Tag: Juri

  • Announcing… From the Vault: Magic: the Gathering: Online

    Magic Online has always been a source of great stories. Many named players on the Pro Tour got their start online, as well as many new players who use Magic Online as their starting point on a long journey to become the Multiverse’s greatest Planeswalker. However, often times cards work somewhat differently online as compared to their paper counterparts.

    From the Vault: Magic: the Gathering: Online is a collection of fifteen hallmark cards from Magic Online’s rich history, brought to life on paper cards with updated rules text and art to bring the questionably great experience of playing online to the offline world. Now you can play these iconic cards as the programmers designed, without having to look up online-specific errata.

  • HOW TO WIZARD—IN GRAPHICS

    ertai

    By Ertai, Professional Wizard

    Being a wizard can be a complex beast—and being a beast can be complex as well. Being a both a wizard and a beast at the same time? It can be downright overwhelming. Until you break it down. Below, Ertai breaks down four beastly wizard synergies into their component parts.

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    make-history-m

    forge-a-new-path-m

    get-a-clue-m

  • Odric, Flippy Flappy Tactician

    Boy, Odric, Lunarch Marshal sure can grant a lot of abilities! Here’s a look at the original design. We shaved a number of keywords after development raised concerns about “rules confusion”, “tournament time limits”, “shuffling nightmares”, and “how on earth would you even print this”. Take a look for yourself if you want to really flip out!


  • LIVE COVERAGE OF GRAND PRIX: SEATTLE

    RICH HAGON

    Feathers and flocks are set to fly at this, the grand reunion of sanctioned Magic and the stormy climate of sleepy Seattle, Washington, the state named for a president that never visited. The setting is Saturday, the event is a Grand Prix, the format is a Rochester draft of You Make the Set 2016, and the playing field is covered with Storm Crows dropping all over these tables. This event has proven to be historic in another way: boasting competitive Magic’s most exclusive collection of players, only the five bravest souls in the Multiverse decided their mettle was worthy of testing in what would be a grueling and punishing three rounds of Rochester Draft. We had time to speak to each, so let’s get to know these wizards now:

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    Jon Finkel makes a return to the big stage, finding time from typing a novel on a laptop in a coffee shop to shuffle up and show the new generation why he’s still the biggest name in the game.

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    Kai Budde, the German Juggernaut, makes an appearance to demonstrate his World Champion prowess by sitting in the bleachers drinking draught ale.

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    Sheldon Menery, also a top judge, also in attendance, taking a break between turns during an intense Commander match to play his rounds in this event.

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    Bobby Fischer makes his debut in competitive Magic at this event, which is impressive for a man who’s been dead for nearly eight years. He was disqualified before the first round for claiming that Wizards employs Jewish necromancers, a clear violation of his non-disclosure agreement with Wizards.

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    A local player who only called himself “Roy” came to the event prepared with what he called an “invincible counter troll” strategy of ten Islands, thirty Storm Crows. When asked what his last name was, he replied, “You should know who I am,” then added, “:9”.

    SEMI-FINALS: SHELDON VS FINKEL

    Both players examined their opening hands, with Finkel going deep into the tank on the mulligan decision. After deeply contemplating what he would later describe as an “existential crisis,” he offered Sheldon the option to decide the round with a coin flip, and was promptly disqualified. In a post-interview, Finkel described the format as “mostly solved, so there was nothing for me to gain by playing. I had a moment where I realized I could be doing anything other than attacking with Storm Crows, for example, writing the follow-up to my critically-acclaimed book, Jonny Magic & the Card Shark Kids.”

    SHELDON 0 FINKEL 0 (Disqualified)

    SEMI-FINALS: KAI VS BEER

    After Fischer’s pre-tournament disqualification, leaving us lacking in a feature match to, uh, feature, we “drafted” Kai to fill in. He had his own ideas.

    Kai spent most of the weekend practicing for this event with his Thursday night trivia team, and the confidence he exuded was matched only by the number of bathroom breaks he took during this round.

    His opponent, a pint of beer, was Kai’s seventh round against this time-tested opponent. Beer hails from ancient Egypt, and was instrumental in the building of the Pyramids deck that dominated professional Magic for millenia. While beer’s popularity in the professional circuit has waned in recent years due to vaping’s meteoric rise, it nonetheless makes frequent appearances at side events as an under-the-radar strategy.

    The round began with three pints being put onto the battlefield by the event staff, but Kai brought his champion’s dominance of the format to the fore, outdrinking everyone in the building. Games one and two ended somewhat predictably, but game three wrapped up with celebration from the audience when the board was cleared and Kai summoned forth a liter of Jagermeister to close up the round.

