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White/Black Spirits in CBS Draft

Today StarCityGames.com welcomes yet another new writer to the family, this time in the form of former Dutch National champion Rogier Maaten. Rogier’s first article deconstructs the Black/White spirit deck in full Kamigawa Block Draft. Back in CCB, this was one of the best archetypes around, but can it still perform with a new set added to the mix? What do you have to do now in order to win with this deck, and what does the pick order for Saviors look like? Enquiring minds want to know!

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Drafting the Best Deck in Kamigawa Block

Today StarCityGames.com welcomes World Champion Julien Nuijten to our growing family of world class writers. In his debut article, Julien exposes his new readers to the best archetype in full Kamigawa Block draft: Red/Green.

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Magic for the Right Reasons

Zvi says goodbye to StarCityGames.com with a list of how to make your Magic: the Gathering gaming experiences better than they have ever been before. Looking to become a dealer, a Pro Tour player, or something in between? Zvi shares his thoughts on each of these including his opinion as to what the most important element in any gamer’s life happens to be.

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The Deck That Never Was

A little less than a month ago I built what I figured would be the Ultimate Deck ™ for U.S. Nationals. Sadly the French ruined my plan, but if things had gone differently this is the deck that I would haven given people to play at U.S. Nationals today.

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Boy, Is This Random

This week, Wakefield hooks his brain up to a random number generator and ends up producing some of his finest work yet.

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Magical Hack: Ninth Edition and Standard

The changeover from Eighth Edition Standard to Ninth Edition Standard may not have an effect on the upcoming U.S. National Championships, but it is promising to make some waves for the World Championships. What has gone missing is every bit as important as what has come back, but I’m happy to see an impending massive change to the cards that make Standard work the way it does, and not so very sad to see some of the things lost along the way disappearing, such as Plow Under.

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A Look at English Nationals and the BEST Deck in Standard

Quentin Martin was the primary deck designer of the deck that Sam Gomersall used to win a spot on the Englilsh National team last weekend. What deck is it, why does Quentin feel it is the best deck in Standard by far, and why didn’t “Q” himself make the English National team? The explanation is only a click away.

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The Road To Los Angeles, Week 4: Last Week’s Tech and Rob.dec

I’m going to skip out on the tournament report this week, because the tournament was…well, a disaster. I had bad

draws, played some of the worst Magic I’ve played in years, and thoroughly deserved to go home early. That’s fine by

me, because I’ve been looking for a break in the action for awhile now to talk about a few things.

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Crazy Red Mage Storms English Nationals

I’ve always loved the National Championships. My favorite of all was six years ago, when I finished second with the first version of Red Deck Wins. That tournament qualified me for the World Championships in Yokohama, which was simply great in spite of the fact that I ended up losing more than I won, and the report I wrote afterwards got chosen by Mike Flores as the first Editor’s Choice on the Magic Dojo. I never thought, particularly recently, that I’d play in another Nationals which could match that.

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The Beautiful Struggle: Terminal Velocity

Mark thinks he’s finally ready to tackle the tricky concept of velocity and begin to apply it practically to Magic situations, but he’s curious to hear your thoughts on this intriguing matter of Magic theory.

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The Many Flavors of $T4KS: Learning CronStax and Preparing for GenCon

Aside from Gifts Ungiven, the best deck in Vintage right now is clearly the very tricky Stax archetype and it has been for some time. Today Steve completely exposes the origins of Stax, the strategy behind the deck, and gives you all the keys you will need to win your next Vintage event, whether it be a local weekend tournament or the Vintage World Championships at GenCon.

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4-Color Control for U.S. Nats

Ruud has struggled through four countries and approximately one billion rewrites to bring you the story of his favorite deck in Standard that deserves one more spin around the block before 9th Edition evokes drastic changes on the archetype.

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On the Clock, Part 2 : How to Play Faster

The faster you can play, the more matches you will win. Of course, you have to counterbalance that with the fact that playing too quickly will cause you to make bad decisions, costing you more than you gain by playing fast. There are a lot of good reasons to play fast, some of which are not well known, but none of them will save you if you’re making a lot of mistakes. The good news is that speed can be learned, both in general and for a particular deck or format. I consciously developed my ability to play at a hyper-fast pace and rather than weaken my play it made it better. First, I’m going to offer some motivation.

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An Evolving Nemesis: How Do You Beat the New Tooth and Nail?

U.S. Nationals is less than two weeks away. I’d like to write another tournament report and tell you that my deck beats the format. Unfortunately, Regionals didn’t go as planned, so instead I’m going to talk a little bit about the best deck in the format and theorize about how to beat it.

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On the Clock – Time Management and Magic

Have you ever ended up with an unintentional draw or a loss when you felt like if only your opponent would have played faster, you would have had a chance to win? That’s the topic that Zvi tackles today, first tackling the legality of slow play, then giving you signs that will tell you whether your opponent is deliberately wasting time, and last providing advice for what you can do to prevent this. If you ever have played or plan to play tournament Magic, then this article is a must read.

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