Peter kicks off States week by stretching his precognitive powers as far as they will go, and then delivers some helpful lessons for first-timers and veterans alike about what they should expect and be prepared for in the States metagame.
Alright people, it’s time to check out the article series that has everyone talking. If you have any interest at all in improving your Limited game, or if you just like good writing, then Sealed Revealed is for you. Craig’s articles are well-written, delightfully funny, and the forums have been blowing up discussing them, so isn’t it about time you hop on board and see what all the fuss is about?
Dan is back to deliver you not just one, but two different decks, just in time for States. He starts off by channeling Jamie Wakefield to deliver you the best Green deck he could come up with for current Standard, and then tells you what deck he will be playing on Saturday. This article is an absolute must read, because even if you already know what you are playing this weekend, your opponents might not, and Dan’s decks have a habit of changing the metagame.
In Part One, I made the case for MeanDeath as a serious contender in the format. In Part Two, I walked through some of the important considerations that will guide your gameplay. In this article, I wrap up the discussion with an explanation of various sideboard decisions, suggestions on how to sideboard, and a give run-through of the important matchups. I’ll conclude with some final considerations that will tighten up your game.
Ahh, Green Week!
I actually have an interesting build of Tooth and Nail that independently echoes some commentary that I’ve read from players like Antonino DeRosa and giant monsters expert Jeff Garza. For whatever reason, I elected to go a different direction for Green week and learned some surprising things along the way.
Fifty miserable, lousy Blue cards. This probably goes without saying by now, but this is an approximate pick order. More than anything, it’s meant to give you a jumping-off point on power levels and/or usefulness of the Blue cards in the set. Nonetheless, I’d appreciate seeing any disputes, minor or major, in the forums. It’s nice to have one of these lists out there for each color for posterity, and in a few months we can look back and see how foolish we were.
Systems theory is great. The idea that something in a group affects everything is so elegant to me. For example, the butterfly effect on a weather group. Or the metagame. You know, like splash damage. Or in the case of Red decks, splash splash damage. You see, I predict there will be two effective decks at Champs this year: Affinity and Green decks. Affinity is the best, and Green is the obvious foil. Plus it seems everyone loves Sakura-Tribe Elder. So what does that mean for Red?
Another list, another barrage of decisions… we leap through hoops of fire, searching for the golden promise. But sometimes, the massed catalogue of intelligence is too much to bear. We drown in the cards, in the names and the system, floundering for something tangible. I’ve got one more pool for you to peruse this weekend, so follow me and then hop into the forums to chime in with your opinion on this successful experiment.
Many feel that the tournament report as it once existed is dead, but Carl Winter is here to soundly refute that. Even if you aren’t a Vintage fan, Carl’s reports are excellent, amusing reads that are fun for the whole family, though parental guidance is suggested.
For the past year, StarCityGames.com has been aggressively hunting for Alternate Fourth Edition Magic: the Gathering cards. Though what we’ve accumulated isn’t much, we believe that it is one of the largest inventories of Alternate 4th Edition in the world. That inventory is now being offered for sale. If you’re into Magic: the Gathering rarities, this one’s definitely for you!
Interested in learning more about Alternate Fourth Edition? Read on!
Fresh off a twelfth place finish at Grand Prix: Austin, Osyp takes time out of his busy schedule and turns his thoughts back towards Standard for a day to take a look at what Red has to offer players who are participating in Champs. Is Red good enough to compete in a metagame ruled by Affinity and Tooth and Nail? See what Joe Black has to say before you make up your own mind.
This is probably my favorite subject to write on, since I love talking about over and underrated cards and helping people figure out the format. What cards are you overlooking, and which ones should you be drafting higher? The Eisel knows…
Card pool two saw us playing with explosives. There were genuine bombs in a couple of colors, and the debate over the correct build is still going strong. So what does card pool three bring us, I wonder? For a start, it’s bringing me Repetitive Strain Disorder and a hearty hatred of Blue, as I’m sick to death of typing the word “Soratami.” However, I will press on and continue our daily discussion of Limited card valuatino and proper Sealed Builds in the article and particularly in the forums. Follow along, kiddies!
When we talk about Kamigawa instants, we just have to start with Splice. On the surface, it’s a card advantage ability that lets you pay an additional cost when you play a spell to sort of Buyback the Splice spell. This could be problematic, however, when you consider the Sneak Attack problem (see “Six Beginner’s Delusions You Meet in Heaven”) since you have to play a bunch of Arcane spells to make use of Splice. Moreover, last week (see “Championing Kamigawa”), we concluded that the Arcane sorceries aren’t very appealing, with only Lava Spike and Eye of Nowhere priced below three mana.
That said, the biggest lesson I learned from the most recent Waterbury was really something I already knew, but somehow forgot. The larger the Vintage event, the more randomness you’ll encounter. It’s easy, for example, for me to keep tabs on Myriad’s 40-50 player metagame. You have some New Hampshire guys, usually half of the Hadley crowd, some Bostonians, and of course the Mighty-Mighty Maine-tones. You know the decks that people play will be pretty close to the last months, but with all the easy calculations of taking metagame trends into account. Big events like Waterbury are far more different.
