I had the extreme pleasure of going to the Team Pro Tour at New York this year, and the tournament was pretty miserable for me. Why the extreme pleasure? I got to see some friends. I got to play in some side events. My other team (“We’ve Got Girlfriends,” Andy Nishioka and Richie Frangiosa as…
With the Hall of Fame taking up time and energy on both the Ferrett’s part and mine, I figured this week I would give both of us just a small break and do something more simple. There are some things I would like to cover anyway, without waiting three weeks. I apologize to those who…
I’ve found it’s best for me to sleep in my room with the lights on and the door open. Since I’m on a ten-hour rotation, you’ll find me unconscious at the most ridiculous hours, regardless of my plans for the day. This has an ill effect on my partners for these proposed activities. However, an…
Do you have questions or comments on anything you’d like to add to my ongoing interview segments? Look here first for the word from professional Magic players all over the world! : Please list your Magic achievements for your fans. : Well, I won the 2000 World Championships and US Nationals, as well as 1998…
I’m pretty sure that I remember the EXACT moment when things started to make sense – in the World O’ Magic, at least. It was one little sentence that abruptly molded me into the what-the-hell-kind-of-player/writer-are-you that I am today. "What the hell are you?" -Jack Lemmon, Glengarry Glen Ross It all started during round 1…
New sets bring new ideas – sometimes, though, a new card sparks off the memory of an older time, a time when one red mana could cause three damage, a time when white had efficient creature removal. Invasion brings us a card called Blazing Spectre. The moment I saw it, I thought fondly of my…
WHITE GENERAL COMMENTS: White is probably more able than any other color to recover from massive board-clearing spells. That?s a good characteristic in multiplayer. White?s basic strengths — LIFEGAIN, PROTECTION, UTILITY, and MASS REMOVAL — all translate just fine into multiplayer. All of these characteristics are represented here. Note that white and green are the…
Greetings, all! This week, I’ve decided to torture you. We’re going to be doing a little bit of role-playing. The main focus of this article: To express the sheer amount of Jedi Tricks and other joyfully amazing plays available in the current Type II. Let’s get to it, shall we? Scenario One: In this scenario,…
Always wanted to write something like that: Definitive. Anyway, I think it probably shows something that I’m the guy that knows this deck. What that is, I’m not sure. It was an inferior deck for last season. I still won about 75-80% percent of my games and made local top 8s very consistently with it……
Can I blame the fact that I suck on Friday the 13th? Preamble, Friday the 13th: I done built some decks, woman! In anticipation of improving my 1-7 record in the (flat as hell) state of Ohio, bought a box of starters and boosters and built mad (as those wacky kids are known to say…
It’s no secret that I have a big problem with theory. I also don’t bother pretending that that isn’t where I spend most of my time. This apparent contradiction has led many to suppose I suffer from self-loathing or idiocy. Some gusto-seekers have gone so far as to wager on both. Let’s pretend I can…
So there I was at the tourney, having gone 3-0, winning all six games in straight sets. I was the number-one player at the tourney so far, and sat at table Number One – a rarified air, believe you me – waiting for my next opponent to step up to the plate. I had just…
Now that we’ve covered WHERE you’re going to play, let’s cover WHAT you’re going to play. The Magic tournament environment is separated into basic formats: Constructed and Limited. Constructed includes Type 1, Type 1.5, Extended, Block Constructed and Standard. Limited is made up of Sealed Deck, Booster Draft and Rochester Draft. Each format has its…
“Instead of playing cards that aren’t just NOT BAD AGAINST ANYTHING, the Schneider-Ho school of thinking is to play the most powerful cards in the best decks.” -Lan Ho, from ‘ Dojo column”Building Broken Decks Volume IV” Reading this statement by Lan Ho really got me thinking. Rarely have I approached deckbuilding by examining the…
WHAT, MORE STANDARD? As if the overwhelming amount of Magic strategy over the last three weeks hasn’t been almost COMPLETELY about Invasion and the new Type 2, I still can’t seem to think of anything but. So that’s what is in this week’s column: only Standard decks. I’m becoming a one-trick pony, I know, and…
