Search Content

SCG Daily – The Fine Art of Doing It Yourself #3

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.

By

Goblins versus Interns

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.

By

I Heart Rimerunner: Drafting Mono-Red in Coldsnap

Martin Dingler, winner of Grand Prix: Cardiff, turns his attentions to the icy wastelands of Coldsnap… and injects a little fire into game! The notorious “draft the Big Green Monsters” guy has turned his back on the high-cost goliaths, favoring instead a mono-Red draft strategy that is both powerful and fun. Full pick orders, strategies, and sample builds, all available with a single click…

By

Drafting With Rich – Coldsnap #12

Rich continues his excellent series of Coldsnap Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!

By

From Right Field: From the Files of Police Squad

Read Chris Romeo... every Tuesday at StarCityGames.com!

One of my favorite things about Magic: The Gathering: Online: The Colon Game is that people remind me of cards that I’d forgotten were even Standard legal. Like the other day. I was working on this White (with a little Blue) deck when I faced off against another player working on W/u. On his fourth turn, he dropped Ballista Squad…

By

Tribal Knowledge: Snow Birds And Compromises

For this tenth Standard Tribal article, I knew that I wanted to focus on Coldsnap. I wanted a tribe or feature card that spoke to Coldsnap’s central themes and that resulted in a very Coldsnappian deck. I wanted to look at the final decklist and immediately think “cool,” or “snappy.”

By

Avoiding the Obvious – A Non-R/G Coldsnap Draft

Triple Coldsnap draft continues to divide the community in equal measure. Some love it, some hate it… but no-one can ignore it. Today, Nick takes us through a sample draft, one in which he eschews his usual strategy of “force Red/Green,” with mixed (and interesting) results. Do you agree with his choices and evaluations?

By

SCG Daily – The Fine Art of Doing It Yourself #2

For those of you who just tuned in, yesterday I insulted basically everyone who does amateur card designs and set myself up as an authority enough to tell them how to do it right. Surely nothing bad could come of this degree of hubris.

By

The Weekly Guild Build: Pimp My MODO

Read The Ferrett... every Monday at StarCityGames.com!The Ferrett, laid up sick after a long flight filled with foreign germs, plays thirty-five matches on a lazy Saturday afternoon and muses about Magic Online. And in addition to dissecting the usual Ravnica Block Sealed Deck, he asks you a vital question that might help others: How do you have MODO configured?

By

My Foreign Nationals – A Swedish Nationals Report

This year, for reasons he explains in the article, Gadiel took part in the Swedish National Championships. His story is as strange as they come, and his performance was strong… but did he make it to the hallowed Top 8? As usual, Gadiel’s writing is prickly, intelligent, and funny. The best players, and writers, only at StarCityGames.com!

By

An Introduction to Competitive Vintage

Curious about Vintage? Confused by all the crazy terminology? Overwhelmed by the enormous card pool? Stephen has written this article for you. He’s put together, in a single place, a concise description of the top six decks in Vintage. An excellent primer for those looking to compete in Magic’s broken format. Take a look…

By

Drafting With Rich – Coldsnap #11

Rich continues his excellent series of Coldsnap Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!

By

Food For Thought: Black/Red Haakon

If this were one of my typical articles, this whole discussion would simply have been an elaborate bridge into a Haakon, Stromgald Scourge/Ashes of the Fallen/Hounds deck. As it is, however, the bridge is lacking, and we’re left with something merely elaborate. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.

By

SCG Daily – The Fine Art of Doing It Yourself #1

You can admit it. You’ve designed a card or two. Thinking about combo engines, or ways to utilize cards, you’ve glanced at cards your opponents have, then idly speculated about cards that would interact. Magic is a game about the way things interact, so it’s natural that after some time playing, you find yourself exploring those interactions…

By

How to Win a PTQ – Exploring Sealed, and Drafting B/G in Coldsnap

Shaheen, in his first submission for StarCityGames.com, shares his recent experiences at a qualifier tournament for Pro Tour: Kobe. He found success that day with some excellent Sealed advice and a strong Black/Green draft strategy. It worked for him… can it work for you?

By