The more things change, the more they stay the same. We are heading into the first big paper tournament after the Lurrus ban two weeks ago. We have had an online Super and some other events to draw information from, but what will people end up bringing? Today we are going over what I predict will be the five most …
It’s All Academic: The Professor’s Deck Box Blockbuster
If there was any doubt that Magic: The Gathering is more popular than ever, we have to look no further than the roaring success of The Academic. Less than 20 minutes after the launch of the Kickstarter, the project was fully funded. And as of writing this, 15,000 people have pledged more than $825,000. While this is a huge success for The Profession and Tolarian Community College, it is equally a success for the Magic community.
Champion – MTG Keywords Explained
Champion, from Lorwyn Block, appears on creatures, and appears on those cards as “Champion a ____” where the blank is a creature type. There are two abilities that go along with Champion – the first says that when it enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you exile another ____ you control” (again, a creature type). The second ability says that …
Alternate Win Conditions in Commander
Winning the game can be an odd topic in Commander. Most games aren’t about the win itself, but the fun you have along the way. The journey from first land drop to scooping it up is one that we try to make as memorable as possible. While it doesn’t usually matter who wins, sometimes it’s fun to change how the …
Ranking Magic’s Sword Equipment Cycle in Commander
Equipment decks are one of my favorite types of deck to build. There are a bunch of great swords, staffs, boots, and spears that can augment your creatures and increase your consistency. And, it’s fun from a flavor perspective–granting exciting weaponry to your seasoned warriors. Swords of X&Y One of the most famous equipment cycles in Magic is the Swords …
Playing “Bad” Cards in Commander
Building a tuned Commander deck can mean a lot of different things. Some people build for a theme, every card contributing to a grand story that the deck tells in myriad variations. Some build a well-oiled machine, designed to do one thing with ruthless efficiency. Sometimes they figure out some arcane and byzantine Rube-Goldberg machine and just want to see …
Lurrus of the Dream-Den Ban: Modern Winners and Losers
On Monday, Wizards of the Coast made a bombshell announcement by banning Lurrus of the Dream-Den in Modern. Now, there could have been a number of different possible bans, but I’m not here to talk about that today. If you want to read my expanded feelings about Lurrus being banned, you can find them here. We can only play the …
5 Decks for Post-Lurrus Pioneer
Right as I was starting to write this article I got a text: “THEY REALLY DID IT”“THEY BANNED LURRUS” I was startled. While I always knew Lurrus would get banned one day, I didn’t expect it to happen like this. We are now in a Post-Lurrus world. So when starting to look for Pioneer decks for the biggest upcoming Pioneer …
Combo Crash Course: Birgi/Grinning Ignus
There’s a lot of two-card combos in Magic, but the best ones often come from way back in the game’s history. To a degree, that’s just statistics – the number of unique cards printed over the last 29 years is just so much larger than the pool of Standard-legal cards at any given point. This means that the combos we …
Transfigure – MTG Keywords Explained
Transfigure is from the set Future Sight, and as of the time of this post appears on only one card: Fleshwrither. It’s a pretty simple mechanic, working like Transmute but for creatures. On your turn, at sorcery speed, if Fleshwrither is on the battlefield, you may pay the Transfigure cost. When you do, sacrifice Fleshwrither, then search your library for …