In the (tongue-in-cheek) words of Mr. Moreno himself…
Well… I showed up this week. On time, in spite of having other things I wanted to do. I even got off work early to do so. And what’d it get me? Absolutely nothing.
On the day of the Invasion prerelease, a friend of mine showed me a split card for the first time and I exclaimed: “What the hell is that? Really? No way!!!” I haven’t had that kind of reaction to anything since as far as I can recall, but it was the beginning of my love affair with Invasion block that lasted until GenCon the following year where I played far too many triple Apocalypse drafts to truly enjoy it any more. How could Wizards possibly follow-up such awesomeness?
Rivien takes a look at both the good and the bad in the Tribal Standard format. He also glances at the positive effects that Time Spiral may add, and makes an impassioned pleas for Wizards to take the format seriously. All this, and a decklist too!
The debate still rages… just how skillful is Magic’s most broken format? Does the abundance of early-turn kills and degenerate combos lead Vintage down the path of the Lucky Man? Stephen argues that the skill factor in Vintage is high indeed… but maybe not quite the same as the skill required for other, “fairer” formats.
Fresh from the Time Spiral prerelease, Jeroen Remie is here to answer your Magical questions. This week’s mailbag contains gems on subjects as diverse as Worlds, The Rock, Mana Leak versus Rune Snag, and Jeroen’s personal Top 5 list of Standard’s most defining cards. As usual, submit all questions to [email protected]!
Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of sweeter formats. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!
Blisterguy brings the news on all things Magic Online, from Premier Event statistics to MTGO Marketplace ticket prices. He also shares his build from the recent Time Spiral prerelease.
This week’s edition of the Magic Show – Magic’s only video-based article series – looks at the noble art of warfare. Just how can the writings of Sun Tzu be applied to the cardboard craft of spellslinging?
In my first ever draft, triple Urza’s Saga, I opened a Morphling in my first booster and passed it because it had too many abilities and I couldn’t figure out whether it was any good or not, taking the “safe” Pacifism instead. I regretted that later when I saw a guy with infinite mana out and that very Morphling in play enchanted with Hermetic Study. He proceeded to throw away that game by blocking a Hollow Dogs with the Morphling and just shooting some stuff instead of pumping the Morphling’s toughness to save it. Nice play.
Richard continues his informative series on the philosophy behind the perfect Constructed manabase. Last time, he took a long look at Aggro decks and builds, concentrating on decks with a low mana requirement. Today he looks at decks with a more mana-intensive outlook, and investigates the relationship between cantirps, acceleration, and land-count.
Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of sweeter formats. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!
In the gaping chasm between Nationals and Time Spiral, many players and writers found themselves taking a break from high-level play. Tiago, however, found solace in Extended Premier Events on Magic Online. Today he presents his U/R Tron build, pimped for Extended success. He’s been raking in the wins with the full compliment of Urza’s lands… can the deck work for you?
Relax, we’ve not gone mad… Chris is “previewing” an old favorite in a new light. Looking back at cards that failed to achieve is a fine place to search for new tech and tricks… and today, Chris doesn’t disappoint.
In a ten-game set against a Simic Sky Swallower-based Urzatron deck, the deck lost only one game, in which the Tron deck drew a large number of Urza lands to power up a giant Demonfire. In the other games, it was almost impossible for the control deck to deal with both one-drops, instant-speed burn spells, and the overwhelming Genju of the Spires…
Tempest always fills me with fond memories. That’s probably because it was the time when I first started playing in tournaments, and it didn’t matter that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Oh, how I long for the days where winning one match was such a great feeling that it didn’t matter that my overall record was 1-4…
