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A staggering amount of Magic content is published each day each day on a plethora of content sites, blogs, podcasts, and discussion forums. No matter how honest an effort you make, it's easy to fall behind and miss incredible articles because there just isn't enough time to read everything.
To that end, we've collected some of the best articles of the week covering a broad range of topics. If you're looking for articles, these are the ones you don't want to miss!
On Epic Drafts
This week, Pauper enthusiast Alex Ullman takes a break from his awesome series on cube design to bring you a draft for the ages. In the days leading up to Grand Prix Philadelphia, Alex was able to assemble an incredible cast of players to draft his cube. Their feedback was valuable, and Alex shares the lessons he learned.
GatheringMagic.com: Alex Ullman (@nerdtothecore") - Mise Well Draft
There are many joys to be found in the building of a Cube. Seeding neat interactions, crafting a play environment, and being able to play Magic in a way that is appealing to you, the creator, are just some of them. Cube design is part art, part science, and all awesome. However, the best part of Cube, for my money, is the actual drafting. On Thursday, April 10, I was able to draft my Cube in an eight-person pod with some people you might recognize.
In clockwise order around the table, we had:
- Alex – Your fearless Cube designer and writer, all-around awesome guy
- Rashad Miller – Magic coverage scientist, he of many hats
- Kevin – New York Magic ringer and pilot of the all-white-bordered Dakkon Blackblade Commander deck
- Zach – Draft regular and fan of dry wit
- Bert – Another Draft regular, fantastic hair
- Marshall Sutcliffe – Member of Magic coverage team, cohost of Limited Resources podcast, writer for DailyMTG.com and this very site; also tall
- Seth – Old-timer who helped design and develop the Cube, noted curmudgeon
- Brian David-Marshall – Magic coverage, Pro Tour Historian, cohost of Top 8 Magic podcast, accumulator of Magic-related experiences and titles (also known as BDM)
Before I go any deeper, I need to thank the eminent BDM for helping to set this up. I grew up playing Magic in Brian’s old shop Neutral Ground, and I was the proverbial Little Kid there for many years. When the call went out for a Cube Draft prior to Grand Prix Philadelphia, it was BDM who chimed in that part of the coverage team would be in town on that Thursday.
As an avid listener of both Limited Resources and Top 8 Magic, I knew I was in for a treat. All three of these men have different drafting styles and discerning eyes. I saw a competitive and fun Draft with the hope for some fantastic feedback.
I was not disappointed.
On Ranican Design
MJ presented a design challenge asking for new takes on Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran. What kind of awesome designs did the community come up with keeping in theme with the story of Agrus Kos? MJ assembled an awesome team of panelists to help her comment on the submissions and has opened the polls for your contributions.
GatheringMagic.com: MJ Scott (@moxymtg)- Retribution in Ravnica: Design-A-Card Contest - Voting Wave 1
Welcome, fellow Vorthoses and miscreants, to the battle for Retribution in Ravnica card design supremacy. If you’re just joining us, check out the article in which the gauntlet was thrown down. In short, with swag on the line, I asked readers to submit card designs for a new version of Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran based on his Vorthosian history and my latest fanfic series.
What’s on the line:
- 1st – Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska
- 2nd – Foil Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran and Szadek, Lord of Secrets plus Agyrem plane from Planechase
- 3rd – Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
To get in the spirit of things, I’d first like to present a card created by my friend and The Complete Commander fiction contributor Natahlia Zaring. This card is based on the character Kallist Rhoka, whom you’d only be familiar with if you’ve read the Magic novel Agents of Artifice. The CliffsNotes version is that Kallist, an extraordinary swordsman and assassin, worked with Jace during his time with the Infinite Consortium. After becoming close friends, Kallist accompanied Jace when he left the Consortium and Tezzeret’s service. The two unlikely companions tried to live a “normal” life but were soon found by Liliana Vess, who was acting as an agent for both the Consortium and Nicol Bolas. And then . . . well, tragedy ensues.
On Burn
Another set, another Red Box review. Patrick Sullivan is the epitome of all things Red, and with every set he gives the players an idea of which cards will be going into his Red Box; the box of every playable Red card in every format he cares about. Which cards from Journey into Nyx made the cut? Which cards might make an impact in eternal formats? Find out!
