The Kitchen Table #124 – A Casual Look at Online Programsby Abe Sargent, originally published on 2008-03-13
Thursday, March 13th - Hello folks, and welcome back to the series that brings the casual acts to the stage. I am your producer, determining which acts are good enough to warrant some time in the limelight. Today I want to investigate the tools available to casual Magic players out there, including Apprentice and more.
Flores Friday - Sideboarding with the Once and Future #1 Apprenticesby Mike Flores, originally published on 2007-08-17
Last weekend, Mike Flores helped two of his self-appointed "apprentices" make Top 8 at a Time Spiral Block Constructed PTQ. Asher Hecht came third, and Josh Ravitz won the whole thing. This was due, in no small part, to excellent deck choice and playskill... but also because of the excellent sideboarding strategy. Mike brings us the low-down today, plus an exhaustive response to Adrian Sullivan’s claims regarding the 4/1 "dogma" of card numbers in deck construction.
Flores Friday - Lots of Topics, Works in Progressby Mike Flores, originally published on 2007-03-16
Mike walks us through a variety of topics and decklists, from Standard to Extended, from cheaters to Mike’s apprentice. If you’re looking to rock the final Extended PTQ this weekend, you can’t miss this... and if you wanna know Mike’s take on foreign players and cheating, look no further!
Regionals - Reporting on Dissensionby Mike Flores, originally published on 2006-05-26
Mike Flores describes the deck he and apprentice Julian Levin use to a combined 12-2-2 Swiss record at Southern New England Regionals. This mysterious deck - which plays essentially no Guildpact or Dissension spells - was passed over for States when they finished first and second in New York... but was reappropriated for a tournament with
two more sets added. The answers to all your questions and the round-by-round blow-by-blows are contained within!
taniquetil writes: "The only problem with the guildmage is that, while he is a very effecient beater for the 2-mana slot, his abilities cost a lot. Apprentice is a Ninja enabler and doesn't require you to commit huge amounts of mana to his ability. If Oath goes off turn 2 or 3 the guildmage will do nothing to help you, while Apprentice will already be online and active. "
[Visit
TheManaDrain.com for More Vintage Discussion!] What Are You Smoking, Azusa?by Adam Petraitis, originally published on 2005-04-20
Ahhh, nothing quite compares to the joy of the multiplayer lockdown. I'd been trying to build a Counterspell-based lockdown deck for many months, utilizing four Daring Apprentices, four Arcane Laboratories, and four Pygmy Hippos, but it
never worked. Fortunately, I came up with a lockdown deck that
did work, and so I decided I'd throw it into the ring for
this week's $20 Casual Challenge!
Food for Thought - Creative Semi-Isolation: Five Cards for Extendedby John Dale Beety, originally published on 2004-09-09
I spent this summer without an internet connection, a car, or friends who play Magic. Thankfully I had a copy of Apprentice and the latest Fifth Dawn update, so I spent the better part of my summer trying to break Extended, coming up with five decks that you probably haven't seen before.
Three Alternatives to Using Magic Onlineby Ron Vitale, originally published on 2004-02-02
No matter if you're indifferent, incensed, or pleased that Magic Online's price increase goes into effect on February 19, 2004, players from around the world have chosen to use alternative software to play games of Magic online. Why would you care? Ever want to play Type 1, sealed deck with Alpha cards, or have unlimited access to all Magic cards from Alpha up through Darksteel? I'd like to take you on a journey in which I explore three ways to play Magic Online: MTGplay, Apprentice, and Magic Workstation. Each has its benefits and disadvantages, but at the end of the article, I hope you agree that some are worth checking out.
Food for Thought: Sampling Darksteel Deck Ideasby John Samples, originally published on 2004-01-28
Well, I have spent three solid days playing Darksteel Apprentice, and the verdict is in: It's all aggro. If you haven't been playing around with Darksteel, you won't believe the consistency that Standard can offer. Before we get into all of the beautiful decks I have been thinking about, I am going to do a little card analysis, but not much, just a"sample" to whet your appetite.
