New Hall of Fame inductee Raphael Levy continues his excellent Magic Lifestyle series with a retrospective analysis of his subpar performance at GP: Athens. He presents his Sealed cardpool and draft decks (and choices), and peppers the narrative with sights, sounds and smells from behind the Pro Tour curtain. The qualifiers for Geneva are in full swing… can Raph help you take the Blue Envelope?
Stephen follows up his excellent Puzzle article from yesterday with an in-depth look at a recent tournament he attended… with winning results. He shares detailed play-by-play data from each game, and has the decklists from each opponent too! All this, plus his views on Split Second cards in Magic’s most broken format…
I’m going to take this week to look at a couple of silly decks that actually seem to do pretty well in testing, and one of the decks that we used in our gauntlet. It’s a deck that no one in our group took to States, which I think was a big mistake. Someone should have tried it, since it was whipping pretty much everything in testing…
In the context of Magic, you can’t just sit around and constantly complain about the same old thing. The rate of change in this game is such that any change that’s enacted now won’t see the light of day for two years, apparently. Invasion Block was a travesty for balanced design, one that heralded the end of Blue’s reign of terror, and its immediate follow-up was Odyssey Block.
Whoops.
There happens to be three major types of undead legal in Tribal Standard right now. I felt that the coincidence there was too great to pass up, and so I write this mere hours before October 31st to bring you what may well be the first Tribal Standard decks to discuss with Time Spiral enabled, and hopefully a bit of holiday spirit (pun intended, because I can).
Paul, along with various other Magic stalwarts in the NY area, audibled at the last minute before last weekend’s major tournament. Instead of the tried and tested U/G lists, they ran something a little more… angelic. While Paul himself did not scale the heights to the top tables, another familiar name did just that… read about his triumph – and get that all-important decklist – right here!
Normally, I would leap at the chance to play Time Spiral Sealed with a friend, especially if it cost me no money whatsoever. But this was no normal game of cards — this was a game with my boss, Pete Hoefling, owner and CEO of StarCityGames.com. And the winner would decide the fate of all mankind.
Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin takes a brief break from creating metagame-shifting decklists, and instead delves deep into his Magical past in order to share some of the lessons learnt from various defeats through the ages. Part history lesson, part gameplay tips, all told with a healthy dose of Chapin humor. Believe me, you’ll not look at Lego in the same light again…
A lot of recent Vintage debate has centered on the true nature of skill in Magic’s most broken format. Today’s excellent article sees Stephen, an undisputed Vintage powerhouse, lay down a number of intricate puzzles resolving around the combo applications of Gifts Ungiven. Looking to break your brain on this fine Monday morning? Then this is the article for you…
For those who want an early jump on Extended season, now is one of the best time to start thinking about general archetypes to prepare for, and even specific decks in broad terms. Figuring out the general points the field may share is a great way to at least narrow the deck choices from a good fifteen or so. Besides it’s never too early to start testing against the “classic” decks like Tog, Boros Deck Wins, and U/G Desire.
Rob McKenzie, a fellow judge, commented that Time Spiral was Fifth Edition all over again. It’s the kind of random discussion judges have while waiting and watching, but the thought kept recurring. We spent the rest of the tournament coming up with similarities. There are a lot. When I got home, I dug up a 5E list and saw even more. Now, I like Time Spiral and I never really liked 5E, but the two sets do feel similar…
Maybe you’ve thought to yourself at some point, “Should I register on the StarCityGames forums and post my opinions on article XYZ?” Maybe you’ve discovered some incredible combo and you’d like to share it with everyone, or maybe some writer said something you disagree with to the point of religious zeal and by golly, you really want to chastise that writer! Perhaps you’ve got a burning desire to discuss the top decks in your favorite format right now and you want to add your thoughts to whatever discussion is present…
While the rest of the community wonders what to play at Champs, StarCityGames.com Premium members are getting their deck ideas from some of the greatest minds in the game!
Sixteen – A Time Spiral Standard Tournament Experiment by Mike Flores
Dragonstorm in Time Spiral Standard by Stuart Wright
The Lawn Mower, The Cockroach, and Shovelling Snow – 3 Decks for Time Spiral Standard by Kyle Sanchez
You Make the Call by Mike Flores
The Black Perspective: That Other Standard Article! by Osyp Lebedowicz
Testing for the New Standard: U/G Versus Solar Flare! by Josh Ravitz
Grape Nuts, Flag Burner, and Turbo Balance: The World of Non-Firemane U/R/W by Pat Chapin
And Now For Somebody Completely Different… by Mike Flores
Building Decks With Time Spiral by Stuart Wright
Ten New Standard Decks with Time Spiral by Pat Chapin
The Future of Solar Flare by Naoki Shimizu
Anecdotes Regarding Time Spiral Standard Testing by Mike Flores
Time Spiral Standard: Testing from the Top by Mike Flores
White Weenie In Time Spiral Standard by Tim Aten
Give yourself an edge over the competition… become a StarCityGames.com Premium member today!
Standard Champs is this weekend, people! Why haven’t you settled on your final deck? For those of us still in the limbo of uncertainty, Mike reports from a Standard tournament held this past week at Neutral Ground. His sixteen-man tournament yesterday brought us a surprise winner… and believe me, the shock wins just keep on coming. If you’re still looking for last-minute tech, then this is the article for you!
Despite a number of high-profile events attempting to define the ongoing Standard metagame, the field is officially wide open. Josh takes a look at some of the myths and fallacies that are present in the respective tournament results. He looks at some of the stronger decks fielded thus far, and draws some interesting conclusions…
