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Sitting Dead Red for Regionals

Basically, this deck takes the best deck from Onslaught Block and improves it significantly with powerful cards from Mirrodin Block. In contrast, both Goblin Bidding and Ravager Affinity are basically decks constructed from one block. In addition, if you read about the Bidding decks, you’ll see over and over again that even the people who play them admit that the Bidding itself is rarely that good in important matchups. I know it is cool to bring back lots of Goblins, but leave the ever so clever combos to decks which need to rely on such tricks to win. Red decks don’t need that nonsense to win.

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Strategy Superiority in Type 1, Or More Excuses to Make Fun of Suicide Black

Flores’ article from two weeks ago on strategy superiority and rogue deck design really caught me with respect to Type 1. In Type 1, there are so many powerful cards available that failing to build your deck in a way to try to grant yourself strategy superiority against a large number of opponents seems unacceptable.

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #98: The End of Days Comes Later

Ravager Affinity is not an unstoppable Juggernaut. It is not the end of Type II. It does not define the format. Defining a format takes more than Ravager Affinity has got. To prove that, I’ll give you some decklists that wreck Ravager, but first, some metagame musings.

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Ask Ken, 04/08/2004

In your April 6th column regarding Platinum Angel you said,”Add to this the fact that Darksteel slowed the format down quite a bit.” I was under the impression that Darksteel sped up Mirrodin Block Drafts.

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Double or Nothing: Bath’s English Nationals Qualifier

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of running one of the first English Nationals Qualifiers in the country. The turnout was lower than expected, so only forty-nine players sat down in round one, giving the lucky top six players a chance to go to the English this year. Perhaps the most interesting tidbit I have to share with you from this qualifier is that not a single Ravager deck qualified in Bath. It was hated right out of the game.

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Food for Thought: NoGo

I’d explain what’s in this deck, but you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway. Let me just ask instead whether you like taking lots of Time Walks in Type 2? Do you also like to do large amounts of damage directly to your opponent’s dome? Perhaps you just wanted to find a deck where you could finally abuse Serum Powder? Check inside if you find yourself at all intrigued, but please God, don’t play this deck at Regionals!

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Everyone’s After My Lucky Charm – A GP Birmingham Report.

I recognized Stewart as one of the improving Scottish Magic players. In fact, I may have played him before, but in general I’ve a terrible memory for names and faces. I’m sure if I’d been at the end of some horrendous mauling at his hand, his face would be permanently scarred onto my retinas. He had the baggy pants and baseball cap of the perennially cool, accompanied by the superior sneer that only comes in the rainbow haze of youth.

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Ask Ken, 04/07/2004

I was wondering about what you had to say on color placements in upcoming team drafts. You stated that Black should go on the left and Green on the right. This seems to be the opposite of what I would expect, considering protecting seating and all.

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All Apologies

I owe Darwin Kastle an apology for taking things too far in Good Man of the Week.

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Ask Ken, 04/06/2004

There is no way that Jackie Brown is the greatest Tarantino movie ever, it’s not even close! As for my question, which card do you take for the first pick of the first pack: Platinum Angel or Spikeshot Goblin?

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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.

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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

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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?

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April Fools Answers

All the dirty secrets are finally revealed!

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