Join us on Friday and Saturday for the Dark Ascension Prerelease! We’ll be running two sealed tournaments, one on Friday at Midnight, and one on Saturday. Each participant will receive a Ravenous Demon promo card (while supplies last).

Held one week before each new Magic card set goes on sale, Prereleases  provide a way to play in a large-scale event in a low-stress  environment. You get to play with the cards before you can buy them,  special promotional cards are given out to attendees and the top players  can win even more cards. So have fun!

Prereleases are sanctioned by the DCI, which is the governing body for  all Magic tournaments – from the smallest local events up to the  multi-million dollar Pro Tour. Playing in a sanctioned event means your  results are recorded and begin to give you a player rating among the  thousands of Magic players worldwide. If you don’t have a DCI number  yet, the event staff on site can provide you with one. For many players,  Prereleases are a fun and easy way to play in their first sanctioned  events.

At Prerelease events, the emphasis is on casual play with a high degree  of sportsmanship. You don’t need to know the rules well, but you should  always be polite and respectful to your opponents. If there is a  disagreement, or a question about a ruling, please call a judge.

Go to the Dark Ascension Prerelease and experience the newest Magic: the Gathering set a week before it goes on sale!

The Game Academy
5721 East Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33617

Call us @ 813.914.7000 for any questions

Click Here For A Map To Our Store

January 27th, 2012 (Friday)

05:30 PM             Registration for Friday Night Magic begins
07:00 PM             Friday Night Magic begins

MIDNIGHT SEALED TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 11 PM on January 27th, with the tournament starting at 12 AM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Dark Ascension  Sealed. Players will receive three packs of Innistrad and three packs of Dark Ascension to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 10 packs of Dark Ascension
3-0-1: 7 packs of Dark Ascension
3-1: 5 packs of Dark Ascension
2-2: 1 pack of Dark Ascension

September 24th, 2010 (Saturday)

PRERELEASE SEALED TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 1 PM, with the tournament starting at 2 PM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Dark Ascension Sealed. Players will receive three packs of Innistrad and three packs of Dark Ascension to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 10 packs of Dark Ascension
3-0-1: 7 packs of Dark Ascension
3-1: 5 packs of Dark Ascension
2-2: 1 pack of Dark Ascension

Join us on Saturday and Sunday for our Innistrad Launch Parties! We’ll be running two sealed tournaments, one on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Each participant will receive a Ludevic’s Test Subject promo card (while supplies last).

Join the Party!

Innistrad Launch Parties are a great way to celebrate the release of the latest Magic: The Gathering set! Play, trade, spend time with friends, and win cool prizes! All participants receive a Ludevic’s Test Subject/Ludevic’s Abomination exclusive Launch Party promo card (while supplies last).

The Game Academy
5721 East Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33617

Call us @ 813.914.7000 for any questions

Click Here For A Map To Our Store

September 30th, 2011 (Friday)

05:30 PM             Registration for Friday Night Magic begins
07:00 PM             Friday Night Magic begins

Innistrad Booster Draft

We will be holding registration for drafts all day Saturday and Sunday, and each draft will begin as soon as we have 8 players.

Format: Booster Draft (Innistrad) – Single Elimination
Entry Fee: $11
Prizes:
1st Place – 7 packs of Innistrad
2nd Place – 3 Packs of Innistrad
3rd Place – 1 pack of Innistrad
4th Place – 1 pack of Innistrad

October 1st, 2010 (Saturday)

Launch Party TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 10 AM, with the tournament starting at 11 AM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Innistrad Sealed. Players will receive six packs of Innistrad to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 8 packs of Innistrad
3-1: 5 packs of Innistrad
2-2: 1 pack of Innistrad

October 2nd, 2010 (Sunday)

Launch Party SEALED TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 3 PM, with the tournament starting at 4 PM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Innistrad Sealed. Players will receive six packs of Innistrad to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 8 packs of Innistrad
3-1: 5 packs of Innistrad
2-2: 1 pack of Innistrad

Join us on Friday and Saturday for the Innistrad Prerelease! We’ll be running two sealed tournaments, one on Friday at Midnight, and one on Saturday. Each participant will receive a Howlpack Alpha promo card (while supplies last).

Held one week before each new Magic card set goes on sale, Prereleases  provide a way to play in a large-scale event in a low-stress  environment. You get to play with the cards before you can buy them,  special promotional cards are given out to attendees and the top players  can win even more cards. So have fun!

Prereleases are sanctioned by the DCI, which is the governing body for  all Magic tournaments – from the smallest local events up to the  multi-million dollar Pro Tour. Playing in a sanctioned event means your  results are recorded and begin to give you a player rating among the  thousands of Magic players worldwide. If you don’t have a DCI number  yet, the event staff on site can provide you with one. For many players,  Prereleases are a fun and easy way to play in their first sanctioned  events.

