TagStandard

The Magic Show #82 – Morningtide Standard

Watch Evan Erwin every Friday... on StarCityGames.com!
Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to take a look at the latest Top 8 decklists from the StarCityGames $1,000 tournament this past weekend, see what hit, what missed, and how two new archetypes could be set to make out with $5,000 come February 23rd at the StarCityGames Open.

Tribal Thriftiness #9 – An Army of One (Tribe)

Read Dave Meeson every week... at StarCityGames.com!
This week, Dave takes a look at a number of things that are small and military in nature. No, not Army brats – the Kithkin Soldiers.

You Lika The Juice? – Toning Down the Mize In Magic

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
One of the new cards from Morningtide I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around is Cream of the Crop. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about it because it’s Green, it seems really good, and it’s not a creature. That’s relatively rare in Green.

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #212 – We Lost a Pro Tour… Everybody Panic!

Read Peter Jahn... at StarCityGames.com!
Wizards has announced the 2008 premier events schedule. On the plus side, Pro Tour Berlin, which I have been looking forward to for almost a year, has been announced. On the down side, Wizards has cut back to just three Pro Tours. Sure – Magic is dying: the fact that Grand Prix now routinely have over 1.5k players per event proves it. Or maybe Wizards is putting their effort into the areas with the biggest return and most player support. Which is it? Let’s look at some numbers…

Peebles Primers – Japanese Standard

The Star City $5,000 Standard Open comes to Charlotte, NC!
The first Standard results with Morningtide are officially in! We have the Top 8 decks from the recent StarCityGames.com Standard open available here, and today’s Peebles Primers takes a look as some of the funkier offerings from a 72-player Grand Prix Trial held in Japan. In a Top 8 packed with famous names, it appears the Japanese have brought some interesting decks to the table…

Sullivan Library – Fires for Standard

The Star City $5,000 Standard Open comes to Charlotte, NC!
Morningtide is here, and the new cards are kicking up a stink in Constructed formats across the world. While everyone tries to shoehorn the latest chase rares into their Standard decks, there’s a little uncommon Artifact that can perhaps resurrect a long forgotten archetype. The card? Obsidian Battle-Axe. The archetype? Fires…

Innovations – Two-Headed Morningtide Standard Set Review, Part 2

The Star City $5,000 Standard Open comes to Charlotte, NC!
On Friday, Mike brought us his take on Morningtide for Standard play. Today it’s the turn of Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin. Patrick runs through some of the more interesting cards in the set, and tells us where he agrees – and, more importantly, disagrees – with Mike’s assessment.

Flores Friday – Two-Headed Morningtide Standard Set Review, Part I

The Star City $5,000 Standard Open comes to Charlotte, NC!
Today’s Flores Friday is the first installment of our “Two-Headed” Morningtide Standard review. Mike, in collaboration with the Innovator, shares his thoughts on the new cards for Standard play. Sure, everyone wants four Mutavaults, and Countryside Crusher is making a splash… but what other cards should we be picking up while they’re cheap? Tune in on Monday for Patrick Chapin’s conclusion!

You Lika The Juice? – Growing a Treefolk Deck from the Roots Up

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
I’ve loved Treefolk since I first read about Treebeard as a teenager entranced with Lord of the Rings. I’m thrilled to see them given lots of attention in Magic finally. There seems to be a critical mass of really good Treefolk cards to warrant investigating whether a competitive tribal deck can be made with them.

MichaelJ Monday – Top Down Morningtide: Foolkiller, Folk Rock

The Star City $5,000 Standard Open comes to Charlotte, NC!
Morningtide is released at the end of the week, and all eyes turn to Constructed. Today’s MichaelJ Monday, held over from last week, sees Mike choose two of his favorite cards from the new set, building Standard decks that revolve around each. This is a great insight into the new card deckbuilding process… and later this week, Mike kicks off the Morningtide Standard Set Review (a “Two-Headed” pair of collaborative articles with Patrick Chapin). Watch this space!

Magic Show On Location – Top 8 and Top 4 Charlotte $5K Matches

Watch Evan Erwin every Friday... on StarCityGames.com!
Hello everybody, and welcome a special edition of the Magic Show. In these videos you’ll watch StarCityGames.com’s own Chris Woltereck take home the title through two thrilling matches (the last match was so thrilling they split before it happened). Ready to see a man start round 1 of Top 8 without playing a permanent? Let’s go!

You Lika The Juice? – High on Morningtide!

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
It’s amusing the expressions of horror I get from the surprising number of Magic players who view cellophane-wrapped booster box of product as several evenings of draft fodder instead of the wondrous trove of singles treasure that I see. I love cracking those packs, accumulating a small mountain of foil booster wrapping to the side as I stack rares, uncommons, and commons.

Innovations – Mono-Black Rogues in Standard and Block

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Morningtide is finally here (functionally), so it’s time to break out the hot new Constructed tech! Today’s Innovations does just that: Patrick Chapin brings us a Mono-Black Standard Rogue deck that has great game against the format’s front-runners. And, as it’s mainly comprised of Lorwyn Block goodies, it can port over into Block Constructed too!

Tribal Thriftiness #6 – These Giants Have No Steroid Scandal

It’s January, and as has happened every January for forty years, a young man’s thoughts turn to… football. Ah, the playoffs. To celebrate, Dave builds some team-based decks for the NFL’s equivalent of the Littlest Team That Could.

Tribal Thriftiness – Turning a New Leaf

Sure, the Faeries are great, and the Elves certainly are powerful in their own right. But no one seems to be talking about the Treefolk, outside of that three-colored fella. Is there a decent deck out there, in the tribe that seems destined to be the budget builder’s favorite?