TagStandard

Sullivan Library – Ponza in the Post-Shadowmoor Standard

Read Adrian Sullivan every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, April 10th – Land Destruction… insidious resource denial that’s alienated players since the initial printing of Stone Rain. Today’s Sullivan Library looks at the classic Ponza-style LD route, and brings it up to date with an all-new sheen and polish! Including some of the funkier Shadowmoor cards, does LD finally have a chance to shine again?

Deep Analysis – The Evolution of Spectral Visions

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, April 10th – In this week’s illuminating Deep Analysis, Richard Feldman continues his exploration of deck design. He finally takes mammoth strides toward improving the tricky Red matchup, and his changes to both the board and maindeck are backed with comprehensive testing results. He’s even settled on a name for his creation…

Peebles Primers – Examining The StarCityGames.com $1000 Standard Open Final Decks

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, April 9th – Recently, we at StarCityGames.com held another of our popular Standard Open tournaments, and it was a great success. However, the heralded “best deck in the metagame,” U/B Faeries, did not manage to crack the Top 2 table. Today’s Peebles Primers sees BPM examine both decklists from the final table, with an eye on preparing for City Champs…

Feature Article – Red/Green Big Mana with Shadowmoor

Read Feature Articles every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, April 9th – With Faeires still the biggest kid in the playground, it may seem that Red Green Big Mana has had its day in the sun, despite the proliferation of Blasts and Threshers. Today, Luis Scott-Vargas outlines some of the ways in which G/R can topple the Faerie menace, and looks ahead to some of the cards Shadowmoor has to offer the archetype. Warning: contains spoilers.

Deconstructing Constructed – Snow Crash

Read Josh Silvestri every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, April 8th – Today I’ll be covering one of the big gainers in the current metagame, U/R Snow Control. Most of you probably remember the Mono-Red Chandra snow control decks that rose in popularity around States last year. This deck is effectively an update of the old formula…

Innovations – Introducing Seismic Swan (The Future)

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, April 7th – In the forums for last Week’s Innovations, a dissenter asked Patrick Chapin to return to his innovative roots. Let’s face it, Patrick hasn’t broken the format for a few weeks now… it’s time he stepped back up to the plate. Using extensive Shadowmoor spoilers, he may well have done exactly that…

Flores Friday – Boom, Bust, Bitterblossom, Blowout

Read Mike Flores every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, April 4th – Standard is still proving a tricky nut to crack. Of course, that doesn’t stop Mike trying! Today he updates us on his exciting Mishra strategy, shares his thoughts on a powerful anti-aggro way to wield Bitterblossom, and throws his hat into the Constructed Warrior arena…

Tribal Thriftiness #17 – Shadowmoor Steals In

Read Dave Meeson every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, April 3rd – Hybrid mana? Untapping as a cost? Color-dependent creatures? Shadowmoor is kicking off its previews this week, and Dave can’t think of anything else but digging in and seeing what’s already been spoiled.

Down And Dirty – Innovate This! (Five More Decks for Standard)

Read Kyle Sanchez every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, April 3rd – Earlier this week, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin brought us a fresh set of five decks for Standard. Today it’s the turn of Kyle Sanchez, and he doesn’t disappoint. He trawls through five more innovative decks for Standard, including a Mono-Green combo deck that deserves further investigation. Intrigued? Then read on!

Deep Analysis – Rapid Prototyping

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, April 3rd – Tournaments come and tournaments go, but one thing always remains the same: we never have enough time to fully prepare. Today’s Deep Analysis sees Richard Feldman explore some of the techniques employed to help manage our time wisely. By using and developing his U/G strategy from last week, he shows us deck design in action.

Peebles Primers – Winning in Standard and Block

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, April 2nd – In the current Standard format, it appears that most decks look to start their game before that of their opponent, or they repeatedly throw enough game-winners into the mix that one of them will eventually stick. Today’s Peebles Primers sees BPM share his approach tactics for the current Standard format, before asking some pertinent questions on the role of Aggression in Lorwyn Block Constructed…

Arcane Teachings – Good Cards, Faeries, and Merfolk in Standard

Read Tom LaPille every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, April 1st – With Lorwyn tribes apparently ruling the roost in the current Standard metagame, a number of what can only be described as “fringe cards” are finding their way into decks across the globe. Tom LaPille believes that while such choices are good for deck synergy, you can’t beat a pile of high quality cards…

There And Back Again – More ELVES! in Standard

Read Bill Stark every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, March 31st – Did you know that Coat of Arms actually protects ELVES! from losing to the Reveillark combo? Forum user bretblair recently started this helpful thread to point out that cards like Elvish Champion, Goblin King, and Coat of Arms all stop Mirror Entity from wiping out the Reveillark player’s team.

Innovations – Standard Article with Five Spicy Decklists!

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, March 31st – With Pro Tour: Hollywood looming on the horizon, the Pro community has turned its sights on Standard. Today’s Innovations sees Worlds Finalist Patrick Chapin bring us not one, not two, but five decklists that could form the basis of the strategies to beat come the PT…

Magical Hack – Plenty More Fish In The Sea

Read Sean McKeown every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 28th – With the ability to finally turn my eye away from Extended, it seems there is a rather interesting Standard metagame out there if you look for it. Unfortunately, I’d looked at the Standard metagame and neatly categorized it just like everyone else has, and came up with two different potential solutions to the current metagame: Merfolk, and Blue-based Control.