It’s a sad day for us here at StarCityGames.com. This will be the last Chris Romeo article for a while. I’ll let the man himself tell you the details, but we all wish him the best of luck, and hope he returns to our front page soon. Good luck Chris, and thanks for the good times!
I have failed you. Remember a few weeks ago how we had a vote on which card I should use in my next deck? No Rest for the Wicked won. However, Shivan Wumpus and Lord of the Pit tied for second, missing the top slot by only one vote. I promised to do decks on the two runners-up too. I’ve done a Shivan Wumpus deck. I was going to do Lord of the Pit this week. I even had a great name for the deck: Pit Boss. But I chickened out and went for an Elf deck instead.
Today is Thanksgiving. As one who concentrates on inexpensive decks, I’m especially thankful for the fan-freakin’-tastic commons and uncommons that the folks at Wizards have been making over the past few years. I could make my word count for this article right now just by listing all of the kick aspirin commons and uncommons that are Standard-legal right now. While I’m cheesy (check out that moustache!), I’m not that cheesy.
I made a Kithkin Soldier deck. I know. I can’t believe it, either. Me, Chris Romeo, building a White Weenie deck as his first one using the latest cards. Go figure. I wanted the goodness of Clash in there somewhere, to smooth the draws. This is the part where you scurry to figure out which card with Clash I could possibly use in a White Weenie deck. It’s Springjack Knight.
This week, Chris makes good on his promise to build Standard decks around the much-maligned Shivan Wumpus. He brings us not one, not two, but
three decks that pack the punishing 6/6. SO how did they fare in the maelstrom of Magic Online testing? Click here to find out!
Obviously, clearly, and undoubtedly, Grave Pact is just so very made for No Rest for the Wicked. They go together like peanut butter with jelly, fries with that shake, and yo' momma with me. "Oh, snap!" In fact, it's so easy that I didn't even really try it. Of course, it could be that it isn't as easy as I think...
Every once in a while, I get an e-mail or StarCityGames.com in-box message asking about this deck that I mention which inspired my very first Magic column. The deck was called Ants in the Pants, and I wrote about it for a defunct web site called 7Towers.net. Given that people still seem interested and that I couldn't finish any of the sixteen article ideas I had this week, I decided to reprint the piece here...
Two weeks ago, as a way to focus my time and attention, I asked you kind and thoughtful readers to vote on which of five cards I should feature in this week's article. You voted for Ana Battlemage. Let me deconstruct this card and see what I've gotten myself into...
Chris Romeo takes a thoughtful stroll through the garden of Lorwyn, pointing out the cards and the combos that have recently piqued his interest. All the colors are trawled for hidden gems, and the flotsam is ritually derided in the signature Romeo style. Looking for the budget bombs in the coming Standard format? Chris has the article for you!
Right now, the card that has me the most torn up is Mobilization. I love that card. I was enamored of it back when it was first printed in Onslaught, and I’m no less taken by it today. It makes token Soldiers, no less. They have Vigilance. I can make as many as I can afford to pay for. What’s not to love?
I write about budget decks. I tell those without unlimited Magic funds to make sure that the first thing that they do when each new set comes out is to get four copies of each common and uncommon. Since we know the schedule of sets’ releases, we should be able to budget for that purchase by putting aside five or so bucks a week. Some players, though, don’t have any money for anything beyond that. Not even enough to get four Heartwood Storytellers or four Stalking Vengeances. Why do I ignore those folks?
It’s been a while - probably too long - since I reached into my male bag. I mean, my mailbag. Without further ado, let’s see what interesting stuff is in here. As usual, I’ll be changing the names to protect whatever dignity people have left after writing to me. Unless they want me to use their name. In which case, I will decide if they’re just going for Internet immortality or if they’re being genuine.
I finally got out of the house on a Saturday and played actual, honest-to-goodness tournament Magic against real human beings who sat across from, beside, and diagonal to me. I wanted to commemorate this occasion with a tournament report worthy of our own Jamie Wakefield, King of the Fatties, Conqueror of Beautiful Women from Exotic Places and Exotic Women from Beautiful Places, Tournament Report Writer Extraordinaire. I will probably fail, but at least I’ll have tried.
While I am often referred to as “Dr. Romeo“ in this column, I‘m not a doctor in the conventional sense of the word. I’m a doctor of jurisprudence. In other words, I just have the title of doctor, like Dr. Henry Kissinger with his Ph.D. from Harvard, or Dr. Dre with his degree in funkology. So, before writing this column I had little knowledge of the physiology and neurology of Zombies. I had to find out if Zombies dreamed...
Aside from the fact that I have to spend more money that I don’t really have, I love it when a new set comes out. That’s true even if, like Tenth Edition (a.k.a. Xth), it’s mostly comprised of cards that I already have, thanks to years of hoarding the ones that I’ve purchased. That’s because the fun isn’t necessarily in getting new cards but in using old cards in new ways. At a minimum, it’s the chance to use old cards in combinations and in formats in which I’ve never gotten to use them.
My last two columns were about staple rares that I think that budget players should try to pick up. Many people commented on the fact that the lists were “too long" and had “too many cards" on them to be considered “staples." While I addressed that issue at the beginning of last week’s column, I want to come back to it from a different angle.
I may not use Chimeric Staff in every tourney I play in while it’s Standard legal. In fact, I’m sure that I won’t. However, if I want to build a deck with that card in it, I know that I have it. I only chase those cards that I think I’ll use, though. As I’ve stated many times before, if it’s not a card you think you’ll use - whether it’s because of the card’s color, the card’s type, or the kind of deck in which it would have to be used - then it’s not a staple for you.
Today's From Right Field sees Chris return to familiar ground: he updates his Staple Rare list to include both Coldsnap and Tenth Edition. As both sets have a huge number of possible Constructed powerhouses, and both sets will be around for many moths to come, should you be saving for those Sunscours and hoarding for those Haakons? Let Chris lead the way!
Since it’s my birthday, what I’m going to do is give myself a present of sorts. I’m going to make a Time Spiral Block Constructed deck featuring Radha, Heir to Keld. Ever since I saw her in Planar Chaos, I knew that I’d use her in a deck. The problem was that, at the time, there really wasn’t a lot to do with her triggered ability except to play Instants and Flash creatures. Sure, Red and Green have some mighty nice examples of those, but they have to be in your hand.
I got an interesting e-mail a couple of weeks ago. The writer wanted to know if we could come up with a U/R Time Spiral Block Constructed deck whose only rare was Aeon Chronicler. Also, even though Time Spiral Block has two of the best counterspells around right now (Cancel and Delay), we couldn’t use any countermagic...
We're at the bi-annual time when I look back at the cards that were in the Core (nee Base) set to which hardly anyone paid any attention, and with which you won’t be able to play in Standard once the new Core/Base set becomes Standard legal. In other words, the cards we missed in Ninth Edition that aren’t coming back in Tenth Edition (a.k.a. X).
This week, I’ve decided that it’s high time that we here at From Right Field salute a sadly overlooked and under-appreciated part of the world: Canada. Canada is not just, as some people think, the United States North. It’s actually a whole other country! Really, it is. Wikipedia even says so.
As a writer whose mandate is to come up with cheap decks, I spend a lot - if not most - of my ponderin’ time asking the question “Why not?” That’s exactly how this column’s deck came about. For eight months now, I’ve asked myself, “why isn’t anyone playing with Phantom Wurm?” The answer I usually got was “Because Spectral Force is better.” As you might expect, that didn’t satisfy me...
I didn’t go to Regionals this year. I intended to play. I wanted to play. I built the deck. I even had it sleeved in the first new sleeves I’ve bought in a year, those new, shiny, black, “official” Magic: The Gathering sleeves with yellow lettering. Sweet, huh? So, what’s a poor boy to do when he’s all dressed for Regionals with no place to go? He makes it up! What follows is the story of how I would have won Regionals... had I attended.
This week, Chris stirs up a delectable fishy stew from a myriad of ingredients. He talks about the lost art of sideboarding — and begs for help in this area — before moving to balmier climes and making fun of people chatting on Magic Online. He then compares Edge of Autumn to Rampant Growth, before finishing up with a little Bad Rare Blasphemy. Verily, this article has everything!
Regionals is coming... and Chris is prepared. This year, he's armed with a funky-looking deck courtesy of a close friend. It's black, it disrupts, and it beats down. Who knows, maybe it's the missing tech that you're clamoring for. If you're still undecided on your 75 of choice, maybe Chris has the answers.
