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…)
10 Powerful Colorless Cards for Commander (EDH Tips & Strategy) January 18, 2012
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I have mentioned my 9 favorite cards for Commander, but there are several other great cards that should be in almost every deck. Here is a list of 10 cards that meet that criteria. (more…)
Top 10 First Picks for Innistrad Draft (Tips & Strategy) September 29, 2011
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , 19comments
When drafting it’s a good idea to look for the best cards in each pack to decide what colors you should play and what themes you should try to get. The rares are often the right choice, but you can’t count on getting any rares in particular. What you can count on is choosing between commons and uncommons, so I will list my 10 favorite common and uncommon cards from Innistrad for draft: (more…)
Top 10 Innistrad Cards for Standard (Strategy & Tips) September 22, 2011
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, constructed , 7comments
There are several cards that I like from Innistrad, but these are my 10 favorite cards that might be worth using in a standard constructed deck: (more…)
The Power 9 for Commander (Best Cards for EDH, Tips & Strategy) July 1, 2011
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, constructed , 5commentsCommander is a lot like a singleton version of Vintage (type 1), but many additional cards are banned. I will discuss which cards I think are the most broken in Commander. These cards could become banned at any time. (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…)
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…)
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…)
Drafting Scars of Mirrodin Part 5: Proliferate November 14, 2010
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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…)
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…)
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 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…)