Craig “The Professor” Jones has been beavering away at Constructed testing this past month… and as a member of his testing team for Worlds, I can safely say that we’re doing our best to break the formats. The metaphorical night is young, and today Prof presents us with one of the “nearly-decks” that has occupied our testing time. Fun, powerful food for thought… and just maybe, with a little tweaking, it can go all the way…
There are many ways to gain an advantage in any given format. The power of the cards in Limited, for example, coupled with the knowledge of how to exploit card synergies. Deck advantage in any given matchup is an example that is paramount in Constructed formats, especially traditional Standard. Josh is here to theorize on the trump card in the current “bloated” Extended environment – the use and abuse of the sideboard.
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!
Chris takes his first monthly Magic budget and spends it on some tasty Black cards. With a passing resmeblence to Craig Jones’s Pact Huk deck above, has Chris’s deck got the makings of a true contender? Read on to find out!
This week on A Deck a Day, our hero decides that old-fashioned sensibilities will dictate his work. Using old scrying methods such as polyhedral dice, our hero will mine the past for the future. In the old days, our hero wrote such treatises on random factors that were scrying through the dice of old. Today our hero continues that tradition, choosing to focus on the random determination of every expansion set that was classically legal in Classic, before the great Portal opened and the skies darkened with the taint of foul sorceries and evil creatures.
For my second installment of Prismatic Lens, we’re going to take a look at Blue, and a deck that I cooked up for the Prismatic format using entirely Blue cards. Predictably, this is a fairly strong deck, even barring the fact that my current budget does not allow for silliness like Absorb and Undermine.
I am typing this at sixty-five miles as I zoom through the winding mountains of Pennsylvania, headed back home to Ohio after a weekend spent with my family. (No worries, my wife’s driving.) But I’m thinking of a card pool that I could not break, and wondering what lessons I can derive from it…
Early in the season, it seemed the pros all knew one thing… that Blue and Red were the colors to be! Of course, differing results cast doubt over that assertion, but Nick is back to lay down the law! Today’s article is a comprehensive guide to the archetype, with common pick orders, uncommons and rares of note, and a strong sample decklist. U/R is Nick’s weapon of choice… can it work for you?
As we all know, a Grand Prix in our own back yard is simply too good to miss… and Paul was determined to make the most of it. Armed with a solitary bye, he entered a Grand Prix Trial and attempted to ride the wave to three free rounds. The story of that, plus his Day 1 performance in the Grand Prix itself, is contained within…
For part 3 of the Designer Contest, Ben was challenged to avoid the official articles on MagicTheGathering.com, and work only with the instructions given by Wizards of the Coast, with a 72-hour timeline. These are his results!
*DISCLAIMER*: If you are a Wizards of the Coast employee, I give you full legal rights to use any of the cards, ideas or concepts contained within this article, without further obligation!
Hello all and welcome to the newest smattering of articles revolving around bringing you a daily deck. Each day opens with a warm and welcoming deck, ready for you to play at your local kitchen table. In these series of daily articles, I’ve recently focused on selecting something at random and then forcing myself to build a deck around it…
And lo! the Powers That Be decreed that the small yet vocal Legacy community be given a third Grand Prix with which to test their deck construction and metagaming prowess. Things couldn’t be better.
In preparation for GP: Columbus, I’ll be examining the current Legacy metagame and summarizing the decks that define it. This article is primarily written for Legacy novices, but I’ll be sure to add enough detailed analysis to make it worth the time of format regulars. You know who you are.
With the StarCityGames.com Power 9 weekend kicking off tomorrow, Stephen brings a fresh new deck to the Vintage table! Of course, the title of the article gives up a main component of this combo-tastic build – High Tide. Is this new deck a powerhouse capable of taking the top prizes this weekend… read on to find out!
With everyone’s focus pulled toward Standard, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin takes us through a humorous look at a new Extended creation… one that harnesses the strength of the Gauntlet of Power! Extended is currently powered by the Time Spiral goodies we have on offer, but does this mana-producing artifact cut the proverbial mustard? The author offers insight and laughs in equal measure, and rounds out with another impressive edition of (Tune) Drafting With Patrick.
If there’s one thing New Jersey showed, it’s that it’s a beautiful thing when a plan comes together. All too frequently, one will see forum posters responding to the “Drafting With Rich” columns in a derogatory and negative way, even going so far as to say “Have you ever even drafted this format before!?!” Rich Hoaen is considered by most to be the best Limited player in the world, a title of respect not given out lightly amongst the highly-contentious Pro Tour players’ community… and has held this title, in ever-widening circles of recognition, for several years now.
