Month: May 2014

Pitt Imps Podcast #71 – Bad Tuna

After Ryan ate something that didn’t agree with him he had to bail out on this one. Luckily, my planned guest this week was Celso and he was able to pick up the slack. We went over GP ATL and SCG Jersey. Then holy crap did we go over a bunch of spoilers and myself…

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Forced Fruition Episode 11: Stunted Jund

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD5XqEP7eLdk_UliPFAkct5e&w=640&h=360] Cube’s Back! Everyone’s favorite online format, the MTGO cube, is back online! Making a blanket statement like that might not be entirely accurate, but you cannot deny that the variety of games and decks generated by the cube is unparalleled in the MTGO universe. This time around, I drafted a Jund deck featuring…

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Eyes of the Watcher: A Fiery Copse

Welcome to the very first edition of Eyes of the Watcher, a regular article that will highlight a single card worth watching. Eyes of the Watcher isn’t necessarily going to tell you that you should buy or sell any single given card. It’s here to make sure you are aware of some of the nuances and interesting…

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Brainstorm Brewery #99.9 – One Last Tease

It’s a lot harder to put together a clip show than you think. Listeners who were late turning in their episode summaries breathed a sigh of relief as the deadline was extended. Episode #100 is going to be even better than anticipated as the gang goes into the tank to work on it. They took…

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Conjured Currency #15: More Words on the Internet About Fetch Land Reprints

“Now let’s talk about the fetch lands. Can we talk about the fetch lands, please, Mac? I’ve been dying to talk about the fetch land reprints with you all day, okay?” –Every Modern and Legacy player ever  Last week, I casually mentioned my own personal thoughts on Twitter about the subject of if and when…

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Unified Theory of Commander: Mana

Playing the biggest, splashiest, and most ridiculous spells in Magic is one of Commander’s best selling points. EDH isn’t called “Battlecruiser Magic” for nothing. But these format-defining spells won’t ever create incredible moments of gameplay if you don’t have the mana necessary to cast them. Having your favorite cards stuck in hand is no fun….

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The Spike Feed Episode 38 – The 19th-Century Gramaphone

It was a Magic-packed week. We talk about FNM and Star City States, analyze some of the cards and decks from Pro Tour Jouney Into Nyx, complain about Conspiracy, and speculate about KHAAAN!!!s of Tarkir. Also, Dustin decided to record his audio from a decommissioned army bunker in Montana. Thank you for your honor.  

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Playing Magic for Free #1: Catching the Cardboard Bug

When a newborn Magic players opens her eyes for the first time, it’s difficult to not be overwhelmed with the price others will pay for multicolored cardboard.  If you read the title to this three-part mini-series, it’s obvious I’m not here to justify card prices or imply the financial requirement to play this game. I’m actually…

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Forced Fruition Episode 10: Champion of Sacrifice

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD4-lO00rI30RmbtPnYQow9e&w=640&h=360] It’s Important to Remember Your Goals And with this tenthth episode of Forced Fruition, I would like to think I stayed true to what I set out to do. My primary goal with this series is to learn by doing, and specifically trying things out and learning from mistakes. There are some unique…

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Puzzle Box – Twos Four-Man Format, Black Section

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Puzzle Box! This week, we are going to be continuing our in-depth look at the Twos four-man format. We’ll be replacing some  of the black cards in the current Puzzle Box list with cards that are better suited to the aggressive nature of this variant. If you have never…

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Pitt Imps Podcast #70 – PT JOU Review

This is our time to shine. You shoulod think coverage when you think Pitt Imps and this is a PT weekend. Nothing could be better in my eyes. We sit and watch all 3 days of coverage just so you don’t have to and relay exactly what happened to you guys. Sure it takes a…

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Conjured Currency #14: Conspiratorial Spoiler Speculation

Welcome back, readers! I always say “welcome back,” but I’d like to take a moment to mention how much I honestly mean that. It’s not a cheap way to get three extra words on the page to finish this article sooner. I received a lot of excellent feedback on my analysis of the Modern Event…

