Hey guys! This week, I figured we’d take a step back from individual deck discussion/format analysis and discuss a topic that applies to anyone looking to improve their game: testing! With my recent move and the approach of Pro Tour: Magic Origins in Vancouver, I’ve been focused primarily on two things: Standard, and where my […]

I’m out on vacation this week, so with the exception of my banlist article yesterday (I couldn’t even have left the house without writing that!), I’ll be doing some shorter tech-oriented articles for this week. You can expect more discussion and processing of the banlist next week, as well as some metagame discussion as we […]

An hour ago, Wizards released their 7/13 Banned and Restricted Announcement to an eagerly awaiting Modern community. I’d been refreshing pages for about two hours by that point, so I hope you join me in taking our collective hats off to Wizards as we applaud them for the Announcement’s decision: no changes. I’m not just […]

Modern players love discussing ways to improve the format. I constantly hear suggestions from forum users and locals alike to unban more cards (Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sword of the Meek), reprint older ones (mostly Counterspell), or print new ones, often with specific agendas in mind. Different players want different things. But for a format […]

With the recent high-profile events of GP Charlotte and GP Copenhagen in the books, along with the corresponding MTGO Modern Festival and MOCS Championship both featuring Modern, Modern players (and grateful writers) have experienced no shortage of tech and storylines to discuss over the past few weeks. Now, the world’s attention turns to Magic Origins […]

Mike Lanigan reviews Magic Origins for Constructed applications, selecting his picks for the 10 cards most likely to impact the Standard format.

The most frustrating part about the Modern banlist isn’t always the bans themselves. In fact, I haven’t really disagreed with a ban since Seething Song/Bloodbraid Elf bit the dust back in January 2013. For me, the most frustrating part can be lack of player understanding about Wizards’ banning criteria, and Wizards’ lack of transparency in how they discuss […]

The last time I had such an exciting month of Modern was March 2014, back during GP Richmond. And that was just a single GP without any major set releases co-occurring. June saw not one, not two, but three Grand Prix tournaments, along with the Magic Origins spoiler, the MTGO Modern Festival, an SCG Modern Open, and […]

Magic Origins has arrived! Origins is the last of the Core sets (6th Edition, 10th Edition, M15, etc.), which marks the end of an era for how sets are released. It’s fitting that a set like this will have some high-impact Modern playables, but the bar was already set high in Khans block. Maybe a […]

We’ve seen some interest in Saturday articles for a while now, and with the MTGO Modern Festival Finals coming up on Sunday, July 5, there hasn’t been a better time to fire off a pre-event article to prepare players for Sunday’s showdown. The tournament winner goes home with one copy of every single Modern-legal set, […]

Thank God it’s Friday. In other words, time for another article about everyone’s favorite transforming bug. I’ve dabbled in midrange, combo, aggro, and control, but only tempo consistently stimulates me to learn everything I can about Magic. As such, most of my Magic knowledge is tempo-based, and you can always expect me to write articles focused […]

Hey guys! In response to my article about Suicide Zoo last week, I asked my readers which they would rather see: a video about Grixis Control, or one with Suicide Zoo. You guys voted Suicide Zoo, so I did a short Video Tech and then ran the list through an 8-man event to try it out. […]

Grishoalbrand has made a big impact in Modern and in this article, I want to explain the deck’s matchups against the top 6 decks in Modern: Jund, Abzan, UR Twin, Affinity, Grixis Control and Abzan Company. I will describe both how to approach the matchup, how to properly sideboard, and how to assess the opposing […]