Magic Online Musings: This Week on MTGO #3

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.

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?
It’s voting time again — this time, the Invitational Vote 2006 revolves around the Asia/Pacific region. On the ballot, we have two Feature Writers from StarCityGames.com.
In his first article since taking the role of Managing Editor, Craig reprises his popular “Sealed Revealed” series, taking a Ravnica/Guildpact Sealed Deck cardpool and evaluating the cards therein!

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks, welcome to what is quite possibly the hardest Limited format we’ve ever encountered. Sean guides us through some of the more powerful cards in the environment, looking for the strongest contenders in the common slot. Plus, a little fun with the Pro Player cards…
There are many universal truths held high in Magic Theory. One notable example is “there are no wrong threats, only wrong answers,” an idea put forth by the great Dave Price. In today’s Flores Friday, Mike scrutinizes this Sacred Cow under the white-heat of examination. Could Dave Price actually be wrong? Backed by extensive data mining, Mike vows to find out…
While we’re all extricably linked though cardboard elves, it’s true that different countries have different outlooks regarding our fair game. Spanish Magic players, for example, don’t play cards in the afternoon, preferring to spend their time being chased by bulls. French Magic games usually last a little under five minutes before someone concedes, and the English metagame largely revolves around crumpets.