My last article took care of getting you to the Top 8, so now it’s time to win the draft once you get there. This week we’ll look at the nature of draft archetypes in the abstract (with specific examples, naturally) and how to think about the interaction between draft archetypes and card valuation.
Last week I tackled White Weenie. While that deck is out there in the metagame, no one would contend that it’s a major force in the new Standard metagame. Now it’s time to tackle something bigger.
This weekend, Martin attended three PTQs and won all of them utilizing the power of Takeno’s Cavalry enchanted with Kumano’s Blessing. Okay, maybe that’s not quite true, but he did attend one and he may have had to play against Takeno’s Calvary in round 6 where the winner of the match would make the Top 8.
I hadn’t planned on writing a report. I was worried that by doing so, I’d inadvertently make fun of the Midwest and devalue my win. Then I realized I played like an asshat all day and still won, so I don’t really feel like I earned it anyway. I’m still looking at this Black Lotus wondering why it’s here, because I don’t think I played optimally in any game all day…
It’s the nine-mana elephant that’s lurking in the Standard room, but nobody has talked about it yet. That all changes today, where michaelj rams Tooth and Nail against the testing gauntlet so hard that it explodes into a shower of Red and Green spells. That’s right, we said Red AND Green. Why is it better to run two colors in your Tooth deck instead of just one? That is just one thing among many that Flores explains today.
I will not be going to Philadelphia. “Because you’re rubbish”, my girlfriend cries, reading over my shoulder. That may well be true – possibly a deep insight into my future career. I myself prefer to think of it as an opportunity to spend more time focussing on my university work, but her diagnosis is probably closer to the truth.
That first sentence initially filled me with dismay and depression, I’d be missing another Pro Tour; but upon reflection maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I’d be missing Pro Tour: Jitte.
Over the past few years, I’ve become increasingly frustrated by the cost of Magic boosters. I remember when the MSRP was only $2.69 – a very long time ago, to be sure, but now it’s climbed by an entire dollar. That’s a lot of money for a single booster, don’t you think? Thankfully, SCG thinks so, too. If it wasn’t for SCG, I don’t think I would still buy packs anymore. I’ve recently begun to see how the rise in the price of Magic has affected my local gaming community – and I’ve heard some cries on the forums lamenting similar stories about how their gaming stores are closing down, relocating, or are not planning on renewing their Magic inventory. I found this somewhat disheartening – so I talked with a few people that I knew and wanted to find out why this was happening.
Jamie Wakefield is back and this time he’s back to stay. Right here at StarCityGames.com
I love deck building, and I love playing Constructed duels. I find it much more rewarding than leagues and drafts, so I am trying out the various MTGO constructed formats. That said, I still have very few Constructed-worthy cards, and my online Type Two and Extended decks cannot compete with Vedalken Shackles in Standard, or Vial Affinity in Extended. However, I can build decks that are competitive in other formats, especially singleton.
In Limited, Green seems to be the odd man out. Red and Black have always offered drafters valuable removal, while White and Blue packed flyers, but Green tended to shuffle its feet and look morosely down on its collection of ground-pounders and mana acceleration. There are exceptions, as when Green suddenly found itself as the new top dog at killing off artifacts right in the middle of the artifact block, but more often it suffers from general anemia in the fields that drafters care about. Even though it was carrying its own weight in triple-Champions draft, it’s certainly fallen back into disfavor for the Champions-Champions-Betrayers environment.
A long time ago in a far-away metagame, there was an underplayed deck that relied on an obscenely low number of lands. This deck was amazingly fast and not many decks could keep up with its speed. This deck was called 9-land green, or Stompy, or one of any number of other names. Anyone that has played a very aggressive deck can tell you that the adrenaline rush you get from flooding the board with creatures and quickly disposing of your opponent is a great and wonderful thing… And you can do it for cheap.
Successful traders know that trading Magic: the Gathering can often be just as rewarding as playing the game itself, if not moreso. In this article series, I am going to share a significant portion of what I learned about trading as I evolved from random player into America’s largest Magic: the Gathering singles dealer. I will also provide you with a step-by-step guide to becoming a better trader yourself. This will require a considerable amount of time and effort on your part, but you should begin reaping the rewards rather quickly.
Some of these decks are funny enough that I thought to include a few for your enjoyment. These are examples of the absolute worst draft decks ever, and I hope that you enjoy them. To better illustrate how I got from three sealed booster packs to forty-five cards of poo, I’ll tell you how the draft started, what went wrong, and more.
Shortbus Severance Belcher (or SSB) was one of the hot new decks to come out of StarCityGames.com Power 9 Syracuse and its designer is back with a tournament report and instructional guide just in time for this weekend’s Power 9 in Chicago. If you are looking for a few pointers on one of the latest control-combo decks to hit the Vintage scene, you must read this article.
First of all, did anyone guess the reason why we had Peasant Magic on this week, of all weeks? It’s because this week ends on April 15th – a day when many American citizens are poorer. See, we’re so clever.
(For you foreigners, April 15th is tax day in America. We love it.)
In any case, Peasant Magic week was a good week for articles, with some of the highest-quality stuff we’ve seen yet. But in the end, it came down to two last-minute submissions: Roman Pazuniak’s How Many Ways Can You Go Infinite On A Common-Based Engine? and Dave Wong’s Peasant Magic: The Six-Deck Gauntlet, Plus The Commons You Must Own. It was a tough decision, since Dave brought some Peasantry experience to the table, whereas Roman’s decks were consistently neat. (Well, except for the ElfClamp deck, but you had to get that one out of the way.) In the end, experience won out in an extremely close call, and Dave took the $20 prize!
This week’s challenge?
Multiplayer Lockdown.
That’s right; we want to hear about your deck that shuts multiple opponents down in some interesting way. Tell us how it works, what decks it works well against, and more importantly what fiendish combo you’ve created to dominate (and, lest we forget, win) the game. Then send that puppy into Mail us at https://sales.starcitygames.com/contactus/contactform.php?emailid=2!
