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Welcome to Jitteland!

I will not be going to Philadelphia. “Because you’re rubbish”, my girlfriend cries, reading over my shoulder. That may well be true – possibly a deep insight into my future career. I myself prefer to think of it as an opportunity to spend more time focussing on my university work, but her diagnosis is probably closer to the truth.
That first sentence initially filled me with dismay and depression, I’d be missing another Pro Tour; but upon reflection maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I’d be missing Pro Tour: Jitte.

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Some Snappy Title (with Entwine)

It’s the nine-mana elephant that’s lurking in the Standard room, but nobody has talked about it yet. That all changes today, where michaelj rams Tooth and Nail against the testing gauntlet so hard that it explodes into a shower of Red and Green spells. That’s right, we said Red AND Green. Why is it better to run two colors in your Tooth deck instead of just one? That is just one thing among many that Flores explains today.

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The King is Back. Long Live the King!

Jamie Wakefield is back and this time he’s back to stay. Right here at StarCityGames.com

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So this WAS the Metagame

Flores takes another look at White Weenie today, including testing one of the decks forum-goers touted as considerably better than Mike’s Weenie lists from last week. He also throws the Weenie variations against a testing gauntlet from the French Regionals results that are slowly trickling in. If you are playing Standard any time soon, this article is not to be missed.

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Insider Trading: Becoming a Better Trader Part I – Preparation

Successful traders know that trading Magic: the Gathering can often be just as rewarding as playing the game itself, if not moreso. In this article series, I am going to share a significant portion of what I learned about trading as I evolved from random player into America’s largest Magic: the Gathering singles dealer. I will also provide you with a step-by-step guide to becoming a better trader yourself. This will require a considerable amount of time and effort on your part, but you should begin reaping the rewards rather quickly.

Digi-Cardz.com – Every MTGO card in stock!

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The Magic Jerk: Your Sealed Deck Lucky Charms

Here’s the problem with Sealed Deck: you get an unopened pack of cards and have to build a deck out of it. How many rares in there? Three. How many boosters? Two. So that’s a grand total of five rares, which means you get five chances to open a Kumano, Meloku, Jitte or random (non-Red) Dragon. Oh you didn’t open up one of those? Oh darn, unless you’re really good at Magic the chances of you Top 8’ing this PTQ just went down dramatically. Now if you’re an unlucky sap like me, you’d better grab a cup of coffee and read the rest of this article, because you’ll probably be opening a lot of Misako’s and Swirl the Mists this season.

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Sealed Revealed from the Pros Vol. 3

Today Tim takes a decklist from the Managing Editor involving 17 Tails worth of legend and tells him exactly how he screwed things up.

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Grim Long and the Impact of Portal on Vintage

In the first months of 2004, we threw together some Grim Tutor variants of the deck in preparation for what we believed would be a forthcoming announcement. We did some preliminary testing and tuning and then we waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. Finally, the announcement came. Now that people are concerned about the deck, some even claiming (absurdly) that Grim Tutor needs restriction. This article is going to demystify Grim Tutor and introduce Grim Long by tying my experience with all three incarnations of the Long.dec archetype together to provide a solid foundation for your own testing.

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Playing Fair

Mike claims that the deck he discusses in this article just might be the best Constructed deck he’s ever designed. Okay fine, those who know Mike know that he says this sort of thing at least once a month, but what if he’s right?

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The College Dropout: Under-Staffed

The constructive feedback in my last article was surprisingly good and many of the changes the forums suggested to Green/Black Control have been incorporated into my latest version. Sadly, I’m not really here to discuss my favorite deck in the Standard format, but a new version of an old favorite that has stormed the Kentucky Magic scene: Proteus Staff Control.

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The Heart of Kamigawa: The Mana and the Legends

The last two weeks Zvi has peeled the Kamigawa Block onion, revealing the goods that lie within. This week he reviews the heart of the block, including playtesting results from one of Kamigawa Block’s most promising contenders.

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The Beautiful Struggle: White Weenie Versus the World

The forums keep swearing this deck is good. The testing results from our writers seems to indicate otherwise. So which side if right and what does Mark Young add to this debate? The answers are only a click away and include additional discussion about Mono-Blue, Big Red, and Tooth and Nail.

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Weak Among the Strong: Making Top 8 with your Sealed Deck

Many years ago, back when I was probably Weak Among the Weak, let alone Strong Among the Weak or Weak Among the Strong, Matt Rauseo said you should always maindeck Annul in Urza’s Block Sealed. “Why?” I asked. “Because you need to beat the 4-0 decks.” Understanding this concept will not only change how you build your sealed decks, but it also can be instrumental in pushing you over the PTQ Top 8 hump.

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So This is the Metagame

There has been a lot of talk recently about White Weenie, but you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Flores tackle the little beast. Today Mike pits both a slow and a fast version of White Weenie up against the staple decks from Paris Regionals to see how they fare. Is Umezawa’s Jitte all it’s cracked up to be? Is an equipment toolbox supplemented by Steelshaper’s Gift the way to go? Is Hokori, Dust Drinker any good? The master knows…

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Sealed Revealed Redux: PTQ Card Pool One, Plus Tourney Report

So what happens when you take an aging Englishman, the Sealed Revealed series, weeks of feedback from the StarCityGames.com forums and a PTQ? Is it possible that Craig Stevenson managed to get a solid Sealed Deck pool, build it correctly, make the Top 8, and qualify for Pro Tour: London on his first time out? Well, anything is possible, but you’ll have to read the article to find out what really happened.

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