At Prerelease events, the emphasis is on casual play with a high degree  of sportsmanship. You don’t need to know the rules well, but you should  always be polite and respectful to your opponents. If there is a  disagreement, or a question about a ruling, please call a judge.

Go to the Innistrad Prerelease and experience the newest Magic: the Gathering set a week before it goes on sale!

The Game Academy
5721 East Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33617

Call us @ 813.914.7000 for any questions

Click Here For A Map To Our Store

September 23rd, 2011 (Friday)

05:30 PM             Registration for Friday Night Magic begins
07:00 PM             Friday Night Magic begins

MIDNIGHT SEALED TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 11 PM on September 23rd, with the tournament starting at 12 AM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Innistrad  Sealed. Players will receive six packs of Innistrad to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 8 packs of Innistrad
3-1: 5 packs of Innistrad
2-2: 1 pack of Innistrad

September 24th, 2010 (Saturday)

PRERELEASE SEALED TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 1 PM, with the tournament starting at 2 PM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Innistrad Sealed. Players will receive six packs of Innistrad to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 8 packs of Innistrad
3-1: 5 packs of Innistrad
2-2: 1 pack of Innistrad

Today’s article is both about pimping out your Commander decks and about your investment into your hobby.  Magic: the Gathering has a long and storied history, but Elderdragon Highlander, or Commander, is relatively younger.  The origins of the format date back to players in Alaska generating the foundations of today’s Commander.  Sheldon Menery and a few other folks promoted the format on a larger scale, wrote some articles, and through a sort of grass-roots effort grew the alternative, casual format that many of us know an love.

I have only been playing Magic a couple of years (late 2008) and fell in love with the Elder Dragon Highlander format in 2009.  My wife and I helped found a local play group.  We joined in with a number of Tampa card flippers and started an EDH league.  Prior to league play, I began building decks and experimenting with the format.

During our stint playing EDH, we have made some sweet decks, collected some killer cards, and began making videos showing off the format, promoting play, and demonstrating some of the cool things that could be done with a legendary General and 99 supporting cards.  The highlander format was cool for a relatively new Magic player because you really only needed 1 of any card for your deck.

Following the release of Eventide and the rotation of powerful cards like Damnation and Tarmogoyf from the Standard constructed format, cards like Bitterblossom and Cryptic Command would run players about $100 a play set.  After the advent of the Mythic rarity, players were dropping up to $260 to sport 4 Baneslayer Angels.

Elder Dragon Highlander allowed players to spend a bit less to acquire cards because you could play powerful cards without committing to a playset.  However, many players in the format used this opportunity to make that single copy of a card very fancy.  Players in our play group began hunting foil copies of their favorite cards.  Some players would purchase or spend a great deal of time carefully altering copies of their favorite cards.

MTV programming had “Cribs” and you could find “Pimp My Ride” showing regularly.  EDH players followed suite and started pimping out their decks.  In fact, players began going to extremes foiling the cards that could be foiled.  Some folks stuck to altered art versions or sought to only play Alpha or Beta versions of older cards.  While you could jump into the format for a relatively low price, there was also the opportunity for a little self-expression.

Some folks sport cool tattoos, diamond studded gold teeth, or a slick ride.  EDH players throw down time and money on pimping out their decks.  A few players traveled to big events to try for an all-artist autographed deck.  Professional players like multiple Pro Tour Champion, Louis Scott Vargas, are rumored to own an entire deck of crimped, foil cards.

I have seen videos of entire foil decks, sweet altered decks, and decks that did strange and amazing things.  There is a guy from California that owns a Relentless Rats themed deck in which each card is hole-punched like Swiss cheese.  Another local player has a steam-punk deck, and others have gone as far as printing proxy copies of foil Beta cards or began judging DCI tournaments to pick up the sweet promotional card packs.

While EDH players form a Casual nation, they also have members of that nation that have a little swagger to their proverbial step.  While foil cards and pimped out Swiss cheese decks are not for everyone, they definitely appeal to a great many players.  Watch the lines at big events the next time you play a prerelease or PTQ.  Some players spend every spare moment digging through foil binders and trying to engage in trades just to pick up cards for their deck.

A completely foiled-out EDH deck is a serious commitment.  Even if you have the large sum or money that it would take to foil out a deck in a single purchase, the chance of finding each foil card in person, online, on Ebay, or at a major event is almost non-existent.  I spent about 5 months assembling my first foil deck.

There are some cards that you already own.  Others are available, but pricey.  It might take some time to find a good bargain.  As soon as you get about 60 of the cards, there are bound to be some new sets introduced that might result in a list change.  Then you have to track down replacements.  After searching online, exhausting the local game shop, digging through binders and scouring foil bins, you might land 80-90% of the deck.  There may be a few cards that are not available in foil.  That can be a pain.  If you want to pimp out those cards, you have to search or contract alterations.  Eventually, you get down to the last 5-7 cards.

