If you haven't heard, Wizards of the Coast recently announced a new format - Modern.  The oldest cards allowed will be 8th Edition (for core sets) and Mirrodin (for expansions).  The idea for the format, as I understand it, is to be a non-rotating (cards will never become too old and not legal anymore, meaning […]

The post The Devil’s Advocate and Modern first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

When you came in the air went out and every shadow filled up with doubt. I don’t know who you think you are, but before the night is through I wanna do bad things with you --Jace, to Deceiver Exarch The combination of Deceiver Exarch and Splinter Twin is the most powerful thing to do […]

The post Building Around Exarch-Twin first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

With CawBlade in its recent incarnations gone the metagame is seemingly wide open.  Any number of archetypes can claim to be the new top dog, and the viability of many cards goes up without the fear of a Jace making them irrelevant or a turn three Batterskull attacking too quickly for them to come online.  Until some tournament results come in to fill in the gaps any talk about the new metagame will be little more than an educated guess, but we can still know questions need to be answered.

The post Five Questions for the New Standard first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

The first of two articles today in anticipation of Monday's Banning announcement. Will Jace, the Mind Sculptor stay legal? What about Stoneforge Mystic? Brook Gardner-Durbin explores what options will be available to you if either or both of the above get the axe!

The post After the Bannings first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Last week I played in a standard tournament for four [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card]s. I played SparkBlade, a list very similar to the one in my last article.

The post Decisions, SparkBlade, and Last Week’s Deck first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

With the exception of Splinter-Twin, however, the new metagame is very similar to the metagame before rotation.  Edgar Flores won the first SCG Open with NPH legal with a UW CawBlade list that looked very similar to the pre-rotation lists. In this metagame there are a number of cards that are being underplayed, in my opinion, and here are the top 5.

The post Top Five Underrated Cards in Standard first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

I love Venser, the Sojourner.  I had been skeptical when I first saw the card and remained so even after some play, but I eventually tried it at The 2010s after seeing a UWr list that Patrick Chapin was advocating.  While I disagreed with him about the quality of the Red splash and dropped it […]

The post UW Control: Hawks Need Not Apply first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Being able to interact with an opponent's creatures in a meaningful way is essential to success in today's metagame.  Once upon a time, when most of the creatures were awful and took a long time to win, a player could get away with just putting four Lightning Bolts or a playset of Swords to Plowshares […]

The post Removal in Standard first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

When he was first spoiled, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas was one of the most talked about cards in Mirrordin Besieged.  While he has performed well in some decks, including a top eight at PT Paris in the hands of Patrick Chapin and a SCG Qualifier win for Chase "The Tezzerexpert" Stefani (@DrunkestMan on twitter) at […]

The post A Closer Look At Tezzeret first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

I am not a deckbuilding expert.  I like to think I am pretty good at tweaking existing lists to perfect them for my expected metagame, but I am no deckbuilder.  That said, I recently attempted to build a new brew that could attack the metagame from a new angle.  I'm not going to claim this […]

The post Building A New Deck first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

To every measure there is a countermeasure, and a counter-countermeasure. Patrick Chapin wrote an article some time ago entitled Information Cascades in Magic. In it he described how information in any area, but particularly in Magic, cascades and plateaus. When everybody knows that Deck X is the best and most dominant deck, many people will […]

The post Evaluating Trumps in CawBlade first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Blue-White Control is an archetype older than dirt.  The first deck in Magic history that didn't suck as bad as the rest was Brian Weissman's The Deck, a UW Deck that splashed red for Red Elemental Blast.  In the days when Juzam Djinn was bad because it dealt you damage, and you were lucky to […]

The post Breaking The CawBlade Mirror first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Fair warning: This article is about the adventure that is a Grand Prix and has less tech than most articles.  I will have another article soon with more tech for upcoming tournaments. 0-2 Drop. Oops. I had high hopes going into GP: Denver.  I had done well at the local drafts leading up to the […]

The post 0-2 Drop at GP Denver: A Success Story first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

You should know my steelo/ went from 10 Gs for blow/ to 30 Gs a show/ The Notorious B.I.G. For anyone not into Hip-Hop, or anyone that is a fan but has still somehow managed to avoid the term, steez (or steelo) is what makes you you. It's a slang term for your personal style, […]

The post Lessons Learned, and Applied first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Brook Gardner-Durbin takes a look at the first half of Mirrodin Beseiged spoilers and the impact they'll have on Constructed.

The post Reviewing Besieged first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

First, I want to say thank you to everyone that commented on my last article. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and thanks in part to that feedback, I was offered a weekly column here at Quiet Speculation, which I accepted. Thanks to everyone that read or commented on my last article, and to everyone that […]

The post Beating Mythic first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

[...] One thing I think many people underestimate is Mythic's ability to last in a long game, which is its biggest asset against Control. Between your Planeswalkers and manlands, it's not hard to have a significant board presence with only one or two creatures committed. The Knights, in particular, are frequently quite large, which lets you play out a single threat at a time and make the opponent answer it before committing another. [...]

The post Mythic Versus Control first appeared on Quiet Speculation.