Whispers of the Muse Contest Winner!
Thanks to everyone who entered our recent giveaway, helping two of our readers (Steve and Eduard) fine-tune the Depths of Power Intro Pack from Magic 2013. It was a tremendous success, with both getting a great deal of coaching and suggestion from many of you.
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?
Reads: Twin Geeks “Magic the Gathering for Beginners”
Our latest entry in the Reads series- those articles of interest to the precon community we find around the net- isn’t so much a read as it is a watch. The Twin Geeks are a pair of guys from London who make video reviews of all sorts of things on their site. From high-end bikes to stereo speakers to iPhone apps to… Magic: the Gathering?
Battle Decks- Tatsurion vs Razorkinder: Razorkinder’s Deck Review (Part 2 of 2)
It’s the rubber match for the new Kaijudo Battle Deck, and this time I’m piloting Razorkinder’s 40 cards. With options to lock down and control the battlefield, I’m much more at home. Of course, so is Sam, since Tatsurion’s deck is smash-and-grab aggro that abandons defense in favour of furious aggression!
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.
Urza’s Saga: The Plague Review (Part 2 of 2)
It’s our third clash of four for Urza’s Saga, and this time Sam’s back with Sleeper, a White Weenie variant that makes full use of a range of sleeping enchantments. I’m in with The Plague, which puts all of its eggs in a single Pestilential basket. Which deck will come out ahead?
Urza’s Saga: The Plague Review (Part 1 of 2)
Although we hinted at the failings in the block helmed by Urza’s Saga in our opening review of Tombstone, thus far we’ve focused mainly on the positives of the set. Although held up as a classic example of Melvinism (in other words, devoid of flavour), cycling was a successful mechanic that has returned throughout multiple sets (coming back in Onslaught and Alara blocks, as well as the obligatory reprint in Time Spiral). Echo is a mechanic that Mark Rosewater has stated will likely be seen again. Growing and sleeping enchantments have reappeared in various guises, and contributed to making the memorable Sleeper deck. But in spite of his, in a sense we’re just avoiding the elephant in the room, for Urza’s Saga introduced more than its fair share of problems, too.
Whispers of the Muse: Depths of Power (M13)…and a contest!
Magic 2013 brought some interesting Intro Pack decks our way, and players from all over have enjoyed cracking them open, tinkering under the hood, and seeing what they can come up with! One of the most exciting options for meddling about has been the instant-and-sorcery-heavy Depths of Power, fueled by Talrand, Sky Summoner.
Reads: Meddling ‘Depths of Power’ on Gathering Magic!
A convergence! That’s the best word I can think of to describe the fact that the Magic 2013 Intro Pack Depths of Power seems to be on a lot of folks’ minds these days. No sooner do I submit a ‘Meddling’ (tuning/rebuilding) of the deck for Gathering Magic than our inbox gets not one, but two requests to run a Whispers of the Muse on it!
The Whispers will be coming up later this evening, but for now here’s a link to the article over on Gathering Magic. Stop on over and check out the new framework I’ve given the deck, and say hello to boot!
Ertai's Lament 