The Planeswalker's Stronghold

(Contributed by John Kozlowski) Planechase is a week away, and I have to say I’m pretty excited about this new Magic variant. If you don’t know what PC is yet, go to http://www.wizards.com/ this week to read all about it. Although I struggle with the idea of spending $80, (or even $0.01 for that matter) on a non-tournament legal Magic supplement, the overall game concept sounds neat. It adds a new dimension to your magic game, as effects are automatically generated by entering//staying-in//leaving the Plane itself, and even more alternate affects are generated by the Chaos roll. There is a good deal of strategy to consider to decide whether you are going to stay in or walk away from a plane, and how you maneuver the effect around your opponent. I think a well-tuned planar deck with a matching Magic deck has the tendency to be very unfair to play against, especially in a casual setting. It’s a good thing I intend to play Planechase mostly in multiplayer games, using the communal 41-car...

(Contributed by Jed Humphries) Choosing the General When I first heard that there were going to be pick-up events for EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander) at Gencon 2009, I decided I wanted to step into the EDHpool. Pastime Games (the company running all the Wizards events at Gencon) announced this around the time Conflux came out, so I immediately starting looking for generals around Alara block. Two generals immediately stood out: Sharuum, the Hegemon and Uril the Miststalker. I discovered early on with my Sharuum deck research that I didn’t have all the artifact shenanigans cards to run this deck, and I didn’t want to drop a lot of money on them, so I abandoned Sharuum. Building the Deck I started by research for the Uril deck. I thought that Uril was one of the best generals out there, since he had good shroud, got bigger for each aura attached to him and was a 5/5, all for 5. I saw a few different builds going on the internet. One of there had made a Saproling subtheme to their d...

The wind says recently that the word "slivers" is heard most recently in the Pit. It will be several years before the next Sliver heavy block, but word is that the Planechase product will reveal the Sliver home plane. Some say this will be a plane never before seen, others that it is a certain plane hinted at in certain green cards from Futuresite. It is also rumored that this is the home plane of the relentless rats, featured in Mirrodin, and core sets since.

(Contributed by John Kozlowski) I have a lot of fun writing Grim Tidings articles. Some have been pretty entertaining to write, such as my highly detailed “How to Flip a Chaos Orb” dissertation. Sometimes, though I fear that I’m jumping in with an incredibly complicated subject without enough basic information to back it up. I have a tendency to reference old obscure cards that only a few people are familiar with I thought it may be valuable to do a simplified color-by-color study of the value each brings to the format. What you can/should expect as you fill out your minimum 25 card selections, and consideration of when and why you might choose them. I’ll mention the obvious ones and then try to expand deeper into some of the hidden gems you may not be aware of. Green’s Role The color pie has bled a little in the last few years, and allowed colors to dabble in things they traditional shouldn't. But while every color contributes to the depth of the game, some obviously do better at ...

The Planeswalker's Stronghold has opted to push back the announcement previously scheduled for today, in order to put the spot light on one of our own. Chapel Hill resident Daniel Schoenbach (aka Shoebox) finished in first place at Saturday's Pro Tour Austin Qualifier with a huge 10-1-1 record at the end of the day (7-1-1 before the cut). Ever since his humble beginnings in that log cabin in the back woods of Arkansas, Daniel has been destined for great things. Since his record setting graduation from MIT at the age of 14, Daniel has used his keen intelligence in order to make the world a better place. Daniel plans to go full time into the Magic Life, quiting his nearly 20 year career as head of the CIA's satellite communications division. Sure everyone thought he worked for PBS, but nobody really works for PBS. Unfortunately , due to the unexpected nature of this bulletin, not all the information presented have been confirmed at this time. Perhaps Daniels will find time...

You may have noticed from the title, but for now (for reason beyond my control), we are going to call this fiction. Zendekar: Discovery of the portal system. For the history of Magic: the Gathering to date, only two groups of people have been able to planes walk. Of course, the Planeswalkers have been able to shift through the blind eternities, their sparks protecting them from the chaos of the place beyond space. Another group though, has been able to accomplish this goal, bypassing the blind eternities all together for many millennium now. These would be the Phyrexians, which most have forgotten because they have not been seen in any force for nearly a century, when the invasion was pushed back through the efforts of the Legacy. but their influence has been most recently seen on Mirrodin. Phyrexians have used portals since Yawgmoth and Glacian learned the technology of the fixed portal linking the Caves of Koilos to the artificial plane of Phyrexia, from the planeswalker Dyfed. Since...

