Spoiler season is one of my favorite times of the year. The part of Magic I enjoy most is deckbuilding, and spoiler season is ripe for brainstorming and testing new deck ideas. Whilst pouring over the early spoilers, three words utterly stunned me: “Destroy target permanent.” Those three words are on a two-mana instant called […]

Guilds of Ravnica spoilers are underway, and the set is meeting my high expectations. It’s even exceeding them thanks to a certain Golgari instant. Join me today as we discuss that card and explore some of the possibilities Guilds promises for spell-based fair decks the format over. The Trophy’s Legacy Plenty has been written about […]

Another new set, more new cards, and more chances for hope to spring eternal. As always, players are wildly speculating on their playability and trying to fit new cards into everything. I’m not immune, and especially now that the full spoiler is out I have been looking for and testing Modern playable cards. Two in […]

Wizards designing core sets again is an exciting prospect for Modern players. This decision allows the company to print cards that answer problems in non-Standard constructed formats, or otherwise supply those formats with new toys, unfettered by the flavor restrictions a given world imposes. For Wizards’ part, they’ve seemingly jumped at this opportunity, for the […]

With each new set, new cards enter Modern, and it’s been the case for the past few years that new sets impact the format in some way. Dominaria is no different; the expansion contains a few cards sure to succeed in the format, as well as some enigmas and some clearly overrated cards. In this […]

There is a reason that games have rules: without them, everything would just be Calvinball. Rules provide structure, cohesion, and comprehension. To mess with them is to risk your game flying apart. Magic is no different. Draw one card, play one land, each land produces one mana, use that mana to pay the cost of […]

Dominaria leaks are well underway, and one recent card that’s grabbed my attention is Zhalfirin Void. Unlike the clunky and frivolous Karn, Scion of Urza, Void looks to be a snap-include for Colorless Eldrazi Stompy in some number. We do have a few things to consider before sleeving it up, though: what the card does […]

By now, most Modern players have seen the Chinese Dominaria spoiler leak going around. If not, head on over to the Mothership, where Wizards themselves confirmed the leak and graciously posted translations of the cards. While unsolicited spoilers can ruin the season for some, for players experiencing a brewing lull, they can serve as a much-needed […]

Yesterday, Eli Shiffrin spoiled Blood Sun, a new card from Rivals of Ixalan. Modernites were quick to give the internet a piece of their mind, with thoughts ranging from the expectant “Wizards squandered an opportunity to nerf Tron” to the meme-level “I don’t want to be THAT guy, but this card will probably need a […]

I normally prefer waiting until spoiler season is over to begin publishing think pieces on the upcoming cards, but had to make an exception this week. The announcement of Merfolk Mistbinder in Rivals of Ixalan has profound implications for my Modern deck of choice. While adding green to Merfolk is something pilots of the deck have […]

With a new set comes new speculation, new brews, and new bold declarations. Archetypes are revived, archetypes are doomed, new decks exist, the new decks are terrible—we’ve heard it all before. I try not to speculate and only talk about cards once I’ve actually played with them. This means I’m pretty late to the party […]

We’re back! Today, we’re looking at the rest of the spoiled cards for Ixalan, to see what could make an impact in Modern. Like I discussed last week, I’m choosing to approach these spoilers from the mindset of the best-case scenario, imagining what would have to happen to make them see play. As is often […]

As much as I enjoy talking about the fringe aspects of Magic—perspective, identity, opportunity—I can’t ignore a new set on the horizon. Ixalan is here, bringing along Pirates, Dinosaurs, treasure, and things that turn into land. I don’t know what’s happening, which means I’ve been out of the loop for too long. That being said, […]