    We only then found out that Kai was in fact drinking for charity, and that this event broke his previous record. Legal informed us that this meant we were implicitly promoting said charity, which was good, but Kai didn’t ask permission to do so at a Magic event, which is bad. He received a six-month suspension.

    KAI 3 (Suspended) BEER 0

    GRAND FINALS – ROY VS SHELDON

    Before the round began, Sheldon requested a deck check, complaining that Roy’s sleeves appeared worn. It was discovered shortly after that Roy had replaced the cards he had drafted with numerous counterfeit copies of Troll Ascetic, Crystal Shard, and a homemade card simply titled, “HEHAL.” Roy protested that his deck was tampered with by the judge staff, which is under review.

    We would like to take this time to remind players that counterfeit cards are not to be used for any reason, especially not in a sanctioned event or against a player in a sanctioned event as a mechanism for sabotage. Barring any further evidence to support his claims, Roy has been banned for life.

    SHELDON 0 ROY 0 (Banned)

    How surprising and truly Magical that an event built around so much unity – in this case, a set of nothing but Storm Crow – could inspire such chaos. Only in an event like this would we see new and brilliant strategies for overtaking your opponents, sometimes never having to even sit down to play.

    Kai’s memorial service will be held privately in a church in Berlin.

    – Rich “The Hague” Hagon

  • SET REVIEW: YOU MAKE THE SET 2016

    LUIS SCOTT-VARGAS

    Ratings Scale

    5.0: Multi-format all-star. (Storm Crow. Storm Crow. Storm Crow.)
    4.0: Format staple. (Storm Crow. Storm Crow. Storm Crow.)
    3.5: Good in multiple archetypes and formats, but not a staple. (Storm Crow. Storm Crow. Storm Crow.)
    3.0: Archetype staple. (Storm Crow. Storm Crow. Storm Crow.)
    2.5: Role-player in some decks, but not quite a staple. (Storm Crow. Storm Crow. Storm Crow.)
    2.0: Niche card. Sideboard or currently unknown archetype. (Storm Crow. Storm Crow. Storm Crow.) Bear in mind that many cards fall into this category, although an explanation is obviously important.
    1.0: It has seen play once. (Storm Crow.)

    I’ll be the first to admit, reviewing a fan-made set seemed daunting, even moreso after seeing how the set took form and became what it is today. That said, I’ve already accepted the contract for writing this piece, so I will do my best to offer some in-depth analysis of how to make the best of the new card(s).

    Blue

    Storm Crow

    StormCrowSquire

    Constructed: *.0

    A two-drop that defines the format because it is the format. Storm Crow dominating the meta is an understatement, the card is ubiquitous in a way not seen since, well, ever. The 1 power gave me pause, but the 2 toughness made me consider intricacies of combat I had never considered before. Having nothing but Storm Crow at your disposal to close games, every attack feels like a dare to you, the actual player, and accepting how far you’ll go to win.

    That said, I expect it to not be a role-player after the season is over; after it ends, if this card turns out to be playable in constructed, I’ll eat crow.

    Pun rating: A+ I’m doing my own grades this time

    Top 10 Constructed Cards

    10. Storm Crow
    9. Storm Crow
    8. Storm Crow
    7. Storm Crow
    6. Storm Crow
    5. Storm Crow
    4. Storm Crow
    3. Storm Crow
    2. Storm Crow
    1. Storm Crow

    As always, this list isn’t just in order of rating, but is a combination of cards I think will be impactful or interesting. By definition, this list includes the same card ten times.

    The question that remains is whether there are any interesting brews that can come from the new set. Here’s three possible directions I’d recommend starting with:

    Aggcrow

    A fairly straightforward all-in attack deck that minimizes land count for efficiency and consistency. The odds of not having ample Storm Crows in your opener are significantly reduced, and you also decrease the risk of drawing lands when you need birds.

    Combcrow

    Casual-favorite and Coldsnap stalwart Thrumming Stone makes an appearance here, abusing the Relentless Rats clause to dump a bunch of birds onto the board for 1U. Operates faster than the Relentless Rats builds, plus these birds fly; at the end of the day, 32 flying damage should be more than enough to close out games.

    Caw-Go

    A new take on Randy Buehler’s Draw-Go deck, this uses Storm Crow in place of Rainbow Efreet to close out games after achieving complete resource dominance over an opponent. Should you be ready to cast it, Storm Crow closes out goldfish games just as well as any other threat in its slot.

    I look forward to seeing your brews in the comments, but until then, look forward to Grand Prix: Seattle showcasing what Storm Crow can do this weekend.


    Available one night only, a promotional Storm Crow-themed Island — and that night is tonight! Be sure to attend your local FNM for your one and only chance to obtain one of these super-rare promos!

    StormCrowIsland

    Players attending Grand Prix: Seattle will receive this promo:

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