June 2011
58 posts
May 2011
56 posts
“The speed of an unladen Squadron Hawk is 20 turns.”
– Today’s Cranial Insertion over at MtG Salvation.
3 tags
This Game is Hard
Magic: The Gathering is a difficult game. Enough so that even seasoned veterans can make simple mistakes that, in retrospect, are quite silly, but may have actually cost them the game when they were made. Here I would like to talk about some of the mistakes I have made, and have seen others have made. Most have easy fixes and hopefully we will never make them again. As I mentioned, a few cost the...
Phyrexian Mana similar to Phi
mtgfan:
Submitted by sex-god:
I just figured out the Phyrexian symbol! Very clever on Wizards part.
Φ is the Greek symbol for Phi (or Phy). There a bunch of mathematical/scientific/philosophical meanings attached to the symbol, many of which can be stretched into somehow being represented by Phyrexia.
Anywho, thought you and your readers might Φnd it interesting. Happy Planeswalking!
...
I Guess There Can Only be One?
Wednesday Wizards announced the last Magic card that will see reprinting in every Core Set from Alpha until Magic 2012.
We already knew it was a Green card: Either Giant Growth, or Giant Spider.
So which would be the last card standing?
Really? They had the choice between a combat trick that is probably Green’s most iconic spell (it’s among the likes of Lightning Bolt, Dark...
“+1 Point: ‘2003 MLB’ – Control 4 or more power-enhancing permanents.”
– Older version of Armada Games’ EDH/Commander League Points system.
I Hit It With My Axe!: Planeswalkers Unite!: A... →
ihititwithmyaxe:
Listen up, those of you Magically inclined! A few of us are laying the groundwork for a large project, full of epic win. It’s something of a collaboration and a collective, a single, unified gathering place for MTG on Tumblr. Its functions are in the formative stages, and its form is fledgling. We…
4 tags
Embracing Vorthos: Darksteel Relic
I know, bare with me. How exactly could a card that does nothing have flavor?
I’d like to step back and admire some aspects of cards from New Phyrexia I haven’t shown enough appreciate for just yet. After all, in just a few weeks Commander Preconstructed Deck previews begin, and it seems that just after that Magic 2012 previews follow. So before I get overwhelmed with that...
8 tags
Mystic Speculation - Commander Precons Round 2
Recently new spoilers have cropped up regarding this summer’s Commander Preconstructed products. Actually, thanks to fuckyeahmtg for posting the find, as even though I read MtG Salvation and Gathering Magic, I somehow missed both posts. Those articles linked to a Facebook page with the image of the Launch Poster, which gives the full card image for another one of the dual-colored legends, as...
Splinter Twin + Deceiver Exarch vs. Myr Galvanizer...
mtgworld:
So glad.
Edit: I’m aware that the 2x Myr Galvanizer combo does exist. My problem with Splinter Twin/Deceiver Exarch is that it requires two cards as opposed to three bothers me because it’s easier to get off and faster than getting out allllll the other Myr.
It is faster, true, but it also forces players into two colors, which the Myr don’t do. Being able to infinite with any...
New Major Format OF MTG Announced →
ihititwithmyaxe:
Welcome everyone, to the Modern format.
The Modern format features sets that were originally printed using the modern card frames. Specifically, the following is permitted in Modern:
Eighth Edition
Ninth Edition
Tenth Edition
Magic 2010
Magic 2011
Mirrodin block
Kamigawa block
Ravnica
Here is the link to the announcement, in case you were wondering if this was an...
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Quest for Renewal: Extreme Showdown
Quite a while ago I read about an insane user-created format called The Ultimate Showdown, emailed to Wizards and posted on The Mothership literally for its sheer insanity. It starts with a Star, where 5 players sit in the pentagram layout of the color pie on the backs of Magic cards. Except in this format, each point of the Star isn’t just a player, but a 3-player Emperor team. Each player...
Event Decks →
abc-topdecking:
One of which featuring TWO Stoneforge Mystics …
I absolutely cannot believe they put 2 Stoneforge Mystics in here. One of them is worth the cost of the event deck. At least, until this comes out and they are way more available, and the cost goes down. Hmm, perhaps this supports my belief that Wizards is truly after the greater good of the players, and here they’d...
