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Elf and Nail: The Best Deck You Aren’t Playing

I’m watching the match, and I’m thinking, what the hell? Wirewood Symbiote? Vernal Bloom? What in the name of Erik Lauer is going on here? Aside from the fact that Affinity was getting worked, that is. The deck – christened Elf and Nail – would win the Northwest Regionals, piloted to a 9-0-2 finish by Sameer Nelson, and the deck did incredibly well elsewhere. Immediately intrigued, I went home, built a copy and starting throwing it against the gauntlet I’d built for Regionals.

Don’t Make Me Bring Out the Paddle!

Ben Bleiweiss posted an article a few days ago that I hadn’t read until I decided to write this. I hopped over to TMD after my Intarweb was working again and saw a new thread with lots of replies. Then I saw all of this crap spewed forth, and got annoyed, so I wrote an article, like this one, except a million times better. This article is merely a tribute to that one.

Ask Ken, 05/28/2004

Is the Brock Parker I read about winning almost $30,000 in one event at the World Series of Poker the Brock Parker of Brockafellers fame?

Three Days, Five Dawns – Artifacts in Fifth Dawn Limited

Wayfarer’s Bauble
This card is excellent. It’s a non-Green mana fixer, it’s a much-needed Myr replacement, and it’s perfect for giving that extra counter to your Sunburst cards. Additionally, it’s a one-mana artifact, which means it is enhanced by certain tutor or graveyard-retrieval effects. If you see one of these later than third pick, consider yourself a lucky man. Or woman. Or Ziegler.

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #100C: Enough Self-indulgence Already!

The original Visara is still great in multiplayer. In many games, the creature count gets high enough to cut the casting cost. The fact that the Avatar is not a Legend is also useful — I have had three out at once. The Avatar is a good, solid control element — which is the type of game I usually play. In Constructed duels, Visara is almost always better, but in multiplayer, Avatar of Woe rules.

Phelddagrif Nationalism

What a time to come back into the game! Star City Games here in Roanoke, VA has started a series of Sunday tournaments, with each week featuring a different format. This past Sunday was my first opportunity to play in a tournament in a long time, but fortunately I was able to participate despite my lack of Darksteel cards. Last Sunday was Ben Bleiweiss’ Deck Challenge, and it was an absolute blast!

Ask Ken, 05/27/2004

Today’s Ask Ken is written by a quality Pro who is not named Lebedowicz, Fabiano, Wagener, or Budde. He is called Herberheezy, and we think you’ll like him.

18,000 Words: Pretty Standard; Fifth Dawn in Type Two

Before I get started, there’s one important issue to address: Skullclamp. Assume for all the reviews below that Skullclamp is banned on June 1st, 2004 for Standard play. If this is not the case, then discard all opinions below and put Krark-Clan Ironworks, Engineered Explosives, and Steelshaper’s Gift as the playable cards in the set. Heh.

The Black Perspective: A New Dawn

The Magic Invitational is most often described as Magic’s All-Star game, and this year would prove to be no different. Fifteen of Magic’s best players, and Berkowitz, gathered in Los Angeles to fight for the right to design their own card. The E3 Convention proved to be the best back drop for this event, because I never had such a good time at a tournament before.

Bursting With Flavor – Early Thoughts on 5-Color Green in Limited

Every once in a while I get an idea for an article that I assume is going to get me yelled at. Not by my editor, who doesn’t even yell at me when I make fun of him. I mean by my readers. I think I’ve curbed my arrogance a great deal and I’ve tried to be more friendly, but still, there are always those articles drifting in the back of my head. This is one of those articles. This article is on drafting MD5. MmmDeeFive. Say it outloud with me. Mmm Dee Fiiive!

18,000 Words: Another Shot of Fifth Dawn, Extended Style

Metalworker/Trix
If any deck was the big winner in the Fifth Dawn sweepstakes, it was this deck. There are so many cards in Fifth Dawn that have the potential to push this deck over the top that it would be hard to see how this deck couldn’t dominate, were there an Extended season right now. Likely candidates include Staff of Domination, Pentad Prism, Clock of Omens, Krark-Clan Ironworks, Trinket Mage, Artificer’s Intuition, and Roar of Reclamation.

Ask Ken, 05/26/2004

How do you adjust when you are drafting behind a person who will not stay in the colors they are signaling?

Card Quality 101 or The Search for Broken Stuff

In today’s installment of The Magic University, I’m going to take a look at card quality, a concept that is inherently understood by most Magic players, but one that is rarely examined in detail. I’m also going to take a look at a couple of the cards from Fifth Dawn that made Ben Bleiweiss say,”I think we may have the new Urza’s Block on our hands.”