Explore the Realm of Magic: The Gathering - Articles and Insights

Why Seek Good Build Arounds? Magic: the Gathering is many things to many people, so for some readers, this topic might not be relevant at all, but if you clicked on the headline, I’m guessing you can appreciate building a deck from scratch. The experience of building a brand-new Magic deck and the experience of playing a deck tightly are completely different, but both have their place.

Thunder Junction has already proven itself as one of the most influential sets released in recent memory. It only is fitting that we have some digital-only cards released in the new Alchemy Version of that set that change the game a good bit in their own regard. Right off the bat, there appear to be some cards that should make a splash in the format, and there is even a new mechanic brought to the alchemy world that goes along with the overall theme of Thunder Junction very nicely. We will take a look at some of the fun new cards, and I'll even share a deck with you that I've made! {{ 663b08dd95f4012e9d23e348 }}

Welcome Magic lovers! With Pro Tour Seattle fading in the rearview mirror, many competitive Standard players resigned themselves to a couple more months of Esper Raffine, Temur Ramp, Domain and Azorius Control mirrors before the inevitable rotation sweeps across the land, tucking once-dominant staples away, snug in their junk rare boxes.

Why is this Deck? Kambal, Profiteering Mayor is an interesting build-around that encourages token generation on both sides of the board, which gives symmetrical token generation such as Eiganjo Uprising unique utility. This combination is a very janky setup, to be sure, but by finding other points of synergistic overlap, we can put together a functional deck that can win some games on the ladder, even if it doesn’t take the next Pro Tour by storm.

Pro Tour Thunder Junction was wildly entertaining, even if one third of the playing field was Esper Midrange, and another good portion of it was Domain Ramp. The games were action-packed and I even found myself at times cheering for an Azorius Control Deck to win it all. Ultimately, Yuta Takahashi fell in the finals to his teammate, Yoshihiko Ikawa. Both are phenomenal Magic Players and have been doing this for decades. We were not deprived of any opportunity for good action from some of the world's best. There were some unique decks that made it, as the Four-Color Legends build was pretty good - and ultimately made it's case for being tier one. Although we have seen the deck before, it always felt like not enough people took it seriously. Another relevant deck we saw over the weekend was the Caustic Bronco combo deck. It was a pretty well-put together Orzhov midrange deck with some fun combos. I was happy to see that there was one Mono Black Deck. It used a lot of the cards that I like from the new set, and many that I enjoy from older sets. Although Pedro San Segundo qualified for day two, they were unable to get a top eight qualification, but the deck still held it's own in the constructed portion of the event. Given the fact that it didn't bomb in the Pro Tour, and that I have had great success with it on the ladder, we are gonna check out some gameplay from the Mono Black Pro Tour OTJ Deck today! {{ 6631b040119205106ba2dfba }}

Welcome Magic lovers! What a weekend! It’s always such a treat to watch the best Magic: the Gathering players in the world duel one another for the title of Pro Tour Champion, but its not often that we get to see them do it in a Standard format that, only one week prior, welcomed its eleventh set, Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Eleven sets make this a massive card pool for Standard, and with so many mythic and rare powerhouse, build-around cards being jammed into this strange new set, the player base at large waited with bated breath to see what the finest minds in the game would cook up.

Why is this Deck? I built this deck out of sheer love for Smuggler’s Surprise. I saw crazy potential for this card and I wanted to build some kind of reanimator shell around it (as I’ve previously discussed here) but decided to eschew the reanimation angle entirely and simply ramp into huge threats that can be cheated out easily with Smuggler’s Surprise.

We are a couple of weeks into the New Standard Meta and the format is rapidly transforming. There is a lot of aggro floating around, and there are a few different decks that can do one turn kills. We know things are noticeable different now, so we must ask: what is something that could be flying under the radar and be sneakily good? We know that Bant Poison and Selesnya Poison have been around for a little bit. Heck, there have even been a few Abzan Poison lists that could at least be considered competitive. A lot of us look at poison lists, and we always have wanted to include white and green in some way, but something that has often been overlooked and maybe even underutilized is Golgari Poison. This deck will rely on stacking the Toxic Ability, so that we can connect out of nowhere for a big poison hit. A lot of the decks rely on more of a go-wide strategy that generates tokens and uses other resources to flood the board with toxic creatures. In this deck, we are going to use enchantments, artifacts, some proliferation, and some recursion to get our opponents to ten poison counters as quickly as we can. Before we get to the deck and the noteworthy cards, I'll say that I have only played it in best of one - and although the deck has done well, I would venture to say it is most well-positioned in the best of one meta. There are some viable cards for the sideboard if it were to be a best of three deck, but this list is at it's best when it is grinding those quick best of one contests. Also, did I mention this deck is really light on the wildcards/wallet? We are only running eight rare cards in the main deck and no mythics. We do run some rare lands, but those can be relatively easily be swapped out. As long as you can get off to a fast start with your mana base, you will be fine. {{ 662af5e9a680dc0c06d65fba }}

