What’s Wrong With Standard
April 3, 2013
As I mentioned in my previous post, it’s time to start discussing the problems currently appearing in Magic design and I think the best place to take our first look is in Standard, mostly because it’s a cross section of a bunch of recent sets. The pushed cards rise to the top and make a picture we can dissect a little bit. As you peruse, gentle reader, please consider the thesis I’m working from- that Magic is a perfectly fine game, but if it’s the sort of thing we want to last FOREVER, it needs depth and subtlety of play, even if it occasionally comes at the cost of providing a “feel bad” for a given player.
What’s Wrong With Magic
April 1, 2013
This article is the first in a series, and it’s really an attempt to define some feelings me and many of my friends have been having about ~*the state of the game*~ recently. Bitching about how Magic is dying has been a popular hobby of the game’s practitioners since slightly before Alpha came out, so I was hesitant to write this just because I don’t really want to be associated with the stereotypical neckbeard who angrily coats himself in cheeto dust and bangs out fiery screeds between an endless stream of modo 2-mans and epic tier WoW raids. But seriously. Something is wrong with Magic.
What I’m Jammin’
March 30, 2013
Figured I’d toss up my current standard list.
4 Experiment One
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Wandering Wolf
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Hellrider
3 Wolfir Silverheart
3 Domri Rade
3 Rancor
4 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
7 Forest
8 Mountain
Deck is sweet. Wandering Wolf has Silverheart, Wolf Run, Rancor and beginning of combat/declare attackers step Ghor-Clan Rampager to become pretty unblockable a lot of the time. Emissary continues to be the absolute nuts. Strangleroot Geist can double evolve Experiment One and regularly picks up two for ones against other aggro decks. Firepig is amazing as either a Watchwolf or as a Dreg Mangler and along with Emissary lets you cheat a ton on your mana curve and gives you lots of flexibility in how you curve out turns 1-3 (having an explosive turn 2 more than overcomes only running a single 4-of as a one drop.). Domri is completely filthy against control decks that can’t pressure it while you draw cards 50+% of the time and credibly threaten ultimate. It’s also fine against aggro decks since your dudes tend to be 3/3s and their dudes tend to be 2/2s. Kessig Wolf Run/Rancor/Wolfir make your 2/2s into something that forces a trade with Thragtusk and Loxodon Smiter, which tend to be the worst cards to see. Resto Angel no bueno too. Hellrider+Wolfir happens occasionally and it utterly dominates midrange decks.
I’ve genuinely considered Madcap Skills in this one. Seems like it’s going reeeeeal deep though. SB is whatever, usually involving Chandra’s Fury, Skullcrack and some form of graveyard hate. Tormod’s Crypt, sure.
Good matchups:
Naya Blitz and assorted fast aggro strategies. Your guys are bigger and you just dominate combat. Rampager is just fine as a 4/4 because that’s usually big enough to completely take over the board. put_pants_on_my_Invisible_Stalker.dec is basically a coinflip, you both have crazy starts and all hexproof on their side turns off Domri’s fight mode so you literally just both try and kill each other as fast as possible while ignoring what the other is doing. COOL. Against other aggro it’s almost always correct to just clog the board and bait them into attacking into your wall of pigs/geists/oozes.
Esper/America/Sphinx’s Revelation control. Boros Reckoner is thorny and some decks can really capitalize on protecting it or maneuvering you into a blowout. Those decks are a crummy matchup unless you can clown them with Wandering Wolf. The other versions just can’t put up enough of an early defense to stabilize at a high enough life total to where Wolf Run and Domri can’t take over. Domri is the blade against Azorius Charm, especially when so many of your duders have haste. There’s never any need to play more than two creatures at a time, unless your third creature is Hellrider.
OK matchups:
Reanimator. If they have Griselbrand (or any board dominating fatty really) and lots of fast Thragtusks it’s rough but there’s plenty of opportunities for you to win games, especially if they really can’t do anything reasonable against your turn 2 and 3 plays. Humanimator is interesting and I haven’t played against it yet, but I’d imagine Huntmaster is slightly worse than Tusk while Cartel Aristocrat is ok but not ruinous for you. I genuinely don’t know how consistent and fast their combo is though, but you should be able to race it.
Bad matchups:
Boros Reckoner, Thragtusk, Loxodon Smiter and Resto Angel. All of these cards can just completely and utterly wreck you and there is very little you can do about it. Incidentally, it’s this fearsome foursome (minus Reckoner, fuk u Reckoner t(‘-‘) ) that makes Kessig Wolf Run the best card in the deck. If you can get away with trading only one of your dudes for one of these, you’ll get super far ahead. Alternatively you can set up a big attacking turn with Wandering Wolf, Silverheart, or Hellrider and just bypass them entirely.
An Open Letter to Brian Phillips
May 16, 2012
Note: This is an email in response to this, posted on Grantland last Thursday.
Dear Brian,
I read your letter to me. I know it was to me, because I’ve lived in the 206/425 area code since my father packed us up from San Diego and moved us up to the cloudy, forgotten corner of the country in 1995. I’m technically not a Seattle native by TRUE mossback standards, but I’ve been here longer than most people so I tell myself I’m a local.
We’re All Nerds Now.
March 17, 2011
So I read this article and was immediately impressed by the quality of writing and the general thrust of the piece. However, being a bitter contrarian I was disappointed in a lack of satisfying conclusion or any real message to take away from the whole thing. Time to dust off my degree and write a little essay.
Monday Rumor Roundup
August 16, 2010
So we now know that the first small set in Scars block is going to be Mirrodin Besieged. What does this mean for the Mirrodin Pure/New Phyrexia speculation?
Under the Hood: Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
August 12, 2010
The biggest fatty of all time is very bad design. Here’s why.
Quick Hiatus
August 5, 2010
I’ll be out of town from Friday through Monday, so no updates this weekend. Expect content to return with a new Under the Hood on Wednesday.
In the meantime, I think Max McCall had the article of the week. Interesting stuff and definitely a topic I want to explore a little bit in the future.
Under the Hood: Mass Polymorph
August 4, 2010
I realized we haven’t discussed a spell at all with this series, so I decided to rectify that situation.
Monday Rumor Roundup
August 2, 2010
Not a lot of concrete information this week, so it’s time to indulge in some total speculation.