When it comes to Magic, I fully subscribe to a school of thought that isn’t the most…friendly: Magic is inherently a zero-sum game. In any given game, there’s a certain amount of fun to be had, and I want to make sure that I have the most fun that I can every time I play. I can think of almost …
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in August 2017, in the lead-up to the release of Commander 2017. It has been updated on July 7, 2020 to reference the newest card with phasing — Teferi, Master of Time — released in Core Set 2021.) Core Set 2021 just released (which, incidentally, you can order here), and players are already …
Once more, with feeling! We’re looking at layers again today, mostly because there’s still a lot of weirdness that goes on with the different layers interacting with one another. Getting the order of operations down can be a little tricky, but it’s worth hammering home. So, to start, a quick review of what the layers are, along with examples of …
Hey everyone! Today, we’re going to dive into a section of the rules that causes a lot of headaches for players and judges alike: layers! Yes, layers – a word that fills people with a cursory knowledge of the Magic rules with an undue amount of dread. There’s a lot to layers, but the concept isn’t as daunting as it …
A couple of weeks ago, the Magic world descended on Las Vegas for a Triple Grand Prix Weekend. I was there, and had a blast playing in the Legacy and Modern GP’s. As an Event Coordinator for Mox Boarding House Seattle, I usually Judge Magic events four or five days a week, but rarely get to play myself – so …
Hello again! Last time we climbed the Tower, we went over how a card like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben works in a variety of situations. When I set out to write that article, I was thinking I was going to be able to cover more ground, but as I realized how often I get Judge calls about how Thalia works, …
Like any other game or hobby, Magic requires that you pay some dues before you can really get the most out of it. There’s a decently high barrier to entry, as even learning the basic rules of the game can seem daunting when you’re just starting out. But once you’ve put in the time and effort required to really dig into …
Hey all, welcome back to Judge’s Tower! Enough of you liked the last one of these I wrote, so as promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view), today we’re going to deal with one the bigger “rules headache” cards out there – Blood Moon! At first glance, Blood Moon seems innocuous enough. Just four simple words of Oracle …
Hello, and welcome to the Judge’s Tower! Judge’s Tower is a Magic format for self-deprecating people (more info about which can be found here: http://judgetower.pdxmtg.com/), the point of which is that everything you do must be done absolutely correctly within the rules; the only way to lose is the get something wrong. I’m Chris, a Level 2 judge at Mox Boarding …
