Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Michael Rapp”
The Magic community loves to speculate whenever Wizards of the Coast announces an update to the Banned and Restricted List, and I’m no different. Sometimes there is an obvious offender that Wizards wants to remove — Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis is a good example — but often, there is some room for interpretation. Speculation has some amount of competitive value as …
As its name implies, it’s not hard to see that Conspicuous Snoop is already a player in Modern. Snoop was one of my Top 5 Modern picks from M21, and it wasted no time making an impact on the format. A mere two days after M21 became available on Magic Online, a B/R Goblins combo deck like the one I …
Wilderness Reclamation in Modern? It isn’t as strange as it sounds! After the reign Wilderness Reclamation had in Standard, Modern decks are starting to utilize it as a way to go even bigger than opposing midrange decks. Unlike its Standard counterpart, Sultai Reclamation isn’t committed to maxing out on Wilderness Reclamation to enable a large combo turn; instead, this midrange …
With the upcoming release of Core Set 2021, I’m back with my picks for the Top 5 cards in the set Modern. There are a few different criteria that we could use to evaluate these cards: which are the most powerful in a vacuum, or which are most likely to see play? In the end, I felt that talking about …
Whenever a new set is released, many players look to the new Planeswalkers for deck-building inspiration. That’s not surprising: Planeswalkers are often the flashiest and most powerful cards in a set, so it is only natural to try and maximize their effectiveness. It’s still reasonably early in Core Set 2021 preview season, with many exciting cards still yet to be …
Wizards of the Coast released a new banned and restricted announcement this week, including updates to the companion mechanic. Effective June 3rd, companion will work as follows: At any time you could cast a sorcery, you may pay three generic mana to put your companion from your sideboard into your hand. This is a special action, not an activated ability; …
Welcome back to Card Kingdom for another “How to Play” archetype breakdown. Today, we’ll be focusing on the most popular macro-archetype in current Standard: Midrange. Be sure to check out Tom Anderson’s guide on aggro decks, and be on the lookout for control and combo primers in the future. What is Midrange? Magic decks exist on a spectrum, with fast, …
Last week, I covered how each of the companions are succeeding in Modern. But if playing with a companion isn’t something that you’re interested in, I have good news! Ad Nauseam, Eldrazi Tron, and Amulet Titan are all eschewing companions and putting up results regardless. Let’s take a look at what these decks are up to and evaluate why they’ve …
Editor’s Note: The rules around the companion mechanic have changed. Read our article on companion for the most up-to-date information. Companions are making a splash in Modern just as they are everywhere else. “Splash” is probably even an understatement; Lurrus is nothing short of dominant in the format. But the dreamy feline isn’t the only companion making noise. I took …
There’s so much more to competitive Magic than what happens on the table. Most of the things holding players back from doing their best are rooted in their mentality about the game. Technical skill is vital to success, but if you’re looking at Magic through the wrong lens, what good does it do? Today, I’m here to try and build …
