When the prerelease hits and everyone gets to see the full spoilers, I eagerly check around and see what cards people are chattering about, compare ideas, and stumble across new ones; all that fun happy new set chaos as millions of Magic fans around the world weigh in with their thoughts. Then I run across the Eeyores…
As we enter the fifth week of puzzles, you have already had the chance to test your Fact or Fiction splitting skills, win the first turn of the game, compare the Planeshifted cards to their original counterparts, and find ways to win in real game scenarios. This week you will have a more traditional puzzle to solve: a crossword. For those keeping track of points, this week is the final week of competition for round 1. RidiculousHat holds the lead, but it is still anyone’s game. This week’s puzzle will decide who will be the reigning puzzle master.
In my last article I concluded by stating I would be testing a Lotus Bloom / Mind’s Desire deck for Extended in anticipation of the PTQ season, but since Worlds the deck simply became unimpressive against the masses of hate. After a bit of disappointment with TEPS before and after Worlds, I decided to see how my deck from last season that I used to Top 8 several PTQs would perform, as I still had all the cards.
In today’s “Insane Plays,” Stephen takes a look at recent trends in Gifts and Grim Tutor deck construction. As usual, this article is packed with fascinating data and masterful theory. Stephen’s careful analysis and surprising findings are a must-read for every serious Vintage player.
Craig “The Professor” Jones, fresh from smashing through the Planar Chaos Black cards in last week’s article, tackles the other color of Magic that is particularly close to his heart: Red. The color of fire, the color of frenzy, the color of fun. Prof suggests that Red is a color with an identity crisis at present: it has the tools to compete, but does it have the necessary focus to succeed? Maybe the four Standard decklists he brings to the table will help us find out…
With Extended PTQ season in full swing, Sean McKeown brings us a comprehensive matchup guide to No-Stick, a.k.a. Scepter Chant. If you’re a fan of this particular deck, then this article is unmissable. Of course, if this style of deck gives you the dry heaves, I applaud you. Remember kids… don’t give in to evil.
With everyone’s favorite grumpy Canadian on his way to Geneva (to let those PT hopefuls do some real Drafting With Rich), Jeroen “Ask The Drama” Remie has stepped manfully into the breach. For the rest of the week, Jeroen will bring us a draft each day, sharing each pick and ponderance along the way. For more protracted discussion on his card choices, come visit the forums!
Ben’s back for Part 2 of his Totally Complete Planar Chaos Set Review! In today’s article, Ben discusses the strategy, artwork, flavor text, mechanics, design, and taste of Planar Chaos!
In this week’s Ben’s Corner: Several new promo cards have been added to the site!
Hello everybody, I’m Evan Erwin, and this is the Magic Show. Today we’re going to take a new approach – that’s right, we’re going episodic and it’s going to get interesting…
We’ve had Eisel on Limited. We’ve had Feldman on Extended. We’ve had Remie answering questions, and Chan sharing a pro perspective. Today we have Mike Flores looking at the impact that Planar Chaos will have on the coming Standard environment. The cards to watch, and the cards to avoid. The strategies that’ll work, and the strategies that’ll die. The best writers, and the best players, only at StarCityGames.com!
Extended season is still in full swing, and with PTQs around each and every corner, players are screaming for the latest tech in order to bring home the proverbial bacon. Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin presents two decklists for our perusal, the first an entertaining multicolor Rock variant, and the second an updated Tog list that takes advantage of the Planar Chaos cards. Will these decks take anyone to the top? Read on to find out…
With John Fiorillo winging his way to Geneva, there’s a change to our advertised schedule today. Kyle Sanchez steps into John’s shoes, and regales us with the sorry tale of two PTQ appearences, both piloting an interesting homebrew deck that Kyle initially offered to the U.S National team for Worlds. Given that Kyle has made the final of both the PTQs in question, maybe they were hasty in dismissing the deck so quickly…
With everyone’s favorite grumpy Canadian on his way to Geneva (to let those PT hopefuls do some real Drafting With Rich), Jeroen “Ask The Drama” Remie has stepped manfully into the breach. For the rest of the week, Jeroen will bring us a draft each day, sharing each pick and ponderance along the way. For more protracted discussion on his card choices, come visit the forums!
Good day all, and welcome to the column that explores all things casual: The Kitchen Table. I’m your host, Abe Sargent. Everybody has been talking about the fact that Wizards was seriously considering a new color for a set, and I have to tell you that I absolutely adore the idea. Do it! Now! But enough of this… let’s build some decks!
This is my baby Boros, which I like for several reasons. It’s largely based on Pat Sullivan’s California PTQ list, as well as some standard Tsuyoshi Fujita principles for building aggressive decks. It’s designed for a metagame where Tron, TEPS, Aggro-Loam, and Flow comprise about sixty percent of the field, with the ten or so other mainstream Tier 2 strategies rounding out the other forty.
