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Run Over – Modifying Dump Truck for New Extended

StarCityGames.com would like to welcome our newest Featured Writer to the family. We now present longtime Pro, Masters winner, and Grand Prix: Anaheim champion Ben Rubin!

There has been a little bit of discussion of Extended and Grand Prix Anaheim in relation to my”Dump Truck” deck. Tim Aten, for example, seems to grasp its strengths pretty well, while a lot of the suggestions I’ve heard from other people demonstrate a much shallower acquaintance with it. One of the more interesting questions posed is”will this deck, unhindered by the recent bannings, still be a contender?”

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From Right Field: Blue-Footed Boobie

I was so ready to regale you with tales of incredible victories with my latest deck. The problem is that I’d have to lie.
You see, this week, I tried to create a (mostly) Blue deck. I’m bad at that. I’m also bad at playing Blue decks. I feel very exposed. I get nervous sitting back and waiting. I’m always afraid that my opponent is going to overwhelm me with threats, which they often do. So, I counter everything I see early. Then, when the big threats hit, I have nothing left.

You’d think that, if I know this, I could do something about it…

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Just Like That – A Grand Prix: Anaheim Report *T32*

My preparation for the Grand Prix involved convincing my fellow Arizonans to actually go the GP, begging them to play respectable decks, and least importantly, fine-tuning my old deck. Besides fixing the blatant metagame errors (four Masticore/ zero Mindslaver main) I made at the Pro Tour, I also gave my deck the ability to go off with Stroke of Genius and Metalworker. With three Strokes, three Gilded Lotus, and three Cunning Wish, I could simply win by tapping Metalworker to fuel a large Stroke of Genius, (hopefully) drawing a Voltaic Key, using it to untap the Metalworker and play a Gilded Lotus, giving me the Blue mana to continue playing Stroke of Genius and Voltaic Keys, until I had enough mana to Stroke an opponent out.

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Number Crunching Type I: Designing Cards For Vintage

Last month there was some discussion of designing cards for Type 1, or whether it was even possible to do so. Last week, I took ten major T1 tournaments and analyzed them for what they told us about the metagame, and this time I decided to take the same Top 8s and see how sets in the past have managed to sneak their cards into Vintage.

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A Little Bit More Thankful

After somehow managing to get myself placed on the surgical table, a nurse walks over with a huge syringe filled with some white liquid and pops it into my IV while smiling at me. I clearly ask what”that” was, and she looked at me as though she couldn’t hear me and said,”what?” I asked again and this time I made it about a quarter of the way through the sentence when I blacked out. Twenty something days later, I woke up…

[Editor’s Note: I had never cried when reading a Magic article before, but then again, I had never heard a tale like Richie Proffitt’s.]

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Swimming Through the “Stagnant” Type 2 Waters

I keep running across people online and web articles bemoaning the current state of Type 2 as being”stagnant” and”boring.” Supposedly U/W Control, Affinity, and Goblins have the format in a stranglehold, that there are no other decks worth playing.

Really? I have a fistful of decks that say otherwise.

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Revamping Old Favorites

A lot of older songs, especially ones from the 50s and 60s, seem a bit formulaic to me. They are, for lack of a better word, boring. Simplistic. But there is the occasional song that is just magic to music. Good old fashioned great songs. True treasure. I feel the same way about Magic decks. Some old decks should be retired quickly – they are boring and stale. But not all decks in the graveyard of Magic are so inclined. With a few recent sets of crazy cards, maybe it’s time to revisit a few of these oldies. Can we make them better? Can we make them even more fun to play?

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A Singular Dilemma – Sassy Accessories

I know a lot of you were waiting for the artifact dilemma. Sadly Mike was so distraught over his recent beatings in the polls, that he has gone into hiding and has been difficult to reach. It may also have to do with Amsterdam preparation and spending time with his lovely fiancé. I don’t remember if I have said this publicly or not, but congratulations Mike and Rachel, you are both great people and I wish you a long, happy life together. In the meantime, I want to go over all the Equipment one by one in my own sassy, against the grain pick order. I don’t feel like I am cutting off my Dilemma series, as I will be discussing all Equipment not just the commons.

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It’s Like Voltron, Except With Dragons and Angels

A couple weeks back I was putting together Astral Slide and I was considering running Temple of the False God. Oh yes. The Temple of the Four Land Mana Screw. The Temple of the Beating Myself In the Face When Playing Land Destruction. It’s like I played a land and it says nothing on the card! Hoboy! Beatings! So instead, I put in the Cloudposts. It changed my world. It opened my eyes.

It let me cycle a Decree for fifteen power in tiny White men during the end step of a U/W control player’s turn. I was in love. And like all loves, a person just ends up looking for the better and better high. Maybe I mean drugs. I probably mean drugs. So when I glanced at that infamous Kai/Roland Bode article I was sorely tempted. Why bother with Cloudpost when you can have the mighty Urzatron

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The Magic Online Mirrodin Uncommon Print Runs

If you are one of those people who see signaling as a divine holy art, which should be worshiped and protected, then you will not like this article. However, if you’re like me, and think that you need every helping hand you can get when trying to find your niche on the color wheel, then you may find this article of some use. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s print run time.

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Richmond, VA Darksteel Prerelease – Full Info!


On Saturday, January 24th, the Darksteel Prerelease RETURNS to Richmond, Virginia! Here’s just a few of the cool things that the Richmond, Virginia Darksteel Prerelease will have to offer this time around:

  • In Person! Artist Ron Spears (Akroma, Phage, Naturalize and more)!

  • Judge testing by level-three judge, Sheldon Menery!

  • Turn you unwanted cards into CASH at the StarCityGames.com booth!

  • Be amongst the first to get your hands on Darksteel!

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    Mostly Better Than a Flesh-Eating Virus

    It took me exactly three Mirrodin boosters before I found one of my Class I cards. Sitting in an uncommon slot was Betrayal of Flesh, laughing at me in its dancing-and-steaming-undead sort of way. “No one uses me outside of Limited,” it cackled,”what makes you want to give a try?” I blinked.”Oh. Well. See, I think I’m crazy,” I said to my little digital card.

    “Proceed,” it replied merrily.

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    My Fish Wear Hot Pants -or- Playing In A Field With More Combos Than The Junk Food Aisle

    There is no room for budget deck builds in a full-proxy metagame, and any deck that cannot stop combo madness quickly just plain fails.

    With such a unique (some would say skewed) environment, I quickly ruled out Keeper for its weakness against Long, as well as Spoils Mask, Long, Dragon and Madness as decks that just weren’t going to be fun to play with. Knowing I would be facing many workshop decks, and more importantly, Long.dec, I chose to run U/R Fish, a deck holding great versatility in the sideboard and with enough counters to slow combo down. More importantly, it could support Null Rod, which would prove incredible in the troubled times to come.

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    The Long.Dec And Winding Road, Part Two: A Look At The 2004 Vintage Metagame

    Now we look forward at the 2004 metagame. The restriction of Long has certainly opened up the field for many decks. However, two cards are going to become central to the 2004 Type One Metagame: Mana Drain and Mishra’s Workshop. Multiple decks will be running both cards and using them for nice tempo boosts, which lead to unrecoverable game states. These two cards will define the metagame and the decks built around them. In actuality, Mana Drain is probably going to see three to four times as much play as Mishra’s Workshop in top 8s, simply because of availability. Nevertheless, both cards should be watched carefully.

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