Yesterday, Stuart brought us his views on U/W drafting in Time Spiral. Today he returns to the Constructed fold, in perfect time for Worlds. The UK’s premier deckbuilder analyses the coming Extended metagame, and offers a few gauntlet decks for your consideration…
Oh, man, I have discovered the deck. I mean, this thing has not lost a single game out of the hundred-plus games I’ve played. It doesn’t matter if the other deck is aggro, control, or combo, Pro-Tour-winning or rogue. I can’t wait to show you this Blue-Black deck featuring…
With Mr Hoaen off galavanting around the world, top-eighting Grand Prix tournaments left and right, the brave Mr Aten steps into the “Drafting With X” breach until the grumpy Canadian’s return. Tim will be presenting a draft a day, sharing picks one through forty-five, and adding his own brand of lyrical commentary at the end of each article. For a more in-depth critique of his process, be sure to visit the forums!
I’m presenting to you — my very special friend — this article-series-of-as-yet-undetermined-length, a Standard casual cold buffet, roughly resembling Chris Romeo’s smooth and tender operatings. In other words, just to throw out my entire audience with the bathwater, the series is casual without being particularly budget-oriented. But hey, it has “fairies” in the title! Fairies! I know that I love it.
Zac continues his examination of a new and intriguing deck in Standard. Looking for a break from the norm? Then try this out for size…
After last week’s disappointing card pool, this week The Ferrett cracks a stellar collection of power – so much so that it’s more trouble figuring out what to leave out! How do you trim a grouping of solid removal, good mana fixing, and decent (if high-end) critters to all fit inside one winning deck?
Stuart Wright is primarily known for his Constructed prowess. That said, while his sixty-card ability trumps his forty-card play, Stuart’s Limited skill is by no means the red-headed stepchild of the relationship. Today he brings us his personal pick orders for the ultra-aggressive Blue/White draft archetype, plus some sample decks and a few play examples. Stuart has had a lot of success with this color combination… can it work for you?
Sean’s personal report from the trenches of Grand Prix: New Jersey is well written, entertaining, illuminating, and fun. While he didn’t make Day 2 play, he came close enough to taste it. With game walkthroughs, cardpool and deck information, and anecdotes galore, this is one report that you don’t want to miss!
With Mr Hoaen off galavanting around the world, top-eighting Grand Prix tournaments left and right, the brave Mr Aten steps into the “Drafting With X” breach until the grumpy Canadian’s return. Tim will be presenting a draft a day, sharing picks one through forty-five, and adding his own brand of lyrical commentary at the end of each article. For a more in-depth critique of his process, be sure to visit the forums!
I’ve wanted to write about this deck for so long. Part of it’s the devious fun of slinging cards that barely make the cut in draft. Part of it’s the fact that when you lose to this deck you actually want to chug bleach by the gallon. Part of it is playing four copies of cards that are restricted in Vintage (well, sorta).
Take a look at any Legacy Top 8 and you’ll see the Big Three show up over and over again; these decks are Goblins, Threshold, and High Tide. At any event, one must be prepared to play each of these decks several times, and for a new deck to function well, it must beat these decks. Good luck on that. The Big Three are format-defining, and in some ways, distorting. This series will focus on the matchups between these decks in the coming weeks.
As we’re all aware, Mike has had a modicum of success of late. His State Championship win, piloting the innovative “This Girl” deck, goes a fair way to banishing the “Bad Player Flores” nickname once and for all. By his own admission, his success is largely due to his fine analysis of the intricacies of the endgame – sculpting the proceedings in order to steer the game to an inevitable victory. Today’s theoretical excercise takes us through the thought process behind such structured play…
While the majority of the pro community are notoriously tight-lipped with tech come Worlds, Nick is here to spread the Extended love. Today he shares an intriguing deck that has definite power… is it strong enough to make waves in the coming Worlds metagame?
With Mr Hoaen off galavanting around the world, top-eighting Grand Prix tournaments left and right, the brave Mr Aten steps into the “Drafting With X” breach until the grumpy Canadian’s return. Tim will be presenting a draft a day, sharing picks one through forty-five, and adding his own brand of lyrical commentary at the end of each article. For a more in-depth critique of his process, be sure to visit the forums!
Worlds is just around the corner, and Sean is ready for action! While he’s not attending the event, today’s article takes a timely look at each of the formats that’ll see play in the 2006 Parisian Big Show. How will the metagames shape up? Read on to find out!
