Looking Ahead to Magic 2012

If there is one thing I hate about core sets is the limited amount of fodder they provide for punny podcast titles. Feel free to make some suggestions in the comments section as there will be more M12 coverage and discussion in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Mike Flores and I got together at our now regular podcast rendezvous to clear the air about other podcast we have been seeing on the side, a little bit of chatter about the recent bannings of Jace, the Mind Scuiptor and Stoneforge Mystic, and a wander through the Card Image Gallery for the new cards that will be released in the coming weeks.

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 Preview

I was lucky enough yesterday to get a sneak peak at Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 courtesy of Magic Brand Manager Paul Levy. Paul sat down for a podcast to discuss the online release on June 15th and I was excited to hear about how closely integrated Duels 2012 is with the upcoming base set release. I was even more excited when I got to see some actual M12 booster packs (sadly I could not convince anyone to draft with them — or even open them) AND some actual M12 cards that are featured in some of the decks in the game. I also walked away with the promo Grave Titan, Frost Titan (and Top8Magic listeners know I am excited about that one), and Inferno Titan. Depending on what platform you purchase Duels 2012 on you will get a code redeemable for one of these alternate art beauties.

Duels of the Planeswalkers goes on sale for Xbox Live Arcade, PC via Steam,

and PlayStation Network on June 15th. Magic 2012 Core Set will be available on July 15th at game stores the worldwide. Players from both the digital and analog sides of the game will come together for a Magic Celebration on September 10th all around the world.

In the meanwhile enjoy these preview of a handful of the cards that appear in the Magic 2012 Core Set. You can find the rest of those images below the fold — or not if you don’t like spoilers. Read the rest of this entry »

Freeking Without Flores Part 2

Limited Information author and Star City Games Content Manager Steve Sadin and I pick up where we left off — more or less — with Michael J Flores in talking about the individual cards from New Phyrexia. We look at different decks the cards might go in ranging from 40 card draft decks to 99 card Commander vessels. It is an exciting and deep set with cards that shake up just about every format. Hope you enjoy it!

PS If you are going to be at the Gray Matter Conventions Prerelease in New York City on Saturday, May 7th both Steve and I will be there.

Freeking Without Flores Part 1

Limited Information author and Star City Games Content Manager Steve Sadin and I pick up where we left off — more or less — with Michael J Flores in talking about the individual cards from New Phyrexia. We look at different decks the cards might go in ranging from 40 card draft decks to 99 card Commander vessels. It is an exciting and deep set with cards that shake up just about every format. Hope you enjoy it!

PS If you are going to be at the Gray Matter Conventions Prerelease in New York City on Saturday, May 7th both Steve and I will be there.

Spoiler Alert (or Freeking with Flores)

Still reeling from the news that World Champion Guillaume Matignon and Worlds Finalist Guillaume Wafo-Tapa — along with two other players — were being suspended from the DCI for their involvement in leaking the New Phyrexia “godbooks” out to the Magic community, Mike and I sat down for a cup of coffee to discuss. We were joined mid conversation by Steve Sadin and then moved on to discuss the blue and white cards from the new set that were made public earlier that week.

Look for some permutation of me, Mike and Steve to talk about the remaining colors later in the week.

hashtagJaceHammer

I caught up with Mike the other day to discuss the online clamor about Jace, The Mind Sculptor utterly dominating finish at Grand Prix: Dallas. We went on to discuss playing in Regionals this weekend including not only what to play but what the proper spousal compensation for taking a precious Saturday afternoon to do so is. Other topics included “bird” watching, Mike’s mono-white control deck for Standard, and the impending Game of Thrones series on HBO.

It has been awhile since I featured a guest piece on the blog — or anything for that matter, sorry — but Mitch Okun’s Facebook note about synchronicity and nostalgia at the recent Star City Games Standard Open in Edison, NJ brought a smile to my face and was something I wanted to share. Mitch was among those players who came to the very first tournaments run by what would eventually become Gray Matter Conventions — he even met his eventual wife through those events — and was a Neutral Ground regular from the day we opened the doors at the old location at 291 7th Avenue. — Brian David-Marshall

For the 1% of the human population out there who isn’t aware, I consider myself an extremely unlucky person.  It’s magnified by the fact that I play two card based games that are definitely more skill based than luck based (Magic and Poker), but for some reason the proportion of games played in the online settings of both just inevitably causes me to fall into the statistical black hole time and time again.  I stopped playing Magic for a while over it, I essentially gave up on poker to the financial swings, and I’ve stopped Magic Online for long stretches of time because of it.  However, inevitably I go back.  I *LIKE* the games.  I consider myself decently good.  And yet, as I sit here tonight, frustrated by a seemingly inhuman proportion of little bad luck swings that affect my Magic Online matches over and over and over again, I waited between rounds by reading online articles.  I went over the Wizards of the Coast’s site and found an article by Brian David-Marshall, an old friend, about the large Magic event that happened this weekend in Edison NJ.

I don’t play major events any more, but knew this thing was happening and took the opportunity to trek down with a pile of cards I wanted to consider selling.  I made pretty good money selling a lot of stuff to the online store who ran the event, but I can’t be in a room of 700+ players and not want to get involved a little, or at least watch .. and I quickly found Brian (or BDM, as he’s famously known to the Magic community) playing his 2nd round opponent.  I watched quietly and waited until between games to comment. Read the rest of this entry »

Carmelo Cast

Anyone who follows me (@Top8Games) or Steve Sadin (@stevesadin) on Twitter is probably aware of how excited we were about the Carmelo Anthony trade that has brought him to the New York Knicks. Anyone who follows Mike (@fivewithflores) knows what a basketball fan he is and it was impossible for us to not get together and chat about the trade, argue about the merits of various players, and — once the dust settled — talk plenty about Magic as well.

The original plan for the podcast was to talk while Mike’s daughter Bella took her karate class. The class got canceled and Bella was available to set us straight on what cards Steve should have played in his deck for Magic Weekend in Paris, who wins in a fight between Jace and Great Sable Stag, and what the best Planeswalker actually is. Here is a hint:

This should have been posted sooner but circumstances entirely within my control conspired to delay it. Shortly after this goes up I will be headed over to Katz’s Delicatessen for what will hopefully become Katz Kast with several dozen Magic players including the likes of out-of-towners Gerry Thompson, Megan Holland, and Gavin Verhey who are all visiting for the SCG Open Series in Edison, New Jersey this weekend.

The A-B-Sieged of Mirrodin

A couple of days ago MIchael Flores and I sat down and the new Top8Magic.com offices and started talking about the cards in Mirrodin Besieged in anticipation of the coming Prerelease weekend. The podcast is largely traffic and jackhammer free but there is a section toward the end when we go and play in traffic. We wander through the at-the-time spoiled cards and talk about their impact on formats ranging from booster drafts to Standard and even a little Commander (although, to be fair,  that discussion included a lot of MIke saying “What is Commander?”)

Good luck to everyone playing in a Prerelease this weekend and choose your side wisely!