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Magical Hack – Standard, Extended, and Draft

Read Sean McKeown every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 14th – Rather than anything deep and expansive about any one format, it seems I’ve got a lot on my plate to do with a lot of different formats. Morningtide is now finally available on Magic Online, and last weekend’s Grand Prix featured the Standard format while this weekend’s Grand Prix features Extended once again. So we are going to look a little bit at Standard, Extended, and Draft, because each has some interesting progress going on.

Deep Analysis – Dredge versus Vancouver

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!Thursday, March 13th – The Extended PTQ season is beginning to wind down… but there are still PTQs to attend, and slots to be won! This coming weekend, Richard Feldman gets to play in his first PTQ of the season. In preparation, today’s Deep Analysis contains detailed play-by-play matches that pitch his chosen deck – Dredge – against the great and good from Grand Prix: Vancouver.

Down And Dirty – A Tale of Two Tarmogoyfs

Read Kyle Sanchez every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 13th – Kyle Sanchez rocked up to his latest Extended PTQ with a Blue/Green Tron deck and high hopes of qualification. Sadly, things weren’t to be for him that day. Nevertheless, his performance sheds some interesting light on the matchups involved, and he presents his personal pick for the deck to run at any approaching PTQ…

The Kitchen Table #124 – A Casual Look at Online Programs

Read Abe Sargent every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 13th – Hello folks, and welcome back to the series that brings the casual acts to the stage. I am your producer, determining which acts are good enough to warrant some time in the limelight. Today I want to investigate the tools available to casual Magic players out there, including Apprentice and more.

Tribal Thriftiness #14 – That Old Ravnica Feeling

Read Dave Meeson every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 13th – With the revelation of Shadowmoor’s funky theme, Dave is pining for the fjords of Ravnica. Okay, there weren’t fjords in Ravnica, but Dave is still looking to play more than two colors in Standard one last time.

Chatter of the Squirrel – Bannings

Read Zac Hill every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 13th – The goal of this article is to articulate why a certain card should or should not be banned given a particular set of circumstances. I believe it’s useful to examine these situations because it provides a de facto gauge for the health of a given format, and also assists us as consumers of information in deciding whether we should waste time clamoring over something that may or may not actually be bad for Magic in the first place.

Peebles Primers – Standard Faeries in the Modern Metagame

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 12th – With the results from Gran Prix: Shizouka in the books, it appears that there’s a new king: Blue/Black Faeries. With a favorable matchup against the major players, including the old king Red/Green Big Mana, the entertaining Reveillark combo, and the popular Black/Green Elves, the flittering faeriefolk are a serious force. Today, BPM takes a look at the GP-winning build, and walks us through the pertinent matchups, including the important mirror…

You Lika The Juice? – My Limited Skills

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 12th – Last week I detailed how I drove Adrian Sullivan’s beautiful Ferrari right into the ditch, and afterwards jumped into a draft, in which I did pretty well. I don’t talk about Limited much here because a) I don’t do it often, b) I’m not all that good at it, and c) I have a lot more fun building Constructed decks. Still, I do enjoy the occasional Limited games, so I wanted to let you all know how it went and elicit any advice from those of you out there who are much better at the format than I.

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #217 – Three Year Anniversary

Read Peter Jahn... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 12th – It was almost exactly three years ago that I first started to play Magic Online. MTGO has been a huge part of my Magic ever since. Given that it is an anniversary – and that other things are also seeming to repeat – it seems like a good time for a retrospective.

Limited Lessons – A Lorwyn/Lorwyn/Morningtide Draft Walkthrough

Read Nick Eisel... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 11th – Drafting with Morningtide is now available on Magic Online, every other day at least. In celebration, Nick brings us a Lor/Lor/Mor Draft walkthrough, and demonstrates how remaining flexible in the early stages of the draft can reap considerable rewards later…

Arcane Teachings – Magic Online, Live Play, and You

Read Tom LaPille every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 11th – Magic Online: a blessing and a curse. Testing and drafting on MTGO can be a fantastic experience when flowing smoothly… but throw a server crash in there, and we have tears and tantrums galore. Today’s Arcane Teachings sees Tom look at the strengths and weaknesses to online play from a self-improvement perspective, and argues that although the benefits are there, they maybe aren’t as tangible as it appears…

Deconstructing Constructed – The Impact of Grand Prix: Shizouka

Read Josh Silvestri every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 11th – Today I’ll be having a look at the fresh results from the Standard Grand Prix in Shizouka, hopefully giving us some insight into the Standard format a month before Pro Tour: Hollywood.

Removed From Game – Pro Report March ’08

Read Rich Hagon every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 11th – Join Rich Hagon as he sifts through the Pro data from Kuala Lumpur. Who’s up, who’s down, who might be heading for Player of the Year Contention, and who might be heading for the exit… it’s all here.

Insert Column Name Here – Robbing Peter

Read The Ferrett every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, March 10th – So I played Rock Band all weekend with some pals, staying up until five in the morning to live the high life by strumming a plastic ukelele. And now, bereft of sleep or good sense, I get possibly one of the most complex Sealed pools I’ve ever opened. What would you do with good cards scattered across the colors like this?

Innovations – Counterbalance-Flash in Vintage

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!Monday, March 10th – Patrick Chapin, it seems, is in love with Counterbalance. Not content with shaping the Extended metagame with Next Level Blue, or watching Threshold take the little Blue enchantment and run to the hills, The Innovator is determined to see it played in every format available. Today, he squeezes the Coldsnap control staple into Vintage Flash, with surprising and promising results…