I know. I said I wouldn’t be writing this week. But hide those party hats in a hurry, boys, because that’s my (very ugly and outdated and The Monkees’d) mug sketchily leering at you in that Thursday column slot once again.
Like everyone else, I want to talk about Planar Chaos.
When I started playing Magic, Set Reviews were a dime a dozen. Writers, sensing easy material, would happily copy their word-count’s worth of extant material into a file and then run through it commenting in a flippant fashion on the cards that they didn’t care about, then have sparks of energy around the cards they really did want to talk about. As I started writing, I just assumed that Set Reviews were the Done Thing.
As everyone knows, Jeroen Remie loves the Rock. It came as a great surprise to many when he walked away from Pernicious Deed and friends at Worlds 2006, choosing instead to play Boros Deck Wins. Today’s edition of “Ask The Drama” brings us a couple of Rock-based questions for those aspiring Green/Black mages among us, and also tackles other points including the cost of being a pro and Remie’s view of TEPS.
New cards excite all Magic players, from the Level 6 Mage to the Kitchen Table Acolyte, and Raphael Levy is no exception. Today’s Pro Persepctive sees Raph share his two Planar Chaos Prerelease cardpools and final builds, plus a number of pertinent Sealed deckbuilding tips. Sealed Deck is, apparently, Raphael’s favorite Magic format. If you’re one of the many who think it’s all luck-based… think again.
Rich continues his excellent series of Time Spiral Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!
Blisterguy brings us the usual update on the Magic Online metagames, both Extended and Standard, plus a reasoned look at how the new Timeshifted cards in Planar Chaos may be a move of pure madness and evil. He also breaks down the goodies that each color has to offer, and laughs in the face of the Blue mages who will undoubtedly claim that they are being stiffed…
Today I want to talk about the trails and tribulations of breaking a splintered metagame. First you may ask yourself what the heck I’m talking about and mutter something about all metagames being equal. Here’s the thing… usually semi-coherent metagames are shaped pretty early in a format’s life-cycle. You know X and Y are going to be the “best” decks and somewhat popular, while Z is good and even a bit more popular for some reason (Easier to play, easier to make, etc.). Then you have the rest of the letters filling out the rest of the metagame. Arrogant and / or confident players may be labeling all of these as byes…
Planar Chaos looms upon the horizon, soon to be legal and leading the masses into Damnation. Alright, I could have resisted, but it was so much more fun not to. As the saying goes, “Lead me not into temptation… I can find it just fine on my own.” I figured I’d start today off by mentioning a few interesting cards beyond the blatantly obvious ones (Groundbreaker is Some Good? O RLY?).
Having abandoned his G/W Extended deck from last week, Jamie faced a quandry. Where now for the archetypal Green mage? Thankfully, there are more strings to Jamie’s MTG bow than meets the eye… Mr Wakefield put down the Forest and embraced the power of the Swamp. Jamie also shares the tale of his Planar Chaos prerelease, and laments the brute power of Mind’s Desire in Extended… something we can all understand.
Despite taking on many forms, it’s safe to say that Big Mana Blue – be it U/W Tron or U/W Vesuvapost – is one of the more powerful control options in the current Extended metagame. Today’s “Deep Analysis” examines its position in the Grand Scheme, and looks at how it can be improved to shore up those tricky matchups. Personally, I think this is the best deck in the Extended field, and I hope everyone plays it at my next PTQ. Then again, I play Boros Deck Wins…
Rich continues his excellent series of Time Spiral Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!
Chris Romeo brings us his take on Budget Boros, finding cheap and playable substitutions for some of the high-dollar rares. Will the deck stand up to the heat of tournament scrutiny? He also explains his personal methods for battling the Magic doldrums, and brings us a smattering of much-missed cheesecake…
You don’t play TEPS because it beats every deck. You play it because it puts pressure on every deck. Most keepable hands win very early in the game, so by playing TEPS you force every opponent to win or find an answer in five turns or less. Also, you have a Burning Wish package such that even if the opponent should come up with something, you can find a bullet to deal with it. Many PTQ decks, and a great many more PTQ players, operate much worse under that kind of pressure.
Pop quiz time – The article begins with a massive list of Magic cards. Over 150 in total. What do they have in common?
“They all have capitalized letters?”
Oh, you are so clever. Here’s a clever little thing you can do with your deckbox. Sideways. For everyone else… well, the title of this article is a clue…
I could say something clever here. Or I could tell you what I learned about the cards I played with, and against, this weekend. So let’s talk about Crovax, Mirri, the new Akroma, and the effectiveness of Cradle to Grave!
