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Deep Analysis – Trial By Fire: Kavu Justice

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Kavu Justice was a beatdown star in Time Spiral Block Constructed. Now we have the fresh meat that is Lorwyn to add to the mix, can we update the deck for a post-Krakow Standard metagame? Richard Feldman believes we can. He throws his deck against the best that the Grand Prix Top 8 had to offer, with surprising results…

Down And Dirty – The Kitakyuushuu 10

Read Kyle Sanchez every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Today’s Down And Dirty sees Kyle tackle ten points of Magic miscellany that have tickled he fancy this past week. He questions the validity of to amateur prizes in Grand Prix tournaments, brings us the truth about Kenji’s vicious powers of mental domination, and shares a Blue/Green deck that could make quite a splash in the new Standard metagame…

The Kitchen Table #207 – How to Win While Rare Drafting

Read Abe Sargent every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all done it. Yes, today’s Kitchen Table article takes a trip up from the Casual slot to the Strategy roster, as it touches on that most controversial of Limited strategies, the Rare Draft. Abe, a self-confessed Rare Drafter, takes us through the strategies behind his success, and shows us how we can win even if we’re giving up the first few picks each pack…

Feature Article – Subject, Plz

Talen Lee, never one to use one word where four thousand will do, escapes from his handler and returns to the keyboard long enough to try and come up with something interesting to say, touching on a handful of topics along the way. Oh, and there’s yet more talk about Evan Erwin. Oo, Drama.

[Editor’s Note – Chris Romeo is having a week off… he’ll be back next Thursday!]

Feature Article – Redefining a Moniker, Part 1

If you’re like me, you’ve gone through various stages in your Magic career. You likely started out as a random scrub, impressed by the power of a Dragon Whelp but willing to trade it for some Jumps. Gradually you fine-tuned the rules and became more competitive, until either all the local players left or you were happy where you were. In time, you also likely discovered that you had an affinity for a particular color or play style. In my case, the style was the mid-range U/G deck. Over the years since Fallen Empires, I found I had built far too many of these decks, and all those Walls of Blossoms and Ertai, Wizard Adepts were starting to run together. So I set myself a simple-sounding project…

[Editor’s Note: Mark Young is ALSO having a week off… he too will be back next Thursday!]

So Many Insane Plays – Building Your Own Standard

Read Stephen Menendian every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!Today’s So Many Insane Plays concentrates on two things. The first is a thorough breakdown of the Bring Your Own Standard format, played at this year’s Invitational. If Mark Rosewater has his way, this could be coming to a sanctioned tournament near you! Second, Stephen takes us through the rest of his Invitational experience, including the long awaited Vintage portion…

Peebles Primers – Elves in Triple Lorwyn

Click here for more info on Grand Prix Daytona Beach!
Another day, another tribal drafting guide for triple Lorwyn. While this particular race is popular in Standard, it seems that they’re falling from favor in Limited, at least according to the pros in the know. That said, you can’t deny then power of cards such as Imperious Perfect, Lys Alana Huntmaster, and Nath’s Elite. Benjamin Peebles-Mundy brings us the lowdown on the Green/Black Elves archetype, bringing out the pointy-eared freak in us all…

Chatter of the Squirrel – A Lesson From Sealed Deck

Read Zac Hill every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
As of late I’ve notice myself slipping into a bad habit, and I don’t like it. It makes me uncomfortable. It’s a habit I see a lot of people doing from the early stages of a tournament up until the very final round, and for several years I successfully ridded its pernicious presence from my mind. Over the past couple of months, though, it’s crept back, whispering into my ear in the middle of a game, pulling at my concentration in between rounds, lurking. What is it?

Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #203: – A Magical Weekend

Read Peter Jahn... at StarCityGames.com!
Last weekend I went from the newest format to the oldest, and back again. Both went pretty well. The old stuff: I judged the StarCityGames.com Vintage event in Chicago. The new stuff: drafting Lorwyn online. I’ve got some comments, some observations and some anecdotes. Enjoy – I did.

You Lika The Juice? – The Amateur Spark (and the Problem with City Champs)

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Last week I was reading various articles on Lorwyn Limited in order to bone up for my first foray into LOR draft at FNM, so of course I checked out Nick Eisel’s Limited Lessons columns on this here site here. In his first article on Lorwyn (Approaching Lorwyn) there was a paragraph he wrote that really got under my skin…

Sullivan Library – One

Read Adrian Sullivan every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do… and singleton cards in Constructed Magic can seem very lonely indeed. Today’s Sullivan Library examines the theory behind including one-of cards in your ultra-honed sixty-card machine. By defining the roles such inclusions need to play, we can refine our choices and increase our chances of tournament success.

Limited Lessons – A Lorwyn Draft Walkthrough

Click here for more info on Grand Prix Daytona Beach!
Lorwyn Drafts on Magic Online are now in full swing… well, half swing at least. Despite the downtime and the hideous lag, Nick has managed to compile a few drafts for walkthroughs. Today’s walkthrough contains a number of tricky decisions, and highlights the importance of rating cards for both power and tribal concerns…

Deconstructing Constructed – Faeries Versus Control

Read Josh Silvestri every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Hello and welcome to another article about those lovable Blue miscreants, the Faerie tribe. Today I’ll be going over the general matches, tips, and some testing results against the top three control decks from GP: Krakow: Mono Blue Guile, UW Pickles and UB Mannequin. I’ve received a number of e-mails asking for match advice, and some general questions on how the deck holds up against Pickles-esque decks, so instead of answering each individually it seemed easier to do it all at once.

Removed From Game – Drafting and Drafting and Drafting and Drafting With Rich

Read Rich Hagon every week... at StarCityGames.com!
It turns out that given a theoretically unlimited supply of boosters, starters, and tix, the only thing stopping you playing MODO 24/7 is stamina, and servers. With a little bit of downtime for both, join Rich on an epic journey through online Magicland as he Drafts… and Drafts… and Drafts… and occasionally enters a Premier Event for artistic licence purposes. It’s Drafting With Rich, but a Rich with 400 fewer ranking points than the last one…

Insert Column Name Here – The Power Of Lammastide Weave

Read The Ferrett every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!The Ferrett gets a sturdy card pool this time around, with a lot of bombs… And for once, he builds it correctly! (Or hey, at least correctly enough to do well in the actual tournament.) Take a look at the sheer power inherent in the system!