This week in Magic, everything is freakin’ awesome. Seriously, I have not been this excited about a Modern metagame since before Splinter Twin was a deck (so, like the format’s conception). Recently, Modern has experienced a roller-coaster of shifts, with Amulet Bloom/Splinter Twin’s bannings and Eldrazi’s swift rise and fall. Today, we’ll look over the […]
GP charlotte
On Sunday afternoon, my darling Ad Nauseam won Grand Prix Charlotte. Hours later, David’s Merfolk won Grand Prix Los Angeles. Although neither of us could make it to those tournaments, it’s exciting to see our babies graduating to the Grand Prix spotlight they’ve long deserved, although at least David already got to enjoy it last […]
That was quite a weekend, wasn’t it? Two Modern Grand Prix and neither was won by a Tier 1Â deck. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Modern is wide open! You can play anything and win. The key to success isn’t positioning and metagaming, although both can help, but rather practice and mastery of […]
Wizards loves to talk about the openness and diversity of Modern. Both the GP Charlotte and GP Copenhagen Day 2 Metagame Breakdowns made claims like this about the format, stating that Modern was “packed with a diversity of archetypes” and that the breakdown “shows the immense diversity of the Modern format.” Although we Modern players like […]
GP Charlotte confirmed something I’ve felt about Modern all year: if you’re not casting Tarmogoyf, and you’re not casting Blood Moon, you’re losing. Obviously the rule has exceptions; many linear decks hope to “get under” Goyf and Moon decks by attacking from angles Modern’s interactive top dogs haven’t prepared for. But at the end of the […]
There are many things I love about Magic. The infinite possibilities that come from access to a diverse card pool, branching decisions trees that spread from one singularity, and the delicate balance of resource management. While each Magic format has its own unique qualities and characteristics, the one attribute of Modern I appreciate most is […]
Most of the buzz to come out of GP Charlotte was on the awesome decks in the Top 16. Ad Nauseam combo? Elves? Griselbrand? Did we just wander into a Legacy tournament? Or maybe a kitchen table match, with stuff like Nourishing Shoal and Codex Shredder? Twin, Affinity, Burn, and all the familiar top-tier faces […]
It would be hard to pick a “best” moment at GP Charlotte. With all the awesome feature matches (big props to Starcitygames for the coverage), interesting deck techs, online buzz, and general community involvement in the event, it really felt like an interactive experience even for those stuck at their desks. Although Charlotte was not […]
GP Charlotte didn’t just meet expectations. It set a new bar for Modern tournaments. We saw Collected Company and Splinter Twin. We saw Cryptic Command and Kolaghan’s Command. We even saw Ad Nauseam (whoa), Nourishing Shoal (wait, what?), and Lantern of Insight (…wut), and all in the Top 16. GP Charlotte was one for the […]
You hear that? That’s the sound of Snapcaster Mage hitting the $80 mark. Oblivion Stone hitting $50. Huntmaster of the Fells tripling in price. The Modern market’s recent meltdown depresses a lot of players, but in me, it breeds excitement. This is where the action’s at! Modern’s never been more alive, as evidenced by the […]
If someone told right now that my weekend had suddenly freed up, I’d snag airplane tickets and be down in Charlotte faster than the average Infect game. But it’s probably for the best. The world isn’t ready to feel the wrath of Puresteel Paladin or Griselbrand+Blood Moon just yet. Which is really another way of saying […]
I’m not going to Grand Prix Charlotte this weekend, but if I were, I’d be playing Blood Moon. Moon is one of those bizarre 8th and 9th Edition holdouts from an earlier era of design: unique, powerful, and totally out of line with contemporary development principles. It’s in the same category as Choke, Ensnaring Bridge, Storage […]
