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AuthorBennie Smith

Bennie Smith began playing Magic in 1994 and started writing about it shortly after. A Virginia State Champion, he enjoys few things better than winning at tournaments with home brews. Commander is one of those things. He loved the format so much he literally wrote the book on it: The Complete Commander.

You Lika The Juice? — Last Minute Panic

Read Bennie Smith every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
In today’s You Lika The Juice, Bennie shares his updated Project X deck — now dubbed Project Z. He also brings us a strong cardpool and deck from a Future Sight Release league, and asks us to bring our builds to the forums. And to cap it all off, he tells the tale of his latest phone conversation with… Mark Rosewater!

You Lika The Juice? – Skipping Across Three Formats

Read Bennie Smith every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Legacy, Block Constructed, and Standard… all three formats fine space in today’s You Lika The Juice! Bennie analyses the Top 8 from Grand Prix: Columbus, brings is some interesting Time Spiral Block Constructed decks, and rounds it all out with some potential decks for his Regionals charge!

You Lika The Juice? – Weirdness

Read Bennie Smith every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Before I get into the weirdness, I figure I’d toss out some red meat for Spike to feast upon. Last week I got a message from Thomas Leveille, the guy playing in the Virginia Beach City Champs program that was kicking ass on points about halfway through. So, how did it pan out? Thomas pinged me on AIM with this message last week…

You Lika The Juice? – Cleverness

Now that the entirety of Time Spiral block is released I think it’s starting to sink in just how ridiculous they’ve made Blue… again. People are chatting about it in the forums and such, and I wanted to spend my time this week adding my two cents on the subject before we shift into Regionals high gear. Imagine for a second if Teferi was Green… the cynical answer would be that they’d strip away Flash and add three generic mana to the casting cost.

You Lika The Juice? – At Least I Won Five Coin Flips in 2HG!

Bennie brings us a potpourri of topics today, including the uselessness of Steamflogger boss, the etiquette behind Internet Messaging, and some Two-Headed Giant decks. He also shows us a draft deck that, quite frankly, made my eyes bleed… one that not even Craig Jones would play.

You Lika The Juice? – Where’s Bibi?

So what’s everybody think of the new Standard with Future Sight? It’s hard for me to gage the impact of Future Sight because I go nuts whenever a new set is released, making up all sorts of new decks that I’m eager to try. New cards are like bright, new shiny objects, and like a crow I get hypnotized and obsessed. And so I present… Standard decklists!

You Lika the Juice? – My Future Sight Review, Part XL

Future Sight is here and I see that I’ve been Timeshifted to Wednesdays. Apparently Craig wanted to get the MTGO jump on MagictheGathering.com’s column, so I’ve been moved and now get to go up against the fellow who bumped me from my weekly gig over there. So revenge is mine – I get to challenge Mr. Karsten head on!

You Lika the Juice? – Mr. Hand, Venser, and Player Rewards Cards

I’d like to start things off by touching on last week’s official Future Sight previews, namely the latest ridiculous Blue wizard Venser, Shaper Savant. The online response seemed mixed, with a majority of people seeming to fall somewhere between “meh” and “ugh.” All I have to say is…

What are you, people? On dope?

You Lika The Juice? – Gettin’ Wild on MTGO

Bennie faces off in this week’s Battle of the Bens with a few choice words for our own Mr Bleiweiss! He follows them up with a look at one of the new graveyard-acquainted cards from the approaching Future Sight, talks us through some Magic Online games, an jumps on the Wild Pair bandwagon with a few Time Spiral Block Constructed decks of his own…

You Lika The Juice? – I, Golgari

Bennie Smith, a.k.a. King Dredge, reveals the very moments he fell in love with the graveyard-abusing mechanic, and shares some of the original decks that inspired his allegiance with the Green/Black guild. He also takes a peek at the current Standard metagame, and has a few words of warning for those misguided folk planning on selling their card collections…

You Lika The Juice? – Into the Aether

Bennie has sent the last week playing a number of tournaments on Magic Online. Today he walks us through his Pauper Deck Challenge experience, and shares his cardpool from a Time Spiral Sealed IPA QT. Did he manage to take his cheap Dredge deck all the way? Did he open a sealed cardpool full of lovely bombs? Read on to find out!

You Lika the Juice? – City Champs Points Leader?

In the past, Bennie had a beta beef with the availability of City Champs… but that doesn’t stop him hunting down new tech! This week’s You Lika The Juice brings us an interview with a runaway points leader Tom Leveille, and the Standard decklist that his behind his success…

You Lika The Juice? – Squirrels and Harvest Green

While Bennie and his second head didn’t manage to rock their particular Two-Headed Giant Champs tournament, they know some guys who did. Today’s You Lika The Juice? sees Bennie holding court with Daniel Sale and Zack Jesse of local finalists “The Awesomes.” He also gives us an update on his love for Saffi Eriksdotter, and his hatred for pesky squirrels…

You Lika The Juice? – A Mouse Among Men

Bennie had high hopes for his Two-Headed Giant Champs this weekend… sadly, with a weak cardpool and some questionable play mistakes, the glory was out of reach. He shares his team’s decklists, and brings us an update on his Standard Deck of Choice: Green/Black Dredge!

You Lika The Juice? – A Drafty Walk in Giant Shoes

Bennie takes on a new challenge today… a Two-Headed Giant draft conducted entirely by email. Pack by pack, pick by pick, he walks us through every step of the process, just as Nick Eisel has done above. Two-Headed Champs is this weekend… make sure you’re ready!