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.

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.

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 [...]

Wizards of the Coast has been working on a new user interface/client for Magic Online for 180 years*, and this week they finally opened it to a public beta test. It vastly improves some aspects of the old client, but needs work in some key areas. Which sounds about right for a beta. *actual time [...]

I haven’t been playing much constructed Magic lately, so I won’t fake my way through an analysis of M13 for competitive play. Instead, here are ten cards from the set, both new ones and reprints, that I think are particularly interesting. It might be because they’re a sleeper draft pick, a surprising reprint, a fun [...]

It’s Magic Week at Robot VIking! What does that mean? That I’m going to talk about nothing but Magic all week. Duh. Hope you like Magic! Anyway, let’s get things started by roping up all of the wild bits of Return to Ravnica info that Wizards let loose at San Diego Comic Con (SDCC to [...]

Duels of the Planeswalkers lets you play Magic: the Gathering on your computer or gaming console, against the computer or online friends. It’s a standalone game — no card collecting — and it gets updated every year. It’s sort of the Madden of strategy/puzzle games, and this year’s edition is fantastic.