Welcome Magic lovers!  With the release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction, one of the most powerful sets we’ve seen in a long while, a veritable cornucopia of crazy combos can be found crawling all over the Magic Arena ranked ladder, as players test and tune different ideas in their never-ending quest to discover the next ‘best deck’.

Why is This Deck? Golgari midrange has been a stable force in the metagame for months now, and some very powerful Golgari cards were introduced with Outlaws of Thunder Junction, so I wanted to take a crack at adding them and finding out what new cards offered genuine upgrades rather than simply changes for change’s sake.

Thunder Junction is officially here, and we are immediately seeing the effects of this very powerful set. The meta has shifted, some decks have gotten better, and some have gotten worse. We know that nothing in the format is solved this early, but there are some fun cards and decks that are standing out. In regards to card availability, the format is more complete than it has ever been - there are SO many cards! IF we went any longer without a rotation, this would almost start to feel like an eternal format. Thankfully we will have rotation soon, but until then, we will be experiencing a few months of this wild west meta from Thunder Junction. While there are many decks to go over and be aware of, what we will do today is have a look at two of the decks that I made as theory crafting builds, see how they performed, and see if they required any tweaks after some gameplay. How is Rakdos Doing?

Welcome Magic lovers!  With Outlaws of Thunder Junction now available both in paper and digital, players the world over are feverishly building and tuning new decks in the never-ending quest to find the most powerful list in a given format, and this has led to some very spicy ideas emerging. With that in mind, today we’ll be covering a couple of the more powerful combo decks that can be built in the Standard format, enabled by new cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

Magic The Gathering Arena offers an immersive platform for players to not only engage in epic card battles but also to share their gameplay experiences with a broader community. Sharing video content has become a cornerstone for enhancing interactive engagement and showcasing strategies. The "My Videos" section of MTG Circle serves as a critical hub for managing and distributing your personal video content to other enthusiasts and players. The Importance of Video Sharing for MTG Players

The Historical Blind Spot I, Graham Bennett, aka HamHocks42, has not ever attended an in-person prerelease in a local game store prior to Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Over the past few years, I’ve been livestreaming MTG almost exclusively while also putting out YouTube content and even commentating on MTG Arena tournaments while lacking a fundamental experience that, if social media is to be believed, is shared by every player of the game besides me.

Welcome Magic lovers!  With the upcoming release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction happening next week, Magic: the Gathering deck brewers the world over are frantically cobbling together and tweaking list after list in the never-ending quest of discovering the next big thing in the various competitive constructed formats such as Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Magic Arena), Modern and beyond.

This new set is going to give us a few ubiquitous cards. There are a few that give us a feeling of "someone is going to make this broken somehow" and that truly excites the deck builder in me. We are approaching a Standard that will, for a few months, be a "complete" Standard Format - meaning that we will have every set available to us that is legal in the format to use with deck building. What is unique about it this time, as many know, is that Standard is going through it's first ever three year rotation cycle. It sounds intimidating, and there are some people who are flat-out sick of how many cards we have to worry about in the format. I get that, and I am sick of some cards too. What We will do today with this deck is actually make good use of some pretty old cards in the format and see if we can make them "good" again by abusing the triggered ability of one of our new outlaws from Thunder Junction. Hold onto your cowboy hats, we are going time traveling! {{ 6618c3207d8797bd1a8894f8 }}

Why is this Deck? Outlaws of Thunder Junction is coming to Arena in just over a week (Tuesday, April 16th) and I wanted to do some preparation to make sure have some jank ready to go to test when the time comes. Normally for these articles, I like to end with a link to the deck in action but, for obvious timing reasons, that won’t be an option today. That said, you will be able to see this deck in action on my Twitch stream as early as this Wednesday (April 10th) for the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Streamer Event!

