Judge’s Tower: APNAP Time!
APNAP (Active Player/Non-Active Player) is one of those little rules things underpinning Magic that serves to hold everything together without drawing too much attention to itself. It’s one of the many bits that lets the game function without becoming a tangled mess of unclear priority passes, garbled timing, andThe Batch. For anyone who played prior to the Sixth Edition rules ... Read More...
Let’s Brew: Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
Somewhere in Ixalan’s never-ending, Neverland-esque Pirate-Dinosaur skirmish, our imagination, childhood, and hearts were smitten with the possibilities of some of the most refreshing designs to date. And boy, they didn’t disappoint! While most have been taken with the overabundance of new creature types, the biggest win for me is a long-standing theory I’ve held about creatures and the color pie: ... Read More...
Constructing Constructed: Ixalan
My goodness, this preview season has been a doozy! And with the first rotation in what feels like years pushing the Battle for Zendikar and Shadows over Innistrad blocks out of Standard, it looks like there’s a wide open metagame just waiting for dinosaurs and pirates to invade. Between new cards and reprints, there’s definitely more than a few cards ... Read More...
Red Mage’s Quarterly: Ixalan
To call Hour of Devastation Standard a success for the Red Deck would be quite the understatement. Over the past three months, loyal red mages got to see their deck vault into the top tier, culminating in Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa’s convincing win (amidst a Top 8 with six other red aggressive decks). The additions of Earthshaker Khenra, Abrade, ... Read More...
Ixalan Prerelease Primer
We’re just one week away from the release of Ixalan, and you know what that means it’s prerelease time! Prerelease is an exciting time regardless of how much experience you have playing Magic, and we’ve created this primer to help players of all levels prepare and have as much fun as possible this weekend. The Basics If this is your ... Read More...
Making the Vala-Kut: A Titan Deck Primer
Valakut, Scapeshift, and Primeval Titan are the best of friends. Since its inception, the Valakut Scapeshift deck has been a powerful yet fringe strategy, and more recently, Valakut-centric “Titan Shift” decks are at the forefront of the Modern format. As a perpetual MTG grinder, I was particularly excited that Modern was the format of this PPTQ season. Modern is easily ... Read More...
Let’s Brew: Taigam, Sidisi’s Hand
Some say we should save the best for last. I don’t know if we’ve done that, but I can definitely say, without a doubt, that we’ve saved the strangest. With Inalla and Mairsill keeping most brewers busy, our last installment of Let’s Brew for Commander 2017 has taken a dip away from the new-hotness holding everyone’s attention to do something ... Read More...