This is the final episode of Allied Strategies, and we have none other than the original co-host of the show, Neal Oliver, to reminisce about the past 6 years we’ve spent together! As the primary reason the show’s ending is that Benjamin is going to work for WOTC, we’ve also picked out some of our favorite Magic card designs to plant some good ideas in his head as he starts working to create this game that we love so much!

Thank you to all of our supporters, Patrons, and listeners – making this show has been a delight and the messages we’ve received from you over the years and the hellos you’ve said at Magic tournaments have meant the world to us.

Benjamin’s competing in the upcoming Zendikar Rising Championship – learn about the decks he’s chosen for both Standard and Historic and hear some bold claims about the power level of his cards!

This week’s episode features the debut of a fun new magic-card naming game, inspired by Alex Horne’s No More Jockeys. There’s also sporadic discussion of magic strategy, but really not very much so skip this episode if that’s what you’re looking for!

This week we’re taking a look at what went down at the MOCS, both in broad terms of how the metagames looked for the constructed formats and how Vintage Cube worked as a limited format, as well as some analysis of specific moments.

This weekend is the MOCS – read about it here: https://magic.gg/news/2019-magic-online-championship-viewers-guide

In this episode, we break down how Modern, Pioneer, and Cube are looking going into the weekend.

This week we’re taking a look at several of the decks that occupy the most sizeable portions of the Standard metagame. Though there are some clear pillars of the format, there’s a lot left to explore and a lot of opportunity for a savvy player to be rewarded for good deck selection, building, and tuning, and it’s shaping up to be a format that remains interesting for some time.

This week we’re busting out an old segment, Will of the Council, in which we present two options, vote on them, and then declare the loser stupid. We also discuss the new style of broadcasting for organized play, and some fun games to play during quarantine.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

This week we’re taking a strategic look at the London Mulligan and discussing how it impacts gameplay, deck selection, deck building, and mulligan decision-making. This was inspired by a blog post by Alex Majlaton, read that here: https://neverdraftingagain.blogspot.com/2020/10/we-probably-dont-understand-london.html

Here’s the reference image for the end story:

This week we covered the 2020 Season Grand Finals. Topics include Benjamin’s tournament results and deck thoughts, Intentional Draws in the digital age, and the future of Standard.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

This week Benjamin is getting ready for a tournament he’s decided to refer to as Worlds! Learn all about the Standard and Historic metagames he’s expecting and the decks he’s picked for each format.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)