Damn, it’s been awhile since I posted a column, but unfortunate times have fallen upon me. What’s a man to do when life beats the hell out of him? I decided to separate myself from my issues and return to playing a more competitive form of the game. Thus you, my faithful readers, get the reward of seeing what I’ve been working on for Block Constructed.
It’s Worlds – I wasn’t expecting to go, but somehow I made Top 8 at Barcelona and suddenly I’m invited to everything. A lot of my deck was proxies since I knew I could buy the cards I needed onsite. I actually had (or traded for) the rares, but I couldn’t find copies of some of the non-rare cards, like Merchant Scroll, and no one ever carries around cards like that in their trade binders. Thankfully, I knew what Merchant Scroll did. It was a Sorcery, it cost 1U, and it fetched two different kinds of Blue spells that aren’t creatures. That can only leave Instants and Sorceries, right?
When Ted asked me to take a shot at the SCG Daily column, I wondered what I could write about. Then it occurred to me – as the one of the oldest writers on the site as well as a usetabee, I’d write about my war stories. Just imagine me as an even older man (tricky, but possible), sitting on the porch, smoking a pipe and telling you about “the big one” while all the kids (that’s you readers) sit there hoping I’ll finally doze off so you can go play video games.
I’m continuing my exploration of the more unusual Magic Online formats. Last time I talked about the highly addictive Singleton format. This week I want to look at a specialized Singleton format — Rainbow Stairwell.
While waiting for the tournament to begin, my mate Bill Johnston asked which Betrayers common I would most like to open, suggesting it might be Waxmane Baku. Although I hadn’t really thought about this question I said Gnarled Mass without hesitation. I’m not saying that it’s the best common in Betrayers, but Gnarled Mass is just the one that works best for me. So how did I fare at the PTQ with two of Bob Gnarly in my deck? Check inside, friends, check inside.
Look, we have Mowshowitz and Wakefield on the same day, does it even matter what they are writing about? Okay okay, Jamie starts his hike on the comeback trail by getting acquainted with the current Standard scene and getting smashed by some 12-year-old kids playing White Weenie. Oh, and what he has now termed “The Silver Age of Magic.” Are you happy now? Go read!
Those of you familiar with Magic history may remember the Brothers’ War between Mishra and Urza, the two most powerful artificers on Dominaria. But those of you familiar with StarCityGames.com writers will know of the brothers’ war we’re having: Matthew Lubich and his brother Andrew. Both of them have written consistently-entertaining entries for the weekly Casual Challenge, and this week they went head-to-head.
Matthew wrote an excellent primer on the rules for lockdown decks (even if his deck was a little on the underpowered side this time around), whereas his brother came up with one of the most creative kill methods I think I’ve ever seen. The problem is, Andrew’s won before, and Matthew hasn’t. Who to choose?
In the end, I decided to split it evenly, lest I cause fistfights at the Lubich household. Matthew wins this week’s $20 prize, in the sincere hopes that both brothers will keep writing!
And next week’s challenge?
Theme Decks.
That’s right, folks — we want to see the most powerful (and, more importantly, playable) deck you can build around a non-Magic theme. Whether that’s an Edgar Allen Poe deck or a deck related exclusively to emo bands, we want to see your crazy theme deck — and more importantly, how to play a pile of cards that have nothing in common except for flavor. So write it up and send it to Mail us at https://sales.starcitygames.com/contactus/contactform.php?emailid=2, and you could win $20!
These are the decklists that are going to define Philly, and they’re the best versions I know of. Sure one or two cards are experimental but this will be what 80% of your Philly opponents will be playing.
Being the Vintage Supercomputer is a tough job, so every once in a while, Pip likes to kick back and actually sling some spells as part of his relaxation program. Last weekend at Chicago he did just that, putting up a surprisingly solid record with Landstill, the deck he’s discussing today.
One of (my idol) JMS’s shticks is to take a pre-con deck and modify it so that it’s competitive in the Casual Decks room of Magic Online. Since I want to be so much like Jay (published novelist, work from home, hyphenated last name), I’m going to try the same kind of thing for the next couple of weeks with one twist: I want this deck to be competitive in a tournament. That doesn’t mean that it has to win the thing. I just want it to win more than it loses.
Today the Bleiweiss has turned in an article so packed with “stuff” that it’s difficult to describe all of it in a concise blurb. Try this on for size: 9th Edition and Ravnica Speculations, the short and long-term past and future of FNM prizes, the cards that absolutely NEED to be made into Judge promos and how the judges got the shaft last time, the coolest proposed GenCon Vintage Championships prizes of all time, and so much more! This will be the water cooler article for your friends for the rest of the week, so you’re going to want to read it.
Champions/Betrayers draft is fully mature now and Nick has reevaluated some of the cards he has written about previously, particularly from Champions. What cards does he feel are over and underrated at the draft tables? The details are inside.
We hate to toot our own horn around here, but the day before the Chicago Power 9, we published an article about the very deck that won the tournament the next day. Today Stephen Menendian talks about variations of Vintage Oath of Druids decks, including the deck he designed that finished second at that very same Chicago Power 9, this time in the hands of Brian Demars.
During Legacy’s birth, you could be guaranteed that you’d face combo decks, Sligh, and combo/control ports from Extended like Aluren, as well as control decks, like Landstill or Fish. With those constraints in mind, Monoblue was probably the one of the best two or three decks in the format. While it’s no longer the best deck, BBS is a strong choice – and it builds the foundation for playing control in Legacy.
