A lot of Magic players seem to have an… interesting idea of what typically happens in the late game. They’ve gotten it into their heads that the late game is where Genesis comes online, and recurs things for, like forever! Where Treasure Trove draws infinity cards! And where you recur Cranial Extraction with Hana Kami to remove from game all your opponent’s win conditions!
The most important weapon in a Magic player’s arsenal – be they torunament players or casual players – is Consistency. Today, Abe shares his insights on the assembly of a casual manabase. He brings tips on creating a solid foundation for a casual deck, and tells us the lands all casual players should aim to acquire.
Today’s Sealed Revealed sees Craig battling the toughest pool yet. We’re all familiar with the Ravnica/Guildpact Dilemma: too much good stuff, too many colors. However, what do you do when the pool is weaker than a newborn kitten? Can this pool be salvaged? Craig imparts his insights, along with his usual dose of humor.
Control-based Psychatog has broken every format since the card’s printing in Odyssey block. To this day, despite numerous upheavals in its respective formats, Tog remains a top tier deck in Extended, taking First Place at Grand Prix: Los Angeles; and, in Vintage, taking Second Place at the most recent Waterbury, where it lost to Grow-a-Tog, of all things. But Psychatog’s absence in Legacy is perplexing.
One of the more interesting Draft strategies to emerge from the triple-Ravnica format was the so-called “Drake Draft,” mastered by Raphael Levy. His previous articles on the archetype suggested that the strategy would be all-but dead come Guildpact. Well, Raphael is back today to tell us that Drafting Drakes with Guildpact is still as strong, if not stronger! This article contains all the tips and strategy you need to win with this exciting archetype!
Blisterguy returns with his weekly examination of all things MTGO. Today, he updates the online price lists, and takes us through a Premier Event Top 8 in detail.
In the third of this enlightening series, Richard shares his process for tournament deck selection. He waxes lyrical on the Metagame Circus, and breaks down a few myths regarding matchups and percentages.
In today’s Control heavy environment, where players love to gather lands, have lots of permanents, and either throw out some fat 4/4’s or 5/5 Flying Legendary Dragon Spirits, it’s not unusual for other players to take a… different approach. Some call this the wrong approach. They would, of course, be wrong themselves. What I’m talking about is Red Deck Wins. This article is a direct response to Mike Flores’ piece about the Red Guildpact cards. To put it bluntly, Flores got Leyline of Lightning 100% wrong.
Craig continues his Sealed Deck series by examining a difficult pool with many interesing decisions. Are the cards strong? Does the cardpool send out clear signals? How can we utilize the power? Are the Green spells luring us into a trap? Deck tips, card evaluations, and humor, in one tidy package.
This week, Chris clarifies his position on Staple Rares and Expensive Lands, and examines some interesting casual decks based around Thran Golem. He’s on a mission to bust face with an 8/8 flying, first-striking trampler. Does he succeed? Only he can tell you that…
Do you know how many bad-at-first-glance Magic cards are glossed over? A lot. They’re overcosted, or underpowered, or they just don’t seem to do anything. Set reviews will tell you these cards are bad.
Cards like… I dunno, say… Tooth and Nail?
The undefeated decks from Dortmund have come in, and the lessons are clearer than ever: make the wrong choices about your mana base, and you lose. Thus, this week The Ferrett analyzes the Dortmund x-0s, as well as giving you a PTQ deck of his that features a lot of tricky calls.
The Ravnica/Guildpact Sealed season continues, and Magic players across the world are posting excellent finishes on the back of Green-heavy cardpools. Mark, however, feels that the Green cards are not always the perfect path to victory. In this article, he suggests that to truly succeed at this format, we need to do much more than lay Forests and cast monsters…
You want to become a better player? What better way to learn than to see the analyzing processes of players better than you? I’ve joked before that when I play Control Slaver, I “just do whatever Rich Shay would do.” This led to the idea of actually asking what he was thinking at a given moment. So, I’ll be presenting play scenarios and then asking some solid technical Vintage players what they’d do.
There are strong decks, and there are pretty decks. Do you know the difference? When it comes to the crunch, what would you rather have… beauty or strength?