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!
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.
When Chris attempted to break Standard with Necrotic Sliver, his ideas fell on stony ground. Two weeks of testing and tweaking, and nothing to show for his time. So he threw the doors open to the forum folk, and begged for ideas. They replied in their droves... and today's article bears the fruit of their labors. Three deck, each with differing degrees of success... and one deck that may well be the Next Big Thing. Intrigued? Then read on!
E-mails, forum posts, and private messages in my StarCityGames.com mailbox provide me with some of my best inspiration. For example, one person recently asked me, in so many words, “Why do you hate Block Constructed with only two sets?” Because the Block’s not done yet. Sure, the Pros get to play a tourney with the two-set Block, but us regular folks don’t. So why should I waste time on the decks? Especially when the third set becomes legal on May 20th, and I have about ten million Standard decks to work on?
When I did my Planar Chaos review, I got more than a little negative feedback for hedging my bets on many of the cards. Looking back over that review, I have to agree. I got a bit gun shy. Not this time around. I’ve learned my lesson, baby. You guys want black and white, and I’m here to give it to you.
Chris Romeo is a nice fella. So nice, in fact, that today sees him create a couple of extreme budget Standard decks that can kick it in the real world! At the request of a fan, Chris runs us through some solid yet cheap deck options, sharing five decks in total. And if this wasn’t enough, he tries to break The New Cheese Stands Alone, a.k.a. Barren Glory! Does he succeed? Read on to find out!
When you last left me - you cold, heartless, fickle person, you — I was working on smooshing together two copies of the Ritual of Rebirth precon deck into something that might win you a few matches at your local Saturday Standard tourney. Today, I continue that journey... and what a journey it was!
Chris takes two copies of the Ritual of Rebirth preconstructed deck, and smashes them together in an attempt to fuse a competitive casual deck from the resultant debris. However, this time he’s up against it. Where oh where is the precious removal? Can a deck survive on creatures alone? Or did Chris cave and supply some creature-kill of his very own? Read on to find out!
When I left you last week, I was doing quite badly with a Black and White deck inspired by and built around Necrotic Sliver. Part of the reason was that I had run in directly into a gauntlet of tournament-winning decks. The other part was that the deck sucked. I was in a bit of a pickle. I have called Necrotic Sliver one of the two best non-rare creatures in Planar Chaos. Of course, I had to build a deck to prove that point, or no one would believe it.
As promised last week, Chris brings us his newest Standard creation — Black/White Slivers. He takes us through five different iterations of the deck, and shares some of his thoughts in testing and beyond. All this, plus a few match walkthroughs to boot! Looking to abuse the power of Necrotic Sliver? Then maybe this is the deck for you...
When I first scoped out the Planar Chaos preconstructed decks, I was much more excited about what I saw than I was about the Time Spiral decks. The decks just looked more solid. I don’t know if that’s a function of the designers having more cards to work with (although the current set is supposed to be the majority of the cards in any precon) or just designing more attractive decks.
Every once in a while, I find it necessary and useful to essentially hit the reset button on this column. A lot of people are new to this here site here every week, just as a lot of people are new to the game itself. Even with a column that’s as basic as mine, some people need a primer of sorts on where I’m coming from...
Romeo makes with the Sarpadian Empires volume of Quick Hits, tackling a number of Magical and non-Magical topics in machine-gun fashion. He brings us a couple of new budget Standard decks, talks a little about his sometime-“Angry Man” persona, and gives us some much-missed cheesecake!
Chris continues with his Angry Man persona and complains long and hard about the blurring of the color pie. He also swallows his pride and champions the very card he rails against so mightily. A rant, some comedy, and an interesting Rakdos Standard decklist... what more could you possibly need?
Chris Romeo, casual deckbuilder and all-round nice guy, takes the opportunity to get a few things off his chest this week. In this remarkable return to his caustic roots, Mr Romeo unleashes both barrels at the population at large. No one is safe from his vitriol and spite. Remember — you have been warned.
The wonderful thing about Slivers is Slivers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs. Apparently. Today’s From Right Field has a sliver of Slivers running right though it. Looking to beat down with Magic’s version of the Borg? Look no further!
Today's From Right Field comes from the trenches of Planar Chaos. Chris takes a timely look at each card in the set, and wades in with his personal opinion regarding the color pie dilemma. Have individual color boundaries remained intact, or have such disctintions been happy-slapped into submission?
Chris continues his Budget Boros exploration with a foray into the Tournament Practice room on Magic Online. He's armed with a cheapified Red/White machine, and bolstered by the tweaks supplied by a myriad of forum dwellers. Can the frugal fighters take down all in their path?
Chris Romeo brings us his take on Budget Boros, finding cheap and playable substitutions for some of the high-dollar rares. Will the deck stand up to the heat of tournament scrutiny? He also explains his personal methods for battling the Magic doldrums, and brings us a smattering of much-missed cheesecake...
Chris takes a sabbatical from his normal All-Romeo Deckfest Love-In, and concentrates his budget ability on Other People's Decklists. He casts his money-conscious eyes over successful builds, and evaluates their potency in the budget Standard metagame.
In today's From Right Field, Chris Romeo admits a dirty little secret. No, it's nothing to do with cheesecake... it's an admission of a guilty pleasure with few redeeming qualities. It's a pleasure that, if left unchecked, can mushroom out of all control. Intrigued? Then read on...
A few months ago, I opined that Lord of Atlantis should have been re-Oracled the same way that Elvish Champion, Goblin King, and Lord of the Undead had been. In other words, they gained the creature type of the creatures over whom they ruled. Lord of Atlantis was reprinted in Time Spiral’s Timeshifted subset and got all of the trapping of being a true Lord. Yeah! That was the good news. The bad news is that he gets a whopping three other Merfolk to play with in Standard...
It's the 26th of December... Boxing Day. Chris celebrates this marginal and obtuse holiday by returning to his much-loved Quick Hits article format. He opens the boxes on a number of topics today, including Battle Royale, deck names, Mishra, and College Football (*shudder* - football is played with the
feet, damnit!). All this, plus a decklist too! Happy Holidays!
Today, the final weekday before Christmas, I will build a Christmas deck. Unlike all of the other decks that I’ve talked about this week, though, this will be (a) Standard legal and (b) designed to play a two-player game, not a three-or-more-player game...
This week started with the story of the decks that I made for me, my brother Jonathan, and our friend Jason for Christmas 2005. We didn’t get to play them until Memorial Day 2006 because my brother didn’t get to come back home for the holidays in 2005. This year, Jonathan’s home. For good. He’s out of the Navy, going to school, and being supported by his wife. What a life!
This week’s SCG Dailies are about Magic cards for Christmas. Specifically, they are about decks that I’ve created and given as Christmas presents. (Except for yesterday, which was about suggestions on what to give a new player if you have no clue about Magic.) Four or five years ago, my brother was still overseas in the Navy. At the time, he was stationed in Japan on the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. That was the first ship into the Persian Gulf after the attacks of September 11th, 2001. We didn’t see him for a couple of Christmases...
I love casual Magic formats. If you didn't know that from my writings before, you will definitely know it after this week's SCG Dailies are all done. There's just something about being able to play with cards that you wouldn't normally be able to play with, cards that get pushed aside either because they aren't good enough for one-on-one duels or because they aren't legal in all of the same formats.
I’ve got a new favorite cheap, cheap, cheap pet deck, one that I don’t mind letting my friend Matt play. It’s dirt cheap, which is perfect because I don’t always know where his hands have been or when he washed them last. I alluded to the deck in my last piece. It’s sometimes called the new Goblins deck, but you’ll start calling it the Empty the Warrens deck soon enough...
When Craig asked me if I could do the dailies for the week before Christmas I jumped at the chance. For the past few years, Christmas and Magic have gone together like chestnuts and open fires, Santa Claus and Rudolph, and real trees and headlines about “a tragic holiday fire.” I like to create casual, kitchen-table decks to give to certain Magic-playing people as presents. I like to get Magic cards, too. Remember, when you don’t know what to get that Magic player on your list, there’s always a new set of cards.
Take a bit o' Blue, add a splash o' Red, and what have you got? The world's favorite color combination (allegedly). Everyone loves Steam Vents, or so it would seem, and it appears that Mr Romeo is no different. Today's offering brings us two budget-centric Red/Blue builds, coupled with detailed game descriptions from Magic Online.
