TagStandard

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.

Sullivan Library – Fish for Standard

Read Adrian Sullivan every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 28th – Merfolk, it seems, have gripped the public imagination. Earlier this week, we had Benjamin Peebles-Mundy and Kyle Sanchez sharing their builds. Today it’s the turn of Sean McKeown (below), and Adrian Sullivan. Adrian offers his own opinion on the phenomenon, and talks in detail about the builds offered by our other writers…

Flores Friday – Work in Progress: Mishra Again

Read Mike Flores every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 28th – With Extended now behind us (more or less), Constructed maestro Mike Flores turns his eyes back to the most popular 60-card format: Standard! Today’s Flores Friday see him try his hand with his beloved Mishra strategy against a number of the top-ranked decks in the modern metagame. Is he on to something?

Down And Dirty – The Sanchez Fish Fellowship

Read Kyle Sanchez every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 27th – Kyle Sanchez rocked up to an Extended PTQ with a powerful Rock deck… and things went horrifically wrong. However, he’s not one to quail in the face of despair… Instead, he turned his afro to Standard. Today he presents a couple of decks for our delectation. One has a rogue feel, and the other is decidedly more fishy…

Deep Analysis – Hatching a Deck in Standard

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 27th – One of the most potent units of Magical currency is the decklist. While a lot of us are content to sleeve up winning creations built by others, the actual act of deck creation is where true riches can be found. Today, Richard takes us behind the counter and walks us through his deck creation thought process step by step… and gives us a promising Standard decklist into the bargain!

Peebles Primers – Merfolk in the Modern Standard

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 26th – If you check the Top 8s of Standard events both online and in real life, you’ll soon see that Faeries is the deck to beat. One way of taking down the flying menace is through copious use of Islandwalkers. Enter Merfolk, one of the more under-appreciated tribes in Lorwyn Constructed. BPM takes us through his own brand of Merfolk goodness, examining an archetype that is definitely on the rise.

Feature Article – Elemental Combo in Standard

Read Feature Articles every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 26th – The current Standard metagame is awash with options. One limiting factor, however, is the prevalence of a two-mana enchantment that spews a 1/1 flyer each turn. After a brief dalliance with a Teachings deck, LSV picked up a deck from the desk of Gerry Thompson and friends. While it looks familiar, it operates on a different level… and it plays like a dream. Intrigued? Then read on!

Deconstructing Constructed – Standard In Motion

Read Josh Silvestri every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 25th – Right now, Standard on Magic Online, at least as far as 8-mans go, looks to be 90% composed of four specific decks: Faeries, Elves, Red Deck Wins, and U/W Reveillark take up a huge portion of every single one I enter. Perhaps this will change as the high cost of Morningtide cards has dropped down to the normal Magic Online flow, i.e. anything that isn’t utterly ridiculous costs between 1-3 tickets.

There And Back Again – ELVES! in Standard

Monday, March 24th – A hearty congratulations is in order for Ryohei Masuno and Taischi Fujimoto who both managed to navigate through a difficult two days of Japanese GP competition with Elf decks. That said, they weren’t really playing Elf decks… I’ll show you an Elf deck!

Innovations – Standard Article with Title that Alludes to More

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, March 24th – After many months of intense Magical preparation, today’s Innovations sees Patrick Chapin letting his hair down and waxing poetic. He brings us his thoughts on Standard, shares an amusing story or two, and makes a few predictions about the upcoming Pro Tour: Hollywood…

Deconstructing Constructed – Burning Through Standard

Read Josh Silvestri every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 18th – Ever since I saw the results of the burn deck that succeeded at Grand Prix: Shizuoka, I’ve decided that it would be one of my main decks to try out for the new Standard format. Of course, I’d love to play my Faeries deck some more, but on Magic Online there’s the slight issue of procuring a set of Mutavault and Bitterblossom without trading in an organ or two. As they say, if you can’t join ‘em, play Red and burn them to a crisp.