I can still remember mine.  It took me a long time before I wanted to pony up the cash for dual lands.  They cost about $25-60.  I think I might have spent $65 bucks on my Underground Sea!  There were Judge promo foils like Demonic Tutor and Sol Ring that could run a player $30-40.  I wanted to foil the deck bud did not want to spend more than $600.  For me, that was my limit.

The hardest cards to find were the off-beat selections that I needed for my combo, but that average players in the Magic world often overlooked.  Anyone could land a dozen copies of foil Cryptic Commands, but try finding foil High Markets and copies of foil Rhystic Study.  At that time, there were no completed auctions of these cards and most large retailers were sold out.

Eventually, I landed each copy of the cards on my list.  The 5 months was worth the time and effort.  The finished product was a completely foiled out EDH deck that would not rotate out of the format, would likely not see card bannings, and is still assembled with minor tweaks these years later.  A work of art!

I have included the 2011 price guide of my original list.  Each card is on the list with some notes.  If the version is not stated, then it is the original set.  The dual lands are revised and every card that can be is foil.  The Force of Will is altered.  A few cards are signed by the artist, but no other changes have been made.  My initial $600 investment into the deck has blossomed into over $2,000 in value after about 24 months.

Some of the Legacy legal cards have gotten hotter.  Most of the Judge promos have doubled or tripled in value and many of the format staples have increased.  I bought a foil Genesis for $7 and the Urborg for $12.  My judge foil Maze of Ith was $25.  I guess you win a few, but there are a couple of cards that will decrease over time.  Solemn Simulacrum is getting the reprint and Trinket Mage dropped  by half when it was refeatured.  Overall, I recommend trying to pimp out your favorite deck.  Josh at the Game Academy will work with you to track down some of the hard to find cards and you will likely look back at your purchases with joy.  It might be a bit harder now, but the format is growing fast and pimpin ain’t never easy.

Take a look at some of my pick-ups and the $600 EDH deck that serves as a nice investment.  You can do it too.  It just takes time and some spare dough:

Card Name                 Notes              Ebay Average

Thanks for reading.  Check out the foil selection at The Game Academy’s online store and Ebay auctions.  Keep flipping those 100 card stacks and check back for our next articles.

JB

This article is intended to be used in a competitive setting. If you are employing these strategies, it is because you want to win. This isn’t something you will use in a casual setting or to get your friend into playing Magic, unless they are a competitive poker player or something. You also don’t want to cross the line of lying to your opponent about public information or being unsportsmanlike. Those are against the rules. You want to win, but to win and get better at Magic you have to do all of that within what is acceptable in the rules and guidelines. Now, some people may think that what I am about to tell you is shady or unsportsmanlike. However, there are plenty of players who think net-decking, buying cards online, playing with overpowered cards, etc. are cheap tactics. You can’t please everyone, but what you can do is everything within your power and within the rules to win. Now some players, including myself, respect anyone who can pull off these tactics to win a game they otherwise wouldn’t have. I respect good competition and I expect each of my opponents in a competitive setting to try their hardest to win the same as me.
A play among of my favorite plays in the game of Magic combines rules knowledge, correct wording of a phrase and an opponent who is not fully paying attention. This play was executed by Patrick Chapin and involves casting Profane Command and the phrase of “Profane Command, you lose 6 life and all my legal targets gain fear.” His opponent, not paying attention and calculating the ending situation incorrectly, conceded a game that was his to win if he would have realized that Patrick’s Chameleon Colossus had protection from black and therefore was not one of the creatures getting targeted by his spell. It was his opponent’s misplay for not making sure they knew what was happening and figuring out the exact targets.

The reason I bring the Profane Command situation up is for two reasons. One, this article is about mind games and the one Patrick executed was a well played one. The other is that you don’t have to win games of Magic in the traditional sense. This is not to say that you tell your opponent that your creature is a 5/5 when in fact it is a 3/3 when they are at 5 life. That is lying about the game state and is cheating. What I am trying to say is that the only thing you need to do is let your opponents convince themselves that they have lost. If you can aid your opponent into thinking that their situation is hopeless and that they have no outs, they will concede and you will have your win.

You see, I believe that in every situation there is the correct play and a very non-zero (perhaps approaching infinite) amount of incorrect plays. However you can only do so much in a 50 minute match to analyze the situations you encounter. There is also a great deal of hidden information in the game, and sometimes it is difficult to precisely derive what cards your opponent has in their hand. Sometimes you can make the best technical plays possible and your opponent can do the same and defeat you. There can be situations where no matter what you draw, you cannot win; you have zero outs with the cards. However, that doesn’t mean all is lost. There are other tactics to employ. These tactics are often referred to as mind games. Tight technical play will lead to more wins than anything else. You must master that first. However, when technical play isn’t enough, you must employ something else. Today, I want to cover tilt.

Most articles you read will tell you how to avoid tilt. I’m here to tell you that you can wield it as a weapon.