Welcome Magic lovers! Now that the final few cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction have been revealed, its time to begin the exciting process of crafting new homes in the Standard format for the most powerful and promising of the bunch. Without further adieu, let’s go over some spicy new Standard deck lists to get your creative juices flowing! Sideboards will be omitted until we see how the Standard meta game may shift once the new set drops. Credit for the deck lists goes to Will Erker.

It wouldn't be a real MTG set release if we didn't make a new mono black deck that showcases all of the new and awesome black cards, so I am here to do that for you today! We are going to be using the new bomb from Thunder Junction in a one turn kill combo {If you haven't heard about this card yet, you are going to very shortly). If that isn't enough, we will also include plenty of other ways to dwindle the life total of our opponent. This one will be a lot more low to the ground than normal, as the deck is centered around pulling off a combo, not necessarily grinding it out, or hoping to get to the late game for a win. We will have a well-rounded sideboard to be able to handle most of the threats that I foresee us facing, and if we need to, we can play that control game until it is time to pull off our flashy victory. The new set really is opening up a lot of doorways for many decks. Mono black undoubtedly will get better, but we do have to let things play out to also see how much better other archetypes get. I would definitely expect the sideboard to be dynamic, and changed frequently. {{ 6610c41f7d8797bd1a888fd8 }}

What is this Exercise? As of this writing, we’ve seen most of the cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, so it’s a perfectly good time to start theory crafting the new brews we’re going to try when the set releases. While I don’t have a complete 75 to share with you yet, I wanted to share my thoughts and how I approach a Standard deck build with brand new cards.

Welcome Magic lovers!  With Outlaws of Thunder Junction spoiler season in full swing, Magic players have been treated to a bevy of build-around cards, new set mechanics and more than a few powerful, potential additions to existing top-tier decks across several formats. Today we’ll be zoning in on a few of the more tantalizing cards which have been revealed, and the best ways to build around or incorporate them into existing shells in order to maximize their effectiveness.

Most of us know about the Rakdos Ramp Deck that was popular in Standard maybe a month or two ago. Sometimes it is still played on ladder, and the deck is undoubtedly powerful. For today's purposes, we are going to bring back that archetype, but we are going to use some cards from the new set, Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This time, we will have to pay closer attention to the kinds of creatures that we put into the deck. They will all provide legitimate value, but we are mostly going to be trying to cheat out or reanimate legendary creatures, and you will see why that is so relevant very soon. We do use some cheap creatures early on in the deck that are not legendary, but they generate value on the board, and allow us to get other large creatures into our graveyard. We may miss out on some other value, but the payoff will be worth it. Some of these new cards from Thunder Junction will allow us to pull off a couple of one turn kills. {{ 66096aa5d789e70e37984fb1 }}

Spoiler Season Begins Outlaws of Thunder Junction will be upon us before you know it and we’re into day two of spoiler season! There are still plenty of cards we haven’t seen yet, but for our purposes here, I want to look at cards that might make a meaningful impact in the Arena metagames with a focus on Standard.

Welcome Magic lovers! With the new Temur Worldsoul’s Rage ramp deck attracting all the Standard buzz of late, its easy to forget that there are several other ways to abuse the graveyard right now that are also extremely powerful. The Squirming Emergence decks have been floating around the top 8 of several Magic Online Challenges, Regional Championship Qualifiers and even the Regional Championships themselves for some time now. However, the deck’s development has taken an interesting turn recently, as well-known Magic Online grinder aspiringspike won an RCQ with a unique take on the archetype.

"Temur Rage Ramp" as many are calling it, is beginning to take over the Standard best of three Meta. It is hard to play a few matches on MTGArena without at least facing that deck once. If you haven't played against it on the ladder, it is also difficult to peruse MTG Youtube or any website with decklists and not see this at least once. Creators are all chomping at the bit to make their own version of it, and create content around it. The deck is resilient, grindy, can come back for a one turn kill out of nowhere, and can even have the versatility of throwing a bunch of creatures on the board and using a planeswalker to overrun what you have on your side of the table in a lethal swing. To figure out how we want to gameplan against it, and ultimately give our decks favorable matchups against this behemoth post-sideboard, we have to identify the cards that really make the deck tick, and then identify the tools we have at our disposal to deal with them. The reason I felt so compelled to share this information is that there are two colorless artifacts that effectively shut down this deck. I thought it would be neat to demonstrate how anyone could run these cards in the sideboard of any one of their decks to bolster their chances at winning. First, let's take a look at the cards that make the Temur Ramp deck so relevant. {{ 6600ded30cdb5832a0bdb103 }}

Why is this Deck? Like so many brews we discuss here, this brew solely exists because I saw an ‘I dare you’ build around that I haven't touched in a while that I wanted to attempt. This time, it was Queen Kayla bin-Kroog. My queen sports a bizarre ability to wheel our hand at sorcery speed and take up to three creatures or artifacts from among the cards wheeled (based on mana value) and deposit them directly to the board. This ability interests me because it lets us play multiple creatures from our hand without spending cards and we might even go up on mana if the cards discarded line up well.

