Home Articles Videos Contact

Benjamin Macready

My name is Ben, and I am a Gold Standard NCTJ certified journalist. I specialise in pieces about gaming and the culture surrounding it. I believe that games, whether they are played digitally or on a tabletop, are unambiguously art. Games can tell branching stories that wouldn’t be possible in other mediums. I aim to document and critique them on their own terms.

Wargamer •

The Classic Comic Cards from the MTG Marvel Crossover are pretty, but painful to read

MTG players who are also comic book fans have gotten some awesome looking Classic Comic Cards to enjoy, but their style comes at a cost.Contemporary Magic: the Gathering sets feature all manner of colorful alternative art treatments. For the upcoming Marvel Super Heroes expansion, you'll be able to grab a selection of legendary creatures with the 'Classic Comic Cards' treatment. Aesthetically, these heroes look great, as their artwork lovingly recreates the front covers of some of their most fam...
Wargamer •

Two shocking new ex Pikachus previewed for the Pokémon TCG's 30th Anniversary set

Two powerful new future rare Pikachu ex cards have just been previewed for the Pokémon TCG's upcoming 30th anniversary celebration set.The Pokémon TCG's 30th Anniversary Celebration Set is on track to be the biggest event of the year for the critter catching card game. We've already seen some of the classic cards that will be reprinted for the celebration, and yesterday the Pokémon company revealed two new exs that will feature in the expansion, both of which are Pikachus.
In an Instagram post o...
Wargamer •

Do MTG Marvel's missing heroes hint at an upcoming Midnight Suns set?

The new MTG Marvel Super Heroes set isn't Magic: the Gathering's first crossover with the colossal comics corporation (that would be the Spider-Man expansion from last year), nor is it going to be our last. It's suspected that we may have as many as six Marvel crossovers waiting in the wings. Digging through the new Marvel cards that were revealed this week, online sleuths think they may have pieced together what's coming next... A Midnight Suns set.
The Midnight Suns (initially known as the Mid...
Wargamer •

The upcoming Pokémon TCG North America International Championships ring in three years of Dragapult meta dominance

Dragapult ex decks are set to dominate the Pokémon TCG North America International Championships, just as they have for the past two years.The Pokémon TCG's annual North America International Championships (also known as the 'NAIC') are some of the most prestigious competitive events for the monster collecting card game that you can find. They're second only to the Pokémon World Championships held each August. This year will be the third year in a row that the championships have been defined by...
Wargamer •

Only 8% of the cards in the new MTG cat themed Secret Lairs are actually cats

On June 15th, the MTG Cats Are the Best Secret Lair Superdrop will officially launch, although, it contains surprisingly few cats.The upcoming MTG Secret Lair Drop Series: Cats Are the Best Superdrop will be available from the Secret Lair store on June 15th. The cards included in the drop have already been previewed. We're due for an eclectic mixture of adorable feline witch's familiars drawn by SimzArt, noble cupcake cats drawn by Vanessa Stockard, and bright orange Garfield cards, some of whic...
Wargamer •

This special red card is the most hyped trainer from the new Pokémon TCG expansion

Special Red Card might just be the most significant new trainer card from the brand new Chaos Rising expansion of the Pokémon TCG.With the recent release of Chaos Rising, a lot of Pokémon TCG fans have spent the past few days pouring over all of the new Chase cards. Collectors have plenty of Illustration Rares and other full art cards to slot into their binders, but many competitive players have had their eyes set on a far more unassuming prize. The trainer card known only as 'Special Red Card'....
Wargamer •

MTG Modern bans shake up the prices of some classic cards

The MTG bans that hit earlier this week, on May 18th, look set to shake up several formats. From Cori-Steel Cutter being sliced out of Pioneer, to Undercity Informant getting booted from Legacy. It's the Modern format, though, that has seen the biggest number of changes. Umezawa's Jitte and Violent Outburst were unbanned, while Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury, and Lotus Field were hit with the ban hammer. Naturally, in the days since the ban went through, the prices of many of these cards have shif...
Wargamer •

I'm already sick of seeing Deoxys in my Pokémon TCG Chaos Rising packs

One Pokémon shows up four times in the Pokémon TCG's new Chaos Rising expansion, Deoxys, and honestly, it can get a little bit grating.The new Pokémon TCG set Chaos Rising released yesterday. There are plenty of chase cards to get excited about, but you'll probably find one particular Pokémon showing up just a few too many times for comfort and outstaying their welcome, I know I already have. Let's talk about Deoxys...
Chaos Rising is a small set with only 86 cards (plus an additional 36 secret...
Wargamer •

