Historic — and several other Magic formats — just got rocked to their foundations by this Monday’s Banned & Restricted announcement. After months of intense criticism from the player base, Wizards has decided to wipe the slate clean. Wilderness Reclamation and Teferi, Time Raveler will be mourned by few after their respective reigns of terror — but which decks are …
The Magic community has filled great tomes with the discussion of the 2019-2020 Standard environment; at this point, it’s hard to justify repeating the analysis in detail. Suffice to say that the format is historically short on deck variety, and one reason why is how incredibly hard it is to play aggro decks right now. Standard has been dominated by …
After a rocky start, the Historic format is breathing new life into the MTGA experience. I admit, I was one of the early skeptics, but given the lack of Arena support for Pioneer, WotC seems to be taking Historic seriously as a competitive format, and the player base has responded in kind. With that in mind, I find it odd …
Welcome back, my friends – and also, hello! Don’t do a double take at the extra greeting; we’re just doing everything by twos at the moment. Did you know that Double Masters is just around the corner? And that it’s about to arrive? I’m twice as excited as usual, considering how much absurd value seems to be in every pack! …
Hello friends! I’ve got something a little different for you with this week’s article. We’re not discussing new cards, but a new format that’s gathered some momentum in the community — Conquest! Like the Gladiator format presented by impresario Benjamin Wheeler last month, Conquest has evolved from the community’s love of large-deck singleton formats. These formats capture many fun aspects …
Hello readers — and please give a warm welcome to our new friend, Core Set 2021! They’re gonna need that warmth, because it is hard to be a new Standard set right now. Simply put, the new core set is entering one of the most powerful Standard environments ever. It’s not just the per-card power level of a format which …
Getting into Magic can be a chicken-and-egg situation: you can’t play without a deck, but how do you build a deck without knowing what any cards do? The upcoming Jumpstart set solves this issue in a fun and natural way, meaning this might be the best product ever for teaching new players! Jumpstart gives curious first-timers their titular boost by …
Nothing like the advent of a new spoiler season to remind us how fast 2020 is speeding by! Core Set 2021 is an important one: it’s coming at a time of significant change in competitive Magic, and it’s the last set to release before the next Standard rotation. That makes it something of a signpost for where Wizards of the …
Ding dong, Winota is dead (well, suspended) in Historic. It’s a great time if you enjoy brewing, especially if you enjoy brewing linear, explosive decks that make silly things happen. Oh, you do? Well, let’s cut off this preamble right here so I can fit in more lists. Get ready to tick some fun stuff off your Magic bucket list… …
Last week, Wizards of the Coast released a much-anticipated Banned and Restricted announcement that has ramifications for Standard, Historic, and companion cards as we know them. As always, I recommend reading the official announcement yourself to get the long-form reasoning behind the changes. But for convenience: Agent of Treachery and Fires of Invention are banned in Standard Agent of Treachery …
