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…
Late last night I was trying to decide what would a be a nice break away from all of the Invasion madness that is flooding the web.”Interviews!” I thought, and I located 1999 Invitational winner . : To open the interview, I’d like to ask a basic question: what have you achieved so far as…
ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR-FIVE I could regale you with tales of Grand Prix Manchester. Of my woeful experience with mana during the GP itself despite having a reasonable deck (I’m convinced I shuffled my way to bad draws – shiny, smooth sleeves that interweave tastily to clump every damn thing together – ah well) – all of the…
The Stigma… I was recently talking online with Beho (not his real name, though it should be) when he started on about this girl he recently met. I, partly in jest, said "Whatever you do, don’t let her find out that you play Magic!" he responded, perhaps partly jesting as well, (but I doubt it)…
I’m a middling Magic player. I haven’t played on the Pro Tour and haven’t tried a PT qualifier, but I have been contemplating that and how I would approach it. It might be an experience to go there with many others. I’ll just go and see what it is like. It could be something more,…
I had originally intended to write a report about Pro Tour – New York and the Masters Gateway tournament that preceded it. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t seem to find the words to make an interesting tale out of going 3-3 in the Team Sealed part of Pro Tour – New York with…
Back in August 1999 on the Dojo, I put forward a list of cards that "made multiplayer games great." The list generated terrific feedback, virtually all positive, with occasional constructive suggestions and additions. I promised, both before and after this feedback, that I would revisit the list after a couple more expansions had passed. I…
I don’t have the energy to do this. Radiohead’s new album "Kid A" has made me deathly ill. To be fair, it’s only the direct cause. The real fault is that of the concert I attended Thursday, October 5th. Nobody warned me. Nobody said "Oh, by the by, you’ll never be the same again after…
Greetings, readers! Today, I thought I’d do something different (for me; I’m more like Sean Ponce than this week!). For those of you new to , you wouldn’t know about our previous editor, . Sometime in June, Omeed got an invitation to move up the ladder of success to move from editor of StarCityCCG.com to…
Well, that’s that. No more or for me, or the rest of Team PhatBeats. No more Hermits, no more and definitely no more . Last weekend I attended the last Type II tourney that I’ll ever play Urza’s Saga block cards in, and I can’t say I’m unhappy. I took a version (only one card…
Hey gang, welcome to another installment of Weapons of Mass Distraction. This week: I’ll go over my PTNY experiences in a meandering sort of way, plus dish out more Type 2 ideas for the upcoming season. PTNY EXPERIENCES The long delay in this column comes from two things: I spent the last weekend of September…