First off, what it tilt? The term is taken from the poker community and is how we describe the situation when a player gets upset and becomes vulnerable to making misplays, playing overly aggressive and getting ahead of themselves. The root of tilt is that the player is experiencing a problem in the game and so they overcompensate their actions to make up for it. Something detrimental happened and they want to fix it. The difference between finding a solution to a problem and going on tilt is that you let your emotions get the best of you when you go on tilt. When on tilt, you don’t tighten up. Instead you get sloppy just shooting in the dark for your solution.
This article isn’t going to be about how to avoid going on tilt or how to get out of tilt; there are plenty of Magic articles covering that aspect of tilt. I want to talk about finding ways to recognize that your opponent is approaching or on tilt. In addition to that, I want get out some ideas on how to capitalize on your opponents emotions and cause them to spiral into misplays and hopefully a rage quit.

You don’t always want your opponent to rage quit. Many times it is more productive to get your opponent on your side. Make them think you are on their team and feel comfortable. When they are comfortable, they may get sloppy. It really just depends on your opponent and their mood, demeanor, attitude towards the game, attitude towards you, and what’s going on in their life outside the game. You can know all, some, or none of this going into your game. The trick is to get as much information about your opponent as you can. When you sit down for a match, start some conversation. The more you can get about their background, emotions and attitude the better. Asking how their previous rounds went can not only lead to information on what deck they are playing, but you can gather their attitudes on those games. If they are upset about last round, you can run with that and use their emotions to get them to tilt and misplay this game. However, there are many directions tilt can flow. Tilt can also carry with it positive emotions and overconfidence if they are winning. If your opponent is running hot and you know this, you can help them get liberal in their game and underestimate you or your ability.

The idea is that you need to identify your opponent’s underlying emotions about the game and use those to your advantage.
The perfect player is emotionless. They may convey emotions to their opponent to get them to think that they are in a certain mental state that is to their advantage, but deep down they have no emotions about the game or its outcome. They don’t care if they win or lose. They want to win, but that is not to say that they care. The perfect player has no emotional baggage tied to his or her win. They simply analyze each situation and use their knowledge to make the best play to achieve their objective. That objective is winning. Many players go on tilt when they are losing. They have already told themselves during the match “if I can only win this match I can make Top 8.” They have too many emotional connections to winning. They want to hoist the trophy. Their attitude hinges on if they are winning or losing that day. To be the perfect player, you must emotionally disconnect yourself.

To take advantage of your opponents tilt, you need to take the emotional connections that they have to winning or losing and amplify them. It’s a distraction. Instead of thinking how they are going to win this game, they are thinking of the rewards of winning this game. As I typed the last sentence, I thought of Randy Buehler and his Pro Tour win back in 1997 at Chicago. I wasn’t even close to playing Magic at the time, but I have seen the archival footage of his finals match. I suggest you go watch it. The look on Randy’s face when he wins is a look of surprise. He wasn’t thinking about how cool it would be to win a Pro Tour a moment before he did, he was thinking about how he was going to win that game. It took him a moment to realize that he had won the coveted title because he was so focused on the game he was playing.

Focus is the root of it all. You have to maintain your focus, but sometimes that isn’t enough. To go beyond maintaining your own focus, you have to disrupt your opponent’s focus. Amplify their tilt, amplify their confidence, or amplify their emotions. Just get them to focus on anything other than the right play. Smack your gum, hurry them along, tap the table at an annoying pace or make them match your pace of play. These are all just a few examples of ways you can make your opponent uncomfortable. Be a “jerk.” If you can make them uncomfortable they may become frustrated. If they are frustrated they may start to make the wrong plays. Mike Long always gets pigeon-holed into the category of savage cheater. Maybe he was, I couldn’t say for sure as I wasn’t there all those years ago as a witness to the situation, for me to judge him on that would only be an outsider looking in. But I will tell you one thing; he was a master at the mental game. I know this from watching videos of Pro Tours from years past. Watch them yourself. His game was getting in your head. He wanted you to think he was scum and get you to have emotional attachment to hating him. He got you to concentrate on hating him instead of how to win the game. Just watch his match in the Finals of Pro Tour Paris on 1997. He causes Mark Justice to get upset with him during a game. In the same match, Justice conceded another game in which Long could not win when he discarded his only Drain Life from his hand.

The idea is that your opponent’s emotions are a weapon you can wield. Every edge in a game can count. One play can cost you your win. Anything from a smirk at the right time, a smile at the wrong time, too much silence, too much conversation, a flick of the wrist, or casting Doom Blade on the wrong creature can cause you to win or lose the game. It all adds up and it is up to you to make the right or wrong decision. Properly executing mind games takes a lot of practice and a series of steps to execute correctly. Keep them in mind, and you’ll have another avenue to win.

