The Game

My ability triggered, what now? Does it resolve? Guide to understanding the stack and priority — Last in First out When I first started playing Magic, one of the most confusing concepts to me was the stack. It was mystifying, and it took me quite a while to get a […]

You Want to Respond to That? How the Stack Works

21 Feb, 2018 in Articles / Explanations / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game / Uncategorized tagged Advice / Getting Started / Guides / MTG / The Game by zebotc

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! The Chinese Zodiac is a popular part of Chinese Mythology that influences character and story elements in a multitude of games and other forms of entertainment; such as Pokemon, Persona, and Fire Emblem. Magic the gathering also has a slew of cards based off of […]

The Chinese Zodiac in Magic the Gathering

14 Feb, 2018 in Articles / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Discussion / Guides by

To win a game of Magic, you need to delegate your resources, while also maintaining a strong presence on the battlefield. As a player, you need to realize when it is important to cast certain spells to either win the game, or get yourself out of various situations. Due to […]

The Leylines of Magic

24 Jan, 2018 in Articles / Explanations / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Discussion / Guides / The Game by

Magic can be an incredibly intricate and complex game to learn and play. While its basic rules are not too hard to understand, there are a lot of underlying strategies that are not always outwardly apparent to everyone. I know for myself, I definitely didn’t understand a lot of the […]

Advanced Magic: The Gathering Strategy – How to Be a ...

13 Dec, 2017 in Articles / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Competitive / Discussion / Guides / The Game by zebotc

There are a multitude of different ways to win in Magic the Gathering. You can mill your opponent, slowly burn their life away, or just swing a bunch of creatures in their face. Unlike these methods, gaining a tremendous amount of life in order to stall out your opponent doesn’t […]

Pros and Cons of Life Gain Decks in Magic

26 Oct, 2017 in Articles / Explanations / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Discussion / Getting Started / Guides / Life Gain by

It was my first tournament and I had just started getting my feet wet in the Legacy format. I was so excited to finally be playing a match with my pet deck: Death and Taxes. This was back in the CB-Top days, and of course my opponent was playing a classic […]

Containment Priest Does Not Stop Tokens… and Other MTG Misconceptions

29 Sep, 2017 in Articles / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Casual / Competitive / Discussion / Getting Started / Guides / Tips by zebotc

Something often discussed in EDH is the notion of playing competitively VS casually. While that does play a roll into adapting your deck for a play group, we are not going to extensively discuss that idea in this article, if you want to read more about that, please check out […]

Let’s Discuss EDH: Adapting Your Deck For Your Playgroup

11 Aug, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Casual / cEDH / Commander / Competitive / Discussion / EDH by zebotc

Mana is the core component of Magic, as it allows players to cast spells and basically play the game. Sometimes, players have difficulties rounding up enough mana to play spells with high mana costs; such as and . But infinite mana combos can be an easy solution to casting these high […]

Infinite Mana Combos

10 Jul, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / The Game tagged Casual / Competitive / Discussion by

Tribal Terrors is a series that analyzes different creature types in order to determine whether the creature type and its respective tribe is playable. In this series we will not be exploring popular tribes such as Merfolk and Goblins, but instead lesser known tribes. At the end of the article, ideas […]

Tribal Terrors: Moonfolk

27 Jun, 2017 in Articles / MTG Guides / The Game by

A/N: Tribal Terrors will be analyzing different creature types in order to determine whether the creature type and its respective tribe is playable. In this series we will not be exploring more known tribes such as: merfolk and goblins, but will be looking into the less supported tribes and seeing […]

Tribal Terrors: Foxes

19 Jun, 2017 in Articles / The Game tagged Aggro / Brews / Casual / Commander / Decks / Discussion / EDH / White by

The land is full of untapped potential, beneath its soil churn heaps of wealth and power only the most powerful and experienced of mages can withstand. Upon its surface lay in wait great titans more ancient than the mountains themselves. Scouring vast forests of undergrowth they protect their territories from all […]

Sylvan Stories: An Explorer’s Guide to RG Scapeshift

2 Jun, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Modern / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Discussion / Green / Modern / Red / The Game by zebotc

Throughout my time deck building and brewing for commander I’ve found one specific aspect of building decks for the format to be incredibly important. And thus I present my concept of: Consistency within Inconsistency Now this phrase alone probably doesn’t mean much to you. You’re probably wondering, “What in the […]

EDH: Consistency Within Inconsistency

29 May, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / The Game tagged Advice / Casual / cEDH / Commander / Competitive / Discussion / EDH by zebotc

In this series of articles we will be going over the various rules of Magic: the Gathering, in an attempt to both, teach new players the game, and help keep existing players up to date on possible rule changes. In these first few articles we will be going over the […]

Sylvan Tutor: How Read Cards

17 May, 2017 in Articles / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Discussion / Getting Started / Guides / Rules by Shakunjin

A very important but often overlooked aspect to playing Magic is when to switch between playing as the control deck or the aggro deck. Often times players get stuck in the habit of playing one way or the other, often going through countless numbers of games playing one way when […]

Switching Roles: When Do You Play as the Control Deck ...

