Tuesday, December 23rd – Now that Worlds has ended we have a solid grasp of what the new Extended format is shaping up to be. Let’s start by looking at the breakdown of decks that went 4-2 or better on Day 3… and heck, let’s add in the top eight of the Worlds PTQ.
Tuesday, December 23rd – In his first article for StarCityGames.com, newly crowned Rookie of the Year Aaron Nicastri takes us through Blue/Black Tron for the upcoming Extended PTQ season. On top of that, he brings powerful Blue/White and Blue/Red versions to the table. Could these decks be the breakout builds that send you to Hawaii?
Monday, December 22nd – The Extended Banned and Restricted list has decided against throwing a spanner in the works of the post-Worlds metagame. With all the pertinent information now known and battened down, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin walks us through the decks to beat in the upcoming PTQ season…
Friday, December 19th – While there are some few PTQs left featuring Sealed Deck and Draft as their key component, getting an advanced look at the upcoming Extended format is the attraction of the hour, as we ponder whether there will be a banning or if everything we need to know about the next PTQ format is already right in front of us.
Thursday, December 18th – In his first article while at the helm of his brand new weekly column, Luis Scott-Vargas takes us through his successful 6-0 Extended Blue/Red Swans list. He updates it for the post-Worlds metagame, and shares his sideboarding techniques against the major contenders in the format. Welcome aboard, LSV!
Wednesday, December 17th – In our second look at the current Extended metagame, Kyle Sanchez looks at the stronger decks from Worlds and examines the makeup of the blossoming format. He breaks down the decks into the Big Three, and looks at some of the more popular fringe strategies…
Wednesday, December 17th – With both Pro Tour: Berlin and the World Championships now in the books, and the upcoming PTQ season concentrating on Extended, it’s time to examine the format and figure the metagame. Borrowing from Mike Flores and his SWOT analysis, Richard Feldman takes us through the runners and riders…
Friday, November 28th – Zac Hill rounds out his temporary Premium stint for the completion of his preparation for Pro Tour: Berlin. Using every email sent between himself, Marijn Lybaert, Frank Karsten, and the rest of his testing team, he recreates the exact conditions they found when preparing for the tournament. As with parts 1 and 2, this is incredible stuff, and not for the faint of heart…
Tuesday, November 25th – When looking through a format for edges, or outlier decks that have an absurd match against an existing metagame, sometimes it pays to go through each significant strategy and how it’s currently being used. Even if all this does is tell you something you already know, it serves as a reminder of what’s important and what isn’t.
Monday, November 24th – I have a rogue streak. I’m not surprising any of you with this statement (I hope). Truth is, I should probably netdeck more. A lot more. But the fact of the matter is that I enjoy deck building and trying to figure out what cards I should play just as much as I enjoy actually playing the game of Magic itself.
Friday, November 21st – This is part 2 of the above article, in which Zac and his testing team continue their forays into Extended… enjoy!
Tuesday, November 18th – Elves! with a capital exclamation point was the story of the tournament from a player perspective. The supposedly secret tech only surprised people with the fact that everyone seemed to have it. As I mentioned previously, the Judging staff got the first hint that something was up when we heard about the dealers selling out of Glimpse of Nature the night before.
Tuesday, November 18th – While Elves was silently destroying the unprepared masses at Pro Tour: Berlin, a number of the perceived powerhouses of the format failed to perform. Certain strategies, however, can now be tweaked to combat the pointy-eared menace. Today, Marijn Lybaert looks at the non-elf decks that sprang from his team’s intensive testing, and investigates ways they could topple the lean Green machine…
Friday, November 14th – Going into Pro Tour: Berlin, most folk believed that Zoo would be the deck to beat. Things didn’t quite pan out for the multicolor menagerie, but Paulo played it anyway. In today’s exhaustive tournament report, Paulo delivers the details behind his strong finish, and explains why Zoo isn’t quite dead yet…
Wednesday, November 12th – With Extended apparently overrun with Elves Combo, Gerry T brings us a guiding light. At Pro Tour: Berlin, Gerry played Faeries… and he believes that the sky is not falling just yet. Today, he brings us his definitive guide to Faeries in Extended, with sideboarding plans for a variety of important matchups.