One last think is that you should always remember that a big part of winning is social networking. You may be annoying to play against during a game, but always remember to be polite and someone that others respect outside your games. When the match is over, shake your opponent’s hand. Be polite to them and congratulate them on giving you a good match whether you won or lost. If they are a newer player, help them out after the match if they want you to. Just remember that being a sore loser, sore winner or a rage quitter is not someone most players want to play against. You want to distract your opponent from focusing, but you don’t want to cross the line to committing unsportsmanlike conduct. Above all just remember to be respectable and treat your opponent the way you want them to treat you.

Kyle Edwards
DCI Level 2 judge
KyleJacobEdwards AT gmail DOT com

Well, as we usher out Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic from standard, we prepare for what feels like a brand new format.  In many ways it is.  There were many tournaments where the top 8 contained the full 32 copies of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and many thought he was the lesser of 2 evils.  It is not my desire to posture over the appropriateness of the banning nor to hypothesize untested decklists and charge you to go give them a try.  I simply would like to encourage a comprehensive look at the changes and how to attack such a drastic alteration.

The first topic that should be addressed is: Which decks remain untouched?  The 2 decks that jump off the page at this question are Valukut and Vampires.  Valukut was a dominating force prior to Pro Tour Paris and the bloodsuckers, much like their proverbial movie counterparts, are impossible to get rid of.  I would anticipate seeing a lot of these 2 decks in the near future until the true innovators publicize something that sparks the interest of the overwhelmingly dominant band-wagon players.  Valukut, quite simply put, will beat any deck that is unprepared for it.  It is a one card combo deck in a format full of ways to find it.  This is the perfect default deck  because it doesn’t require an overwhelming financial contribution (an attribute it also shares with Vampires).  Now that we have mentioned the two tier 1 decks that remained untouched we can inspire a little thought into what is likely to be played and which individual card choices best combat those strategies.

It is my opinion that the two most prevalent decks post-banning will be Valukut and Splinter Win.  When preparing to attack a format one must consider the similarities between the tier 1 decks and find cards that attack the breadth of these decks efficiently.  So, to any long-time Magic player it is glaringly apparent that atop the heap right now sits two combo decks.  There has always been a balance in magic between aggro, control, and combo.  When one of these deck types becomes too popular the format adjusts accordingly.  So what do we want to be piloting in a combo-heavy field?  Combo decks are played because of their ability to end games decisively, but struggle to establish a board presence while they set themselves up for the big finale.  Also, they are often times very fragile and the removal of an essential piece could cripple the combo player for many turns.  Disruption is the key to attacking both of these decks.  Both decks will use their life as a resource and with a reasonable draw should be able to vanquish an aggro player just before they fall themselves.  So below I will address a few cards that are going to be effective the upcoming metagame.

1. Despise – Takes Titan and Exarch out of their opener and good against aggro too
2. Go for the Throat – Kills Exarch even with Spellskite out and kills Titans
3. Flashfreeze – (Sideboard) Counters Twin and Titans
4. Torpor Orb – (Sideboard) Stops Exarch and Titans
5. Memoricide – Removes the win conditions
6. Surgical Extraction – Same as Memoricide
7. Spreading Seas – A true gem against Valikut’s weak mana base

Now let’s talk about comprehensive changes to decklists with the removal of Jace and Stoneforge.  First, I anticipate the Vampire decks to cut back on the burn element and increase the number of Despises and Go for the Throats in the main deck.  Lightning Bolt is all but a Mulligan against both traditional Twin and Valukut.  Second, I expect the Valukut decks to go to the more tradional decklists prior to the need for Summoning Trap maindeck.  I also anticipate them cutting back on the maindeck removal and increasing the speed of their deck by maxing out of acceleration and threats.  There is no desperate need to bolt a Stoneforge on turn 2 anymore.  Lastly, I anticipate seeing the Twin decks move to a more RUG or RUGw shell.  The best search in the format right now is Fauna Shaman and without Jace to tear through your deck like Winnie the Pooh through honey, they need a reliable way to get the combo and still manifest defense against disruption-heavy aggro decks.  Fauna Shaman can get both pieces if you can find a way to pay for a Totem-Guide Hartebeest.  Now that I have mentioned the anticipated changes to the format I will offer my theoretical suggestions for new standard.

I think that black is the new blue.  There are many well positioned black cards right now.  Phyrexian Obliterator will be amazing against Valukut and Twin if he has time to start his march through the red zone.  Also, with the increase in play of Go for the Throat and the decrease in Lightning Bolts, Precursor Golem may be the 5 drop of choice in midrange disruption heavy decks.  I would recommend trying a UB control deck with maindeck Torpor Orb, Spreading Seas and Go for the Throat topping out at Consecrated Sphinx or a black based aggro-deck such as vampires with the heavy disruption element that I alluded to earlier.  Lastly, I think that birthing pod decks are going to start showing their faces and will become more of a force in standard after the rotation of Primeval Titan.  I have been testing a GW pod deck online with Fauna Shaman, Vengevine and Squadron Hawk and haven’t lost a single game to something that isn’t playing one of the aforementioned combos.  There may be a way to make it into a WGb deck with the fetches and incorporate Go for the Throat and Memoricide, but it would certainly mean a masterful job of trimming because the list is tight as it is.  I hope that the overview of conceptual changes to standard has gotten the wheels turning in your head.  I look forward to seeing new and powerful decklists emerge.

