http://www.mtgfanatic.com/articlesIncludes tournament reports, interviews with players, etc... Copyright 2001 - 2013 MtgFanatic.com. All rights reserved.Good morning, mages! The final results are in, and Tom Martell has won Pro Tour: Gatecrash on the back of The Aristocrats, a R/W/B deck. Today I want to go over what each of the top decks does and the impressions that I got from watching these top players play them. Hopefully it will give all of us some insights into the metagame for both Modern and Standard play.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=204107Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:50:55 GMTNo sleep ‘till Brooklyn. Or, in this case, Houston. Friday night went unusually late at Roll2Play in Coppell, Texas. We’re a small store and we don’t attract a big crowd, usually less than sixteen players. Everything took longer tonight, and me and Lawson didn’t leave the store until after midnight. I know that’s not very late for all the hardened gamers out there, but it’s late for me because we’re leaving for the Houston PTQ tournament around 4:30 am. We were home by 12:30 am, I showered and looked for clothes and sleeves and was in bed around 2:00 am. Alarm went off two hours later and I felt like a truck had hit me. That’s a tough way to start the day. I had to remind myself that playing in a sealed deck PTQ was FUN… even when you have to drive five hours each way.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=198764Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:03:25 GMTWhat do you want when you go to a Pro Tour Qualifier? You want professionalism and quality. A PTQ is an event you plan ahead for, one that you might travel many, many miles to play in. If you have to put more planning and attention to detail into your preparation to play in an event, it makes sense that the tournament organizer would want to put more work into such an event as well. It can be hard, sometimes, for a tournament organizer not to fall into the grind of running events week after week, gradually forgetting how important the big tournament experience of a Pro Tour Qualifier is for many, if not most customers. If this sounds like the start of a typical rant about some terrible tournament, let me assure you, it is quite the opposite.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=198162Sun, 09 Dec 2012 22:29:53 GMTThere are a lot of good stories from last week’s big event in San Antonio, just like there would be from any Grand Prix. Legion Events did a fantastic job all weekend. There’s no bigger story than that of Tyler Lytle from Oklahoma. Even with great local and regional success, there can be no doubt that Tyler Lytle took it to a whole other level winning Grand Prix San Antonio with seemingly little resistance. In this article I’ll tell you more about Magic’s newest GP champion as well as share more coverage of my experiences at the event and in the fabulous city of San Antonio.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=197425Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:39:40 GMTThe die roll decided that I was going first for round six at GP: Ghent. My English opponent Daniel kept his seven as did I. The contorted countenance. So deep in the tank. Daniel then poses the question: Does that include fetch lands? That's what a first turn Blood Moon will do. http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=185203Sun, 29 Jul 2012 21:58:32 GMTIn Austin, Texas, Pat’s Games is the king (or queen) of the Magic heap. When the Texas Magic community learned that Pat was putting on her first Pro Tour Qualifier, no one knew exactly what to expect.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=173618Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:40:58 GMTBrian Kibler emerged as champion of Pro Tour Dark Ascension this past weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii. Kibler’s second Pro Tour championship (his first was Austin 2009) was achieved through a memorable and grueling top eight playoff that included mammoth five-game matches in the semi finals with fellow Hall of Famer Jon Finkel and with Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa in the finals. The top eight was one of the best ever, all the more reason to take the results of the tournament seriously. http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=169023Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:07:57 GMTThe new year in Magic started with a bang. Over a thousand players participated in the first Grand Prix of the year on the first Saturday of the year. It’s no accident that Grand Prix Austin was held the first weekend of the new year, there are twenty-eight Grand Prix events scheduled for 2012 so far, and that schedule only runs through August. There are yet more GPs this year to be scheduled. Welcome to the new competitive world of Magic.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=166407Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:57:12 GMTBroiling temperatures prevailed at the qualifying tournament for Pro Tour Philadelphia in Oklahoma City on Saturday, July 23rd. The Elks Lodge in suburban Midwest City was the site. One hundred and thirty-five players arrived to battle for a Pro Tour seat in the post-Jace, post-Mystic Standard environment with Magic 2012 newly added.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=147886Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:02:34 GMTIt was a rainy day in Concord, North Carolna. 