I have a fondness for quirky decks that might or might not be good enough to achieve the almighty Tier One status. Although most of the time this just means that I am repeatedly losing in testing to more established decks like Quiet Roar, occasionally I come up with a possible metagame call. But, you ask, Pedantic Learning?
If you build decks that walk all over everyone, every week, then your opponents are going to lose interest. Last time I talked about the broken Worldgorger Dragon multiplayer deck – but also mentioned how, once we had won the match, we pulled out fun decks and played some real Emperor. I want to describe those decks.
So there’s two Type One events going on on the same day and on the same block. You’d think that would mean that the Type One scene in Sarnia is fairly healthy… But sadly, such is not the case.
When a single card can get topdecked to win against practically all but half a dozen archetypes – never mind if it’s in a good or a bad mono blue build – something has to be wrong.
Thirty three years ago this Saturday, on July 20th 1969, three brave adventurers from a different era brought to a conclusion a fantastic voyage of epic proportions. Today, I’ll talk about Magic art that centers on the object of their journey.
The guys I draft with generally aren’t too terrible, but you all know that sometimes the ol’ brain goes on vacation when you’re busting and passing – and hell, maybe you could learn something. Like taking a first-pick Basking Rootwalla over a Laquatus’ Champion when you got passed a fifteenth-pick Patriarch’s Desire is, um, bad.
The entries are in and the Magical trivia quiz is down to its final contestants! Check to see the answers to some mighty obscure Magical questions!
Ugh. I never thought I’d type the word”Tombfire” anywhere near a decklist – but it is nice to be able to Burning Wish on turn 3 to nullify a Quiet Speculation in OBC, no?
I’ve seen more than enough Moxes, Lotuses, Time Walks, and Ancestral Recalls to probably pay my mortgage for about a year. I don’t own a single one. I also happened to place in the top 8 twice and top 4 most recently in the only three Type I tournaments I have ever played with my deck.
Sylvan Safekeeper is what makes the whole thing run smoothly; late in the game, excess land can be turned into Lavamancer food – and much faster than a Wild Mongrel can do it.
Well, it’s happening again: One of Magic’s trademark cards is going to be tossed out the window. Those of you following the”Selecting Eighth Edition” promotion going on at magicthegathering.com know what I’m talking about; either Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves, two little critters that have carried the torch for green since the beginning of Magic, are about to be sent the way of the Lightning Bolt.
If you’ve seen my final record, you know I 1-2’d this table and then went up to my hotel room to weep like an infant. I’m sorry about not keeping you in suspense, but hey – we’re all adults here. You’re mature enough to know the truth.
A gaming everyman’s desire to kick some ass and sleep ’till noon is eternally youthful – if anything, it grows stronger with age. I believe that if I ever become more successful at Magic, you won’t be able to shake the rest of the kids stuff out of me.
Some thoughts on players’ uncanny attraction to terrible cards; if you want to know why everyone says your favorite card totally sucks in Format X, this is the place to learn why.
I e-mailed MaRo half an hour after his column was posted, and I thanked him for a sober, realistic survey of Type I issues. It wasn’t what some players wanted to read – did you really expect him to announce the venue of the next Type I Pro Tour? – but I don’t think he could have done better.
