Robot Viking

I haven’t done a Crash Test Magic in ages, but I had an odd idea for a new card that I wanted to try out. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do Voltron in Magic card form forever, and the Soulbond mechanic in Avacyn Restored indirectly inspired me to give it another [...]

This is an image from one of the cards in the upcoming Magic set, Avacyn Restored. Does it make you uncomfortable?

The upcoming set for Magic: the Gathering tells the last chapter in the story of Innistrad, a plane that seemed doomed to despair as it was overrun by vampires, zombies and werewolves. Now it seems their angel protector, Avacyn, will be released from the Helvault — along with one seriously wicked demon. Our exclusive preview [...]

We’re halfway through the new 4-issue Magic: the Gathering series by IDW, and it’s been chock full of stunning spells and bloody vampires. The likely-to-be-rare promo cards are a nice touch, too.

You’ve probably heard of Shadowrun, the cyberpunk/fantasy RPG created by the now defunct FASA Corporation. What you may not know is that in 1997 FASA also made a Shadowrun Trading Card Game. It didn’t take long to track down a sizable quantity of cards and start hacking, rigging, gunning and ‘running.

With about half of Dark Ascension spoiled and the prerelease not far off, I thought you might like some DA themed wallpapers for your desktop.

What kind of fiend is this launching itself out of the night sky to feast upon mortal blood? Duh. It’s a Fiend of the Shadows. She’ll make her appearance in the latest Magic expansion, Dark Ascension, continuing Innistrad’s tale of gothic horror in gruesome new directions.

The latest Magic premium deck, Graveborn, came out a few weeks ago, and it’s packed with graveyard filling goodies. They’re all decked out with special foil treatments, too. I’m just not quite sure who these decks are for.

Wizards’ efforts to promote Magic to mainstream audiences have been hit-or-miss over the years. This commercial was made by some fans to promote their store. It tops every prior effort, without a doubt.

In the middle of a Cube draft the other week, I had a weird brainstorm for a new Magic mechanic. At first I called it, “Ghost Card,” which is fine as a working title, but ultimately too close to a terrible Bill Cosby movie. The idea is to give a card an advantage by making [...]

Wizards of the Coast announced last week that they’re bringing back Planechase as the multi-player format for this coming summer. It’s easily my favorite summer format since it’s so much fun, blends well with other formats and is easy for new or casual players to grasp. Plus, the new Planechase sets will have some goodies [...]

There are solitaire games that you play by yourself, and then there are solitaire games you play with others. Sure, the box says, “For 3-6 players,” but really everyone at the table is playing her own game, developing resources and working toward some goal without directly influencing the other players in any significant way. You [...]

I’m always looking for new, fun formats that take advantage of our Magic collections and give us more excuses to play. The Horde format, explained by Peter Knudson at QuietSpeculation.com, is an awesome way to use your Commander decks for something other than Commander, works as a solitaire game as well as a cooperative game, [...]

A brilliant idea for a Magic set doesn’t always become a great set once all the cards are on the table. Innistrad is built around a gothic horror theme that a lot of players (myself included) are huge fans of. Did Wizards match idea with execution, or do we have another Kamigawa on our hands? [...]