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Unlocking Legacy #1 – The Building Blocks of Legacy

In order to bring you more content, and to expand the host of fine writers we have here at StarCityGames.com, we’re pround to announce that, from today, we’re mirroring our Premium “floating” articles with a free article in the same design! Today’s offering comes from Legacy writer Chris Coppola. Here’s what he has to say on his article:

In this article, I draw on my experience as a Legacy deckbuilder and player and discuss the foundational cards of the format. I also emphasize the importance of creative deckbuilding and suggest some methods for creating new decks.

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Levelling Up – The Role of Luck

Tiago’s mission these past few weeks involved breaking down the factors of a Magic player’s success. So far, he’s isolated the importance of Playskill, and the vital Deck Choice conundrum. Today is the turn of that most ephemeral of factors… Luck. We know that Luck plays a role in Magic, but how can we quantify its involvement? More importantly, how can we court The Lady and increase our success rate?

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Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #39

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!

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Magic Online Musings – This Week on MTGO #46

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

This week’s foray into the digital realm sees blisterguy take a stroll through the gardens of Planar Chaos. What are the hot electronic cards you should buy by the dozen? There’s also the Premier Event Top 8 data for both Standard and Extended, and the card price analysis that we’ve all come to know and love…

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Deconstructing Constructed – Hitting the Wall: Boros Deck Wins Revisited

Despite taking the lion’s share of the metagame at Worlds 2006, Boros Deck Wins hasn’t exactly been living up to its name. Is this deck really and Extended powerhouse that all should fear? Josh spills his guts on his own personal four-color Boros build, armed with Armadillo Cloaks and Kird Apes and Vindicates, oh my! In the face of ridiculous and unfair decks such as TEPS, is Boros Deck Scrapes Into The Quarters Before Being Battered By A Real Deck still a prime contender for the Blue Envelope?

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Ask The Drama – Curse You, Mike Flores! More Questions on The Rock

After fielding a multitude of questions on The Rock, Jeroen “Rock Master” Remie happily thought the subject was done… Then Mike Flores produced the powerful “Flores Rocks” Rock deck for Extended, and the questions began anew. Today’s Ask The Drama looks at the Flores Rock deck, and Jeroen answers many questions regarding its viability in the exciting Extended metagame. Submit your questions to [email protected], but please… lay off The Rock questions. The vein in Jeroen’s temple is throbbing, fit to burst. It’s only a matter of time before he turns green and goes all “Remie Smash” on us…

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Pro Perspective – Drafting Blue With Planar Chaos

In triple Time Spiral, it’s clear that the paving stones on the Road to Success are tinted Blue. The color of Islands is the color of choice for anyone serious about posting a 3-0 draft record. Today’s Pro Perspective takes a look at the Blue cards from Planar Chaos, and examines their exact role in the four two-color Blue draft archetypes. With each common discussed and dissected, and each archetype sporting a comprehensive common pick order, Raph opens the door for anyone looking to gain that vital edge in TTP drafts, just in time for Pro Tour: Geneva…

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Magic Grab Bag #3 – Deadeye

We’re back, and this time we’re going to do things right. I’m shifting the column around a little bit, and I think this should help in the future. Since I never learned how to shut up, I’m going to start each week with a mini-“issues” piece (or several really mini ones), and then carry on to the decklist. How is this different from the first two Grab Bags? This time, I’m doing it intentionally.

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The Combat Phase – Beast Attack!

Jamie has been kicking ass and taking names in the Online 8-man Extended queues, piloting a rogue deck that loves making instant speed 4/4 monsters. It this entertaining article, he explains his outlook on deckbuilding with a look back at some of his past successes, and regails us all with the usual fare of Wakefieldian wit and humor.

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Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #38

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!

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From Right Field – Cheap Boros is Werry, Werry, Werry Rewardink

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

Chris continues his Budget Boros exploration with a foray into the Tournament Practice room on Magic Online. He’s armed with a cheapified Red/White machine, and bolstered by the tweaks supplied by a myriad of forum dwellers. Can the frugal fighters take down all in their path?

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The Beautiful Struggle – Lost in the Shuffle

I am coming to you today with a shocking revelation: sometimes, Magic Online players do not draw enough lands. I know that this must be an unknown concept to you, since we all have drawn sufficient lands in every single game of paper Magic that we’ve ever played. However, I assure you that every time I log on to Magic Online, there are people who are complaining about this odd phenomenon, which has acquired the nickname “manascrew.”

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #163 – Silly Wizard, Green is for Kids

Back in 2002, I wrote an article ranting about how Blue got all the good spells and abilities, and how other colors, notably Green, got shafted. My point was that Wizards considers Blue the smart or clever color — and that means that Blue gets way more than its share of abilities and color “bleeds.” Now that Planar Chaos is out, it’s time to look at the data — because only data, not ranting, shows what actually happened.

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Deep Analysis – Tronnovation

Following on from last week’s “Big Mana Blue” article, Richard – with the aid of free columnist Zac Hill – brings us the latest innovation in Extended U/W Tron decks. According to Richard and Zac, this is the best deck in the format… and they have the results to prove it. Today’s article sees Richard explain the game-plan of this deck, and he delves deep into the reasons behind the choices made for this build. For more on the deck, be sure to tune in to Zac’s article on Thursday!

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Limited Lessons – Draft Archetype Updates in Planar Chaos

Nick Eisel has now played – and won – a fair number of TTP Drafts (Time Spiral / Time Spiral / Planar Chaos). Of course, he’s picked up a few tricks along the way. Today’s Limited Lessons sees Mr Eisel share his thoughts on the ever-popular Green/Red archetype, plus some new ideas on the up-and-coming Green/Blue color pairing. Is this traditionally tempo-reliant pairing really the new aggro weapon of choice?

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