Playing with Non-Permanents in Commander

Playing with Non-Permanents in Commander

Tom AndersonCommander

Quick question for the Commander players in the audience: without checking, what percentage of cards in your deck non-permanents? Does 50% sound right? 75%? Even higher? I know there’s some blue/red spellslinger players or cEDH decks with tons of instant interaction helping keep the averages down, but I’d guess most other decks the number is closer to 80% than 50%. …

Five The Lord of the Rings Moments We Want on Magic Cards

Five Non-Movie The Lord of the Rings Moments We Want on Magic Cards

Kristen GregoryStandard

Tales of Middle-earth is Magic: the Gathering’s premier The Lord of the Rings expansion set. As a fresh adaptation of the books, it’s not beholden to Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy, and we’re excited to see moments and characters missing from the previous adaptation. Join us as we delve into the lore and get hyped for Tales of Middle-earth moments we …

Deification Across Magic Formats

Deification Across Magic Formats

Tom AndersonOathbreaker, Pioneer, Standard

Planeswalkers may have lost some potency in the multiverse of Magic, but they did receive one exciting new tool: Deification. Tom explores how this enchantment opens up lots of opportunities across formats to build novel decks. For the most powerful mages in Magic’s Multiverse, planeswalkers sure are taking some L’s lately. First March of the Machine thinned their ranks, and …

The Impact of Standard Bans: May 2023

The Impact of Standard Bans: May 2023

Mason ClarkStandard

Standard received a new wave of bans on Monday, removing Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Invoke Despair and Reckoner Bankbuster from the format. With such powerful and popular cards removed from the format, it’s time to look at what will fill this power vacuum. While we knew some bans were coming, these do fall outside the new Banned and Restricted announcement …

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Predictions

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Predictions

Chris CornejoStandard

The Lord of the Rings is upon us, with previews starting next week and Card Kingdom’s presale already live! We know a bit about Tales of Middle-earth at this point, but today I’m going to make some predictions for what we might see as previews progress. Normally, I also make some story predictions. But, well…we kind of already know the …

What IS Ascend?!

Ascend – MTG Mechanics Explained

Card KingdomStrategy

Ascend is…odd. It can exist on any card type, but works a little differently if it’s on an instant or sorcery as opposed to a permanent. On a permanent, it’s a static ability, while on an instant or sorcery, it’s a spell ability that check the game state upon resolution. In either case, Ascend means if you control ten or …

Erayo, Soratamai Ascendant's Ban in Commander

Why is Erayo, Soratami Ascendant Banned in Commander?

Jacob LacknerCommander

While Commander’s grassroots origins make it different from many other Magic formats, it still has a ban list like the rest of them. However, since Commander is not a format with tons of tournament data to back up banning certain cards, some players are unsure why certain offenders end up on the list. Today, we’re going to look at Erayo, …

Sultai Battle Shadow in Modern

Sultai Battle Shadow in Modern

Michael RappModern

Death’s Shadow decks haven’t had a meaningful addition in some time, which contributes to a decline in both play rate and success, as of late. However, I’m not here today to bemoan the performance of Shadow — I actually have good news! Not only did Death’s Shadow win an MTGO challenge last week, piloted by xfile, but it is a …