176 players arrived to contest for the top eight prize of an invitation to Nationals. Star City Games hosted the event, with a side event after round three offering their own Invitational Qualifier.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=135938Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:50:00 GMTLast Saturday in San Antonio was the last chance in my neck of the woods to qualify for Pro Tour Paris. At least live and in person. There is an online PTQ the day before Christmas. I might play in it or I might decide to have a personal life instead, I just don’t know. I did not manage to GET THERE in San Antonio, I fell a little short of the top eight.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=121309Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:56:04 GMTYet another PTQ has come and gone, and I’ve again failed to qualify. Last time, I made it to the semi finals, and this time I made it to the finals. If things keep progressing at this rate, I should win the next one. At least I hope that I do. I promised you guys that this week would be a look into my Magic Online drafts, but due to some computer trouble, I’m going to have to postpone that until my next article. So instead, you’re getting another PTQ report!http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=116676Fri, 26 Nov 2010 21:30:27 GMTJon Toone badly wanted to make the trip to Grand Prix Nashville but didn’t think he could afford it. How can a hard working Magic player scrape together a few extra bucks for a Grand Prix trip? Duh, just take down a $5000 cash tournament the week before. That’s what Texas Guildmage Jon Toone did.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=116674Fri, 26 Nov 2010 21:27:12 GMTLast weekend saw the annual Dutch Legacy Open, where over two hundred players came from all over the Netherlands and surrounding Belgium and Germany to battle for the title. In our previous episode, predictions were made that Vengevival and its various versions would be the most represented deck. This set the tone for my own testing for the tournament, and while I did not place, my take on the tournament was accurate.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=115813Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:41:17 GMTIn this article, the feature match coverage continues from the Fanatic 5K from Saturday, October 30th in Austin, Texas. In the eight rounds that I covered at the event I was fortunate to see all of the top eight players and their decks. Four of those decks are included in this half of the coverage. Please check out the first part of this article, posted last week, for the other four decks.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=114554Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:05:51 GMTOne hundred and ten players showed up in Austin, Texas, on the day before Halloween to play for FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. The event teamed JDS Events with the proprietors of this very website, MTGFanatic.com. JDS has run countless tournaments over the years in Texas. JDS Events is led by Jim Shuman and DeQuan Watson. Jim owns a Magic shop in Denton and is a level II DCI judge with fifteen years of experience. DeQuan Watson is a judge, Pro Tour veteran player and store owner. DeQuan’s store, the Game Closet in Waco, is one of the finest game stores that Texas has ever had.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=113595Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:37:00 GMTThe Fort Worth Convention Center in downtown Cowtown was the scene last Saturday for MTGFanatic.com’s second five thousand dollar cash tournament. The space and the air conditioning were ample for the 176 players that turned out for this big cash event.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=106322Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:08:45 GMTSaturday in San Antonio gave Texas Magic players one more chance to qualify for Pro Tour Amsterdam. And it was a hot one. Two hundred and fifty two sweaty players packed inside a store better suited for around one hundred. Crowded, sweaty conditions are par for the course in the middle of a hot Texas summer. A more comfortable tournament venue would have been nice. On the other hand, Gamelot is quite a remarkable game store, all the more so for finding a way to fit two hundred and fifty-two players inside.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=105988Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:59:55 GMTI almost got there again. I fought through the second largest PTQ in Texas history to make it to the top eight, only to lose in the quarterfinals. Even worse, I lost to a fairly good matchup, but at least one of my forum members did manage to win the whole thing. Congrats to Christian Flodrom-Sconce! So anyways, this PTQ had 252 players and was nine rounds long. Of course I was playing my Valakut list, and I felt like I was pretty far ahead of my opponents the entire day. Primeval Titan has truly turned this into a tier one deck.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=105790Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:05:59 GMT109 players endured the hot early temperatures in Oklahoma City and seven rounds of Swiss play battling for a seat and a plane ticket for Pro Tour - Amsterdam. The event was held in the bucolic setting of the Del City Community Center, deep in the Oklahoma City suburban landscape. Folksy to the maximum. Country, even by Oklahoma standards. http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=104251Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:58:11 GMTUpon returning from San Juan, I immediately began to delve into Standard. I looked at the most recently successful decks and was seeing a lot of the usual suspects, plus Naya with Vengevines. Of course, I don’t want to play any of the big decks, so I looked for something a bit off the beaten path. I decided on Open the Vaults as my PTQ deck of choice. Gerry Thompson once called it the best deck in Standard, and it certainly looks like it’s well positioned in the current metagame. Well, it was… up until the Saturday night before the Magic Online PTQ.