StarCityGames.com: Patrick Sullivan (@BasicMountain) - Journey into Nyx Red Box Review
Journey into Nyx is here and not a moment too soon. Though Born of the Gods ushered in some changes to Standard, like the rise of decks such as Jund Monsters and R/W Burn, many of those changes were illusory, and the finals of the SCG Standard Open in Detroit featured U/W Control and Mono-Black Devotion squaring off one more time. An injection of new content will cause people to brew new decks, propping up some diversity as people explore the new set, and if the content is sufficiently powerful, those changes could be lasting. This is the same hope the public had for Born of the Gods, but the set proved insufficiently powerful to meaningfully impact the metagame long term.
Of the decks on the fringes of the Standard metagame, red aggro has some of the best tools to punish Sphinx's Revelation and Thoughtseize decks. Detention Sphere and Hero's Downfall are great catchall answers, but they aren't efficient answers to the Firedrinker Satyrs of the world. And the self-damage from Thoughtseize, Underworld Connections, and Ravnica dual lands is something an aggressive deck is poised to capitalize on.
There are a couple of different styles of red decks, from the "sock full of batteries" style that I advocate that's full of cheap beaters and pump spells to aggressive devotion shell that Mike Flores suggests, but the foundation is the same—get on the board fast and render the common defensive tools inadequate to stem the tide. With a little bit of extra power, these decks could have the tools to be a top option, and several cards in Journey into Nyx have the potential to do just that. Beyond that one card in particular might influence some of Magic's older formats, Legacy most notably.
On Sequencing
What kind of advantages and information can be gained by paying attention to the order in which actions are taken? Caleb Durward is devoting an entire article to the topic of interpreting, concealing, and revealing information based on the progression of a turn. Should you Ponder before or after you play your land? What information does that reveal? How could the sequencing change the way the next few turns play out? Step up your game with some help from Caleb.
ChannelFireball.com: Caleb Durward (@CalebDMTG) - On Sequencing and Information
Sequencing is tough, and it's the main indicator between different levels of skill. A bad player jams cards in the wrong order with shoddy reasoning, and doesn't understand why he wins or loses.
A good player generally plays his turns correctly while gleaning information from his opponent's sequencing. We do things for a reason, and it takes competence to infer why.
A great player has tight play, reads the game like a subtitled kung fu movie (because who reads books anymore), and feeds his opponent false information to alter his play in a meaningful way.
This article is a light foray into proper sequencing and inferred information, and it has something for each of the three levels.
On #MTGJOU Primers
What does Theros Limited look like now that Journey into Nyx has hit the scene? Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa runs through his impressions of the new cards and promos and how these new interactions will redefine known archetypes and explores new, powerful interactions which will define Limited Magic for the next few months.
ChannelFireball.com: Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (@PVDDR - Desperate Stand
Hello!
This is my customary article analyzing the colors for the prerelease—the promos, good cards in each rarity, and so on.
First, we need to see what we get from the prerelease. According to dailymtg.com, you get this:
- 2 Journey into Nyx booster packs
- 1 Born of the Gods booster packs
- 2 Theros booster packs
- 1 seeded booster pack
- 1 promo card
Having three packs of Journey into Nyx, one of them seeded, means it’s going to be the most important set for you to take into account when valuing the colors. Born of the Gods is only going to be one pack, so it’s okay to take a color that is weaker in that set (e.g. black).
It’s also worth noting that you will necessarily get a rare in your color, but the only mythic rare you can open is a God. This really limits the amount of rares you can actually open in that pack, and it’s possible for a color to only have good options which would make it much more attractive.
On Going Home
Want to go to a Magic event in Mr. Wizard's back yard? What does the Wizard look like on his days off? Where does he call home? Some weeks Nathan Holt has to travel across the globe to make his way to a Pro Tour. Sometimes it's just another day in Philadelphia.
DailyyMTG.com: Nathan Holt and Shawn Kornhauser (@walktheplanes) - Mr. The Wizard's Neighborhood
If you have suggestions for next week's recap you can mention us on Twitter, or share throughout the week in the comments below.