15 May, 2017 in Articles / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Aggro / Discussion / Guides / The Game by zebotc

Those mysterious lanterns illuminate paths both good and evil. – An Unknown Village Elder The heavily warded lands of the lanterns must be avoided at all costs, unless of course you want to loose your mind… That’s all that the girl could remember as she continued to walk down a […]

Sylvan Stories: Lantern Control

12 May, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Modern / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Decks / The Game by zebotc

Every format has its share of top decks – Legacy had Miracles, Modern had Jund (and currently Death’s Shadow Aggro), and for the moment Standard has Mardu Vehicles. But are these top decks truly the best and most optimized decks that could be played in said format? Just because public […]

Are “Top Tier” Decks Truly The Best?

8 May, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Legacy / Modern / Standard / The Game tagged Advice / Competitive / Discussion / Formats / Legacy / Modern / Standard / The Game by zebotc

Originally I was going to write an article about how the Legacy meta game might turn out in light of the recent banning of Top. However because everyone else has already discussed that to the point of redundancy, I’ve decided to write specifically about Miracles and what happens to the […]

Legacy: So What Now for Miracles Decks?

1 May, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Legacy / News / The Game tagged Blue / Competitive / Deck Tech / Decks / Discussion / Formats / Legacy / Red / Rumors / Speculation / The Game by zebotc

With Pauper’s popularity exploding across the community, many stores have started holding paper events. Although paper Pauper events are not yet supported by WotC, that hasn’t stopped my store from holding their own events! So in preparation for this, I will be sharing with all of you my favorite deck […]

Pauper B/G Dredge

26 Apr, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Pauper / The Game tagged Black / Decks / Formats / Green / Pauper / The Game by Shakunjin

While it is too early to tell for certain which cards from Magic’s newest set, Amonkhet, will be seeing play in eternal formats, there are definitely some very powerful contenders. Some of which have a very high potential to make entirely new strategies in various formats possibly altering entire meta […]

Amonkhet’s Impact on Eternal Formats

24 Apr, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / Legacy / Modern / News / Pauper / The Game tagged Advice / cEDH / Commander / Competitive / Decks / Discussion / EDH / Formats / Legacy / Modern / Speculation / Spoilers by zebotc

Anyone who has played Magic has seen the power of artifacts. These colorless spells have been around since the release of Alpha, and even then, they were extremely powerful. From these small (but by no means humble) beginnings, artifacts have turned into one of Magic’s most notorious spell types. Morridon […]

“Fighting The Machine”: A Commentary on Artifacts in EDH

19 Apr, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / The Game tagged cEDH / Commander / Discussion / EDH / Guides by LooseWire

Today fellow readers, we will be looking at a themed deck. What do I mean by a themed deck you may be wondering? Well a themed deck is a deck that fits some type of niche and follows a general big idea or topic. For example merfolk tribal could be considered a […]

Easter Eggs

17 Apr, 2017 in Articles / Brews / Formats / Modern / The Game tagged Casual / Deck Tech / Decks / Discussion / Modern by Shakunjin

I still remember the very first time I was shown the true potential of magic. It was long ago, when I was a young lad at the academy. Our professor – Professor Comberdale I believe it was – began lecturing us on where our true magic’s might comes from, and […]

Sylvan Stories: Storm

14 Apr, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Legacy / Modern / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Legacy / Modern / Storm / The Game by zebotc

One of the first things you must ask yourself before constructing a deck is what color(s) to play. With many color combinations available, it’s hard to know where to start. This article is one of a five part series that will take a closer look at the strengths and weaknesses […]

The Colors of Magic – Blue

12 Apr, 2017 in Articles / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game / Uncategorized tagged Blue / Discussion / The Game / Tips by Shakunjin

Whether you are playing a standard sized sixty card deck, a one hundred card commander deck, or a forty card draft deck, there is one thing that plagues us all, consistency. Whether you are looking for anything from your next land drop to the final piece of your combo, there is always the […]

