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Insider Information – The Grand Prix: Washington D.C. Metagame

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Friday, May 21st – The Grand Prix: Washington D.C. metagame is shaping up to be wide open, and Cedric Phillips is here to help! He believes there are eleven distinct archetypes that have a viable chance at winning the whole thing, and he shares optimal lists for each of these strategies today!

You Lika The Juice? – Good Beats at the Nats Q

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Friday, May 21st – Some of us were trying pretty hard to get a solid list together for Warp World, a deck I wrote about some weeks back. A funny thing happened when we first tried it out—it curb-stomped Jund like nobody’s business, over and over and over again. That’s a pretty good start for a rogue strategy!

Sullivan Library – Three Decks For The Post Nationals Qualifier Metagame

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Friday, May 21st – With Grand Prix: Washington D.C. this coming weekend, the hunt is on for the best Standard options available. Adrian Sullivan examines three such options: Mythic, Red, and a fresh take on Jund. Could one of these decks take home the main prize come Sunday? Read on to find out!

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #326 – What Went Wrong at Nats Qualifiers?

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Thursday, May 20th – I was judging at the National Qualifying tournament in Wisconsin last weekend. I was – but only for the first few rounds. Ingrid and I were part of a six-judge crew, headed by Jason Lemahieu, which was a ridiculous judge staff for a 105-player tournament. Attendance was far below expected, and that was true across the country. Last fall, attendance at The2009s (a.k.a. States) was nuts – what has changed? What went wrong?

Ideas Unbound – Good Play versus Best Deck

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Thursday, May 20th – Patrick Chapin famously pointed out that “tight technical play decides more games of Magic than all other factors combined.” Given this, how does waiting until the very last minute to pick a deck make any kind of sense? Playing a good deck well will get you much farther than playing the ‘best’ deck sloppily.

One Step Ahead – Green in Standard: Jund and Vengevine Naya

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Thursday, May 20th – Deck building maestro Gerry T has done it again! Fresh of breaking the Extended PTQ format with his Dark Depths / Thopter Combo hybrid, he’s returned to a viable yet underplayed strategy and created a deck that powered a selection of players to a Nationals Qualification slot. Today, he talks about both Jund and his new creation: Vengevine Naya.

Feature Article – Mono-White at the Nationals Qualifiers… Seriously?

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Thursday, May 20th – The day started out well enough at 2-0, wrecking Mythic and Grixis with Geopede Jund, but then in round 3, I ended up being paired against an old acquaintance of mine, Joel Allen. He was running some strange mono-White creation – I couldn’t make heads nor tails of it initially. Emeria, the Sky Ruin? Kor Cartographer? What in the name of Hazezon Tamar was going on here?

The Wescoe Connection – Rise of the Eldrazi Draft and Another PTQ Top 4

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Thursday, May 20th – In today’s edition of The Wescoe Connection, Craig discusses the Rise of the Eldrazi Draft format, highlighting a selection of interesting archetypes that every serious spellcaster should consider. As a bonus, he provides tales from his Top 4 PTQ performance with Polymorph!

The Dragonmaster’s Lair – Preparing for Grand Prix: Washington D.C

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Thursday, May 20th – Grand Prix: Washington is this weekend, and the Standard metagame is ready! The recent Nationals Qualifiers threw up a collection of interesting decks to shape the format, and Brian Kibler has had to think on his feet now his deck of choice appears badly positioned. He shares his thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses in Standard today!

Practical Legacy – New Roles For Powerful Cards

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Thursday, May 20th – Sometimes a card is adopted by one deck, and it takes some time before other uses of the card are fully explored. It may seem that, at first, the card works best in that one deck, and there is no reason to try and place the card in another deck. While such a card may work well in its original setting, there may be other uses for it, uses which may improve the decks that choose to add this card to their designs.

Black Magic – Processing U.S. Nationals Qualifiers Results

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Wednesday, May 19th – The results from U.S. Nationals Qualifiers are trickling in, and Sam Black is here to crunch some numbers. He looks at the Top 8 results from eleven tournaments, breaks down the archetypes, and suggests the future of the Standard metagame for Washington this weekend!

MTGCast #207 – IDs, New Sealed Formats, and 2x Gideon Jura Giveaway!

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Wednesday, May 19th – On today’s edition of MTGCast, the guys discuss a rumored new Sealed format, Nationals Qualifiers, UR Distortion Strike, and much more!

Feature Article – Esper Flare for Standard

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Wednesday, May 19th – While there are a trio of strong decks underpinning the Standard metagame, it doesn’t mean there’s no room for innovation. Today, Gerard Fabiano shares his Esper Flare control deck, which preys on the format’s behemoths. Could this be the deck that cracks Grand Prix: Washington DC wide open? Read on to find out!

Thirst for Knowledge – Choosing a Deck For DC

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Wednesday, May 19th – Regionals is over, and now the push is toward Grand Prix: DC. A week ago, I would have told you to choose either Jund or UW and just smash. Now, though? Now we have a bit more to work with, as Regionals is a fairly large event that is spread out across many groups of players in drastically different metagames, and so it is becoming more and more clear as days go on what the “best” decks are and which ones just aren’t cutting it.

Fishing Lessons – Shadow Puppet Theater

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Wednesday, May 19th – It’s that time again. My articles are usually very polarizing, where some people think I’m a stupid jerk and others think I’m a genius. That polarization finds to be even stronger for my more abstract rants. If you are in the former group, please select any one of the other fine articles on this fantastic website instead. If you are in the latter group, please enjoy.