I’m taking a break from my Primer series this week to focus more on specific cards (as well as I’m using my testing time to zero in on a deck for the World Magic Cup Qualifier this weekend!). In my testing these last two weeks I’ve been combing through Gatherer for every card legal in […]

Merfolk is a relatively upstart archetype in the modern metagame. Relegated to tier 2 for almost its entire life in Modern, it only recently has had notable showings and started to command a respectable share of the field. So why should you play Merfolk in Modern? It’s not as fast as Affinity, consistent as Burn, […]

Burn in Modern has had its highs and lows. It has bounced between tier 1 and tier 2 for almost the entirety of the format, finally cementing itself as a tier 1 strategy as of late on the backs of new additions from recent sets. The deck is a combo deck that doesn’t have a […]

This week’s article contains some Day’s Undoing theory and unveils a new brew. But before we begin, let’s address the Trained Armodon in the room. I hyped Day’s Undoing as the best card in Magic Origins and predicted it would completely turn Modern on its head. I expected the virtual end of midrange decks (not containing […]

In Modern Sleepers (Part 1), I led with a blurb about what makes Modern such a great format. Today, I’ll begin with a bit about what makes a card playable in Modern and how to hone card analysis skills. Improving at card analysis benefits players and collectors alike. When a budget player “buys in” on a […]

With Magic Origins finally in our hands, and the results of two Standard SCG events in the books, weeks of predictions and conjecture concerning our new gifts can finally be put to the test. While no large, high-level Modern events will occur for a few weeks, we still have MTGO Daily results, SCG IQ’s, and […]

Magic Origins hit tournament floors this past weekend with mixed results across multiple formats. Although cards like Hangarback Walker, Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, and Thopter Spy Network made a big impression in Standard events like SCG’s Premier Qualifier in Chicago, Origins’ Modern impact was much more modest. We’ll need more time to see how Origins performs […]

There’s an easy way to break tempo; the archetype just requires ways to turn a previously unused resource into something it craves and has little of. Tempo has no shortage of spare land drops or excess cards in the graveyard that we would gladly trade for more tools to win games with. Cards that offer these […]

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 […]

Spoiler and preview seasons always have ups and downs. There are the ups of amazing cards and the downs of Limited fodder. There are also the ups of instant recognition of a format staple (hello, Atarka’s Command), and the downs of embarrassing card evaluation failures (“Treasure Cruise = overcosted jank gg wizards”). Magic Origins, the […]

Sometimes, Wizards spoils a card that seems potentially powerful if a game operates in an unconventional way. When they do, Magic players often hit the forums to discuss its implications. Day’s Undoing is reaching Treasure Cruise-esque levels of hype, which makes perfect sense – like Cruise, the card provides a game-breaking effect (literally power) for […]

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 […]

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 […]