Betrayers of Kamigawa: Ninjutsu Review (Part 2 of 2)
It’s time to break out the Betrayers of Kamigawa, and Sam is eager to get stuck into it. I’m piloting Ninjutsu, and to play the role of opposition Sam’s selected the Green/White Spiritcraft. Can my shadow warriors carry the day, or will we meet our match with Kamigawa’s abundant Kami?
Betrayers of Kamigawa: Ninjutsu Review (Part 1 of 2)
It will come as news to no-one that brainstorming and free association are powerful creative tools. The simple act of allowing a group of minds in a room to bounce ideas off of one another can often produce results greater than the sum of the parts, and we’ve related more than once the stories of what’s come out of these sessions at Wizards of the Coast. For instance, there was the recently-recounted Godfather moment with the Orzhov during Ravnica block design, and during our look at Deathly Dominion we discussed the same being done for the horror themes and tropes that would bring Innistrad to life.
Guildpact: Izzet Gizmometry Review (Part 2 of 2)
Our last go in Guildpact and Ravnica block as a whole, we’re off to test the madcap engineers of the Izzet guild. Joining me at the table is Sam, who’s ready to put Gruul Wilding to work. Will the Izzet be able to build themselves a win, or will they be smashed to pulp by the guild that always leads with the blunt end?
Guildpact: Izzet Gizmometry Review (Part 1 of 2)
In 1992, a twenty-three-year-old aspiring filmmaker named Robert came up with a plan that would help him make the movies he’d dreamt of making since his childhood. With his grades not high enough to get into the film department of his local college, it was “plan B or bust.” The idea was simple: make a low-budget film, sell it, and use the proceeds to fund the next one- repeat as needed. He raised funds for his first “feature” film however he could, including volunteering to take experimental drugs in drug-testing studies. Finally, when he’d cobbled together all of $9,000, he was ready to shoot.
Guildpact: Gruul Wilding Review (Part 2 of 2)
It’s go time for the Gruul, the wild and savage sort-of guild in Guildpact. And what better deck to stand in my way than the cold and calculating Orzhov, as piloted by Sam?
Guildpact: Gruul Wilding Review (Part 1 of 2)
As mentioned in the review of Code of the Orzhov, Ravnica block was the first full block to break from the evolutionary style we associate with most Magic releases. Ordinarily, you had a story in three acts, with a stage-setting for the opening large set, and two follow-on expansions that move the tale towards its dramatic conclusion. In some cases, a larger narrative has strung multiple blocks together, most notably with the Rath Cycle (which connected blocks from Mirage through Invasion) but also with smaller arcs like the Odyssey/Onslaught blocks. For the guild-based Ravnica block, the sense of forward progression was gone, leaving Wizards needing to rely upon other ways to retain a sense of advancement across the card pool.
Guildpact: Code of the Orzhov Review (Part 2 of 2)
For our opening look at Guildpact, Sam’s ready with Izzet Gizmometry. Itself an unusual build, today’s match pits one unorthodox style against another. In the end, only one can prevail… will the Orzhov have enough to make sure theirs is the last Thrull standing?
Guildpact: Code of the Orzhov Review (Part 1 of 2)
Mark Rosewater, he of Wizards R&D fame and perhaps the game’s most public face, once told the story of how in a brainstorming session for the development of Ravnica block and its guilds, there was a space on the wall for each of the ten. Rosewater then encouraged everyone to stick up pictures of things that they thought best represented the guild, to get a sense of where everyone’s thoughts were at and to help flesh out the character and identity of the entities that would be carrying the block. Then Rosewater himself went over and pinned up a picture under the White/Black, an individual he felt best represented what the colours in tandem would produce. The picture? Don Corleone.
Urza’s Saga: Special Delivery Review (Part 2 of 2)
The most broken environment of all time? Maybe, but that hasn’t stopped us from enjoying our trip through Urza’s Saga courtesy of its Theme Decks. It’s our final go, and I’ve the grim prospect of facing down The Plague ahead of me. With a Green/Red beats-n-burn deck, can I outrace the contagion Sam’s brewing up?
Urza’s Saga: Special Delivery Review (Part 1 of 2)
Earlier this year, we reviewed the Theme Decks of Tempest, the big set from the year before Urza’s Saga. In one of our reviews, we told the story of “Astral Ways,” a custom set designed by a gentleman by the name of Mike Elliot. As we related, Mike eventually was hired on by Wizards for R&D, and his Astral Ways set provided a great deal of grist for the creative mill at this time in the game’s development. It contained “astral” creatures which could not interact on the battlefield with “normal” creatures, which laid the foundation for shadow creatures like the Soltari Monk and Dauthi Marauder. It had a collection of creatures that shared their abilities with one another and great stronger the more you hand in play, which eventually became the Slivers. It also contained one additional mechanic we didn’t touch on in our retelling, a keyword called planeshift.
Ertai's Lament 