I would imagine it would be hard being a Sliver. I mean, you meet a new friend one day and up sprouts an extra head out of nowhere. Then another friend joins the group and your arms turn into some kind of weapon. Then one of them goes away and your extra head disappears. Another one comes down and you start shooting webs out of your butt or you grow spines on your back. Seems like it would be frustrating, to say the least.
The true tragedy of Sensei’s Divining Top is that it made everyone ignore Crown of Convergence… But those days are over, my friend. In today’s Standard, there’s no reason whatsoever not to play Crown of Convergence, assuming that’s your idea of a good time. And I’m going to try to make it fun for you, with not one, but two decks…
A list of archetypes was thankfully made available to us via Brian David-Marshall’s time-shifted “Swimming with Sharks” article – which, when stacked up next to the Round 6 Standings from Worlds, neatly sums up to a list of archetypes matched with the players who played them and the results they had after six rounds of play. This gives us the opportunity to go running with numbers some more, and to learn some very interesting things about the Standard metagame in motion.
Predictions are funny things. I tend to predict things when I see patterns: American Idol winners, how drivers act on highways, how someone will take a compliment or a criticism. And in the world of Magic, prediction means finding “the next big thing” — the angle that everyone is either missing or simply leaning towards, and it takes that one big finish to get everyone on board. So let’s peer into the crystal ball, with Worlds looming this weekend, and see what we can see.
The report from Day 2 of Pro Tour: Kobe arrives, and Tiago’s mad Time Spiral Limited skills come with it! Watch as Tiago shares the good times involved in running around Japan, then goes into phenomenal detail on each of his matches and talks about the drafts he wanted to have versus the drafts he got.
Kenji dissects his final draft at Pro Tour: Kobe… But more importantly, he gives you his Top 10 common picks from every color! (He promised you just the top 5, but he couldn’t stop himself.)
Continuing with the “Drafting with the U.S. National Team” series, today we have National Champion Paul “Seven Bells” Cheon, with commentary by one Mister Tim Aten. How does the U.S. of A. fare today?
Last weekend, I did two Coldsnap drafts. In the first, I had five Skreds, four Elves, six Snow Lands and four Auroch Herds into double Rimehorn… And I lost in the first round. I entered another 8-4 queue, and realized I didn’t really want to play about two seconds after the draft started. I rare-drafted like crazy, ended up with a very marginal pile, and split in the finals.
That got me to wondering — how much influence does luck play in drafting? So I performed a wide-scale experiment, taking several old draft decks both losing and winning, to see how much of a difference luck made… And the results were surprising.
Why Draining Whelk? What’s with the Circle of Protection against Dragonstorm? Here are a few words on the sideboard from yesterday’s U/R/W Standard deck, since the plan might not be all that clear.
When Wizards announced their “Great Designer Search,” we voted to run a search of our own to see who would replace Roland Chang on Vintage superteam Team Meandeck. We want the best! This test will challenge your understanding of the format, your knowledge of the community, your comprehension of proper Vintage etiquette and lingo… All to see if you have what it takes to make it in Vintage.
The latest installment in Raph’s saga to get to Pro Player Club Level 5, Raph edges closer to his goal by flying all over the world once again! In France, he attends the French Team Cup and tells you the biggest mistake you can make in Two-Headed Giant. Then it’s off to New Jersey, where he cracks a solid card pool for Sealed and finally breaks a long-running curse. And what happens at Yamagata? Read on!
Not only do you get the lyric musings of one of the best tournament report writers out there, but also you get a rundown of the best archetypes in Time Spiral Draft (hint: they all share the same color) and why they’re so crazily insane. All that, and a Top Five music list? What more could you ask for?
I’ve got another Standard deck to look at today. If you’re not running the crazy storm creation, I would definitely recommend this one to you. It’s a take on Pat Chapin’s “Flag Burner” that Richard Feldman and I developed…. And if you’re going to play Old Glory colors, this is the way to go.
What should I play at Worlds? I have been studying the Standard Metagame for quite some time, and I know that the best time to choose a deck, as far as being familiar with it is concerned, is as soon as possible. However, I also know that the metagame is a changeable and fickle thing, and therefore I knew I wasn’t going to decide on what deck I am going to play until roughly *checks watch* nnnnnow. But far as what I can expect to face at Worlds, the best indication is going to come from what has been played on Magic Online up until now… So let’s check out the Standard Premier Events Top 8 recap.
In the week before Worlds, the U.S. Nationals team stayed at my house and playtested. When they saw that I got assigned a stint as substitute drafter, the reaction was unanimous: “I wanna do one!!” Thus, for these, the first three days of Worlds, you can catch a glimpse of the drafting styles of the skilled magicians who are representing our country. Then, if you’re not impressed, you can call your bookie and put all your money on the Netherlands. First up, we have Ben “The Future of American Magic” Lundquist…