Chris Romeo answers viewer mail? Well, it's always fun to watch him toy with the readers. But Chris Romeo picking the Top Seven Must-Have Cards in each color? Oh, how can you stay away?
Oh, man, I have discovered the deck. I mean, this thing has not lost a single game out of the hundred-plus games I’ve played. It doesn’t matter if the other deck is aggro, control, or combo, Pro-Tour-winning or rogue. I can’t wait to show you this Blue-Black deck featuring...
Chris takes his first monthly Magic budget and spends it on some tasty Black cards. With a passing resmeblence to Craig Jones's Pact Huk deck above, has Chris's deck got the makings of a true contender? Read on to find out!
After Chris's revelation that From Right Field will be "abandoning" its budget roots for future articles, the forums made their thoughts abundantly clear. Chris responds to the detractors... so where does it leave us?
Chris chronicles his highs, and especially his
lows, from his time at this year's Champs tournament. He also talks of an intersting change in the philosophy of his budget column...
I’m going to take this week to look at a couple of silly decks that actually seem to do pretty well in testing, and one of the decks that we used in our gauntlet. It’s a deck that no one in our group took to States, which I think was a big mistake. Someone should have tried it, since it was whipping pretty much everything in testing...
Last week was another Lava Blister of a Quicken Hits column. Sorry about the fact that there wasn’t a lot of Super Secret Tech, what with States coming up. Give me an Honorable Passage, though; you don’t Peek at my column for Tek. You come here for the Cheap Ass decks. Like Zombies! 2k6, the deck that I Predict-ed that I would play at States. This Surprise Deployment really Outmaneuver-ed some folks. For many, there was a simple Wave of Indifference. Today’s column is for those with a Thirst for Knowledge, those who want to know what makes Zombies run like Clockwork Gnomes.
Chris returns to his popular "Quick Hits" article format. Today he talks about some of the more impressive cards from Time Spiral, points out a few articles you may have missed, and answers criticism regarding his comments on cheerleaders...
Chris searches for an optimal White Weenie build for the coming Time Spiral Standard format. There's no doubt that the ingredients are there... but in which direction does the perfect build lie?
Coldsnap is Constructed legal, and the DCI isn’t changing their minds. Ditto with the Timeshifted Time Spiral cards. I will embrace these unsavory ideas, and see what I can do with purple cards. The following are some ideas that I riffed on while in “the library.” Will any of them bear fruit? Who knows? It depends on what you do with them.
Relax, we've not gone mad... Chris is "previewing" an old favorite in a new light. Looking back at cards that failed to achieve is a fine place to search for new tech and tricks... and today, Chris doesn't disappoint.
Today's installment of From Right Field returns to Chris's popular Quick Hits article format. He covers a myriad of Magical topics, presents an innovative Mono-Blue decklist, and shares some cheerleader cheesecake...
Chris submits his entry for the Longest Article Name competition, with a natty little piece discussing a Standard deck based on everyone's favorite fat green beatstick - Protean Hulk. Actually, I thought the Hulk in question was Ronom Hulk, but I've got Coldsnap on the brain...
One of my favorite things about Magic: The Gathering: Online: The Colon Game is that people remind me of cards that I’d forgotten were even Standard legal. Like the other day. I was working on this White (with a little Blue) deck when I faced off against another player working on W/u. On his fourth turn, he dropped Ballista Squad...
It’s third-and-twenty-three in the bottom of the ninth, and I’ve got no fouls to give. I’m working with three guys that have yellow cards, and the other team has a two-foot putt. My back’s against the wall. My feet are in stirrups. The doctor just said to drop ‘em, turn, and cough, and the nurse told me to bend over. In other words, I’m right where I want to be.
Chris returns to his popular "Quick Hits" article format, chewing the fat on all things related to Magic: The Gathering. The Hall of Fame, tiebreakers, Battle Royale, Tenth Edition... Chris discusses it all!
With a Standard rotation much closer than we'd perhaps like, Chris takes a timely look at the cards of Kamigawa that have passed us by. With a little re-evaluation, and maybe a kick up the rear from Coldsnap, are these forgotten gems now ready to shine on like crazy diamonds?
Set reviews are like asses. Everyone has one. They all stink. Yet, we still want to see what everyone else’s look like. Here’s mine. Breathe deep the stench of my enlightenment.
Chris revisits his popular "Train of Thought" article format... and no, I'm not talking about the card-drawing sorcery. He tackles a number of interesting points, throws in a decklist, and shares some quality cheesecake. What's not to like?
If this here article hits this here site here on time and if you’re reading it on that day, Tuesday, July 25th, 2006, then, I turn forty tomorrow. If you’re reading it the day after it hit the site, then, it’s my birthday, and I’m forty.
Sometimes, I just have a bunch or random thoughts floating around in my head. It’s part of the problem with being borderline AADD. I can’t really expand any of them into an entire article. So, I’ve collected them, hoping that together they can make up a column. We’ll see...
Chris takes a break from the cutthroat world of Standard Magic, and tickles the soft white underbelly of Ravnica Block Constructed. He picks a playset of a pet card, and sees just how far it can take him...
For his Independence Day article, Chris cooks up a Red, White, and Blue special! If you're looking for a patriotic deck to cut a swathe through your local tournament scene, then this is the deck for you. Even so... Izzet Chronarch? In Standard? Surely some mistake! Ah well, if the deck don't thrill ya, the cheesecake will...
Fresh off the back of his defeat at the hands of Richard Feldman in the first round of the
StarCityGames Battle Royale, Chris takes a budget look at a hardy perennial of Standard: Magnivore. Undercosted and hasty fat monsters for four mana are quite the value... does Chris's deck have what it takes to compete aginst the Big Dogs?
Sunday saw the first round of StarCityGames.com's
Battle Royale. Chris took his Mono-Black deck and squared off against Richard Feldman and his budget Firemane Angel Control build. MTGO was buzzing, with the number of game spectators overloading the system... where
you there? If not, here's Chris's take on what happened...
Today's "From Right Field" introduces the StarCityGames Battle Royale, in which Chris Romeo takes on Richard Feldman in a best-of-five Budget Standard Challenge! Richard's article appears below... first, see what Chris has to offer. The Battle Royale takes place on Sunday 18th June... and
you can witness each game, play-by-play! Want to know more? Then read on!
Chris rounds out the week of lists with a look at the Ten Mana Monsters of Magic. A Top Ten List of Ten Mana Guys... when there aren't even ten such creatures on the Magic team-sheet? What trickery is this?! Chris reveals all...
Chris is steadily scaling the Mana Mountain, and the top is now in sight. However, before he reaches the summit tomorrow, he stops off at the Nine Mana Campsite. His Top 10 list will surely differ from yours... What would you pick?
Mr. Romeo continues his investigation of the Wobbily Monsters of Magic. Today, the Top Ten (or twelve) Eight-Mana Creatures. Just what can you buy for the price of four Wild Mongrels? Click here to find out!
Chris continues his Top 10 lists with a look at the Top 10 Seven-Mana Creatures in Magic. Seven mana? Well, there's Simic Sky Swallower, and... erm... Crowd Favorites? What will Chris pick? Read on to find out...
Today, we present two articles in our SCG Daily series. In his second article today, Chris continues where John F Rizzo left off, and presents the Top 10 Six-Mana Creatures in Magic. Will your favorite make the team?
Chris returns in fine form with an intriguing multicolored deck that revolves around... Glint-Eye Nephilim. A Nephilim? In Constructed? That's
playable? Surely some mistake! If you're a player that loves drawing cards, then this deck is definitely worth a look...
Chris took his Mono-Red deck to Regionals, and won more matches than he lost. His maindeck tech caught people off their guard. Opponents conceded without taking damage. How high did he finish? Read on to find out...
Chris brings us a fine-looking G/B deck for the upcoming Regionals. Still unsure on what to play this coming weekend? Are you a fan of the Green and Black spells? Maybe this is the deck to take it all. Plus, there's a bonus section:
Dr. Romeo’s Guide to Enjoying Regionals or Any Other Big Tournament.
Chris shares his latest creation... a deck that's been bringing him success for the past few months. In a world of guild alignment and multi-color mayhem, can a mono-colored deck
really cut the proverbial mustard? Read on to find out...
