-
Sep 25, 2009
We know Day of Judgment will see Standard play while it's legal, but will it (and should it) see play in your cube? That's what we're here to discuss today: mass removal, Wrath of God style. You can't build a cube without it, but which ones should you use to build it? And how many Wraths are too many?
Posted in: Hip to Be Square: Day of Judgment
-
Aug 28, 2009
Cube sealed is a good way to put your cube to use when you're short on players for a draft. Let's look at a sample of the wackiness.
Posted in: Hip to be Square: Cube Sealed
-
Aug 14, 2009
Lands. They frustrate us on the occasions we draw too few, too many, or the wrong kinds. We windmill slam them into play when we finally draw the one we've needed to play our bomb. We have a bloody ton of them lying about from old tournament packs, booster packs, and drafts. But how often do we really think about them?
Posted in: Hip to be Square: Land, Ho!
-
Jul 31, 2009
A double feature! Tom talks about a recent Cube draft, plus the changes to his cube with M10 in the mix.
Posted in: Hip to be Square: 8 10
-
Jul 17, 2009
If you've been living under a rock, then you may not have heard about the sweeping rules changes coming with Magic 2010. Actually, you might have heard about them even if you've lived under a rock, since the constant arguing, flaming, and kvetching has left no stone unturned. Here's some insight on how these changes affect cube building and drafting.
Posted in: Hip to be Square: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
-
Jul 3, 2009
Cube drafting is the most popular pastime to be cubic since Emo Rubik sprang his eponymous Cube onto the world.
Magic players have long embraced variant formats, most of which are casual in nature. From Elder Dragon Highlander to
5-Color to Cube, you can see these formats played at the back tables of big events, or at the paint-stained tables of your local game store. Cubing is easy, fun, and will attract many players.
Posted in: Hip to be Square: The Cube
-
Oct 27, 2008
It’s getting to be that time of year again. A Pro Tour is nearly upon us, Worlds is within sight, and most importantly, Halloween is right around the corner! Haunted houses, ghoulish jack-o-lanterns, copious amounts of candy, and even zombie chimps are all in season right now. So grab yourselves a piece of pumpkin pie, curl up with a mug of your favorite witch’s brew, and join us for our weekly foray into the world of the rules.
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Ave Atque Vale
-
Oct 6, 2008
“Welcome to the new world, sir.” It was appropriate at the end of The Hunt for Red October, and it’s appropriate now. We’re out of Lorwyn and its twisted reflection, Shadowmoor, and on to a world divided into five distinct shards. We’ve also bid adieu to approximately eleventy thousand cards from Standard, while welcoming in only 229. It’s a new world out there, and we like new worlds, since they give us lots of material for questions!
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Liches Aren’t Quitters
-
Sep 8, 2008
Greetings, loyal readers, and welcome to another edition of CI. After watching the political conventions of the past two weeks, I feel like I should be making a speech here. However, we at CI feel that our articles can stand on their own rules merits and dubious humor. Bad puns? Yes we can!
If you would like to see your rules questions in print, send them to us at [email]cranial.insertion@gmail.com[/email]. We answer all the ones we get, and then Moko picks the most interesting ones for the column.
Let’s see what he’s chosen this week.
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Exercises in Existentialism
-
Aug 18, 2008
Ahoy, and welcome to another edition of Cranial Insertion! Block PTQs are in full swing and are still generating questions about everyone’s two favorite problematic cards. We’re only dealing with one of those today, though, and I’ll leave it to you to figure it out from the title.
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Form of...a Snake!
-
Jul 28, 2008
Eventide Prereleases are in the books; and by the time you read this, Launch Parties will be finished, too. We’ve gotten a bunch of questions, both in person and to the trusty mailbox, and we’ll be unloading those today. Eventide is now legal for Constructed play, meaning there are about 18648712194631 cards in the Block Constructed cardpool. Unfortunately, none of them help you beat Faeries.
We have questions about more than just
Eventide today. If you have a question, send it to us at [email]cranial.insertion@gmail.com[/email]. We’ll send you an answer, and you just might get to see your question in the column.
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Swimming in the Reflecting Pool
-
Jul 7, 2008
Eventide Prereleases are this weekend. You can find one in your area by going
here. We’ll be featuring
Eventide questions for at least two weeks after the Prerelease. This week, though, it’s all questions about cards already in print. Send us your questions,
Eventide and otherwise, to [email]cranial.insertion@gmail.com[/email].
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Fireworks Elemental
-
Jun 22, 2008
One card has generated more questions than any other recently. So many questions, in fact, that it’s started monopolizing rules forums and giving us pause when a question in the mailbox is about something else. And for once, the card in question isn’t
Squire.
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Oh, What a Tangled Web we Mirrorweave
-
Jun 1, 2008
Welcome back to another edition of CI! Pro Tour Hollywood is behind us, and US Regionals loom in under a week. You would think all this Standard play would cause an influx of Standard questions to our mailbox, but we have quite the assortment this week. If you’re going to Regionals, good luck. I’ll be in stripes at the Mid-Atlantic event.
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: The E-Postman Always Dings Twice
-
May 18, 2008
There sure are a lot of -1/-1 counters flying around. With
Shadowmoor drafts in full swing, and the new set already legal for Constructed play, it’s pretty hard not to end up bumping into someone who has wither these days. Thankfully, we keep the CI home office well stocked with
Dragon Blood, so we can counteract those pesky -1/-1 counters and keep churning out the column. And of course we have the
available to activate it every time.
Posted in: Cranial Insertion: Seasons of Wither