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Feature Article — Deckbuilding 101

Read Feature Articles every Monday and Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Stuart Wright, one of the UK’s premier Deckbuilding minds, brings us an intriguing look into the art, and science, of high-level deckbuilding. He highlights some of the common pitfalls that deckbuilders make when polishing their elite seventy-five, and walks us through his thought processes in the creation of his 6-0 Worlds Extended deck, G/R/B Destructive Flow. If you’re interested in taking your deckbuilding skills to the next level, this is the article for you!

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Deep Analysis – Bringing the Beats in Extended

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Pro Tour: Valencia looms large in the schedules, and Extended is the format that all the cool kids love to play. Today’s Deep Analysis begins what promises to be an exciting series — in preparation for the PT, Zac Hill and Richard Feldman promise to share their testing process to a degree never before seen. Richard begins this week with a look at the Aggro decks in the format… and, in particular, the impact on the metagame of a certain Little Lhurgoyf That Could.

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From Right Field – Out and About

Read Chris Romeo every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
I finally got out of the house on a Saturday and played actual, honest-to-goodness tournament Magic against real human beings who sat across from, beside, and diagonal to me. I wanted to commemorate this occasion with a tournament report worthy of our own Jamie Wakefield, King of the Fatties, Conqueror of Beautiful Women from Exotic Places and Exotic Women from Beautiful Places, Tournament Report Writer Extraordinaire. I will probably fail, but at least I’ll have tried.

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The Beautiful Struggle – Sun Tzu and You

Read Mark Young every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
If you’ve heard of The Art of War (the book, not the crappy Wesley Snipes movie), then I’m sure I’m not the first person to tell you that many of its lessons apply in all of life. As it went for turn-of-the-millennium Chinese war, so it goes in modern war, business, sports, romance… and, since this is a Magic strategy website, you can bet that it also applies to Magic.

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The Kitchen Table #197 — No Rares Allowed: 200 of the Best Casual Cards (#200 – #151)

Read Abe Sargent every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
I have written about hundreds of decks over the years. There are some cards I come back to again and again as a deckbuilder. I decided to pull out the best, most unusual cards that are not typically in such lists, and bring them together. This will exclude cards like Swords to Plowshares or Flametongue Kavu in favor of other cards. I also decided to focus solely on non-rares, and instead investigate other commons and uncommons.

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So Many Insane Plays — Drafting With Stephen

Read Stephen Menendian every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
No, you’ve not misread the title… today’s So Many Insane Plays is indeed Drafting With Stephen. However, this is no mere TPF or XXX draft. It’s Type Four, one of the most fun and powerful ways to play Magic ever created! Stephen takes us through each pick from a powerful Type Four stack, alongside the creators of the format itself, and brings us an illicit peek into the strategy behind this wild and popular game variant.

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Peebles Primers — Black/Green Rack

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
The results from the German and Japanese National Championships are in… and it appears that Black/Green Rack is the current deck to beat. It won the whole thing in Japan, placed in the final in Germany, and propelled others to multiple Top 8 berths. Benjamin Peebles-Mundy looks at the development of the deck from Regionals to Nationals success, and gives us a handy strategic guide for toppling other key players in today’s Standard metagame.

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #193 – Not That Kind of Judge!

Read Peter Jahn... at StarCityGames.com!
A lot of players, many forum trolls, and some judges have a lot of misconceptions about what Magic judges are, and what their job is. I want to talk about that a little — about what a judge should do, and should not do. I’ll also look at issues like burden of proof and judicial certainty – and explain why they don’t apply to judging Magic. I’ll also throw out a couple scenarios, to illustrate how these principles apply.

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You Lika The Juice? – Liliana & EDH

Read Bennie Smith every week... at StarCityGames.com!You’ve got Liliana Vess in the car with you, this hot, demonic babe whom you can fool around with a little bit right off the bat and have some fun. Sadly, you can’t score right away… you’ve got to give Liliana what she wants, whisper sweet nothings (target player discards a card), tell her you love her (target player discards a card), buy her dinner (target player discards a card), get her some jewelry (target player discards a card), tell her that you’ll love her ‘til the end of time (target player discards a card).

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Sullivan Library – Benchmarks

Read Adrian Sullivan every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
He’s been supplying excellent Feature Articles week in and week out for quite some time now… and today, he debuts his weekly column (in place of the study-bound Prof). Adrian Sullivan is one of the finest deckbuilders and theorists in the game, and this week he takes a look at the coming Standard rotation. With Lorwyn still a foreign country, what preparation can we make for the sad departure of Ravnica?

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Limited Lessons — Drafting UB in Time Spiral

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Nick takes a break from his excellent Draft Situation series in order to bring us the lowdown on the fun and powerful U/B Control archetype in Time Spiral Draft. He takes us through the more powerful commons on offer for this archetype, and brings us a couple of interesting decklists that can be used as templates for success. Lorwyn is coming, and TPF is losing its shine… so if you’re looking at drafting something as little different, this is the article for you!

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Deconstructing Constructed — Unlocking Vintage

Read Josh Silvestri every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Right now, the Vintage metagame is an odd anomaly when you look at it from a competitive point of view. On one hand, the best players are winning and making Top 8s at all the decent sized and major Vintage tournaments over the last few months. On the other hand, part of this is because a substantial chunk of the metagame is playing decks that don’t maximize their chances to win. I’m reasonably sure the only four decks that should be seeing play are GAT, Flash, Ichorid, and Stax.

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Removed From Game — More Bang For Your Buck

Read Rich Hagon every week... at StarCityGames.com!
In today’s only Charles Dickens reference here on StarCityGames.com, it’s time to go all Scrooge-like with Rich Hagon, as he starts to explore ways to get the best value out of your cards. Now’s your chance to learn all about Snooker Draft, Triple Sealed, The Joys Of Saturday, Hunger Pangs, and much more. It’s time to get More Bang For Your Buck.

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Feature Article — Fabiano at U.S. Nationals

Read Feature Articles every Monday and Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
He placed third in the Storyteller Ballot for this year’s Invitational, but he was the choice of many a pro player. His stories are, if you believe all you read, a work of genius. He’s fun, frivolous, and fiery… and he plays a mean game of Magic to boot. Gerard’s debut article takes us through his personal 5-2 performance at in the Standard portion of this year’s U.S. Nationals. Welcome aboard Gerard!

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Innovations – Extended Decklists and the Metagame to Come

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
Time Spiral Block Constructed season is winding to a close, and it’s time to move to Constructed pastures new. Traditionally, Block Constructed is the least powerful of the sixty-card formats. Patrick Chapin has a decent antidote to this low-level play… Extended! With Pro Tour: Valencia looming large, the Innovator brings us his personal take on the current Extended metagame, with decklists, PLAY tips, and predictions galore!

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