Commander is probably the most budget-friendly format in Magic, where a well-built $100 deck can hold its own against decks with ten times the value. At the same time, that cost can be a huge barrier to entry; some of the most famous and popular cards in the format are simply out of reach for many players, and sometimes it ... Read More...

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 ... Read More...

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 ... Read More...

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 ... Read More...

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 ... Read More...

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 ... Read More...

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 ... Read More...