Showing posts with label Ideas Unbound. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ideas Unbound. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Mailbag 1
Welcome back to another edition of Ideas Unbound. I haven't been playing very much Magic lately, so I haven't had a whole lot to write about. So instead, I've decided to do a Mailbag edition where I answer questions from my friends and local players. As you will see, I got a lot of really good questions, so I plan on doing more of these from time to time.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Ideas Unbound - A Legacy Begins
Welcome back to another Ideas Unbound. This year, I had the opportunity to play in two SCG Invitationals. For those who are unaware, the Invitational is a split format tournament. Each day you play 4 rounds of Standard and 4 rounds of Legacy. I play alot of Standard through the year, so that portion of the tournament has never concerned me. However, I have very little experience actually playing Legacy so I did very poorly in that portion of both events. I have resolved to not let this happen again.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Ideas Unbound - A Good Year
Once again, I must apologize for my lack of content. It has been a crazy few weeks with many tournaments involved. Its all behind me now, though, so I should be back to writing and recording again. Today I'm going to look at my last 12 months of Magic and share some lessons I have learned along the way.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Ideas Unbound - SCG Worcester and the New Standard
Welcome back to another Ideas Unbound. The first major Standard event using Theros is in the books. Today we are going to look at those results and see if we can get an idea of where the format is heading. I’m still planning on attending Grand Prix Louisville, and I want to try to have a firm grasp on the metagame.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Theros Prerelease Primer
This weekend brings us another Prerelease. As I’ve done for the last few sets today I’m going to do a Theros Prerelease Primer. We will look at some general strategies for Sealed as well as how it pertains to the Theros specifically. Then we will take a brief look at the mechanics as they pertain to Sealed play. At the end, we will evaluate the commons of each color and see look at my top 5 for each.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Theros Mechanics: First Look
Welcome back to another week of Ideas Unbound. The next major event I plan to attend is Grand Prix Louisville, which is after Theros comes out. Between this, and the fact that my new schedule at work means I will not be able to play FNM means that I won’t be focusing much on the current Standard format. Today we are going to look at some of the spoilers from Theros and see what we can divine about the next few months.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Focus
Magic is a game bigger than itself. To play this game at the highest tiers requires commitment. There are several things you have to focus on, from the intricate decision trees that exist in each game and figuring out the right decisions, to the study and focus required to solve metagames and make deck building choices. If you have dreams of one day playing on the Pro Tour, like I do, then you have to be willing to put in the time to achieve the results you desire. I have not been doing this.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Ideas Unbound - A Current Look at Standard
Welcome back to another Ideas Unbound. We have reached the pinnacle of Standard where the most cards possible are legal before the Fall release cuts our card pool almost in half. This is always an exciting time because more cards available means more options. Unfortunately last summer, it was Delvers as far as the eye can see, and the summer before that it was Squadron Hawks and Batterskulls. This summer we still have a couple of heavy hitters but there is a larger range of decks available. Let’s take a look at what Standard looks like at the moment.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Hard Knox Life
Welcome back to another week of Ideas Unbound. Sorry for the lack of content, lately. I am going to try to post something weekly, but that is not always going to happen. I will soon be playing a lot more Magic Online so, hopefully, I will have more to write about as well as some video content.
This past weekend, I attended the Star City Classic in Knoxville. I ended up 5-3 and dropped before the last round. Not my greatest performance, but certainly not my worst either. Today we are going to look at my results.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Training Day 3 - Information
Welcome back to another week of Ideas Unbound. Today we are going to do another Training Day article for the newer players out there. If you would like to see my previous Training Day articles you can find them here (Card Advantage) and here (Drafting 101).
