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The Folklore of Magic #16: “Poker” Slang and Geordie Tait

I recall the little debate that shook the forums here on StarCityGames after Evan Erwin wrote his Battle Royale Round 6: Live Nude Girls article. Geordie Tait, manly man that he is, leapt onto Erwin like Evan was a May bishop… All for the offence of misusing poker terminology in a Magic article. But despite that Evan was wrong, I still have a slight problem with Tait’s argument. It’s not that he’s made factual errors; it’s that he’s made theoretical ones.

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Hijackin’ the TARDIS

The Timeshifted cards read like a “who’s who” of star players from tried and tested decks. There is a heckuva lot of power sporting those natty purple expansion symbols, and anyone thinking they can just turn up to a Standard tournament in the next few months with a tweaked version of an existing archetype is going to be in for a nasty shock. That shock can be alleviated by actually indulging in some *shudder* history, and looking back at these decks might give some clues as to how the purple cards might impact the forthcoming Standard format.

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A Time Spiral Review for Vintage

Some point in the not too distant past it simultaneously dawned upon the Magic community that this game was going to be here for a lot longer than most of us ever expected. Long after every other fad – from the hula hoop to the pog – had faded into Americana novelty, Magic has continued to thrive. Building on the past is the theme of Time Spiral. And while set designers have mined Alpha for ideas since the earliest expansions, until Time Spiral we have never seen a set thematically centered on nostalgia. And nostalgia — or at least building upon the past — is what Vintage is all about. That’s why, good or not, Time Spiral is the first set review I’ve ever written for Vintage.

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #153: Timeshifted Cards and the Times They Shifted From, Part Two

Time Spiral has brought back a lot of old cards. Some had a glorious past. Some had flashes of greatness. Some are, well, Squire. We’ll ignore Squire, and look at the tournament history of the other Timeshifted cards instead. The question, of course, is whether any of these are going to make a comeback at States, or in Extended this fall.

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SCG Daily: Wreckin’ The Casual Room, Part 1

We’re going to take a dance through some old decks — casual decks — and see what the transition has brought. Now, there are going to be a lot of articles like this in the coming months. Untested, undeveloped, casual decks, that are basically all just showing the really aware what not to do. For the rest of us, there’s still some good to it, because how we’re going to screw up is as important as what we’re going to get right.

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The Weekly Shift Sift: Two Drafts You Meet In Heaven

Read The Ferrett... every Monday at StarCityGames.com!The Ferrett drove seven hours to go to the opening of the new Star City Game center, and discovered something so wonderful that he’d gush about it even if he wasn’t employed by StarCityGames.com! But while he was there, he got in a pair of drafts where he got a crap deck and a good deck, and won with the wrong one.

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Either Mirari Breaks Or I Do: Mirari In Standard

While many people out there prefer beatdown, control, midrange, or something else, I prefer something degenerate. I don’t care if it is a degenerate beatdown deck (Affinity), control deck (Psychatog) or combo (Trix), I simply want it to be the least fair deck possible. I want to cheat as much as the rules will allow me to. And the one card that jumped out at me as being cheatastic was Mirari.

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Grape Nuts, Flag Burner, and Turbo Balance: The World of Non-Firemane U/R/W

Put your Champs deck to the test at the StarCityGames.com $1500 Standard Open!Champs is right around the corner, and what are you going to choose? Well, just in case you’re still on the fence, Pat Chapin presents three decks, discussing the turn 6 kill of Grapeshot/Enduring Renewal, talks about the deck he’d bring to Champs because it crushes random decks, and a deck that needs a little love (and a little tuning) to work! And as an extra-special bonus at no charge… Chapin Sligh!

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Testing for the New Standard: U/G Versus Solar Flare!

Put your Champs deck to the test at the StarCityGames.com $1500 Standard Open!While I’ve devoted most of my free time to testing for Pro Tour: Kobe, I had the opportunity this past weekend to play some Constructed against Mike Flores. I took Mike’s U/G Beatdown deck and took it for a spin against U/G/W Solar Flare. Mike predicted it would be 7-3 in my favor – but I’ll tell you how it really played out, how to play the deck, and what kind of a matchup you can expect.

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The Problems With Prismatic

Now that no one’s talking about Prismatic much, I figured it was time to give the format a shot. I’d dabbled in Prismatic before, and found myself really frustrated. Initial forays into Prismatic Magic were stymied quickly by the presence of opposing power, and the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. So let’s run down a quick check for the impediments for the casual Prismatic player…

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Star City Daily: A Geezer’s Guide to Purple, Pt 4

Back in the day, we used White Out to fuel Stormbind. Then we used Squee, Goblin Nabob. But what oh what can we use to fuel Stormbind for fun decks everywhere? Bennie has an answer!

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Time Spiraling Out of Control: Five Theoretical Standard Decks

I present to you, dear reader, five U/x control decks, and I ask you to consider them and perhaps comment on them in the forums. I know that they’re not all Tier 1, but each of them has a different intent and focuses on a different area of Blue-style control. Take a look, see what you think, and get to work controlling your games!

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Magical Hack: States Jam Session

This upcoming weekend is the last weekend before the most of the major State Championships, and I have heard of several places that will be running unsanctioned post-Time Spiral Standard tournaments as a State Championships “warm-up”… So talking about what I have seen developing in recent weeks seems like an interesting way to have a good jam session talking about Standard and riffing on what overarching trends are developing. That said, let’s introduce you to an unlikely candidate for “The most influential land in Standard…”

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Time Spiral In Limited – Black and Artifacts

Jeron sizes up the darkest color in all of Magic, chock-full of removal and… Well, what else does it have? Jeroen talks about the viability of Black in Limited and discovers that his Word spellchecker actually recognizes “Phthisis”!

[Time Spiral Limited Review, Part I: White] – [Time Spiral Limited Review, Part II: Blue]
[Time Spiral Limited Review, Part III: Red] – [Time Spiral Limited Review, Part IV: Green]

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The Black Perspective: That Other Standard Article!

Put your Champs deck to the test at the StarCityGames.com $1500 Standard Open!

Today, we have more Standard decks from the mouth of Joe Black himself! The last time he wrote, he took a look at some decks that were popular archetypes back in the day that got a boost thanks to Time Spiral. This time around, he looks at three decks that are completely new and utilize some of the cooler mechanics from Time Spiral.

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