For some unknowable reason, cosmic horror Garfield cards are coming to MTG

Three new Garfield themed MTG Secret Lair drops will arrive this June, one of which contains a surprising amount of cosmic horror.There are three important things to know about Garfield: he hates Mondays, he loves lasagna, and fan works frequently depict him as an unknowable eldritch god with powers beyond human comprehension. Magic: the Gathering is crossing over with Garfield in three new Secret Lairs, one of which really leans in to the horror vibes associated with the ominous orange cat.
The...
Wargamer •

Become a pirate and battle dragons in this ship building board game

Pirates Dragons Treasure is a board game all about duking it out with dragons, and competing with rival crews, to control the seven seas.The mission statement of Pirates Dragons Treasure is fairly succinctly summarized by its title. You're a pirate, you're going to battle some dragons, and take their treasure. This Dragon Battling Board Game initially launched in 2022, but it's just come back to Kickstarter to crowdfund a second edition. Let's dive in and see what it's all about.
Describing itse...
Wargamer •

Meowth ex claws through the competition to become the most popular Pokémon card from Perfect Order

New statistics from Pokémon TCG Live show that Meowth ex is easily the most popular Pokémon Card from the Perfect Order expansion.With the release of Chaos Rising just around the corner, the official Pokémon TCG Live Twitter and Bluesky accounts have dropped some new info. Specifically, they've just revealed the most commonly used card on the Pokémon TCG Live digital client from the Perfect Order expansion. It was Meowth ex, and it wasn't even close, with the coin bearing cat being played in ove...
Wargamer •

Upcoming Wailord ex Pokémon card continues the TCG's beefiest rivalry

The new Pokémon TCG expansion Abyss Eye (which will be called Pitch Black when it comes out internationally) is due to release in Japan on the 22nd May. It contains a new Wailord ex card with 380 hp, this means that it is tied with Mega Venasaur ex from Mega Evolution for the highest hp in the game. Interestingly, this isn't the first time that Venusaur and Wailord have faced off to prove that they're the beefiest Pokémon in the game.
The competition to be the highest hp Pokémon card has escalat...
Wargamer •

Smaug from the new MTG Hobbit set can pull off a draconic combo with Smaug from The Lord of the Rings set

The upcoming MTG The Hobbit expansion features a printing of Smaug that deals huge damage when combined with a previous version of itself.At MagicCon Vegas, we got our first look at a selection of cards from the upcoming MTG The Hobbit expansion. Smaug the Magnificent caught the attention of a lot of players, since it's a flavorful and powerful dragon able to use and abuse treasure tokens to potentially devastating effect. It also combos surprisingly well with a previously printed iteration of i...
Wargamer •

Square Enix unveils new Final Fantasy board game about climbing the Shinra Tower

A new Final Fantasy Board Game has recently been announced. It isn't an RPG, a card game, or even some sort of Final Fantasy Tactics inspired strategy spin off. Instead, it's a tile balancing tower stacking game about climbing to the top of the Shinra building from Final Fantasy VII.
Final Fantasy VII Ascend the Shinra Tower reenacts the climactic conclusion of the 1997 RPG's prologue. Except, rather than infiltrating Shinra Tower, a group of players will build their own tabletop sized version o...
Wargamer •

The new MTG set Reality Fracture is releasing alongside six new commander decks

It's not unusual to see new MTG sets release alongside a selection of preconstructed Commander decks. While we used to only get a single batch of Commander decks each year, nowadays almost every set comes with a varied selection of precons. The upcoming expansion Reality Fracture will release on the 2nd October alongside six EDH decks. One of these six will focus on the Reality Fracture storyline, while the other five are monocolour "Foundations decks" designed to onboard new players. Let's take...
Wargamer •

This Pokémon TCG Alakazam deck can draw you cards for days

Despite the recent standard rotation in the Pokémon TCG, Dragapult ex retains pride of place at the top of the meta. If you're looking to try something new that doesn't involve repeatedly Phantom Diving your way through the opponent's benched Pokémon, there are always a fun selection of unconventional off meta strategies to explore. Several weeks ago, we discussed the Doublade deck that can overwhelm the opponent with swords, and today we'll talk about how you can use Alakazam to draw an obscene...
Wargamer •

New MTG spoiler reveals we'll be getting more pizza cards in the upcoming Marvel set.

