Robot Viking

The latest Magic: the Gathering set, Gatecrash, is officially available this weekend. Which cards from the set will create the most impact in a multiplayer game? If you’re a Commander or Planechase fan, or you play a lot of two-headed giant or Archenemy, you’ll get more mileage out of these cards than in a heads-up [...]

The latest Duels of the Planeswalkers deck pack included a five-color beast called Mana Mastery. What does wielding all five of Magic’s colors get you? A whole freakin’ lot.

Wizards has continued to release new deck packs for Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, so I’ve decided to start putting together strategy guides for them as they come out. The latest deck pack included a Dimir deck called Rogue’s Gallery.

About a year ago, Robot Viking’s Pillager-In-Chief wrote an article for io9 brainstorming ways for making Magic: the Gathering into an RPG. Unaware of this, the west coast Vikings decided we would try to make a Magic RPG work. We later discovered Ed’s article and we shamelessly stole some things from it, but with some [...]

The first expansion for the 2013 edition of Duels of the Planeswalkers came out this week. It adds five new decks and a ton of cards from the original Ravnica block to the casual video game version of Magic: the Gathering.

While I was at PAX I had the chance to talk to Magic Brand Manager Paul Levy about Return to Ravnica. Due to technical difficulties associated with a loud expo floor I can’t give a transcript, but I can pass on the highlights of the talk.

I’ve got a lengthy post at io9 today about the new releases Fantasy Flight Games has this summer and later this year: X-Wing, Netrunner, the Star Wars RPG, and a slimmed down Game of Thrones card game. Check it out.

Have I mentioned that deckbuilding games are a big thing these days? One of the earliest entries in the genre, AEG’s Thunderstone, received a major overhaul and was rereleased as Thunderstone Advance earlier this year. Despite the awkward syntax of the name, it’s a great game that lets you visit a town to recruit an [...]

The latest entry in the rapidly growing deckbuilding genre is Upper Deck’s Marvel Legendary game, due out in November. I was able to play a demo game at Gen Con. Here are some highlights.

With the World Magic Cup going on at Gen Con, Magic Organized Play Programs Manager Scott Larabee must have been insanely busy. He still found time to sit down with me and talk about Commander, Grand Prix events and Planeswalker Points.

Jace has always been my least favorite planeswalker. Turns out I wasn’t the only one at Gen Con who thought so.

WotC announced at San Diego Comic Con that they would be releasing Commander products every year now, and that we’d have a November release this year. They’ve lifted the lid on that November product, called Commander’s Arsenal.

Some time ago, Wizards of the Coast abandoned their old Player Rewards Program, eventually replacing it with Planeswalker Points, a system by which you “level up” when you compete in tournaments and win matches, and which is utterly meaningless unless you’re one of the 0.5 percent of all Magic players saving up seasonal points for [...]

If you’re heading to Gen Con this year, you might want to head over to the artist’s area and check out some of your favorite Magic artists. Not only will they be selling cool art prints, but they’ll sign cards featuring their art for you, which makes for a pretty cool souvenir. Which artists will [...]