Mike rounds out his Mockvitational experience, sharing his Bring Your Own Block deck and personal performance, before diving deep into the coming Standard Champs metagame with a couple of interesting decks powered by the new Lorwyn cards. Everyone is attempting to lash Green with White to abuse Gaddock Teeg… but what are the other aggro strategies available to us? Read on to find out!
Two weeks ago, as a way to focus my time and attention, I asked you kind and thoughtful readers to vote on which of five cards I should feature in this week’s article. You voted for Ana Battlemage. Let me deconstruct this card and see what I’ve gotten myself into…
Standard Champs are looming large, and with Lorwyn promising to shake the metagame like a Polaroid picture, Richard Feldman offers up some decklists for those beatdown fans among us. There’s the perennial Red/Green offerings, another look at the popular Green/White Kithkin deck, a few interesting versions of Haakon Aggro, and an excellent build featuring Doran, the Siege Tower…
If you haven’t noticed, Lorwyn is a block about creatures. You know what’s really good in a format where a whole ton of creatures just appeared? Wrath of God. Damnation. Molten Disaster. Today’s Peebles Primers takes a look at some of the more entertaining directions such a strategy may take for Champs, and throws up a slew of interesting decklists and ideas. If you’re looking for an edge on the Standard competition, look no further!
Stephen is having a well-earned break in preparation for Pro Tour: Valencia and The Invitational. In his place we have the irreplaceable John Friggin’ Rizzo with another entertaining rant! This week, JFR takes a look at Standard decks that discard cards for fun and profit, featuring the 3/1 flyer for two mana that may well be the sleeper hit of Lorwyn: Oona’s Prowler. So, has JFR broke the format? Read on to find out!
Last week I received a number of responses wanting me to go further into Lorwyn Standard, so I’ll be leaving any final Extended thoughts to Feldman and company. We’ll jump right in with some baselines that many of the new decks people are throwing out there will have to live up too. Think of these as general guidelines that you want to follow while trying to optimize your deck.
Adrian is jetting off to Valencia soon, but before he departs for some Extended chicanery he spills the beans on the new Tribal cards from Lorwyn. Will they have an impact in Standard over and above the obvious pump for Tarmogoyf? Or are they merely smoke and bubbles, designed to deceive us into believing their hype? Let Adrian reveal all…
Imagine having Teferi out, evoking Shriekmaw at instant speed, playing Grim Harvest getting Shriekmaw back, Evoking it again, Recovering Grim Harvest, playing Grim Harvest getting Shriekmaw back, Evoking Shriekmaw again, Recovering Grim Harvest, playing Grim Harvest getting Shriekmaw back, Evoking Shriekmaw, then Recovering Grim Harvest again.
Wet dream, my friend… wet dream.
With eyes set on Spain and Pro Tour: Valencia, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin has set the Extended cards aside for a look at Lorwyn Standard. Today, he presents two decks, one of which he took to the infamous Mockvitational this past weekend. So how did he do? You’ll have to read on to find out… And if that’s not enough, Patrick also has a few ideas on how to get out of those all-too frequent crippling slumps.
Standard always does an interesting dance this time of year. Old favorites from the past two years march off into the mists of time to be forgotten with the rest. Old problems disappear just as abruptly, showing that even the most aggressively dominant decks come with an expiration date… I’m looking at you, Arcbound Ravager.
Lorwyn Standard is, at present, a mystery. Are the tribes strong enough to impact on the format? How bad is the loss of the Ravnica dual lands? With tomorrow’s Mockvitational in his sights, Mike Flores attempts to crack a few of these mysteries and brings us a B/U Control deck that’s packed with fresh meat! Cryptic Command, Guile… will they cut it in the upcoming metagame?
Brian David-Marshall caught up to me on Magic Online about a month ago and sent me a message: “How would you like to come up to NYC on October 6 to play in the top8magic Mockvitational?” Competitors? Lebedowicz, Chapin, and other luminaries will be turning out. Formats? Hey, I’ve always wanted to build my own block. Prizes? Amongst this crowd, what better prize could there possibly be than… bragging rights.
Chris Romeo takes a thoughtful stroll through the garden of Lorwyn, pointing out the cards and the combos that have recently piqued his interest. All the colors are trawled for hidden gems, and the flotsam is ritually derided in the signature Romeo style. Looking for the budget bombs in the coming Standard format? Chris has the article for you!
Lorwyn, it seems, brings all the boys to the yard. Everyone wants to play with the new cards, and Steve Sadin is no exception. This coming weekend, he’ll be slinging spells in the Mockvitational, and invitation-only tournament that features a Lorwyn Standard section. Today, he shares some of his decks and preparations, plus a couple of Lorwyn Draft thoughts and ideas…
Ravnica, for all practical purposes, has rotated out of Standard. People are working on new-Standard decks for States, which is just a couple of weeks away. A few staple cards will be leaving — but the biggest change will be to manabases. Let’s look at what goes, and what stays…
