The World Championships were very exciting this year. Block constructed surprised us all as quite a healthy format with many viable archetypes: blue/green madness, blue/green threshold, blue/green speculation, blue/green speculation with grizzly fate were all viable archetypes in the metagame. As was expected, the Standard format was also quite healthy with: U/B Psychatog, U/B/r Psychatog with Burning Wish, U/B/r Psychatog with Cunning Wish, and U/B/g Psychatog providing for a highly diverse field.

Ken Krouner Barks Up the Right Tree

Good Man of the Week Ken Krouner had a rough 0-3 start at Worlds. After flying 88 hours to .au and starting out 0-3, KK probably felt like jumping in a ditch. However, Gary had some wise words for our hero, “Gary told me to shake that attitude, go yell at a tree.” After giving that tree a piece of his mind, KK demolished his next round opponent (BYE) and continued the streak into the top 8.

An incredible success for KK, Gary Wise’s tree-barking system has already been introduced into several player’s arsenal. Australia Open Top 8 competitors Antonio De Rosa and William “Huey” Jensen credit their success to Wise’s system. Reportedly, Jensen was overheard shouting “Yerrrrrr Shhiiiiiit!” repeatedly at the flora in a certain hotel lobby.

De Rosa takes a different approach. “Now, I keep a copy of Verdeloth the Ancient in my back pocket at all times. Whenever I start to lose focus, between rounds I whip out ‘Verdie’ and give him a verbal lashing. Verdie helps me get back on track.”

Whether this new technology will affect the PTQ metagame this weekend remains to be seen.


No Disqualifications

Did everyone suddenly stop cheating, or are they just better at not getting caught? Either way, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRIIINGGG! I remember back in the day we would eagerly check the coverage every day to see who got the boot “this time”. Remember last year when Williams got DQed from the top 8? Now that was exciting!


USA’s Reign is Over

For the first time ever since the last time, the US team didn’t take home the World Championship. Is the US dominance of the game coming to an end? Is this further evidence that Americans are fat lazy bastards who would rather be [playing poker / doing drugs / Everquesting / cruising for honeys / insert favorite vice here] than playtesting?

USA did pull an amazing ‘Krouneresque’ day four come back. Although no team members could post a winning record individually in the draft portion of the tournament, when they joined forces they became a powerful team draft super power, kind of like Captain Planet.

Hmm. If Team USA is Captain Planet, I guess that would make Team Germany like the Justice League. You know, Kai is Superman while Ziegner and Schneiders can each be one of the characters with irrelevant abilities, like Batman and Robin.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

The World Championships were very exciting this year. Block constructed surprised us all as quite a healthy format with many viable archetypes: blue/green madness, blue/green threshold, blue/green speculation, blue/green speculation with grizzly fate were all viable archetypes in the metagame. As was expected, the Standard format was also quite healthy with: U/B Psychatog, U/B/r Psychatog with Burning Wish, U/B/r Psychatog with Cunning Wish, and U/B/g Psychatog providing for a highly diverse field.

Ken Krouner Barks Up the Right Tree

Good Man of the Week Ken Krouner had a rough 0-3 start at Worlds. After flying 88 hours to .au and starting out 0-3, KK probably felt like jumping in a ditch. However, Gary had some wise words for our hero, “Gary told me to shake that attitude, go yell at a tree.” After giving that tree a piece of his mind, KK demolished his next round opponent (BYE) and continued the streak into the top 8.

An incredible success for KK, Gary Wise’s tree-barking system has already been introduced into several player’s arsenal. Australia Open Top 8 competitors Antonio De Rosa and William “Huey” Jensen credit their success to Wise’s system. Reportedly, Jensen was overheard shouting “Yerrrrrr Shhiiiiiit!” repeatedly at the flora in a certain hotel lobby.

De Rosa takes a different approach. “Now, I keep a copy of Verdeloth the Ancient in my back pocket at all times. Whenever I start to lose focus, between rounds I whip out ‘Verdie’ and give him a verbal lashing. Verdie helps me get back on track.”

Whether this new technology will affect the PTQ metagame this weekend remains to be seen.


No Disqualifications

Did everyone suddenly stop cheating, or are they just better at not getting caught? Either way, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRIIINGGG! I remember back in the day we would eagerly check the coverage every day to see who got the boot “this time”. Remember last year when Williams got DQed from the top 8? Now that was exciting!


USA’s Reign is Over

For the first time ever since the last time, the US team didn’t take home the World Championship. Is the US dominance of the game coming to an end? Is this further evidence that Americans are fat lazy bastards who would rather be [playing poker / doing drugs / Everquesting / cruising for honeys / insert favorite vice here] than playtesting?

USA did pull an amazing ‘Krouneresque’ day four come back. Although no team members could post a winning record individually in the draft portion of the tournament, when they joined forces they became a powerful team draft super power, kind of like Captain Planet.

Hmm. If Team USA is Captain Planet, I guess that would make Team Germany like the Justice League. You know, Kai is Superman while Ziegner and Schneiders can each be one of the characters with irrelevant abilities, like Batman and Robin.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!