Jimmy Bean, my playtesting partner, wrote about Black/White AstroGlide yesterday – and today, I’m here to tell you how close I came to taking the whole damn thing. Plus, I have match coverage of the VA finals!
Looking back, I was always on the verge of winning the games I lost. That means that I either made some mistakes or the deck wasn’t quite fast enough. Careful review of the games reveals the former not to be the case, so I must fault my design – any suggestions are appreciated, ’cause I’m gonna stay rogue for now.
I thought that the R/W Astroglide deck played a lot of cards that didn’t really do anything besides cycle (which, I grant you, is the concept of the deck)… And if the Lightning Rift was ever countered/disenchanted/sent to the graveyard in any fashion, the deck didn’t do much. But Astral Glide and Mesmeric Fiend? Ouch.
The initial reactions in my mailbox were as varied as they were ecstatic. For multicolored control alone, Darren Di Battista posited that maybe they shouldn’t be used because they might hurt colored mana development later on. What’s the approach you need to take to the new Onslaught fetchlands?
Nick Eisel, the #1 ranked Magic Online Limited player and recent 5th-place finisher at Grand Prix – Philadelphia, encountered three separate Turn 4 Exalted Angels in his Sealed deck matches at Philly, and beat two of them – despite the fact that he couldn’t remove them from the board. So how do YOU beat the bombs when you have nothing? Nick’s willing to share his secrets on breaking Onslaught Limited….
The second and most recent build of the Beast deck abuses Anurid Brushhopper, Glory, and other such cards to create a virtually unstoppable beatings machine… And already it’s made some showings at a few States tourneys. What is the origin of this deck, and what does its sideboard look like?
I had been planning to make my”Road to States 2002″ articles a huge, expansive series of articles covering every possible archetype and different permutations of decks. Unfortunately, when one is working three different jobs and trying to actually test for States, that does seem to cut into one’s writing time…. So I’ll try to make up for it with a marginally entertaining tournament report.
Yesterday was Election Day here in the United States – did you vote, can you vote, do you even care? Whether you do or not, I think it’s time to take a look at a card that’s extremely appropriate: Corrupt Official, from Mercadian Masques.
Wait, didn’t you, uh, quit? Yep. Still am, too. But dude… States. Like I’m gonna miss States. Prereleases come and go with nary a concern, but States is like, something, well, that I just plain ain’t gonna miss. Even if everyone is still mad at me for not lettin’ the door hit me where the Good Lord split me.
Berto: How did you do?
Me: 4-3.
Berto: You should have made a better deck.
Wifey: But did you have fun?
Me: Lemme think about it for a minute.
I have a couple of really good decks – decks that almost work well enough for eight rounds of Swiss and a Top 8.
Almost.
In each case, the decks revolve around an enchantment that is pretty solid and does a very good job of controlling the game if you get it in play and keep it there. However, that’s a good description of Opposition as well – and Opposition decks run much better searching and card drawing.
“But, Chris,” you say,”I have some extra money that my grandmother sent me for my birthday, and I’d really like to spend it on a Beast deck with a ton of rares in it. What do I do?” Well, first off, you have to realize that, while I can hear my Self when I talk to my Self, I can’t hear you when you talk to me. Unless you got my phone number. Which would be a great trick, since I don’t have a phone.
Casual Fridays closes with a bang today in three separate articles today as Anthony gives his take on the finest artifacts for multiplayer!
Anthony looks back at the Hall, and tells you all how to graduate with honors from the Along School Of Multiplayer Magic…. Or he would, if you ever graduated. Also included: The entire Hall, sortable across colors and types!
