Dark Ascension: Relentless Dead Review (Part 1 of 2)
Ertai’s Meddling on QS: Repel the Dark (INN)
Invasion: Blowout Review (Part 2 of 2)
Dark Ascension: Relentless Dead Review (Part 1 of 2)
When Wizards introduced the lore of Innistrad, any Vorthos worth their salt who had been playing the game for the past three years could be forgiven for rolling their eyes. A disappearing angel, they might well have said, well, here we go again.
Ertai’s Meddling on QS: Repel the Dark (INN)
As we head into the lengthening shadows of Dark Ascension, we look if there’s anything that can be done to help the hapless Humans of Innistrad to better prepare them for the coming horrors. Starting with the Intro Pack Repel the Dark, and using only Innistrad and Magic 2012 cards, indeed there seems to be quite a bit of room for improvement!
Many of you will remember Magic Beyond the Box from last year, as our preconstructed feature column over on Quiet Speculation. Come on by, check out the deck, and say hello!
News: Dark Ascension Intro Packs Fully Spoiled
Hey folks, just a quick note to let everyone know that if they haven’t checked it out yet, the full Dark Ascension Intro Pack deck lists are up at the Magic Arcana today on the mothership. While the hover-over card images aren’t fully updated yet, you can still get a full look at what’s on offer!
As a reminder, our full reviews of Dark Ascension’s decks begin Saturday with opening coverage of the Boros-coloured Swift Justice. We’ll see you then!
Invasion: Blowout Review (Part 2 of 2)
For our last foray into the world of Invasion, Jimi’s put her hand up to try and take me down with Spectrum, the set’s five-colour affair. For my part I’m taking Blowout, which is a Red/Black disruption and burn deck with a solid complement of creatures. Will she be able to power up her domain cards, or will she fall to cinders before getting the chance?
Flashback: Five Reasons Why Intro Packs Matter
As many of you know, I have a column at Quiet Speculation called ‘Magic Beyond the Box,’ which looks at preconstructed Magic from a more general angle. Although it’s been on hiatus for much of Autumn, it will begin again this week with a Meddling of Innistrad’s Repel the Dark. As a bit of bonus content today, here’s a reprinted article from the QS vault. It originally ran on 15 December, but the thoughts within it are as true today as they were then- if not perhaps a little moreso. Enjoy!
Invasion: Blowout Review (Part 1 of 2)
An apparent trend over the course of the development of Magic’s set-based preconstructed decks is the diminishing availability of removal. With the advent of the Intro Pack, the decks tended to revolve around creature combat to a degree higher than their theme deck predecessors. This was something of a worrying development.
Invasion: Spectrum Review (Part 2 of 2)
Taking nothing away from the other three decks of Invasion, this is the playtest we’ve most anticipated. Whenever you stake out a challenging proposition- in this case, a five-colour theme deck- there’s always a little extra interest in seeing if it lives up to its ambitions. To put the deck to the test, Sam is piloting Dismissal, the Dimir-coloured disruption deck.
Invasion: Spectrum Review (Part 1 of 2)
As we enter the year 2012, there’s a sort of theme developing here at Ertai’s Lament: firsts. Tempest, for instance, was the first set to have Theme Decks released alongside it, which have been continued for every set since (changing over to Intro Packs beginning with Shards of Alara). According to Wizards’ then-Vice President of R&D, Bill Rose, Invasion was designed to be the first block with a thematic focus on multi-colour play, something we take for granted now with Commander play giving life to hordes of multi-colour “commanders” and an entire set (Alara Reborn) done up in spiffy gold borders. Read more 
Invasion: Heavy Duty Review (Part 2 of 2)
As we’ve seen, Heavy Duty is a focused Green/White combat deck with beats for days. Of course, no deck is without its weaknesses, as Jimi is eager to prove with the disruption-heavy Dismissal. While my deck pounds away at the body, Jimi’s stabs at the mind. In such a pairing, who prevails?
Invasion: Heavy Duty Review (Part 1 of 2)
When you think of colours in Magic that seem to have a natural synergy together, White and Green tend to make the shortlist. In Ravnica, this colour pairing would be given the name ‘Selesnya,’ and a guild tailored to build upon both their strengths. Even as recently as Innistrad, we’d find Repel the Dark, a tribal deck representing the beleagured Humans circling the wagons against the creatures of the night.