Romeo continues his exploration of the viability of his mono-Red Leyline deck. After tearing up the Casual Room, can it replicate the results in the Tournament Practice arena?
Regionals are just around the corner... and Chris has a new deck for you! Do you enjoy sending burn to the face? Would you like to drop permanents into play
before the game begins? Are you a fan of the flame? Then look no further.
Chris rounds off his series on the Orzhov preconstructed deck by taking a spin in the Tournament Practice room on Magic Online. After posting 6-0 in the Casual Room, can the Black and White Beatsticks rumble with the big boys?
In a previous article, Chris examined the
Staple Rares that every budget player should aim to own. However, he neglected to cover the majority of Kamigawa rares, due to their diminishing Standard shelf-life. After many cries for help, he returns today to set the record straight...
Chris continues his examination of the Orzhov precon deck... with suprising results. Could this precon experiment be a success? Read on to find out...
Fresh from his precon experiment with the Gruul deck, Chris attempts the same with the Orzhov offering. Will it succeed? Will it fail? Will there be cheesecake? Read on to find out...
Chris continues his experiments with the Gruul Wilding preconstructed deck. Can he succeed in making a budget version of a Pro Tour winning creation? The cards are strong... but is the final build?
Chris takes two copies of a Guildpact precon, and updates them in his own signature style. How does the experiment fare? Does he cut up the Casual Room with flair and grace, or does he fall flat on his face and scream curses at the sky? Read on to find out...
Chris returns to his recent One Dozen Glazed decklist, a mono-Blue build with surprisingly strong results. He supplies match walkthoughs, as well as letting us into some Romeo Sideboard Secrets. Plus, a re-touch on the Thran Golem deck...
In his final SCG Daily column, Chris takes narcissism to strange new heights. He interveiws the self-proclaimed Best Lookin' Magic Writer on the Internet...
In the fourth of this entertaining series, Chris interviews the Managing Editor of StarCityGames.com, Craig Stevenson. That's right... me.
I like this article a lot. Then again, I'm bound to: I feature in it quite heavily.
Bennie Smith currently writes Into the Aether for MagictheGathering.com. In his life before that, though, he wrote for this here site. He’s a pretty good player, too, having won... well, if you don’t already know, you’ll find out later.
A double-dose of Chris Romeo today. While his excellent Daily series continues below, this article sees Chris bring a surprising deck to the table. He claims that he sucks... but
this particular creation may prove otherwise...
For years, Rizzo was the most popular Magic writer on the 'net. His stream of consciousness style, profane rants, and epic-length columns channeled Jack Kerouac and Lenny Bruce through Leo Tolstoy, with Richard Garfield as the editor. Then, he was gone. For three and a half years. Yes, other than four pieces, it really was that long. He's back now, of course. Chris interviews him in style... enter at your own risk.
Chris begins what promises to be a highly entertaining SCG Daily series by interviewing the one and only JMS. In his own words...
If you read my stuff, I'm as close to a hundred-per-cent sure that you read Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar's stuff. He really doesn't need any introduction.
This week, Chris clarifies his position on Staple Rares and Expensive Lands, and examines some interesting casual decks based around Thran Golem. He's on a mission to bust face with an 8/8 flying, first-striking trampler. Does he succeed? Only
he can tell you that...
The perfect man for Valentine's Day, Mr Romeo brings us his definition of staple rares, giving us a run-down, by set and color, of the golden nuggets any tournament wannabe cannot be without. This one will spark a lively debate, of that there's no doubt.
Two weeks ago, as part of my mailbag piece, I threw out a Standard Goblin decklist with which I’d been having loads of fun in the Casual Decks room on Magic: The Gathering Online. By loads of fun, I mean winning more than losing and doing it with a really cheap deck. Today, I revisit this archetype, and crank out some surprisingly solid results.
It's time I put my own spin on the whole “look at the new cards” thing. Hey, I was right about The Patriots not winning The Super Bowl this year. I could be right about some cards, too. Because I love you guys so much, I’m not going to be cheesy and do this in six parts. Because I love you, you get all of Guildpact at once. You’re welcome.
In his first article for SCG Free, Chris answers some outstanding emails from fans. He throws a number of Standard deck ideas into the ring, and waxes lyrical on a certain lawsuit you may have heard about. He also brings cheesecake.
When I accepted this editorial gig, they never told me I'd face articles like this... Chris Romeo at his best, or worst. Love it or hate it, this is one article you'll definitely remember...
One night, just a couple of weeks or so ago, I'm talking with some of the Magic gang about building a mono-Green beatdown deck for Standard.
"It can't be done," someone says.
"Why not?" I ask. "All the tools are there.
Today is not going to be your typical year in review article. No, I'm going to take my own skewed glance at things. Instead of talking about what happened, I'll talk about what didn't happen. Then, I'll have with some predictions.
Chris is on Christmas vacation, but luckily little Billy Horowitz is here to tell you about his "Ewww, Groz" deck.
Chris wraps up his quest for a winning Mono-Black Control deck in Standard.
If you read last week’s column — and if you didn’t, I hope Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo leaves you a loaded dirty diaper for Chrismahannakwanika — you know that I was trying to develop a cheap “creatureless” Mono-Black Control deck. After a week of reader suggestions and a bunch more testing, I think we may actually have something.
Whenever I contemplate a mono-Black deck, This is Spinal Tap comes to mind.... Which leads me to this week’s deck, none “None More Black.” Every spell is Black. No artifacts here. All but two of the lands produce Black mana, and even those two lands do something very Black. So how does it do after a twenty-game spin in the casual room?
For some reason, people are more excited about the Boros deck than the Golgari deck, and I can’t figure out why. The Golgari have Dredge, potentially huge animated lands, and maybe the second-best, three-mana, multi-colored common of all-time in Shambling Shell. Maybe the G/B decks spawned by Ravnica just seemed so obviously powerful that the folks who normally read my stuff weren’t impressed. “Duh, G/B’s strong. We get it.” Maybe they like the challenge of taking a weaker color combination and making it work. Maybe they just like Quaker Strawberries and Cream Instant Oatmeal and/or the color pink.
Romeo embarks on his adventure to turn the Boros precon deck into a lean, mean, winning machine. Can a few minor card substitutions create a bona fide winning deck? The answer might just surprise you.
When we last left our intrepid hero he was massaging a dredgeariffic budget deck online. How has the deck morphed since that time, and is it good enough for you to want to play for yourself? The answers are inside.
Chris's special ode to the man that draws few hotties, but who Chris still feels produces the best Magic art out there.
So, if Tuesday was all about the best pieces of non-Kev Walker art in Extended-legal sets, why weren't there any land cards? Because I truly feel that lands need to be looked at separately. Magic is an active game (yes, ever against people playing Blue). A card's art tends to reflect its mechanic in some way which means the art typically depicts some activity or shows a creature of some sort. Land cards, though, are more like still lifes.
I want to be perfectly clear on one point. I am most certainly not saying that the art on these cards is awful in and of itself. Magic has come a long, long way from the days of Reverse Polarity ("Worst. Magic art. Ever.") and Reverse Damage. Nearly every card from Tempest on and especially from Invasion on has been a true joy to look at (Cepahlids aside). However, some of the art, well, it didn't quite work on the card.
Yesterday, I took a very biased look at some of the hottest of the recent Magic hotties. Today, I’m running down a list of my favorite art. I’m only going back as far as the current Extended-Legal sets go. Why? Because this is my column. Nyah.
From Right Field regular Chris Romeo, on the finest artistic renderings in all of Magicdom. Warning: contains hotties
A follow up on Ultra-rares and ultra-uncommons, and the suprising solid results of Chris's Precon experimenting.
A lot of you don't want to hear this, and, frankly, I don't know why. I have once again convinced myself that there are ultra-rares and ultra-uncommons.
The first Ravnica card that I saw that just leapt out at me was Bloodbond March. In fact, I remember it well. I was walking down our hallway - we have this long thin hallway that leads from our foyer to our living room - when aaaaaiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee there it was! I was so scared. But it was just teasing. Given the fact that the March is Green and Black and Green and Black have all of those Dredge cards, I figured it was golden.
The ever-so-suave Dr. Romeo checks in this week with his final decklists from the last couple of weeks and a listing of what deck he will be running this coming weekend.
Last week, I threw a trio of deck outlines (they had been tested but not rigorously so) at you as jumping off points for the class to refine their decks. We're going to do the same thing this week, but first I thought that I'd answer the excellent questions that some of your classmates came up with.
Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be discussing deck skeletons that I'm assigning you to work on for States. Pick one that looks like something you can enjoy running with, and massage it. While I've done some preliminary testing on these, none are by any means "done." The idea behind each is solid, but there are problems that I want us - and by "us" I mean "you" - to solve.
It's mean. It's Green. But is it a winning machine? Chris puts his latest creation through its paces to see if mid-range Mono-Green beatings is a viable option.
Today StarCityGames.com delivers our exclusive preview card from Ravnica: City of Guilds. Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present Firemane Angel!
Decrying the results of so-called "democracy" on MagictheGathering.com, the man the ladies call Dr. Romeo sets off on his own to see if a winning deck can be designed around abusing Eternal Dominion. I think we can all see where this one is going...
Romeo gets by with a little help from his friends today, recruiting both good players and good writers to investigate the wares 9th Edition brings to the table, as well as saying a fond farewell to some old favorites from 8th Edition that recently departed.
So I recently went looking for one last Kamigawa Block deck to cheapen up. Obviously,
Gifts Ungiven wasn’t going to be it. Way too many rares. I’d already looked at cheap Black Hand. I’d built and played a G/R Aggro deck (“And the Horse You Rode in On”), a mono-Red Burn-centric deck, and several cheap White decks. I even worked on Hondens. I was out of ideas. I turned to the wonderful StartCityGames.com KBC PTQ deck database for decks that might use The Romeo Treatment.
As far as this week goes, as I promised I wanted to look at making budget versions of some of the decks that are clearly the king of the hill of Kamigawa Block Constructed, starting with
Black Hand.
The beats just won't stop as the inimitable Mr. Romeo keeps plugging away at block, looking for decks off the beaten path that give up their wins more easily than a Grinch gives up an ounce of Christmas joy.
Any scientist or artist will tell you that it’s best to look at failures not as failures but as opportunities to learn. Thomas Edison used to say that, “I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” This keeps you sane, especially when you know that you’re going to miss your goal a lot. There are a lot of failures in Magic, too.
The incredible Mister Romeo discusses White Weenie decks in Kamigawa Block - including the all-fun decks "Tom Cruise" (cheap, white Samurai), "Ghost In The Machine" (featuring Spirits, in the material world), and, um, a white deck. That does something really cool, but it's not much good, but when has that ever stopped Chris?
Chris revisits his love of Shrines, this time with a strictly Block Constructed flavor. What Ideal cards does this deck gain from Saviors of Kamigawa, and what does Chris's build look like? The Fourth of July answer is inside.
That Romeo guy is always thinking ahead, preparing an extra special article on Kamigawa Block Constructed Red decks to help ease your transition from Regionals to the PTQ Block season. Huzzah!
This is it, folks - the fully playtested, tweaked, and budget-conscious version of the deck Chris is taking to Regionals!
For my last day, I’m going to be a bit more lighthearted. I’m going to respond to some forum comments and e-mails that the first three or four days generated, and I’ll tell some actual game-play stories. Some are funny. Some are sad. Some are brilliant. Some are head-scratchers. All are true, even if I get the details a bit munched up. In the end, there’ll be a bonus, too!
Last week, I started to answer the question: What Will Dr. Romeo Be Playing at Regionals? Today we continue seeking an answer to that questions, pushing White Skies where no man has ever gone before... or something.
Over the past three days, I've tried to give you some insight into how I went from Guy Who Had Never Seen a Magic Card to Guy Who Writes for StarCityGames.com about Cheap, Rogue Decks. I did this because there are people who want to know why I do what I do. Others have never met me but are still convinced that they have me pegged simply because they've read my writing. I fear that they're dead on.
Yesterday, I mentioned how competitive I was. A lot of people would never believe that. They see me playing cheap, rogue decks. They see me laugh while playing, sometimes even when I'm losing. How could this guy be competitive? He's losing, and he's having fun.
Trust me. I am.
At the end of yesterday's column, I was telling you about my crazy, stupid early days in Magic (Winter 1998 - Spring 1999). They had nothing to do with winning or figuring out the best cards for our decks. It was about hanging out with the gang...
One of the most common questions I get is "Why do you - of all people - write a column about budget decks?" Pull up a swivel chair, and let me tell you some things about me, things that drive what I do in From Right Field and how I do it.
If you've read my columns over the years, you'll know that I like White. I don't want to get into the psycho-social reasons for that. Suffice it say, I like White. With Regionals about three weeks away, readers have been flooding my e-mail in-box with one question: What Will Dr. Romeo Be Playing at Regionals?
The vacationing Romeo delivers not just one, but two possible decks for players on a budget. The Genju Control deck is simply an improved version of a deck he's worked on before, but what is this "Fork You" deck he speaks of?
Dr. Christopher Romeo J.D. turns a scientific eye to his most recent deck idea (G/R Anti-Jitte) and comes up with one of his most witty and entertaining articles of the year.
Sometimes, I just abhor Wizards of the Coast, The DCI, and, of course, penguins. Damn all of their tuxedo-wearing souls. Want to know why I'm ranting this time? Step inside my friends, as I talk about Regionals, metagames, and more Regionals. Oh, and penguins.
Romeo's back this week with part 2 of his Rat's Nest Precon deck conversion. How many steps does it take to turn a lowly precon with a broken piece of equipment into a contender?
Due to some timing issues, Chris couldn't finish the Rat's Nest evolution article this week, but in its place you get a budget deck that includes some swell things to do with three colors, Lifespark Spellbomb, and Eradicate.
One of (my idol) JMS's shticks is to take a pre-con deck and modify it so that it's competitive in the Casual Decks room of Magic Online. Since I want to be so much like Jay (published novelist, work from home, hyphenated last name), I'm going to try the same kind of thing for the next couple of weeks with one twist: I want this deck to be competitive in a tournament. That doesn't mean that it has to win the thing. I just want it to win more than it loses.
A couple of times a year, I like to publicly answer some e-mail that I've received over the past few months. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, a lot of questions are asked over and over. By doing this type of column, I can answer several people at once. Second, I get a quick column full of cheap laughs when I was otherwise stumped for material.
Last week, I wrote about the Blue-Red Isochron Scepter deck that could be a monster of a problem if people lose their maindeck artifact hate. It did quite well, going 3-1 with the one match loss being a tough three-game loss against what I consider the best deck in the format, G/B Control. This week, I tackled Crystal Witness.
Today Chris writes about flying cars, super-duper models, and snakes, snakes, snakes.
Inspired by Adam Grydehrmha's recent article, Chris decided to give U/R Isochron Scepter a run at a recent Standard tourney and details his results here for all to see. He also includes one of the largest cheesecake sections ever seen on StarCityGames.com.
Instead of choosing just one topic to write about this week, Romeo chose about eight including some rules observations about Type Two, his sweet Aunt Sadie, and - dare we say it? Cogs. In Standard.
Say there was this hot girl in your office that played Magic and you needed to build her a Standard deck that was cool, but still had a chance to win. What deck would you build for her and why? That's the dilemma Romeo faces this week, but once you've finished the article, we'd like to know your deck choice for this particular scenario.
There is nothing like the thrill of discovery. That "a-HA!" moment when you finally understand a concept is the buzz that drives scientists, songwriters, and even Magic deckbuilders. A couple of weeks ago, the Magic community had a collective "a-HA!" moment when it was confirmed that, yes, because of the way that Genju of the Fields' activated ability is written, a player can gain life multiple times during one combat. The question is... can we build a deck around this?
Imagine it. You sit down across from your opponent. You roll the die and win. You shake hands. You mulligan to six. Your opponent's feeling good about that. And you win before he even gets a chance to draw the card on his first turn. In Standard. You're a legend. Not a Legend. You're awfully close, though. You'd be my hero, anyway. And a lot of other folks', too. Today I'm going to give you your very own guide to becoming a hero.
Since I won't know until next week what the bannings are going to look like, I'm going to go a different way this week. I'm going to address some cards from Betrayers of Kamigawa that we fun-loving players might be interested in. Please, don't think of this as a set review. Think of it more as, um, a review of some cards in the set for uh... Constructed or something.
Today Romeo takes a peek at some interesting new Blue cards from Betrayers of Kamigawa and tries to add it all up to make a competitive new Mono-Blue Standard deck that is a bit off the beaten path. To help enhance Romeo's swell verbiage and cheesecake links, we've also included some of Yawgatog's outstanding photoshoppery to give you a sample of what is normally only available to Premium members. Enjoy!
