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!
With the Time Spiral Block Pro Tour just around the corner, Craig “The Professor” Jones is forbidden to talk of super-secret Block technology on pain of catapult. Instead, he takes a long look at the Top 8 Standard decks from Grand Prix: Kyoto, and takes us through some of the more questionable predictions he made for the new Standard format when the cards were fresh off the production line…
Evan’s latest edition of the Magic Show tackles a number of interesting and evocative topics in video format. We have the age-old Online versus Real Life debate, a decklist for the entertaining Combo Slivers archetype, and a call put to a Magic player no longer with us. Pull up a chair, grab your popcorn, and bang on!
Official Future Sight sneak previews have begun popping up, and the set looks completely insane! At least one card that’s been spoiled is guaranteed by Ben to be banned / restricted. Read today’s edition of The Real Deal to find out about Future Sight, new card frames, and much more!
After last week’s parody of a particularly florid Flores, Sean drops the quill and returns to touch-typing. He shares an interesting Standard deck that utilizes four copies of the two Suspend Guys du Jour: Detritivore and Aeon Chronicler. With an IPA Qualifying Event locked firmly between his beady little Swayze eyes, he cocks and pulls and lets fly with both barrels!
Magic is a game of information. The better your knowledge of the game state, the better your decisions can be. The greater your information advantage over your opponent, the more likely you are to be able to outplay him.
But what is information? Let Chad explain all!
While Tiago didn’t exactly raise the roof at Grand Prix: Massachusetts, his practice sessions with some of the best minds in Magic has honed his skills and formed some strong opinions on how to succeed in Two-Headed Giant Draft. He outlines the four approaches he thinks can make waves in the format, and gives us a comprehensive guide to drafting his strategy of choice: Slivers.
What is it with Dredge strategies and players called Ben? Taking a leaf out of Bennie Smith’s book, BPM takes hi own tweaked G/B Dredge deck and throws it into the IPA Qualifying Tournament ring. Today’s Peebles Primers takes us through the tournament step by step, with comprehensive game walkthroughs along the way. If you’re after a fringe strategy with the power to take home the prize, the look no further than your graveyard!
After a fubar with article content last week, Zac returns with a look at two interesting Time Spiral Block Constructed decks that are ready to rock the format! He brings us the lowdown on the Defining Cards of the Format, and helps prepare us for the Little Constructed Season That Could.
Rock deck owners never put the deck away. They don’t. We just quietly have it, tucked behind all the others, in its own little deck box. It’s almost always got special sleeves, too. Not too new, don’t want people thinking we’re sleeving it up for the next tournament. That’d be silly, because, you know, Rock’s No Good Right Now. But like your favorite dancing shoes, or that embarrassing shirt with the slogan, or that beanie your grandmother gave you and you just can’t bring yourself to get rid of, you keep it.
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!
