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Magical Hack – Future Sight

Read Sean McKeown every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Friday, March 7th – While we could very easily focus upon Extended coming up on a week or so until Grand Prix: Philadelphia, I fear the benefits of a further analysis of the field and brainstorming up decklists isn’t the hot-button topic of the week for tournament play. Rather than focus on the now of Extended… or worse yet, continue the stream of Goblin-centric articles… I find it very interesting to look into the changes to Extended set rotation and how they will affect us for the immediate future.

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Deep Analysis – Enduring Ideal Indeed

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – Both Dredge and Enduring Ideal have been under fire from hate since the beginning of this PTQ season. While Dredge is still largely under fire, it seems the Ideal hate has dimmed in comparison. Today’s Deep Analysis sees Richard Feldman examining options available to the Ideal pilot. He asks whether the metagame is right for the deck… is it the ideal time for Ideal?

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Down And Dirty – Draco Dredged

Read Kyle Sanchez every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – In the current Extended metagame, there are a number of powerful strategies available to the discerning spellslinger. Perhaps the most powerful is Dredge, a turn 2 combo deck that has something like an 80% win percentage against the rest of the field… for game 1. Game 2 is trickier, as people bring their hate… but Kyle believes he’s fixed the problem…

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Tribal Thriftiness #13 – Shifty Underhanded Underpinnings

Read Dave Meeson every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – Finishing out with the last of the Tribal Equipment, Dave gets all covert under the protective blanket of Cloak and Dagger.

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The Kitchen Table #223 – High-Value Casual Cards II

Read Abe Sargent every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 6th – In my first High-Value Casual Cards article, written over two years ago, I outlined many high-value casual cards, and then I made predictions about the value of some of them. Today, two years later, I want to take a look at those predictions and see which came true, and with which I was wrong. Then, after being honest, you’ll have a gauge for my new predictions.

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Peebles Primers – Tournament Preparation

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 5th – A few weeks ago, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy powered into the Top 8 of the StarCityGames.com $5K Standard Open on the back of a Reveillark Combo deck. Today, BPM outlines his preparation before the event, including his deck selection process, deck-tweaking techniques, and advice for maintaining focus on the tournament floor…

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #216 – The SCG $5K Deck Breakdown

Read Peter Jahn... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 5th – I got all the decklists from the StarCityGames.com $5K tournament two weeks ago. It’s taken some time, but I managed to read and classify them all. You have seen the Top 16 lists. Here’s a complete breakdown. I have total numbers, percent making the Top 16, etc. I also have a number of decklists that were just plain interesting. If you are planning on playing Standard in the next couple of months, there is sure to be something to think about.

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You Lika the Juice? – Piloting a Ferrari at the PTQ

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Wednesday, March 5th – When last we left our hero – me – he was torn between varieties of mid-range G/B/x decks to play at the Richmond PTQ last Saturday. There was the strong allure of his homebrew Doran deck featuring the quick-kill potential of Tireless Tribe. There were also more stock versions floating around that presumably had more testing behind them and were more reliably “correct” in their build. Should he instead play one of those decks?

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Chatter of the Squirrel – Acquisition

Read Zac Hill every week... at StarCityGames.com!Wednesday, March 5th – Mark Rosewater just wrote an article explaining the process of “acquisition,” of expanding Magic’s player base and reaching out to people who have never heard of the game. We, the players, are essential to that process. This article will talk about some of the ways we can help out Wizards, and, by virtue of that, help ourselves.

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Limited Lessons – Dangers in Lorwyn/Lorwyn/Morningtide

Read Nick Eisel... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 4th – Morningtide has finally emerged into the light on Magic Online, and Lorwyn/Lorwyn/Morningtide drafts begin later this week. Today, Nick takes us through six of the more popular tribal archetypes and examines the tricks and traps each deck may spring. If you’re looking to maximize your online draft potential, look no further!

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Arcane Teachings – Under the Radar in Extended

Read Tom LaPille every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 4th – In his first Premium article, Tom LaPille examines the nature of being “under the radar” in the current Extended metagame. With so many options, and a plethora of powerful decks, how can we leverage our deck choice into those vital wins? Can we capitalize on the size of the format in order to run through the rounds without facing hate? Maybe we can… and Tom shows us how. [Editor’s Note: Adrian Sullivan will now run later in the week… so stay tuned!]

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Deconstructing Constructed – PTQing with the Goblins

Read Josh Silvestri every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 4th – I ended up playing Goblins again for my local PTQ, to which even showing up was a bit of a hurdle since just two days before I was hacking my guts all over the room. Being sick, I had no time to go get new cards, even thought I wanted to switch decks to G/B/W Hateorade for the expected field of UG Tron, Goblins, and Red Deck Wins…

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Removed from Game – Weird

Read Rich Hagon every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, March 4th – Inside the Kuala Lumpur Tournament Center. Inside The Booth. Inside Rich Hagon’s head. Yes, Rich Hagon’s head is the odd one out, because plenty of Magic players want to get into the other two. Join Rich for the 100% true tale of a very strange week in Malaysia. This article also features zero Extended decklists, all as part of the service.

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Insert Column Name Here – How Do You Draft When You Don’t Know The Cards?

Read The Ferrett every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, March 3rd – Drafting a new set is tough, but that’s not what I’m talking about. No, to make life interesting, my local store decided to hold the Lorwyn segment of my draft in Russian packs – not bad for the cards I know a lot, but what about those loopy rares? Plus, I learn a Very Important Lesson about a Morningtide card that I misunderestimated, and the first announcement of The Ferrett’s new (and sure to be overhyped) webcomic!

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MichaelJ Monday – Extended Mid-Season SWOT, Part 1

Read Mike Flores every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, March 3rd – In this rare Monday outing, Mike Flores performs an exhaustive SWOT analysis on a whopping twelve of the strongest Extended decks in the current metagame. He breaks down each archetype into Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, providing invaluable insight into the inner workings of these powerful builds. For anyone serious about the current PTQ season, this article is unmissable.

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