Magic.tv

Hello everyone!

At the beginning of the year I posted a short piece on Magic streaming. It wasn't very much, but I wrote right as I was discovering the world of streaming, and how awesome and fun it can be. Since then I have come across a lot more streamers, and the whole thing has gotten far more popular. I used to have an issue where I wanted to watch high quality magic play out, but there's actually nothing great out there. YouTube doesn't really have any fantastic players posting up videos (and usually that leads me thinking angrily at the screen for poor deck/play choices), and watching SCG open archives, GP archives, or PT archives isn't really helpful either because you can't see the player's hands and therefor it's a lot harder to really know their line of thinking. Videos posted on websites like ChannelFireball and SCG are awesome, but they don't show up nearly as much as I would like.

[Streaming enters from stage right]

Streaming is perfect for everyone! For the people who run the streams, it requires a lot less work for them because they don't need to compile any files, ship any files online to either their website or YouTube, and they aren't under as much pressure to have a perfect series of games to be archived for eternity. Also when you're streaming you can relax a little more, put on awesome music, talk to the viewers on the chat, and have a little more fun in the process. Also, some streamers have a donate button set up so they can make a little money in the process.

For the viewers it's also awesome because now that there are so many streamers out there you have the luxury of selecting who and what you want to see whenever you sign on. Sure, when I'm up at 3am there's not a lot of choices, but there's other things to be worrying about at that point. When you're watching someone stream, the chat is there so you can joke around with players, argue different lines of play, discuss draft picks/card choices in a deck, or ask the player questions. If you don't have a Twitch.tv account, I highly recommend you make one, because every once in a while getting to chat is a very cool experience, especially when they have a great discussion with you!

Streaming is getting more and more popular with lots of top level players making streams. Just before Christmas  we all received a free gift when Jon Finkel announced his new channel. This afternoon there will be a major event completely revolving around streaming that will be awesome! The MTGO Streamer's Championship is taking place today, and it's going to be awesome! 8 high quality players streaming an insane amount of magic is very exciting, and I look forward to watching 2 or 3 angles. My favorite players for the event are Tom Martell, Sam Black, and Cedric Phillips in that order.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get an announcement up sooner, but I just got my wisdom teeth out 2 days ago, so I haven't been able to do much for the past few days. I'm looking forward to a day of relaxation and streaming, and hopefully I'm alive and well again to actually play some magic of my own IRL! My friend is lending me this sweet GW aggro deck for standard:

2x Arbor Elf
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
2x Ulvenwald Tracker
3x Strangelroot Geist
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Silverblade Paladin
4x Sublime Archangel
2x Wolfir Silverheart

4x Rancor
2x Faith's Shield
3x Selesnya Charm

7x Forest
2x Gavony Township
6x Plains
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden

Sideboard:
3x Centaur Healer
2x Intrepid Hero
1x Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
1x Nevermore
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Rest in Peace
1x Triumph of Ferocity
2x Rootborn Defenses
1x Garruk Relentless

I haven't played a single game of live standard since rotation because of school, so I'm hoping to get 2 or 3 FNMs in this break and get back into it! This deck has been doing very well on Cockatrice, and the Silverblade-Sublime interaction is absolutely brutal! This deck is fairly cheap, with just Sublime Archangel holding a big price tag, so I think it's actually a very good choice right now if you like punching people's teeth in, and winning out of nowhere!

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack