The CK-Files: Lumeria
Welcome to another edition of the CK-Files! Today we’re going to go behind the scenes of Lumeria: The Great Divide! As part of our daily duties as designers, we keep a detailed log of our design work. At the end of each day, before we hang up our hard hats and punch out, we all take some time to write ... Read More...
Modern Matchup Guide: Urza vs. Death’s Shadow
The Modern metagame may not move nearly as fast as Standard, but if you look closely, you can see how the top deck evolve. The Urza decks are a great example of this: In the past year, Urza has been a Whir of Invention-based combo/prison deck, a Paradoxical Outcome combo deck, and (currently) a Simic midrange deck that uses Oko ... Read More...
Lumeria: The Disappearance of Cricket Street
Day 1 On Tuesday morning, just before dawn, Cricket Street vanished. Telna stared at the grey, pearlescent wall in front of her and put down her basket of breakfast rolls. She stretched out a hand and touched the barrier. It was real, smooth, and cold. And it shouldn’t be here. She glanced around and, yes, this was the arched entrance ... Read More...
12 Magic Cards that Defined 2019
2019 has been a massive year, in Magic and in general. So much happens with such intensity that it can be tough to put ourselves in the mindset of even a few months ago! So as we turn the final page on our calendars, let’s reflect on 2019 and count down the cards that defined the year in Magic. JANUARY: ... Read More...
Making Lumeria: The Great Divide
The story of Lumeria begins in 2017. In a brainstorming session, I suggested we make our own masters set, but with inexpensive cards that we could sell at a reasonable price. A few months later, Chris VanMeter approached me about getting a list together. The first Lumeria set was focused on two-color pairs and finding archetypes within those pairs. With ... Read More...
Sideboarding in Pioneer
A sideboard to your deck. A paintbrush to your canvas. A hammer to your smithing. …That’s all I got. Sideboarding is important because your maindeck can’t cover everything. Sometimes you need some fine-tuning to cover weak points against a match-up, a particular card, or even a player! Sideboard cards can vary from high impact but narrow answers — such as ... Read More...
Gang of Gideons: A Pioneer Deck Tech
The unexpected announcement of the Pioneer format is shaping up to be a Magic highlight of 2019. We’ve seen a ton of unique decks emerge in the weeks since, many featuring cards and strategies which were banned or crowded out of Modern. As Michael Rapp observed in his metagame update, the Big Three decks right now seem to be Mono-Black, ... Read More...