After last week’s foray into Time Spiral Block Constructed, it’s time for me to wend my weary way back to the Standard streets. As usual, Magic Online has been awash with Premier Events, and I’ve trawled the Top 8 replays in order to bring you what’s winning and what’s losing. As we’ve nine Top 8s to work through today, I won’t waste your time with any more pointless introduction.
Jamie is in a contemplative mood this week. In the midst of this, he brings us a plethora of Standard and Extended decks for our perusal. Yes, there are Green cards here… but they are not alone. In his ongoing quest to place himself prominently on the Magical Map, his decks offer promise for anyone looking to try something a little different…
During Constructed tournament downtimes, such as the current Two-Headed Giant Limited PTQ season, Richard has traditionally retreated to the seclusion of Magic Online for his sixty-card fix. This time, however, he has a mission — to become a better Deck Designer. While he is pleased with his ability to tweak decks, building them from the ground up is currently beyond him. Join him on his journey toward rectifying this deficiency in his game, and see if he can create a deck that breaks Standard wide open!
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 TTP 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!
Chris takes two copies of the Ritual of Rebirth preconstructed deck, and smashes them together in an attempt to fuse a competitive casual deck from the resultant debris. However, this time he’s up against it. Where oh where is the precious removal? Can a deck survive on creatures alone? Or did Chris cave and supply some creature-kill of his very own? Read on to find out!
It’s official — Wild Pair and Slivers are the Block Constructed Soup du Jour. The world and his mate, it seems, are on the lookout for the perfect way to pair these two strategies. We’ve heard from Nick Eisel, from Patrick Chapin, from Evan Erwin… Now it’s Mark Young’s turn. Still wondering how to get the most from this six-mana game-altering enchantment? Maybe Mark has the strategies for you!
Are today’s Extended decks as good as those of years past? To find out, 32 of the best of the best — including five decks from this past season — are fighting it out in a single elimination tournament. It’s a battle of monsters — and banned cards: Time Spiral, Memory Jar, Survival of the Fittest, Necropotence, Dark Ritual, Entomb, Tolarian Academy, Demonic Consultation and Replenish are all in play. Can Duress, Force of Will and Wasteland really beat PT: Tinker brokenness? Let’s find out.
Ferrett opens a very strong card pool in this week’s Sealed Deck exercise… But he has second doubts not about the cards themselves, but the way he sorts them. How should a Sealed Deck writer sort his card pool in order to show what he really thinks of each of the cards? He’s got some ideas, but he needs your help!
With Time Spiral Draft (TTP) being the eight-man Limited format of choice, any new information is paramount if you’re looking to rock your next MTGO 8-4 or Friday Night Magic session. Nick wades into the constant debate with a few new ideas and card evaluations based on extensive play. He also shares his cardpool from the recent Two-Headed Giant Limited Grand Prix in Fitchburg.
Last week, Stephen brought us the wacky fun that is the Goblin Charbelcher Vintage deck. This week, he takes it for a spin, facing off in a five-match suite against the perennial Gifts. Over the long haul, it’s tough to choose a winner… will it be the control shenanigans from Gifts, or the wacky combo goblin hi-jinks from Belcher? Read on to find out!
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 TTP 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 faces off in this week’s Battle of the Bens with a few choice words for our own Mr Bleiweiss! He follows them up with a look at one of the new graveyard-acquainted cards from the approaching Future Sight, talks us through some Magic Online games, an jumps on the Wild Pair bandwagon with a few Time Spiral Block Constructed decks of his own…
This week I pay homage to the original puzzler, Mark Rosewater. His “Trade Away” puzzle from the Magic: The Puzzling book has always been one of my favorites. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this week’s brain-bender as much as I enjoyed the original.
Grand Prix: Kyoto saw a number of new and exciting decks hit the Planar Chaos Standard metagame. One particular deck that raised a few eyebrows was the innovative U/G Urzatron deck packed with morphs and card drawing, created by Constructed specialist Naoki Shimizu. He made the Top 8 that day, after topping the swiss… and here’s his report on the both deck and the tournament!
Today’s Flores Friday sees Mike in a reflective mood. With copious reference to decks past and present, he lists the Top 8 Traits of Great Deck Designers, those pearls of wisdom that elevate the Great Ones high over the heads of us mere mortals. If you’re serious about deck design, or merely want to improve your design edge, then this is the article for you!