Tennessee State Champ Goes 0-2 Drop - Scrubs Around The World Rejoice!by Matthew Mann, originally published on 2003-12-16
I played the deck a few matches on Apprentice, almost all against Red Deck Loses. I wasn't having a lot of trouble, because it's Apprentice, and because this deck beats RDL. I eventually just started disconnecting when people played Mountains, because I was trying to get some varied playtesting. I assumed that a lot of other people liked the deck, but it seems that it's only people online. We decided to go up to Roanoke on Friday night, and there happened to be a blizzard. We make it, get some sleep, and get to the site at 9:30. There are zero cars in the parking lot. Did I mistake the date? The PTQ last year wasn't canceled, and that snowstorm was a lot worse. Well, it was postponed until Sunday, so I spent the day playtesting at StarCity with Dose and some people from Virginia Tech and Radford. One guy asked me my name, and recognized it from something. I felt almost famous.
Winning Provincials With... Beasts?by Joel DeAngelo, originally published on 2003-11-12
In the past two weeks, I had discussed rebuilding the Beasts deck that I qualified for Nationals with. Everyone on the team told me the deck sucked and wouldn't win... So late at night, I would test on Apprentice with my Beast deck with moderate success. When I couldn't draw jack with U/W on Thursday, I decided to play Beasts. Of course,my teammates laughed at me; they don't now.
Fun With...New Cards? A Shift in Moralityby Tony Costa, originally published on 2003-05-29
Two friends of mine were looking through their meager collection to see what kind of sickness they could put together with what little they had, when whatever they were smoking gave them a vision of the seventh plane of hell. I mean, look at that steaming pile! Only four rares, and the only good ones are the Balthors. Cabal Ritual? Morality Shift? Overeager Apprentice?! Ha!!!! Hey, don't laugh.
It works.
We've heard your pleas for a new MODO-based forum (and Apprentice, of course), and we have revamped our forums to help you out! Now help us out by sharing your greatest trading secrets: What's the most efficient trick you know to turn tix into rares, or vice versa?
Fun With Flores: Hunting Soundby Iain Telfer, originally published on 2003-03-28
Captivated by Mike's brilliant writing, I gave his threshold-based deck a few spins on Apprentice; the basic wisdom learned from that matchup was that the deck was really inconsistent and weird at times. I discussed the deck with a friend of mine - somewhere between Flores' deck and his, I think, lies the answer.
Christmas In Dominariaby Lawrence Moorehead, originally published on 2002-12-25
I began to remember the good parts of Christmas as well: Time out of school, few obligations to other people, presents, and the occasional Magic draft with friends. After my back began to ache, I began looking at Apprentice. Upon seeing the gargantuan list of cards I thought,"Is there a Christmas in the land of Magic?"
E-Colony: The Decks That Have Been Winning, With Specific Notes On My G/W Buildby Matthew Kahl, originally published on 2002-10-31
The e-colony's been working on breaking the format since the spoiler came out, and they've been working overtime to smash the Apprentice metagame in half... But can they break States? Matthew reports in with the final e-colony builds of Sligh, Mono Black, W/B Braids, and especially Matthew's own G/W beats deck.
Scrubbing It Up In Vermont, Part One: Blue Lightning Beatsby Ian McBride, originally published on 2002-07-10
Playing Magic in Vermont is like drinking only one cup of coffee a month. You do nothing but read net articles, browse forums, and play the occasional game of Apprentice until you hear about a tournament - then it's like a straight shot of adrenaline for six hours until you can once again collapse into the morass of the backcountry cardflopper.
Wizards Wrote Me A Very Large Check, That's Whyby The Ferrett, originally published on 2001-12-03
Why would StarCity publish a direct link to one of the most infamous cheating programs for Apprentice? I made the call... And I'll tell you why.
Apprentice Is King, And I Won't Hear Otherwiseby Pierre DuPont, originally published on 2001-11-26
Jack Yates may have started the fires burning here on StarCity, but Crazy Pierre takes a shot at explaining why Apprentice will always rule.