4 tags
This Old Deck: Angel Ascension Free-For-All
I’ve been meaning to write this article for a while. My Angel deck was the first one I ever started, and it represents a lot in the growth of myself as a player that understands power level better. The current decklist can be found here. I’m not going to post the card list below as I have been, as these articles are about a deck’s evolution in construction, and for this deck more...
“Busting a booster pack is probably right next to Chinese delivery on my list of...”
– Adam Styborksi, today’s Serious Fun.
4 tags
Political Jokes in MtG?
I’m fairly certain I noticed an example of what I took to be a recent political popular culture reference when I first held a certain card at the Mirrodin Besieged prerelease. It wasn’t until now that I noticed the flavor text of a second card from the previous set. Yes, it’s kind of odd that I noticed the flavor text of a card released before the release of the card that gave...
4 tags
Embracing Vorthos: Akroma, Angel of Fury
With a bunch of other things on my mind lately, such as the posts on Chaos Magic, I haven’t done an Embracing Vorthos article in a while. This was the second I came up with, but I wanted to wait a bit before I ventured into this territory.
The white Akroma was the first major rare I saw after being introduced to the game. Even though there were other rares in the deck I played, none were...
Yep
puzzledwizard:
S’been forever since I posted, because I’m a lazy fuck, but anyways, an FNM story: Playing green black, draw both my Chancellor of the Tangle, reveal both to start the game with in my mana pool, play a Swamp, pass the turn.
Had 2 mana in your pool and a third available, but nothing to cast with the 3 mana? I wouldn’t have revealed the card then.
4 tags
Magic in Media
Magic the Gathering has become drastically more popular in the last couple of years. I can’t say for sure when that started, because it’s increased popularity caught me up in the storm, and my relative infancy regarding the game can’t speak to those matters without a whole lot of research that I just am not interested in. I do know though that as the game has become more popular,...
5 tags
Exigent Circumstances
I was slow to get into the activities at my local card shop, worried about my skills at the game at the chance of making a fool out of myself. Then there was also the issue of being at College, and whether I had the money for a summer lease and would be around the card shop I’m familiar with or back at home with a card shop I’m not.
Last year I wasn’t able to get up the nerve to...
5 tags
This Old Deck: Chaos Stack
Since I’ve talked so much about it I feel I have to post this either way. In the past couple of months I’ve been digging through Gatherer finding amazing cards for a Chaos Magic Stack, and purchased said cards about two months ago. Since then I’ve tested it myself a bunch of times and twice (well, three games on two separate occasions) with friends. It needs some changes, but...
To Infinite Combos and Beyond: Everyone has that... →
mtgworld:
Well, maybe not their one baby. I know I put a lot of work into each deck that I make. So I guess that would make this deck my favorite child. If I could only pay for one of my children to get Christmas presents, I would give the gifts to this deck, my most favoritestest deck, in front of all the…
I also greatly love Angels. Mine is Mono-white and with it’s latest build I...
Twenty-Six Too Many: Battle of the Rogues3 →
My friend (and one of the individuals that introduced me to the game) brought his Tumblr into the Dark Side a little bit with some Magic posts recently. He built a Standard Red Mill deck and decided to use tappedout.net to test it against the Black deck I discussed before. I loved the post, as it is interesting reading about two Rogue Aggro decks beating the pulp out of each other.
26toomany:
...
5 tags
Quest for Renewal: Chaos Magic
I have mentioned Chaos Magic a few times now. After my length discussion on the merits of Omen Machine in the format, I decided I would delve deeper into the Chaos Magic: Stack variant that I recently introduced my playgroup to, and to somewhat success.
I heard about Chaos Magic around the time I started playing the game, but always assumed it was another name for Free for All - after all,...
“I fought fiercely, bravely, and without mercy. Had I not struck down my captain...”
– Battle-Mad Ronin
“Can you stop my combo? I’ll check for free!”
– Brad Nelson on Gitaxian Probe, via The Magic Show.
