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!
Welcome to today’s installment of this week’s Deck-a-Thon. Today I want to try something interesting and unusual. In the past, I have used a variety of methods to randomly determine how I will write my daily series. Maybe I’ll pick a creature type at random… and then laugh, as I have to build a Carriage deck. Maybe I’ll grab a random low-value rare from a box and then write a deck about it.
Alright, ladies and germs, let’s rock. Time Spiral’s here, you’re here, I’m here, and we’re ready to TRIIIIIIBAAAAAAAAL! Okay, it’s not quite the same as being ready to rumble, but what is?
Jeroen continues his popular column that answers questions posed by the Magic community worldwide! Today’s offering is the usual mixed bag… we have Jeroen’s take on the Sealed format, plus his thoughts on U/R/W Firemane Control. There’s also a little Extended chatter, and the burning question of frozen yoghurt preference is finally answered. All this and more, inside!
Paul concludes his enlightening report on his strong finish at Grand Prix: New Jersey. He shares the details of his two Day 2 drafts, with pick choices and deck archetypes dissected and discussed. Looking for the edge in your next draft pod? Maybe Paul has the answer…
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!
