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So Many Insane Plays – Are You Down With OP? The Trouble With Shahrazad

Read Stephen Menendian every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, December 15th – Down the years, Vintage Maestro Stephen Menendian has championed the cause of many maligned cards, cards that have been banned, restricted, or have received errata. Today, he brings us the story of Shahrazad, banned but not forgotten, and presents the argument for its reintroduction into Vintage…

[Editor’s Note – As usual, Worlds has impacted our article schedule. Rest assured that all scheduled articles will appear later in the week!]

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Drafting With Nick – Shards of Alara #28

Draft with Nick every day... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, December 15th – Nick continues his Drafting With series, bringing us a triple Shards of Alara draft from the 8-4 queue on Magic Online. Along with Rich, he shares his pick process and draft thoughts with each one, and supplies more detailed analysis in the forums.

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The Riki Rules – Judge Potpourri

Read Riki Hayashi every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, December 15th – Obviously, everyone knows that lying to a Judge is a seriously bad thing. What sometimes slips through the cracks is how equally serious it can be to lie to your opponent or to intentionally ignore infractions until it is convenient to do so. Like a broken record, if you discover something wrong, you need to… (wait for it)… call a Judge.

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The Magic Sock Episode 148: Worlds and Lots of News

Listen to The Magic Sock each week... on StarCityGames.com
Monday, December 15th – In today’s episode of The Magic Sock, we have discussion on the first day of Worlds, a look at the upcoming Divine versus Demonic duel decks, plus much much more!

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Sullivan Library – Deck Discovery and Collective Intelligence in Magic

Read Adrian Sullivan every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, December 12th – It’s been awhile since we’ve showcased a pure theory article here on StarCityGames.com… so it’s about time we remedied that! Today’s Sullivan Library brings us a deep investigation of the very nature of information itself. How can we make the most of the resources at hand, and how does collective intelligence inform our Magic decisions?

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The Magic Show #126 – Philly $5K

Watch Evan Erwin every week... on StarCityGames.com!
Friday, December 12th – Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. This week we’re in Memphis catching the sights and sounds of the World Championships, and in the meantime we’ll catch up on the StarCityGames $5K, see the final match complete with interviews, and a special song inspired by the Banned & Restricted List. Let’s go!

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Unlocking Legacy – Solidarity and Spring Tide: The Best of Both Decks

Read Legacy articles every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, December 12th – Since Solidarity and Spring Tide are not really viable in their current form, is their some way to have the best of both decks? To have powerful untap effects and still have access to powerful sorceries such as Merchant Scroll? It seems too difficult to reconcile playing Reset with sorceries, and Solidarity does not look like the place to start, but perhaps there are other ways to untap lands in Spring Tide…

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Deep Analysis – What’s Wrong With Being Results-Oriented?

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, December 11th – With the pros and cons of “results-oriented” the current hot topic in both articles and forums alike, Richard Feldman takes a closer look at such thinking in an attempt to settle the argument once and for all. With fine reasoning for both sides of the debate, he examines why results-oriented thinking can be both a help and a hindrance…

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You Lika The Juice? – From the Virtual Mailbag

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, December 11th – The end of the year is often a time for retrospect… and one thing I realized was that I have been pretty negligent in attending to my starcitygeezer email inbox. So, allow me to remedy that!

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #253 – The Inherent Unfairness of Promo Cards

Read Peter Jahn... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, December 11th – Two semi-related events happened this last week. First, a European behavioral scientist performed a very clever experiment to show that dogs feel jealousy at unfair treatment. The second was some more information on the Magic Online rewards cards, and the fact that Wizards will be giving some away at Worlds. That made the MTGO forum folks bay like a pack of hounds in full cry.

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Insider Trading – Making 11th Edition (Part 2)

Read Ben Bleiweiss every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, December 11th – In his last article, Ben outlined some mechanics he would include in 11th Edition. In the follow-up article, Ben tackles the meat of the issue – which cycles should be in 11th Edition? Which Mythics should be included to maximize sales of the set without hurting the Standard environment? Is there such as thing as too many good cards in the base set? And what mechanic, never included in the base set, is the absolute no-brainer slam-dunk to include? Find out in today’s edition of Insider Trading!

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One Step Ahead – Anatomy of a Control Deck

Read Gerry Thompson every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, December 10th – Gerry Thompson has long been a supporter of the “grind ‘em out” style of control deck. As the dust settles on the “Cruel Ultimatum of No” battlefield, Thompson brings us an insight into the grinding strategy he finds so appealing. With Tap-Out Control strategies being the control weapon of choice in recent times, has the tide turned toward the traditional attrition plan? Gerry reveals all!

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Chatter of the Squirrel – Understanding Shards of Alara Sealed

Read Zac Hill every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, December 10th – For the first time in nearly two years, I’m in danger of “falling off the train.” I’ve forgotten what it was like to stand in line for PTQ after PTQ and fail again and again and again. I’ve forgotten how difficult it was to get to the point at which I arrived, more or less, in May of 2006: that of being basically positive you were going to play at the next PT. Forgotten that it’s so much easier to stay on than it is to get there in the first place.

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Tribal Thriftiness #50 – Intro Packs and Upgrades 2

Read Dave Meeson every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, December 10th – Two weeks ago, we looked at the Grixis and Jund Intro Packs and attempted to bring them up to scale to be playable in today’s Standard – or, at the very least, got them up to 60 cards (using only commons) while still maintaining the goal and plan of the deck and the associated Shard. Today, let’s go through the other three.

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MTGCast #133 – MTGO Layoffs and Evil Presents!

Listen to MTGCast every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, December 10th – Big news of the week is the announcement of a large number of layoffs from the digital games division at WoTC, and includes some well known names like Randy Buehler. Other MTGO news is the release of Tempest on December 8th and the return of card redemption! The “coolest” news is the preview of this year’s holiday promo, Evil Presents! Check out the preview of the Conflux booster package, product displays, intro packs (including a partial card image!).

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