Let’s begin with one of the more difficult draft decks I’ve had to build in the past few weeks from MTGO. I was constantly getting good cards late, but the problem was that they were all heavy on the mana requirements and in three different colors to boot. I’m going to list all of the relevant picks in order first and then go over some of the builds I went through during deck construction after some discussion about the draft.
Years ago, Jamie Wakefield was the most popular Magic writer anywhere. His books still go for $100 on eBay, and and when Mike Flores pretended to be Jamie on April Fool’s Day, we were flooded with emails from disappointed fans who thought that the King of Fatties himself had returned.
Well, this is the real deal! Ben Bleiweiss has finally tracked Jamie down. Find out what Jamie has been doing for the past five years, and hear his thoughts what he thinks about Green these days! Plus, an update on the lovely Mare!
We all make mistakes – some of us are just better at admitting them. Therefore, I bring you the top 10 mistakes made by Kartin’ Ken Krouner during Mirrodin Block Limited.
Some people will go to any lengths, just to get results and improve their Magic games. Star Wars Kid is not one of those people, but you can still learn from the story of how he went from never having qualified for a Pro Tour to ninth place at the largest American Grand Prix, all in the course of a single weekend. This scrub’s for you!
Blue is back with a brand new invention! |*_*| No, I’m not starry-eyed because of Mike Flores’ boyish good looks; I’m genuinely impressed by the card.
Today’s article is best appreciated by having Microsoft Narrator read it for you while you scan the latest Worlds coverage for Kai Budde’s name. It’ll feel like I’m in the room with you! I’m even creepier in person!
There have been a plethora of changes in the Magic world over the past week – Wizards of the Coast released a new banned and restricted list, MagictheGathering.com began previewing Champions of Kamigawa cards, and the entire Legends rule was changed. Last things first, shall we?
I suspect that with Champions of Kamigawa, Wizards will revolutionize the way they design Legends. Being a Legend is an inherent enough drawback to warrant ramping up the power level. Not only do you run the risk of”dead” draws by drawing multiple copies of the Legend, but now the Legend is vulnerable to a unique form of removal: a copy of itself played by your opponent. With Champions, if you’re willing to run the deckbuilding risks, you can be rewarded with great power.
Standard hasn’t received the same level of focus as Mirrodin Block Constructed. You can draw some conclusions from the coverage at Kuala Lumpur and Nagoya, but here’s some more detailed notes and thoughts gleaned from the floor. I make few suggestions as to how to play or build the decks here, instead just analyzing what I learned from last weekend.
Bleiweiss tries on a new sales pitch in his latest attempt to either get you to vote his way or drive you all criminally insane. You have to see this one to believe it!
Furnace of Rath is the flaming engine for the pyromaniac in all of us. If you are the type of player whose fingers leave little trails of smoke behind when you sling your spells and there are scorch marks on your seat after you’ve reduced your opponent to nothing more than a pile of burning embers, the choice is obvious.
At least it’s not a seven-mana legend! Actually, I was pretty impressed when I first saw this. At only three times the cost of Righteousness, it’s got the capacity for twenty seven and three sixteenths times the card advantage!
Pro Tour: New York ‘99 took place on the weekend of April 31st. The format was Urza Block Constructed, with Urza’s Saga and Urza’s Legacy being the only two sets released in the block thus far. Team Tulane had been hard at work practicing the format with the inclusion of Legacy, and we felt very confident in our abilities to win so we made a bold decision: we would fly up to New York with the sole intent of money drafting pros on the side.
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… actual strategy, in the form of the top 20 most underrated cards in MD5 Limited. The order is based on the disparity between how good people think a card is and how good it really is.
First off, I am going to say that I don’t think that Crucible of Worlds should be restricted right now. I just want to make sure to get that out of the way nice and early. I also want to level a formal outcry against the top 8 of GenCon. That top 8 was totally illegitimate, as it did not consist of 17 Four-Color Control decks, 9 Fish decks, and 6 GroAtog decks. In all seriousness, I thought that the top 8 was great and couldn’t have asked for a better one.
