When you sit down to a game and shuffle up, what do you hope for? Personally, I hope that “this game is the best one yet.” The most foundational approach for this is to have clear and open Rule 0 conversations. These have had a healthy time in the spotlight lately, with more and more creators including these conversations in …
Lurrus of the Dream-Den has been a pillar of Modern for a while now, and thanks to Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Dragon’s Rage Channeler, the archetype has been supercharged. Black and red are the common base colors for Lurrus decks, but as Modern has evolved, they’ve included all five colors at various points. Each splash color has its own strengths …
Last week, Wizards shared some early previews for the latest Magic: The Gathering set: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. With so many previews happening recently and more to come, now’s a good time to pause and examine these new cards to see how they’ll shape Standard. Midnight Hunt is the first of two Innistrad sets coming to Standard this fall, and so …
For last year’s Halloween, I put together a retrospective on Innistrad, Magic’s original spooky gothic horror set and a perennial pick for Best Set Ever. This year for Halloween, it seems like I’ll be writing about Innistrad once more – but in the present tense! WotC has started to drip feed us details on the previously-mysterious Innistrad sets coming later …
Sets like Modern Horizons provide exciting opportunities to revisit the mechanics of Magic‘s past. But if you’re new to the game — or coming back after a break — you may have some questions about how these mechanics work. Today, we’ll be covering a mechanic you may have seen in Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons 2: an artifact-based mechanic called …
For a lot of us, the best part of Commander is the process. Brainstorming ideas until you have a complex web of synergies (and 20 cuts to make) is one of the most enticing aspects of the format. Brewing is how many players show off their creativity, and there’s no greater compliment than telling someone their deck is amazing. Not …
We’ve just had a brief respite between preview seasons, and so I’ve had time to take stock of what’s been working well for me in Commander recently. This week, I’ve decided to check in on my Aurelia, the Warleader deck. There have been many solid red and white cards printed over the past 6 months or so — which ones …
The Modern metagame tends to move at one of two speeds. When a card or archetype becomes dominant, the metagame will change relatively slowly, and it may take a ban or an impactful set to shake things up. But if such a change does happen, the metagame may begin to shift rapidly, with decks changing position from week to week. …
Jumpstart: Historic Horizons is just a week away, and when it releases, the Historic format will never be the same. The set will create entirely new deck archetypes, and today, we’ll be taking a look at five examples. While these might not be the optimal builds (the full set was just released yesterday!), these are great jumping-off points for building …
After several weeks giving Adventures in the Forgotten Realms a good thrashing, I’ve come to a monumental and unexpected realization: Treasure is the most important mechanic in Magic: The Gathering. And that’s only partially because of all the Immersturm Predators it helps me cast turn three on the play! Not every mechanic needs to herald a huge evolution in how …
