Home stretch now. You’re only three days away from seeing my face replaced with Tim Aten’s, or Billy Moreno’s, or, you know, someone people who dislike me want to see. Never going to quite grok how this works out. I mean, you can stop my stuff from existing – stuff you “didn’t pay for” – by just waiting a few days and looking again. Who knows, there might be something that you like put up here… though god knows if you’d tell them.
The dealer flipped over a king on the river, and that was how my bankroll excluded any other card game but Magic on the Saturday afternoon of Labor Day weekend. A local store was holding a 10-proxy Vintage tournament and promised a Mana Drain as the prize if 16 people showed up…
Once upon a time, Mike told us that Sakura-Tribe Elder was the best card in Standard. Today, however, he reveals a new love… one that, he believes, will warp the Standard metagame for as long as it’s available. He supplies decklists and analysis to reinforce his claim… and one deck is heralded as both competitive and hideously fun to play. Intrigued? Then read on…
It’s a strange time for Magic writers. Topics and ideas are thin on the ground. Coldsnap Limited? It’s been said already. Ravnica Block? Been there, done that. Standard? We’re waiting for Time Spiral. And Time Spiral itself? Not enough to write about. So, what is a writer to do… Luis steps into the breach with a fine piece on Gifts Rock in Extended. Matchups, decklists, strategies… it’s all here. Looking for a break from the norm? Look no further!
Wizards of the Coast are currently searching for a new designer. They’re holding a competition, in which the winner earns the right to an intern position at the Magic Mothership. Paul, along with countless others, longed for a shot at the big time… today, he shares his design questionnaire answers with candor and humor. An off-beat article, but one that should inspire debate.
Welcome back to the series of articles where I explore all of the various types of decks in the Casual Deck Framework. Today we are going to explore the Resource Denial Archetype…
Party of Five, as you may or may not recall, was a notoriously horrible American television show which aired long ago and was cancelled with extreme prejudice due to its utter inability to do just about anything right, insofar as actually being entertaining was concerned. Today, we are going to look over some things which have been similarly cancelled, or well should be. I refer to these as “Parties of Five.”
It takes a special kind of writer to write a daily series about a subject, then spend three days before he even mentions the subject. It takes an even more special kind of writer who would have that section of the series being the smallest of the five daily articles. The good news is that all the “serious” readers are tuned out by now. Enjoy your ham sandwich, sir.
Evan beat me last week, so badly that I couldn’t muster the energy to write my follow-up article. I mean, he even recorded my humiliation… this week, he leaps into the fray with a cheap Red burn deck that plays eighteen land. An excellent deck and article, accompanied by an entertaining video…
And of course, here’s the reason I wanted to win so badly last week… this week’s challenger is none other than Billy Moreno! As one of the premier Constructed minds on the planet, what did Billy do with his 25 tickets? Read on to find out!
Last week, facing down a lack of questions, Jeroen sent out a cry for help. It seems that people responded kindly, and Jeroen’s inbox is bursting at the seams once more! This week, Jeroen looks at how a player can improve from adequate to exceptional, and gives a nod to the Japanese deckbuilding masters with a fan’s-eye look at the Conterbalance deck thet destroyed the field at Japanese Nationals.
Billy’s experience at Grand Prix: Phoenix was a good one. Not for the playing – he performed hideously – but for the company, the side events, and the good times. Today’s rollercoaster article chronicles each high and each low in the customary Moreno style, and shares his GP cardpool for those who wish to play along at home. “Moreno Monday” comes two days late this week… but we forgive him!
Once again, the incomparable blisterguy brings us the lowdown on the MTGO metagame and marketplace. This, the thirtieth article in the series, is also a fitting tribute to Australia’s finest son, the late Steve Irwin…
Welcome back to Talen Lee telling amateur card designers they suck. Amusingly, I know there’s at least one professional in this field who will almost assuredly be telling me I’m full of crap. But that’s just because he’s an old grouch. Anyway. So far we’ve discussed both what you want to do — make a set — and then, what you’re going to use to do that — the themes and mechanics of a set. Today, we’re going to talk about how everything sits together.
As you may have heard, Wizards of the Coast are hiring a new designer. The first stage of this was an essay competition. Many of you may have entered it, or at least thought about what answers you would have given. Wizards of the Coast were swamped with the number of entries. To give some idea of the scale, there were over 1,000 entries, each of an average of 3,000 words — a total of 3 million words, or 0.68 of a John Rizzo article.