Magic: the Gathering players looking for another helping of pizza cards are in luck, thanks to this cheesy Marvel dog coming along in June.Now that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle set is comfortably behind us, you may have thought that you'd seen the last of pizza on Magic: the Gathering cards. Well, for better or worse, it looks like MTG is heading back to the pizzeria in Marvel Superheroes, with the printing of the card Lucky the Pizza Dog.
Lucky the Pizza Dog was revealed by comic writer Kevi...
Wargamer •

Next wave of Pokémon TCG First Partner Illustration Pokémon revealed, and they're just as adorable as the first.

A wave of cute cards from the second installment of the Pokémon TCG's First Partner Illustration Collection have just been revealed.Series one of the Pokémon TCG's First Partner Illustration Collection was released on March 20th this year and, in true Pokémon TCG fashion, sold out straight away. Series two is on the way, though, with a scheduled release date of June 19th. Just like its predecessor, it'll feature illustration rares of a selection of starter Pokémon.
First Partner Illustration Col...
Wargamer •

MTG Secrets of Strixhaven's most valuable uncommon is the latest in a line of busted draw spells

A blue draw spell from the latest Magic: the Gathering set has risen dramatically in value and is now worth several dollars despite only being an uncommon. That's the crux of our story today, but if you were playing in 2025, you might be getting a sense of déjà vu since a similar sleeper hit uncommon blue draw spell spiked in value back then. Last year, we were talking about Stock Up from Aetherdrift, but today we'll be looking at Flow State from Secrets of Strixhaven.
For two mana, one of which...
Wargamer •

New cards from the Pokémon TCG's Abyss Eye expansion reward you for discarding your own hand

A renegade new Slowpoke from the upcoming Japanese Abyss Eye Pokémon TCG expansion encourages players to get rid of their own cards.Whether you're playing the Pokémon TCG, Magic: the Gathering, or just about any other card game, card advantage is an incredibly important concept. The more cards you have access to, at any given time, the more resources you'll have at your disposal to take down your opponent and pull off a win. Some newly revealed cards from the upcoming Japanese Pokémon TCG set Ab...
Wargamer •

Beedrill ex buzzes into the Pokémon TCG's Chaos Rising expansion

We've gotten some new reveals from the upcoming Pokémon TCG Chaos Rising expansion, including an impressive looking Beedrill ex card.The new Pokémon TCG expansion, Chaos Rising, releases in less than a month now on May 22nd. Yesterday, The Pokémon Company revealed a batch of new cards from the set, including an all new ex Pokémon.
Beedrill ex made its English language debut alongside several support cards for Mega Floette ex. Appropriately enough showing off a bee alongside a selection of flower...
Wargamer •

These massive MTG Incarnations from Lorwyn Eclipsed have plummeted in price.

A few months ago, the 5 evoke elementals were some of the most expensive cards from Lorwyn Eclipsed, now they're a lot less pricy.Back in January, the cycle of 5 elemental incarnations with evoke were some of the most hyped cards from our then upcoming return to the MTG plane of Lorwyn. Two of them made it into our list of the 8 biggest Chase Cards in MTG Lorwyn Eclipsed. In the months since, the excitement surrounding them has gradually died down, and they've become increasingly affordable.
The...
Wargamer •

The Pokémon TCG's most subtly tragic playmat is now back in stock

The official Pokémon Center store has just restocked one of the Pokémon TCG's most quietly upsetting playmats, featuring a crying Cubone.The Pokémon Center store offers a wide variety of Pokémon TCG accessories. Like many Pokémon TCG products, they tend to sell out quite quickly, so every once in a while, the storefront restocks with a selection of accessories from the past. They've recently relisted one of the most tragic card playing surfaces in the TCG, the Substitute Playmat.
At first glance...
Wargamer •

This surprising scholar is currently more valuable than the Elder Dragons from MTG's Secrets of Strixhaven

When thinking about chase cards from the new MTG set Secrets of Strixhaven, the elder dragons are probably the first cards to come to mind. After all, they have incredibly powerful effects that soup up all of your instants and sorceries, not to mention the fact that they're freaking elder dragons, and that's just inherently cool. There is one card from the set that currently outvalues them all, though, Emeritus of Woe.
Excluding cards from the Mystical Archives bonus sheet and cards with fancy a...
Load More