The Planeswalker's Stronghold

(Contributed by John Kozlowski) It’s hard to believe that playing a 300 card 5-Color highlander deck can get boring sometimes. I’ve been playing my current incarnation of “First Reminder” now for about a year and a half. I’ve had a few side projects to fool around with, but the main deck endures. When you have 300 of the best cards ever printed at your disposal, what more could you ever need? Let me point out, every game is still different, but in my unique play group where everyone seems to play their own concoction of the best 300 card highlander deck, patterns develop. What has happened is that the card pool has become established, and a result, stagnant. With six excellent casual-competitive minds working against each other week in, week out, we all seem to come to the same conclusions. Kokusho is good. Body Double is good. Akroma is good. Even brand new cards like Rite of Replication become a 5C staple, literally overnight. The highlander nature of the big deck dilutes the repetit...

I've been a long time backpacker, and really have enjoyed the many opportunities to travel the multiverse in this manner. You just havn't lived until you spend the night on the streets of Ravnica, tried to find a soft spot to take you boots off on Mirodin, or seen the water falls of Kamigawa. The most challenging multiverse backpacking trip I've taken to date would hands down be Zendikar. I do know several folks who had a mind to set out and explore places like Phyrexia, or Grixis, but I never really heard much about their trip. First off, this is not a trip you are going to want to take alone, you simply must bring along some allies. When selecting your company, be sure to give it some thought. While the Survivalists from Oran-Rief are sure to have anything you may have forgoten, the Sell-Swords from Nimana just don't bring as much to the party. The Berserkers from the Highlands are great around the campfire, full of songs and ale, but the Bards of Joraga are sure to k...

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The Fall of each Magic year is really one of the most interesting times of the Magic season. The new Fall set brings about the rotation, with many cards slipping into Extended, Block consideration ends for another group, and a brand new set bounces into consideration. All of this change really brings a lot of opportunity for a Budget Builder to pick up significant cards on the cheap. Extended Lets start buy looking at the cards exiting Standard. Lorwyn truly had one of the most exceptional collections of uncommons to come along in years. I'd have to reach all the way back to Urza's , to find a block with so much value to be had. The M10 release also pushed Xth edition core set into Extended, although it will rotate with the Timespiral super block in the future. To start things off, lets talk about the lands leaving Standard. Nothing helps a casual/budget builder more then a good land base, and nothing is easier to overlook in favor of flashier spells and creatures . The Viv...

(Contributed by John Kozlowski) Yay! I get to write another crappy article which ranks the tops cards from such-and-such expansion for this-or-that format! I agree, these list articles get boring really quick, because everyone writes about the same cards over and over again. I’ll try to keep it interesting by only talking about the crème de la crème for casual-competitive 5-Color. (Dripping sarcasm thrown in for free!) 5-color Magic is a format that requires you to build a deck of at least 250 cards, with a minimum of 25 cards from each color. I encourage everyone to go to the actual http://www.5-color.com/ link, but basically All cards are legal, except for the Unglued/Unhinged expansions, and the is a special Banned/Restricted list specific to this format. Highlander 5C is optional, but extremely fun. That’s how I like to play. Zendikar Mechanics Zendikar introduces a few new mechanics and themes to us: Landfall, Allies, Quests, and the return of Kicker. Landfall is relevant in ever...