Welcome to the fourth week anniversary of our weekly dosage of all thing casual. One of the charges I was given with this column by my esteemed editor was to revisit some of my older ideas and revamp them. Maybe you weren’t one of my readers three years ago. Maybe some new cards have come out since then, and a topic needs to be revisited. Or, maybe I just have new ideas on old articles.
Following his excellent article on the Undervalued Gems of Guildpact, Nick takes us through a Ravnica/Ravnica/Guildpact draft, with each pick examined under a microscope. It’s all here: strengths and weaknesses, pick choices, draft summary, match reports and more! Whether you’re looking to qualify for Pro Tour Prague or just improve your understanding of the Ravnica/Ravnica/Guildpact draft format, you won’t want to miss this one!
Is it just me, or are there a lot of issues spiraling around the Magic community recently? From lawsuits to cheating accusations, Magic is a hotbed of excitement, and I figured now was a good time to start writing again. However, the problem with all of the issues taking place is that they can all be summed up in one or two paragraphs, and I won’t get paid for that. Instead, I decided to write about my experiences at Grand Prix Richmond, and tell you what I learned.
So far, we’ve taken a look at Bloodthirst and Replicate, two of the three mechanics introduced with the latest expansion, Guildpact. The last mechanic, Haunt, is the one that many analysts can’t quite seem to figure out yet. We should have known Orzhov wouldn’t make it easy on us – after all, they’re the ones in charge, not us, and if they wanted us to be able to easily figure out their secrets, they’d tell us.
Blisterguy takes us through this week’s developments on Magic Online, and gives us a comprehensive rundown of the fluctuating online singles market.
We at StarCityGames.com are proud to introduce the newest member of the Feature Writer team: Shuhei Nakamura, finalist of Pro Tour Columbus and Top Eight competitor at Worlds 2005! While his future articles are to be Premium, we thought we’d kick off with a free taster. Today, Shuhei tells us what it means to be Japanese, and what it means to play Magic.
The Ravnica block Limited environment, with Guildpact, has proven to be one of a kind. Some have celebrated the challenge that it presents to players in maximizing deck power while minimizing losses due to poor mana bases. Others complain about the impossibility of building a solid, consistent two-color deck like we did this time last year. Mark takes us through his highly taxing Grand Prix Richmond card pool. How would YOU build it?
The incomparable Doctor Mox helps us spot the most savage of cheaters with his usual wit and vivacity. Plus, more ramblings on MagicTheGathering.com’s inexplicable Legends voting bonanza.
In Ravnica Sealed, you’ll often wind up with a conundrum: you can play twenty-three killer cards, where every card is worth having in the deck, but you have to go four colors. Or you can go with three colors and throw a few marginal cards in to bring it up to twenty-three, lowering the number of late-game elbow drops but also minimizing your manascrew. And so comes the question: consistency or power? With that in mind, The Ferrett looks at the decks that went undefeated on Day One to try to draw some conclusions about the format.
Ravnica-Guildpact Sealed is a complex beast. Should we run three, four, even five colors? Is mana the key, or should we compromise for power? How can we ensure we beat the decks at the top tables? In this enlightening article, Chad shares his golden rules of Sealed deckbuilding, focusing his advice for the Pro Tour Qualifier crowd.
With Guildpact on sale, it’s time to start cracking on the formats that are soon going to matter; I’ve already started taking a look at the impact Guildpact will have on the Sealed Deck Pro Tour Qualifier season. Soon after that we have Team Unified Standard. The decks that do well at Pro Tour Hawaii will greatly impact the decks that appear on most teams’ deck roster, and the point here is to get a solid start on Guildpact for Standard to get a feel for what it is we’re going to see in Honolulu.
The perfect man for Valentine’s Day, Mr Romeo brings us his definition of staple rares, giving us a run-down, by set and color, of the golden nuggets any tournament wannabe cannot be without. This one will spark a lively debate, of that there’s no doubt.
You want to build your own decks, if you’re a casual player. You check out my articles, and instead of copying out one of the decklists I mention, you look at it, and see the principle that makes it work, then go and do something using the same idea. That’s how casual players work; we don’t want to suck at the game, we want to do our own thing. So here’s how I go about building decks.
The good Doctor tackles Boros, makes merry with MagicTheGathering.com’s Legend vote, and has some advice for a member of the Magic community currently under the legal spotlight…
Nick shares his views on the new Rav-Rav-Guildpact Draft environment, spilling the metaphorical beans on some underrated cards you may have missed. Cards that perform well, cards that fail to live up to the hype… cards you should, and should not, be playing.
