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The Magic Show #16 – Designers, Inc

Another episode of the Magic Show, the popular video article series by Evan Erwin. In his own words…

Today I’m going to talk about Magic Design. Specifically, the Great Designer Search contest going on over at MagictheGathering.com. Now you’ve already seen our own Ben Bleiweiss – a cool cat if there ever was one – take a shot at last week’s “Take Five” Challenge. Today I’m going to cover “Picture This,” where severe design constraints are given and the designer must find a way out of it.

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The Secret to the Gifts / Stax Matchup – How to Gain an Edge From Either Side

Two full sets of P9 are up for grabs when the Star City 'Power 9' Tournament Series comes to Roanoke, Virginia!

Patrick “The Innovator” Chapin returns to the Vintage scene, analyzing the strong openings that lead to success in the Gifts and Stax matchup. His findings are somewhat startling – can mulliganing down to five or less truly be the best form of attack in some cases? This article is packed with genuine Vintage food for thought… essential for those serious about the grandfather of Magical formats.

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From Right Field: Being Lead Astray

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

After Chris’s revelation that From Right Field will be “abandoning” its budget roots for future articles, the forums made their thoughts abundantly clear. Chris responds to the detractors… so where does it leave us?

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What Not To Do: Fish

If time has shown me one thing, it’s that I can identify a crap deck with relative ease, because I’m often stupid enough to put them together to see if they play. I’ve tried the Ratcatcher Deck, I’ve tried the Bombshell deck, and I even tried the Brooding Swallow. They’re not that good, but they are cheap.

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Kobe Playskill, Part 2

Let’s go ahead and take a look at the implicit assumptions that go into the “Split Second is Bad” argument. In order for that stance to be sound, it has to be true that the chance to respond immediately to a spell will, over the course of a large number of games, enable a more skilled player to win substantially more often than a less skilled player.

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Ben Takes On The Great Designer Search, Part 2: Pictures and Holes

Ten pictures and ten holes. This is what Wizards gave their contestants this week for the Great Designer Search. Ben takes his shot at this challenge, for great justice!

*Disclaimer* If you are a Wizards of the Coast Employee, you have full permission to use the cards and ideas contained in this article, without further obligation.

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Against The Odds – Making Top 8 at Pro Tour: Kobe (Part 2)

Last time out, Kenji took us through his performance in the first three drafts of Pro Tour: Kobe. Today’s article deals with his flawless second day of play, a day that catapulted him up into the Top 8! Drafting tips, game-play analysis, and the thoughts of the current Player of the Year, all wrapped up in a fine article!

[Part 1]

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The Weekly Shift Sift: I Didn’t 9-0, But Someone Did

Read The Ferrett... every Monday at StarCityGames.com!The Ferrett takes a look from the decks that managed to smash to the top of almost a thousand people at Grand Prix: New Jersey this weekend, analyzing what this might mean when it comes to building your Time Spiral Sealed deck!

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Stormbind in Time Spiral Standard

Limited expert Nick Eisel turns his eye to the Standard metagame, bringing us a tasty Life from the Loam / Stormbind deck that has definite power and potential. While Standard is currently packed with a number of strong strategies, and all manner of decks can mix it up on the top tables, there is no denying that Time Sprial brings a plethora of untapped power to the format. Want the edge in your next Standard tournament? Then read on…

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Examining Every Option – A Vintage Tournament Report

Two full sets of P9 are up for grabs when the Star City 'Power 9' Tournament Series comes to Roanoke, Virginia!Stephen has a formidible Vintage reputation, and today’s epic article centainly demonstrates why. At a recent Vintage tournament he didn’t drop a single game until the quarter-final… fine work indeed, especially considering the format. As usual, the article contains an amazing level of play-by-play analysis, and you can almost feel your game improving while you read it. Serious about Vintage? If so, this is unmissable.

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Kobe Playskill

The initial intent of this article was that it would be composed absent flagrant namedropping and savage barning. This proved impossible, so be forewarned.

My plan is to talk about “playskill:” what it is, how it manifests itself throughout the course of the game, and how different aspects of skill (or lack thereof) can impact a person’s ability to do well at competitive Magic.

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Glare Force One – A Colorado Champs Report *T8*

While I was scrambling for a deck, several of my testing partners were making a big fuss about Glare being good again. As I had seen the Glare list before and liked it, I figured it had some merit and I had enough cards to at least try it, so I worked with their list that already had Spectral Force/Scryb Ranger and tested it against the gauntlet to very positive results.

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Demanding Relevance in the Face of Superior Forces

You will knock over liquor stores and leave cars full of empty cardboard boxes on bridges and in tunnels. You will jump the turnstile in the subway and run past security at the check-in counter. You will throw red paint on granite lions and draw your fingers through wet cement, noticed but never, ever, caught. You will steal the glasses off the nose of the local librarian and pour water in the sixth grade teacher’s potato chips. You will do anything — anything — that you possibly can, make every noise and exaggerate every motion, to distract the authority figures from what is really going on. You need time, and to get that time, you need them not to kill you. All war is deception, even this one. You will be a cardboard ninja and a digital assassin, distracting the enemy from anything that matters with everything that doesn’t. And when you’re done, when you’re spent to your last card, and his mana is tapped even though he’s convinced that he’s won, you’ll tap out Hellbent, point and click, and he’ll go down muttering about how lucky you were to topdeck.

Put simply, you will learn the most important lesson you possibly can in the quest for dominating a game of Magic – no lies!

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The Quest For Level Five #3 – Pro Tour: Kobe

Raph continues his quest to level up to Pro Player Club Level 5… today’s installment looks at the ups and downs of Pro Tour: Kobe. Raph was 5-1 going into the third draft… where did it all go wrong? This article contains sume invaluable Time Spiral Limited advice, perfect for those travelling to Grand Prix: New Jersey this weekend. Who knows, maybe you can beat Raph at his own game…

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Smashing Sealed – Preparing for Grand Prix: New Jersey

There’s a Grand Prix in Josh’s home state this weekend; nothing will stop him from attending! Today’s article looks at an interesting Sealed pool cracked in preparation for the big event. Josh takes us through each color and highlights the strengths and weaknesses, evaluating each card as he goes. Do YOU agree with his choices?

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