TagStandard

Peebles Primers — Road to Regionals: Solar Flare

Get ready for Magic the Gathering Regionals!
We’re trundling down the Road to Regionals today with a look at one of Japan’s finest sixty-card imports… Solar Flare! Once a proud Tier 1 deck, this U/B/W Control deck took a beating with new set releases, but it’s seeing a Renaissance of late. If you like your decks packed with card drawing and broken plays, then Solar Flare may be the choice for you come Regionals…

Deconstructing Constructed — Road to Regionals: Glare Mini Primer

Get ready for Magic the Gathering Regionals!
It’s Road to Regionals for Deconstructing Constructed this week, and Josh is here to help! This week he covers a number of questions received about the Detritivore Glare deck from his last article, and he also adds a few words about Boros in the current metagame.

Ask the Drama — Road to Regionals: Your Standard Questions Answered!

Get ready for Magic the Gathering Regionals!
In today’s instalment of the Road to Regionals series, Jeroen Remie sifts through his mailbag in search of questions on Standard. He has a look at Solar Pox, at another interesting Black/White deck, and discusses at length some of the ways to combat Dragonstorm. He also looks at a Blue/White Control deck and discusses countermagic. If you’re looking for that all-important edge for Regionals, Jeroen has the article for you!

The Beautiful Struggle — Road to Regionals: Astonishing X Men

Get ready for Magic the Gathering Regionals!
No one actually knows the complete history of the deck known as Project X. It’s a lot like the mutants in Marvel’s X-Comics: no one how they came about or who was responsible. Its origins have been lost in the Sands of Time. All I can do is tell you what I know…

From Right Field – Not a Column About Regionals

Read Chris Romeo every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Chris recaps his vacation week shenanigans and brings three interesting Standard decks for us to dissect and consume. Blue/Black discard, and mono-Blue Pirates deck, and a deck that revolves around the dollar rare Dichotomancy. Could there be a gem of undiscovered tech lurking in these formative lists? Read on to find out!

Deep Analysis — Road to Regionals: The Suicide Squad

Get ready for Magic the Gathering Regionals!
We start our Road to Regionals series with an all new Feldman creation: the Orzhova Suicide Squad! Richard was hell-bent on finding a mind-range deck with game against the Big Three of Dragonstorm, Gruul, and Dralnu du Louvre. In recent weeks, that quest was sidelined for other Magical endeavors. However, the Suicide Squad has been putting up great numbers against both the Big Three and the some of the new pretenders to the throne! If you’re looking for a deck for Regionals, this could be the one.

Magical Hack – Dredging Up The Past

Read Sean every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
On the 20th, I played in a Future Sight-legal Standard tournament… which was won by a U/B speed Dredge deck, previously unseen on the online tournament circuit but apparently popular on bulletin boards everywhere. It used Blue dredge enablers like Magus of the Bazaar and mana acceleration effects to play them turn 1. It’s currently known as “Under The Bridge,” and it’s the deck of choice today.

Flores Friday – Go-Sis and Draw-Go

Read Mike Flores every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Mike continues his exploration of the B/U/R Control deck in Standard, and reveals that this is the deck he is currently planning to take to Regionals. Today’s Flores Friday sees Mike throw the deck against the format’s behemoth, Dragonstorm. Ten games, ten results, and a favorable matchup overall. If that’s not enough, he also brings us a powerful Mono-Blue Control build, both with and without Future Sight!

Peebles Primers — Dralnu du Louvre

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
The Standard metagame has crystallized around three Tier 1 decks: Dragonstorm, Gruul, and Dralnu du Louvre. Of late, it appears that the decks with Red have eclipsed the Control deck… but lately, the counterspells have been fighting back! Benjamin takes the Blue/Black masterpiece and updates it for a Brave New Metagame, just in time for Regionals!

Deconstructing Constructed – A Fresh Look At Standard

Read Josh Silvestri every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
With the Block and Legacy Grand Prix over, the next major event coming up for you, John Q Draftsalot, is Regionals. This means slogging back into the Standard metagame. I’ve been doing a running test log in an attempt to build around the basic structure of the format. These are the basic tenets of the format I’ve followed thus far when creating or tuning my decks.

You Lika The Juice? – Weirdness

Read Bennie Smith every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Before I get into the weirdness, I figure I’d toss out some red meat for Spike to feast upon. Last week I got a message from Thomas Leveille, the guy playing in the Virginia Beach City Champs program that was kicking ass on points about halfway through. So, how did it pan out? Thomas pinged me on AIM with this message last week…

The Beautiful Struggle – Inexplicable

Read Mark Young every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Armed with a freshly-cut Hatching Plans Storm Combo deck, Mark takes to the eight-man queues… and comes up short. He can’t buy a win with this deck. Yet similar builds have been rocking up premier Event Top 8s without batting a metaphorical eyelid. Where’s Mark going wrong. Is it in his play, or the deck, or the simple strategies needed to succeed? Read on to find out!

From Right Field – Some Love for the Old Guys

Read Chris Romeo every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Chris dives deep into his Well of Budget Decks, and surfaces holding a deck with a twist. With Time Spiral packing our binders with old-fashioned cards, it’s time to send out some deck lovin’ to the Old Guys who’ve never thrown away a Magic card. As an Old Guy who never throws away my Magic cards, I approve of this message.

The Combat Phase — Green Day

Read Jamie Wakefield every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Jamie returns to his roots with some good old-fashioned fattie-lovin’… as he says himself, there’s nothing sweeter than casting a huge guy, watching your opponent struggle to deal, and once they have… casting another one. He also brings us up to speed on his European adventures, and shares a few Future Sight Green cards that have been tweaked with a touch of the Wakefield magic…

The Online Outlook #11 — Eskimo Pie

Read Craig Stevenson every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
This week, I’m forgoing the usual metagame breakdowns — the format is about to radically shift, after all — and I’m bringing you an interesting little Black/White Control deck for the current Online Standard. It has a brilliant matchup against Dragonstorm and a good game versus Gruul. Intrigued? Then read on…