New Year, New Newsletter!

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Newsletter
Thursday, January 5th

It's the New Year! And with it are plenty of new things to be excited about in Magic and on StarCityGames.com! We've got a new set in Aether Revolt (covered nicely by Ross Merriam) and a new SCG writer in Jadine Klomparens! Could this get any better? Whether you're going crazy over all these new Aether Revolt previews or you're hoping that Frontier grows enough wings to get off the ground completely, SCG is ready to deliver to you across the board! And don't forget to check out Chas Andres' analysis of 2016 and his predictions for what the year holds for Magic in 2017! If you are somehow not thrilled with all the new kinds of Magic in the air, don't forget that there's a giant Legacy Grand Prix starting in mere hours! Best of luck to everyone in Louisville this weekend!

— Danny West, Content Coordinator

New Aether Revolt Cards That Revive Old Archetypes
By Ross Merriam  

For a while, G/W Tokens was one of the few decks that broke through to the top tiers during the Collected Company era, although the emergence of Spell Queller as a huge tempo swing against the deck and Emrakul, the Promised End to trump the late-game qualities of the deck forced it back to the fringe.

The deck has since lost a key piece in Hangarback Walker while Sylvan Advocate's standing in Standard has plummeted, so there are going to be some significant changes to it, but the combination of Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is still very powerful. As the previous iterations of G/W Tokens evolved, they became less aggressive and more controlling, using Hangarback Walker and Evolutionary Leap alongside the planeswalkers to gain tons of card advantage. With the loss of those cards, the deck has to change, and that means becoming more aggressive.

The first layer of that aggression comes with the Vehicles. Smuggler's Copter is obviously excellent, and this deck spews so many small bodies onto the battlefield that finding a suitable pilot is incredibly easy. Importantly, Smuggler's Copter's looting ability helps this deck with its occasionally shaky manabase. Being more streamlined means a couple of the Oath of Nissas have been cut, so helping to ensure you can curve your GG planeswalker into your WW one is an important role to fill that is easy to overlook.

But enough about what is undoubtedly one of the best cards in the format. You're all here to read about sweet new cards and the second Vehicle in the deck fits the bill. Heart of Kiran is a card I've written about before and is powerful enough to fit into many strategies.

January 14-15

January 21-22

January 28-29

Why Do You Play Magic?
By Jadine Klomparens  

Nothing fascinates me more than proper sequencing, reads, bluffs, mana efficiency, information concealment, and all-around tight play. In my ideal world, Magic would be played with Wizards of the Coast-designed pre-constructed decks. With no edges to be gained on the registration sheet, Magic would revolve around your ability to play the cards you're dealt. Obviously, this would make Magic a much worse game overall, but it gives you an idea of what I'm about. Shuffle up and deal! I want to play some cards.

So, what's the point of all this? Magic is many things to many people, but one thing it's not is mandatory. We all play this great game by choice, because something unique to Magic drew us in and has yet to let us go. The game is uniquely captivating, and it's also incredibly vast. In fact, it's so vast that it's easy to lose sight of what you love about Magic while chasing competitive mastery. All of these aspects of the game, brewing, metagaming, tinkering, and gameplay, play pivotal roles in high-level play. If your goal in Magic is to be competitive, you cannot afford to neglect any part of the game.

And yet, ignoring the parts of the game you love to improve at parts you enjoy much less is a quick path to burn out. It's a real catch-22: you either stay in your comfort zone and enjoy your hobby while knowing you are limiting your potential, or you branch out into your weaknesses and try to ignore the call of the sea. Just like Moana, we need to know who we are. But it's possible to embrace our unique identities as Magic players without neglecting the rest of the game. The key is to approach each game aspect through the lens of what you love.

Let's begin.

2017 Predictions And A Review Of 2016's Hits And Misses
By Chas Andres  

At this point, it's not especially controversial to say that 2016 was a hard year. While I'm sure there are some people among my readership who got married, landed a great job, and finished that big creative project in 2016, that was certainly not how the year played out for most of us. We lost too many talented artists, faced down too many national tragedies, and saw our society slide a little further toward polarization and hatred.

Magic was certainly a bright spot for me this year, though. While Oath of the Gatewatch proved to be a forgettable set (minus that handful of overpowered Eldrazi), WotC did a great job with their return to Innistrad and their introduction of Kaladesh. 2016 was a very good year for Limited play, too, and WotC has proven that they are still at the top of their game in terms of world building, storytelling, and designing interesting new cards.

Standard had an up-and-down year in 2016. There were some periods of incredible diversity and experimentation, but at other points it felt like there were only one or two viable decks at the top of the format. Collected Company, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Spell Queller, Emrakul, the Promised End, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, and Smuggler's Copter all took turns dominating the scene this year, providing a nice balance between midrange and control.

After 2015 gave us the most expensive Standard format in history, 2016 gave us one of the cheapest. It doesn't get much press, but Standard has quietly become much more affordable thanks to the Expeditions and the Masterpiece Series. Say what you will about WotC, but that's a pretty remarkable turnaround in just one year. The ramifications of this likely haven't been completely felt yet, but I'm hoping it will lead to another period of major player base growth starting in 2017.