It was my intention to encourage progressive thought towards the future of standard.   It has been my experience in the 10-12 years of competitive Magic that players accomplish the most with decks that they play, practice and perfect themselves.  I hope that you will take some of these ideas and give them a whirl at your local FNM.  Good luck and good shuffling to all.

Join us on Friday and Saturday for the Magic 2012 Prerelease! We’ll be running two sealed tournaments, one on Friday at Midnight, and one on Saturday. Each participant will receive a Bloodlord of Vaasgoth promo card (while supplies last).

Held one week before each new Magic card set goes on sale, Prereleases  provide a way to play in a large-scale event in a low-stress  environment. You get to play with the cards before you can buy them,  special promotional cards are given out to attendees and the top players  can win even more cards. So have fun!

Prereleases are sanctioned by the DCI, which is the governing body for  all Magic tournaments – from the smallest local events up to the  multi-million dollar Pro Tour. Playing in a sanctioned event means your  results are recorded and begin to give you a player rating among the  thousands of Magic players worldwide. If you don’t have a DCI number  yet, the event staff on site can provide you with one. For many players,  Prereleases are a fun and easy way to play in their first sanctioned  events.

At Prerelease events, the emphasis is on casual play with a high degree  of sportsmanship. You don’t need to know the rules well, but you should  always be polite and respectful to your opponents. If there is a  disagreement, or a question about a ruling, please call a judge.

Go to the Magic 2012 Prerelease and experience the newest Magic: the Gathering set a week before it goes on sale!

The Game Academy
5721 East Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33617

Call us @ 813.914.7000 for any questions

Click Here For A Map To Our Store

July 9th, 2011 (Friday)

05:30 PM             Registration for Friday Night Magic begins
07:00 PM             Friday Night Magic begins

MIDNIGHT SEALED TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 11 PM on July 9th, with the tournament starting at 12 AM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Magic 2012 Sealed. Players will receive six packs of Magic 2012 to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 8 packs of Magic 2012
3-1: 5 packs of Magic 2012
2-2: 1 pack of Magic 2012

July 10th, 2010 (Saturday)

PRERELEASE SEALED TOURNAMENT
Time: Registration opens at 1 PM, with the tournament starting at 2 PM.
Entry Fee: $24.00 per player.
Format: Magic 2012 Sealed. Players will receive six packs of Magic 2012 to build a forty-card deck.
Structure: Four rounds of Swiss.
Prizes:
4-0: 8 packs of Magic 2012
3-1: 5 packs of Magic 2012
2-2: 1 pack of Magic 2012

Location:
The Game Academy
5721 E Fowler Ave Tampa, FL 33617

Time:
11:00 AM

Format:
Standard

Entry Fee:
$25

Prizes:
1st – $250 Travel Award, Qualification for a StarCityGames.com Invitational
2nd – 24 Packs of M12
3rd-4th – 12 Packs of M12
5th-8th – 6 Packs of M12
1-8 all receive a SCG IQ Top 8 Pin

Questions:
E-Mail: j.weekley@thegameacademyonline.com
Phone: 813-914-7000

Commander is a format designed with casual players in mind. The idea of its creators is that there is a gentleman’s agreement on what cards to play and how you should act during games. However that is not how most of the people I have encountered who play the format enjoy it. There are many ways to enjoy the format, and the biggest thing I want you to take away from this article is that it all depends on your play group.

Introduction to Commander

For those of you unfamiliar with the format, the following is a basic synopsis of what the format consists of. Commander is a format not officially supported by Wizards of the Coast in a traditional sense. There is no official banned list and you can’t sanction it as you can a format like Standard. The only two things gets the nod from them is that it is getting a standalone product dedicated to it and it has rules for the variant in the Comprehensive Rules Document.

The basic idea of the format beyond what I have already covered is that you have a hundred card singleton (essentially every card in the game is restricted except for basic lands) deck that follows along with the colors of a Commander (a legendary creature) that you pick for your deck. You start the game with 40 life, there is an alternate mulligan rule, it is mainly intended to be played with 3 or more players, you only get a 10 card sideboard that happens before each game and you get an alternate kill involving your Commander. Beyond that, it is supposed to be what you make of it.

Commander Resources

You can find the official rules for Commander in the comprehensive rules. You can also find more information at www.MTGCommander.com.

