Today is Thanksgiving. As one who concentrates on inexpensive decks, I’m especially thankful for the fan-freakin’-tastic commons and uncommons that the folks at Wizards have been making over the past few years. I could make my word count for this article right now just by listing all of the kick aspirin commons and uncommons that are Standard-legal right now. While I’m cheesy (check out that moustache!), I’m not that cheesy.
Grand Prix: Krakow brought a resurgence of Islands to the Standard metagame. Indeed, if the Top 8 is any indication, times are good for the water-loving spellslinger. This week’s Deep Analysis sees Richard Feldman attempt to deflate the control mages, attacking them aggressively in a way that currently has no defense. Intrigued? Then read on!
Standard is Tiago’s favorite Constructed format. Of course, with so many formats to test, something had to fall behind, and Tiago went into Grand Prix: Krakow without a firm deck choice. He settled on a Green/Black build of his own design, which served him well. The deck seems powerful in the post-Krakow metagame, and Tiago takes us through the tournament highs and lows, and shares his updated list. Looking for a deck that packs a real punch? Then this is the article for you!
Today’s Down And Dirty sees Kyle tackle ten points of Magic miscellany that have tickled he fancy this past week. He questions the validity of to amateur prizes in Grand Prix tournaments, brings us the truth about Kenji’s vicious powers of mental domination, and shares a Blue/Green deck that could make quite a splash in the new Standard metagame…
Kavu Justice was a beatdown star in Time Spiral Block Constructed. Now we have the fresh meat that is Lorwyn to add to the mix, can we update the deck for a post-Krakow Standard metagame? Richard Feldman believes we can. He throws his deck against the best that the Grand Prix Top 8 had to offer, with surprising results…
Hello and welcome to another article about those lovable Blue miscreants, the Faerie tribe. Today I’ll be going over the general matches, tips, and some testing results against the top three control decks from GP: Krakow: Mono Blue Guile, UW Pickles and UB Mannequin. I’ve received a number of e-mails asking for match advice, and some general questions on how the deck holds up against Pickles-esque decks, so instead of answering each individually it seemed easier to do it all at once.
Seeing how we are now two weeks away from the State Championships, we have the opportunity to examine the Standard metagame in motion. We are on our way to the World Championships in a month’s time, give or take a little, and in addition to looking at the States metagame as it played out, we can advance it one week into the future by examining the results of this past weekend’s Grand Prix in Krakow.
I made a Kithkin Soldier deck. I know. I can’t believe it, either. Me, Chris Romeo, building a White Weenie deck as his first one using the latest cards. Go figure. I wanted the goodness of Clash in there somewhere, to smooth the draws. This is the part where you scurry to figure out which card with Clash I could possibly use in a White Weenie deck. It’s Springjack Knight.
Last week’s article was a little awkward, because my deadline was a couple of days before States decklists went up, but the article came out on the same day the States page went live. It’s like I was frantic and scrambling for some obscure theorem to use on a midterm, and then an hour after I turned in the paper someone uploaded Stephen Hawking’s entire brain into my skull.
I’m not sure why States, as a tournament, holds such an allure for me. Maybe it’s the freewheeling, undefined metagame, which allows for any deck to break through and become the Next Best Thing. Maybe it’s the mad scramble to find any crumb of tech to wedge into a deck.
For me, I think it’s the plaque.
Leading up to States, I heard a lot of grumbling about how underpowered Lorwyn was compared to Time Spiral and Ravnica. I think the results from States and Grand Prix: Krakow put that notion to rest. I’m of the opinion that Lorwyn was pretty masterfully designed – many of the cards don’t set off alarm bells when you’re just looking at the text box and stats, but when you shuffle them up in a deck and start playing with them, many of them give you that “oh, wow!†feeling.
I have looked through a fair number of the Top 8 decklists from States, and I haven’t found the combo decks. I haven’t seen any. Am I just missing something, or are they really not present? More importantly, is there a combo deck people just haven’t seen yet? Hint – I think so.
Adrian Sullivan has quite the pedigree when it comes to the State Championships. This year he worked long and hard with I@n DeGraff, polishing and tweaking an innovative Red deck that can drag wins from nowhere. Today’s Sullivan Library takes a look at the development of this powerful deck, and Adrian suggests that the deck is a true contender in the post-States metagame. If you’re looking for an innovative and exciting Red deck, then this is the article for you!
Last weekend, Mike took to the field of battle with a deck that should look familiar. Unfortunately, a few play mistakes saw him out of contention early. Today’s Flores Friday sees Mike in a reflective mood, examining these mistakes in order to analyse what they signify in the grand scheme of self improvement. We all make mistakes… but learning from them is what makes us better players. Can YOU learn from Mike’s mistakes? Read on to find out!
You won’t be hearing much about my States deck this year. I went 1-2 and dropped. This year you’ll be hearing about other people’s decks, but let’s get my story out of the way first…
