The Cak and his cohorts had an unusual tactic gong into Pro Tour: Kobe… Go Tribal. Yes, Slivers was the order of the day, but sadly it failed to light up the tournament with its synergy and power. Nevertheless, it is a potent strategy when handled correctly. Mr Pelcak discusses his time in Japan, and imparts a spot of wisdom for those looking to draft the Little Guys Who Share the Love.
Blisterguy takes on the Extended scene (sadly without corresponding Magic Online Premier Events), and presents a couple of lists for our perusal. He also shares the current marketplace prices for Time Spiral cards, for those looking to improve their electronic collections.
As Rich Hoaen abdicated the Battle Royale crown, we have two new contenders today! The first? Bennie Smith. Can you guess what he’s bringing to the table? Let’s face it, everyone knew it would be a dredge deck… but is it enough to go all the way?
Our second challenger for the Battle Royale crown is our man in Japan, Eli Kaplan. As a teacher, it is safe to say that Eli is probably ready to impart some “old school” wisdom into the Battle framework… What will he do with his twenty-five bucks?
Another episode of the Magic Show, the popular video article series by Evan Erwin. In his own words…
Today I’m going to talk about Magic Design. Specifically, the Great Designer Search contest going on over at MagictheGathering.com. Now you’ve already seen our own Ben Bleiweiss – a cool cat if there ever was one – take a shot at last week’s “Take Five” Challenge. Today I’m going to cover “Picture This,” where severe design constraints are given and the designer must find a way out of it.
Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin returns to the Vintage scene, analyzing the strong openings that lead to success in the Gifts and Stax matchup. His findings are somewhat startling – can mulliganing down to five or less truly be the best form of attack in some cases? This article is packed with genuine Vintage food for thought… essential for those serious about the grandfather of Magical formats.
After Chris’s revelation that From Right Field will be “abandoning” its budget roots for future articles, the forums made their thoughts abundantly clear. Chris responds to the detractors… so where does it leave us?
If time has shown me one thing, it’s that I can identify a crap deck with relative ease, because I’m often stupid enough to put them together to see if they play. I’ve tried the Ratcatcher Deck, I’ve tried the Bombshell deck, and I even tried the Brooding Swallow. They’re not that good, but they are cheap.
Let’s go ahead and take a look at the implicit assumptions that go into the “Split Second is Bad” argument. In order for that stance to be sound, it has to be true that the chance to respond immediately to a spell will, over the course of a large number of games, enable a more skilled player to win substantially more often than a less skilled player.
Ten pictures and ten holes. This is what Wizards gave their contestants this week for the Great Designer Search. Ben takes his shot at this challenge, for great justice!
*Disclaimer* If you are a Wizards of the Coast Employee, you have full permission to use the cards and ideas contained in this article, without further obligation.
Last time out, Kenji took us through his performance in the first three drafts of Pro Tour: Kobe. Today’s article deals with his flawless second day of play, a day that catapulted him up into the Top 8! Drafting tips, game-play analysis, and the thoughts of the current Player of the Year, all wrapped up in a fine article!
The Ferrett takes a look from the decks that managed to smash to the top of almost a thousand people at Grand Prix: New Jersey this weekend, analyzing what this might mean when it comes to building your Time Spiral Sealed deck!
Limited expert Nick Eisel turns his eye to the Standard metagame, bringing us a tasty Life from the Loam / Stormbind deck that has definite power and potential. While Standard is currently packed with a number of strong strategies, and all manner of decks can mix it up on the top tables, there is no denying that Time Sprial brings a plethora of untapped power to the format. Want the edge in your next Standard tournament? Then read on…
Stephen has a formidible Vintage reputation, and today’s epic article centainly demonstrates why. At a recent Vintage tournament he didn’t drop a single game until the quarter-final… fine work indeed, especially considering the format. As usual, the article contains an amazing level of play-by-play analysis, and you can almost feel your game improving while you read it. Serious about Vintage? If so, this is unmissable.
The initial intent of this article was that it would be composed absent flagrant namedropping and savage barning. This proved impossible, so be forewarned.
My plan is to talk about “playskill:” what it is, how it manifests itself throughout the course of the game, and how different aspects of skill (or lack thereof) can impact a person’s ability to do well at competitive Magic.
