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Lessons Learned from U.S. Nationals

Richard talks us through his latest incarnation of the B/W Orzhova Maxima deck, with specific reference to his performance – and the performance of team-mates – at the U.S. Nationals (and Grinders). While the results weren’t exactly as planned, the development of the deck was perfect for their proposed metagame… sadly, their opponents didn’t get the memo. This frank and enlightening article highlights the strengths – and weaknesses – of high-level tournament playtesting.

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Drafting With Rich – Coldsnap #1

Rich moves from the mean streets of Ravnica to the icy tundra of Coldsnap! Today’s installment of Drafting With Rich sees the Canadian maestro share a full triple-Coldsnap draft, from pick one to pick forty-five, with brief commentary on strong cards and deck performance. For a more detailed analysis, come join the forums!

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Chickenscratch – What You Should Know About Phyrexian Etchings

Phyrexian Etchings: it’s good. Really good. Quite frighteningly good. In fact, let’s make this interesting:

Phyrexian Etchings is — situationally – more broken than Necropotence.

Have I got your attention now? Good.

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SCG Daily – Carriages A-Go-Go!

Abe returns with his popular Deck A Day daily series, and today’s offering is genius. You’re in for a wild ride today… literally.

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Beating Down With Bracht’s Ninjas

Maximilian Bracht took home all the marbles at German Nationals 2006 with an innovative Erayo / Ninja deck… and Mike liked the look of it. Today’s article sees Mr. Flores fling the quirky Standard creation against all comers in the Magic Online 8-Man Standard Queues. He documents each game, and waxes lyrical on the strengths and weaknesses of the deck in the current metagame. Overall, it worked for Mike… can it work for you?

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RGD Sealed – The Last Waltz

While Coldsnap Limited is the new kid in town, qualifiers for Pro Tour: Kobe continue unabated. Today, Josh looks at an intricate RGD Sealed pool, and offers his thoughts on the format as a whole. RGD Sealed seems like it’s been around forever… but there are, as always, fresh insights to be learned. Plus, for those who enjoy building Sealed pools, Josh adds a bonus pool for discussion in the forums…

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Drafting With Rich #35

Today sees Rich’s last plunge into the world of Ravnica Limited… from Monday, Drafting With Rich moves onto Coldsnap! As usual, the Canadian Limited maestro shares each pick, from one to forty-five, of an 8-4 Draft on Magic Online. He shares his preliminary deck and match thoughts in the article, and joins in the more detailed pick discussions in the forums.

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Magical Hack: Snakes on a Ballot!

Read Sean McKeown... every Friday at StarCityGames.com!

In a break from the norm, Sean turns his back on detailed analysis of tournament Magic to discuss his highly charged and personal views on the recent voting for the Magic Hall of Fame. As usual, the furor centers around a certain Mike Long… Do you agree with Sean’s opinion?

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Brr, I Can Feel a Coldsnap Coming On…

Craig “The Professor” Jones originally submitted this article, covering his experiences at the Coldsnap prerelease, some time ago. We present it now, updated with new thoughts on the Coldsnap Limited format, as a fine tool for those entering the MTGO Coldsnap Release Leagues. Prof also shares some Coldsnap Draft stories with his usual humorous style. If you’ve not read any Craig Jones before, you’re in for a treat!

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The Block That Came In From The Cold: Coldsnap and the New ALICE Block

The release of Coldsnap means many things. It’s going to throw a monkey wrench into the works of Standard. It also means that I’m going to have to redo my set binders yet again. But what really got my thinking cap all a-twitter is that there can finally be an honest-to-goodness Ice Age Block tournaments without the three-Standard-worthy-cards abomination that was Homelands.

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SCG Daily – Excess Baggage

There is more to winning than winning. I played in my first Pro Tour almost five years ago. At the time I was one of the best players in my area. But I had no business at all playing in that tournament, and (though I didn’t know it) had absolutely no shot of making any money whatsoever. This article is about trying, with more or less varying degrees of success, to get rid of the extraneous baggage that keeps a good player from becoming great.

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Prepping for the Vintage World Championship

Stephen supplied this article with the following request: “Do not publish this article until after the Vintage World Championship.” In this revealing piece, he discusses his preparation for the biggest tournament on the Vintage calendar. He explains the tweaks and tech he considered for his weapon of choice, and he gives a lowdown of the tournament metagame going in. His actual thoughts on the tournament proper are coming next week!

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A Grand Prix: St. Louis Report

With the PTQs for Pro Tour: Kobe continuing apace, Nick Eisel presents his Ravnica Cardpool and Coldsnap Drafts from GP: St. Louis. He chronicles his performance in the event with detailed match data, and shares some handy tips for those hoping to do well in their upcoming Limited tournaments. Looking for an edge in your PTQ field? Nick can help…

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Drafting With Rich #34

Rich continues his excellent series of RGD 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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Battle Royale Round 5 – A Small Victory

StarCityGames.com - Battle Royale!

So I beat Talen… big deal. To be honest, there was no winner here. Mana issues can cripple the mightiest fighter. Still, the deck performed well enough… wanna see how?

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