Wednesday, February 3rd - It never ceases to amaze me just how many people spend the weeks leading up to the release of a new set complaining about how bad it is, especially with small sets. I mean, what is it about small sets that makes Magic players so narrow-minded? After this weekend’s prerelease, I’m quite convinced that the set is far from underdeveloped, and a long way from being bad in Constructed.
Wednesday, January 27th - As you’re all aware, my first Extended PTQ this season went rather poorly. I played Zoo instead of the Faeries list I had brought with me, and as a result I ran into a field saturated with Fae, Martyr, and Scapeshift. Rough beats. But, as with all mistakes, I learned…
Thursday, January 21st - A good friend of mine recently updated his Facebook claiming that he was going to take a break from Magic after a crushing defeat at a local FNM. He said that Standard was too luck-based, and that he had grown very tired of playing the game. This person is a good friend of mine, and someone that I’ve not only tested with and partied with, but also competed alongside at many PTQs. Let me show you what I told him…
Wednesday, January 13th - While all along I had expected to have an additional week to playtest Extended before I played in my first PTQ of the season, it has come to my attention that I will be attending the PTQ in Chicago in just a few days. That being said, I need a deck – and fast.
Wednesday, January 6th - And just like that, the first week of Extended PTQs has come and gone. In order to better prepare for the future metagame, it’s important to take a good hard look at the results from last weekend. Let’s get started!
Wednesday, December 30th - Extended season is nearly upon us, as luck would have it, and as a result I must say that I’m getting pretty excited to jump back into the PTQ circuit. This year’s Extended format isn’t nearly as fun as last year’s was for me personally (Faeries player at heart, remember?), but nevertheless I’m glad the format has so many viable decks this year
Wednesday, December 16th - A few weeks ago, the RG Valakut deck had been tearing up the MTGO scene and had shown up with at least one list in most of the Standard top decks. Why? I personally feel like that deck might be one of the format’s best-kept secrets…
Wednesday, December 9th - Last week, I spoke about how States is, in essence, a chance to play what you like, not necessarily what is just hands-down the best deck. While that recommendation is certainly very solid, I failed to take my own advice this past weekend at Michigan States.
Tuesday, December 1st - States is a funny tournament. No matter how many times it is discontinued, it simply refuses to give up. Each and every year it returns full-force, and this year is no exception. Granted, this particular year it’s quite a bit later than it usually is, and rather than setting the stage for Worlds it will instead draw from Worlds for its metagame, but nonetheless it’s back!
Wednesday, November 25th - The Magic World Championships: the pinnacle of competitive play, and the final showdown for the world title. This year‘s tournament was held in Rome, easily one of the most fitting settings for the finale. With another year in the books, there is much to discuss heading into the coming year.
Wednesday, November 18th - Think back, if you will, to Standard a year ago. Shards of Alara had just come out, and the format was still largely dominated by Lorwyn Block. Faeries was the undisputed champion if the format, and even more so before Time Spiral ripped Ancestral Visions from its despicable hands. Now I want you to think about what happened whenever someone pitched an idea for a new deck.
Wednesday, November 11th - Once upon a time, I did a set review for Shards of Alara, and in that review I foolishly bashed on Elspeth, Knight-Errant, asserting that she was just a “four-mana Angelic Blessing.” So, as one might guess, I know what crow tastes like. A month or so back, I said that “I was wrong about Elspeth, but I just don’t see it with Nissa.” … Oops.
Wednesday, November 4th - This week I’m going to switch gears back to Standard, a format that has been admittedly a little stale for me the past few weeks. The problem is that Jund has literally been the only deck people seem to want to play since Zendikar was released, with the rest of the crowd battling with fringe decks like Mono-Red and Vampires…
Wednesday, October 28th - Dredge has always been a powerful deck, but it feels like it really might be the best deck in the format, much like it was two years ago. At that time, most players would tell you that Next Level Blue (with Counterbalance) was the best deck and that Dredge was too easy to hate out, but that season easily belonged to Dredge.
Tuesday, October 20th - A short while back, Matt Elias wrote a wonderful and entertaining article called “Your Format Sucks,” which slapped each format in the face one-by-one. Though clearly aiming at humor in the long run, Matt’s analysis of the formats was more or less spot-on: especially his take on Extended.
Wednesday, October 14th - The PTQ season is about to get rolling, and I’ve got my first one this coming weekend. Zendikar Limited has yet to disappoint, and I feel as though the sealed format in particular is incredibly balanced.
Wednesday, October 7th - I’ve known many players in my years spent playing Magic that have told me that they enjoy Limited far more than Constructed, and I’ve personally just never felt that way. Even when Standard degenerated into a joke like Lorwyn Standard, I still would rather sleeve up 60-card decks as opposed to a draft deck. While that hasn’t necessarily changed for me, Zendikar is beginning to show me why so many players worldwide value Limited so highly.
