In truth, this is my”thank you” column. We’ve been going for three months now (ever since I started this whole thing off with”Five Articles In Five Days”), with no signs of slowing down, and it’s been a great ride. The shaky early days are over, and I’m getting the feeling you’re going to be seeing me on StarCity, every day, for a long, long time.
What I have noticed about Peasant Magic are that it seems very beatdown-oriented; if I remember right, the Origins top eight were all beatdown decks. But Pauper Magic allows you to play with ideas like CounterBurn, Control Black, and Millstone… And attract customers to your store.
Nantuko Shade – an autodrop into any Suicide Black deck, right? Certainly you’re seeing it in most builds as a given. But that one card changes the whole nature of the deck… And Oscar tells you why.
The ‘Tog wins it after ten or so turns of me casting Standstill, having it broken, casting Concentrate, Aether Burst, casting Standstill again… You know how it goes. Once the engine gets rolling, U/G is toast.
Blisterguy claims to be Seth Burn – and provides the photo to prove it – then gives several rough outlines of OBC decks, including a Battle Screech deck that may be more consistent because it can tutor for Screech. Oh, and more music information than you ever needed to know.
If you want to EAT CIRCULAR LOGIC, CUNNING WISH FOR IT, AND CAST IT TO SURVIVE, turn to page 11.
If you want to GO AND GET PSYCHOTIC HAZE ANYHOW, BECAUSE YOU’RE A MORON, turn to page 23.
People love the single Drizzt allusion I made last time more than they love my article. More than half of the responses were about the Matron Mother. So what else is a man to do but make a Dark Elves deck that smashes face in multiplayer?
I broke my promise – I didn’t play U/G or Monoblack. I played a Psychatog deck. I’ll give you the full report in a day or two, but for now, let me just show you the deck, give you some testing results, and explain a few card choices – and the changes I would have made.
When Kai Budde sits down at a table to play Magic, he’s required to have the first words of his mouth be”I must break you.” He also needs to have a hot six-foot blonde bombshell sitting next to him for all photo-ops that he refers to as”his manager.”
Last year’s Invasion block was the best block for 5-Color ever. Odyssey Block tried its hardest – and while green made out very well, some of the other colors were left wanting. So for those of you who haven’t picked up cards for your 5-Color in a while, here’s what you need to get.
This is a primer. It discusses some basic theory; the fact that bluffing is good, revealing your hand is bad, and the main reason you should never – well, almost never – play anything during your first main phase. If you know this theory – really know it – then it won’t be much more than a refresher course, but with decklists.
If you have ever seen a long volley, then you may have seen pushing. Watch as one tennis player keeps knocking the ball further and further left until – BAM! A line drive down the right side. But you are hardly playing against reflexes, speed, or power; just intellect. Which means that pushing means more.
Of late, many cantankerous online Magic net-nannies have seen fit to opine that every Magic article or piece of Magic writing on the Internet should serve a purpose, and leave the reader better off, strategically, than he or she was before reading. It won’t ever be that way with me.
Team PhatBeats has been doing some playtesting – and in addition to the usual tweaks of U/G Madness and mono-black, they share some of the less-popular decks that have been faring well in their testing…
If a player still needs Back to Basics after packing a deck full of the most efficient counters ever printed, the strongest card draw and manipulation selection in a single color, a smooth mana base, plus Morphling-wall and Powder Kegs… Well, he should go play Pokemon.
