Category: Casual

My Favorite Standards (Ravnica block through Time Spiral block)

Casual, Magic the Gathering, Standard

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Strictly Average for more musings about the great game that is Magic: the Gathering. I hope your summer has been good so far, and although we are still in that season every August makes me think of fall. As we approach fall one thing that many of us ponder is the upcoming Standard rotation with the release of the new set. This year that will be Guilds of Ravnica. Standard has been one of the oldest (with Vintage being THE oldest) formats in the game’s history, and each fall brings some excitement as a lot

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Old School: The Eternal Struggle

Casual, Magic the Gathering, Old School

It has been a while since I last wrote here (6 months, in fact!), which also coincides with the limited opportunities I get to play face-to-face games. But much has transpired- new decks have been built, ideas have continued to percolate, a new format tried out…and prices on our beloved cards have continued to blow through every ceiling that was previously ‘all-time high’. For those of you that caught my title pun, I didn’t actually play V:TES back in the day. Decipher Star Wars CCG ate up my disposable income once I moved on from Magic, and now that I think

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A Lesson in Preparation: The Game Room Standard PPTQ Story

Casual, Magic the Gathering, Standard

It was a chilly Sunday morning in Sacramento. I wanted to get a workout in before the PPTQ, but that meant getting up early…and getting my kids up early. I’m no longer sure which is the more difficult task. (Although, let’s be honest, my wife did 95% of the work getting the kids up and ready). After a couple cups of coffee (gotta hydrate pre-workout, right?) my wife and I got the kids loaded up and off to the gym.  We put in a good hour-long workout, I got the blood flowing, and was feeling good.  A quick stop at

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