Can you make a good version of all-common White Weenie for the Standard environment? How about mono-Red Land Destruction? Chris finishes his "all commons all the time" stint with a couple of new decks that earn mixed results.
This week Chris takes a crack at a reader request to make a competitive Standard deck for an upcoming all-commons tournament at a local store. Chirs found himself so inspired by the limitations that he created a bevy of decks for those of you on a budget to work with.
Over the last few columns, I’ve mentioned Shrine decks. It’s always been in the context of “What does this deck have in the sideboard for Shrine decks?” Most people, it seems, don’t understand why I’m worried about Shrine decks. The reactions have run the gamut from “You’re a silly man who makes me laugh with your worrying about Shrines” to “What a stupid idiot you are! No one plays Shrine decks!” I beg to differ - those decks are ubiquitous online. That means that someday soon you’ll be facing them in real life, too.
What do Heidi Klum, Elle Macpherson, and Two-Headed Dragon have in common? Nothing (we assume) except they all get mentioned in Chris's article today. One he uses as the impetus for a new fun Standard deck while the other two are just there to root him on - you guess which is which.
Gd_Smrtn: So, are you working on any new decks?
Dr_Romeo: I keep wanting to do something with
Phyrexian Plaguelord. He's such a house, he's been reprinted in Eighth Edition, and no one uses him.
Gd_Smrtn: What do you need to work on that?
Dr_Romeo: I don't have any Plaguelords.
Gd_Smrtn: I'll give you what you need, but you have to promise to write about the deck.
Dr_Romeo: Consider it done.
So, I started looking at a few of the most popular Extended decks like U/G Madness and Psychatog, and I noticed that Islandwalk might be good against them. Islandwalk usually means playing Blue, Lord of Atlantis, and Merfolk. Okay, it always means playing Blue, Lord of Atlantis, and Merfolk. Could such a deck work?
Last week, I mentioned a White Skies deck. It came about because I noticed two things - most decks aren't running any fliers and most decks aren't running any enchantment removal. Thus, my hypothesis became: A deck running aggressive fliers backed up by an enchantment that enhances the fliers can beat a deck running only or mostly ground troops.
Romeo stops back by to take a look back at 2004, otherwise known as "the year I got married in a Red Sox jersey and the Sox won the World Series." On a more related note, he also includes two new rogue decks he's been fiddling with for the last few months and some advice for the DCI.
Whenever a block is about to rotate out of Standard, I like to look back at some of the cards that saw little or no play but, dadburnit, it seems like they should have. Since Champions of Oompa-Loompa will be released in just over a month and will be tourney-legal in less than two months, Onslaught, Legions, and Scourge will be going the way of the dodo, the carrier pigeon, and common sense, taking with it some sadly overlooked cards.
The people have spoken. They like Blog Romeo. They like Romantic Newlywed Romeo. What the people really like, though, is The Pi$$ed-Off Romeo. As my man Ray Davies of The Kinks knows, you’ve gotta give the people what they want.
As Ted told you last week, I am plumb out of ideas. And, while the forum responses to my blog experiment seemed favorable, I didn't feel it was very good writing on my part. I felt that you guys deserved better. So, while I sort through what I'm sure will be hundreds (if not thousands), of ideas for my next few columns, I'm letting Bobby Horowitz write one of them for me. He's done this before and always gets great feedback. I need to watch some television and get my mind off of Magic. -
Thanks for understanding,
Chris
Okay folks, we have to be honest here. Romeo's out of ideas. No really, there are only so many times you can write about Centaur Glade, Johnny Damon's hair, the model for Eternal Witness, Lindsay Lohan, and playing Magic with your brother who lives in Iceland. Therefore, your job is to read Chris's latest ramblings and then chime in with ideas for Chris's next article. In the meantime, enjoy a variety of budget decklists Chris has been working with on Magic Online.
Follow Romeo as he takes you through his average Magic week, complete with awful new deck ideas, actual playtesting sections, and the usual assortment of cheesecake.
Overconfidence is a killer. Overconfidence tells me that I can take on that whole biker gang by myself because I just saw a Jet Li movie, or because I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Overconfidence makes you think that you’re invulnerable, that you can’t be beat. Even when you stink. You know what happens to people like that, doncha? Uh, yeah. They lose. A lot.
Let me start by saying that it looks like the MD5 block is going to shape up to be more diverse than I thought it would when I wrote last week's piece. In my defense (and it looks like I'll be the only one coming to that particular party), when I wrote the thing a few weeks before it was put up here, the MD5 metagame really did look like it was going to end up being Affinity versus anti-artifact and that was it. I'm glad that it's looking like it will be more open than that, and as a reward, I'm posting a whole article full of Block decklists to tickle your fancy!
I think this time Chris may have finally gone off the deep end, but as usual with this sort of thing, it's kind of fun to watch. Tune in as Chris rants about the Block metagame as well as some artifacts with names related to your head.
Once or twice a year, I try to answer some of my fan mail and/or death threats in a column. This serves two purposes. First, I get to share some of the answers to the more common questions that get sent my way. Second, I get another quick, cheap column. Then, everyone’s happy. Or at least, I’m happy. Really, in the end, that’s all the counts.
I had been playing with Steely Resolve in the sideboard. I'd bring it in against Goblins and really anything else that tried to target the Elves - which, using my keen sense of observation, I noticed was just about everything. Then, a funny thing happened in game three of a Goblin matchup. I got two Resolves. The first one I dropped and called, of course, Elves. Then a light bulb went on: I dropped the second, calling Goblins. No more Clamping up Goblins for cards. No more activating the Sledder's ability, unless he wanted to call Insects. But there's one difference between this and a regular Elves deck...
Combos abound thanks to Fifth Dawn. Who cares? Skullclamp’s been banned. Who cares? As far as I can tell from what people have been e-mailing me, all anyone cares about is details from my honeymoon. You know what? You’re sick. Truly.
I’m just going to jump in with both feet and get the ol’ fire stoked. Okay, that line is a horribly mixed metaphor because, barring some sort of Far Eastern mind trick, your feet would be burned in the most disgusting manner, leaving you with useless chunks of charred flesh and a sticky sweet stench that will haunt your nostrils forever. You should get my drift, though, because I contend that: The DCI did not need to ban Skullclamp.
You could get a fast, cheap column out of doing nothing but cataloging the bad predictions from previous set review. I was even going to do that, but Ted said"No way, Josephine." Because of the time off for my wedding and honeymoon, he wanted me to do some"real writing" not just"copying and pasting" and"quoting other writers" like"you're doing right now." So, I promised I'd do something. Without further ado, then, I present... something.
As I type this sentence, I’m getting married in 104 hours. There are a ton (literally) of things to move and a ton (figuratively) of little things to do. So, I’ll have to give you a form that you can fill in to write your own column.
[Congratulations to Chris Romeo, who either got hitched this weekend or was shot and killed as he tried to escape the bonds of holy matrimony. StarCityGames.com would like to wish him our very best. - Knut]
If you read this column regularly, as the Surgeon General suggests (it promotes"intestinal and rectal health"), you know that I couldn't make it to Regionals this year. That doesn't mean that I can't file a Regionals report, though.
You probably didn't win your Region. Since I like to state the obvious, you probably aren't a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, either. Interestingly, there are about the same number of U.S. Regionals champions as S.I. swimsuit models. Go figure. Anyway, you didn't win your Region. You most likely didn't finish in the money. Heck, you may not have had a winning record. Yet, you were sure that you had a good chance of at least winning some prizes or else you probably wouldn't have wasted the time and energy to participate. So, what happened?
This week isn’t about a deck or that final sideboard card (although Black decks really need Echoing Decay for use against Soldier, Goblin, and Insect tokens). No, this is about being ready for The Regionals Experience.
Here's what I propose. During the week after Regionals, from Sunday, May 2nd, 2004, through Saturday, May 8th, 2004, spend no money on fake cards. Buy no tickets. Just play with whatcha got. And play. And play and play and play. If no one spends any money for an entire week, I think Wizards might get the idea that we're serious. Businesses get the hint when you hit 'em where it hurts.
Three Words: Competitive Wall Deck. Well, at least it was until Chris got his hands to it. Peep the carnage inside...