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=103393Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:37:04 GMTPro Tour San Juan was a huge letdown for me. I’ve spent the last few weeks grinding games on Magic Online, trying to find the right deck. While the deck we decided to play was a strong choice, by the time the PT started, it was a known quantity and people were prepared for it. We may have been better off sticking with my original deck plan.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=103048Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:12:56 GMTThis past weekend I attended Pro Tour: San Juan, thanks to my 2nd place finish and qualification at Grand Prix: Houston. Unfortunately, my tournament results did not come anywhere close to allowing me to make day two. First, the deck I played in the constructed rounds...http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=102916Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:13:07 GMTFor only the second time in fifteen years, I sat on the sidelines for the Nationals Qualifiers, doing my thing as judge and event coordinator here in Texas. Turnouts were low everywhere, and attendance was low enough at my own event in Fort Worth, Texas, that I could have played if I had planned ahead just a little better. With Standard PTQs all over the place for the next month, I want to delve into the most popular deck lists and maybe just one of the less popular ones.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=101887Fri, 21 May 2010 23:53:51 GMTThis past weekend I attended the MTGFanatic 2K trial event at Gamelot in San Antonio. I’ve been trying to make it to the trial events for a while now, but real life keeps interfering. This time it didn’t interfere directly, but it did keep me from getting enough sleep, and playing the whole day with only 45 minutes of sleep caused me to make several mistakes.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=101618Mon, 17 May 2010 23:01:03 GMTHi, I’m Will Lowry and you may unfortunately know who I am thanks to Pro Tour Yokohama. In the happy circumstance that you don’t, welcome – we’re going to Q for Amsterdam. http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=100117Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:26:15 GMTThe Tiger is back in the game. No, not THAT one. I’m talking about David Williams, the kid who made it big in Magic and then made it even bigger in the grown up world of World Series poker. Actually, David’s been playing Magic the whole time, of course. David gets to the big events, Pro Tours and Grand Prixs, as often as his work schedule allows it. But as I watched David close up throughout last weekend’s Grand Prix in Houston, I saw a familiar face from a long time ago. I saw a happy-go-lucky David Williams that I haven’t exactly seen since way back when he was living in Dallas ten years ago.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=99469Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:04:01 GMTThis is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down. And I’d like to take a minute just sit right down, I’ll tell you how I started writing articles in this town. My name is Haibing Hu. I started playing Magic as a freshman in high school in 1996. I was introduced to the game by someone who remains a good friend to this day. We first started playing in one of the rarely used stairwells before school began. I remember playing against one guy in our group who kept on drawing three to four [card]Giant Growth[/card]s in every single game. Finally, after about ten games and roughly thirty-five Giant Growths, I asked to see his deck. He refused. Good times. http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=99312Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:34:33 GMT]It’s one of those questions that someone in your play group will inevitably pose from time to time. What if Wizards of the Coast ended the Pro Tour, or what if Wizards went out of business altogether? Occasionally, someone directs this question to me in reference to the huge amount of my time spent in and around the game. My answers usually surprise them. http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=98689Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:51:08 GMTIn this article, I’m going to take you to the last PTQ of the season in San Antonio. I’m going to share what happened to me and my deck. I talked to Jay Wise, one of the most interesting Magic players in Texas, and he shared some of his thoughts about the Zendikar sealed format. He also talked to me about lots of other Magic-related topics.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=91093Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:57:55 GMTAllie interviews an experienced Pro Tour player named Tom “The Boss” Ross and a female Magic player, Alana.http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Articles/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=89387Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:07:46 GMT