Welcome back to the fourth installment of this puzzling series. In addition to the standard question of”what do I need to do in order to win right now”, this article will pose a couple more open-ended challenges. You might find yourself thinking,”What is the mathematically best play at this point?”, and”What do I need to do now in order to win later?” After all, if you do not make good choices up front, you’ll never be in position to win at all.
Box draft is my favorite Magic format. I’ve been doing box drafts for five years now, and the games have stayed fresh and interesting. Pete Hoefling has stated that box draft is the most fun he’s had playing Magic, ever. I agree. There’s just something about drafting from the Big Box that really takes you back to the roots of the game while simultaneously teaching you new strategies each time out. What is box draft, you ask? Check inside, my friends, check inside.
Once again, I compiled statistics from all of the PTQ T8s I could find. Here are the numbers for the entire period this format has been played. Is there a secret Affinity-killer that is on the rise in Block? The answer to this question and more is but a click away, plus bonus coverage of Sheldon Menery’s Multiplayer Challenge at the World Championships.
In the latest edition, Pip brings you the August Metagame Breakdown, the perceived fallout from the Banned and Restricted List changes, and the skinny on which cards might get restricted next!
I was just wondering how various pros handle losing? I heard a story that noted Pro Tour tree stump Eric Froehlich once ate an entire jar of peanut butter after losing a draft on Magic Online. Is that a typical reaction pros have to losing, or do they take it in stride?
Some of you may have read about the 3-D cards of Master Seishiro Ookubo this past weekend, but you probably didn’t get a chance to see many of the special cards that he made for Wizards staff. If you’ve ever wondered what a 3-D Jester’s Cap looks like, or a 3-D City of Brass, or perhaps a 3-D Foil DCI Balance… well look no further, because we have photos inside.
There is a fair chance that, come States, you will be playing a deck that you are already playing with, or at least are aware of. The question is what deck will this be? This article will look at all the big decks in the current Standard metagame, and assess whether they can survive the transition to new Standard. If you are looking to get a head start on your testing for States, you’ve come to the right place.
In this final installment of Ben’s interview with the King of Fatties, find out what games Jamie has been playing recently, what he thinks of his old arch-nemesis Geordie Tait, and the answer to the question,”If I were to pay entry for you and Mare, would you two consider playing in the Champions of Kamigawa Prerelease?”
Pugg picks up where he left off and takes a look at the entire week of Champions of Kamigawa cards previewed on MagictheGathering.com, offering insightful analysis, Constructed and Limited takes, and a healthy dollop of humor to make the bad cards go down easier.
If you would like to read the story of how the third best American player not named”Torben Tweifel” did at the recent World Championships, you have but to click on the title.
The Vintage World Champion defends his title against all comers, slaying dragons, Smennendians, and Amish folks while lost in Pennsylvania, all in his own unique style (awesome sauce not included)!
I always wanted to write an article about how to correctly manipulate your library. It doesn’t come up so much any more, because the decks that have manipulation in Standard or even Mirrodin Block these days don’t really require a lot of strategic Tutor technique. Sylvan Scrying doesn’t typically compete with any other Tutor for mana in a turn, and it pretty much always goes for either a Cloudpost or a missing Urza’s Tower. Like what are you really going to play as a Tutor? What’s that you say? Gifts Ungiven is part Tutor, part Fact or Fiction? Lets take a look at exactly what this new Champions card does and figure out whether it’s any good at either task.
I spent this summer without an internet connection, a car, or friends who play Magic. Thankfully I had a copy of Apprentice and the latest Fifth Dawn update, so I spent the better part of my summer trying to break Extended, coming up with five decks that you probably haven’t seen before.
For too long the words “Magic Player” have been synonymous with agony and despair when it comes to the dating. Is it your lack of social skills, your unkempt appearance, or your frighteningly bad breath? Do you find talking to women an incomprehensible labyrinth? Well your days of shame are at their long end, my friend. With this easy-to-follow guide that describes women in the terms of Magical cards, you can’t go wrong!
There’s only one thing that I know at all about Type 1.5: that people have wanted a banned list separate from Type 1 for years in order to bring it out of the shadow of Type 1. Personally, I don’t know anything about any of the decks. I have no idea where any scenes are. I don’t know who the big shot players are. If I had to tell you what decks were good, I’d just have to make a totally unfounded guess. But I do know that the new bannings are good for the format, and I’ll tell you why.
