The End of an Era
Something is about to happen that I have both expected and dreaded for many years. It is not a tragedy, yet it is a loss. It is not a catastrophe, but it is an event… Team CMU will be no longer.
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March Metagame Breakdown for Type I
Not since Fact or Fiction was unrestricted have we seen the hypothetical question”can control be too good?” But recently, Hulk has made us all think about it again. It’s certainly not to the point of”restrict something” yet, but many of the big names in the format agree that not only is Hulk the best deck, but it has no truly bad matchups. In fact, even its number of appearances underestimates it, since the majority of the nine showings were in the finals, with no other deck having more than two finals placements.
From Right Field: The Princess Bride Conundrum, 2004
To find a deck that satisfies The Dread Pirate Roberts Solution in Spring of 2004, your deck must hate artifacts without falling prey to the artifact hate that other decks will be packing. How do you do that? Well, you’d either have to play no artifacts at all, or so many that your opponent is overwhelmed by the choices. If you choose the second option, though, you might be walking into a Furnace Dragon
Ask Ken, 04/05/2004
The match between Jordan Berkowitz and Aaron Lipczynski really sparked my curiosity. I noticed that the match was decided by a hideous card called Fists of the Anvil. In your illustrious career of Limited format tournament play, can you think of a worse instance when a pro tour caliber player was knocked out a top eight by an unknown with a card so wretched?
The Decks of Steve – Part 2
Back when Mirrodin first came out, I threw together a Beasts deck for Steve. It wasn’t a serious deck — even less serious than anything you’ll ever see in here — And Steve hated it. I admit the deck was a little wacky, as I was a touch inexperienced with the new cards. I’ve done a lot of testing and playing of Standard since Mirrodin came out, so I’m a better deck-builder now than I was then.
Mit dem Ravager Gebeatdownt! The New Face of Type 1 Aggro
Aggro waxes and wanes a lot in Type 1. It just came off one of its worst protracted periods yet, having to contend first with GroAtog and then with Long.dec. Right now, aggro is on the upswing, but there’s a big difference between the aggro decks now and the aggro decks that used to be prevalent. Part of this is that the new decks are leaner and meaner, but there are other, more subtle elements as well.
Ask Ken, 04/02/2004
When you say things like,”But enough of my Magical woes, it’s time for a little Reader Mail! Hey!” are you channeling Talk Soup? Cause I hear John Henson saying that every day when I read you.
Grand Prix: Columbus – Good Times, Bad Results
After an abysmal performance this past weekend, all I can do is try to focus on the fun. Although Columbus isn’t the most exotic place in the world, and there isn’t much to do there, it doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try my best to find out how to get plastered and get out there with the cowboy-hat-totin’ youth.
Ask Ken, 04/01/2004
You are clearly the most handsome, intelligent, charming, witty, selfless, kind, mentally-stable, engaging writer the internet, and indeed the world, has to offer. How do you deal with the jealousy of those like Nick Eisel, Mike Turian, Paul Sottosanti, and Woodward and Bernstein?
Not Guilty, Ya’ll Gots to Feel Me
Jim hates to write. I hate to playtest. So basically, what I intend to do from this day forward to satisfy my contract (and I really, really mean it this time) is to use Jimmy and myself as a kind of half-man, half-monster machine; I’ll write about Jimmy’s playtesting data whenever he’s too lazy to do it, and he’ll write whenever the hell he feels inspired to throw one of his crazy metagame-smashin’ decks into the shark pool that is the StarCityGames community. We’ve got a new one for you, so hang on to your knickers and dive in!
The Tarantino Dilemma: Pulp!
In a way I hate to see the end of this dilemma series. I mean, sure, I’ve been getting the butt-end of most of them, but who doesn’t love an underdog?
The Tarantino Dilemma: Dogs!
Ken is very good at being wrong. The only statement he might ever be right about is calling himself the wrongest man ever, but he may be so wrong that he is wrong on that too.
Phage Two: Applying an Old Archetype to Type II
It has been a year now since I unleashed the secret of the”perfect deck” upon you, and my, how the time has crawled. In any case, I have returned to inform the masses that, with the release of Mirrodin block, the “perfect deck” can now be translated effectively from Type I to Type II! Rejoice, all – for another major archetype has entered the arena and will undoubtedly establish a Tier all unto itself!