Welcome Magic lovers! For many players on Magic Arena, the challenge of seeing how high one can grind on the ranked ladder, learning the intricacies of a new Limited environment, or perhaps simply enjoying casual Brawl matches with friends is enough to provide countless hours of entertainment. However, for a small number of competitive players, this simply isn’t enough. Which is why Wizards of the Coast, through their Premier Play program, periodically provides opportunities to play Magic on Arena for higher stakes: the Qualifier Weekends which feed into the Arena Championship, as well as the Arena Opens.

This week, we are going to play a new deck with a little bit more of an old-school feel. We are going to be playing around with enchantments (don't worry, not Selesnya Enchantments). This time around, we are looking at Orzhov, and although we have a mostly creature-based deck, we will generate some enchantments with those creatures that allow Eriette of the Charmed Apple to turn into a win condition for us. Orzhov, My First Love

Fallout is widely regarded as one of the best RPG games in modern history. Having the opportunity to see that unique feel and creative elements in the world of Magic: The Gathering is very interesting, and that’s what Magic: The Gathering® – Fallout does. It takes elements from all the fallout games starting with the one from 1997, and it introduces them with a very distinctive perspective. What’s great about this new pack is that it really stands out with the characters you can find here. You have irradiated monsters, mutants, raiders and robots, among others. It’s a great perspective over how interesting and unique the world of Fallout is, but also the stunning elements that it can bring into the world of Magic: The Gathering!

Introduction With Outlaws of Thunder Junction coming in just a few weeks, it’s easy to think of classic Western tropes like cowboys and train robberies, but one image that stands out amongst them that presents an interesting question for current Magic players is the high noon duel. Western heroes are lauded for being “the fastest gun in the west,” but they’re now being included in a game that, allegedly, does not include guns in its artwork or lore.

Welcome Magic lovers! As the Standard Regional Championship Qualifying season came to a close, we saw some incredible innovation as several new decks rose from obscurity to find their place among the top tier of the meta game. One such deck that I wrote about previously on this very site was the eventual winner of the $75,000 Standard tournament that took place at MagicCon Chicago at the end of February in the hands of the infamous Magic Online grinder, cftsoc. The deck was a 68-card monster that abused the synergy between Aftermath Analyst and Nissa, Resurgent Animist, in order to generate an arbitrarily large amount of mana then loop Jace, Perfected Mind and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire to mill the opponent out. Well, it turns out that cftsoc may have opened Pandora’s Box by showing the Magic world how busted Nissa and Analyst could be together, as another hot, new deck has emerged which utilizes the same mana generation engine.

We presently live in a MTG world where it is pretty easy to amass a large group of permanents on the board, and equally, in the same world, it is pretty darn easy to remove almost all of them with one spell. Some of these spells cost as little as four mana, and we begin to play around them once we see that a deck is not playing any spells, almost as if they are baiting us into playing all of our permanents to the board, only to have them removed en masse. This is why Invoke Despair is a particularly awesome card. The Card that Didn't Deserve to be Banned

Why is this Deck? A lot of powerful cards exist in Standard right now that require a fair amount of build around and, as a result, aren’t seeing much play. One such card is Invoke Calamity, which can deliver up to two cards and six mana worth of action at instant speed for five mana, but requires a lot of setup. It’s possible to build around this card in a multitude of ways, but you all know me by now and know how much I love my graveyards, so that’s where I had to start.

