TagStandard

From The Lab — Constructed Applications of Future Sight Red

Craig “The Professor” Jones, fresh from narrowly missing Day 2 in Grand Prix: Stockholm, brings us his thoughts on the Red cards from Future Sight. He updates a number of Standard and Block offerings with the new cards, and tosses out a few ideas and strategies. With Regionals just weeks away, it’s time to break Standard… maybe Prof can help!

Tact or Friction — Art and Flavor Review

This article is just about art, flavor text, and color. Seriously. If you want to read about mechanics, or casual decks, or the like, this isn’t for you, sorry. If you want the rant… well, it’s coming. But for now, we must make do with what we have. At the time of this writing, Future Sight was fully spoilered yesterday. This means I’m writing three weeks in advance — and that means that Future Sight is probably purchase-and-play legal right now. So it’s only five more articles from here before I can play with the cards myself. What better time, I suppose, to spout off angrily about things that matter the least in the game to the tournament scene?

Peebles Primers — Dredge for Regionals

Thanks to a punted PTQ, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy is playing Regionals this year. With less than a month to go until the big day, BPM is embarking on a journey to find and hone his Regionals powerhouse. Each week, from now until the tournament, he’ll be looking at possible contenders, and weighing up the pros and cons of each in regards to a likely nine-round tournament. First up is Dredge. Is it good enough to take the slot?

The Beautiful Struggle – Picking Your Deck for Regionals

Regionals is coming, so it’s time to knuckle down! Today’s Beautiful Struggle sees Mark in a reflective mood. In order to maximize our successes at the approaching National Qualifiers, we need to squeeze the most out of our prospective deck choices. By looking at some successful decks from tournaments past, Mark examines the strategies and thought-processes that propelled the winners to the final table…

Deep Analysis — Mid-Testing Feedback

With Regionals on the horizon, Richard returns to his intriguing Walking Anthems Standard deck, testing the important matchups and tweaking the card numbers. Hit / Run, Temporal Isolation, Necrotic Sliver… are they good enough for the final 75? His attempts to break the metagame are proceeding apace… does this latest version have what it takes?

The Combat Phase — Busted At Three, and Future Sight Green

After a week’s holiday in sunny Berlin, Jamie is back with a bang! Today he shares the latest incarnation of Busted at Three, his G/B Standard deck. Regionals is coming, and Jamie has cast his die. He also takes a long look at the Green cards of Future Sight. For the thoughts and concerns of this Green Mage Extraordinaire, read on!

From The Lab — Constructed Applications of Future Sight White (The Return of the Great White Hype?)

Craig “The Professor” Jones applies his analytical mind to the task of dissecting the White cards from Future Sight. In particular, White cards that may reinvigorate the fortunes of the Little Deck That Could —Block Constructed White Weenie. Is Lumithread Field enough to neuter Sulfur Elemental? Does Scout’s Warning offer hope against Mystical Teachings? And has Judge Unworthy been judged worthy?

Spotlight on Future Sight — A Look at Constructed

Rounding out our Spotlight on Future Site series, we have Mike Flores! As usual for Flores Friday, Mike will be dwelling on cards specifically for Constructed formats… and today’s article looks at the twenty most promising cards to come from the new set. In addition, Mike dismantles a lot of the myths regarding some of the more over-hyped cards in the set. You can be sure that Pact of Negation will make the Top 20 list… but Bound in Silence? And where does Mike stand on the Edge of Autumn debate? Read on to find out!

Feature Article – Sullivan Library: The Best Future Sight Constructed Cards

Adrian Sullivan, one of the game’s most inventive deckbuilders, takes us through his own personal Top 5 Future Sight cards for Constructed, color by color. Today’s article looks at the Top 5 Black, Blue, and Green cards, with the series rounding out next week. Some of the cards here are obvious calls, but others are much more surprising. Looking for those cards that may power out the Next Big Thing? Look no further!

You Lika The Juice? – Where’s Bibi?

So what’s everybody think of the new Standard with Future Sight? It’s hard for me to gage the impact of Future Sight because I go nuts whenever a new set is released, making up all sorts of new decks that I’m eager to try. New cards are like bright, new shiny objects, and like a crow I get hypnotized and obsessed. And so I present… Standard decklists!

Drafting With Rich – TTP #20

You all know the drill by now… Rich Hoaen, Canada’s finest and grumpiest draft export, takes us by the hand and drags us through the rollercoaster ride of an 8-4 TTP Draft on Magic Online. From pick 1 to pick 45, Rich shares them all, and his final deck and draft performance are analysed in the article, the forums, and beyond. Come join in the fun!

Spotlight on Future Sight — Future Sight’s Impact on Standard

Yesterday, Nick Eisel kick-started our five-part Spotlight on Future Sight series with a look at some of the hits and misses of Future Sight for Limited play. Today, it’s Richard Feldman’s turn. He takes the Top 5 Standard decks in the current metagame and examines the impact that the new cards will have on these fan favorites. Where, exactly, does Pact of Negotiation fit? Does Izzetron gain or lose anything? Is Magus of the Moon suitable for Gruul maindecks? All this, and more, inside!

The Online Outlook #9 — Prank Trading

In today’s Online Outlook, I confess my own guilty little secret… don’t worry, it’s nothing too salacious — we’re still a family friendly site. I also take a look at the smorgasbord that is the Magic Online Standard Metagame, and posit the theory that it’s possible to have both a well-defined and diverse metagame at the same time…

Feature Article – The Pin, and Saturn Unleashed! (A Deck for Standard)

Kyle Sanchez… love him or hate him, he’s certainly got a great deal to say! Today’s Feature Article contains two cool Standard decks — one Black/White, one a fresh take on Dredge — but you may have to dig a little to find the gold! This fun article is packed with stories, secrets, decklists, and lies, plus a gaggle of the infamous Sanchez pictures. If you’ve not read any Kyle, now is the time to start…

Tact or Friction — Drought Project #3: The End

We have a lot of ground to cover, and I’m actually trying to be as brief as I can be this week. Right now, I’m looking at it in the unedited form, at seven pages, and realize that, just maybe, brief isn’t happening. I’ll talk about Future Sight next week, and then fatties (and Green fatties specifically) the week after that, I promise. But I have to finish this up, and I can take you along with me along the way to the final point, and you can play the forum game of “give it a better name than I did.”