(Contributed by Jed Humphries) Day 0 We checked into the hotel and walked over to the convention center and we were greeted by a huge Serra Angel statue. It was very nice looking and detailed. The Serra Angel statue also doubled as the start of the line for the From the Vault: Exiled. Day 1 I went with Ashley to the Steve Jackson Games booth so she could get the new Munchkin products (Fairy Dust and Waiting for Santa) and the special Pink Handbag of Holding (only available at GenCon). I wandered around the exhibit hall and kept checking the lines for generic tickets, waiting for them to get shorter, but it never really did. I learned to play Dominion from one of the developers. Dominion is an awesome game and I definitely want to get that game and play it again! Finally I broke down and waited for a hour for generic tickets. Two people taking money for tickets and 1 printer is not a good idea for efficiency. The draft events at GenCon were single elimination with the prize payout was ...

(Contributed by John Kozlowski) I’ve purposefully skipped a week in writing Grim Tidings since I revolted playing 5-Color Magic and started playing Calvinball. I have to say, it has actually been a pretty good two weeks. I managed to play my revamped First Reminder deck on four separate occasions, and I think I worked out the major kinks. I don’t think I’m done, but I think I will ultimately switch to the new 300 card version of the format as my preference. What?!? Say that again? Despite all of my vocal criticism of both sides (i.e., bitching), I discovered I actually like the Reborn 300-card version of the format. Even with my aversion to ante, my distaste for proxies, and my refusal to accept that Contract from Below is a fair card when the real cost is errataed out of it, I’ve discovered that the expanded deck requirements and new B&R is actually pretty fair and fun… at least how we play it in North Carolina. I admit I have not played in any 5C tournaments in the last two week ...

It's been some time now since Patrick Chapin released his e-Book, Next Level Magic, which inspired this series of articles. It really struck me how much information (good, and bad) there is for people looking to "up their game". This plethora exist in stark contrast to just how little information, of any kind exist for the player just starting out, and wanting to get off on the right foot. I've taken the liberty of linking the other articles on this subject below. While they can be read in any order, I would suggest going back and reading them in the order written. They will probably make (slightly) more sense this way. We All Start Someplace Investing in the Game Learning the Rules Okay, now that you are all caught up, I have saved what I think to be the most important topic of a newly budding magic career for last. Today, I would like to talk about community. I think Abe Sargent said it best with "Magic is about Community, without it we are nothing". If yo...

I've had a lot of question recently regarding why I choose to play 5-color(or the format that was recently 5-color), and really this is better answered as why I don't play other formats. This question has been spurred lately by the changes to the 5-color format, and the very recent announcements regarding From the Vault: Exiled last week. So I had spent the last couple of weeks piecing together on the subject, when I stumbled across a very good article on the subject. While it does not match my opinions exactly, it does do a very good job of mirroring them. So without further pomp and circumstance, please visit SCG , and give it a read. The article also mentions Chris as it's inspiration. Many people may not like this article, or the one which inspired it because frankly it's making fun of you. If you manage taking them to heart, they really does have a lot of incite. http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/17862_The_Long_Winding_Road_Your_Format_Sucks.html

The recent changes with in the 5-color world have brought the issue of proxies to the surface in a most disturbing manner, and I have spent much of my time of late bashing on this issue. I've talked about how it cheapens the game for everyone, and in it's final stages, becomes a black sharpie free for all where there is no need to buy real cards. Today, I'm going to talk to do something that many of you may not be expecting, I'm going to talk about why/when proxies are good, and what may be the best proxied deck for testing of all time. In my mind proxies need to be the exception, rather then the rule. Proxing a card to allow you to test it, or it's place in a deck, is a good thing. It will often make you realize that it's not the best choice, before going to the time and expense to get the real card. That is a good thing, especially from the budget perspective. Next up is proxies of cards you simply can't afford to get. In both these cases proxies should be...

Morning folks, and welcome back to our discussion on repack drafting. In our last installment, we discussed the creature aspect of the draft in some details. I promised to next discuss the concepts of interacting with your opponent, and in this format that means removal. I briefly touched on the fact that this format tends to be very removal lite. The reasons for this tend to become clear, when you examine the common level removal across popular formats. The simple fact is there is not a lot of removal at the common level, and what there is tends to be very good, and often "chase" level cards. To illustrate this point lets take a look at the common removal in M10. Red and black tend to be the best options for removal, and here we find the following. Assassinate- conditional, spot Doom Blade- conditional, spot, chase Tendrils of Corruption- spot, dedicated Lightning Bolt- spot, chase Seismic Strike- spot, dedicated So these five, good removal options account for about 5% of a...