A single game of Magic consists of a great many choices. Should I mulligan (I will be writing a whole Training Day article about this question in the near future)? Which land should I play? Is it smart to attack here? Should I kill their creature now or wait? Even the tiniest decisions can change the outcome of these decisions. At times, it can be overwhelming. Our goal should be to make informed decisions as much as possible, and so we want to have as much information as possible. And on the flipside, we want to limit the amount of information we are providing to our opponents so they will make bad decisions. Today we will look at information and how it can be exchanged in Magic.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Ideas Unbound - M14 Prerelease Primer
Welcome back to another Ideas Unbound. We have another Prerelease coming up this weekend, so I thought I we would do a little Prerelease Primer today like I have done in the past. This Prerelease is for a core set, which generally has a simpler limited environment making it a little easier to build your sealed deck, but there are definitely some things to keep in mind when doing so. We will start with a few general pointers on building your deck and then look at some specific cards that you may want to look for this weekend.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Back in the Saddle
I would like to welcome everyone back to Ideas Unbound. First of all, let me apologize for the long delay since my last content. I have been busy with work and life, and haven’t had a lot of time for Magic lately, but I’m planning on changing that and getting back to a regular content cycle. Hopefully, this will also encourage my fellow Arena writers to get back to it as well.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Training Day 2 - Drafting 101
Welcome back to another Training Day article. This is a series of articles I’m writing to help new players grasp some of the more advanced concepts of the game. You can find my previous Training Day about Card Advantage here. A new draft format is soon to be upon us with the release of Dragon’s Maze, so today we are going to do a beginner’s course in drafting.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Ideas Unbound - The Invitational
This past weekend, I attended the Star City Games Invitational in Atlanta. While it was not a great weekend for me when it comes to actually playing Magic, I had an absolute blast all weekend. I learned a couple of valuable lessons that I would like to impart to you today. I would also like to take this time to go over some of my experiences this weekend and why I encourage Magic players to attend events like these.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Training Day 1 - Card Advantage
In addition to being a Magic player, I am also a Level 1 in the Judge program. I don’t judge often because I would rather play, but I do run most of the events for my local game shop including Friday Night Magic, Prereleases, and Game Days. Because of this, a lot of the newer players will ask me questions about their deck or game play or if I think a particular card is good. As a result, I have decided to start a series of articles here on the Arena that are focused on newer players and helping them improve their gameplay. For those of you who are more experienced, you may want to skip these posts. Then again, you may find some useful information in seeing another player’s perspective.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Infinite Reflection
First of all, I would like to apologize for the lack on content in the last two weeks. I was busy preparing for Grand Prix Charlotte and then I got sick. Hopefully, I won't be missing any more weeks.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to play in the largest Magic tournament ever held: Grand Prix Charlotte. It was an amazing experience that I will not soon forget. But it also made me stop and think about Magic and what it means to me. So today, we are going to get a little introspective and hopefully I can pass along some wisdom in the process.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The Phyrexian Arena News and Updates
Phyrexian Conquests
First off, I have some congratulations to give out to 2 of our columnists, Eddie Walker and Scott Tompkins.
Both Eddie Walker and Scott Tompkins made Day 2 of the largest Grand Prix in Magic: The Gathering history, Grand Prix Charlotte.
Eddie Walker had an amazing 2 Day run ending the event with a 13-3-1 record, a 22nd place finish in a field of 2963 players.
Scott Tompkins unfortunately lost in Round 10 knocking him from the main event but it certainly didn't stop him from unleashing his fury on the SCG Miami 10K side event. Scott dropped bombs on his 10K opponents with an 18th place finish in the 623 player side event.
Line Up Shift
We are shifting our line up. Starting this week both Thirst for Knowledge and Ideas Unbound columns move up one day.
Thirst for Knowledge will now be on Tuesday.
Ideas Unbound will now be on Thursday.
Thirst for Knowledge will now be on Tuesday.
Ideas Unbound will now be on Thursday.
News and Announcements
I promised last week that I had some things in store for you all this week.
First off, I have been working on some products to roll out to promote the brand.
Here are some of the items I'm working on getting in stock:
Stickers
These would be sized to 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches so they could go on deckboxs (or other small items).
Playmats
Stickers
This just came in today from InkedPlaymats.com and it looks fantastic. I could not be happier about the product. I am hopeful that I will be able to start processing orders for these soon.
I am working on these with MtGpad.com. All I like is getting the logo & slogan at just the right opacity and then the order will be submitted.
I am working with Vistaprint on the shirts. I did a polo for me to see how the printing would go since it is embroidered, not an Iron on patch like most places. I have to say the embroider emblem looks fantastic. I am also working on T-Shirts as well
You guys remember the Poison Counter tokens in Scars block right? I have the idea to place stickers on the back of the Poison Counter tokens and write "You've Been Infected" on the front.
I am also trying to get an artist to work on doing formal artwork for tokens.
We have moved the Twitch channel over under the user Team_Phyrexia. I have the link above in our menu as well. This channel will be used by any / all of our columnists for live streaming.
Bradley Reeves
@YawgmothsWill
Infecting Magic One Grinder At A Time
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Pro Tour Gatecrash
Gatecrash has been on the shelves a couple of weeks now, and that means one thing. It is time for the Pro Tour. As a competitive Magic player, I always look forward to the Pro Tour. I get to see the best players in the world compete at the highest level. It gives me the opportunity to study the masters of the game and learn from them.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Ideas Unbound - Touchdwon, Mountain!
After I placed Top 8 at the SCG Atlanta Standard Open, the following comments were made on my Facebook wall by fellow Phyrexian Arena writers.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Ideas Unbound - First Look at Gatecrash Standard
Welcome back for another edition of Ideas Unbound. Since the current Standard environment is drawing to a close, I thought we would continue looking forward to Gatecrash. This week, we are going to take a look at some of the winning decks from the Star City Games San Diego Standard Open and Grand Prix Atlantic City and see how the decks may be affected by Gatecrash.
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