To find a deck that satisfies The Dread Pirate Roberts Solution in Spring of 2004, your deck must hate artifacts without falling prey to the artifact hate that other decks will be packing. How do you do that? Well, you'd either have to play no artifacts at all, or so many that your opponent is overwhelmed by the choices. If you choose the second option, though, you might be walking into a Furnace Dragon
Johnnny-who-ain’t-written-‘bout-Magic-in-a-while is back for a one-shot. One shot, and I’ll be spent. But, you’ll really enjoy it and say how good it was. Heh.
"But, Romeo," you say, since no one but my Momma calls me Chris,"I'm not gonna have any fun if I don't win a few matches." So, build a deck that has a great record against what you think the most prominent decks will be. In other words, as our Esteemed Editor wrote about in his last piece, create a metagame deck. "What's a possible metagame deck look like," you ask? Oh, I have theories, yes indeed...
This was the first great weekend of Spring for us down here in Tennessee. I know that meteorologically Spring was still two weeks away. Like most people, I don't measure seasons by the calendar. When the signs of Spring appear, it's Spring. And Spring can only mean one thing here at the offices of From Right Field: Spring cleaning. Oh yeah, and chicks in short shorts.
When I first saw the official spoiler for Darksteel, it didn’t take me long to find a card that excited me. In fact, I couldn’t stand up for several minutes after I first saw it. Kinda like seeing Laetitia Casta for the first time. It didn’t take long to find a card because the very first card alphabetically did it for me. Aether Vial is a damned sexy beast, if you ask me, and today we're going to see if we can break it.
I've been toying with Centaur Glade ever since it popped up in Onslaught. Anyone who played against it or with it in Limited knows how good it can be. It never made a splash in Constructed, though. It was too slow. Boy, oh, boy, does it give control decks fits, though. If you can resolve one against a control deck, you can hold all of those spells in your hand and make them deal with uncounterable 3/3 Centaur tokens. That's nothing to sneeze at. The question remained: How can I make this card work? The answer always eluded me... until now.
The first time I played against a Suicide Black deck, I figured the guy was an idiot. Sure, Carnophage was a 2/2 for one mana. If he wanted to attack with it, though, he'd have to lose a life every turn. Being new to the game, I figured I was golden. I dropped my Shadow creature on my second turn and passed. He paid his life, dropped Unholy Strength on the Carnophage, and put me at sixteen. Then, he dropped his second Carnophage. Gulp. When the game ended, he was at two life, and I was dead.
In the past few years, Suicide Black has fallen out of favor. Luckily, we got a few creatures in Darksteel that scream to be used in Suicide Black decks.
Over the past few weeks, my columns have included additional sections that tended to be about the laws of randomness and probability, what laymen ("Heh, he said 'lay' and 'men.'") call the law of averages. A lot of people seem to be confused about these topics. Others just wanted to know more. I've typically not gotten involved in these types of detailed columns about complicated theories that seem to exist in the Magic universe. However, it was suggested by one of my readers that given my background, I might, you know, get involved and write something that was both informative and enteratining on the subject...
Elves needed a better way to get reusable growth effects.
Enter Isochron Scepter. We all know the tricks that this cheap, uncommon artifact can do. We all dream of the draw where we get a Chrome Mox and an Island on the first turn so that we can drop the Scepter, imprinting Boomerang. Of course, some of us just dream of having four Chrome Mox. But that's a different story.
The Scepter hasn't been looked at through the minty fresh glasses of the Green mage, though...
Since I've been back, I've had ton of e-mails from cheap scrubs (like me!) asking how I would build a certain deck if I didn't use any rares or only used a couple of rares. Well, I can answer that quite easily. These people know that I'm bad. Yet, they still want my advice. What can I do except give it to them? Last week's deck, the cheap Goblin thing, was the first one that I tackled in that fashion. It seems that a lot of players feel the way I do."Love Goblins. Hate that some of them cost twelve bucks now." Interestingly, one of the more frequent requests involves Affinity. I find that interesting, because the typical Affinity deck runs many fewer rares than a lot of other high-profile decks...
Let's say that a cheater makes the top 8 by winning a match that s/he shouldn't have won. What if it was top four? What if it was the finals? In each case, depending on the prize structure at your place, that person has stolen from someone. Plain and simple. Stealing. That person cheated to get something s/he wouldn't have gotten if s/he had played fair and square. It got taken away from someone who (hopefully) didn't cheat. Heck, even if the cheater didn't make the prize level, but knocked out someone who should have made it, they stole from that person.
The problem is that cheating is more rampant than even the most cynical of us would like to believe.
"So, you're not playing Goblins right now just because they're finally so good that people who wouldn't normally even look at Goblins are playing them? You're not being fair to yourself. You've always loved Goblins. It's not like you're jumping on the bandwagon. Heck, you were driving that bandwagon in the Summer of 2001 when you played that silly deck with Goblin Ringleader. Go on. Play Goblins. You know you want to."
So, of course, I did...
I was so ready to regale you with tales of incredible victories with my latest deck. The problem is that I'd have to lie.
You see, this week, I tried to create a (mostly) Blue deck. I'm bad at that. I'm also bad at playing Blue decks. I feel very exposed. I get nervous sitting back and waiting. I'm always afraid that my opponent is going to overwhelm me with threats, which they often do. So, I counter everything I see early. Then, when the big threats hit, I have nothing left.
You'd think that, if I know this, I could do something about it...
For me, 2003 was probably the best year of my life so far. In May, I met my future wife. If I don't scare her off, I'll be married to her in 2004. If nothing else happened in all of 2003, that alone would have made it the best year ever.
Of course, this isn't a web site for romance. If you've looked at our pictures, you'll know why. No, this site is about Magic: The Gathering. So, let's take a look back at 2003, MTG style. First, I want to revisit some predictions I made in my New Year's Day column on this very site.
It's probably no surprise that I felt that Bonesplitter needed to be in here. Nothing says"aggressive" like a spell that gives +2/+0 and keeps on giving even after the creature dies. I also wanted something cheap to stop other creatures. Pacifism had been my spell of choice ever since those impotent, slack-jawed cretins in R&D decided to drop Reprisal from 8th Edition. Why did you do that? Why? Why, dear, God, oh, why? What Rhodes Scholar decided that a White spell that costs 1W and only blows up creatures that are really big was too good?
I'm sorry, what were we talking about?
Of course, we headed right back down the yellow-brick road to my old stomping grounds in Louisiana. Yep, we headed to the Swamps. Looking down bayou way gave us access to creatures that allowed us to sacrifice that stolen critter. We had Carrion Feeder, Nantuko Husk, Fallen Angel, and Phyrexian Plaguelord. (Thank you, 8th Edition!) The great thing about those last two was that, while they're rares, they're rares that are cheap. Not cheap like a truck stop floozy. I mean, inexpensive to purchase.
Then, I started thinking to myself,"Self, we need to get back on track. We need to start showing people that they can indeed be competitive with a deck that doesn't cost two hundred seventy-five dollars and that has cards that are unwanted and unloved." Yes, I am King Scrubracer, ruler of The Island of Misfit Cards.
My column's mandate, updated and improved, is to generate decks that you, the average player, can build and still be competitive with. Or rather, to be grammatically correct, with which you can be competitive. I'm also going to show you how I (and my crew) make the choices that we do.
My favorite part of Magic is still the creativity that it takes to build new decks. But something has happened recently: Winning is becoming more important to me. I don't know what exactly happened to make me feel this way, but whatever it is, I want to win now. And playing your own decks isn't the way to do this.
It has to be read to be believed. But there is a major revelation for Chris Romeo fans.
Will last weekend's results scare me away from playing Phantom Living at Regionals? Of course not! I'm not smart enough for that. I really do chalk last weekend up to a string of bad luck. Besides, it's been doing very well in testing and got me to the Top 4 against the same field the last time I played it.
We knew that the deck wanted to do two things: Stay alive long enough to hit Threshold, thus exploiting the Hunting Grounds, and drop critters that we wouldn't normally have a chance to cast. And whether it's competitive or not, which I believe it is, I must say that the deck is more fun than a roomful of drunk monkeys with typewriters.