Making Commander What You Want It to Be

There are two broad categories for ways that you can play Commander. There are pitfalls for each that you need to prepare to avoid if you want to keep it enjoyable. Within these broad categories that I will cover, there are lots of ways to play and what it comes down to is: What does everyone that you are playing with want to do? Magic is a game, and the whole point is to have fun. If you are not having fun, find a way to fix it. You won’t be able to fix it alone. It will take some effort on everyone in the group to fix an un-fun environment.

Option A: Playing With the Optimal Cards in a Deck to Win

I’m going to cover this way to play Commander first. I cover it first to get it over with. This is the way I have the most experience playing Commander in. There are many pitfalls to playing Commander this way and I want to make a few points first:

1.)    Commander is not a balanced format. There are plenty of cards that, if Wizards controlled the format and took it at the angle they do other formats such as Standard, would be banned. If you play the format from a competitive stance, cards like Sol Ring and Sensei’s Divining Top go in every deck, period. Your deck is suboptimal if it does not contain those. There are plenty of other overpowered cards, such as Necropotence. Other cards are “banned” solely on availability. All of the moxen are worse than Sol Ring and yet Sol Ring is “legal.” I put legal and banned in quotes because there is no official banned list and it really depends on what your playgroup wants to allow. If you want to make it a competitive format where you play, you need a vastly different banned list than that of most other playgroups.

2.)    Playing anything cutthroat in a manner other than a 1 vs. 1 game is very undesirable in my experiences. If everyone is playing powerful decks with powerful cards, there are plenty of games where one or more person is basically not playing Magic.

The fact that people hate to play other banned list than what most others play and the fact that people rarely like to play Commander 1 vs. 1 is what makes me dislike playing the format with a competitive mindset. The one cool part about it is the deckbuilding. It is fun to try to come up with the most optimal deck.

If you want to play Commander this way, I suggest you:

1.)    Come up with a thought out banned list.

2.)    Play games 1 vs. 1.

3.)    Play with a group of very good deck builders with a large and deep card pool.

Option B: Playing With the Optimal Players in a Group to Win Together

Playing Commander this way has lead to the most fun games playing the format I have experienced. Most of the players I play with locally don’t play this way. I travel some as a judge though, and I have played some very fun games borrowing other players’ decks playing in groups that have a different goal than making the optimal plays to “win” and playing with the optimal cards in the optimal decks to achieve “victory”. I put win and victory in quotes because you still win and achieve victory playing these games, but instead of one player hoarding that honor, the victory is achieved by all players. Everyone is supposed to win. The definition of win here is that everyone is supposed to have a good time. If everyone isn’t having a good time, then your group has lost the game.

If a strategy you are employing makes someone upset or not have a good time, you should retire it. Many competitive dominating strategies involve having a bunch of mana in play. Most players don’t like to play against the card Armageddon; however it is a necessary card if others start to play dominating strategies. Playing dominating strategies creates an arms race that others must employ to not get destroyed by your competitive deck every game. Basically, playing dominating strategies is a slippery slope that takes you down a path of playing cards that others don’t like. Just remember that if people start to play hateful cards, it is probably time to reevaluate what you are employing and how the group is functioning.

The Gentleman’s Agreement

Above all, you must make sure everyone is on the same page. There should be some dialogue between all the players in the group. Having a discussion one on one with a person or two won’t accomplish this. Everyone needs to know how everyone else feels about Commander and how the group can function in order to fill the desires of each group member.

The New Commander Product

The new Commander product will surely bring in more players into the format. Make sure those players feel welcome and that they feel like they can be a part of the group. As with any new member of a group they need to be indoctrinated. If they are a competitive player and you have a more casual group, make sure that they know your group plays Magic a different way than they are used to. Competitive players can easily play casually if they keep the right mindset. Just realize as a competitive player in other formats you play, you want to win by destroying your opponent. You still play to win in Commander; just the way in which you win is different. You win in Commander by helping everyone is having a fun time.

I hope this article helps you have Commander games that are more fun for everyone.

Kyle Edwards
DCI Level 2 Judge
KyleJacobEdwards AT gmail DOT com

I started playing more Magic Online. Playing something like Legacy or Standard would probably be pretty cool, but I already have paper cards for those formats and can play them offline. I figured I would get into something that I can’t do as often. I really like to draft online since it is hard to get 8 people together for a draft out here in West Texas, but until New Phyrexia comes out, it is not very exciting. I figured an easy format to get into would be Pauper.

Pauper

Pauper is a format played a bunch on Magic Online that consists of every card that has been printed as a common online with the exception of Cranial Plating. There are a variety of decks to play and the metagame is pretty well established. Among the archetypes I have encountered are:

Traditional Storm
UR Storm
Familiar Storm
Burn
Red Deck Wins
Mono Green Control
Stompy
UG Control
Counter Burn
Mono Black Control
Mono Black Aggro
Reanimator
White Weenie
Affinity

However I wouldn’t go as far to say that those are all viable decks. A lot of people play Empty the Warrens in their storm combo decks. It is a very powerful card and one that crushes an unprepared opponent. The only downside to it though is that most everyone is prepared for it. Here are some decks and cards they can and do play to beat an Empty the Warrens:

Blue: Echoing Truth
Mono Black: Crypt Rats
Red: Seismic Shudder
White: Prismatic Strands
Affinity: Krark-Clan Shaman

So what is someone to do if they want to play a storm combo deck and not play Empty the Warrens? Here are a couple of decks I recommend. First, is what I call Traditional Storm Combo with a Grapeshot kill.

