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My Magical Life: A Constructed and Limited Look at Time Spiral

Time Spiral has finally been unveiled… and Magic’s greatest minds are on the lookout for top tips and hot tech. Billy, bunged with a head cold but fresh from the prerelease, takes us through his preliminary thoughts on Time Spiral, looking at the set from both a Constructed and Limited standpoint. He throws up card interactions left, right, and center. Who knows, maybe the next Standard-defining deck is born in this intellectual melee…

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U/G Beats at Dutch Nationals *3rd*

Julien Nuijten makes up a vital part of the Dutch National team this year, a team that many are heralding as the pre-tournament favorites. Today’s article looks at the process behind the creation of his Constructed deck, and takes us through the changes he’d make and the sideboarding plan for anyone planning on running the U/G powerhouse in an upcoming Standard tournament. All this, plus Nationals tournament game reports!

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Drafting With Rich – Mirage Draft #1

Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of sweeter formats. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!

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The Financial Value of Time Spiral

Pre-Order Time Spiral Today!

This article is spoiler heavy! If you do not want to know about Time Spiral before your prerelease, please don’t read this article until Sunday night!

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Shredder version 3.0 – Sixteen in the Clip and One in the Hole

Due to the technical issues we experienced at the beginning of the week, we’ve a plethora of extra material today. The first such article is a return to the Extended field for Patrick Chapin. Today, he reinvents his popular Shredder deck, giving it a “Silver Bullet” style polish. Decklists, sideboarding strategies, and more… available a click away!

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Time Spiral Limited – An Overview

As we head into the prerelease weekend, excitement for the new set is at fever pitch. We say goodbye to Ravnica – and good riddance to Coldsnap – for Limited play at least. In preparation for a Brave New World of Time Spiral Limited fun, Josh looks at the sweeping changes in Limited philosophy that are required for a quick and successful adaptation to the new format…

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Spiral-Shifting Strategies in Standard

Last week, a couple of StarCityGames.com columnists decided to speculate as to how existing Standard decks would survive the rotation of Kamigawa Block, assessing to varying degrees their respective viabilities in, presumably, Time Spiral Standard. Instead of approaching the problem of the format from this direction, Mike decided to look at the upcoming Standard from the other direction: Rather than asking how the loss of cards might affect existing archetypes, how might the new cards shape our outlook and strategies as a whole?

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Drafting With Rich – CBS #1

Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of sweeter formats. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!

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Tweaking Meandeck Gifts

In this excellent and comprehensive article, Stephen takes us through the latest developments of his most potent Vintage creation – Meandeck Gifts. The tweaks he suggests leads to a considerable tempo advantage over the old lists, and he backs up these changes with detailed match analysis. Another wonderful article from the master of Vintage writing.

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The History of Solar Flare

In his first article for StarCityGames.com, Naoki Shimizu – fresh from his Top 8 performance at Japanese Nationals – takes us through the step-by-step process behind the creation of one of the standout decks in the Standard metagame – the fantastic Solar Flare. If that isn’t enough, he also shares his tournament report with style and humor. The best writers, the best players… only at StarCityGames.com!

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Drafting With Rich – 999 #2

Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of Ninth Edition. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!

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A Paskins Masterclass – How To Swindle Your Opponent

Dan Paskins, the Red mage personified, brings us an entertaining article on the noble art of swindling your opponent. Don’t worry, Dan hasn’t defected to the Dark Side… there’s no cheating here. Rather, Mr Paskins takes us step-by-step through the methods required to force your opponent into bad play.

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Building for the Pro Tour, and the Power of Rituals

It’s Wednesday, and we all know what that means… another mailbag article from everyone’s favorite Rock-playing Pro, Jeroen Remie. Today’s reader-posed topics include the process behind preparation for Premier Event in a fledgling format, the proper place of rituals and luck in Magic, plus a grab-bag of miscellany to round it all out!

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Balancing the Equation – A Grand Prix: Phoenix Report *T8*

After his nearly-man performance at the Swedish Nationals, Gadiel decided to give Grand Prix: Phoenix a miss. Then, after contemplating his pro statistics, he changed his mind… and it’s safe to say that he was glad he did. This entertaining report covers the highs and lows of the tournament, written in his usual acerbic and humorous style…

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The Constructed Manabase, Part 1: Mana Ratios

In the first of what promises to be an excellent series, Richard examines the process behind building the perfect manabase. In today’s introductory article, Mr Feldman takes a look at some of the strongest Aggro decks produced in the current Standard metagame. Why do some decks require a mere 21 land, while some flounder on a more cumbersome 23?

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