Goblins Everywhere! Upgrading the Arena Intro Deck for Daily Quests

*** Deck has been updated since original article was written. Kumano Faces Kakkazan was a huge upgrade. General strategy is the same but parts like Faceless Haven vs. Den of the Bugbear are no longer relevant. Thanks for reading! – Schaab 5/24/22 Deck4 Hobgoblin Captain (AFR) 1484 Kumano Faces Kakkazan (NEO) 1524 Fireblade Charger (ZNR)

Be Boring: A Guide to Building Better Draft Decks (Crimson Vow Update)

Limited at my LGS Limited against LSV The Curve Curving Out with Commons CABS (Cards that Affect the Board State) Conditional Spells Filling Deck Roles The Martin Juza Rule Splashing – The Rule of Three Draft Mana Base Play 40 Cards Bending or Breaking the Rules Playskill Be Boring 1. Limited at my LGS Friday

An Uncommon Approach: “Boring” Deckbuilding’s Impact on Gameplay (Rareless Drafts 4-6)

An Uncommon Approach was conceptualized as a way to highlight the fundamentals discussed in “Be Boring: A Guide to Building Better Draft Decks” by climbing the Arena ladder without rares or mythics. The first three drafts confirmed what others already knew (Silverquill aggro is really good) and saw this author navigate a draft pretty horrendously

An Uncommon Approach: Rareless Drafting Strixhaven Drafts 2 & 3

We could’ve had fun. We could’ve drafted good cards. This series could’ve been called “Reaping Rewards: Identifying the Open Draft Color” but noooooooo stupid Schaab wanted to do stupid Rareless Drafting. Who even wants to play multiple Dragonsguard Elites when you could have two Hunt for Specimens? Ok so we passed some real bangers in

An Uncommon Approach: Rareless Drafting Strixhaven Draft #1

“But the RARES” they shouted. “Those winning draft decks had rares in them!” – Magic players, always The examples provided in my guide to building better draft decks contained cards like Poet’s Quill and Tempted by the Oriq, leading some to fairly point out that the lists didn’t support my theme of downplaying the rares.

Historic Mardu Magda: Beating Turn 2 Ugin and Other Info

My cold, calculating drafter’s heart has very few soft spots for 60 card decks. This Historic Magda list posted by Raph Levy, however, looked similar to Mardu Vehicles – the lone Standard deck I piloted during my brief stint as a tournament grinder in Southern Maine a few years back. Hello, heartstrings. Didn’t realize you

Pledging Prismari: Drafting UR Spells in Strixhaven

Hello and welcome to Prismari Campus! My name is Schaab and I’ll be your guide today. Truthfully, I’m surprised to find myself here. As a language-based professional, I consider myself more of a Silverquill staff member, but the Prismari brochure says “DRAW MORE CARDS!” so I find myself here often. Today we’re going to tour

Be Boring: A Guide to Building Better Draft Decks

Limited at my LGS Limited against LSV The Curve Curving Out with Commons CABS (Cards that Affect the Board Strategy) Conditional Spells Filling Deck Roles The Martin Juza Rule Splashing – The Rule of Three Draft Mana Base Play 40 Cards Bending or Breaking the Rules Playskill Be Boring 1. Limited at my LGS Friday

The Player I Want To Be: May MIQ Tournament Report (Standard)

The Player I Want To Be doesn’t shy away from complicated decks – he embraces them. The Player I Want To Be sees them as opportunities to leverage his play skill against the rest of the field. He’s comfortable in high pressure situations with complex board states because he’s used to playing in high stakes

Theorycrafting Draft Decks: Xenan Mandrakes

When Empire of Glass falls and fades from memory, as all Empires do, this author will lament the parts of the kingdom that went unexplored: the bogs, swamps, and thickets where Mandrakes reside. Mandrake decks have occupied a space in the back of my brain from the format’s outset. The draft community collectively recognized the