Traditional Storm

4 Ancient Spring
4 Sulfur Vent
3 Irrigation Ditch
2 Geothermal Crevice
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chromatic Star
3 Chromatic Sphere
4 Rite of Flame
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Preordain
1 Ponder
3 Ideas Unbound
4 Sign in Blood
4 Grapeshot
2 Shred Memory
2 Echoing Truth

Sideboard
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Izzet Boilerworks
2 Empty the Warrens
2 Flaring Pain
2 Echoing Truth
3 Hydroblast
4 Pyroblast

The deck is hard to pick up cold, even if you are used to playing storm combo decks. It has different elements to it, but isn’t too far off if you played the storm decks of the past that played eggs. Shred Memory is quite good as it can help you pick up extra Grapeshots if needed. You usually need 2 Grapeshots to win, however there are some hands that I have gotten that are the sickness that can build up to storm count near 25 or more. Shred Memory also gets you things like a Draw Spell, Cabal Ritual or Echoing Truth and even Flaring Pain out of the Sideboard. The added bonus of Shred Memory is that you can actually just cast it vs. Reanimator.

Echoing Truth is really good in this deck. It helps in the mirror where most go for the Empty the Warrens + Goblin Bushwacker kill. Second, it acts as a Time Walk against aggressive decks and can bounce a Familiar to give you an extra turn against that deck. Last, I have had plenty of games where I play a few Lotus Petals, and bounce them all to replay them for extra storm. This works with the chromatic artifacts as well.

The biggest trick to this deck is assembling the right mix of draw spells, mana spells and win conditions as possible. Too much of any of those and you won’t be comboing for the win.

I like Pyroblast over Duress most of the time. You can disrupt the Familiar deck from locking you by destroying their Mnemonic Wall in response to them bouncing it with their Temporal Fissure. Sure you can’t get their Prismatic Strands, but that has Flashback anyways. I also like it better against blue counters as they usually have many counters, but limited mana to cast them with. Duress does nothing in this situation where Pyroblast Shines. Also remember with the blasts you can just target a land to buff your storm count.

The extra lands in the sideboard are for playing against land destruction.

Another alternative to playing Traditional Storm combo that doesn’t use Empty the Warrens, is to play Familiar Storm. Here is the list I have been running:

Familiar Storm

3 Azorius Chancery
3 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Terramorphic Expanse
7 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Nightscape Familiar
4 Sunscape Familiar
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Snap
4 Frantic Search
4 Compulsive Research
4 Deep Analysis
3 Mulldrifter
1 Foresee
3 Temporal Fissure
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Arcane Denial
1 Capsize

Sideboard
1 Capsize
3 Hydroblast
4 Lone Missionary
2 Prismatic Strands
3 Rest for the Weary
2 Vedalken Outlander

This deck is probably easier to pilot than Traditional Storm. You basically need a Karoo Land and/or Familiar(s) plus Urza’s free spells to get going. The idea of the combo is that you draw a bunch and make a bunch of mana and eventually get a Temporal Fissure which you bounce all of their permanents with. Then, you are supposed to use your Mnemonic Wall to get back your Temporal Fissure to combo every turn by bouncing the wall to get back the spell. Essentially, they get stuck on 1 land while you hit them for a few damage with your Mulldrifters, Nightscape Familiars and Clouds of Faeries until they are dead.

The problem with this deck is that people play land destruction. If they don’t play it main, they have it in the sideboard for decks such as the ones I mentioned here today. It is really annoying when they kill or bounce your Karoo land. Every color except white has access to a 2 or 3 mana card that messes up your game plan in this manner. Boomerang and Capsize are both good cards to help beat the mirror.

Decks to Play

If you want to play pauper, it is really hard to just play anything. When brewing, keep in mind Land Destruction, Storm Combo, lots of cheap red men that will clock you fast, and Crypt Rats as things to plan for. As far as decks I would recommend to play:

Affinity
Red Deck Wins
Mono Black Control
Traditional Storm
Familiar Storm

All of the above decks have some of the fastest clocks in the game with some disruption options for each. The exception is Mono Black Control, as it has a comparatively slow clock; however Crypt Rats is so good against many decks. Affinity is the next deck I will likely try out. I have been outraced by it with Disciple of the Vault a number of times while playing Storm.

Give Pauper a try, it is fun and a faster format than Standard for a change of pace.

Kyle Edwards
DCI Level 2 judge
KyleJacobEdwards AT gmail DOT com