Josh takes a look at the deck that made him State Champion for the new Standard environment. Now that Affinity is gone, what changes need to be made to the deck and what decks in the metagame are going to cause problems for Sol Malka’s favorite colors?
The Top Three Most Annoying Cards didn’t get quite the response that I thought it would, but the results were pleasantly varied. This was the strongest week yet, where almost every article would have been a winner in a slower week…. but the most amusing was an underlooked gem by Corneel Coens – The Pity. The Argument. The Chance. The Bookkeeping. The No. – that outlined not three, but five of the most annoying card types in Magic. And he wrote it so well that we don’t mind that he broke the rules. So Corneel wins the $20 for this week!
What’s next week? Well, we have April First coming up, so the challenge is going to be a little different:
April Fools Decks.
What’s an "April Fools Deck"? Well, for our purposes we’re going to define it as "a deck that does something your opponents didn’t think it was going to." It could be a deck that looks like Affinity but turns into control, it could be a deck that looks like crap but explodes into infinity when its innocuous pieces come together, or it could be a deck that suckers your opponents into making a critical mistake. Better yet, come up with a better definition of an April Fools’ Deck.
Do that, and you could win $20 in this week’s Casual Challenge! Send your submission to Mail us at https://sales.starcitygames.com/contactus/contactform.php?emailid=2!
Flores goes suicidal examining yet another creation from his new favorite Constructed deck designer!
There’s nothing quite like victory to put a little spring in a man’s step, particularly when it vaults you onto the Pro Tour only a week after your team narrowly missed out on automatic qualification.
I’m documenting my sojourn into the world of MTGO. To recap the last four days: I couldn’t play online, then I could. I was home with the flu when I started. I played in the sandbox, in leagues and in drafts. I tried some Constructed. I recovered from the flu and went back to work. Now I have a day off, and I want to try an online premier event.
Instead of choosing just one topic to write about this week, Romeo chose about eight including some rules observations about Type Two, his sweet Aunt Sadie, and – dare we say it? Cogs. In Standard.
I’m a big fan of customization. There’s never only a single “correct build” of a deck. There may be wrong builds, and there are certainly wrong decks, but perfect builds are, like emotion on Keanu Reeves’ face, either mythical or simply wishful thinking. White Weenie, for example, despite being a rather basic Aggro deck, can run along any number of routes: Do you fly to victory with little birds? Do you equip at instant speed and a discount? Do you tango? The point is, what you do with your White Weenie is up to you. And the same is true with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror-Breaker.
At this point I’m certain we don’t need to explain Sealed Revealed and Craig Stevenson to you. Either you love the balding Scouser and think he’s the cat’s pajamas or you think he’s pure bollocks. Today’s card pool was a particularly difficult one to build and should be a good test for those of you looking to attend Limited PTQs in the coming weeks.
Yusssss! Arcbound Ravager is gone from the format! Now I can cut all of the artifact removal from my Beacon of Creation deck! I shall be unstoppable! Wait, what’s that you just played? Are you equipping something to your flyer? Uh-oh. Yes, kids, any reports you may have read regarding the death of artifacts have been greatly exaggerated. There’s still at least one that will give you nightmares on the eve of Regionals.
Last time we saw Ben Snyder, he was blowing up Twiddle Desire as part of a 40-page manifesto on the deck and how fast it goldfishes. Well he’s back, folks, and this time he’s tackling Standard combo instead. Part in-depth deck primer on an Intruder Alarm combo deck and part format overview for what Standard will look like for months to come, this article is all quality and will be referenced many many times in the months leading up to Regionals.
Being the subject of a recent documentary for G4 TV hasn’t gone entirely to Joe Black’s head, in fact he seems downright humble discussing his recent mistakes at Grand Prix: Seattle and Pro Tour: Atlanta. In addition to those tasty tidbits, Osyp riffs on “The Falling Star Ballot” for the Magic Invitational, shows you what card he plans to propose, and much, much more.
This one is about dogs, Magic, Cephalid Broker decks, and Pete’s first Constructed matches. Oh, and waiting… LOTS of waiting.
As the guy with the Portal ramblings here on StarCityGames, as well as a former member of Beyond Dominia (the place for Type One tech), I feel like I should comment on what Portal means to Type One and other formats as well. The biggest impact will be in, not surprisingly, 5-Color.
Today Steve wraps up his massive Psychatog Primer with complete matchup and sideboarding advice for every major deck in the format.
Now that Affinity got the full axe in Standard, we have a more diverse and open format in which the question “Does this beat Affinity?” no longer has to be asked. This is probably a good thing overall, allowing for future deck innovation and the ability to be free of the “best deck” syndrome. However, it also means the Mono-Blue – a deck that was tricked out to beat Affinity – has to undergo some serious changes in order to retain its status as one of the best decks. Let’s take a look at how you should modify the deck to get the best bang for your buck in the new format, shall we?
