The most controversial writer in Magic produces more of the same, except completely different stuff from yesterday in his quest to explain where he’s been, where he’s going, and how he came up with his latest Extended creation.
Julien Nuijten is “The Champ” for at least a couple more weeks and he’s not letting the world forget about it, nabbing two Grand Prix victories in the last three months. Today Julien discusses his Extended Psychatog build (complete with matchup analysis and sideboarding guide) while telling you how Dr. Teeth and Big Stinks play nice together.
Today we submit to you one Johnathan Pelcak, who, while reviewing his Pro Tour: Los Angeles experience, also attempts to explain why he thought playing a Dragonstorm deck was “a good idea.”
Rizzo chokes a horse with his page count in this mammoth undertaking, but it includes his thoughts on basically everything Magic, Sex, and the Internet. Oh yeah, and it’s got a heaping helping of roguetastic decklists for those who enjoyed that element of the other Jonny Magic and pictures are back too.
Extended, fresh off rotation with that new car smell still in the air is ripe to be broken… with Beasts? Indeed, dear reader don’t look for technology in old Extended, nor even in good Type Two decks of now dead formats. You must dig deep into the likes of Onslaught Block Constructed for the golden technology I wish to impart.
LA had all the potential to be the best memory ever. Sometimes memories are tarnished. Sometimes the game gets in the way. This is not a Gadiel-esque whine. This is about something that happened by the judges and the DCI that was wrong. It is not a tale of mana screw or of runner, runner gutshot. It is about something that went wrong that shouldn’t have, it is about an issue that needs to be brought to public attention.
Many of you have enjoyed reading the trials and trevails of one Richard Feldman and his attempts to qualify for the Pro Tour. We’ll spoil this one a bit for you and tell you that he once again made the Top 8, but did he qualify? You’ll have to check inside for details on that and the 4-1-1 on his suggestions for improving your game in future PTQ seasons.
How’d Noah’s Los Angeles go? Well, he scrubbed out of the Pro Tour, nearly got DQ’d, did some Pro Tour Feature Match coverage, watched Zvi Mowshowitz pick up babes, ate at Fogo De Chao, was assaulted by zombies in downtown LA, and got to ride rollercoasters. If you are a fan of the lost art of tournament reports, you cannot miss this one.
From a purely strategic point of view, there are a good many reasons to play Desire at your next Extended tournament. The first (and probably best) reason is because the deck is just hard to play against unless your opponent has dedicated a large amount of time to it — which, given that you’re at a PTQ, is doubtful. So let me walk you through the intricacies of the deck that got me all the way to the Top 4 at Los Angeles.
My testing took place in a relative vacuum — with help from friends back home, but little to no access to pro testing information, I pieced together a fairly accurate picture of the metagame and I built my deck accordingly. I want to make sure that everyone who wants it — the PTQ win, the PT, the gravy train — really understands that it is possible.
Ruud finds wealth and fame in Los Angeles, visits the Price is Right, and shares his thoughts on the best decks in Extended.
Fresh off his 4th place finish at Pro Tour Los Angeles, Chris “Star Wars Kid” McDaniel returns to discuss the powerful Heatbeat Combo deck, recap his entire Pro Tour experience and offer his perspective on the controversial semifinals match against Billy Moreno!
Max McCall likes to Chant. Repeatedly. Last weekend he had an opportunity to Chant his way to Honolulu, and he made the best of it, with Josh Silvestri’s version of Scepter-Chant. What went right? Where did theory fail him? Read on for answers about one of the top decks in the new Extended.
No Stick is one of the best control decks available to anyone trying to qualify this PTQ season. This deck list has a number of changes from Arita’s PT: LA list, but it’s tested very well. In addition, this version has already qualified my friend Max McCall (T8 GP Seattle), who used it to win a PTQ last weekend. In other words, this deck is simply amazing.
So you want the list? Sure. Here’s Silvestri Scepter. Copying Flores deck names for the win!
