Russell takes a more personal angle, sharing some stories from his life and how they intertwine with Magic theory.

Tags: Personal, Russell Tassicker, Theory

Magic 2012 is legal as of this weekend, and to kick the metagame off, we have a deluge of tournament results coming in. As well as the Standard portion of the SCG Open in Cincinnati, both Japan and Hong Kong Nationals will have just concluded by the time you read this. As the metagame was [...]

Tags: Constructed, M12, Magic 2012, Russell Tassicker, Standard

With the Magic 2012 prerelease this weekend and the whole set finally known, I would normally expect the excitement to be bubbling over, but the new core set doesn’t appear to be getting people’s motors running, so to speak. It’s a bit too quiet, a bit understated, a bit . . . dull. The big [...]

Tags: Constructed, M12, Magic 2012, Russell Tassicker, Standard

This article was written to be published on Monday, but unfortunately life interfered and Russell missed the deadline. So keep in mind that it was written prior to the full set being spoiled. And check back Monday for Russell on his normal day and time! -- Trick Just like that, spoiler season is upon us [...]

Tags: Constructed, Decklists, M12, Magic 2012, Planeswalker, Russell Tassicker, Standard

Welcome, readers to my fifty-first article on this site—yes, I’m just as shocked as you that it’s been that long! Somewhat surprisingly, not one but two of my mini-articles last week were on the money, with Stoneforge and the Mind Sculptor thrown out of Standard. Without dragging out the discussion of why any further, let’s [...]

This article was written prior to the June 20th, 2011 announcement of the banned and restricted list changes. Read the full news here. Standard is not a healthy format. Aaron Forsythe himself has stated that this is “the worst we’ve screwed up since Mirrodin.” The dominance of the Caw-Blade deck puts me in mind of [...]

Greetings, railbirds! There was a surfeit of Magic events over this past weekend, and on Sunday morning, I had the choice of tuning into any of three live feeds from Magic events around the world—the SCG Open in Denver, the Pro Tour Top 8 in Nagoya, and the brand-new Canadian Magic Tour live coverage from [...]

Last weekend, Grand Prix: Providence showcased the Legacy format on a grand stage. It was an opportunity for masters across the country to put all of their brewing and testing into action, with thousands of dollars the reward for successfully cracking the format. So what was the breakout deck of the tournament, the new tech [...]

Howdy, folks! Apologies for my absence last week. It was exams week for me, and though I wrote over six thousand words in a bit over a week, they were on various periods of ancient history rather than Magic: The Gathering. Thank you to everyone who commented on my Slang Lexicon; I will be sure [...]

When I’m not working, sleeping, playing Magic, or writing these articles, I’m generally found pursuing my university studies online. I’m doing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in history and politics, and this study period, I’ve been doing my first third-year unit, entitled “Sparta and Greece: Archaic and Classical.” Ancient Greece is far from my specialty, [...]