The Power of Tutors

10 Apr, 2017 in Articles / Explanations / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Black / Blue / Commander / Discussion / EDH / Green / Highlander / Legacy / Pauper / Red / White / Wizards of The Coast by Shakunjin

A/N: Because of the nature of this post, the Sylvan Studies team must stress that this is a fictional work. Nothing in this article represents true events in any way. This story is a bit darker than our other Sylvan Stories, so if you’re a bit squeamish, we suggest checking out a […]

Sylvan Stories: Reanimator

7 Apr, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Discussion / Legacy / Stompy by zebotc

Recently, I’ve started experimenting with different EDH decks. At first, I had a , Elf-based combo deck, but this deck quickly became boring, and felt underpowered to the group I was playing with. So I began searching for a new deck to play. After trying several different brews, I came up with the idea […]

EDH: Best Equipment to Run

5 Apr, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / The Game tagged Advice / Casual / cEDH / Commander / Competitive / Discussion / Formats / Guides by LooseWire

One of the first things you should ask yourself before constructing a deck is what color(s) to play. With so many different color combinations and possible strategies, it’s hard to know where to start. This article is one of a five-part series that’ll take a closer look at the strengths and […]

The Colors of Magic – Black

3 Apr, 2017 in Articles / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game / Uncategorized tagged Discussion / Green / Guides / The Game by Shakunjin

With both the physical and digital release of now behind us, the Pauper format has been revived with a myriad of new toys to play with. There is one, however, that we believe has the best chance of having a great impact on the format: . So what makes this card […]

Burning-Tree Emissary in Pauper

29 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Decks / Formats / Pauper / The Game tagged Brews / Deck Tech / Decks / Discussion / Formats / Green / Pauper / Red by Shakunjin

As Magic has grown in popularity, so have the prices of sought-after cards. Cards such as and have reached obscene levels and moved into triple digits. The Fetchlands, which are integral to almost every strategy in Eternal and heavily used in Frontier, are also slowly rising in price. Wizards has […]

Fixing the Reprint Issue?

27 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Legacy / Modern / The Game tagged Discussion / Formats / Legacy / Modern / Wizards / Wizards of The Coast by zebotc

The Eldrazi move across the land like an unending sea, sweeping up all who move in their wake, assimilating all who defy them, while attempting to preserve their ever imposing position. Be warned fellow traveler – these extra planar beings are not to be trifled with, not to be taken lightly, […]

Sylvan Stories: Field Guide to Eldrazi

24 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Discussion / Guides / Legacy / Modern / The Game by zebotc

While much of the MTG community is looking forward to Modern Masters 2017’s expensive reprints and new artwork, another group of players is getting all new cards to play with. You may be asking yourself, how can this be true if all the cards in this set are reprints? The […]

Modern Masters 2017’s Affect on Pauper

22 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Formats / News / Pauper / The Game tagged Formats / News / Pauper / The Game by Shakunjin

Here is a simple question, which card is better? or The choice here is quite obvious. But why? In Magic, there are many reasons why one card is better then another. In this series, we will discuss the concepts of efficiency and value in Magic: The Gathering. Cost is something […]

Value in Magic (Part One): Efficiency

17 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Discussion / Getting Started / The Game by LooseWire

If you’re a long time player of Magic, you may already know about many of Magic’s unique formats. However, for many new players, there may be some confusion about the differences between them. Why is there a Legacy and a Vintage? What is the difference besteem EDH and Highlander? Below you will find […]

Guide to the Formats

13 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Formats / The Game tagged EDH / Formats / Frontier / Getting Started / Guides / Highlander / Legacy / Modern / Pauper / Peasant / Standard / Vintage by zebotc

The market streets were buzzing about with their typical day to day activities. Merchants shown their finest of materials, and tourists wandered about in bustling squares brimming with opportunity. Far off into a small corner of the activity, hidden away and forgotten by the excitement of the crowd, there lay […]

Sylvan Stories: Legacy Miracles

10 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Legacy / Stories / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Blue / Decks / Legacy / The Game by zebotc

The reserved list has been a hot topic within the community for a long time, stirring up vast amounts of controversy throughout Magic’s history. The question everyone asks is: should it be abolished? Obviously, it has caused great deals of problems among newer players, making it almost impossible for the […]

Why Wizards Can’t Just Get Rid of the Reserved List

6 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Explanations / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Discussion / Guides / News / Speculation / Wizards / Wizards of The Coast by zebotc

