Thursday, July 30th – Innovation is often the combination of great effort and a moment of inspiration. Regardless of the pursuit, a great deal of time and energy is spent to achieve anything worthwhile. This applies to virtually every human endeavor, whether designing a piece of software, writing a novel, playing a musical piece, building and playing Magic decks as well as many others.
Monday, July 27th – Doug pits the currently-hot Dreadstill up against a Bant CounterTop list with Qasali Pridemages and other hot technologies to see which one reigns supreme. After playing several matches, Doug selected three choice games to illustrate several tactical decisions throughout the matchup. Can Dreadstill effectively lock up Bant’s mana? Can the Bant CounterTop deck soft-lock one of the premiere Counterbalance decks? Find out in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!
Thursday, July 23rd – Many of the best spells in Legacy cost two or less, but most of these cards do not generate card advantage. Standstill is one of the few examples in Legacy where low mana cost meets card advantage. Its ability to draw three cards for only two mana makes it perhaps the most efficient card advantage spell in Legacy.
Tuesday, July 21st – With GenCon less than a month away, serious Legacy players should be preparing for what they will be playing in the Legacy World Championships next month. Doug looks at new strategies on the rise, highlighting cards like Vendilion Clique and Natural Order that are becoming much more popular. Get several proven decklists and some new and experimental ones that are worth a look, all in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!
Thursday, July 16th – At the end of my previous article, I said that the Permanent Waves deck might have been an excellent metagame choice. In this article, I start with a discussion of why Permanent Waves is worth considering and playing. Then I discuss my recent attempts to tune the deck, and show some of the results of my recent testing.
Tuesday, July 14th – Goblins, Merfolk, Elves – tribal decks are on the rise again in Legacy, but one family seems to have been left out. Slivers, a historically good tribe, see less and less play every week. Is this a function of other decks being better, the cards losing power over time, or other factors? In this week’s article, Doug considers several theories to explain the downturn in Slivers, accounting for both in-game and out-of-game considerations. Check out these explanations in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!
Friday, July 10th – There are many decisions a competitive Magic player has to make at a tournament to be successful. There is one key decision, however, that occurs before a tournament, one that limits or expands a player’s ability to win in Constructed Magic. This is the choice of which deck to play.
Tuesday, July 7th – In less than two weeks, M10 will debut, bringing many new cards into the Legacy cardpool and opening up a lot of room for enterprising deck designers. This week, Doug reviews the set, which has many solid roleplayers in it, and presents new directions for existing and potential Legacy decks with M10. Check out how Doom Blade stacks up to existing removal, and whether Merfolk can ditch its plebes and run only Lords in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!
Tuesday, June 30th – Last weekend’s incredibly successful Legacy $5k in Boston produced an excellent Top 16, with many old favorites and some new builds coming out to play. This week, Doug takes a look at every list in the T16, comparing similar builds and discussing the advantages of the newest tech across the board. Find out about Planeswalker Landstill and the newest sideboards in from that over-the-border favorite, Canadian Threshold!
Tuesday, June 23rd – Inspired by Olivier Ruel and Sam Stoddard’s articles reviewing their stumbling blocks in the game, Doug takes a look this week at the challenges that hold him back from advancing in the game. With both general and Legacy-specific points, Doug tackles issues that many Legacy players face, both pre-game and in-game. Find out how you can enhance your play skills and win more Legacy games in this week’s article!
Tuesday, June 16th – The StarCityGames.com $5000 Legacy tournament is this weekend, so Doug discusses the best choices for the Grand Prix-size event! Check out the predicted metagame and what decks are poised to take advantage of it. Get some of the freshest lists from recent large events around the world, as well as an update of the Lorescale Coatl deck that Doug wrote about several weeks ago!
Monday, June 15th – Whether it be buildings, software, Magic decks, or anything else, to design something is to create a solution for a given problem. An architect’s problem is that he or she needs to design a building that fits the needs of his client. The designers of Magic decks are trying to solve a problem too. Their problem is to create a deck that is capable of winning a tournament.
Tuesday, June 9th – The Legacy Banned list includes over sixty cards, the longest banned list of any format in Magic. Doug proposes nearly a dozen cards that could and should come off of the Legacy Banned list. Read why Doug considers unbanning cards that few people will play is a worthwhile endeavor and why some cards that used to have a lot of bite are tame by today’s standards. Get the evaluations before the June Banning announcements and weigh in with your opinion as well!
Monday, June 8th – Last week, I discussed the potential advantages you can gain by playing a deck that, despite being a solid performer, is off the “radar†of the majority of players. This advantage can be magnified when you take the core of an existing deck and move it in a different direction, or create a new deck that other players haven’t seen before.
Tuesday, June 2nd – This week, Doug looks at how you can organize your own Legacy event and create a grassroots Legacy community in your area. He takes you from the reasons why you should host an event to the advertising, organizing, and hosting the actual tournament. What kinds of prizes should you give out? What makes for a good tournament venue? How can you create tourney-goers who eagerly await your next event? Get general tips as well as Legacy-specific advice in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!
