Everyone knows that Affinity won Pro Tour: Columbus, but Mike Clair says that there have been modifications to the deck that make it even faster and more explosive in Extended. This is information you absolutely must have if you expect to succeed this PTQ season.
I’m going to separate by rarities instead of just doing one big list, since I don’t think there’s a huge amount of value in ranking the rares among each other, though I will specify if an uncommon is generally better than the rest of the commons in the color. I also want to include decklists, pick orders, and tough picks when possible to show where a certain card will be valuable, though this won’t happen until the later colors when I have more experience with the set. My point is that I don’t want this to be a usual boring series of set reviews – I plan to spice it up as much as possible.
This week Chris takes a crack at a reader request to make a competitive Standard deck for an upcoming all-commons tournament at a local store. Chirs found himself so inspired by the limitations that he created a bevy of decks for those of you on a budget to work with.
Welcome to the penultimate article in our daily series. Today I am going to again use my own “Best Underused Cards” articles for inspiration for today’s decklist. We are going to harness the power of Wild Research in a R/U burn deck.
Chad continues our Extended event today with what many have termed “the wimpiest combo deck of all time.” Is this a fair assessment of a deck that simply blows most aggro decks out of the water, or is this something you absolutely must prepare for in order to be ready for Grand Prix: Boston this weekend? Leave it to the guy from Your Move Games to help you figure it out!
Somewhere within Tim Aten’s review of Grand Prix: Chicago team names on Monday was a legitimate article discussing the merits of Kami of the Hunt vs. Order of the Sacred Bell. Today the man who chose Glacial Ray over Kokusho, the Evening Star flips that bad boy around and tells you why the hunky monks are exactly the men you want to be choosing when you’re at the draft table.
One of my favorite decks of all time was this off kilter deck that I played during Invasion Type Two. It uses the “recently” printed Planeshift to great effect, as well as being a strong decks on its own. The printing of Apocalypse gave it some extra “oompf,” and it is in that form that I publish it below. I love this deck, especially how it plays in multiplayer. Let’s take a look…
Oscar returns from the dead to take a look at the best creatures and creature enchantments that Betrayers of Kamigawa has to offer and, for the first time ever, covers some of his own greatest misses in set reviews.
Recently Kyle detailed his thoughts on exactly why U/W Mind’s Desire is the right call in the current metagame. This past weekend he put his money where his mouth is and came back with a great tournament report to boot.
Welcome to week two of your daily deck dosage. I’m your host, the Deckmeista’ Abe. Do you like old cards? Today’s casual deck takes an old Fallen Empires theme and gives it a little twist. Let’s take a look at ye olde decke liste and see what is waiting for us.
This deck is simply built. You want to annoy your opponents by having a separate song for each card. You don’t expect to win the game, except maybe by annoying opponents enough that they concede. Each individual song deck is different, but here is how I’d build mine.
Let me start the article with this little explanation. I’m not saying play skill doesn’t count for anything in Vintage; otherwise the same people wouldn’t constantly place in tourneys. I’m simply illustrating that there are simplistic decks for those who are more inept or simply don’t want to think about what to play. In other words, tired of going X-2 at tourneys? Maybe it’s time to change to a more broken, albeit simpler, deck.
What if you designed a Type One deck that could literally cast every spell in the deck on turn 1 more than 50% of the time? Would this deck become the new powerhouse in Vintage and merit tons of bannings to shut down the engine, or is it possible that in designing such a deck with the current card pool, you actually made it too difficult to play? Stephen Menendian knows the answers to these questions because he designed it, played it, and is now here to tell the tale of this latest Meandeck creation.
Masashi Oiso piloted a Black version of Mind’s Desire to a Top 8 finish at Pro Tour: Columbus, but is that the version that most players will want to run for the PTQ season? Mark Young isn’t so sure, and in this comprehensive look at Mind’s Desire he examines the pros and the cons of the deck and its variations for PTQ players everywhere.
Mark’s article is the second in our full-blown Extended event where the best Constructed writers and deckbuilders in the world – including Mark, Jim Ferraiolo, Brian David-Marshall, Chad Ellis, and Mike Flores among others – give you the inside scoop on the new PTQ format for two whole weeks!
Kamigawa Limited hasn’t really encouraged blocking – but that’s about to change, and unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock, you know why: Ninjutsu. Any unblocked creature could turn out to be a Ninja in disguise, so it’s time to start thinking more about that Cruel Deceiver and whether it’s worth your Kami of Ancient Law, because a Throat Slitter might be lying in wait to knock him off anyway. But does the danger of a Ninjutsu smackdown make blocking your default option?