One of the first things you must ask yourself before constructing a deck is what color to play. With many combinations and possible strategies, it’s hard to know where to start. This article is one of a five-part series that will take a closer look at the strengths and weaknesses […]

The Colors of Magic – Red

3 Mar, 2017 in Articles / Explanations / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Discussion / Getting Started / Red / The Game by Shakunjin

You find yourself unknowingly walking through a mysterious forest. Surrounded on all sides by thick foliage, you see a glimmer of light and a large town in the distance. Not knowing how you arrived in this strange place and seeing no other escape, you approach the distant town. As you […]

Sylvan Stories: Modern Junk

25 Feb, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Modern / Stories / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Abzan / Black / Decks / Green / Modern / White by zebotc

One of the first things you must ask yourself before constructing a deck is what color(s) to play. With many different color combinations and possible strategies, it’s hard to know where to start. This article is one of a five-part series that will take a closer look at the strengths […]

The Colors of Magic – White

24 Feb, 2017 in Articles / Getting Started / MTG Guides / The Game / Uncategorized tagged Discussion / Guides / The Game / White by Shakunjin

Miracles has always been a pivotal deck in Legacy since its creation back in 2008. The deck has held a very prominent position throughout its history, enjoying a meta share of over 10% for most of the time it’s been played. Due to its high success rate, many players have called […]

Legacy: The Importance of Control Decks

20 Feb, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Legacy / The Game tagged Advice / Discussion / Legacy / Speculation by zebotc

From the red splattered plains of Tarkir to the grand bustling ports of Rishada, a horde has ravaged the planes. A finely tuned rickety machine, squabbling about in the mud of its undisputed prowess. Held at the helm by grand chieftains and hero’s of battle, the ever impending goblin agenda lies in […]

Sylvan Stories: Goblins

19 Feb, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Legacy / Modern / Stories / Sylvan Stories / The Game tagged Decks / Discussion / Legacy / Modern / Red by zebotc

Magic the Gathering has a very deep and intricate lore that has influenced design choices and set themes for years. However the most fundamental aspects of Magic’s lore are the color cycles. White, Blue, Red, Black, and Green all have their own unique characteristics and takes on the world. While […]

Quick Look at Magic The Gathering Color Lore

13 Feb, 2017 in Articles / Explanations / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Black / Discussion / Green / Guides / Red / The Game / White by zebotc

With the recent full release of the Kaladesh block many aspects of various Standard decks have been significantly affected, and even some new increasingly powerful strategies have cropped up, such as Saheeli Combo. But how has this block begun to alter the eternal scene? What cards in it can we […]

Kaladesh Block Charging Into Eternal Formats

10 Feb, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / Legacy / Modern / The Game tagged Advice / Casual / Competitive / Discussion / Frontier / Legacy / Modern / News / Speculation by zebotc

With the release of Modern Masters 2017 on the horizon, there is much speculation about what should be in the set. With card prices rising, and a slim chance of many of these cards being reprinted in a legal Standard set, Modern Masters may be our only hope to help the affordability […]

Top Eight Cards for Modern Masters 2017

8 Feb, 2017 in Articles / Formats / Modern / The Game tagged Casual / Competitive / Discussion / Formats / Modern / Rumors / Speculation / The Game / Wizards / Wizards of The Coast by Shakunjin

1/1’s: the little guys – the cards in every Magic set that are often overshadowed by their physically superior, more robust kin. Today, we’re going to pay tribute to the many incredibly influential 1/1’s that help keep strategies alive. While many of these creatures aren’t very useful in combat, have lackluster […]

The Power of 1/1’s

6 Feb, 2017 in Articles / Explanations / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Casual / Competitive / Discussion / Guides / Tips by zebotc

With the recently released in full swing, many players have been wondering what Wizards’ announcement in September about the Masterpiece series means for the Magic community as a whole. How is such a print cycle going to affect the limited environment? How is it going to affect prices in Standard? And will it […]

Masterpieces in Every Set?

30 Jan, 2017 in Articles / Explanations / MTG Guides / News / The Game tagged Advice / Discussion / Formats / News / Speculation / The Game / Wizards of The Coast by zebotc

In the world of EDH there is much controversy regarding casual vs competitive playing. So today we are going to take a look at the merits of both sides of the discussion.

Let’s Discuss EDH: Competitive vs. Casual

26 Jan, 2017 in Articles / EDH/Commander / Formats / MTG Guides / The Game tagged Advice / Casual / cEDH / Competitive / Discussion / EDH / Guides by zebotc