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The Kitchen Table #168 — Portal Revisited

Read Abe Sargent... every Thursday at
StarCityGames.com!Abe takes us through the personalities that appear in Portal Three Kingdoms, and highlights a host of fine casual all-stars for your next multiplayer melee. Having trouble distinguishing your Zhang Liao from your Zhang Jiao, or your Lu Bei from your Lu Bu? Abe can help!

Chatter of the Squirrel — Examining Extended

After failing to make Day 2 at Pro Tour: Geneva, Zac returns to the Constructed game, with an eye on qualification for Yokohama. Today’s Chatter of the Squirrel concludes the Razormane Masticore / Triskelavus debate, and takes a fresh look at a couple of powerful Extended decks that have posted Top 8 results.

Tact of Friction — Clamoring For Bannings

Whenever a new set comes out, a crop of idiots — generally speaking — will come out and claim that several cards in the set need to be banned. Without Fail. I kid you not, we had people saying this about Coldsnap and Guildpact. This is working on the John Edwards model: You can guess wrong as many times as you like, provided you really make a noise about when you guess right.

Feature Article – U/W Control in Extended

Kenji Tsumura, one of the greatest players ever to pick up a card, brings us his take on the Extended metagame. Pro Tour Qualifier season is in full swing, and Kenji’s take on U/W Control looks strong enough to capture the Blue Envelope time and time again. Is this the build that will take you to Pro Tour glory? Read on to find out!

Legacy Unlocked – Continued Explorations of Tier 1.5

In this article, Dan surveys 4-color Landstill and the Ill-Gotten Gains-based storm combo deck “IGGy Pop” in Legacy, concluding with an interview with the inventor of Angel Stompy, Patrick Maeder, better known around the Internet as GodzillA.

Pro Perspective – Picking Up Points at Pro Tour: Geneva *33rd*

Pro Tour: Geneva was Raphael Levy’s fiftieth consecutive Pro Tour appearence. Unfortunately for Raph, he failed to set the world alight and make Top 8… however, his solid money finish was an admirable start to his personal quest for Player of the Year. In this illuminating article, Raph takes us through the thorny choices he made in each of his five TTP drafts, and gives us an overview of his entire performance.

Ask The Drama — Musings on Extended

With Jeroen Remie returning to PTQ play, the Ask The Drama talk this week concentrates on Extended. Mr Remie talks about the stronger cards in the format, the proper place for Destructive Flow, whether Extirpate will hate out the graveyard-based decks, and the future for Boros Deck Wins. For those players out there with no Extended aspirations, Jeroen takes a look at some troublesome draft decks, and imparts a hefty dose of Limited wisdom.

Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #44

Rich continues his excellent series of Time Spiral Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!

Magic Online Musings – This Week on MTGO #48

Read The Blisterguy... every Wednesday at
StarCityGames.com!

Blisterguy brings us the peaks and troughs of the Magic Online Standard and Extended Premier Event metagame. Sadly, it’s blisterguy’s last article for the Magic Online Musings column… he explains why within. Plus, there’s a few words from the New Guy, who’ll be taking over from next Wednesday. Intrigued? Then read on!

Deconstructing Constructed – Snapshot of a PTQ Metagame

Josh under-performed at his Extended PTQ this past weekend… even so, the insight he gained from a 150-person tournament is invaluable for those with PTQs still to attend. Today’s Deconstructing Constructed takes a look at the most popular decks that appeared that day, and brings us an interesting look at the undervalued Locket Combo deck…

Magic Grab Bag #5 – Invading Judgment

Rivien has a crack at creating a precon deck, and comes up with a spicy mono-Green number capable of creating an army of unstoppable monsters! He also touches upon the cost of older cards on Magic Online, what it means to the online metagame, and urges everyone to make their voices of dissension heard!

The Combat Phase — Extended Green, Tribal Elves, and Global Warming

Beast Attack, Jamie’s pet Mono-Green Extended deck, continues to bring the online beats… powered by Greenseeker, of all things. Is this deck viable? Can it smash all comers at your PTQ? Is Jamie an underground deckbuilding genius? The jury is out on those questions, but one thing is certain… Mr Wakefield’s writing rocks our socks.

Deep Analysis – Tenacious Tron, Start to Finish

For his fiftieth article, Richard Feldman reflects on the process of creation both he and test-partner Zac Hill underwent in the creation of their popular four-Chalice Tenacious Tron U/W Extended deck. He explains the genesis of the deck, shares every step of the design process, and takes us through a pair of strong PTQ performances. Thanks for the first fifty, Richard… here’s to the next fifty!

Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #43

Rich continues his excellent series of Time Spiral Draft walkthroughs, presenting each pick as it happened and highlighting each card chosen. He shares his final decklist, and gives us a brief overview of his results and processes. As usual, for more detailed draft deconstruction, come visit us in the forums!

From Right Field – A Million Little Pieces

Read Chris Romeo... every Tuesday at
StarCityGames.com!

The wonderful thing about Slivers is Slivers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs. Apparently. Today’s From Right Field has a sliver of Slivers running right though it. Looking to beat down with Magic’s version of the Borg? Look no further!