M:tG Strategy, Reports and Shenanigans
Magic: the Gathering
The most strategic card game in the world. Take that, Texas Hold’em!
How to Play Magic – Part 6 – Combat
Jul 3rd
Combat – the core of the game of Magic. Most games of Magic are won and lost in the combat step, and almost every game of Magic you play will involve combat. Most creature keywords and abilities affect combat as well, and we’ll go over the most common abilities here as well.
The Real Best Bears of All Time by @Grizzly_Bears
Jul 2nd
So I’m cruising the interwebs, and I see a post about “Best Bears of All Time.” Exciting right?? Much to my dismay (and I’m sure just about everyone else in the multiverse) the article was about 2cc 2/2 ‘bears’. Not a single Bear on the list. Well it looks like it’s time to put my mana where my mouth is and write a definitive top 10 bears list.
More >
It Came From Twitter – New Details About “Shake”
Jul 1st
Lost in all the hullabaloo about the Esper Charm heard around Star City Games’ Standard Open last weekend, the first booster of M11 was opened for the Internets to see. Youtube user toxicmusic79 posted a video of an M11 booster being opened. The interesting thing was that the back of the Tips and Tricks card had an ad not for a Magic product or tournament, but for Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Seems obvious, right? You play Magic, he casts magic, Magic cards are made of cardboard, Nicholas Cage acts like he’s made of cardboard, perfect fit! But @ccgtradepost found something far more sinister. Far more hideous. And, well, just take a look at the booster pack from “Shake”, the 2011 large expansion:
It Came From Twitter – Best Bears of All Time
Jun 30th
Friday I saw a funny exchange on Twitter between one of the more famous Magic comedy posters and another poster, @norbert88. Here’s the goodies:
norbert88: If I were to write an article of the Top X Magpies of All Time (Ophidian/ Shadowmage/etc), what would be your interest level? (scale 1-10)
Grizzly_Bears: If I were to write an article of the Top X Bears of All Time, what would be your interest level? (scale 1-10) (@norbert88)
Really, is this close? I’m at a 2 out of 2 for excitement about the Bears list and only a 1 out of 3 for the Ophidian list. With that in mind… More >
A Few Brief Words on New Extended
Jun 18th
It’s hard to grasp what the heck just happened to Extended. Not only have we seen the last Extended PTQ with Chrome Mox, Chalice of the Void, and Engineered Explosives, but also Umezawas Jitte, Tarmogoyf, Lightning Helix, Living End and shocklands. The next time we play Extended to get onto the Pro Tour, the format will look like:
- Lorwyn
- Morningtide
- Shadowmoor
- Eventide
- Shards of Alara
- Conflux
- Alara Reborn
- Zendikar
- Worldwake
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Scars of Mirrodin
- Set 2 of the Scars block
- M10
- M11
Obviously Faeries will be a major power in this format, with Scapeshift, Scapeshift Zoo, and Traditional Zoo close behind. Reveillark control decks (not combo style, sorry, Body Double!) will be big, and people will get to dust off their playsets of Figure of Destiny and Reflecting Pools. Vivid manabases will be the norm for the next season and any deck that can efficiently attack that manabase (Spread ‘Em with Fulminator Mage?) or battle back with extreme consistency in its mana (Kithkin, Faeries and dedicated burn decks) will have to be good enough to overcome the sheer card quality of the 5CC Control and Cascade decks.
There are definitely upsides and downsides to the new Extended format. I wish there was something in-between, like the rumored OverExtended format (Mercadian Masques and up) or something more like classic Extended, which rotated sets out every two years and gave some cards (dual lands, anyone?) special dispensation. I just feel that the new Extended is far too close to Standard, and the room for innovation isn’t really there – much like Standard used to be the best block decks against one another until Wizards did a better job of making block themes interact, the new Extended may turn into the best Standard decks from the past three years battling against one another. We’ll see how it goes, but I really hope the next announcement from WotC is a new format (and not one that involves four booster packs and 30 card decks).
National Qualifiers Week – Players’ Reaction
May 11th
May 15, 2010
US National Qualifiers are this Saturday, and for some, the new ‘one qualifier per state’ setup is making their weekend much easier, while for others, it’s ruining it. A couple weeks ago, I asked for your feedback in how the changes to the National Qualifier program from Regionals were going to affect you. For the stat geeks out there, 36% of the people who responded are traveling out of state to a NQ while 86% of respondents will be attending an NQ.
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National Qualifiers Week – The Gauntlet
May 10th
May 15, 2010
Welcome to National Qualifiers week! This Saturday, around the United States, players will attempt to qualify for the US National Championships in every state. Here’s a quick factsheet on what to expect at your local NQ. More >
National Qualifiers – Informal Survey
Apr 29th
A few weeks back, I mentioned that the DCI was changing how Regionals worked, replacing them with the National Qualifiers program in the US and Canada. Today, Bill Stark published an interview with Organized Play’s Scott Larabee with regards to the National Qualifiers, and we learned some interesting information for those who don’t religiously check the US National Qualifiers page (and I’m not one of the people constantly hitting Refresh or putting my address in their map widget… which is another article unto itself). The biggest piece of news is that there will be one National Qualifier per state. California’s NQ is in Los Angeles, and Texas’s is in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. While players in West Texas don’t have a lot of options (travel to DFW for the 8-slot tournament, or go to either Oklahoma City or Albuquerque for a 2-slot qualifier), players in Northern California have Portland, Oregon’s 4-slot qualifier as an option aside from the Los Angeles 8-slot qualifier. Thanks for the feedback. Responses to this survey are now closed.
The End of Another Season
Apr 13th
Well, here we are at the end of another constructed season, and the Still Had All These team acquitted themselves fairly well… except for yours truly, of course. G Pelly had two top 8 finishes, including a final, and Dwayne and Kasey both got to the top 8 in Portland. Dwayne also had a cash performance in GP Houston. I cubed a lot and played a lot of Catchphrase.
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Regionals No More – Wizards Announces National Qualifiers
Apr 6th
Wizards of the Coast today announced changes to the tournaments previously known as Regionals. You can see their info sheet for the 2010 National Qualifiers here. The major change is that the tournaments are no longer fixed to offer four slots to US Nationals. A breakdown of the slots offered to the Northwest states:
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