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Magical Hack: Drafting with Guildpact

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

Having discussed the Sealed Deck environment quite thoroughly, I’ve been wanting to limit my scope to Draft, to see how specifically it has changed with the addition of Guildpact. Sealed Deck is all well and good, but it’s not a format where you control your destiny; as a skill-testing format it’s certainly excellent with the current set of cards, but nothing tests your skills in quite the same way as sitting down and choosing just one card forty-five times.

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Not A Feature Match: A Grand Prix Richmond Report *9th*

[Although this article originally ran as part of yesterday’s update, scheduling issues resulted in it being posted several hours late. We present it again today, for anyone who may have missed it. – Craig]

Gadiel is back. Today, he shares his highs and lows from Grand Prix Richmond. Is he annoyed at his final placing? Does he rant and rage against the folks he faced? What does he make of the crop of Magic cheaters unearthed at the tournament? Love him or hate him, the answers lie within…

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SCG Daily – Realities of the Late Game

A lot of Magic players seem to have an… interesting idea of what typically happens in the late game. They’ve gotten it into their heads that the late game is where Genesis comes online, and recurs things for, like forever! Where Treasure Trove draws infinity cards! And where you recur Cranial Extraction with Hana Kami to remove from game all your opponent’s win conditions!

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The Kitchen Table #120: When the Mana Comes Around

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

The most important weapon in a Magic player’s arsenal – be they torunament players or casual players – is Consistency. Today, Abe shares his insights on the assembly of a casual manabase. He brings tips on creating a solid foundation for a casual deck, and tells us the lands all casual players should aim to acquire.

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Sealed Revealed 4: Ravnica/Guildpact Cardpool #3

Today’s Sealed Revealed sees Craig battling the toughest pool yet. We’re all familiar with the Ravnica/Guildpact Dilemma: too much good stuff, too many colors. However, what do you do when the pool is weaker than a newborn kitten? Can this pool be salvaged? Craig imparts his insights, along with his usual dose of humor.

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Legacy Psychatog

Control-based Psychatog has broken every format since the card’s printing in Odyssey block. To this day, despite numerous upheavals in its respective formats, Tog remains a top tier deck in Extended, taking First Place at Grand Prix: Los Angeles; and, in Vintage, taking Second Place at the most recent Waterbury, where it lost to Grow-a-Tog, of all things. But Psychatog’s absence in Legacy is perplexing.

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Drafing Drakes with Guildpact

One of the more interesting Draft strategies to emerge from the triple-Ravnica format was the so-called “Drake Draft,” mastered by Raphael Levy. His previous articles on the archetype suggested that the strategy would be all-but dead come Guildpact. Well, Raphael is back today to tell us that Drafting Drakes with Guildpact is still as strong, if not stronger! This article contains all the tips and strategy you need to win with this exciting archetype!

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Magic Online Musings: This Week on MTGO #3

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

Blisterguy returns with his weekly examination of all things MTGO. Today, he updates the online price lists, and takes us through a Premier Event Top 8 in detail.

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SCG Daily – The Process of Choosing Your Deck

In the third of this enlightening series, Richard shares his process for tournament deck selection. He waxes lyrical on the Metagame Circus, and breaks down a few myths regarding matchups and percentages.

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Food For Thought: Ride The Lightning – Red Deck Wins in Standard

In today’s Control heavy environment, where players love to gather lands, have lots of permanents, and either throw out some fat 4/4’s or 5/5 Flying Legendary Dragon Spirits, it’s not unusual for other players to take a… different approach. Some call this the wrong approach. They would, of course, be wrong themselves. What I’m talking about is Red Deck Wins. This article is a direct response to Mike Flores’ piece about the Red Guildpact cards. To put it bluntly, Flores got Leyline of Lightning 100% wrong.

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Sealed Revealed 4: Ravnica/Guildpact Cardpool #2

Craig continues his Sealed Deck series by examining a difficult pool with many interesing decisions. Are the cards strong? Does the cardpool send out clear signals? How can we utilize the power? Are the Green spells luring us into a trap? Deck tips, card evaluations, and humor, in one tidy package.

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From Right Field: Auran’t You So Cute!

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

This week, Chris clarifies his position on Staple Rares and Expensive Lands, and examines some interesting casual decks based around Thran Golem. He’s on a mission to bust face with an 8/8 flying, first-striking trampler. Does he succeed? Only he can tell you that…

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SCG Daily – Taking The Blinders Off

Do you know how many bad-at-first-glance Magic cards are glossed over? A lot. They’re overcosted, or underpowered, or they just don’t seem to do anything. Set reviews will tell you these cards are bad.

Cards like… I dunno, say… Tooth and Nail?

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The Weekly Guild Build: Make The Right Choice

Read The Ferrett... every Monday at StarCityGames.com!

The undefeated decks from Dortmund have come in, and the lessons are clearer than ever: make the wrong choices about your mana base, and you lose. Thus, this week The Ferrett analyzes the Dortmund x-0s, as well as giving you a PTQ deck of his that features a lot of tricky calls.

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The Beautiful Struggle: The Green Trap

The Ravnica/Guildpact Sealed season continues, and Magic players across the world are posting excellent finishes on the back of Green-heavy cardpools. Mark, however, feels that the Green cards are not always the perfect path to victory. In this article, he suggests that to truly succeed at this format, we need to do much more than lay Forests and cast monsters…

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