Alchemy Status Alchemy has been a very controversial format since it's inception a little over two years ago. At first, the format showed a lot of promise, and many people were excited about the innovative ideas that it could potentially have. As more and more sets started to release, the gripes about overpowered and seemingly "pushed" cards and archetypes became rather apparent, and it caused most people to dismiss the format altogether. Add in a somewhat failed promise of proactive rebalancing, and it appeared to be a failed project from Wizards. Something that is bringing it back to life as of late, however, is the fact that a lot of people aren't happy with the fact that Standard went another year without rotation. Alchemy, unlike the new version of Standard, has a two year rotation schedule that "old" Standard used to have. Some people prefer this, and after some appropriate nerfs to overpowered cards in alchemy were made, there are a few players who are going back to the format to give it a shot - maybe because they are fed up with going against certain decks in Standard, or they simply just want to try something different, as playing with the same cards over and over again can get monotonous. We see this happening more and more as there are some decks in Standard that have become really popular, yet they use little to no cards that would have rotated had we followed the regular rotation schedule. Players almost feel as if they are selling themselves short and it's easy for one to think that it's worth trying in Alchemy to see if the win rate is better, or at the very least, to see if the gameplay is more fun.

Magic: The Gathering games can be incredibly fun to play through and rewarding as well. It becomes extremely important for players to not only enjoy their games, but also learn from them. Since there are so many cards to use and decks to pursue, you do want to see how good these are and also figure out where you made a wrong play. That’s where the MTG Circle website is here to help. We established a comprehensive and very powerful video library where people can easily add new footage of their games. You get to share it with others, showcase the losses and wins, but also come back and study your games. After all, the best way to get better in any card game is to just learn from mistakes. However, finding footage within so many interesting options can be difficult. And that’s why we opted for an advanced filter system that you can start using.

Welcome Magic lovers!  

When you first set your eyes on the new Thunder Junction cards, you automatically think of the John Wayne movies and western novels. It definitely has that visual style and appeal, and people became very excited about it upon seeing the cards. Not too many cards were shown, which certainly added to the mystery and appeal of Thunder Junction. What’s great to see is that the cards do seem to provide great value to archetype, while also bringing the potential of creating new ones as well. The Abs Are Back

In this article, we spotlight Nino Grizzuti, a passionate and skilled Magic: The Gathering player who recently made waves by participating in the very first MTG Circle Tournament. Nino's journey through the competitive landscape of this beloved card game was not only a testament to his strategic prowess but also marked a significant milestone for our community. As we delve into Nino's adventure, from deck building to the exhilarating rounds of play, we celebrate the spirit of competition and camaraderie that defines us here at MTG Circle. {{ 65e34b3421fc973b267985fb }}

How Was Magic Con Chicago? Going to any convention has it's fair share of nervousness, but also anticipation for some fond memories. I was personally incredibly excited to go and thankful for the opportunity to be there. My goal was to draft a bit, play in some constructed events, and try to earn some free MTG product - along with spending some time with friends and other creators that I would see there.

Playing MTG Arena can be a lot of fun, since you always get to try out new decks and connect with all kinds of players. However, it’s also a challenge since you will encounter a lot of people with great strategies and decks. That’s why it can be a great idea to record your games, and that’s where the CardFlow MTG Arena game recording software comes into play. The software allows you to capture all your games and any MTGA replays. Why should you record your MTG Arena games? It’s a great way to figure out where you made any mistakes, and you can also figure out how to create strategies as you make new decks. Not only that, but CardFlow is seamlessly integrated with MTG Arena, which means you can record everything with the utmost detail, without having to worry about any problems.

Welcome Magic lovers! Wow, what a weekend for competitive Magic: the Gathering! Not only did we get treated to premium Pioneer play as the top players in the world battled to see who would claim the title of Pro Tour Champion, but we also got to pore over the results of the Standard $75k, one of the format’s largest tournaments, attracting the most competitive players from across the world.While the usual suspects showed up in force, including Esper Raffine and Domain Ramp decks, there were a bevy of brews that did well, including the deck we’ll be focusing on today, Sultai Ramp, concocted by none other than the infamous cftsoc from Magic Online.Known for pioneering and piloting unorthodox decks to high place finishes, ctfsoc really outdid themselves with this 68-card monstrosity by going 12-1-1 in the Swiss, then crusing through the top 8 to take the whole tournament down:

Welcome Magic lovers! As the Standard Regional Championship Qualifier season winds down, we’ve seen format stalwarts Domain Ramp and Esper Raffine contort themselves to adapt, as the rest of the meta game surged against them with the return of Bant Toxic decks and the rise of Rakdos Midrange. Even as we enter the twilight of the season, we are still witnessing not only innovative additions to popular archetypes, but also a few brand new, potentially top tier, decks coming together over the last couple of weeks. Some of these new decks have been built to take advantage of the distinct lack of targeted graveyard hate-cards currently being played in Standard. While several of different lists have been floating around the top tournament results from the last few weeks, the one that we’ll be focusing on today is Squirming Emergence reanimator:

