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The Arcborn Virus

Less than a year ago, Mike Long released a deck dubbed The Suicide Virus. The immediate reaction to this deck was incredulity. Most readers dismissed the deck as “a pile.” A few players tinkered with it before moving onto something else. Regardless of what people thought at the time, no major structural improvements to the deck have been published since. Since then, I have been furiously working in my secret Vintage laboratory pouring creative energies into improving this deck and today I’m set to unveil my latest creation.

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The Beautiful Struggle: Devil’s in the Details

Recently I began to wonder if the phenomenon of one-ofs in decklists is purely a Vintage-centric phenomenon, related to the absurd power level of the format? Does increasing a two-of to a three-of, or chopping it down to one copy, have an appreciable effect on a Standard or Block deck? To put it bluntly: just how important is one slot? I took some time exploring this question and I thought I would share the results.

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SCG Daily – Super Secret Tech

Today Mr. Fuggly completes his draft review and also lets Magic Online players in on a huge secret that reinstates one of the original (but now disabled) functions of Magic Online.

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SCG Daily – A Draft a Day? Nay, Okay?

Pugg Fuggly returns to do Pugg Fuggly like things, but this time he needs your help. Read the article, send him e-mail, and enjoy one of the finest cartoon writers in Magic.

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My Grand Prix: Salt Lake City Report *T8*

In this whopper of a tournament report, Gadiel thoroughly recaps his Grand Prix: Salt Lake City T8 journey, answers some key strategy questions and speaks on a series of hotbutton issues that are sure to have people talking!

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Dissecting 9th Edition Limited

Rich Hoaen steps forward with a timely dissection of the new 9th Edition Limited format that just went live on Magic Online and is the addiction of choice for draft junkies awaiting the release of Ravnica.

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #131: Two-Headed Giant

At long last, Wizards is supporting multiplayer games with official multiplayer rules and sanctioned multiplayer tournaments. The first Two-Headed Giant tourneys are already in the books, and more will follow. So let’s look at the format, and decks to break it.
It’s good stuff.

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Harsh Realities: Dave at U.S. Nats, Part 2

More Draft and Standard action from StarCityGames.com’s baldest writer. In today’s installment Dave battles a poker hero, drafts an abysmal deck, and wraps up the weekend with a few words of sage advice.

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SCG Daily – The Big Finish

Is it Friday already? It looks like my time with you is almost up, and so much I didn’t get to talk about! I could probably go one for another entire week or two about everything that Gencon had to offer, but I suppose all good things must come to an end eventually. Before I wrap up, though, let me drop a couple more game recommendations on you, especially for the multiplayer/casual aficionados.

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Ben’s Corner: Sleeves, Ravnica, and a Massive Inventory Increase!

Want sleeves? We’ve got a great deal on right now for KMC brand deck protectors!

Also in Ben’s Corner: More of Ravnica revealed, and a list of some pretty major cards being added to inventory – including sets of Arabian Nights, Portal 3 Kingdoms, and a ton of higher demand foils!

Check out Ben’s Corner each week for the latest news from the card side of StarCityGames.com.

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Stream of Rife

“Look over the past ten years of Pro Tours, and you will see mono green in the final 8 significantly less than any other mono color. Mono Green will be a very distant fifth.”
– Jamie Wakefield

“Let’s look at the history of Green decks on the Pro Tour in order to show the viability, and even the dominance, of straight Green over the past five years.”
– Mike Flores, who also adds a quick section on which decks win and lose from the September bannings.

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A Guide to Dutch Gifts

B/G/u Gifts Ungiven is the best deck in Kamigawa Block. What? You already knew this? I’m not going to write about why the Gifts deck is the best deck by far in this block format, as the results of every Grand Prix held in this format will tell you the same. What a lot of people don’t know is how to play the deck correctly. If you look at the PTQ results, you’ll see that there are a lot less Gifts control decks in the Top 8s than there are at Grand Prix, and we all know that the best players in the game don’t usually play PTQs. Why should you care about how to play the best block deck around? Because there’s a very strong chance that a version of this deck will also be a Standard powerhouse when Ravnica arrives.

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Sports, Women, and Magic – You Dirty Rat

The creator of the Rats deck discusses the new Standard format, including a brief mention of a 4-slot Canadian PTQ for Worlds where Rat decks utterly smashed the field.

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Lofty Goals: Dave at U.S. Nats, Day 1

When last we heard from him, Dave Meddish had just qualified for U.S. Nationals, which unfortunately coincided with his honeymoon, so there was no way he was going to attend. Right? Wrong. Today’s story tells the tale of how Dave ended up at Nationals, what he played there, and how he fared on Day 1.

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SCG Daily – In the Trenches

One of the games I was most excited to see at Gencon – one of the few I actually knew I’d be looking for in advance – was none other than Your Move Games’ Battleground Fantasy Warfare, a game that co-creator Chad Ellis had talked about during his Daily stint a few weeks prior. Chad’s series had dealt mostly with the story behind the game’s creation, and I was anxious to see the end product. What I ultimately found was an abrupt lesson in the differences between Magic and minis, which left me thinking about how some of those differences could be bridged, and what they meant to me as a gamer.

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