Ben lays it all down as he gives the reasons why he thinks Competitive American Magic is on life support – and what can be done to resusitate it. Read about what is killing the community, why it’s killing the community, and how YOU can be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Learn why Chad Ellis could well be the savior of the entire competitive American Magic community in today’s installment of Blog Fanatic!
I love Spirits. As soon as Betrayers was released, I modified my casual Five-Color Spirit deck, and have been playing with it heavily. What Spirits and Arcane spells are the best? The absolute essentials? I have ranked the top Spirit and Arcane spells, and given you some tips on how to use them.
Zvi examines why there are two different Extended formats being played right now, tells you what decks you should and should not be playing, and requests that all of you Rock players out there stop bringing sticks to gun fights. The Mad Scientist also addresses your forum feedback and a variety of community issues all in one fell articulate swoop.
Control Slaver is the hottest Vintage deck on the planet, but there’s a huge amount of debate about what the best configuration looks like. Should the deck run the Intuition/Accumulated Knowledge engine? Is it worthwhile to add Black to the deck? What’s the best deck configuration to help you win the mirror match? Does Meandeck really need to use training wheels to win? All of these questions and more are examined inside!
Nobody, but nobody does lists like The Bleiweiss, and when Ben heard that Wizards was doing “Artifact Week” he had to reprise his old role as the master list maker, except this time we’re publishing it here at StarCityGames.com!
It’s Extended season. An amazing number of decks are making PTQ T8s. Early results showed Twenty-two different archetypes have multiple T8 appearances. It’s a diverse field, and a diverse field rewards playing powerful decks that aren’t well known. Enchantress – the combo version – fits that definition. It won a PTQ last weekend and made T4 the week before, and Betrayers just became legal, meaning there may be some new tools available to help you abuse an already abusive combo deck.
Tim Aten is on the Writer’s ballot for the Magic Invitational and today he provides his Top 5 list of players to send to Southern California, where they can oggle Playboy bunnies and see the coolest new computer games at E3.
SWK: Hey, I think I broke the format.
Knut: Oh really? What are you playing?
SWK: Well, it’s 60 different cards, so it’s tough to tell you.
Knut: Oh no – you got hooked on Singleton, didn’t you?
SWK: Yeah. All I wanted to do was make a Mind’s Desire deck because I figured it would be funny to try a combo deck with a bunch of one-of’s – I never expected it to be any good.
Knut: Ship it…
Today’s Blog Fanatic contains three strange cases of the Bleiweiss kind. Each of these, while often unbelieveable, is completely true and it gives an indication of exactly why most members of the StarCityGames.com staff do not let Bleiweiss lead or give directions on a road trip.
As promised, we’re doing our best to ensure that our Premium members are getting their money’s worth. Here’s what a few of them have had to say…
Once upon a time, I offered you a peek into a new and exciting multiplayer format: Emperor Draft. Not that long ago, I continued the tale with some discussion of drafting as the Emperor, replete with card assessments and viable draft strategies. Since then, Betrayers has made its debut, threatening to wreak havoc on the current Emperor draft strategy and make obsolete any advice I could provide. Fortunately, with a few Champions-Champions-Betrayers drafts under my belt, I have met and tamed that growling tiger – and I am now ready to continue our adventure.
Magic’s teenage bad boy checks with some Betrayers strategies he learned after scrubbing out of Pro Tour: Nagoya, details of a no-holds-barred Team Rochester battle between the champions of two continents, and some stories of happy, fun drafts among the pros.
*Warning* Please do not taunt happy, fun draft.
What does a Darksteel Colossus surrounded by thousands of Agent Smiths have to do with helping you win more at Magic? You’ll have to read the article to find out!
Osyp is the first StarCityGames.com writer to reveal his ballot for the Internet Writers Vote. Which big men of Magic made the list and why? Find out on… The Black Perspective!
Last week’s Multiplayer Combo Challenge was a success, getting an astounding twelve people to share their thoughts on the greatest multiplayer blowout decks. So the question on everybody’s lips is: What’s next week’s challenge?
The Top Five Multiplayer Creatures.
Of course, as always, there’s a catch. Given the Kokusho-packed articles from last week, Kokusho may not be on your list. Remember, articles that simply give the five cards along with a one-paragraph description probably will not win; we want decks to go with the creatures, and a good idea of what sorts of players/strategies these creatures do well against. Pick your five favorites – but back it up with anecdotes, strategy, and above all, fun! The winner gets $20 in cold hard cash!
The winner of last week’s contest? Well, there were a lot of fine entries, but in the end Chris Franson won for “The Best Multiplayer Combo?” It wasn’t the most entertaining deck out there – Staff of Dominance-based decks are depressingly alike – but Chris not only did a fine job of explaining both his decks, but provided an alternate build and discussed other cards that could be used. And that’s the sort of thing we like to reward!
