War!  Mirrodin is under attack and this past weekend was the first chance players had to finally pick a side in the war.  The Mirrodin Beseiged Prerelease was very different from any event Wizards has ever organized before.  Players were asked to pick a side in the Mirran v. Phyrexian war, and that side would [...]

In this video interview with Luis Scott-Vargas, we take a look at the deck strategy and play techniques for the Naya Boss build that propelled LSV to a remarkable 17-1 record at Pro Tour San Diego. Hear LSV’s reasons for including one Basilisk Collar or Sejiri Steppe One major comment I have is that back [...]

Over the weekend I had a chance to go play an extended tournament at my local game store.  It ended up being a small (9 people) affair, but I still had a great time.  Earlier in the week, I asked Power 9 Pro’s very own Joe Klesert for some advice on what to play.  He [...]

I discuss some ideas as to how one can best prepare and pack for a tournament

Just this past week, we notified Power 9 Pro customers that we’re launching another series of MtG workshops led by Luis Scott-Vargas. We definitely wanted to keep our blog readers up to date too! I’m especially excited to have Luis Scott-Vargas on as an instructor/coach with Power 9 Pro. It’s taken a lot of juggling [...]

Wizard’s has announced the GP lineup for 2010 and I have to say it looks great. Lots of variability–something I felt was missing from this year’s schedule which featured a ton of limited. Here’s the schedule: Dates City Country Format Feeds PT Feb. 13-14 Oakland USA Extended San Juan Feb. 27-28 Madrid Spain Legacy San [...]

FNM Magic Report 7.24.2009 Still in Wellington, and out of work on time, so I make the 6:30 draft.   I get in a 7 man pod and we open packs. First pack is a Clone and a motley assortment of 1/1 dorks.  There’s a diabolic tutor and I take it.  In retrospect it may have [...]

So the first thing you might be wondering (or at least what I wrestled with) is why write about a draft you didn’t enjoy or win at? I believe that ultimately, if my goal is really to improve my game, I need to post-mortem all of my drafts. Ask myself what worked and what didn’t [...]

In the following video, Stan, Bryan and I take an in depth look at Elementals vs Five Color Bloodbraid (or Five Color Cascade). The builds for these deck are as follows: Elementals: 4 Bloom Tender3 Cloudthresher4 Flamekin Harbinger4 Incandescent Soulstoke4 Mulldrifter3 Ranger Of Eos4 Reveillark4 Smokebraider2 Soul Warden4 Horde Of Notions1 Crib Swap1 Forest1 Island2 [...]

Bloodbraid Elf, Anathemancer, Zealous Persecution, Soul Manipulation along with old favorites Kitchen Finks and Boggart Ram-Gang make this a regionals that is filled with either aggro or anti-aggro. Either you are going to be playing those cards or you are not going to be enjoying how the field is looking for you. The Regional championships [...]

in our further commitment to be a force of reckoning in the magic the gathering community, we’ve formed an official tournament team.  there are currently three players who will be attending ptq’s, grand prix and anything in between that we can get to.  (we’ll be posting exact schedules as they’re established–for now we are attending [...]