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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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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Fling with Fate, an Adventure in Pack-Opening

I couldn’t have been more excited when I came home from the dentist to see a package sitting on my bed. I instantly sat down to open it, and wasn’t I happy and surprised to see one of those slick Arceus lv.X pokemon tins sitting inside of it! I instantly took it out and hugged it. I hadn’t touched my pokemon cards since, oh, third or fourth grade except during random cleanups when I found them. Anyone who knows me knows that I love opening packs of trading cards. There’s something about the mystery and suspense of what might be in the packs that makes me anxious. It’s the same whenever I open up new Magic: the Gathering cards. So, of course I tear through the four packs that come with the really pretty tin and foil, promo Arceus lvl X card. I felt myself feel very happy as I

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New Year, New Magic

It’s 2010. You know what that means, don’t you? It means a new year filled with a ton of exciting Magic: the Gathering sets, tournaments, and random adventures. Let’s see what’s in store. First up, there’s Path of the Planeswalker. This is a solid 200+ page graphic novel featuring the webcomics that can be found on the Wizards of the Coast website as well as a new story only to be found in the book. For those who haven’t read any of the comics, each one focuses on two or three of the five main planeswalkers, Jace Beleren, Ajani Goldmane, Liliana Vess, Garruk Wildspeaker, and Chandra Nalaar, and the adventures they have. This book is going for about $15 in bookstores now, as it was released January 5th. Graphic novel and Magic: the Gathering fans should pick this up and add it to their collection. Next is the all-foil booster

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Magic: the Gathering Grand Prix and Pro Tour

Hey everyone, it’s that time of year again. That magical time where players start to consider if they want to try their hand at professional level play and start working on those awesome decks they hope to compete with. Both Magic: the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! boast this level of competitive play. The schedule for Magic: the Gathering can be found here in their entirety, but below are some key dates and tournaments of interest. As soon as one for the Yu-Gi-Oh! pro circuit is available, that will be up as well. I hope everyone that feels like they are ready for the next big step decides to take on the challenge, I know I’m excited for Grand Prix Oakland! Magic: the Gathering Februrary 13-14: Grand Prix Oakland, CA; the first Grand Prix April 3-4: Houston, TX July 31-August 1: Colombus, OH October 9-10: Sydney, Australia October 23-24: Toronto, Canada November

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Magic: the Gathering Worlds in Rome

This past weekend was the Magic: the Gathering World Championship in Rome, Italy. An astounding 408 players from more than 50 countries showed up to participate. It was a grueling four days of head-to-head competing for the coveted title and prize money. Three new members were initiated into the Magic Hall of Fame, joining big names like Randy Buehler. The top eight players from the tournament span eight different countries. In the end, Andre Coimbra from Portugal took the title. Not only was the World Championship a great moment for these hardcore players, there were a lot of fun side events like getting a chance to play against the creator of Magic: the Gathering himself, Richard Garfield. Some other big-names like Mike Turian (one of the main forces behind Time Spiral), Aaron Forsythe (head, R&D), and Tom LaPille (developer), were around to play anything from Elder Dragon Highlander to Duel

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Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: the Gathering Updates

Hey everyone, just some awesome updates in the Trading Card Game world! First of all, Wizards of the Coast unveiled the third of three sets that are in the Zendikar block. Rise of the Eldrazi, codenamed “Prosper”, will be joining Zendikar (October 2009) and Worldwake (January 2010) to complete the block. The set is announced for April 23, 2010, with prerelease events held in participating WPN (wizards play network) locations the week before. This will be a 248-card set and previews will start on April 5th on magicthegathering.com. The upcoming Pro Tour and Grand Prix schedule was also posted. The stops cover 16 countries and numerous states. Some of the big ones are Oakland, CA and Houston, TX for the States, as well as events in parts of Europe. All grand prixes will feed into the pro tours for the respective area, IE Oakland’s grand prix and others in the

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