Two weeks have passed since War of the Spark’s release, and we have enough data to start analyzing the new Standard metagame. From the looks of it, the landscape is as diverse as ever, with aggro, midrange, and control strategies each claiming a large slice of the pie. While there are at least a dozen viable strategies, a few decks …
With Mythic Championship II just behind us and Modern Horizons coming up, there’s been a lot of buzz about the Modern format. We’ve also seen a huge influx of new Magic players to the competitive ecosystem with the advent of MTG Arena, so we wanted to offer a quick introduction to the Modern format. Modern is a non-rotating format that …
This is the fourth in a series of profiles of the planeswalkers appearing in War of the Spark. In this article, we’ll examine the story of Sarkhan Vol, a dragon-obsessed warrior who has served both Nicol Bolas and his rival Ugin. Disciple of Dragons Sarkhan was born on the plane of Tarkir, in a timeline where the plane’s dragons had …
Magic: The Gathering, the tabletop game about powerful plane-hopping wizards, has seen a spike in popularity with the release of its new digital analogue, MTG Arena. For years, people have been discovering Magic at their local game stores and through their D&D groups. Now more than ever before, players are coming to Magic from other digital games, including other collectible …
Until recently, I considered myself a quintessential Harry Potter fan. A “Potterhead” who knew everything from the conversion rates of sickles to galleons (17 to 1), to the wand wood of Ollivander himself (hornbeam), to the Hogwarts House of Moaning Myrtle (Ravenclaw). I even have my own custom designed wand (also made of hornbeam). Before I started playing Magic: The …
War of the Spark Traditional Draft has been live on MTG Arena for a week, and we’ve already had a few opportunities to try out the new format. War draft is more complex than usual, with high-powered cards and complicated interactions in seemingly every game. If you’re still trying to wrap your head around the draft format, we wanted to …
War of the Spark is available today, but its early release online has already given Magic fans ample opportunities to play the new Standard format. The first Magic Online League results are in, and MTG Arena players have been sharing their brews with @arenadecklists on Twitter all week long. While there’s still plenty of room for innovation, we have a …
This is the third in a series of profiles of some of the planeswalkers appearing in War of the Spark. In this article, we discuss the life and work of Tamiyo, a historian who often becomes involved in the events she tries to observe. The Moon Sage Tamiyo is a member of the soratami people from the plane of Kamigawa. …
I’ve always been intrigued by cards whose function matches their flavor. When I was a new player, I remember casting Ambush Viper during my main phase, and a friend showed me how much more powerful the effect would be if I cast it after she declared attackers. “Imagine my creatures charging across the battlefield. Then, out of nowhere, this little …
