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The Never-Changing Face Of U/G Madness

U/G will see a lot of play this season for a lot of the same reasons as last year – it’s cheap to build, relatively easy to play, has good sideboard options, and tends never to be purely outclassed. This is appealing to many players who just want to take a deck to a PTQ and run it without having to put a lot of time into playtesting or metagaming. So let’s go through the basics of Madness – I wouldn’t be me though if I didn’t have a few small modifications.

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The Bell or Hunt Dilemma: Hunt!

When considered in a vacuum, Order of the Sacred Bell is a stronger card than Kami of the Hunt. Unfortunately for us drafters, there are many more factors to consider than raw power; if there weren’t, we’d all be cramming our decks with Kashi-Tribe Warriors. The most important points to consider are synergy and mana curve… And this may not be Onslaught Block, but creature type still matters.

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Network Difficulties May Cause Site Slowness

Some users may experience a slow StarCityGames.com today. Unfortunately, our web server host (who holds the computers that StarCityGames.com) is experiencing some fairly severe network congestion, and access to the site may be spotty for select areas during the day. We thank you for your patience.

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A Deck a Day: Andre Rison

The final installment of week one is here! When I sat down to write today’s article, I wondered at what sort of deck I could build. I thought about some of my previous articles, and then inspiration hit. Wouldn’t it be nice to build a deck using one or more of the cards that I tout in my Underused Card articles? Ah synergy, I knew you well.

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Enter the Dragon – A Star City “Power Nine” Richmond Report *3rd*

The Star City Power Nine Tournament Series!

So why did Ben Kowal choose to play this metagame sleeper and how did he end up as the number one seed coming out of the swiss, and finish one game short of making the finals? The details are right here!

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The Past as Prologue: Extended in 2002-2003

In the fourth installment of Peter’s series searching for tech in the bones of Extended seasons past, he examines the great set rotation of 2001 and then explores the new decks and old archetypes that arose, including many that you will see this coming season.

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Drafting with Betrayers of Kamigawa – Initial Impressions

Nick weighs in with his initial thoughts on drafting with Betrayers of Kamigawa, then shares some of the ideas that have already been popping up at CMU!

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Extended White Weenie III: A New List and the Big Finish

Mike unveils his new version of White Weenie, then sends it off to battle nine of the top decks in the Extended format! So how did he fare? Only one way to find out…

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SCG Daily – A Deck a Day: Godo and His Maul

Bonjour mes amis! Today we have the fourth installment of the Daily Deck-a-thon. Today’s deck revolves around a Champions of Kamigawa card named Godo, Bandit Warlord. We are going to build a Red/White deck based around both of Godo’s abilities. Let’s take a look at the deck first, shall we?

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The Anatomy of a Vintage Team

Until now, Teams in Vintage have simply just “been”. There has been no classification, code of conduct, or any real structure to how a team is formed. Teams tend to sprout up as if nothing went into its formation and rivalries are formed among people who don’t even know each other. In this article I plan to help end all that with clarifications of what really matters in the world of teams.

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Snowstorms Suck, Ninjas Rock, and the Betrayers of Kamigawa Prerelease Holds It All Together

Carl skipped the Richmond Power 9 to play in his Syracuse prerelease and play in the snow. Told in the usual Crazy Carl style, this report is a little light on the tech, but heavy on the fun.

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Weak Among the Strong: Revisiting the Scarce Resource

The scarce resource is a fundamental strategic concept, whether in business, life or Magic, but it doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. Understanding scarce resource theory will help you draft, sideboard and make tough judgment calls during play, and is just as important a fundamental as card advantage or tempo. If you’ve been looking for a general guide that will lead you to making better plays, this is it!

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Benevolence and Foliage: White and Green in Betrayers of Kamigawa

This is going to be a long one, so I’ll keep the introduction short. This is a first look at the Constructed quality of Betrayers of Kamigawa. Since my expertise is only in Standard, I’m going to leave Limited and Extended evaluations to other people. I’m also going to give a separate rating for a card’s Kamigawa Block Constructed worthiness, since that format is quite different from Standard.

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We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Keywords!

It’s that time again. It’s time for the release of a new set, full of plenty of new cards waiting to be sprung upon the magic populace. New cards are, fundamentally, a cool thing. New toys to play with means more fun for everyone, right? And better yet, if those new cards have a new ability, some interesting mechanic to tinker with and build around, that creates even more possibilities! Every keyword added to the game gives players more options for deckbuilding, more choices of what direction to go. Keywords are an all-around good thing. This is Wizards of the Coast’s attitude, and I agree with them. To a point.

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SCG Daily – A Deck a Day: Enchantment Beats

Welcome back to the third installment of your daily dosage of deck. Today we are going to feature an old 250 combo in a neat, tight, sixty-card deck. The goal of the deck is simple, and I think that many of our readers might like it. It is a bit rare-heavy, but that can easily be changed. Let’s take a look.

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