“Duels of the Planeswalkers” Coming to Steam

Wizards of the Coast announced today that the “Duels of the Planeswalkers,” the expansion to the digital version of “Magic: The Gathering,” will be available to PC users via Steam. Players of the PC version will enjoy the Steamworks benefits that come with it – auto-updates, leaderboards and being able to access the game from any computer. Pre-sales of the core game + Expansion Pack 1 combo will start on June 1 at $9.99.

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Duels of the Planeswalkers Expansion Released Today

Wizards of the Coast announced today the second expansion for Magic: the Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers. It will be available on May 12, 2010. With the new expansion, Magic and gaming fans worldwide can play with new decks, experience never-before-seen challenges, and battle new adversaries. The new DLC will allow players to battle the ancient vampire Sorin Markov and boasts these other updates: - 3 new playable decks, including Nicol Bolas’ “Eons of Evil” planeswalker deck - 3 new unlockable cards for each of the 8 original decks AND the 3 decks from the first expansion - 5 new puzzling challenge levels - 3 new achievements - host migration for multiplayer - avatar attire awards On top of this, players can also put their spell-slinging skills to the test to defeat the new single-player campaign which will unlock Rhys the Redeemed’s and Chandra Nalaar’s new planeswalker decks. For

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Community Cup 2010 and My Magic Contest

As many of you remember, last year was Wizard of the Coast’s first Community Cup Challenge. Yours truly was a participant, and, of course, the community won. For those of you that don’t know, the Community Cup Challenge (CCC) is a 2-day tournament between 8 members of the community, which include avid and prominent members of the Magic Online game as well as Magic journalists and writers, and 8 Wizards of the Coast employees. I’d like to wish the best of luck to the 8 participants that will be representing press and community alike. Wizards of the Coast is out for blood (okay, not really) and want revenge for last year, so the community has some big shoes to fill to keep up our tradition! If you want to see the list of all the participants, you can find that information here. I’ll keep you updated as I find out

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Giveaways at Anaheim Comic Con

Anaheim Comic Con is next week (April 16-18, 2010) at the Anaheim Convention Center and if the lineup, or the chance of meeting GamingAngels and getting an official GamingAngels button aren’t reasons enough to go, now you can also get free stuff just for being there. Yes, it’s true that at most comic book conventions you better beware because you may end up spending more than you wanted. But there are two things you can get for free, just for registering. Wizards of the Coast will be distributing free half-packs of Magic: The Gathering M10 cards. “The giveaway of the valuable Magic: The Gathering cards will be a big hit with Anaheim Comic Con attendees of all ages,” said Gareb Shamus, Wizard Entertainment CEO. “We are excited that Wizards of the Coast will have such a strong presence at the event.” For the young ones, Gogos Crazy Bones will be

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Deck-Building 101: EDH and How to Pick your General

Before we get started, I just want to let you know that all the card names will be linked to the card on magiccards.info so you can see them if you want and to prevent a large number of card pictures. Enjoy! Hey everyone, today I’m going to tackle the very fun and exciting format of Elder Dragon Highlander, or EDH for short. This format is a 100 card singleton deck. Most players have at least heard off 100 CS and are familiar with the basics of only having one copy of any given card except for basic lands. EDH isn’t much different except in the way that the 100th card is called your “General” and the contents of your deck can only be the colors of your general. What this means is if, say, Ashling, the Pilgrim is your general, then your entire deck must be red and non-land

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Xbox Live Arcade Community Game Night – March 19

We asked in the forums what sort of game night you would like to participate in next, and you have spoken! On March 19th, the staff of GamingAngels will be hosting various Xbox Live Arcade games from 9pm to 11pm Eastern (that’s 6pm to 8pm for the West Coasters). This community night is extra special as we will have help from The Married Gamers, recent additions to the GamingAngels family. These games are all drop in/drop out rooms, so feel free to switch up games at the end of each round. We want to get to know you all a little better, and nothing says hello like kicking butt in a round of Uno or rolling Yahtzees. Here is the list of Gamers playing and the games they are hosting: Stealthyslyth – Uno GamingAngel – Sorry KrystalineDream – Magic the Gathering Kourui – Magic the Gathering Cherithe – Carcassonne Yuki

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My Magic Contest now Open

All you writers and Magic: the Gathering players out there, listen up! Wizards of the Coast has started their latest contest called “My Magic.” All you have to do to enter is write a true story about Magic and how it’s a part of your life today. The most creative, unique, and relevant story will be declared the winner. I bet you want to know what the prize is, don’t you? First place wins travel and accommodations for the winner and a guest to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the Pro Tour: San Juan stop at the end of May. Second place will get travel and accommodations for him or herself. So by now you’re thinking: ‘I just have to tell a story and I could win all this? What’s the catch? There has to be a catch.’ Well, the only downside is that you have to be 18 years

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Simon Görtzen Wins Pro Tour San Diego

A huge congratulations to all of the finalists of Magic: the Gathering’s Pro Tour San Diego, but Simon Görtzen took the top prize and claimed bragging rights for this stop. I don’t know how many of these names will mean anything to my readers, but below is a list of the top 8 players. 1. Simon Görtzen (Aachen, Germany) 2. Kyle Boggemes (Waterford, Michigan) 3. Luis Scott-Vargas (Oakland, California) 4. Craige Wescoe (Cincinnati, Ohio) 5. Daniel Gräfensteiner (Nürnberg, Germany) 6. Niels Viaene (Gent, Belgium) 7. Yoshihiko Ikawa (Nishitokyo, Japan) 8. Jeroen Kanis (Rotterdam, Netherlands) I am especially proud to see Luis Scott-Vargas’ name grace this list as I had the chance to see his games at Grand Prix Oakland. It’s great to see players representing so many countries, proving that this is definitely a worldwide past time. Next stop on the professional circuit is Pro Tour—San Juan in Puerto Rico,

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Deck-Building 101: Chandra the Burninator

So, how is everyone today? Yeah? Good! Cue music! Trogdor was a maaaaaaan, no! He was a dragon-maaaaan! Actually, he was just a DRAGOOOOOOOOON! Burninating the countryside, lalalala~ Now that I have your attention, let’s get down to business. It’s been a while since I’ve written my last deck-building guide, and I’ve been busy working on a few decks that have been on my mind for a while. I promise I won’t put in images for every card, but I will try to put links to their magiccards.info pages so you can read them as well as all addendum and rulings that have been added. I don’t want to try to go into the elaborate design that is my three-colored Esper (Shards of Alara: WUB/white blue black artifacts) deck, but I do want to share a bit on burn decks. The one I’ve currently fallen in love with is my

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Worldwake

So, as any Magic: the Gathering player knows, Worldwake hit store shelves this weekend. Also as any serious player knows, dropping the $100 on a booster box seems like a natural thing to do. Well, my friends and I decided to pool our money and buy a booster pack box, 4 extra boosters, and one of the starter decks. Of course this led to going back to one of our houses and separating the packs. The individual packs we bought outside of the box were the first to be open. Mine produced a Novablast Wurm, a mean 7/7 wurm that destroys all other creatures whenever it attacks. Then we got into the box. My half of the packs featured Jace, the Mind Sculptor’s art and a card unknown to us. We were sad to find that there are only three different pack designs when there are usually four. My second

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