This week Pip produces the usual numbers, takes a look at the Vintage Watch List, and then riffs about a resurgence of Psychatog decks before analyzing some of the more lamentable decks seen at one of the GenCon Vintage events. If you are looking to stay on top of the Vintage metagame or play in the upcoming StarCityGames.com “Power Nine” tournaments, this article is a must read.
If you haven’t visited the StarCityGames.com Online Store lately, here’s what you’ve been missing…
Red week continues for our deck challenge, with renowned Red Deck master Dan Paskins (along with playtest partner John Ormerod) chiming in with his take on a viable Red monstrosity for States. In addition to championing a deck of his favorite color, Dan also takes a look at an unexpected deck that he says just might have some potential in future Standard environments. Curious as to what the mystery deck is? The answer is only a click away.
Star City’s favorite Scouser (for those of you not from Great Britain, that’s someone from Liverpool… he’s sort of like the Beatles, except short and bald) is back from a hiatus with a mission on his mind: To become better at Limited and drag the world along with him. To further this goal, he will be taking a daily look at a variety of Sealed Deck pools for the next two weeks. If you want to get better at building sealed decks and are looking for a leg up on your competition this PTQ season, then this article series is for you.
Those of you who read Brian David-Marshall’s MTG.com article last week probably already know the outcome of this report, but what you don’t know is exactly how Chad got there or what he has to say about Rochester drafting Champions of Kamigawa. As a bonus, Chad has also provided all the decklists for the top 8 draft of his PTQ, so you can see exactly how things play out in this new Limited format.
We can’t run Tony’s opening paragraph on the front page because this is a family website, but it goes without saying that he’s pissed off at the behavior he’s seen in both casual and competitive circles recently, as well as on our very own forums. If some blithering idiot has textually assualted you online recently and you’ve been looking for a place to vent, Tony is there for you.
ELDER DRAGON HIGHLANDER UPDATE
Before Worlds, I wrote about the Elder Dragon Highlander format, complete with a deck competition and challenge at Worlds. Today I’ll be reporting some updates to the format, as well as issuing a new challenge.
I thought it might be interesting to detail how I started from scratch to test a new format, and which decks I am currently testing. In the course of this article, I will present three different decks for your consideration. None of these decks are the finished article, they have all received some testing and seem to be based on sound principles, but you’ll need to test and adapt them further before they are tournament ready. Oh, and I’ll also explain the rules of the game “All Elves Must Die!” a classic tournament subgame that’s fun for Red Mages the world over.
Pale Mage returns from the land of zombies (you’ll just have to read it) to deliver his take on States, the Standard metagame, and the Magic world in general. If you’ve never read a Pale Mage article, he’s one of the more original writers in the game whose unique style is a welcome addition to the StarCityGames.com family.
Today Ben retells the tale of the first ever Pro Tour Qualifier and how he won it. He also revisits his tournament report for that qualifier and ridicules the younger Bleiweiss until he has no choice but to curl into a little ball, sobbing from the intensity of old Bleiweiss’s literary beating. Okay, we might be making that last part up, but if you’re an aspiring Magic writer or historian, then this article is for you.
My goal in this article is to review all the playable cards in Champions of Kamigawa for Type Four. I must admit, the list is quite long. This is a great sign, as it amps up the power of any deck. Every tower of Type Four will find something good from this set. For those of you who don’t know what Type Four is – get on the bandwagon already. Type Four is only the most entertaining Magic format in existence!
Welcome to Red Week!
This week is going to be fantastic. As you can see from today’s star spangled front page, we picked up Dan Paskins (and yet another National Champion in playtesting partner John Ormerod) for this project. When I started work on the Championship Deck Challenge, I crossed my fingers and hoped that Dan would sign up for the inclusion of basic Mountain and here he is. Dan will be discussing his Red deck early next week, but today I’m here to give you the results of my testing – a fresh G/R deck that tried to bridge the gaps between beating Affinity and Tooth and Nail.
“I don’t like UW control, I had to build a UW control deck. If it were up to me, I would just play Affinity at States because it’s the best deck in the world. However, the powers that be realize that you people refuse to play the best deck, opting for some goofy creation that can’t beat it, so they left it up to us to give you some options.”
-Osyp Lebedowicz
Hey Chad, remember how you were going to try hard to qualify for the Pro Tour last season? Remember how you were going to share all of your preparation with the readers at StarCityGames.com and go over each of your PTQ experiences with them? Remember how you even built a good rogue deck near the start of the season? Remember how you missed every single PTQ and Grand Prix? If you really want to qualify for the Pro Tour, why don’t you play in a *#%$ PTQ?
When I first read that one of the new mechanics in Champions was the addition of the Arcane subtype to a select group of Instants and Sorceries, I was pretty sure the impact was going to be minimal. Boy, was I wrong.
