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Magical Hack — Crisis on Infinite Dominarias!

Read Sean McKeown... every Friday at StarCityGames.com!
With the prerelease of Planar Chaos tomorrow, figuring out what is going to be what with Time Spiral — Planar Chaos Limited is something everyone is already chomping at the bit to do. Time Spiral was an enormous puzzle, an enigma of unknown quantities prior to its release… and following hot on its heels is an enigma wrapped around a riddle stuffed inside a booster pack, because Time Spiral showed that there were no sacred cows and anything could happen… and what happens when you crank that up a notch? Chaos!

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Innovator.dec – Got Hate?

Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin brings us a strange Vintage concoction… one that targets the expected metagame and smashes it to pieces. According to Patrick, the deck destroys anything ever created by our own Stephen Menendian. Whether Stephen agrees is, of course, up for debate, but with a matchup guide and sideboarding plans for matches against all the major players in the Vintage metagame, this is a deck you cannot ignore.

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Exploring Desire in Extended

For his first article for StarCityGames.com, John Fiorillo takes a look at Extended’s most successful Combo deck – The Extended Perfect Storm, or TEPS for short. As a self-confessed Combo Junkie, John loves the deck… and his tips may be the link you need to gain success at your next Pro Tour Qualifier. Planning on running Boros Deck Wins? Never fear… John has some words of wisdom for you too.

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Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #30

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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The Kitchen Table #164: The Complete Equinaut Primer

Read Abe Sargent... every Thursday at StarCityGames.com!

Equinaut is one of my most enduring creations. I’ve written about it several times and received tons of positive feedback, so its time for that one final primer that will give you everything you need to know to play and build your own Equinaut.

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Chatter of the Squirrel – Extended Musings

Apparently, I am one of the lucky ones to have shotgunned a position for a weekly in time to actually get one. While in many ways this is akin to saying, “I’m one of the lucky ones to have shotgunned a position in the eighth-annual Beale Street Bleach Drinking Extravaganza,” it does mean that at least until I resume my usual slacklerly tendencies (which will probably be in and around Tuesday of next week) I get to wax melodramatic about the present Extended season.

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Tact or Friction – The Problem With Planar Chaos

Eventually, someone’s going to notice that I’m being published on a Magic site. That’s going to be a bit awkward, given how I’ve been drifting away from the game since Time Spiral’s release. The good news is, the Mother Ship keeps deploying questions that I can answer, trumping up my forum responses to look like actual articles. They have the added virtue of being Magic-related.

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Levelling Up – Playtesting to Perfection

In this enlightening article, Level 6 Mage Tiago Chan reveals his personal playtesting system, which has powered him from PTQ regular to (arguably) the strongest and most consistent player in the world. He shares his preparation techniques, plus advice and tips picked up from testing sessions with Frank Karsten. Playtesting is a skill at which we could all do with some pointers… Tiago shows us the path to PTQ success.

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The Pro Perspective – Reflex Versus Automatism

Raphael begins his weekly column with a detailed examination of how to improve our Magic play. His intricate theories look at how our mind works in relation to the World’s Greatest Game, and his conclusions may be surprising… in order to excel at Magic, is the key to play less than we do? This is a fantastic article, and one that all aspiring Pro Tour players should read.

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Ask The Drama – Beating The Decks That Beat The Metagame

Jeroen’s back, with a new column title for the New Year! As before, he answers reader-posed questions with candor and fun. Today’s batch of posers include how to get the edge in the Extended metagame – just how do you beat the Boros deck that’s teched-out to beat Boros? Jeroen also lets fly with his opinions of Planar Chaos… and as usual, he pulls no punches. If you have a question for Jeroen, send them to [email protected]!

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Drafting With Rich – Time Spiral #29

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 #44

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

Going Infinite is the Holy Grail of Magic Online players the world over. How is it possible, in a game with a high luck element such as ours, for a player to be totally self-sufficient in the pack department? Blisterguy looks at a number of ways that it could be achieved, and examines the viability of each. All this plus the Extended and Standard MTGO Premier Event metagame data!

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Deconstructing Constructed – Exploring Extended: I Need Therapy

The Extended Pro Tour Qualifiers continue apace, and many of us are trawling the sites for the top tech that’ll bring home the Blue Envelope. Today, Josh brings us a fascinating look at the role of the many faces of B/W discard in the format. It’s true that discard is one of the stronger strategies available… so how can we maximise its strength?

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Magic Grab Bag #1 – When Lands Attack!

For his first Featured Writer column, Rivien brings us an interesting Standard deck that abuses land in a variety of different ways. While unlikely to kick down the doors of high-level tournament play, it contains a sackful of synergy and a pocketful of fun…

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The Combat Phase – All In: Mono-Green in Standard

Today sees the return of the incomparable Jamie Wakefield, in the first of his weekly columns here at StarCityGames.com. And what better way for Jamie to begin than with a long look at the state of Mono-Green Aggro in Standard? Jamie shares his latest Green beatdown machine, waxes lyrical about the health of the current Standard format, and shares stories with his usual wit and vigor. Mr Wakefield, it’s great to have you back!

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