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…)
Standard Red Deck Wins (Post-Scars of Mirrodin) January 18, 2011
Posted by James in : all, strategy, constructed, standard , add a commentI don’t know what Red Deck Wins will look like after Mirrodin Besieged, but I finally got a new red deck that did pretty well. I was able to beat 5 players in a row, then I tied to make it into the top 8. I ended up tying for fourth place. (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 4: Infect & Poison November 5, 2010
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , add a comment The infect strategy can be a bit competitive and you have to get exactly the right cards (lots of infect stuff) or it won’t be very good. Of course, it can be a very powerful deck when it works. You will want to play green/black and ignore most green black cards that don’t have infect. This is a strategy that could require you to skip some removal in favor of more infect creatures. The following commons and uncommons are worth playing in an infect deck that I already mentioned. (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…)
Drafting Scars of Mirrodin Part 2: The Sacrifice Theme October 21, 2010
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 3commentsThe fact that Scars of Mirrodin has an artifact and poison theme is obvious — but there’s also a sacrifice theme that can be worth drafting. Not to mention that most people steer clear of this strategy, so it’s not too hard to draft it. Red is the only color that is essential to the sacrifice theme, but black also has some helpful cards. Here is a list of the best cards for the sacrifice theme: (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…)
The New Red Deck Wins August 26, 2010
Posted by James in : all, strategy, constructed , 5comments
Red Deck Wins is one of the least expensive yet competitive decks you can make for standard. After someone stole my three standard decks I already had plans to play in a standard event the next day, so I ended up staying up late making a new deck. I decided the best option was red deck wins, which could be made entirely with cards worth around $5 or less. Here was my deck list: (more…)
Drafting 2011 Part 6: Green August 3, 2010
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, draft , 6comments
Green doesn’t have the mind blowing power of the other colors, but it does have big creatures and mana fixing. The main idea of green is that you can play a couple other colors of your choice without worrying a lot about having mana problems. My top 10 favorite green common and uncommon cards are the following: (more…)
Drafting Magic 2011 Part 5: Red July 28, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, limited, draft , 5comments
Red is by far my favorite color to draft in Magic 2011, but the problem is that everyone else seems to feel the same way and they often take all the best red cards before I have a chance. Here are my top 10 red common and uncommon cards for Magic 2011: (more…)
Drafting Magic 2011 Part 4: Black July 23, 2010
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 6comments
These are my favorite 10 black commons and uncommons when drafting Magic 2011: (more…)
Drafting Magic 2011 Part 3: Blue July 16, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 4comments
This is a list of the top 10 blue uncommon and common cards that I would want to get in draft. (more…)
Drafting Magic 2011 Part 2: White July 14, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 3commentsHere are my favorite top 10 white common and uncommon white cards in Magic 2011. These are the cards I would want most if I was playing white. (more…)
Drafting Magic 2011: Top 10 First Picks July 9, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, previews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 12commentsWhen drafting, the first few picks we take will often determine what colors we should play, so knowing the very best cards of a draft is essential. If you get a powerful card after a couple cards have already been taken in a pack, then you should probably play that color because it looks like you don’t have a lot of competition. The most powerful cards are what I often call “first picks.” I will discuss my current favorite top 10 commons and uncommon first picks for draft. (Keep in mind that this was written before Magic 2011 was released, so this is somewhat speculative.) (more…)
Magic 2011 Top 10 Cards (Not In Magic 2010) For Standard July 8, 2010
Posted by James in : all, strategy, constructed , 3commentsMy current favorite top 10 cards in Magic 2011 that are reprints or completely new with Standard tournaments in mind are as follows: (more…)
Drafting Rise of Eldrazi Part 5: Red/Black Control May 27, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , add a comment
One of the most powerful decks you can make while drafting Rise of Eldrazi is a red/black deck jam packed with removal. This is much like the red/blue instant/sorcery themed deck I discussed earlier, but it makes use out of black removal. Two of the most important cards to get other than creature removal are the following: (more…)
Drafting Rise of Eldrazi Part 4: Choosing a Theme May 14, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 4commentsOne of the most important elements of drafting Rise of Eldrazi is to try to use a theme, which is basically just getting a lot of cards that work well together. I have noticed six main themes that you can shoot for in Rise of Eldrazi: (more…)
Drafting Rise of Eldrazi Part 3: Second Picks May 11, 2010
Posted by James in : all, reviews, strategy, tips, limited, draft , add a commentSecond picks are basically first picks that didn’t make my top 10 bombs or first picks list. I think many of these are significantly less good than the cards on my top 10 list, but they are still quite good. (more…)