Hello everybody and welcome to The Magic Show. In this, our 29th outing — can you believe we’re almost the big 3-0? In today’s episode we look into the future of Magic, beginning with new blocks, new cards, and new strategies.
Tired of those traditional set reviews that just give you information that you already know? Hate those one-star to five-star rating systems? In today’s edition of The Real Deal, Ben tackles the cards in Planar Chaos, from every angle — playability, artwork, flavor text, design, and much much more. Don’t forget to check out Ben’s Corner at the end of the column for up-to-the-minute StarCityGames.com site news!
In today’s Flores Friday, Mike takes a break from Extended testing to bring us an exciting deck primed for the fast-approaching Planar Chaos Standard. As the name suggests, the deck contains a pair of 6/6 three-color flying beatsticks. Drawing cards, killing guys, ramping mana, and destroying the world… and who doesn’t enjoy swinging with Dragons?
He’s been quiet for a while now, but it’s impossible to keep a good man down! John F Rizzo, after a brief work-enduced hiatus, returns to StarCityGames.com with a glorious attempt to break Extended in half. This article contains twelve budding Extended decklists… surely there’ll be something for even the most discerning of deckbuilding palates.
In preparation for Planar Chaos, and the impact it will have on Extended, John takes a first-pass look at Psychatog. With Boros on the decline, and Sudden Shock slowly fading from the metagame, has Dr Teeth still got the bite required to tear up the PTQ scene? Mr Fiorillo also dips his toe into Limited waters, and shares some sage advice for all players looking to improve in general…
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!
This past week I finished the construction of a deck I’ve been building for a while. I played it virtually all night at the multiplayer table, and it worked a lot better than I hoped. At first it looks like a pile of junk, but as you take a look under the hood, you find some really powerful card interactions. Plus, the deck plays differently in every game.
On Monday, Richard Feldman brought us Tenacious Tron, a U/W Tron deck both he and Zac took to excellent finishes at a recent PTQ. Richard shared the development and game-plan of the deck. Today, Zac brings us the matchup and sideboarding data. They think they’ve broken the format… do you agree?
Continuing their trend of being unable to design a Green/Red creature, Wizards have decided to staple one legacy of crashing failure to another — designing a strong woman. Today, we’re going to talk about women. And we’re going to start… with boobs.
In order to bring you more content, and to expand the host of fine writers we have here at StarCityGames.com, we’re pround to announce that, from today, we’re mirroring our Premium “floating” articles with a free article in the same design! Today’s offering comes from Legacy writer Chris Coppola. Here’s what he has to say on his article:
In this article, I draw on my experience as a Legacy deckbuilder and player and discuss the foundational cards of the format. I also emphasize the importance of creative deckbuilding and suggest some methods for creating new decks.
Tiago’s mission these past few weeks involved breaking down the factors of a Magic player’s success. So far, he’s isolated the importance of Playskill, and the vital Deck Choice conundrum. Today is the turn of that most ephemeral of factors… Luck. We know that Luck plays a role in Magic, but how can we quantify its involvement? More importantly, how can we court The Lady and increase our success rate?
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!
This week’s foray into the digital realm sees blisterguy take a stroll through the gardens of Planar Chaos. What are the hot electronic cards you should buy by the dozen? There’s also the Premier Event Top 8 data for both Standard and Extended, and the card price analysis that we’ve all come to know and love…
Despite taking the lion’s share of the metagame at Worlds 2006, Boros Deck Wins hasn’t exactly been living up to its name. Is this deck really and Extended powerhouse that all should fear? Josh spills his guts on his own personal four-color Boros build, armed with Armadillo Cloaks and Kird Apes and Vindicates, oh my! In the face of ridiculous and unfair decks such as TEPS, is Boros Deck Scrapes Into The Quarters Before Being Battered By A Real Deck still a prime contender for the Blue Envelope?
After fielding a multitude of questions on The Rock, Jeroen “Rock Master” Remie happily thought the subject was done… Then Mike Flores produced the powerful “Flores Rocks” Rock deck for Extended, and the questions began anew. Today’s Ask The Drama looks at the Flores Rock deck, and Jeroen answers many questions regarding its viability in the exciting Extended metagame. Submit your questions to [email protected], but please… lay off The Rock questions. The vein in Jeroen’s temple is throbbing, fit to burst. It’s only a matter of time before he turns green and goes all “Remie Smash” on us…