Why Is This Deck? I’m a firm believer that Stuffy Doll and Stuffy Doll-adjacent cards are made for janksters like myself. Whether it’s Brash Taunter, or Ill-Tempered Loner, there are always bizarre combos just waiting to be discovered. Murders at Karlov Manor introduced a new Stuffy Doll to the mix with Barbed Servitor and this deck aims to abuse its unique set of abilities to drain our opponent out in a way they won’t see coming.

Magic: The Gathering Arena (MTG Arena) revitalizes the iconic card game for the digital era and opens new avenues for players to share their gameplay through recording. CardFlow, a specialized recording software for MTG Arena, has become a favorite tool for many. However, users sometimes face a frustrating issue: recording fails to start. This article aims to solve this specific problem, with a focus on a common culprit: the absence or malfunction of the minobs.exe file. Understanding the Error

Checking in on Mono Black, and Standard We are two weeks into the digital release of Murders at Karlov Manor, and the meta has certainly seen some changes due to these new cards. This begs the question: Did it get better, or worse? Some might also wonder: How did that Mono Black Deck that Numbskull theory crafted end up doing? We will sort out both of those inquiries today.

Why is this Deck? It’s not every day that a ridiculous combo involving seven-cost sorceries looks viable, but it turns out being able to reanimate spells for four mana really helps.

Playing Jund usually is a fun time no matter what archetype it is. Whether it's using silly combos, cheating out some dragons/dinosaurs, or just simply flinging creatures in the face of our opponent, it's hard to have a bad time. In this week's deck, we will be trying to fling some creatures in the face of our opponents, but we will also be using a new card from Murders at Karlov Manner that has kind of flown under the radar, and almost acts as a standard version of The Great Henge. I personally believe that the deck and archetype is better suited for best-of-one due to it's "gotcha" type of win condition. I also decided to try something different this time to see if we could use it to generate some resources in a Standard Bo1 Event.

Welcome Magic aficionados! With the arrival of Murders at Karlov Manor just a couple of short weeks ago, we’ve been treated to a plethora of new toys to tinker with in the Standard format, which has many players brewing up an assortment of spicy decks.

Some cards embody the essence of an archetype so well you have to stop and appreciate them. Doppelgang is the pure distillation of over-the-top Simic nonsense to the point where you don’t need to have any other cards in the entire deck that support Simic nonsense, and you’ll still do a lot of Simic nonsense with this thing. This article is going to deviate a bit from my usual single-deck format because I built this card a couple of different ways and still feel like there is plenty of untapped potential. What does this card want?

Insider's Cup #29 | Timeless Official tournament of the MTG Insider'scommunity organized by Simone "Akira" Trimarchi in collaboration with MTGADailyChallenge

Why is this Deck? Because Insidious Roots is awesome. Well, it’s not traditionally awesome in the way Golgari graveyard strategies often work, but it happens to synergize with a lot of cards that also don’t get the love they deserve.

Why Orzhov? And why tokens? Orzhov has always been associated with control, and sort of the Yin and Yang of Magic due to the colors themselves being polar opposites, yet still balancing out one another when combined for a deck or archetype. It is often known for control, but can also harbor a space for other archetypes with unique interactions while still being able to deal with most things that are thrown at it. Today's deck takes a balanced approach to removal, and hand hate, while also establishing a fulfilling board presence, so it doesn't feel like you're playing solitaire.

Why is this Deck? Anzrag, the Quake-Mole is a new Gruul god that, honestly, makes my heart go pitter patter. It’s the patron saint of big Timmy stomp nonsense, and I had to put together a shell that could take advantage of its unique skills, even if those skills might not line up well against the current power level of Standard.

