Top 10 Dark Ascension Cards For Standard (Tips, Strategy, Review, & First Impressions) February 3, 2012
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This is my top 10 favorite Dark Ascension cards with Standard in mind. The cards on this list might never see play, but I think they are good when considered in isolation, and they are likely to see play at some point. (Perhaps after the next rotation.) Keep in mind that this list is created before Dark Ascension was officially released, so it is somewhat speculative. (more…)
Top 10 First Picks for Dark Ascension Draft (Tips & Strategy) January 24, 2012
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 4comments
Dark Ascension can be drafted alone or with two booster packs of Innistrad. Keep in mind that Dark Ascension will be the first pack you draft, so it’s a good idea to know what you want to “shoot for” when you start drafting Dark Ascension with Innistrad. The cards in this list are the cards that I think are (a) powerful, (b) worth drafting early, and are (c) common or uncommon. Rares are often the first pick, but you should be more familiar with the commons and uncommons since you will see a lot of them. (more…)
Magic 2012 Draft: Top 20 Common & Uncommon First Picks (Tips & Strategy) July 20, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, limited, draft , 5comments
When you draft, knowing which cards are best can be quite helpful. You should know if your rare is worth taking. Difficult choices generally concern the commons and uncommons. My 20 favorite commons and uncommons include the following: (more…)
Top 10 New Cards in Magic 2012 for Standard July 14, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, standard , 1 comment so farThere are many good reprints in Magic 2012, and some of them were gone for a while. Grim Lavamancer, Oblivion Ring, Incinerate, Ponder, Overrun, Goblin Grenade, Smallpox, and Solemn Simulacrum are all great cards that weren’t in Magic 2011 or any other set within the last year. My concern here are never-seen-before cards in Magic 2012 that I think could be good enough make a difference to Standard tournaments. (more…)
Magic 2012 Core Set First Impressions July 7, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews , 2comments
The spoiler for Magic 2012 is complete, and I will now discuss some of my observations. First, bloodthirst is back. Second, hexproof is a new “evergreen” keyword. Third, Lightning Bolt has been replaced with Incinerate. Fourth, there’s three new Planeswalkers. (more…)
Top 10 Best Commander Precon Cards (EDH Tips & Strategy) June 24, 2011
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Wizards of the Coast has made Commander (AKA EDH/Elder Dragon Highlander) into an official format and five preconstructed commander decks have been released featuring 51 new cards. (Go here to see a spoiler of every card included in these decks.) I will now present my 10 favorite new commander cards from the preconstructed decks. My ratings of the cards are based on having the commander format in mind because most of the cards wouldn’t be worth playing in any other setting. (more…)
Preview of Magician, The Magic Deck Building Game June 6, 2011
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Magician is a new deck building game being made based on Magic: the Gathering and inspired by the success of Dominion and Ascension. Instead of paying mana costs to play cards, you buy cards for your deck using money. Here are some sneak previews: (more…)
Top 10 New Phyrexia First Picks for Draft (Tips & Strategy) May 2, 2011
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The following are the my favorite common and uncommon cards from New Phyrexia that I will take a look out for while drafting New Phyrexia: (more…)
Top 10 Cards for Standard from New Phyrexia April 28, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, constructed, standard , 6commentsHere are my current favorite cards for Standard from New Phyrexia. (more…)
First Impressions of New Phyrexia April 24, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews , 3comments
The New Phyrexia spoiler is finished, so I will start previewing it now. In this installment I will review the themes found in New Phrexia: Phyrexian Mana, Golems, Infect, and Metalcraft. (more…)
Drafting Mirrodin Besieged Part 1: Top 10 Commons & Uncommons (Strategy & Tips) February 7, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 14comments
Although great rares can help determine what colors you want to play, commons and uncommons are much more reliable and are likely to play an even greater role for that reason. Additionally, the first cards you take are likely to tell you what colors you should play and what colors other people aren’t playing — and they aren’t likely to be rares. The cards on this top 10 list are the cards you hope to take and they will help you choose what colors to play.
Updated 3/21/2011: Added Mortarpod to the list. (more…)
Why Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, is a Game Design Failure February 1, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, constructed , 8comments
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is quite powerful, and I agree that it’s not broken. So what’s the problem? The problem is that we can’t ignore it because it’s good. And the problem is that it’s the wrong colors. The problem is Tezzeret is wrong for the constructed metalcraft decks we should be able to make using cards from Scars of Mirrodin block. (more…)
Top 10 Cards for Standard in Mirrodin Besieged January 27, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, constructed , 2commentsI mentioned my 3 personal favorite cards from Mirrodin Besieged, but they aren’t necessarily going to be the most important cards in Standard. Here are the top 10 cards I think will be powerful (or highly useful) for Standard: (more…)
Mirrodin Besieged First Impressions January 26, 2011
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews , 4comments
The Mirrodin Besieged spoiler is finished, and I will discuss my favorite new cards, implications Mirrodin Besieged will have on draft, and the theme. (more…)
Scars of Mirrodin Critique January 24, 2011
Posted by James in : all, random, reviews, design , add a comment
Ravnica, Time Spiral, Lorwyn, and Eventide are my four favorite sets — I think they were well designed and well balanced (for draft and sealed events in particular). Scars of Mirrodin doesn’t quite live up to them, but it’s a well made set. I like it better than Shards of Alara and perhaps even Zendikar. I like the synergy found in Scars of Mirrodin, but I dislike (a) that there are only two major themes and (b) I don’t like how bombs affect the game. (more…)
Predicting the Future Part 7: Magic 2080 (Part 1) November 22, 2010
Posted by James in : all, fake cards, previews, speculation , 3comments
Back in 2008 I predicted what Magic would look like 50 years in the future, and I eventually turned many of those cards into an actual set that could be played. It was then that I thought of a card called “Cinder Ritual” as seen below: (more…)
Drafting Scars of Mirrodin Part 5: Proliferate November 14, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , add a comment Scars of Mirrodin is one of the most difficult sets to draft because there are only two obvious decks to shoot for — Metalcraft and Infect. However there are also two other decks that most people either don’t know about or are unwilling to try to make — Sacrifice and Proliferate. I already talked about the sacrifice theme, and I only found out about the proliferate deck recently. (more…)
Drafting Scars of Mirrodin Part 3: Metalcraft Decks October 28, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , add a commentIt is likely that you will draft a lot of artifacts, but you can try to really go for the artifact theme big time. If you want to go for the artifact theme, metalcraft is the main thing to look for. When making an metalcraft deck, you need to get the right cards to warrant playing an artifact deck, but you also need to choose your colors because many of the best metalcraft cards are non-artifacts. Any color combination can make a decent metalcraft deck, but some colors are better than others. In particular, I am not impressed by the green metalcraft cards. Here are the top 15 common and uncommon cards I look for when I want to play metalcraft: (more…)
Top 10 Scars of Mirrodin Cards for Standard September 26, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, standard , 2comments
I don’t think poison or artifact themed decks will immediately have a strong impact on standard, and my top 10 list will be restricted to the cards I think will have an impact right away. My top 10 list is the following: (more…)
Drafting Scars of Mirrodin Part 1: Top 20 Commons & Uncommons September 23, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 8commentsThe most relevant cards to a draft strategy are the commons and uncommons because they are much more predictable than rares. These are the cards you usually build a deck around. My favorite Scars of Mirrodin commons and uncommons are the following: (more…)