Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Tom Anderson”
We’re somehow into May now, and I’ve found myself writing more and more about Ikoria Standard in recent weeks. We’re at what I’d call the “mature” end of the format, with the largest and deepest card pool possible all on the table to tinker with until the Ravnica sets and M20 rotate out in a couple months. With so much …
I’ve been thinking these last few days about a popular phrase: “a good problem to have.” Some of the best players in Magic have made earnest complaints about Zenith Flare — the all-star uncommon of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths — and the cycling-heavy deck which has arisen around it. The deck is certainly winning a lot in the last week …
Editor’s Note, 4/29/20: This article was originally published on October 28, 2019. We want to ensure you have the most up-to-date information about popular decks, so we’ve updated this article and re-published it on April 29, 2020. Editor’s Note, 8/3/20: Cauldron Familiar has been banned in Standard effective August 3, 2020. Read the full announcement from Wizards of the Coast …
Hop in, magicians — we’re going Brawling! If there’s one thing Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths has in abundance, it’s cool legendary creatures to build around! The Apex cycle opens up powerful three-color options, and the various companions can be used as your Brawl commander even if you don’t meet their special deck-building requirements. The various legendary humans and new Planeswalkers …
Literally and figuratively, creatures are what give Magic life. The game was designed and balanced around the idea of playing creatures to attack and defend your life total, and that is how most people still learn to play it. As the main way for players to act on the game state other than casting spells, creatures are the natural stars …
As one of the most anticipated new mechanics in years, mutate has some high expectations to live up to. Wizards R&D has repeatedly tried to get a “combine your creatures” mechanic right, and after the success of host/augment in Unstable, it seemed they were getting close. The announcement of Ikoria as the “make your own monster” set, featuring “one of …
Hello, fellow Planeswalkers! I’m writing to you this week from my Fortress of Solitude, a position which I suspect many of you can also empathize with! The COVID-19 pandemic has settled over most of the world by now, and Magic has been disrupted along with almost every other part of our daily routines. You wouldn’t necessarily think that card games …
Greetings, adventurers! Last week, you may have read how I made the case for Dungeons & Dragons fans to pick up Magic: The Gathering. I argued that Commander is much closer to a tabletop RPG session than most people realize, and that roleplayers should experiment with building a Commander deck to represent their favorite PC. But just how do you …
Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons are two of the most popular and well-known tabletop games around. With histories spanning decades, global fan communities, and entire genres of imitators around them, it’s likely that anyone with a geeky bone in their body has tried at least one of them. D&D and Magic have also both been owned by the …
Greetings, fellow magicians – this week, we’re doing something a little different. I often use this space to tackle broader Magic strategy or design theory. That’s fun, but so is doing something a little more grounded and direct from time to time. This week sees the much-hyped retail release of the Mystery Booster set, complete with a special list of …
