This was reported a couple of hours ago by GatheringMagic.com after the card was discovered during a RTR draft:

Sorry about the delay here guys.

I had a rough semester + 5 weeks of not being home (my mother had a stroke) hadn't helped.  I will be returning to a regular scheduled articles after the holidays.
I have a couple of announcements.  First off, I am in the process of a website redesign.  The major reason for this is that I will be adding columnists after the holidays.

Hope you enjoy the updates!

The Phyrexian Arena

"Two magi could trade spells all day and never crown a victor. The real battle is not one of power but of will. If your confidence breaks, so too shall you." —Venser

This past weekend had only one major Standard event, GP San Antonio with 908 players.  Let's take a look at what shifted in the past week:

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	Total
RB Aggro	1	1						1	1		1						5
4C Midrange			1														1
UW Flash							1			1				1			3
Bant Control				1													1
GW Aggro						1											1
RWU Midrange					1												1
Reanimator													1				1
Naya Midrange												1					1
4C Control															1		1
GW Midrange																1	1

It looks as if the metagame has come full circle.  The first week of post RTR standard started with players preparing for public enemy #1: Zombies.  After filling the format with Zombie hate cards, the deck slowly dropped off in numbers and performance.  With new innovations, RB Aggro returned to the spotlight in a huge way at San Antonio with 5 copies in the Top 16.  GW Aggro didn't have the same success as it did during the previous few weeks as it only posted 1 copy in the Top 16.  UW Flash continues to place well with another 3 copies in the Top 16 this week.

There were a lot of players who had complained about the Standard format but after the last couple of weeks, this might be the healthiest Standard format I've ever seen in 13 years of playing competitive Magic.

Totals by Placing:

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	Total
GWB Tokens	1	1															2
Reanimator		1		1	1			1		2	1		1				8	17
Frites	1	1		1		1		1						1			6
Hoof there it is!	1													1		1	3
Jund Midrange		2	3	1	3	3	1	1	1		1			1	2		19
BG Zombies			1	1				1									3
UW Control					1		1	1	1	1		1	1			1	8
Bant Control	1	1	2	1	1	1			2			1	2				12
Mono Red						1				2				1			4
RB Aggro	2	1	2	2				1	1		2	1		1	1	1	15
Esper Tokens												1					1
GW Midrange													2			2	4
RWU Midrange	1	2	1	1	2	1	1		1							1	11
GW Aggro	1			2		1	1	2	1	1	2	1	2	1	1	2	18
Jund Aggro							1					1					2
Bant Midrange										1				2			3
UWR Control	1										1		1			1	4
Jund Zombies						1										1	2
WU Aggro		1			1		1					1		1	3		8
Naya Midrange								1			1	2					4
Grixis Control									1								1
RUG Soulbound											1						1
Esper Midrange													1				1
Junk Midrange												1					1
UW Flash	1					1	4	1	1	2				1			11
Esper Control									1						1		2
Esper Aggro					1												1
Naya Aggro															1		1
White Weenie										1							1
5C Control											1						1
4C Control															1		1
4C Midrange			1														1

First thing, I merged the RB Aggro and RB Zombie deck into RB Aggro now as such they are basically the same deck at this point, which brings its 8 week total to 15 Top 16 so you better be prepared for Hellrider and company.  Next, if UW Flash isn't on your radar by now, better wise up, it needs to be.

Totals by Week:

	Wk 1	Wk 2	W 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7			Wk 8	Total
	Cincy	Providence	Indy	New Orleans	St Louis	Dallas	Seattle	GP Charleston	GP Bochum	GP San Antonio
Junk Tokens		1						1			2
Reanimator	1	1			2		1			1	6	17
Frites	1		2	1		1	2	1			8
Hoof								1	2		3
Jund Mid	2	3	5	4	1	1			3		19
BG Zombies	1	1					1				3
UW Control		3				1	2	1			7
Bant Con	2	1	1	1	3	1	1	2	1	1	14
Red Aggro		1		1			2				4
RB Aggro	2	2				1	1	2	2	5	15
wub Tokens		1									1
GW Mid		1							2	1	4
UWR Mid			2	4	1	2			1	1	11
GW Aggro	1		2	3	2	3	2	4		1	18
Jund Aggro			1								1
Bant Mid	1		1								2
UWR Con	2		2								4
rgb Zombies	2										2
WU Aggro	1	1			2	1	1		2		8
Naya Mid				2		1				1	4
Grixis Con					1						1
Soulbound					1						1
Esper Mid					1						1
Junk Mid						1					1
UW Flash					2	2	1	2	2	3	12
Esper Con						1		1			2
Naya Aggro							1				1
Esper Aggro							1				1
WW									1		1
5C Control								1			1
4C Control										1	1
4C Mid										1	1
	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Join me Wednesday on my Twitch TV channel, Arcane Melee on Wednesday this week.  I will be testing Modern with the Modern PTQ season starting in Late December!  Let's crush this format!

The Arcane Melee segment is a live stream on my Twitch TV account where I will stream my live MTG matches.

I will be using the program Cockatrice and my username on there is YawgmothsWill.

My regular schedule will be Wednesdays Nights at 9:00 CST starting on 11/28/12.

I will be currently testing Modern as the PTQ season for Modern starts in January 2013.

See ya'll on the stream

Let's start with the deck that made the biggest splash at the GP's this past weekend, Hoof There It Is:

There were plenty of events that happened this weekend with 2 GP and a SCG Standard Open, so there is a lot of data to look at this week.

It has come to the attention of The Phyrexian Arena from our friends at MTGSalvation.com that someone has begun spoiling Gatecrash cards!

One of the biggest questions that I get asked is how to get to the next level.  Learning to build decks to beat an environment is certainly important to get an advantage (albeit temporarily) but there is a much more important way to improve your game and get you to the next level: Tight Technical Play.

Here are the numbers from Dallas / Ft. Worth Standard event:

Since today is Election Day here in the USA, I thought that its time that I bring a topic to the forefront of Competitive Magic, Pro Level Play and Qualification.

Wizards of the Coast and Magic R&D have embraced Modern as a much easier to support eternal format (due to the effect of the Official Reprint Policy).  The players are somewhat torn on the format itself however.  Here are some of my ideas to get the format going.

Time for a little Thirst for Knowledge.  There have been 5 SCG Standard Opens and 5 different decks have won those events.  Now, this isn't the whole story.  There are some decks that continue to show up in high numbers early on as this format continues to evolve.  There have been 1846 players at these events and these were all the Top 16 decks from those events:

This is an interesting concept, one that a lot of players don't truly understand or appreciate.  Let me give you some insight into this powerful concept.

There was 2 major events this past weekend, SCG Indy and PT Return to Ravnica.  I'll start with the Standard cards on the uptick after this weekend:

I'm proud to bring you this awesome announcement:

Gentleman, I hope you had fun last weekend at States and SCG Providence.  Now for some info:

After another week of SCG Opens as well as State Championships, we have some new cards to put on your watch list:

After the first major event post RTR, we have some useful data from the SCG Cincinnati Standard Open.

After SCG Open in Cincinnati, several cards are on the uptick:

My plan for The Phyrexian Arena is to be your source for Magic: The Gathering information including decklists, new deck designs, metagame information, deck 'walkthroughs', and matchup analysis for the competitive players as well as sections for new players and Commander players.

Going with the 'theme' of the Phyrexians, "All Will Be One", I want this blog and podcast to also be YOUR soundboard.  There will be sections where you can ask the panel questions on their thoughts on Magic related topics.