The fact of the matter is that there is no way to completely beat luck. Sometimes you’ll play a Dark Confidant on turn 2 and not have a third land when the game ends on turn 7. That’s just how Magic is. However, what you can do is something I have to teach people all too often: you have to decrease your chances at losing to luck.
Yesterday, Geordie told the tale of his strong Day 1 performance at Grand Prix Toronto. Today he moves to Day 2 play, sharing the highlights of his draft experience at the higher GP tables. His report so far has been a wild ride of strategy, bad beats, and humor. This final part sees Geordie sign out in fine form. All we can hope is that he writes again soon…
Patrick brings us the story of Shredder.dec, an Extended offering capable of running with the big dogs. Last season, we all saw Friggorid rear its mighty head, overshadowing the format with its broken power. Extended is a format with a number of strong archetypes, and Shredder has game against them all… but the Friggorid matchup was a cause for concern. Patrick has now changed that, bringing game to the table against Ichorid’s Finest Hour. Strategy, sideboarding, and detailed matchup analysis, all available with a click of the mouse!
Blisterguy returns with Dissension Standard Premier Event statistics, and the usual price guide for our electronic hobby. There are a number of exciting Standard strategies cutting up the MTGO dancefloor… care to tango?
When I wrote my Top 50 Gold Cards article for Wizards, many newer players thought that Psychatog did not deserve the #1 slot. Historically, Psychatog absolutely deserves the title of Best Gold Card of All Time. However, the near-unanimous puzzlement amongst newer players over the placement of Tog got me thinking — how good would Psychatog be if it were Standard legal right now? I’d like to know, and I’m giving away four foil DCI Psychatogs to the person who can build the best Standard-legal Psychatog deck possible!
Manabases in Legacy are awful. If you compare us to Vintage, we are all still in the phase where people are running City of Brass or Undiscovered Paradise in two- and three-colored decks. Even worse, the most popular deck (Vial Goblins) runs four Wasteland and four Rishadan Port. I find it ironic that I spent a large portion of my time campaigning for Goblins to run all eight colorless lands, and now those same lands get in my way when I try to build new decks…
Are you excited about the post-Pro Tour Ravnica Block Constructed season? I would be… except there is none! How did Wizards of the Coast fail to capitalize to build on the back of the most popular and diverse block in years? I may not have all the answers, but I sure have a lot of questions about the failure to schedule a public Ravnica Block Constructed season.
Mark once wrote about the perils of falling into the Green Trap. Are the Green cards blinding prospective Sealed Deck spellslingers, luring them onto the rocks of a losing record? And how do the Green cards fare now Dissension is in the Sealed mix? Limited Champs are just around the corner, and Pro Tour Qualifiers for Kobe loom large… just how should we value Green in today’s Limited game?
Reality has a funny way of slapping your face when you least expect it. Today, JFR shares some of the more recent developments in the rollercoaster of life. He also presents some interesting decks, spanning Legacy to Standard to Limited and beyond… The usual cast are here, as are the jokes and the jibes and the angry rants. Mr Rizzo is an acquired taste… and if you’ve not acqured it yet, you don’t know what you’re missing!
Yesterday, Geordie began the tale of his excellent run of form at Grand Prix Toronto. He told of his sterling efforts in gaining three byes. Today, he shares his Sealed cardpool and describes the highs and lows of Day 1 play. Limited Champs are but a whisker away, and the Qualifiers for Pro Tour Kobe are RGD Limited… let Geordie show you the route to success!
Sunday saw the first round of StarCityGames.com’s Battle Royale. Chris took his Mono-Black deck and squared off against Richard Feldman and his budget Firemane Angel Control build. MTGO was buzzing, with the number of game spectators overloading the system… where you there? If not, here’s Chris’s take on what happened…
Richard faced Chris in the first round of StarCityGames.com’s Battle Royale tournament, piloting a budget Firemane Angel Control deck. He was heavy favorite before the match began… but how did the best-of-five contest pan out? You’ve heard Chris’s take on the battle – now it’s Richard’s turn…
This week, The Ferrett cracks open cards of such amazing power that he can mulligan down to four cards twice and almost pull out a win. Of course, that word “almost” is a bit tricky. Which also leads to the question of when you mulligan to four. But hey, that’s why we write articles, amiright?
Terry is offically in love with the Red/Blue/Green draft strategy in Ravnica Block… so much so that he’s not played a sanctioned Limited match without forcing everyone’s favorite archetype. Today, he runs through some sample drafts – those he faced while making his most recent Grand Prix Top 8 – and mentions some interesting cards that have raised or lowered in value.
Why read a casual article? I’ve been thinking about that one for a while. Mostly, I keep coming back to the core point that people want to be entertained. Amongst casual gamers, there’s the other angle: not everyone can have every good idea — so it’s nice to have someone talk about their ideas in a public forum, giving others a starting point. Being enjoyable to read is important, after all.
