Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate is right around the corner! Ahead of previews next week, Chris looks at what we already know. Streets of New Capenna is fully out in the wild, and while we’re having a blast with all the new goodies it brings, we also try to keep an eye on what’s coming up. Commander Legends: Battle …
Fringe Format: Judge’s Tower
In Fringe Format, Chris looks at a lesser-known way to play Magic! This time, we climb the heights of the most rules-heavy format possible: it’s Judge’s Tower! Blueprints Judge’s Tower was created, handily enough, by Magic judges. Of all the formats that were invented by judges, Judge’s Tower is certainly one of them. Commander will always be the most successful …
Cabaretti Cacophony Precon Upgrade Guide
Chris takes a look at the Cabaretti Cacophony Commander Precon deck, and has some suggestions for how to give it a bit of an upgrade! Streets of New Capenna is here, and with it comes the Cabaretti Cacophony Commander Precon! Let’s look at the deck as it comes out of the box and see where maybe we can give it a …
The Story of Elspeth Tirel
Elspeth Tirel returns in Streets of New Capenna, and Chris runs down the story she has carved through the overarching plot of MTG. Elspeth Tirel has been in the game since Shards of Alara, and not even death has been able to keep her off the page for too long. Let’s look at how her story has gone in the …
Playing “Bad” Cards in Commander
Building a tuned Commander deck can mean a lot of different things. Some people build for a theme, every card contributing to a grand story that the deck tells in myriad variations. Some build a well-oiled machine, designed to do one thing with ruthless efficiency. Sometimes they figure out some arcane and byzantine Rube-Goldberg machine and just want to see …
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, and…The Batch. For anyone who played prior to the Sixth Edition rules …
Judge’s Tower: Turn it Up
When it comes to Magic, I fully subscribe to a school of thought that isn’t the most…friendly: Magic is inherently a zero-sum game. In any given game, there’s a certain amount of fun to be had, and I want to make sure that I have the most fun that I can every time I play. I can think of almost …
Judge’s Tower: It’s Just A Phase
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in August 2017, in the lead-up to the release of Commander 2017. It has been updated on July 7, 2020 to reference the newest card with phasing — Teferi, Master of Time — released in Core Set 2021.) Core Set 2021 just released (which, incidentally, you can order here), and players are already …
Judge’s Tower: Playing with Layers, Pt. 2
Once more, with feeling! We’re looking at layers again today, mostly because there’s still a lot of weirdness that goes on with the different layers interacting with one another. Getting the order of operations down can be a little tricky, but it’s worth hammering home. So, to start, a quick review of what the layers are, along with examples of …
Judge’s Tower: Playing with Layers, Pt. 1
Hey everyone! Today, we’re going to dive into a section of the rules that causes a lot of headaches for players and judges alike: layers! Yes, layers – a word that fills people with a cursory knowledge of the Magic rules with an undue amount of dread. There’s a lot to layers, but the concept isn’t as daunting as it …