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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #330 – UST: Are Affinity and Academy In or Out?

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Thursday, June 24th – I am finalizing the list of the 32 best Standard decks of all time to compete in the Ultimate Standard Tournament. The tournament will start soon. This week, I’m looking at the decks that were Standard legal for a time, but had critical cards banned before the Standard season ended. These cards include Skullclamp in Affinity, Tolarian Academy in Academy decks, Memory Jar in JarGrim, and so on.

Ideas Unbound – Legacy: Chicken Little Should Chill Out

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Thursday, June 24th – Like Extended, Legacy helps reassure people that their cards will retain value over time. The problem is, you don’t want to point at your evergreen format and show someone a totally different game of Magic than what they’re used to. You want beatdown strategies to be good.

Positive EV – Draft Observations and Standard Snippets

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Thursday, June 24th – In today’s Positive EV, Manuel Bucher looks at Rise of the Eldrazi Draft and modern Jund sideboard options in Standard. With the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in St. Louis this Saturday, those folk planning on playing the RGB Menace should take note… and if you fail in the main event, Manu has tips for the side drafts too!

Too Much Information: StarCityGames.com Legacy Open – Seattle

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Thursday, June 24th – While the Seattle Standard numbers were disappointing, the Legacy players turned out and gave us our lowest Day 1 to Day 2 drop since the Series began. 191 players came out in Seattle to try their luck in a vibrant Legacy format. With new bannings and unbannings announced last Friday, what decks are in position to rule the new metagame? Also, don€™t forget that this week€™s St. Louis Open Weekend slips in before the changes go into effect!

The Wescoe Connection – New Extended, New Legacy, and a PTQ Report

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Thursday, June 24th – With the Extended and Legacy changes still fresh in people’s minds, Craig Wescoe shares his thoughts on how the formats will evolve in the coming weeks and months. He also has a cautionary tale from the PTQ trenches…

Constructed Criticism – The Best Deck You’ve Never Heard Of

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Wednesday, June 23rd – A few days ago, I was playing in an Online PTQ, watching replays between rounds, when a weird deck caught my eye. I was intrigued from the start from a few interesting card choices, as well as his undefeated record going into the last round of swiss play. Overrun? Siege-Gang Commander? Beastmaster Ascension? It seemed like a real beating and I was definitely looking for a fresh start in Standard.

Black Magic – The Future of Faeries

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Wednesday, June 23rd – New Extended is here, and everyone seems keen on resurrecting the scourge of Standard Past: the dreaded Faeries. Sam Black, a proponent of the Fae throughout their Standard tenure, examines his Faerie philosophy in order to create his optimal Blue/Black build.

Reflecting Ruel – Blue/White Tap Out Control versus Next Level Bant: The Blue/White Tap Out Control Perspective

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Wednesday, June 23rd – In today’s Reflecting Ruel, Olivier catches up on his Duel With Ruel obligations, bringing us the Blue/White Tap Out perspective on the matchup against Next Level Bant. With the StarCityGames.com Open Series hitting St. Louis this weekend, fans of these strategies can gain a head start here!

MTGCast #212 – FNM Mammary Promo Conspiracy

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Wednesday, June 23rd – On this week€™s edition of MTGCast, the guys discuss the changes to Extended, EDH bannings, Archenemy, and much more!

One Step Ahead – Standard Spotlight

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Wednesday, June 23rd – This weekend sees the StarCityGames.com Open Series return to St. Louis, and Gerry T is ready. He’s tested a few decks over the past few weeks in a number of high-level tournaments, with a mixed bag of results to show for his efforts. Today, he takes us through the decks and strategies which have both succeeded and failed. Will one of these brews crack the final table this Saturday?

Thirst for Knowledge – Extended, Legacy, and the Banned & Restricted Changes

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Wednesday, June 23rd – Extended up until this point has been a crap format. I’ve read the comments on some of the other articles this week, and some people have mentioned how Extended PTQs have the biggest turnouts and that Extended is a “rich format.” No. Extended has large turnouts because people can play Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, and avoid playing with stupid cards like Bloodbraid Elf without having to buy Underground Seas.

The Kitchen Table #343 – Bad Rares XII

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Wednesday, June 23rd – Hello folks, and welcome to the latest article in that long series of mine: Bad Rares. In each of these articles, I grab my box of low value rares and I randomly grab one, and then build a deck around it. Some of my favorite decks of all time come from this series, since it challenges me to think about a card in a new way.

Feature Article – Drafting Levelers in Rise of the Eldrazi

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Tuesday, June 22nd – In the draft portion of Pro Tour: San Juan, Zvi was ready to force Blue/White Levelers come what may. Today, he explains his thoughts behind such a strategy, and shares both drafts from the PT to showcase how strong the deck can be, and how a bad draft can be rescued.

Embracing The Chaos – Back to Basics

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Tuesday, June 22nd – After the experimentation with Isperia deck, which I intend to go back to at some point, I just wanted to play “my way.” This, of course, involved getting into the Red Zone with Karrthus.

Removed From Game – Removed From Extended

The StarCityGames.com Open Series comes to St. Louis!
Tuesday, June 22nd – With an ear close to the ground, you might have known this was coming. As far back as the closing months of 2009, there were rumors surfacing around various forums that Extended was not in a particularly healthy place, and that Wizards were contemplating a shakeup in the format that sits in an odd place in the structure of the game as a whole.