This week in Ben’s Corner: Wizards reveals their plans for new dual lands in Ravnica, Legacy heats up at the Gen Con World Championships and the StarCityGames.com buylist is updated to include even more sets. Read on!
He’s been gone for over a year. He walked away from the game and the writing at the height of his powers. But like the mob, just when he thought he was out, we pulled him right back in. Draft strategy, wicked jokes, hilarious rants and more snark than you can shake a stick at. That’s right kids, Geordie Tait is back in the saddle again and if this first article is any indicator, he’s better than ever.
I am trying to build an online collection from scratch. I have tried online traders, sellers, trading bots, leagues and drafts. You could even buy packs and bust them. Some of these ideas work. Some don’t. Let’s review.
Teaming with Seth and Kevin reminded me why I played Magic, because of my friends and the experiences we shared. Going to qualifiers with two other players and having our fates in the tournament intertwined was a remarkable experience.
What’s this? A Block deck you haven’t seen before that mashes Gifts Ungiven and White Weenie, while featuring game against the rest of the field? Is that even possible? Craig Stevenson thinks so and he’s got the PTQ Top 8s to prove it. Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you The Shinkatron
The problem, of course, is that Sensei’s Divining Top
is in all of the best decks! It’s in the fake best
deck (Tooth and Nail), the second best deck
(Kuroda-style Red), and the actual best deck (UrzaTron
Blue). No matter how good the players designing these
decks, they all put the terrible Top in to make sure
they don’t tap their mana efficiently so as to gain to
much of an advantage over their fellows. As near as I
can tell, the difference between horrible Tooth and
Nail and the actually good and successful decks is the
ability to get rid of the useless Sensei’s Divining
Top so that you no longer have to look at it.
I’ll cut to the chase; although some of you were miffed with my last draft article – which is allowed – I decided to continue on this path. While others with more impressive resumes engaged in the debate of what’s hot and what’s not in the CBS format, I felt that I could still serve a more mundane purpose on the ground, showing what pans out in practice rather than arguing theory.
Shortly after landing this job, I began my reign of terror as a writer, pushing the envelope to write a weekly strategy column while occasionally slinging mud, getting people to start to read the Neutral Ground website for columns, tournament reports, and other information as the newborn site grew into a popular website.
Today StarCityGames.com brings yet another new and deserving Featured Writer to the starving, huddled masses looking for tech and a good story. Nathan Xaxson straddles the line between hard-core gamer and theorist and guy who likes to sling spells while hanging with friends at the kitchen table. We think his articles will be appreciated by pretty much everyone and encourage you to try him on for size.
Today StarCityGames.com welcomes yet another new writer to the family, this time in the form of former Dutch National champion Rogier Maaten. Rogier’s first article deconstructs the Black/White spirit deck in full Kamigawa Block Draft. Back in CCB, this was one of the best archetypes around, but can it still perform with a new set added to the mix? What do you have to do now in order to win with this deck, and what does the pick order for Saviors look like? Enquiring minds want to know!
How big of a change will hit us on August 20? Let’s start off looking at each color, covering their gains and losses. Then we’ll look at the biggest changes overall, see how some of the popular archetypes are affected, and maybe even come up with a meaningful answer.
In general, these days blocks tend to be focused on such different themes that they aren’t really very compatible with each other. Using Onslaught for an example, there were no Cycling cards and very few Goblins in Odyssey and Mirrodin, the two sets that were legal when Onslaught was and thus nearly every card in those decks came from either Onslaught block or from the basic set. In Type One however, blocks never rotate out. This gives deckbuilders the ability to plumb older sets for cards which can work along with a block mechanic. Some blocks have been more successful than others because of this effect.
When we left off yesterday, I was fifteen, stupid, and had just enough money to be a danger to myself. Money doesn’t make you smart though, so I stopped buying packs after my first trade-rape experience…
Zvi says goodbye to StarCityGames.com with a list of how to make your Magic: the Gathering gaming experiences better than they have ever been before. Looking to become a dealer, a Pro Tour player, or something in between? Zvi shares his thoughts on each of these including his opinion as to what the most important element in any gamer’s life happens to be.
Today StarCityGames.com welcomes World Champion Julien Nuijten to our growing family of world class writers. In his debut article, Julien exposes his new readers to the best archetype in full Kamigawa Block draft: Red/Green.
