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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 Friends Lost
This week, Matthew Keene wrote a truly incredible tribute to the life of Steve Kaufmann. Steve was involved in a drunk driving accident on his way home to Charleston from a StarCityGames event in Atlanta when his vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. Steve was a tremendous person, very much involved in the lives of his friends and family. Matthew Keene takes this opportunity to show us just how much of an effect we can have on the lives of other people; and to remind us to treasure the time we have with our friends and family. There will be an event in memory of Steve Kaufmann held in the Charleston area, where prizes will include the original art to Urza's Legacy Engineered Plague, donated by StarCityGames. Matthew provides contact information if you would like to make a contribution. If you're local, you can try to make it out to support Steve's friends and family in this trying time.
StarCityGames.com: Matthew Keene - Remebering Stevie Kaufmann?
On the Hero's Path
At this point, we're all familiar with Friday Nights, the Magic video series by sketch comedy group Loading Ready Run. Wizards recently published the first in a nine-part video series featuring the usual cast as they familiarize themselves with Theros and make their way down the Hero's Path. Which gods will they devote themselves to? Who is the Oracle of Theros? These questions and more are answered in this episode of Friday Nights:
DailyMTG.com: Loading Ready Run (@loadingreadyrun) - Hero's Path—"The Call"
On Slinging Spells
Magic: the Gathering is now on Geek and Sundry! The new video series Spellslingers will be published every other Wednesday, and features Sean "day[9]" Plott playing Magic against various personalities from the region. This first episode features Sean battling against Rob Simpson. This video is a very reasonable introduction to Magic, packed with helpful tips, friendly banter, and a very tight game. Find out who comes out on top, and keep an eye on Geek and Sundry for more Spellslingers.
Geek and Sundry: Sean "day[9]" Plott (@day9tv) - Day[9] vs. Rob Simpson in Magic: The Gathering: Spellslingers Episode 1
On Merfolk
Merfolk has been everything from fringe to a deck to beat in Legacy. People tried porting the deck to Modern after the first round of bannings, but the deck never really caught on. Even after Master of the Pearl Trident was released, the deck never picked up. This week, Glenn Jones is taking a closer look at what the Merfolk have to offer in Modern. Find out what the differences are between Legacy and Modern, and give this deck a try in your next Modern event.
StarCityGames.com: Glenn Jones (@SecludedGlenn) - Plenty of Fish in the Sea
It's always tempting to try to port Legacy decks into Modern. The changing nature of Magic design has turned Legacy mostly into decks filled with creatures from Modern sets backed by spells from older ones. The mana bases are pretty easy to replicate—after all, Watery Grave isn't that much worse than Underground Sea, especially when everyone else is bound by the same restriction. Your fetch land selection makes packing basics less easy, but so what?
Creatures are the iconic aspect of most Magic decks, especially in Modern, so seeing a Legacy deck with a Modern-legal creature base naturally gets the gears turning. However, most of these projects are doomed to failure—they're too reliant on spells that have no reasonable facsimile in Modern. The most frequent culprit is Brainstorm, but there are many, many more. The incredible difference between Legacy's U/R Delver and Modern's U/R Faeries should illustrate that point . . . but I'm not here to talk about that deck.
I want to talk about Merfolk.
On Theros Rejects
What kind of cool things didn't make the cut in Theros? MJ Scott takes a look at some of the could-have-beens that were left on the floor in The Pit. Check out some of MJ's favorite names, flavor text, and Vorthos goodness that just didn't make it.
GatheringMagic.com: MJ Scott (@moxymtg) - Theros Flavor Rejects
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“Bad styling can be such a burden. Release the fugly. Release all your trucker hats to me.” – Ashiok, Makeover Guru
On How to Write about Magic
Blake Rasmussen is a journalist, columnist, and part of the Magic coverage team. As such, he has some opinions about what constitutes good writing, particularly in the area of Magic. This week, he's taking some time to share some of the more common mistakes as well as strategies to improve your writing techniques. If you're looking to become an author or improve on your writing skills, this is a great place to start.
GatheringMagic.com: Blake Rasmussen (@blakepr) - On Magic Writing
You are not Patrick Chapin.
Unless you are. In which case, hi, Patrick. Loved your Cruel Ultimatum deck from Detroit.
But chances are you're not. And if you’re not Patrick Chapin or Luis Scott-Vargas or Brian Kibler or someone else with a built-in fan club or audience, you can’t write any old thing about Magic, throw it up on the Internet, and expect the hits to roll in. Chances are you have to work at it a little bit.
To do so, good writing is just as important as knowing Magic. I was given my chance on the Magic coverage team because I was, and am, a writer who happens to play Magic (quick resume check: journalist since I was eighteen, Master’s degree in journalism and mass communication, won several writing awards for said journalism, former newspaper editor, my current job title is actually “writer,” and I once stayed at a Holiday Inn Express). I like to think they let me stay because I was, at the very least, a competent writer.
And yet, a sizeable chunk of Magic writing is just slapping ideas on the page without regard to the presentation of those ideas. As a result, many of those ideas go unnoticed. And, just as bad, when published Magic writing is poorly written, it’s just not fun to read.
Others, such as Abe Sargent have tackled this topic before, but most past articles have covered mostly content. I’ll discuss some of that, but I also want to spend extra time on mechanics. While I can’t cover everything, I can give you some resources to learn more.
So, while I am hardly the definitive expert on Magic writing, I can offer some advice, tips, and tricks for better Magic writing.
On Everything Theros
Jackie Lee is excited for Theros! This week she's taking a look at how the set is shaping up for Limited play by comparing it to formats past. Can Theros measure up to formats like Innistrad, Rise of the Eldrazi, and Ravnica? Jackie takes a look at the themes of the set to find out.
TCGPlayer.com: Jackie Lee (@JackieL33)- Theros: The Next Chapter in History
Though most of us will have to wait until this weekend to play with Theros, so far it seems to have all the makings of an excellent Limited set. Of course, since Theros is going to be a big part of Standard for the next year and is full of multicolored planeswalkers and Modern staples, it's also going to have plenty of format-defining Constructed cards. However, when a new set comes out, I like to think about it in terms of Limited, since that's how I come to really love and understand a set. In fact, Theros seems to have some of the hallmarks of other incredibly successful Limited formats from Magic's past. I'm ready to drink it all in, in a way characteristic of, but not exclusively limited to, a satyr.
If you have suggestions for next week's recap you can mention us on Twitter, or share throughout the week in the comments below.