How do pros do this all the time? How can they play the same deck over and over and over and over and over without wanting to just pick up a shovel and go ape-friggin'-s**t on the guy sitting across from them? "Tossing a Wonder into the graveyard for your Mongrel, huh? I don't think so. Why not? Because, if you'll look to your right, you'll see that I just set your entire graveyard on fire, you piece of flying wurm dung! BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
Do you really think that you can build an OnBC deck without knowing what the final 25% of the cards will be? You've got your nasty Beast thing all ready to go, don'tcha? For all you know, this card will be in Scourge:
FATHER NELSON, HOSER CLERIC
Creature - Cleric Legend
W
1/1
Remove Father Nelson from the game: Choose a creature type. All opponents remove all creatures of the chosen type they control from the game. Search each opponent's hand, graveyard, and library for all creature cards of the chosen type and remove them from the game. Set them on fire. Draw a card.
Yeah, it's a little undercosted, but Wizards claims to be giving white some good weenies again.
The good thing is that we've already backed up the Lavaborn Muse with a solid body in the Mindslicer. What if the Muse isn't in play? The Mindslicer is still a 4/3 that can decimate everybody's hands.
QUESTION: Won't losing our hand hurt us, too?
ANSWER: LA LA LA LA LA I'm not listening LA LA LA LA LA
I think that I finally (fingers crossed) figured out a solid mono-white Birds deck. I say this because I started 5-0 at this weekend's tourney, not losing until I faced David Dyer and his RWg Astral Slide deck. That, and I debate with the pros, find a home for a poor lost wizard, and discuss the R/G Anger deck that everyone's been asking about!
Do you know how hard it is to kill those Phantom guys? A single Phantom Flock stops a flying Wurm not once, not twice, but three times. And then we'll add Shared Triumph. "Great," you say. "Shared Triumph makes the Phantoms bigger." No, Shared Triumph makes Elephants bigger; it makes Phantoms invincible.
It seems that my last few columns have touched a couple of nerves... Mostly in a good way, which is not always what a writer strives for. So let me respond to you all, show you the options my fans have presented, and show you a couple of new Soldier decks I've been working on.
This week, we're going to do something that journalists call Interviewing Yourself. This is a technique in which the writer asks himself (or herself) questions that he (or she) then answers. In theory, this is supposed to give the writer (and, by extension, the reader) some Deep Insight into His (or Her) Own Mind. In reality, it's a cheap way to get a column.
This one starts as a bit of a love story; I am truly falling in love with Living Wish. I know that it's a rare.,.. But it's another one of those rares that you just have to get. If you're a newer player and like green, make sure to get four Living Wishes. The toolbox effect out of the sideboard can be huge.
Many people - well, a few, anyway - noticed that I didn't do a piece last week. The reason is simple. I was still recovering from my trip to Grand Prix New Orleans! You see, the StarCity folks found out that I had gone to Tulane and hadn't been back in fifteen years... So they thought that I'd like the trip. Plus, they wanted me to be a tour guide of sorts. How could I say no?
Odyssey Block was great. It was the block that made me realize that the folks at Wizards R&D are extremely creative people. They may never run out of ideas. As a matter of fact, it kind of reminds me of Urza's block. Urza's block was SO full of good stuff that we STILL can't find the bottom of it.
While some people may have the brightest yard decorations in the neighborhood (requiring the police to stop by and make them shut down every night at 10 p.m. or risk a fine) and others make 132 dozen cookies, I get to write about a Magic deck that is inspired by Christmas carols and Christmas folklore. Yep - my annual Magic deck based on Christmas carols. And I always make sure that it's Standard-legal. Merry Christmas!
Okay, why am I asking about angels? I mean, Serra was reprinted in 7th and has hardly made an appearance on the tournament scene in more than a year and a half. Don't blame the busty one for that, though: Flametongue Kavu was all too ready, willing, and able to blow her from the sky. She had to stay in hiding until he was gone. It's now safe for her to come back out and play.
If you read this column frequently - and everyone involved hopes that you do - you know that I like to build and play my own decks. Sometimes the deck is a serious venture that I truly believe can win a tournament here and there... Other decks are purely fun, like the one this piece is about. It's annoying to play against. If you accidentally win with it, expect your opponent to be very mad. Oh, and I have pictures of hot babes.
ELVISH CHAMPION: Okay, settle down. Let's get down to business. I'd like to welcome you to the 23rd meeting of the Elvish Convocation Interdimensional. I'd like to say 23rd"annual" meeting - but as we all know, Odyssey block was a bad one for elves. So we haven't met in over a year. Luckily, Wizards took our petition to heart and has added to our ranks in Onslaught. Which brings us to our first order of business: It seems that Jason Jablonski is all hyped about all of the Elves in Onslaught.
My friend Josh Sharp had been working on an idea for using Tainted Aether in an Astral Slide deck. Gosh, wouldn't that just hose up someone if you could somehow **cough** **Astral Slide** **cough** find a way to make their creatures leave and reenter play a lot?
Since I switched to StarCity (Our Motto: No Matter What Your Rating Is, You're Better Than at Least One of Our Writers), I have seen a huge increase in my e-mail. I'm pretty sure that it's mostly due to spam-bots, since these e-mails typically offer genital herbal enhancement ("Be the envy of all your friends!"), dating services ("Meet desperate, usually-single women in your area!"), and easy money ("Yo, Chris, it's your cousin Vito again. Call me on the safe phone"). Still, I'd better answer 'em.
Don't you hate tournament reports that start out with a passionless description of how the person got to the tournament and with whom they went?"Paco, Rebecca, and I hopped into the Toyota Tercel for the four-hour drive to Baton Rouge." So I'm going to try to spice mine up a bit. Parts are true. Parts are fiction. Some parts I am simply filling in blanks where I either (a) didn't take notes or (b) was passed out in a drunken stupor.
"But, Chris," you say,"I have some extra money that my grandmother sent me for my birthday, and I'd really like to spend it on a Beast deck with a ton of rares in it. What do I do?" Well, first off, you have to realize that, while I can hear my Self when I talk to my Self, I can't hear you when you talk to me. Unless you got my phone number. Which would be a great trick, since I don't have a phone.
Have you got some extra money and were thinking,"Gosh, how could I blow $150 on a B/W Clerics deck?" Well, here's your answer - along with a much cheaper one, for those of you who like that sort of thing. Also, I get to play with Shelter, which is sad because I can't play with the Shelter chick. She's hot.
I see possibilities in unloved cards. I am a one-man Isle of Misfit Cards. For example, while everyone is going completely ape slick over the beef in Onslaught (yes indeedily-doodily, Silvos is block rockin' beats), I have to wonder why people aren't playing Gurzigost... But, alas, Gurzigost is from all the way back in Torment.
Neither of these decks are groundbreaking. I mean, where are all of the Onslaught cards? But you gotta remember that sometimes, new cards just don't help certain decks. Look at PTQ Chicago in 2000: Fires decks were all the rage. But what won the thing? A good, solid Rebel deck. Invasion didn't give Rebels anything... But it also didn't take anything away.
Island
This is the land that makes blue mana. If you have two of them untapped, your opponent will always worry that you have a Counterspell. As such, many people consider this the best land ever printed. And for good reason! If you have two Forests untapped, what is your opponent going to be scared of? Double Giant Growth?
The cost for Wall of Mulch's activated ability should just be"G, Sacrifice Wall of Mulch" - unless you plan on playing with eight or twelve or sixteen walls. If you do, let me know where you're playing; I need a bye in round one.
I wish Aphetto Vulture cost one less. But it doesn't. So, I'll have to live with it? Will this be one of the secondary themes for this block:"Good but too costly"? I hope not.
Mistform Mask
This will be great at the kitchen table in multiplayer games. See, you can get twenty or thirty of these and put them under that leg that's short and that causes the table to wobble. This prevents spillage of beer and chips onto the playing surface, thus keeping your Child of Gaea and Teeka's Dragon safe and clean.
Chris Romeo is back... And he's WRITING FOR STARCITY AT LAST! (Well, after that brief dalliance with MagicCan, but we've forgiven him.) If you've never read Chris, all we can say is that his set review is more amusing than most. As witness:
Battlefield Medic
There's a guy like this in every block. And in every block, I use him as a proxy for the really good cards until I can afford them.
Straight outta 7Towers.net, the man some consider to be the Heir To Rizzo's Throne tells you exactly who DOES deserve the Rizzo Box... And, of course, why.
Historically, the tribal mechanic has included the ability to make competitive decks without going overly expensive. Lorwyn is no different, and the recent success of the Faeries deck is just the tip of the iceberg of good, inexpensive, and successful Tribal decks that you can build.
