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Legacy’s Allure – Introducing Shelldock Doomsday

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Monday, May 31st – Doomsday has always been at the fringes of Legacy, setting up precise Storm combo stacks and killing opponents with Tendrils of Agony. It retains standard storm kills with Ill-Gotten Gains and Infernal Tutors, giving it more flexibility. Now, thanks to Doomsday’s library thinning effect, players can trigger Shelldock Isle easily to cast a giant spell. What giant spell would be worthwhile to cast in Legacy? What about Emrakul, the Aeons Torn! Check out this week’s article to see how to get giant monsters and lethal storm counts in Magic’s best format!

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The Pro Perspective – Japanese Mythic Bant at the Grand Prix

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Friday, May 28th – While a collection of top pros opted for Next Level Bant, courtesy of Patrick Chapin, at the recent Grand Prix in Washington, Raphael Levy teamed up with Kazuya Mitamura to create a solid non-Conscription Mythic Bant build. Raph supplies strategy, advice, an sideboarding options today!

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The Magic Show #190 – Grand Prix: D.C.

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Friday, May 28th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re live and in person at Grand Prix: D.C. where I finished in the Top 100 and still had some time to chat with some of today’s biggest names. Inside we talk about the cost of Standard decks rising, ROE versus ZEN Limited, the power of Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund and much more. Let’s go!

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Tribal Thriftiness #114 – Mythic Dollar Bin

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Friday, May 28th – Tired of all the talk about mythics being about how much they cost? Dave tries to get back to the “heart” of the mythic rarity, and digs up some forgotten treasures. Treasures, arr!

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Insider Information – Zendikar Block Constructed

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Friday, May 28th – Pro Tour: San Juan starts this weekend, and Cedric Phillips is prepared! Today, he takes a look at a handful of Block Constructed strategies he believes will come to define the PT metagame. If you’re a fan of Standard, you’ll find a lot of familiar faces here… but there’s no Jund to be seen, so it’s time to rejoice!

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The Dragonmaster’s Lair – Grand Prix: Washington and Next Level Bant *17th*

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Friday, May 28th – Brian Kibler rocked into Washington with a Blue/White Control deck, but after seeing Patrick Chapin’s Next Level Bant deck in action, he audibled into the archetype… and it served him well. Today, he shares stories and strategy from the tournament floor, and presents his most recent build of the deck!

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You Lika The Juice? – Revenge of the Green Mythics

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Friday, May 28th – Time to fill in the big hole from last week’s recap of my day at the Virginia Nationals Qualifier—what deck I actually played. It’s quite interesting in retrospect that I waited a week to talk about it, considering the role two particular Green mythic rares played in my story, and in the current story of Standard writ large.

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Practical Legacy – Entomb Ichorid

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Friday, May 28th – If the case to include Entomb is overwhelming, then the only decision left is what it should replace in any given list. As mentioned earlier, this is not a simple decision, but the number of cards that can be considered is incredibly small, as much of the deck needs to remain intact for it to work as designed.

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Removed From Game – First Steps in Block Constructed

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Thursday, May 27th – With the Pro Tour hours away, Rich brings you the beginnings of Block Constructed. It may seem as if the Pros have plucked extraordinary decklists out of thin air, but it’s a lot less arcane than that. Hard work, common sense, and a bit of method can take you a long way, even if you’ve never built a deck in your life. Grab a pen and paper, and take your first steps in Block Constructed.

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Ideas Unbound – Max on Mythics

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Thursday, May 27th – It seems as though every few weeks someone goes on a brief rant about mythic rarity, and how the high prices of chase mythics is killing Magic. I wish to address that claim. In this article, I briefly summarize the literature that has been published concerning literature up to now. Then I address the primary complaints about mythics: that some cards are printed at mythic without “feeling” mythic, and that the secondary market value of some mythics is too high.

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Positive EV – Control, and Sarkhan the Mad

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Thursday, May 27th – Control Mages appear to be on top of the heap in Standard, but Manuel Bucher believes that the New Control ain’t like the Old Control. He discusses the archetype today, and shares his thoughts on the under-appreciated Sarkhan the Mad, a card he feels is screaming to be built around.

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One Step Ahead – A Standard Naya Primer

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Thursday, May 27th – After defining the Extended format with Thopter Depth, Gerry Thompson set his sights on Standard. He took the successful Naya strategy, and tooled it to wreck the metagame for the Nationals Qualifiers, and then rocked a 10th place finish with the deck at Grand Prix: Washington! Today, he reveals the design process behind the deck, and suggests strategies and sideboarding against the major matchups.

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The Wescoe Connection – Tales From Grand Prix: D.C.

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Thursday, May 27th – Craig Wescoe piloted the popular Polymorph deck into Day 2 of Grand Prix: Washington, but further results were less than kind. Today, he recaps his tournament experience, talks about the strength of the deck going forward, and shares the fun times he had on the trip!

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Thirst for Knowledge – Grand Prix: D.C. Report *Day 2*

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Thursday, May 27th – I registered a Jund list for the first grinder that was much like my Regionals list but featured more Sarkhans and more removal in the sideboard (Mythic was everywhere in the grinders). My first round mirror match went to a third game, but his deck had Lotus Cobra and by the time I was able to play my first spell he already had four creatures in play. Not surprisingly, I lost that one and packed it up.

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Constructed Criticism – Grand Prix: Washington D.C. Part 1 *45th*

StarCityGames.com Open Series: Philadelphia June 5th - 6th
Wednesday, May 26th – This week we’ll be diving right back into Standard with a Grand Prix: Washington D.C. tournament report, where I was ever-so-close to making Top 16 and qualifying for Amsterdam. The weeks leading up to the tournament were full of me testing both Standard and Block, cementing myself in Blue-White as long as I could get the cards for it.

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