Wednesday, September 30th - I’ll be the first to admit that Wizards has made their fair share of mistakes over the course of the last two decades, and even with Zendikar it’s apparent that they still have a lot to learn (Warren Instigator and Lotus Cobra at Mythic, for example). However, sometimes… they just get it right.
Wednesday, September 23rd - No matter how you look at it, it would seem that the feelings about Zendikar are more or less unanimous amongst the Magic community. Some suggest that it’s the best set since Ravnica, while others say it’s interesting yet also a tad overhyped. Myself, though, I find somewhere in between.
Wednesday, September 16th - It’s been a long time since any of us were truly thrilled about a new “large set” being released, as Shards of Alara wasn’t too hyped when it was released and Lorwyn’s return to tribal put a lot of people off. Time Spiral’s nostalgia theme was critical when it came to the hype for that set, but it seems like this time Zendikar is doing just fine on its own.
Wednesday, September 9th - Here I am again, in the lull between expansions. It’s times like these that I loathe being a Magic writer, as often it is difficult to find relevant topics to write about. As luck would have it, however, this week I’ve got a decent amount of content to cover. Zendikar spoilers are in full swing, and there are quite a few choice bits to sink our teeth into.
Wednesday, September 2nd - After my finish at last weekend’s PTQ playing Reveillark, I obviously felt well-poised to take down the next one. I moved back to Grand Rapids to go to school this week, and so the trip down to Cincinnati was ever further than it would have been from the east side. Nevertheless, I made the six-plus hour trek to Kentucky with immense optimism.
Wednesday, August 26th - Last weekend was the last PTQ for Austin here in Michigan, and I spent two weeks prior to it switching back and forth between different deck choices. After the PTQ in Chicago, I was pretty sure I wanted to cast Makeshift Mannequins on Anathemancers, but eventually I settled on Five Color Control. It was the best deck, and it had all the tools I needed to win a PTQ…
Wednesday, August 19th - With only three weeks left in the Austin qualifying season, choosing a deck is becoming increasingly difficult. Last week I talked about Five-Color Control and its position as the "best deck," and I still stand by that. You’d need a very good reason not to play Five Color over something else, although I think the leading excuse would be because playing against the mirror all day is not an ideal thing.
Wednesday, August 12th - Last week I mentioned that I would be battling in Ohio this past weekend at a PTQ in Columbus, but I was unfortunately unable to make it to that event. Regardless, I’ll still talk about the deck I would’ve played: Five-Color Control.
Wednesday, August 5th - This past weekend I attended a PTQ in Chicago. . Going into the event, I was convinced that Conley’s deck from U.S. Nationals was the deck to play, as it had few bad match-ups and actually was testing very well against Five-Color, a match-up that I wanted to be sure that I could beat when the time came.
Friday, July 31st - In his first article for StarCityGames.com, Team RIW’s Chris Jobin examines the fallout from U.S. Nationals, and takes us through his own personal metagame predictions for the immediate future of Standard. Welcome aboard, Chris!
Matching Flavor Text:
Thirst for Knowledge – Finding the Right Deck by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2010-01-13 Wednesday, January 13th - While all along I had expected to have an additional week to playtest Extended before I played in my first PTQ of the season, it has come to my attention that I will be attending the PTQ in Chicago in just a few days. That being said, I need a deck – and fast.
Thirst For Knowledge – Valakut in Standard by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-12-16 Wednesday, December 16th - A few weeks ago, the RG Valakut deck had been tearing up the MTGO scene and had shown up with at least one list in most of the Standard top decks. Why? I personally feel like that deck might be one of the format’s best-kept secrets…
Thirst for Knowledge - Post-Austin Extended by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-10-20 Tuesday, October 20th - A short while back, Matt Elias wrote a wonderful and entertaining article called “Your Format Sucks,” which slapped each format in the face one-by-one. Though clearly aiming at humor in the long run, Matt’s analysis of the formats was more or less spot-on: especially his take on Extended.
Thirst for Knowledge – Searching for Treasure by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-10-14 Wednesday, October 14th - The PTQ season is about to get rolling, and I’ve got my first one this coming weekend. Zendikar Limited has yet to disappoint, and I feel as though the sealed format in particular is incredibly balanced.
Thirst For Knowledge - Zen and the Art, Part 2 by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-10-07 Wednesday, October 7th - I’ve known many players in my years spent playing Magic that have told me that they enjoy Limited far more than Constructed, and I’ve personally just never felt that way. Even when Standard degenerated into a joke like Lorwyn Standard, I still would rather sleeve up 60-card decks as opposed to a draft deck. While that hasn’t necessarily changed for me, Zendikar is beginning to show me why so many players worldwide value Limited so highly.
