up what the special word for 175th anniversary is. However, I’d rather write about Magic than spend five minutes researching a word I’ll never use again. Besides, I used “gumption” in a sentence… I don’t think it’ll get much better than that.
Countdown to Grand Prix Columbus! In this article, Chris Coppola takes a look at the Little Red Men. He analyzes the mechanics of Goblins, and discusses strategies for building and playing an optimal version.
Raph returns fresh from Boston with a new edtition of Pimp My Draft! Today’s offering sees Yohan pilot the first three picks of a Magic Online TTP draft, before Raph takes over. There were some counter-intuitive picks made in this one… did you agree with Raph’s choices? And next time on Pimp My Draft, Raph takes a willing forum-dweeler on the journey, so make sure to make your voices heard!
With Jeroen Remie currently snowed under by exam work, John Pelcak steps nobly into the breach, bringing us the full story behind his excellent Top 8 performance at Grand Prix: Dallas. He plumped for the mathematician’s choice, the powerful and dominant Affinity. He flew in the face of Kataki-packers, and made it to the top tables! To find out how, read on…
In honor of March Madness (which will sadly be over by the time you see this), a few of my friends and I decided upon running a 16 deck, single-elimination Time Spiral mock tournament. The format was simple: Best of five games (two pre-board, three post). Single-elimination. Now that you know the rules, let’s get started… because this’ll be a long one.
I work six days a week, twelve-hour shifts on Monday through Friday, so all my time for writing ends up being on the weekend… but I show up on Wednesday. What follows is my own little contribution to Fatty Week over at the mothership, but of course it will be showing up a week late by comparison. Oops. Oh, well. Nothing for it, so let’s trudge on along now.
I love Block Constructed. I hope you do too. Let’s face it, Block is the Constructed format for the true connoisseur. You can keep your Vintage, your Legacy and Standard… Block is officially where it’s at! Today’s Online Outlook takes a look at the current Magic Online Block Constructed metagame… is Teferi conquering all, or does the Soltari Priest send everyone running for cover?
Can it be true? Has Jamie finally succumbed? Has he joined the Dark Side, and picked up an Island or two? Is he coming round to the Way of the Control Mage, ready to leave mana open and counter spells left, right, and center? There’s only one way to find out… Read on!
Today’s Deep Analysis brings us Richard’s take on an interesting “tournament report” from an Extended PTQ Top 8, in which the writer involved made a series of terrible plays yet still managed to make the final table. Mr Feldman dissects the report from top to toe, and highlights each mistake in order to stop us falling into similar traps. Another excellent article from one of the top writers in the game today.
When I left you last week, I was doing quite badly with a Black and White deck inspired by and built around Necrotic Sliver. Part of the reason was that I had run in directly into a gauntlet of tournament-winning decks. The other part was that the deck sucked. I was in a bit of a pickle. I have called Necrotic Sliver one of the two best non-rare creatures in Planar Chaos. Of course, I had to build a deck to prove that point, or no one would believe it.
I’m continuing with the Ultimate Extended Tournament. The concept is simple — take two dozen of the best Extended decks from seasons past, add some of the best decks from this season, and let them all battle it out. Round one is now over. We have upsets! The number one seed — JarGrim — is out!
Across the board sat a Merfolk Thaumaturgist, a Dream Stalker, and a recently played morph with UB open. My opponent had three cards in hand. It’s the start of the combat step, I’m at 10 from the Stalker / Thaumaturgist combo, and he’s at 17 from my Shaman attack last turn.
This article is all about the question: What’s the play for me?
This week, my brain arguably melted down. I’m about to tell you that what I built was almost certainly the wrong thing, and by a large margin, and I turned away from a reasonably easy, fattie-based build into something needlessly tricky. But what happened?
Before setting out for Grand Prix: Boston, Nick played an IPA Qualifying event on Magic Online. He walks us through his Sealed cardpool and deckbuilding choices, and brings us a game-by-game rundown of his journey toward the Top 8. Did he qualify for the chance to rip a foil Pernicious Deed? Read on to find out!
The Turn 1 Kill… it’s an achievement as celebrated as it is derided. No deck in Vintage, despite many attempts, has ever been truly successful at executing a consistent turn 1 kill. However, Stephen believes that the surprising Goblin Charbelcher deck may have finally achieved the unthinkable. If you’re looking for a fun and competitive alternative to the usual Vintage powerhouses, then this could be the deck for you!
