Ask the Editor, 11/11/2004
My first question is this: What the hell happened to Jon Finkel? The guy disappeared like Bobby Fischer or something, did he fall into Magic obscurity or just give up the game for career/family etc?
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Magic Puzzles in Play Vol. 5
Welcome back to the fifth iteration of this Magic puzzles series. With States just behind us, it’s time to test your knowledge of the Kamigawa cards and mechanics that you might encounter. How exactly does Splice work? What about those flip cards? Come on in and test your mettle against the some of the trickier interactions that the Champions of Kamigawa have to offer.
The Top 10 Metagaming Mistakes
It is a sad fact that many Constructed tournaments are lost before the first round pairings are even up. If you turn up to a Block, Standard, or Extended tournament with a bad deck, all the tight play in the world will probably not help you to the Top 8. In order to be playing the right deck and the right build for a given metagame, you need to avoid making the ten mistakes listed in this article.
Scepter-Chant at Pro Tour: Columbus Part II *12th*
Here we go again with part two, otherwise known as the part where I really start smashing! This includes matches against the World Champion, the Hump, and random Europeans even the Europeans haven’t heard of, and details of dancing away Halloween night with Kanoot, Osyp, and more hotties than you can shake a stick at.
Ask the Editor. 11/10/2004
My question pertains to something that Mike Flores wrote in his article concluding the U/W deck challenge. He mentioned that when he playtested his Mono Blue deck vs. your Tooth build he devised some tech that was able to win the matchup for his deck a good amount of time. What was that tech that he would not mention? He said that you would update us.
Ye Olde Type One and a Half Primer
Here’s the plan. Let’s jump right into the middle of things, giving the appropriate props out to http://mtgthesource.com/, and look at the archetypes of Type 1.5. This article is designed to give players new to the Type 1.5 format a jumping off point, to introduce the basic decks and archetypes, give an idea of what the metagame looks like, and make it easy for you to dive into the murky waters. To wrap things up, I’ll even take a look at one of my favorite decks for the new environment.
Finally, The Rock Has Come Back To Standard
Based upon the powerful Black cards present in Champions of Kamigawa, however, if there was going to be a breakout deck, conventional wisdom stated that it was either going to be a new take on Mono-Black Control or a reprise of the classic Black/Green midgame deck first pioneered by Sol Malka, best known as The Rock. Mono-Black was out there, but it didn’t have the success at States that The Rock did.
Jigga Blue – Mono-Blue at States and Beyond
If you plan on going one-for-one with Affinity, you are doomed from the start. Their “normal draw” is often good enough to overcome several pieces of early hate. For months now people have been trying to find ways to overcome such obstacles, and it finally seems that at least one deck has shown up that has a good enough matchup against Affinity, while still being competitive against the rest of the field. The deck approaches hate from a different perspective, stopping the artifact threat before it enters play and can have any affect on the game.
The Doomsday Device: The Coolest Win Condition In Magic
There were good arguments for unrestricting Doomsday. Doomsday combo would seem to be no faster than Worldgorger Dragon, which everyone agrees is “fair combo.” I figured, however, that with the Type One card pool, it only takes one truly inspired set of five cards to break the living hell out of it… And so we looked through the Dojo archives to find inspiration. Barely a week had passed when JP showed probably the most elegant win condition ever conceived: Doomsday for Ancestral Recall, Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Mind’s Desire, and Beacon of Destruction.
Red Sox Suck! a.k.a. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE GUPTIL!
Bleiweiss’s practical joke masterpiece has once again returned to our database. And there was much rejoicing…
Ask the Editor, 11/09/2004
How much do you think Cranial Extraction will limit the types of decks that are viable?
Top Eight Decklists from the Star City Power Nine Tournament in Chicago!
This past Saturday, 142 players made their way to the Windy City to compete in the third Star City “Power Nine” Tournament! If you’re wondering who made the top eight and what decks they were playing, wonder no more. StarCityGames.com proudly presents the top eight decklists from the Star City “Power Nine” Tournament – Chicago!
Sullivan Library: Understanding Scepter-Chant
Adrian looks at the success of Scepter-Chant at the recent Extended Pro Tour, tells you what he thinks Nick West and Ruud Warmenhoven got right, and then gives his own updated version of the deck for the next Extended season.
Swinging With Dead Girls, the Finale – PT: Columbus *T8*
StarCityGames.com’s own precocious fifteen-year-old takes you through all of his Day 2 and Top 8 action. If Worlds and Pro Tour Columbus are any indicators, the kids are starting to take over the game, and Gadiel is one of the best of them.
Ask the Editor, 11/08/2004
When you’re covering Pro Tour matches do you think that while you’re writing the coverage down it makes the players play differently? For instance they think longer before they do something so as not to look stupid on the biggest MTG website out there?