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Unimaginative Deck Names – A Casual R/G Deck for Standard

Who here likes mana flood? I used to hate it, back when I played Pansy Salad, an 18-land elf deck, in the days of Onslaught Block Constructed with a collective cardpool between myself and my competitors that featured maybe two dozen rares total. Despised it; couldn’t imagine running anything that would actually put more land into play, certainly early because well, I had elves for that. And they did cool things, like tap to make an elf huge, or make everything else block them.

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The Financial Value of Time Spiral

Pre-Order Time Spiral Today!

This article is spoiler heavy! If you do not want to know about Time Spiral before your prerelease, please don’t read this article until Sunday night!

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Drafting With Rich – Mirage Draft #1

Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of sweeter formats. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!

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What Does A Street Fighter Champion Have In Common With Kai Budde?

Read The Ferrett... every Monday at StarCityGames.com!There are a lot of tournaments involving complex games. Chess, Starcraft, Scrabble, you name it — someone is struggling to be the champion. The mechanics of the game vary, but the mentality it takes to master those mechanics (and then consistently convert strategies into wins) remains constant.

What David Sirlin is trying to do in this slim tome is to define that constant – to define the core elements that make someone a champion in any field. And what he discovers is both enlightening and frustrating….

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The History of Solar Flare

In his first article for StarCityGames.com, Naoki Shimizu – fresh from his Top 8 performance at Japanese Nationals – takes us through the step-by-step process behind the creation of one of the standout decks in the Standard metagame – the fantastic Solar Flare. If that isn’t enough, he also shares his tournament report with style and humor. The best writers, the best players… only at StarCityGames.com!

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Tweaking Meandeck Gifts

In this excellent and comprehensive article, Stephen takes us through the latest developments of his most potent Vintage creation – Meandeck Gifts. The tweaks he suggests leads to a considerable tempo advantage over the old lists, and he backs up these changes with detailed match analysis. Another wonderful article from the master of Vintage writing.

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Drafting With Rich – CBS #1

Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of sweeter formats. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!

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You Lika The Juice: Examining Time Spiral So Far

This is my favorite time of the year: the cusp of a new “large set” release and a major rotation in Standard. Decks are in flux, some dropping off into the harsh crucible of Extended, some changing with the times, and some brand new archetypes being born. If you could see me now I’m making rude and crude gestures to Umezawa’s Jitte and Heartbeat of Spring — don’t let the Standard doorknob hit ya where the good Wizards broke ya.

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The Kitchen Table #149: The Casual Metagame #6

The saga of the Casual Framework continues as we explore individual Archetypes and peer more closely at their Subtypes. I even include some sample decks in order to illustrate the ideas that I am talking about…

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Battle Royale Round 8 – Eidolons Ho!

StarCityGames.com - Battle Royale!

Billy steps up to the plate with a fresh deck based on some of the more overlooked creatures of Ravnica block. Can you guess what they are? Hint: there’s a clue in the article title…

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Battle Royale Round 8 – Accept No Substitutes!

StarCityGames.com - Battle Royale!

This week’s Battle Royale sees Sean McKeown pumped and ready for action. This comprehensive article introduces his interesting base-Green deck, and documents the lengthy process undergone to obtain the cards. You can’t doubt the prices of the cards in his deck – Sean has the receipts for each one.

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Balancing the Equation – A Grand Prix: Phoenix Report *T8*

After his nearly-man performance at the Swedish Nationals, Gadiel decided to give Grand Prix: Phoenix a miss. Then, after contemplating his pro statistics, he changed his mind… and it’s safe to say that he was glad he did. This entertaining report covers the highs and lows of the tournament, written in his usual acerbic and humorous style…

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Building for the Pro Tour, and the Power of Rituals

It’s Wednesday, and we all know what that means… another mailbag article from everyone’s favorite Rock-playing Pro, Jeroen Remie. Today’s reader-posed topics include the process behind preparation for Premier Event in a fledgling format, the proper place of rituals and luck in Magic, plus a grab-bag of miscellany to round it all out!

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A Paskins Masterclass – How To Swindle Your Opponent

Dan Paskins, the Red mage personified, brings us an entertaining article on the noble art of swindling your opponent. Don’t worry, Dan hasn’t defected to the Dark Side… there’s no cheating here. Rather, Mr Paskins takes us step-by-step through the methods required to force your opponent into bad play.

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Drafting With Rich – 999 #2

Rich continues his excellent Draft series. The Canadian maestro turns his back on the cooling Coldsnap, and heads for the balmy waters of Ninth Edition. From now until the online release of Time Spiral, Rich will draft a number of formats, from RGD to 999 to CBS to CCC… whatever takes his fancy at the time. He’ll supply each pick, from pick one to pick forty-five, and pen a brief commentary on hs deck and performace. For more detailed comments, visit the forums!

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