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You CAN Play Type I #86: The Control Player’s Bible, Part XXXIV – Head to Head With Fish

Today, we explore the most basic of all blue-based aggro-control decks. It’s called Fish by default, but you also know it as Merfolk and Skies. Fish, as we noted last week, suffers from the classic weakness of having weenies that are pathetic in combat. If you’re playing control or combo, however, that doesn’t really help you, because you’re not going to do a lot of that. Examining a game against Fish will help you analyze the more complex aggro-control decks we’ll move on to later.

Win THREE Moxes at Virginia Vintage II… this Saturday in Richmond, VA!

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The Casual Player’s Guide To Surviving The Matrix

A prerelease survival guide? Sure, why not? There’s only one problem – I have a ticket to see a midnight session of Matrix Reloaded in one hour and fifty-one minutes, and I’m only just typing this now. Well… I guess that I’ll present a list of cards you should be wary of when building your Sealed deck, and tricks to look out for while you’re playing, and what you shouldn’t do given the new mechanics. And I’ll type it all the bullet-time so I can get this done in the next hour!

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Mining The Crystal Quarry: Mind Tricks And Head Games

Yes, it is a combo deck. The pieces are cheap; the deck is a blast to play. The niftiest thing is nailing someone with a Head Games. Not bad for a $1 rare, if it resolves! It can completely screw with someone’s hand and game plan – and even with the minute amount of mana acceleration, comes out on turn 2 with disturbing frequency. Turn 2 Blood Oath happens, too… And that’s a lot of fun. It’s playable in both multiplayer and dueling, but what’s really nifty about this deck is how it takes very different roles in multi and duels….

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Am I In The Right Block?: Drafting Four-Color Green In Onslaught

The two key components of the archetype are mana and explosive effects. This is very important to keep in mind during the draft, because some of the picks are not immediately identifiable. The basic premise behind the deck is to ramp mana quickly and cast large splashable or in-color threats. The deck has an extremely powerful late game, considering that you take Invokers higher and splash a lot of giant creatures – so if you get all of the tools, it is simply too powerful for regular two-color decks.

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The Top Fifty Underused Cards In Magic

There are a lot of cards out there that are just plain underused. Sometimes they are a great card that was unable to be used in decks of the time due to a funky metagame. Maybe they are latent powerhouses in Five Color – or maybe in Type Two, Extended, or Type One. And finally, a large chunk of cards are pure multiplayer goodness. All of these cards, whatever set and whatever age of Magic, have a common thread: They’re good. We’re not talking about jank like Debt of Loyalty and Jabari’s Influence (and who says white doesn’t steal things?). Instead, these are good cards that are just getting ignored, and I think it’s time someone used them.

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Don’t Call it a Comeback: Getting Back on the Tour, Take 1 – Conclusion

In the end, an 8-2 does indeed make it… But alas, it won’t be me this time. I end up in 11th on tie-breaks, which is still pretty damn good for my first tourney in a year and a half, particularly given the size of the crowd that showed up. Still, if you’re looking for a fantastic tourney report and a good idea of how Wake works, look here!

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I Am Jack’s Regional Report

Regionals was an uncomfortable car ride followed by a big disappointment diced up to lay amidst small flares of occasional fun, the meetings with friends and MODO clan members that were like little pepper granules of merriment amidst the undercooked, salmonella-inducing hamburger patty of defeat. This whole putrid meal was served up with a side order of uncomfortable accommodations and a large Pepsi. No, I didn’t have fun at Regionals, where I saw two weeks of intense study and preparation go down the tubes – but mark my words, I’ll have fun writing about it, or die trying.

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Multiplayer Is An Art, Part 24: The Forest Whispers My Name

Somebody asked me to write about my wolves Tribes deck, curious as to how I had built it. Now, the deck is in constant state of flux – or at least the non-tribal part of it is – so I couldn’t really write about the deck. Furthermore, the non-tribal part is so taste-dependent and highlanderish that I can’t really do a good article about it, since there would be no real strategic reasoning behind the cards I chose for the deck. And yet that will not stop me.

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I Have Paid Dearly For My Success

“So you finally lost.”
“Yeah, it was a good run. First match loss in the eighth round is not a bad day. I mean, five, oh, and two is great after seven rounds. That’s top eight in a seven-round PTQ, right?”
“That’s true, man. But you suck. No lies; you really suck at this game, and yet you managed to be in contention for seven rounds. That’s pretty cool.”

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Restless: Ohio Valley Regionals

At this point, I am sitting at 3-1-1 and feeling pretty good about myself… But of course, we all know that I did not X-0 the rest of the tournament. Locusts would have swarmed the earth, fire would have rained out of the sky, and other bad times would be going on.

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Ignoring The Problem: Why Won’t Wizards Fix Regionals?

Basically, the system is set up to punish the regions that have a more active Magic community. The odds are grim if you competed in the Ohio Valley Regionals; with 674 people brawling for eight slots, you had a measly 1.19% chance to qualify. But fortune smiles on you if you live in the Southwest, where attendance was 213 people, giving you a 3.76% shot at the top 8. Your chances of qualifying go up 315% percent depending on where you live. Is this fair?

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The Savage Rule

There’s this guideline I have when I’m playing Sealed or Draft and I don’t know what to do; it’s kind of a philosophy, really. It helps in Constructed matches, and even in deckbuilding. Furthermore, I know that a lot of players who I have great respect for follow this idea. Curious? I call it The Savage Rule.

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The Ralphie Report: Mid-Atlantic Regionals Report, *2nd Place*

Don’t ever let it be said that you can’t go rogue and place highly in a major tournament. If you work hard, test diligently, and learn your deck’s strengths and weaknesses inside and out, you can succeed. It’s definitely easier to play a potent netdeck whose power is already well-documented, but I must say that nothing, I repeat, nothing matches the satisfaction from winning with something original that you’ve incubated for months.

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Mixed kNuts: The Slightly Less Successful Ralphie Report

It takes a”special” player to be at 4-0 with a solidly-tested and built rogue deck, and then throw away the next two matches while being up a game in each. Working your ass off for two months, only to be done in by your own poor decision-making skills, is not a pleasant thing to have happen – but it happened to me. This is my story…

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