Friday, June 19th – My plan was to find an archetype I was resonating with a week or two before the event, then spend the remaining time tuning it. I discovered pretty quickly that the archetype had to involve Putrid Leech who, it turned out, was one of the more insane creatures to be printed in a long time. Char with buyback much?
Friday, June 19th – We’ve reached about the middle of the season for the Pro Tour: Austin qualifier season, and I thought I would take a look at the trend in recent events to see where things are going and have a gander at figuring out the twists and turns of this particular metagame.
Friday, June 19th – Last weekend, Kyle Sanchez rocked a Jund Cascade deck at his local PTQ. Things didn’t go to well for our hero, but, as usual, he has tales aplenty. Aside from battling with venomous critters, he also breaks down his cascade strategy in preparation for PTQs to come…
Thursday, June 18th – With White Weenie rocking out some excellent performances of late, Cedric Phillips feels rather vindicated in his perennial deck of choice. Today, he explains why the winning list from GP: Sao Paulo is weak, shares his latest Kithkin goodness, and takes us through his excellent 12th-place finish in Atlanta!
Thursday, June 18th – Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and Faeries go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Grand Prix: Seattle confirmed that he is one of the premier Fae pilots in the game. Today, he recaps Day 2 of his Top 8 performance, with the usual intense level of play-by-play self-reflection…
Wednesday, June 17th – Manuel Bucher rocked up to Grand Prix: Sao Paulo with one desire: to play a deck that ran the cards he enjoyed. After two days of grueling Standard play, he posted a creditable 10th place finish with Elementals. If you’re looking for a deck that’s sufficiently off the radar, look no further!
Friday, June 12th – With the first of this month’s StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Opens occurring this weekend, Paulo talks us through Day 1 of his Standard performance at GP: Seattle. He also shares his opinions on the current hot topic: the changes to our glorious game coming with the release of M10.
Wednesday, June 10th – With Standard PTQs continuing apace, and both Grand Prix: Barcelona and Grand Prix: Seattle informing the developing metagame, Kyle Sanchez rocks out with an intriguing take on Cascade and Land Destruction. Is this the strategy that will catapult you to a fabled Blue Envelope? Read on to find out!
[Editor’s Note: Due to a technical issue, Sam Black’s article is delayed until later in the week. Stay tuned!]
Monday, June 8th – The StarCityGames.com $5000 Standard Open is coming to Atlanta on June 13th (as well as a PTQ on the 14th), and I am here to provide you with some of my thoughts about the current format. I’ve been battling on Magic Online for plenty of hours, bashed a few PTQs, read coverage of the recent Grand Prix tournaments, and feel like the format is shaping up to be awesome
Friday, June 5th – Those of us that read Wednesday’s Drafting With Olivier will have picked up that Olivier didn’t have much fun in Seattle. Today, he tells us exactly what went wrong… and what, at the end of the weekend, went right.
Friday, June 5th – Watching the metagame change around Grand Prix: Barcelona, it seemed to me that the biggest shifts were perception rather than reality. We stopped kidding ourselves that Faeries wasn€™t good, for example, now that the metagame had grown more mature and we could prove that the things we were being afraid of just weren€™t as terrifying as we thought.
Friday, June 5th – The Standard metagame is teeming with decks dwelling on the fringe of Tier 1. One such strategy is Blue/White Reveillark. Today, Brian Kibler discusses his personal build of the deck, which he played in Grand Prix: Seattle. He updates it with the developing metagame in mind, and shares his sideboarding strategies against the format’s major players.
Friday, June 5th – Last week, Paulo took us through his triumphant Day 1 performance at Grand Prix: Barcelona. Today he continues his story, piloting his innovative Swans deck, through many a turn 4 win, onto the final table. PV is certainly on a hot streak right now, with back-to-back Grand Prix Top 8s… Can he translate this mastery to a high finish in Hawaii?
Thursday, June 4th – Grand Prix: Seattle Tacoma was a blast. I had the chance to catch up with a lot of old friends, meet a few new ones, and overall just have a fantastic time. Because I’m a sheep, I’ll be writing a tournament report, just like everyone else. Hopefully, it’s entertaining. If not, there’s some bonus stuff at the end. And here we go.
Thursday, June 4th – Our story begins the week after Grand Prix: Barcelona. As I thought would likely happen, the tournament signaled the beginning of a slope down for token-based decks and the uprising of Cascade Swans. With this in mind, I had planned to play Faeries at the Grand Prix…