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Card Showcase: Omen Machine
For the last of the New Phyrexia Card Showcase posts I’m going to cover an interesting card in that it’s not going to see much, if any Limited or Standard play, and may not even be played in Commander. I happen to enjoy the game type Chaos Magic, however, where a player builds a stack of any card that is placed in the center of the table like Planechase cards (in fact, Chaos Magic is likely where...
5 tags
Card Showcase / This Old Deck: Back in Black
Again with today’s post I’d rather not limit myself to just one card. I originally wanted to write about Phyrexian Obliterator because of its splash value, but I also really wanted to talk about Lashwrithe for the potential Timmyness of the card. Well, both cards had players talking bout their potential for the otherwise near-death Mono Black build, and talking with my friend I came...
3 tags
Song of All
From Wizards: “The Song of All chronicles the beliefs, worldview, and wisdom of the planeswalker Serra, as expressed through her angels. The Song has 1000 cantos of varying lengths. The whole song would take many days, perhaps over a week, to sing from start to finish. Its full text doesn’t exist, unfortunately. Nine parts of various cantos can be found in flavor text from...
4 tags
Card Showcase: Melira
After discussing Jor Kadeen yesterday, I’d like to cover the Mirran’s other legend today. Melira, Infectbane.
According to the story, Melira was born without any metal, which made her an outcast among the Sylvok people. The individuals on Mirrodin are indeed born with metal in their body and grow with it there (I believe due to the mycosynth; after all, it’s Lattice [link] does turn everything...
“Ach! Hans, run! It’s the lhurgoyf!”
– Lhurgoyf, inspiration for “Ach! Hans, Run!”.
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Card Showcase: Jor Kadeen
I’ve been looking forward to talking about this card for a while, but I wanted to get through some of the more popular cards first. As a fan of Commander, multicolored Legendary creatures will always catch my eye. Surely the art doesn’t hurt.
A five mana 5/4 isn’t bad, and the color requirements aren’t harsh. Even without the second ability you get a 5/4 with first...
4 tags
Card Showcase: Batterskull
Or, the only “Sword of…” that doesn’t give protection from two colors. Seriously. It’s that good.
When the cards first showed up on gatherer there were at least 3 commenters who said how much this card sucked. As of today none of their comments exist. I had to go change my comments because @[name] doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when [name] up and deleted...
4 tags
Embracing Vorthos: The War for Mirrodin
In an upcoming Card Showcase I discuss Sword of War and Peace. Part of that discussion I went on a little tangent discussing a question I have heard about the card: Why does it have a Mirran watermark? The only reason for it having the watermark is that they all do (well, all the ones from this block, that is).
Although Vorthos really likes analyzing each individual card, I figured it...
4 tags
Card Showcase: War & Peace
Now that I’ve finally busted through the cycle of Praetors, I’d like to move on to one of the more anticipated cards of the set.
Personally, I didn’t anticipate it so much for its power level, or whether or not it’d make Caw-Blade even more devastating, but more because I enjoy have complete cycles. Maybe it’s the OCD.
The final sword is Red & White. It’s...
5 tags
Why do you Attend (Pre)Releases?
The Prerelease event for New Phyrexia is just around the corner!
And then, about a week later, the Release event. Then the cards are officially on sale and everyone can snag their Standard deck updates, chase Commander cards, and potential investments.
There are plenty of reasons to attend these events.
Some attend for the social aspect, or because there is a small degree of competition given...
4 tags
Card Showcase: Vorniclex
I guess that brings me to the final Praetor of New Phyrexia. Phew, I thought I’d never be done.
Vorniclex is sweet looking. I think he has the best looking art, or at least second-best, vying for first place with yesterday’s Showcased card, Sheoldred.
As I mentioned with the Chancellor of the Tangle, being green generally makes Vorniclex’s 8 mana less out of the question than the 7 mana of...
“It was probably a lousy spell in the first place.”
– Ertai, Wizard Adept
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4693
“We can’t eat the cards, though - we’ll deck ourselves.”
– Commandercast talking hypothetically about surviving the Ultimate Showdown variant. 