Sometimes you can find that pivotal moment in a draft where one choice – usually a choice that goes with conventional wisdom – leads you to drafting a deck slightly worse than if you had chosen a different path. In a strong article today, Nick highlights one such moment in a recent draft and furthers the debate on the “Best Card vs. Best Pick” dilemma.
This five-part, daily article series will examine every even slightly contestable choice for a slot in Standard Mono-Green Decks. The idea is to give you the most options possible in your preparations for Regionals, cover ideas you may not have thought of, and then whittle down the choices to acceptable levels to help you build the best competitive deck possible.
Due to a tremendous influx of mail to my mailbox regarding the combo deck called Lickity Split, I decided to write up what I’ve discovered about the deck, how it plays, and what its matchups are like for the second part of my exploration of the Standard Rogue scene.
Love him or hate him, The Bleiweiss forces an opinion out of everyone and this week people have been overjoyed to express both their pleasure and disgust at what he has to say. Today Ben looks at what Wizards of the Coast can and should do to overhaul a PTQ circuit that has grown long in the tooth.
Part two of Steve’s Combo-Control blowout takes a look at the hottest decks in Vintage, decks that you absolutely must be prepared for if you plan to play at the Power 9 in Richmond this weekend. Smennen tells you what makes these decks tick, looks at the strengths and weaknesses, and then takes a peak at what the future might hold for the combo-control archetypes.
We would tell you how awesomely cool this article is, but that would just ruin the surprise.
What’s that you say? You want the story of how Gadiel won the Pro Tour, directly from the horse’s mouth? Okay, if you insist, but only on StarCityGames.com, the home of Pro Tour winners.
He’s been hinting at it for weeks, but today blisterguy finally comes clean. You want to know how the man makes his scratch online? The secret techniques as to why he hasn’t had to pay for packs in years? The blister-approved methodology on how to never actually pay for another draft again? It’s all here folks, so go to.
Want to know about the latest deck the former Vintage World Champion piloted to yet another Waterbury Top 8 finish? Looking for stories of delerious SUNY: Binghamton college students threatening people at Denny’s with butter knives? Or maybe you just want another fun and amusing report by perhaps the most-entertaining Vintage writer around. Whatever you are looking for, this article has some of everything and is awesome sauce approved.
Tired of the combo-control grind and looking for some aggressive decks to play at your local Vintage tournament? Take these for a spin and tell us what you think in our forums.
When I originally posted my Splice list, which I playtested right up until the week before the Pro Tour that I top 8’d in, it was discarded as being unplayable. My team was afraid of the lack of win conditions and the time issues in a Pro Tour, where draws count as losses. But I stuck to my guns and kept posting the list, claiming that it wasn’t losing to any single deck. This claim was true…. until we sideboarded.
Several tournament organizers have begun the practice of having players swap their decklist information before each match of the Top 8 in Pro Tour Qualifiers. This open exchange of information is patented after similar types of sharing that occurs before the Top 8 of Pro Tours and Grand Prix. This practice began as a way to level the playing field due to scouting – but is this practice fair on the Pro Tour Qualifier level?
I have two unique qualifications, both of which allow me to tell you exactly why Abe Sargent’s proposed “Abeth Edition” Core Set would be disastrous for the future of Magic… and why, despite the fact that it would be a disaster, Wizards may have to follow Abe’s lead in the next Core Set anyway.
Martin’s been wildly popular with this excellent new series detailing his various builds of Sealed as he grinds through the PTQ season. The last Englishman who made a habit out of writing up his decks for StarCityGames.com qualified… but though it’s obvious that Martin makes two Top 8s, does one of them lead to the big finish? You’ll have to read on to find out.
One of the things that strikes me as odd in Constructed decks — and Standard decks in particular — is the lack of Two-Headed Dragons. I often consider different cards to be “good” than most players, but Two-Headed Dragon seems like an obvious omission to me. So why aren’t more people playing it… and more importantly, why should you be playing it?
