One of your most famous articles featured you performing at a tournament while under the influence of Marijuana. Some years later, as a head of Starcitygames, itself a head of the world of Magic strategy, do you feel this past transgression harbors your site and/or yourself in a negative light? Or do you feel it is easily pawned off under the guise of “experimentation”?
For me, the most exciting of the recent unrestrictions was Doomsday. Doomsday was long regarded as a weak card that was placed on the restricted list to neuter a combo deck that really wasn’t even that good in the first place. Thus Wizards, in their infinite wizdom, finally unrestricted the card. Even today, most people think it is harmless. I’m here to not only tell you “it’s not that simple,” but to demonstrate a few Doomsday decks that definitely don’t suck.
Did you ever wonder what it’s like to make your first Pro Tour Top 8 when you’re fifteen years old? Gadiel’s here to tell you, as he gives a blow-by-blow account of this past weekend’s tournament, including how he ended up playing Reanimator and his exchanges of pleasantries with the fine Wizards of the Coast staff.
With States coming around, I was wracking my brains to come up with something good and rogue to play, in an attempt to start some sort of wacky tradition. However, all my ideas sucked, so I decided to dust off the old Disciple of the Vault that did so well for me last year. I playtested a new build of Krark-Clan Ironworks and it was fun, so I went with it.
As the “spark-plug” who got proxy tournaments started, let me provide some history. Most of you probably won’t remember this period in Vintage history, so let me set the stage. It was late 2000. The global metagame was very loosely defined. Europe had far fewer tournaments than it does today, and there was absolutely nothing in New England, save some sanctioned thing in the bowels of Massachusetts. The biggest Type One spots in the U.S. were the Richmond Comix and the Neutral Ground New York. The format has come a long way since then, and it’s important to understand why.
Can you imagine a card Wizards could print that would make Affinity not the pre-eminent deck without narrowing the field of viable decks even further?
As an editor, does the sheer amount of anonymous retardation the internet affords people ever frustrate you?
Cabal Rogue has done it again. Their new R/G deck dominated in every State it was played, and will be one of the dominant Standard decks in the metagame. Adrian Sullivan takes you behind the scenes of how the deck was developed, how to play this new powerhouse, and gives a complete matchup guide. If you are going to play any Standard this fall, you need to read this article.
State and Provincials has come and gone. It taught some lessons. Some we knew, some are new. Among those we knew – Affinity is still strong, Tooth and base-Green are good, and I can’t play worth sheet. The new lessons – Champions does have cards to add, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is anything but a trash rare.
Craig wraps up this three-week series with a look back at all the deck archetypes, the key commons in each color that make an archetype, and the lessons he learned along the way. He also gives some props to the readers and forum participants for making this series such a rousing success.
Kanoot kicks off his month long series answering all the questions you have always wanted answers for regarding StarCityGames.com, the Pro Tour, Magic, foreign policy, college football… whatever you ask, he’s answering.
We’re three weeks wiser, and I’m still plugging away. Twelve card pools have passed before my tired eyes and stuttering fingers. I’ve typed up nine hundred cards in the preliminary lists alone. Add in the decklists, the card-by-card analysis, the juvenile attempts at humor… I’ve typed close to fifty thousand words. Today marks the last card pool in this series, and I hope you’ve learned half as much as I have during our time together.
Quite a few years ago, back when Tempest was hot and new, I did my first Rochester draft. It was the top 8 of a PTQ and I was what could be called “a bit behind the knowledge curve” going in. Things did not go well. Since then I’ve seen a consistent pattern in every competitive Rochester Draft I’ve been in – a lot of players who can play well and even Booster Draft well do not know the basics of Rochester. This PTQ season I want to make sure that instead of being one of those people, you’re the one who takes advantage of them.
Mean Deck Oath placed an astounding four players in the Top 8 of the most recent StarCityGames.com Power 9 tournament, and we know that you’re all dying to find out how the deck came about, what the strengths and weaknesses are, and how you can either win with it or beat it. Steve has included all this information in his complete primer on the hottest new deck in Type One, so what are you waiting for?
It’s autumn in my part of the world. The new big expansion has been out for a month. The Champs tournaments are behind us. The Limited PTQ season is under way. That can only mean one thing. It’s time for me to write about Aluren.
