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Magic: The Intangibles

I think of Magic as a battle of percentages. The easiest place we can see the percentages that define who wins what games is in deck matchups themselves, where Mind’s Desire is too quick for StOmpY and Tooth and Nail can outlast the average Mono-Blue Control… But the matchups themselves are not the only places where this math tocks and ticks; it just so happens that these are the only percentages that most Internet articles typically address. But there are other percentages in Magic, and you might just learn that deck matchups are not even necessarily the most important.

“One of your best articles ever Flores. I have bookmarked this article for re-reading before every tournament.” – JWakefield

“Amazing stuff Flores. I really feel as if I bettered myself by reading this article. Premium just paid for itself for the 2,341st time.” – misterorange

“This is one of the classics folks.” – cupofjoe

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SCG Daily #1: Four Spells In A Turn, Five Colors To Break It

I looooove card cycles. Love ’em. I also love deck brainstorming, pushing myself to think of ways to use a quirky card. Put these two things together, and you have a wonderful way for me to spend the next five days. Here’s how it’s going to work: I pick a card cycle from Saviors of Kamigawa that I think has potential for capital-F Fun. Then, each day this week I’ll focus on one card of the cycle and brainstorm Standard deck ideas. So, um, guess which cycle I started out with?

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SCG Daily: Public Enemy Number One

It’s time to unveil the worst, most evil, most vicious and most unfair deck in Magic history. This time out, however, it is not a deck that dominated tournament Magic for season after season. This deck was too mean to last more than a few weeks….

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From Right Field: Like White On Rice

The incredible Mister Romeo discusses White Weenie decks in Kamigawa Block – including the all-fun decks “Tom Cruise” (cheap, white Samurai), “Ghost In The Machine” (featuring Spirits, in the material world), and, um, a white deck. That does something really cool, but it’s not much good, but when has that ever stopped Chris?

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The Many Flavors Of Fish In Legacy

Fish is one of the most popular decks in Vintage, and it’s equally popular in Legacy… and one of the reasons people love it is because it’s so darned customizable. You can build it out of almost any blue/x color combination, and it does well. But how do you need to change Fish to ensure its success in the creature-hostile Legacy format?

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The Vintage Roundup: A Look Ahead

Stephen looks at the issues and strategies coming up for the rest of 2005 – including a look at the overall metagame, the deck that requires the least skill to pilot (and why this matters), how to use Gifts Ungiven properly in Meandeck Gifts (it’s not what you’d think), and his take on Pithing Needle. All that, and a brief look at the potential pitfalls of the 2006 Vintage Season!

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The Crimes Of Kamigawa Block

With the end of a truly relevant Standard season, it’s time to settle in and take a look at Champions of Kamigawa Block Constructed with both the Pro Tour: Philadelphia results and the addition of Saviors of Kamigawa to the mix. The decks that you’ll be playing will hopefully be based on the cards that help break the rules of the game…. and taking a look at all three sets for Constructed-quality cards of this nature will probably tell you about the decks that you’ll be playing.

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Last Call Before The Party Ends

I love spirits. I just love them. In my previous articles, I’ve outlined ideas for spirit decks and detailed various strategies — I’ve built a lot of spirit decks, too. With Saviors, we have our last influx of cards. What spirits and arcane spells are worth playing?

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So What’s New With The Old Cards?

I’ve always been of the opinion that many otherwise solid drafters don’t take the necessary time to re-evaluate the older cards whenever a new set enters the format. Just because something was great in CCB doesn’t mean it’s still going to be amazing in CBS. Fortunately, I’m very interested in the subject and ready to help those of you that feel like slacking off.

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Uncommon Knowledge – Saviors Uncommons And Rares in Draft

Today, I’ll be going over the power of each uncommon and rare in the set, and possibly let you know about some hidden cards that people have not found to be good yet. Champions of Kamigawa was actually a fairly balanced set in terms of uncommons; it does have its Strengths of Cedars and Nagaos, but those are nowhere near to the power the Grab the Reins and Crystal Shard had in Mirrodin block. The best uncommon is Champions of Kamigawa is probably Honden of Infinite Rage, and there’s definitely something that tops that in Saviors of Kamigawa. Anyway, let’s look at the uncommons from Saviors…

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Velocity and Inertia: A Study in Magic Theory

Recently, Mike Flores used the term “velocity” to describe a certain type of deck behavior. In that article, however, he merely noted it as a conceptual notion, without offering any theoretical context or application. He attempted to demonstrate its presence, but in this author’s opinion and others, he did not accurately describe his observation in terms that have useful application. While what he describes is not deniable, his descriptions are ex post facto observations, and not a theory to be applied in a logistical matter to deck construction or play skill. This article will attempt to define velocity in terms that are more in line with other concrete Magic theories, and identify its application.

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SCG Daily: Public Enemy Number Two

It’s the Daily, and this week I’m counting down the five most evil, twisted, and most of all hated decks in Magic history. The decks that made you seriously consider taking up a (comparatively) less painful hobby, like chewing your own arms off, or caber catching, or maybe polka. Today’s deck is second on the list; I’ll name it in a minute.

Before I do, you need to do one thing for me: Here’s an asterisk. Stare at it for 15 minutes.

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Holy Schlamolies! That’s a lot of Power!

07/6/05 We’re back from Origins and Regionals! How did we do over the past two weeks? Let’s just say that we have several hundred thousand cards to add to our inventory!

Over the coming weeks I’m going to feature cards being added to the system. Today’s feature? Nothing less than the Power Nine – 8 pieces of Alpha, 8 pieces of Beta, and 43 pieces of Unlimited power – for a total of 59 pieces of power added to our system overnight!

Click here for a complete list of these cards, plus several other high end cards (Mishra’s Workshop, Bazaar of Baghdad, etc) added to our system today!

-Ben Bleiweiss
General Manager, StarCityGames.com

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Joshie Green and The Day the Earth Stood Still – Regionals 2005

Thursday

4:06 p.m. Get home from work.

4:07 p.m. Mare tells me to take her upstairs or “face her wrath.”

5:30 p.m. Get dressed. Try to wipe silly grin off face. Fail.

5:31 p.m. Tell wife I’m going to win Regionals now.

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Approaching KBC

My favorite Magic format of all time was the briefly infamous Extended environment following Pro Tour: New Orleans (also known as Pro Tour: Tinker) last season. That format was crazy. Vastly undercosted artifacts and Tinkers were everywhere. Entire games were decided by turn 3 or 4. Kai Budde lost a game in the Pro Tour to a turn 1 combo kill. I loved that format, but that environment is not what I’m here to talk about today. No, today I’ve come to discuss an even more degenerate tournament: Pro Tour: Philadelphia. Say what, son?

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