Today sees the return of the incomparable Jamie Wakefield, in the first of his weekly columns here at StarCityGames.com. And what better way for Jamie to begin than with a long look at the state of Mono-Green Aggro in Standard? Jamie shares his latest Green beatdown machine, waxes lyrical about the health of the current Standard format, and shares stories with his usual wit and vigor. Mr Wakefield, it’s great to have you back!
Richard Feldman is here to make you a better player. Not by bringing you a teched-out decklist – although he’s done that before, and will do so again. And not by leading you by the hand through a tricky playskill minefield – again, something he excels at. Today, Richard Feldman is here to make you speed up your game. Such skills are invaluable to the tournament player looking to gain that elusive percentile edge over their worthy opponents…
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 takes a sabbatical from his normal All-Romeo Deckfest Love-In, and concentrates his budget ability on Other People’s Decklists. He casts his money-conscious eyes over successful builds, and evaluates their potency in the budget Standard metagame.
The art of sideboarding is elusive. The metagame evolves at a startling rate, and there are enough different archetypes across all formats to make everyone happy. However, this is not an excuse for us to ignore the sideboard altogether. In the first part of a two-part series, Peter stresses the importance of testing those sideboarded games, and supplies practical examples to prove his point.
In a recent Mark Rosewater column, MaRo revealed that Zvi Mowshowitz – who worked on the development team for Planar Chaos – was vehemently against the printing of a Black four-mana board-sweeper that you may be familiar with. Mark looks at Zvi’s reasoning behind such a belief, and posits his own theories into the wisdom, or folly, behind such a move.
In the rush to become a Pro player a lot of people overlook the intermediate steps involved in getting to just “okay.” And Magic’s a complex enough game that really, just getting to “not sucking completely” is a significant accomplishment. When you’re a mediocre player, you can’t afford to rely on your play skills; you need to hone every edge you have, because the good players will outplay you.
Here are the tricks I’ve learned to improve my game significantly. These are the things that separate me from the truly bad; they’re the reasons I usually finish at the top of my prerelease pool. And if you integrate these into your play, you too can be at least mediocre.
In the first of his regular weekly columns on Limited Magic, Nick Eisel examines some of the unsung heroes of Time Spiral draft. Those thirteenth- and fourteenth-pick cards that wing their way around the table time and again? Maybe they should be in your final forty. Nick also takes a baseball bat to some of the overblown cards of the format, busting their hype bubbles and sending them packing. Are you still picking Durkwood Baloth over Penumbra Spider? Then this is the article for you!
Recently, Vintage has discovered a new monster – Manaless Ichorid. In his last article, Stephen Menendian took us through a blow-by-blow account of ten games between Manaless Ichorid and Meandeck Gifts. In those ten games, Manaless Ichorid proved itself strong enough to kick back with the Big Boys. However, there is improvement to be made, and tweaking to be done. Today, Stephen suggests a radical change to Manaless Ichorid – adding mana.
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!
With Planar Chaos promising a great deal for the control-loving mages among us, Bennie asks a simple question: what now for the creature strategy? In the face of mass removal by the bucketload, is it possible to succeed with monsters in the face of so much horror? Benne looks back through history, and presents us with a few theories and decklists that may just work…
Nick went into Worlds 2006 with high hopes. Even so, a Top 8 finish was beyond even his wildest dreams. However, with some smart play, excellent choices, and a little luck, Nick powered through the Constructed days undefeated. Today he tells his rags-to-riches story in fine style, sharing the things he learnt during his wild ride to the Top 8 of Magic’s biggest event…
It’s Monday… and that means it’s time for some Magic Puzzles! Each week, Jeff brings us the most fiendish Magical conundrums he can, each one brewed in his fevered brainpan. Do you have the skills to solve the problems? Be sure to leave your answers in the forums!
With MagictheGathering.com concentrating on all things Planar Chaos, today’s Flores Friday brings us the tournament lowdown from last weekend’s round of Extended PTQs. Mike breaks down the numbers from all the results that are in so far, sharing some of the winning and high-performing deck builds. He takes a long look at why they won, and makes his own personal suggestions for those hoping to succeed in Week Two of the PTQ roller coaster.
Stephen Menendian has made some mighty big claims regarding his potent Manaless Ichorid deck… in this comprehensive matchup article, he puts his creation to the test. Ten games against one of the strogest decks in the Vintage metagame – Meandeck Gifts. So, can Stephen’s Ichorids bring home the proverbial bacon, or will Gifts be laughing all the way to the bank?
