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The Kitchen Table #186 — Building Your First Five, TNG: Volume Four, Girding Your Deck

Read Abe Sargent every Thursday... at StarCityGames.com!
Happy Thursday to you all! Welcome back to the next installment in the updated Building Your First Five series. This is the fourth entry in the series. The previous series took five articles to get the final decklist finished, and then there were several articles on the restricted list, showing how to upgrade a deck, and then an article on miscellany. I intend this series to go to five articles, like the original.

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So Many Insane Plays — The Mean Deck Solution to the Vintage Metagame

Read Stephen Menendian every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Stephen christens his new Wednesday slot with another powerful Vintage deck that attempts to answer the difficult questions posed by the current Vintage metagame. By speeding out some of the most broken cards in the history of Magic, this deck definitely succeeds at its brief. In fact, it propelled two lucky punters to the Top 8 of the latest SCG P9 Vintage event! If you’re looking for the cutting edge of Vintage technology, look no further.

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Peebles Primers — Picking a Deck

Read Benjamin Peebles-Mundy every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Regionals has passed for another year, and Block Constructed season is just beginning… and today’s Peebles Primers has some handy hints on how to choose a deck for the coming Constructed battles. With the various sixty-card metagames offering a dazzling array of powerful options, are there strategies available to maximize your winning potential? BPM reveals all…

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Drafting With Rich – TPF #8

You all know the drill by now… Rich Hoaen, Canada’s finest and grumpiest draft export, takes us by the hand and drags us through the rollercoaster ride of an 8-4 TPF Draft on Magic Online. From pick 1 to pick 45, Rich shares them all, and his final deck and draft performance are analysed in the article, the forums, and beyond. Come join in the fun!

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Chatter of the Squirrel — Initiative

Read Zac Hill every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
I’m going to introduce a new theory today. I’ve found the theory both extremely useful and extremely easy to implement once you “get it.” It covers much, much more ground than I’m going to be able to spell out here, but hopefully once I supply the skeleton it shouldn’t be difficult to infer more logical extensions from the specific example I’ll be using. I’m calling it “initiative.”

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You Lika the Juice? – Regionals Sightseeing, Part I

Read Bennie Smith every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
In the wake of Regionals we will be/have already been bombarded by “the best” builds of all the well-known archetypes, and we’re seeing The New Face of Standard’s Tier 1 decks galore. What I’d like to do here is shine the spotlight on some decks that traveled off the beaten path, anything from an interesting variant on to a totally new creation, that performed well enough to make Top 8 and earn a spot on MagictheGathering.com, if not an invite to Nationals.

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #182 – Regionals Aftermath

Read Peter Jahn every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
I played at Northern Regionals. I took my modification of Josh Silvestri’s rework of Evan Erwin’s Glittering Control deck. My highlights included a turn 3 kill. The lowlights included a couple play errors that cost me Top 8. I’ve also included the Top 8 decklists, and a breakdown of all the Regionals Top 8 decks across the U.S. and the world. Enjoy.

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From The Lab – The Science of IDs and Concessions

Read Craig Jones every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Craig “The Professor” Jones migrates from his Friday hotspot to a more temperate Tuesday time-zone. In the first Tuesday edition of From The Lab, Prof tackles the ornery subject of Intentional Draws and Concessions. By applying some sound logic from the field of Behavioral Ecology, he attempts to put the debate to rest once and for all…

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Limited Lessons — A TPF Draft Walkthrough

Read Nick Eisel every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Nick kick-starts his new Tuesday slot with a comprehensive TPF 8-4 Draft walkthrough from Magic Online. While his final deck is packed with power, there are a number of very close picks, and Nick is still unsure that he made the right calls at certain times. Do you agree with all his choices? Come debate them in the forums!

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Drafting With Rich – TPF #7

You all know the drill by now… Rich Hoaen, Canada’s finest and grumpiest draft export, takes us by the hand and drags us through the rollercoaster ride of an 8-4 TPF Draft on Magic Online. From pick 1 to pick 45, Rich shares them all, and his final deck and draft performance are analysed in the article, the forums, and beyond. Come join in the fun!

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Deconstructing Constructed – Designing Decks

Read Josh Silvestri every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
I’ve always preferred making decks to playing decks. Something about the essence of crafting your own weapon to bash the other guy really pleases me. However, because I enjoy designing decks so much, it means I have many decks that go wrong, decks I have to discard because they just aren’t good enough. Over the years, I’ve developed a system to help me when I start work on the base of a deck, and to keep track of where I thought the deck was inferior to existing decks.

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Feature Article – Removed From Game: Because Asking Questions Is What I Do

Read new Free Feature Articles each Tuesday... only on StarCityGames.com!
It’s going to be a few weeks before Rich Hagon is back on our screens, with Tales from the Tour, Grand Prix Goodness, Nationals News, Regionals Rancidity, and Core Set Carnage. So, to keep you going, he’s left a few queries that need answering, Because Asking Questions…

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Tact or Friction — PS: Bits and Pieces

Read Talen Lee every Tuesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Talen’s column has moved from Thursday to Tuesday, and this has caused a little upheaval in the Lee household. Today’s offering is a selection of seemingly random thoughts and rants on a number of Magical subjects. Prismatic, R&D, Magic novels, Mike Flores, crap rares… Talen reveals all.

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Insert Column Name Here – Shaddap!

Read The Ferrett every Monday... at StarCityGames.com!This week, The Ferrett takes a break from Sealed discussion to talk about something that not enough Magic novices consider: Controlling information. There are a lot of articles devoted to giving yourself an edge at tournaments; this is a very basic primer on how not to hand your opponent the edge by mistake.

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Feature Article – Billy Plans

Read new Feature Articles each Monday and Thursday... only on StarCityGames.com!
Billy Moreno, one of the candidates for Resident Genius 2007, brings us the ideas and strategies behind a funky new Standard deck designed for Regionals. It’s a storm deck that runs five colors, and is capable of a number of ridiculous nut draws. BDM himself ran it at his Regionals, and it’s great fun to play. If you’re looking for something that’s both fun and competitive to play at your next Standard event, look no further!

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