With Time Spiral Block Constructed season winding down, and everyone holding their breath for news of Lorwyn trickling out from Wizards, Scrye, and other magazines, and the eagle-eyed sleuths at MTGSalvation, it’s tempting to just drift away from thinking about Magic right now. I mean, you spend eleven months devouring Magic strategy and content, you can take a month off… right?
Aside from the fact that I have to spend more money that I don’t really have, I love it when a new set comes out. That’s true even if, like Tenth Edition (a.k.a. Xth), it’s mostly comprised of cards that I already have, thanks to years of hoarding the ones that I’ve purchased. That’s because the fun isn’t necessarily in getting new cards but in using old cards in new ways. At a minimum, it’s the chance to use old cards in combinations and in formats in which I’ve never gotten to use them.
Aussie Storm was piloted to a 5-1 in the Australian Nationals Standard portion. I lucked my way into the Top 8 of UK Nationals with it, with 4 wins, 2 losses and a draw, and Stephen Neal piloted it to a 5-2 score in the Standard portion of U.S. Nationals. It also won an 80-man GPT for Krakov the day before UK Nationals, in the hands of Ben Allen… and no one is talking about it.
Adrian Sullivan, one of the finest deckbuilding minds in the game, has done it again. Today’s Sullivan Library takes us through a fantastic new Green/White deck that has positive matchups against four of the top five decks in Standard. If that isn’t enough, the article also divulges some of the Master Builder’s deck design secrets. Looking to smash at a Standard tournament, or hoping to hone your deckbuilding skills? Then this is the article for you!
Ask the Magic player on the street about the deckbuilding history of Adrian Sullivan, and it’s likely they’d say he was a lover of the Island. Indeed, Control decks spring from him like wine… but with the release of Tenth Edition shaking up the aether, just how do the traditional (i.e. Blue) control archetypes fare in the deluge of new cards? What trickery and subterfuge is now available to the water-mage? Adrian reveals all…
Dredge… the deck that falls to hate. The deck that, while powerful, is simply unable to put up the numbers in a multi-round tournament. Of course, if people forgo the sideboard hatred, then the deck is unquestionably powerful — just ask Stuart Wright. Today’s Peebles Primer sees BPM deconstruct the decklists from U.S Nationals in order to evaluate the level of hatred you may face, before presenting us with his powerful Dredge deck that has posted excellent results on Magic Online.
Craig “The Professor” Jones likes a burn spell. After all, one particular Lightning Helix earned him $16,000 and made him famous. So when he won the recent Great British National Championship, it came as no surprise that he was packing heat. Today’s From The Lab takes us through some of the intricacies of piloting a burn-heavy deck, and tells us how to turn the mirror match from a coin-flip into a three-point win.
I really like Aethermage’s Touch. It won me several game 1s that I couldn’t have possibly won otherwise. That said, a lot of people don’t like it, and I don’t exactly know why. Sure, you will miss somewhere around 10-15% of the time, but it is such a blowout card that can be used to make their Remands much less efficent. There aren’t any instants that actually do something when you don’t have a creature in this deck, and Touch gives you more options to combat the various permission strategies.
After rocking his Regionals with Korlash Control, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin wanted a similar fish to take him upstream towards U.S. Nationals Top 8 success. After much debate and discussion with some of the top theorists and players in the game, he settled on an interesting control variant that harnessed the power of both Korlash and Tarmogoyf. It served him well, and almost took him to the very top. Today’s article looks at his preparation for the event, and brings us a new Standard control deck for those looking for top tech.
With both U.S. and UK Nationals now in the books, the Standard metagame is beginning to take shape. One of the major players in this evolving meta is Gabe Walls and Gerry Thompson’s U/G/W Blink deck. Today’s Peebles Primer sees BPM take us through the history of the deck, and he also lays down some matchup specific sideboarding plans for other decks in the field.
I’m in Baltimore, for U.S. Nationals. It’s hot. I’ve got a couple hours to kill before I start work. I think I’ll head for side events and some drafts, but before that I’ll try to give you an update on the evolving Standard format. I’ll also give you a little bit of the feel of judging at an event like Nationals.
Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin, fresh from his sterling performance at this year’s U.S. Nationals, brings us the entertaining story of The Greatest Deck That Never Was. While the creation of this deck proved to be in vain, it does highlight how difficult it is to position yourself correctly in order to break a format. Plus, we have Patrick’s U.S. Standard decklist, and a fresh take on beatdown for Time Spiral Block Constructed.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re going to take a look at the Top 8 Standard decklists from the Kentucky Open, what’s impacting us the most in Tenth Edition, as well as a little thing I like to call This Week In Magic.
In preparation for U.S. Nationals, and for the meatgrinders in particular, this week’s Flores Friday sees Mike bring us a selection of fun and powerful Standard decks across a number of popular archetypes. Looking for the best of Gruul beatdown? Or something more mid-range and controlling? How about a Green/White deck with plenty of trickery? Mike’s got all the bases covered…
With the Standard metagame finally taking shape in this Post-Tenth Edition era, Adrian Sullivan opens another weighty tome from the Sullivan Library. By looking back at some pre-Tenth Mono-Black shenanigans, he creates an exciting new deck that may just be the weapon of choice for 2007’s National champion! Intrigued? Then read on…
