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Blog Fanatic: Five Short Stories of the Bleiweiss Kind

Join Ben as he recounts brief, comic tales from his Magic history. If you’ve never heard”And then I hit grandpa with a Flowstone Brick”, then this is the article for you. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, perhaps the story of how Snapple made the entire Neutral Ground staff fat might be more appealing. Then again, maybe you like hearing about incredibly bad plays made by people on their way to the top 8 of a Pro Tour instead. Regardless of your interest, this article has something for everyone!

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Food for Thought – Kobiyashi Maru: Get Your Top Back On! Turbo-Confinement in Extended

Once in a while it’s fun to play a rogue deck that wins. It’s also fun to take an old classic deck you’ve worked on in the past and dust it off, add a bit of new polish and shine, and see how it does. This is an article about an old favorite deck of mine called Turbo-Confinement that I’ve chosen to update for both online and real life Extended. If you are interested in something besides the usual Tog/Rock/Beatdown of the Extended metagame, have I got a treat for you!

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We’ve Got Spirits, Yes We Do. We’ve Got Spirits, How About You?

Has Champions of Kamigawa already inspired you towards decks of fun and joy? I know that the cards are not out yet, but my fingers itch to build decks. Champions appears to be a very internally focused set, with a lot of its cards working in tandem with each other, but not as much with outside cards. This includes several races that we have not seen, plus a new emphasis on spirits.

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First Impressions: Champions of Kamigawa

Nick goes over some of his first impressions of the new format after a week-and-a-half of drafting it and gives you insight on some hidden gems that you may not have noticed when you played at the prerelease. If you think Devouring Greed is unplayable or Mystic Restraint is the best Blue common, then you might want to see what Nick has to say before you play this weekend…

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #111: It’s Not What You Do…

Some deckbuilding basics this week. Some of you definitely need a refresher course. People are posting Kamigawa-based decks in the forums, including a few combo decks. Some are good. Some — well, we need to talk.

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You CAN Play Type I #143 – Championing Kamigawa, Part II: Lands

After gauging the feedback from the last column, I decided to change the set review order slightly. As I said last time, Champions of Kamigawa was built to focus on its expanded legendary creature mix and gravitates around combat abilities and the like. You can take the hint when Oscar concludes the Lands might be the most titillating thing Champions has to offer…

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The Vintage Mid-Size Tournament Metagame Breakdown – August

Steve catches up on all the summer tournaments and even gives a break down of not only what decks and cards you can expect to see at your next local Vintage tournament, but also details what decks are really ruling the Vintage metagame right now, as well as pointing out what he perceives to be future trends. This is a must-read for all Vintage players.

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Understanding in a MODO Crash: Champions of Kamigawa White for Limited

What’s that you say? You want to see what one of the best Limited writers in the game has to say about Champions of Kamigawa? Well wait no longer, as Tim details his White pick order today, discussing every single card in the color, and chiming in with his own opinions on where you should be drafting Cage of Hands, Kitsune Blademaster, and Kabuto Moth. The Limited PTQ season begins this weekend, so if you want to get a jump on the competition, this is the place to start.

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Blog Fanatic: Losing Bob

Me:”Bob, what’s going on?”

Bob:”Oh, so now you talk to me?”

Me:”(Puzzled) Bob, what are you talking about?”

Bob:”Why have you been avoiding me for a year now?”

Me:”Bob, my parents got divorced and I moved back up North. I told you that last year!”

Bob:”(Gruffer) What, and you never wrote?”
That’s Bob for you.

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French Food for Thought : A Kamigawa Limited Set Review (White)

Join one of the top 20 players in the world as he tackles all the tough picks you’ll be making in the new Limited format. Yann says he thinks there have been a lot of mistakes in card evaluations in set reviews thus far, but he’s here to correct those and show you the real pick orders for every common in each color.

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Countdown to States – Skater Die! Exploring Turboland in Champions Standard

While Crucible of Worlds has a home in the Type One community, it has received exactly zero attention in Standard. But with the release of Kamigawa, a whole cycle of guys that let you turn lands into resources has been released, and Crucible allows you to take complete advantage of it. When Crucible is combined with another of the new cards — Azusa, Lost but Seeking, you get a Standard version of Turboland. If you’re interested in playing something besides the usual Mirrodin Block deck for States, you’ve come to the right place!

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Mining the Crystal Quarry: Examining Old Combos with Champions and the New Legend Rule

Humility + Walls — Because “Defender” is an ability, Walls under Humility can now attack. It’s not earth shattering, but this is a new thing. Note that Humble works similarly, except that it drops your wall to 0/1. Like I said, it’s not much of a combo, but because Humility has more uses than Rolling Stones, a deck built around this combo might use walls to set up, and then once Humility is down, use a global sweeper of some sort to clear out opposing creatures. Yes, yes, it’s a pathetic deck, but hey, there’s nothing quite like saying”I won by swinging with walls under Humility.”

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Papal Bull: Fighting Uphill Battles With Underpowered Decks

While the topics addressed here might apply to them, when I say”underpowered” decks, I don’t necessarily mean”budget” decks or”unpowered” decks. I’m simply referring to decks that don’t try to do anything unfair or may not have the capability to do things that are totally broken. What I am referring to are decks that, across formats, don’t have spectacular plays, but are instead consistent decks that generally grind out wins. These decks can dominate formats under the right conditions, and I want to take a bit to explore exactly how they manage to win.

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Don’t Fall Behind: Some Kamigawan Fundamentals

What I’m trying to do here is to compare Champions of Kamigawa to previous sets, looking for similarities in the play of Limited games that might help lay down some basics for the new Limited format. Particularly, I’m looking for the existence of some form of “fundamental play” in the new set. You’re all giving me funny looks, so I’ll explain what I’m getting at. Cue the wavy screen and flashback music… [This is one of the better Limited Fundamentals articles we’ve received in some time, and is highly recommended for anyone looking to get a jump on drafting the new set. – Knut]

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Blog Fanatic: Seven Ways to Become a Better Player

Today’s column is advice to those of you who are looking to improve your game and become better players. I’d like to think it’s good advice. I’ve played the game for over a decade now, and I’ve come to learn many a lesson in my time. Some were learned early on, and some have come to me with age and maturity. What’s my motivation for passing on these pieces of advice? I’d like to make a positive difference in people’s lives, and I wholeheartedly stand behind the seven tips I’m about to post as ways to improve both your game and yourselves. Without further ado, here are my seven tips to become a better player.

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