Thirst for Knowledge – Zen and the Art, Part 1 by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-09-30 Wednesday, September 30th - I’ll be the first to admit that Wizards has made their fair share of mistakes over the course of the last two decades, and even with Zendikar it’s apparent that they still have a lot to learn (Warren Instigator and Lotus Cobra at Mythic, for example). However, sometimes… they just get it right.
Thirst For Knowledge – Zendikar, Cobra, and Extended Bant Midrange by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-09-23 Wednesday, September 23rd - No matter how you look at it, it would seem that the feelings about Zendikar are more or less unanimous amongst the Magic community. Some suggest that it’s the best set since Ravnica, while others say it’s interesting yet also a tad overhyped. Myself, though, I find somewhere in between.
Thirst for Knowledge – More From Zendikar by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-09-16 Wednesday, September 16th - It’s been a long time since any of us were truly thrilled about a new “large set” being released, as Shards of Alara wasn’t too hyped when it was released and Lorwyn’s return to tribal put a lot of people off. Time Spiral’s nostalgia theme was critical when it came to the hype for that set, but it seems like this time Zendikar is doing just fine on its own.
Thirst for Knowledge – Onward, to Zendikar by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-09-09 Wednesday, September 9th - Here I am again, in the lull between expansions. It’s times like these that I loathe being a Magic writer, as often it is difficult to find relevant topics to write about. As luck would have it, however, this week I’ve got a decent amount of content to cover. Zendikar spoilers are in full swing, and there are quite a few choice bits to sink our teeth into.
Thirst for Knowledge – One Final Faerie Fling by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-09-02 Wednesday, September 2nd - After my finish at last weekend’s PTQ playing Reveillark, I obviously felt well-poised to take down the next one. I moved back to Grand Rapids to go to school this week, and so the trip down to Cincinnati was ever further than it would have been from the east side. Nevertheless, I made the six-plus hour trek to Kentucky with immense optimism.
Thirst for Knowledge – Heartbreaker: Another PTQ Story *Finals* by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-08-26 Wednesday, August 26th - Last weekend was the last PTQ for Austin here in Michigan, and I spent two weeks prior to it switching back and forth between different deck choices. After the PTQ in Chicago, I was pretty sure I wanted to cast Makeshift Mannequins on Anathemancers, but eventually I settled on Five Color Control. It was the best deck, and it had all the tools I needed to win a PTQ…
Thirst for Knowledge – Dethroning the Champ by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-08-19 Wednesday, August 19th - With only three weeks left in the Austin qualifying season, choosing a deck is becoming increasingly difficult. Last week I talked about Five-Color Control and its position as the "best deck," and I still stand by that. You’d need a very good reason not to play Five Color over something else, although I think the leading excuse would be because playing against the mirror all day is not an ideal thing.
Thirst for Knowledge - A Look at Five-Color Control by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-08-12 Wednesday, August 12th - Last week I mentioned that I would be battling in Ohio this past weekend at a PTQ in Columbus, but I was unfortunately unable to make it to that event. Regardless, I’ll still talk about the deck I would’ve played: Five-Color Control.
Thirst For Knowledge – Mannequin Jund: A PTQ Story by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-08-05 Wednesday, August 5th - This past weekend I attended a PTQ in Chicago. . Going into the event, I was convinced that Conley’s deck from U.S. Nationals was the deck to play, as it had few bad match-ups and actually was testing very well against Five-Color, a match-up that I wanted to be sure that I could beat when the time came.
Thirst for Knowledge – Putting It All Together by Chris Jobin, originally published on 2009-07-31 Friday, July 31st - In his first article for StarCityGames.com, Team RIW’s Chris Jobin examines the fallout from U.S. Nationals, and takes us through his own personal metagame predictions for the immediate future of Standard. Welcome aboard, Chris!
StarCityGames.com
5728 Williamson Road
N.W, Roanoke, VA, 24012
Phone: (540) 767-GAME (4263) Monday-Friday 10am-6pm EST
Fax: (540) b
265-0544 Contact
Us!
All content on this page (c) 2009 StarCityGames and may not
be reproduced whole without
consent.
If it's happening in Magic: the Gathering, it's being talked about in our forums! Join, and share your thoughts with the rest of the Magic: the Gathering community!
Wednesday, January 13th - While all along I had expected to have an additional week to playtest Extended before I played in my first PTQ of the season, it has come to my attention that I will be attending the PTQ in Chicago in just a few days. That being said, I need a deck – and fast.