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Bargain Hunting On MTGO

There are some great bargains on MTGO right now. I usually write articles about strategy or trends because I think they are most valuable and because there are a lot of writers who do a better job picking cards than I can. Still, every now and then I see enough opportunity somewhere to make me…

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Growing a Commander Playgroup

I recently moved about 200 miles from my previous local game store and wanted to find another place to play Commander. In early March 2014, I scouted online for pictures of different nearby shops to gauge size, cleanliness, and player feedback. My search dug up Cybertek Games near Louisville, KY. The store looked nice and…

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Izzet Good? An Argument for R/u Devotion

I have a confession to make. I have an unhealthy obsession with [card]Ral Zarek[/card]. I’ve heard it all: “He’s just bad.” “He doesn’t give you card advantage.” “Nice untap.”  Look, I get it. [card]Ral Zarek[/card] requires some help and his +1 ability is a bit underpowered. Using two loyalty to get a [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] is…

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Serum Visions: Brew Day in 15 Steps

Hello and welcome back to Serum Visions, everyone! This week I am going over a much requested topic: the brew day. In this article I will be dealing with all of the gear and steps you’ll need to do you first steep brew. Think of it as a lesson in home-brew. At the end, there…

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Late Night Packs- Tokens Revealed

Brainstorm Brewery is blowing up all over the internet! Our latest is a feature on the Quad9s Youtube Channel. Quad9s is a channel that profiles some MTGO gameplay. There are a lot of good Cube videos in the “Like a Johnny” series. The channel also features a lot of booster pack opening vids, and let’s…

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Forced Fruition Episode 9: Black Sheep Wall

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD5QRnOIQU0HvsrL2NMVKfW7&w=640&h=360] Food for Thought If I were to describe this draft with one phrase: Staying Alive. Right from the get go, our strategy started to form, mostly due to a couple sheepish picks that wound up dictating the rest of our draft. Adding in the Journey pack to this format helps even out the…

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A Legacy Interview about Maverick, SCG Open Top 4

What’s up, brewers? Welcome back. Today we are going to talk about Legacy, and since I don’t know very much about Legacy, I decided to take the opportunity to talk to someone who does. This article will feature an interview of my good friend, Mr. Thomas Herzog. Tom is known locally as being an awesome Magic…

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Brainstorm Brewery #99.5 – Raw & Uncut (Ep.39 Digitally Remastered)

Will Corbin ever figure out how technology works? Has Ryan actually broken Modern? What’s the best name for a deck with Griselbrand and Borborygmos Enraged? Did Marcel manage to edit this cast into something that resembles continuity? Will Jason talk another five minutes with his mic turned off? Find out all this and more on…

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Conjured Currency #13: We Have a Modern Event Deck

Welcome back, readers! Last week I talked about how you can make a positive impact on your community by making sure they’re all aware that you are willing to pick up cards for competitive buylist values. This week, I’m going to go in a completely different direction, because that’s what I do. I scavenge for…

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Rotation: How Soon is Now?

There are a number of basic concepts that you learn when starting in Magic finance. These are the building blocks that make Magic finance predictable enough to be profitable—the fundamentals that dictate supply and demand. I’m talking about things like rarity, big set versus small set, draft pack ratios, scarcity of older sets, and rotation….

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Modern Specs Despite All the Spikes

Hi all, first let me apologize for taking so long to write my follow up to my Defense of Star City Games. This article series sounded like a great idea to connect with the community I love so much, but when it came down to it, I was struggling to string together 500 words rather…

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Casually Infinite – Turning your Five Tickets into Six

Here at Casually Infinite, I subscribe to the theory that my Magic Online experience shouldn’t cost me anything. An account with 1000 tickets has a lot of flexibility to vary between long- and short-term specs. New players, or players who have seen their accounts dwindle, are just looking at the first steps to move their bankroll…

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Forced Fruition Episode 8: Grixis Cube Adventure

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLs4gxqbLAAD4K0f7xZAy6wqfKdBxdhI_O&w=640&h=360] Magic is Difficult And I have a lot to learn. If you’ve been following the series, you’re aware of this fact. I won’t try to hide it—there it is, out in the open. My friend Cory is a much better Magic player than I, so I enlisted his help to run through another…

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