Theory crafting is one of my favorite parts of any new set that comes out. Some love to go to prerelease, some love to pre-order their booster boxes, I personally love theory crafting. As a primarily constructed player, I want to get a firm grasp of what cards can be considered "good" and want to begin to dominate the meta as soon as possible. The unknown aspect of it is an added bonus, because there is no "wrong" or "bad" way to theory craft a deck when a new set is coming out. Nobody has any clue if a card will be effective or not. It removes a lot of the pressure of creating an effective deck, and allows us to create fun combos with the cards that we like to see if we can strike gold by creating a surprisingly powerful deck. {{ 65c5f2593700df6c043fe34c }}

Welcome Magic lovers! Ah yes, it’s nearly that wonderful time of year when life begins to blossom again, love is in the air…and there are grisly murders that must be solved! That’s right, in just over a week, on February 6th and 9th, Murders at Karlov Manor will drop on Magic Arena and at a local game store near you! Following in the footsteps of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, a format with no less thansix different mechanics, Murders at Karlov Manor is also absolutely packed with different mechanics, complex cards and convoluted interactions to explore. Add to this the new pack layout being introduced with Play Boosters, and it’s going to make for a very difficult format to navigate, but have no fear! Today we’ll be going over some Sealed format basics and heuristics, while applying them to the upcoming set. Let’s dive into the basics of building a Sealed deck!

Why is this Deck? Every set includes at least one card that requires the caster to jump through so many hoops that I can imagine the designers saying, “Go ahead, MTG community, we dare you to build this.” Well, today’s we-dare-you build-around is Throne of the Grim Captain – a card that requires a full graveyard with four different creature types that have nothing in common in the hopes of free-casting some of them later.

Most Magic: The Gathering Players who have even a little bit of experience are aware that Rakdos archetypes account for a share of the meta in multiple formats. In some formats, it has multiple archetypes that are competitive and the decks themselves often differ vastly. Since we could probably write multiple articles for the different versions of Rakdos in various formats, we will stick to Rakdos Standard in this article. Rakdos Ramp deck overview

Why is this Deck? For today’s build, I need to look to the dragon cycle from Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. These cards were all amazing in draft, but didn’t quite see much competitive play aside from Ao, the Dawn Sky in some white shells from past standards. These dragons have respectable stat lines, meaningful keywords, and powerful death triggers that can swing a game if given the chance to go off.

Welcome Magic lovers! With the Standard format in full swing, as players test and tune in preparation for their Regional Championship Qualifiers, its easy to forget that another brand-new set, Murders at Karlov Manor, will be dropping in the first week of February. Today, let’s go over some of the spiciest spoilers to see if we can pick out any diamonds from the rough that may see play in Standard or even Pioneer!The first card that stood out to me as being not only playable in competitive constructed formats, but which also slots nicely into an existing archetype is No More Lies.

Why is This Deck? Timeless is an opportunity for all of us to try the highest power nonsense we can get our hands on, and this deck is absolutely that for me. I love reanimator strategies because they let us cheat gigantic monsters into play well before you’re supposed to. Normally, we have to go through the hoops of our graveyard, but Sneak Attack bypasses that and lets us drop gigantic monsters directly into play. Now that every middle-man has been cut out, let’s sneak in some fatties.

Why is this Deck? As Magic: the Gathering players, we all approach the game from different perspectives. Many folks using this tool will likely use it for a competitive edge as they prepare for an upcoming event. MTG Arena is definitely a great tool to help towards that goal, but it’s also an amazing place to experiment with cards and create truly bizarre experimental piles for fun. As a janky brewer, I aspire to craft fun experiences around cards that aren’t necessarily as competitive as the options you often see gracing these lists, and today we’re looking at Hit the Mother Lode to see if we can do just that.

Mono Black, an archetype that has historically been a staple in most formats, has undoubtedly taken a couple of hits in the past couple of years between bans and the ascendance of multi-color decks. A standard format with a near-perfect mana base and tons of bombs that can be easily included into most decks by splashing another color make it tough to stick to a deck that only runs one color. Having Invoke Despair and Meathook Massacre banned was a a huge hit to the easy flow and seamless play of a mono black deck in the standard format. This begs the question: How do we make a good mono black deck in standard without having access to two of the most recent bombs that have been printed? Thanks to my stubbornness, enjoyment for the color, and overall maniacal brain composition, I think I might have an answer. Rediscovering Mono Black's Essence in Standard Format

Welcome Magic lovers! This week, we’re going to be diving deeper into the Standard format as it continues to churn and evolve under the lens of the competitive community, as we approach the upcoming round of Regional Championship Qualifiers.

Welcome Magic lovers! With the post-holiday lull taking hold, and no new spoilers or big news to cover this week, we take a look at the competitive side of Magic: the Gathering, as the current Standard Regional Championship Qualifier Season has officially begun.