Monday, March 3rd – In this rare Monday outing, Mike Flores performs an exhaustive SWOT analysis on a whopping twelve of the strongest Extended decks in the current metagame. He breaks down each archetype into Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, providing invaluable insight into the inner workings of these powerful builds. For anyone serious about the current PTQ season, this article is unmissable.
Friday, February 29th – The Goblin tribe in modern Extended is an unusual beast. Recent printings have given Goblin players new tools if they want to use them… but change is always a contentious thing for some, and thus we see decklists with numbers like “1x Frogtosser Banneret†or “2x Frogtosser Banneret.†People like what they are comfortable with, and tend to not respond well to change… even changes for the better.
Wednesday, February 27th – I spent the weekend in Charlotte, at the StarCityGames.com $5K on Saturday and the PTQ on Sunday. My plan was to work the $5K, then qualify for Hollywood the day after. If you know how I play, you may guess how that worked out… but you’d be wrong.
Wednesday, February 27th – Going into the tournament, I suspected that the metagame was changing in a way that was bad for actual Counterbalance decks. The card Counterbalance itself is best against the mirror and against midrange decks that actually give you time to set up a lock, and quite bad against decks that are very fast, play spells that cost tons of mana that you can’t use Counterbalance to stop, or both.
Tuesday, February 26th – With Kuala Lumpur now, as they say, in the books, Rich Hagon belatedly returns his attention to the Extended season. With Grand Prix: Vienna looming large, he casts his eye over a PTQ field in the mighty UK, and brings you detailed play-by-play on a full octet of matches.
Tuesday, February 26th – The popularity of Tournament Reports tends to ebb and flow with the tides. Today, Adrian Sullivan brings us a report on his latest Extended PTQ, in the style of the classic reports from the days of USENET. He also brings us his latest version of Miser’s Rock, a deck he backs for success in future tournaments…
Tuesday, February 26th – A few weeks ago, Paul Jordan brought us a statistical explosion. Working with an entire PTQ’s worth of pairings and archetype data, he thrashed out the runners and riders in the developing metagame. Today, he brings us Stat Attack 2, with data compiled from two recent tournaments. As before, Paul wrings every ounce of pertinent data from the information. Warning: This is not for the faint of heart…
Friday, February 22nd – This past weekend we saw the first Pro Tour of the 2008 season come a-knocking, and the events of the weekend seemed quite impressive. After a few near-misses at the Pro Tour camp, where even Day 2 wasn’t in the offering, it seems that the fire has come back to one Jonny Magic as he went from 2-1 to 16-1-1 between the end of Round 3 and the final play of the event.
Friday, February 22nd – In case you’re unaware, Mike Flores is a fan of the mid-range strategy. However, at his last PTQ he found himself falling prey to the sin of merely playing cards. Determined to kick up a stink at this weekend’s Grand Prix, he turned away from his mid-range roots to pursue an altogether more flamboyant strategy…
Wednesday, February 20th – Years ago, people wrote tournament reports. The good ones covered the event, gave round by round results – including information on both how the match played out and on play and sideboarding strategies. They were once the best source of strategic advice. Times change – but I want to revive a lost art. I’ll also promise lots of decklists, and some under the radar deck ideas, since I spent most of the tournament out of Top 8 contention.
Tuesday, February 19th – Extended has once again experienced a major shift, when compared to the first few weeks of the season. Before we had a number of midrange decks and Dredge as the most played and generally “best†decks… but the format has shifted week after week, back toward a new set of expected and top decks. Red decks of various sorts – Goblins, Red Deck Wins, and even Burn – have all been successful to some extent.
Monday, February 18th – John Friggin’ Rizzo is ready for some hot and heavy PTQ action! He has his deck of choice – Big Mana Rock – sleeved, tweaked, and ready to go. Today, he takes us through his thoughts on the deck and matchups, before telling us that he feels the deck is very good indeed. The last time he felt that was the day he brought us Friggorid…
Monday, February 18th – Extended PTQs continue apace across the world. With a metagame so vibrant, the format is proving to be fun, intricate, and popular. The most popular control strategy, Next Level Blue, is a deck that requires great skill and patience to pilot correctly. And the mirror match… to the uninitiated, it’s the stuff of nightmares. Thankfully, Patrick is here to help…
Friday, February 15th – Portugal’s Tiago Chan, currently slugging it out in the hot Malaysian sun, is now eligible for PTQ competition. He recently returned to the trenches, hoping to pick up a Hollywood plane ticket to go with his invitation. Sadly, he never made it, but he saw a lot of interesting plays along the way. This is his story…
Thursday, February 14th – Today’s Down And Dirty is the story of an Extended PTQ… but this ain’t your average tournament report! Kyle spins the tale in a unique and innovative style, packing cameos from fine Magicians such as Steve Sadin and Billy Moreno. There’s also a fair number of Extended decklists to chew over, and some strategy and tech talk to boot. So, what are you waiting for? Read on!
