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Magic Puzzles — The Metapuzzle

Welcome back, puzzle fans! This issue I have something special planned for you. Today I bring you one of my favorite concepts: the puzzle within a puzzle. The first puzzle (a.k.a. the metapuzzle) is very straightforward. I will present you with twelve groups of three cards, and for each group you tell me which card comes next in the sequence or is missing from the group. I will even make the quiz multiple choice. The underlying puzzle, though, you’re going to have to figure out on your own…

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Removed From Game — Moonbase Alpha

Read Rich Hagon every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Not so much Back to The Future, more Back to The Past, as Rich Hagon takes a wry look at the set that started it all way back in 1993. Weird rules, some of the best and worst cards in the history of the game, awesome artwork, it’s all here. Plus the easiest Magic card to recreate, the perfect card to turn up as at a fancy dress party, some Lorwyn speculation, and more.

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Feature Article — Paskins on Constructed

Read Feature Articles every Monday and Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Craig “The Professor” Jones recently took the Great British National Championship with an aggressive base-Red deck. Behind the scenes of this success sits Dan Paskins, who helped Prof along the way. Today he shares his wisdom with us all. For your entertainment and delectation, here are ten short snippets of strategy or stories, from fire magic, to summoning Elves, to the strongest deck in Standard, to a new (and banned) deck for Legacy.

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Innovations – U.S. Nationals Tournament Report *19th* Part 1: Preparation

Read Patrick Chapin every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
After rocking his Regionals with Korlash Control, Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin wanted a similar fish to take him upstream towards U.S. Nationals Top 8 success. After much debate and discussion with some of the top theorists and players in the game, he settled on an interesting control variant that harnessed the power of both Korlash and Tarmogoyf. It served him well, and almost took him to the very top. Today’s article looks at his preparation for the event, and brings us a new Standard control deck for those looking for top tech.

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Drafting With Kenji – TPF #1

Richie Hoaen, our resident draft expert for many a month, has decided to hang up his boots… and in his place we’re proud to announce Kenji Tsumura! As before, Kenji will take us through a Time Spiral draft from pick 1 to pick 45, before sharing his draft deck and commenting briefly on the games. Thanks for the great run, Rich, we’ll miss you… and hello Kenji!

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Down and Dirty – A Stroll By The Harbor… Live Free or Nats Hard

Read Kyle Sanchez every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!
I really like Aethermage’s Touch. It won me several game 1s that I couldn’t have possibly won otherwise. That said, a lot of people don’t like it, and I don’t exactly know why. Sure, you will miss somewhere around 10-15% of the time, but it is such a blowout card that can be used to make their Remands much less efficent. There aren’t any instants that actually do something when you don’t have a creature in this deck, and Touch gives you more options to combat the various permission strategies.

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Building Box Draft – Ever Ready For Summer Doldrums

It’s summer time for the majority of the world, and with Tenth Edition out and some of the most prominent Nationals wrapped up, most players are taking time hammering out the new Standard format or getting their Tenth Edition Limited on. Tenth Edition is a fine set to draft with, but it’s a little too straightforward for some. Box Draft is a fine way to break the tedium. It’s a great way to spend some time without dropping a ton of cash.

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Flores Friday – Two Formats, Three Decks

Read Mike Flores every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
It’s the weekend, so that means one thing: Flores Friday. Today’s offering from Mike showcases a plethora of practical information on the relevant formats, from the front lines. He shares his U.S. Grinders decklist, and Osyp’s Nationals deck, before bringing us what he claims to be the best deck in Time Spiral Block Constructed by far… and he didn’t design it! Intrigued? Then read on…

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Levelling Up – Opening the Draft Box

Read Tiago Chan every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Tiago turns his back on Constructed for this week’s Levelling Up… instead, taking advantage of the Nix Tix events on Magic Online, the Portuguese maestro powers through sixteen 8-4 TPF Drafts, and shares his thoughs on the color combinations and the format as a whole. This is an excellent overview article for those of us who find themselves floudering in the forty-card format… Enjoy!

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The Magic Show #55 — Issues vol. 2

Watch Evan Erwin every Friday... on StarCityGames.com!
Hello everybody, and welcome to another Issues article. Today sees Evan rant long and hard about the quietness of August, the shoddiness of the Magic Online Version 3 Beta, the ridiculousness of the cult of Magic celebrity, and the awesomeness of Kenji Tsumura. Enjoy!

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Not Magical Hack — An Eye on Constructed

Read Sean McKeown every Friday... at StarCityGames.com!
Sean is taking a brief vacation from writing Magical Hack. We’ve got a few interesting submissions lined up for the next few weeks: a few old faces you’ll be glad to see stop in and say hello, and a few new faces you’ll be meeting for the first time. Today is one such new face – Ryan Paprocki. He takes a look at both Standard and Block Constructed, and raises a few questions about their various metagames.

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Feature Article – Sullivan Library: Reach, and Explaining the Demise of White/Green

Read Feature Articles every Monday and Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
The Time Spiral Block Constructed metagame is constantly evolving. Early in the season, it seemed that White/Green Tarmogoyf would conquer all — it certainly relegated Mono-Red to the “Where Are They Now” pile. However, the control decks reacted to the beatdown threat and ascended to the top of then heap once more. So why did the beatdown die? Adrian examines the necessity of reach in an Aggro deck, and offers some solutions to those determined to swing for the win.

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Deep Analysis — U/B Teachings Play-by-Play

Read Richard Feldman every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Today’s Deep Analysis sees Richard “U/B Control” Feldman continues in his rich vein of form as he tackles one of the more intriguing matchups in Time Spiral Block Constructed: U/B Teachings versus Adrian Sullivan’s Baron Harkonnen deck. With aggressive decks slowly fading into the metagame background, Control on Control is the one match you need to crack in order to capture the blue envelope. Let Richard show you how!

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From Right Field – Staples from Kjeldor and Beyond

Read Chris Romeo every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Today’s From Right Field sees Chris return to familiar ground: he updates his Staple Rare list to include both Coldsnap and Tenth Edition. As both sets have a huge number of possible Constructed powerhouses, and both sets will be around for many moths to come, should you be saving for those Sunscours and hoarding for those Haakons? Let Chris lead the way!

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Unlocking Legacy – Scepter Chant

Read Legacy articles every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Kevin presents the deck he believes is the best choice for the upcoming Legacy championships. He’s been tuning a combo-control deck for over five months, and he’s finally ready to share the results…

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