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Legacy’s Allure – Exploring Zoo Variations

Monday, February 15th – Zoo is one of the most statistically common decks in Legacy, but it takes on many forms. In this week’s column, Doug looks at five different variations and suggests that Zoo is most powerful when it is focused on one of these builds. He considers the core of the deck alongside different interchangeable additions with an eye toward crafting Zoo to beat a certain metagame. Find out the standard and experimental types of Zoo in this week’s Legacy’s Allure!
Five Lessons From Worldwake

Monday, February 15th – I just got off the Magic Cruise boat a few hours ago, and I feel I have a lot to talk about in regards to Worldwake, the upcoming PT, and how the new Standard environment is going to change forever. And considering the next few weeks will be filled with Magic Cruise and Pro Tour video content, how’s about a few thousand words to tide you over? Let’s go!
Flow of Ideas – Welcome to Your First Pro Tour

Monday, February 15th – Ever since you qualified for your first Pro Tour a few months ago, you’ve been trembling with anticipation. This is it. Finally. Your first foray into the Pro Tour. You’ve been trying to make it to the big show for years, losing heartbreaking matches in Top 8 after Top 8. But that’s all behind you now.
Insider Trading – The Cost of Cards: The Rise of Magic’s Popularity (Part 1 of 3)

Friday, February 12th – Magic has been undergoing an unprecedented growth over the past couple of years. This has caused the price of several staples to hit record levels: Tarmogoyf is at $90. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is at $60. Force of Will is at $50! In this first part of the three-part series, Ben takes an in-depth look at the growth of Magic over the past two years, and explains why card prices have reached these levels!
You Lika The Juice? – Fun with Basilisk Collar & Worldwake

Friday, February 12th – Despite the ridiculous winter weather she’s been dishing out against the Mid-Atlantic States, Mother Nature can’t keep a Magic man down. Even as the chance of me making the 30 minute drive to Richmond Comix for FNM and EDH dwindled to an icy and snowy zero last week, I still received my boxes of Worldwake shipped from StarCityGames.com, and eagerly started cracking the packs…
Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #313 – Reprinting Phyrexian Negator

Friday, February 12th – MTGSalvation’s rumor mill is talking about the new Phyrexia vs. the Coalition duel decks. They have found a photo of the product, and the foils visible through the packaging seem to be Urza’s Rage and Phyrexian Negator. Reprinting Negator seems to violate the Official Reprint Policy. Must mean Magic is dying, right? That’s what I’ve always said, right?
Feature Article – Double Whammy: A Look at U/R Runeflare Trap

Thursday, February 11th – Once upon a time, there was this curious little U/R deck, built around filling an opponent’s hand with cards and killing them with Ebony Owl Netsuke and Sudden Impact, not only throwing the traditional concept of card advantage out the window, but then rolling over the corpse with a steamroller and lighting it on fire. One could argue that it was truly taking the concept of a “tempo deck†to its most extreme.
The Long & Winding Road – Introducing Two Card Monte: A Vintage Primer

Thursday, February 11th – It is extremely hard to innovate new strategies in Vintage. Although Vintage is the most inclusive of the Magic formats in terms of raw card pool, in reality it has a relatively small pool of playable cards. Vintage is made up of only the best of Magic, resulting in a set of decks that have minor differences, but are built around the same core of cards.
The Justice League – The Magic Family

Thursday, February 11th – Talk to any judge that’s been in the game long enough, and he will probably tell you that the experience of wearing the stripes has changed him. In every instance I’ve heard of, this change has been for the better, but what exact effect the experience has on the person will always vary.
The Kitchen Table #324 – Worldwake and Five

Wednesday, February 10th – Although this review is ostensibly for Five Color, I have recently begun adding cards and comments about other casual formats as well, such as Peasant, Acid Magic in real life or PPS online, multiplayer, EDH, and so forth. That way, everybody can get something out of today’s article.
Thirst For Knowledge – More Standard Musings and a Deck for Oakland

Wednesday, February 10th – Standard: let’s look at the facts, shall we? Pre-Worldwake, Jund was reaching critical mass and was responsible for nearly half the metagame in a number of large events. Yeah, we’ve been through this time and again: that’s unreal, it’s absurd, shouldn’t happen, etc. Why do I bring this up? Well, I think this is going to change in a big way.
