Strictly Average – MTG – Page 48 – When Strictly Better is just out of reach.

DankShort: Talking Trivia Part 5

March 6, 2018 Loren Toporek Dank Short, Magic the Gathering

Wow, there sure are a lot of sets… No one told me this when I started. Anyway, here’s Part 5! Coldsnap (2006) Coldsnap is the third set in the Ice Age block, alongside Ice Age and Alliances. This makes playing the entire set together difficult due to the scarcity of Ice Age and Alliances boosters. Coldsnap was marketed as the “lost” set of the block, as though it had been accidentally forgotten in a filing cabinet for years. It was a VERY small set, so they tried to play that up as a ‘feature’ for drafting. This is most evident

Strictly Eternal 101 – To Wish Upon a Shift

March 5, 2018 Joseph Dyer II Eternal MTG, Magic the Gathering

Aloha, my friends, and welcome to yet another edition of Shake and Bake: California’s Tectonic Plates! This week we’re gonna go deep, and actually discuss a deck that’s near and dear to me, the archetype I adore so much that I even started the subreddit for it. I’m talking of course, about Nic Fit. Nic Fit revolves around two central cards: and . The name of the deck actually stems from the deck designer listening to the song by Sonic Youth while he was creating the original deck. It has just kind of… stuck. Nic Fit presents a unique take

A Lesson in Preparation: The Game Room Standard PPTQ Story

March 2, 2018 Eric Wendorf 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

DankShort: Talking Trivia Part 4

March 1, 2018 Loren Toporek Dank Short, Magic the Gathering

Welcome to Part 4! In the words of Mario, “here we go!” Legions (2003) Only creatures were printed in Legions. No enchantments, sorceries, or artifacts. Scourge (2003) The card was originally from a rejected “You Make the Card” competition submission. 8th Edition (2003) 8th Edition introduced a new card frame. While retaining some elements of the original frame, such as texturing, the new look was cleaner overall and remained in place until the release of Magic 2015. Mirrodin (2003) The art by Dan Scott was done in the likeness of Jen Thoren as his Magic Invitational card. Darksteel (2004) was