Daniel Abraham and Drew Carter

Drew and Dan started playing Magic during The Dark. They played on floors and kitchen tables during high school, after which Dan stopped playing until 2017, when Drew introduced Dan to 7 Point Highlander. They started testing weekly and discussing deck design and Magic theory. In 2018, Drew joined the Adelaide Eternal team, mainly playing blue-white-red control, blue-white-red aggro and colourless ramp, while Dan played blue-black-red and blue-green-red hybrid-control lists. By day, Drew works as a Research Fellow in Ethics in the University of Adelaide's School of Public Health and Dan works in telecommunications law, enjoying legislative and regulatory design.

Chapin's Wheel

How to build better decks in 7 Point Highlander: Aggro-Control

In this article, we analyse a macro-archetype that is tricky to define but has been known to dominate: Aggro-Control. Reading this article should help you to build and pilot Aggro-Control decks in 7 Point Highlander, and identify and defeat opposing Aggro-Control decks.  In 7 Point Highlander, Aggro-Control decks tend to appear under the Good-Stuff Control or Value Midrange archetypes, and are not to be confused with the Protect the Queen archetype, as we explain in this article. We begin by unpacking the elements of Aggro-Control, mostly according to Hall of Famer Patrick Chapin.  Then we examine two successful Aggro-Control decks… Read More »How to build better decks in 7 Point Highlander: Aggro-Control

Chapin's Wheel

How to build better decks in 7 Point Highlander: Lava Spike or Burn

The Lava Spike deck aims to win by hitting the opponent with enough one-off sources of direct damage, also known as “burn”. It is very aggressive, consistent, and clear in its game plan. The Lava Spike deck would be fair (in the sense of being interactive instead of a degenerate combo deck) but for the fact that direct damage can be hard to stop. Indeed, the Lava Spike deck tries to be unfair by sidestepping common interaction like creature removal. It is geared to win the damage race, not interact, so it can struggle against life gain, faster combo decks, and problematic permanents.… Read More »How to build better decks in 7 Point Highlander: Lava Spike or Burn

How to build better decks in 7 Point Highlander: The Rock and Junk

The Rock is a deck that emphasises curving out midsized creatures and progressively gaining advantage on the battlefield. It plays a very fair game and balances aggression with wide-ranging interaction. One variant of the Rock is called Junk (it’s just a bit smaller and faster). After reading this article, you should have a better handle on building and beating Rock decks, which frequently appear in 7 Point Highlander as Equipment-based Midrange.  Aspects of the Rock can also appear in Value Midrange and Lands decks. Click here if you want to skip to the summary at the end of the article.… Read More »How to build better decks in 7 Point Highlander: The Rock and Junk