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A whopping twenty percent of the cards in my deck this week are named using this same, trite formula. Oh, sure, it’s easy to port the card’s name into German or Japanese – but it’s also hackneyed, light on flavor, and is probably done by some sort of automated Card-Name-O-Matic 3000(tm) in the back room to save Wizards’ some time. So what is the lamest card naming process ever?

Lorwyn is here — and that means Ravnica is about to be gone from Standard! Ben returns to his weekly column on StarCityGames.com with a look back at Ravnica done entirely with Top 10 lists! Goodbye, gold-block, we will miss you well and good.

With the State Championships right around the corner in two weeks’ time, it’s very easy to forget that even before States we will be seeing the start of the next Pro Tour Qualifier season. Starting as early as a week from tomorrow, players around the world are going to start having the joy of deciphering piles of 75 Lorwyn cards to craft playable Limited decks, and then navigating the tribal ebbs and flows of a draft to earn a flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re returning to our roots by inspecting the new Lorwyn Standard landscape, and we’re also detailing what may or may not occur in Valencia at the Pro Tour I’m attending. Did I also mention that Cap’n Tickles is due for a new mana cost? Let’s go!

Hello folks, and welcome back to your regularly scheduled articles, already in progress. This is my traditional Five Color review of the latest set. I’ve done these for years, and you can expect to see me continue for a long time.

Just as promised last week, an invitation-only Magic tournament took place last Saturday at the New Yorker hotel in New York City. Sponsored by top8magic.com, it was known as the Mockvitational. I played in it, and here is my story of what happened. Sadly, some deadline problems related to Fearless Leader’s trip to Valencia means that I will be unable to give you the Standard results until next week. Up until then…

I don’t really want to reopen the ideological debate. Debating beliefs is pointless — debate is a rational exchange of data attempting to prove something, while beliefs, by definition, are idea held despite a complete lack of proof. Instead, I’ll look at data, and let people draw their own conclusion. It’s also a retrospective — I’ll look at creatures every few sets from Alpha to Lorwyn.

Greetings from sunny Valencia! My good buddy Zac is currently occupied with a beautiful Spanish maiden so I’m taking one for the team and filling his post for the week. As I know Constructed about as well as a chimpanzee knows Chess, we’re going to dive into the realms of Limited…

Over on the premium side of StarCityGames.com, I imagine those guys are busy testing, tuning, and working through the strategic nuances of new, post-Lorwyn Standard decks for the upcoming States/Champs tournaments that will be here before we know it. Over here on the free side, we’re all in the strategic vat together, stirring a big ol’ pot of Standard spaghetti, throwing noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks.

My initial reaction to seeing Lorwyn’s first preview was utter shock. Planeswalkers make a ton of sense. When I saw Liliana Vess, I figured that Wizards would take the incremental approach with Planeswalkers and keep them as a rare cycle. The new card type’s splashy, flavorful, and powerful, but at the same time it’s something that could potentially overpower the theme of a set. That’s fine with me.

Having done about as much Extended testing for Valencia as any self-respecting reporter could face, Rich Hagon spent the weekend drafting Lorwyn repeatedly with six of his best friends and Craig Stevenson. Learn what’s Cool about Clash, what’s Hiding behind Hideaway and what’s Teasing in Tribal. Plus, his personal guarantee that Dredge will win in Valencia next week. Click here now!