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An Evening At The CMU “O”

At the end of pack one, Nick Lynn makes the mistake of talking.
“I’m drafting Mono-Artifact.” – Nick
“You’re drafting Mono-Idiot.” – Turian

Stupidity level rising.

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You CAN Play Type I #114: CAN Wizards Design For Type I?

“I don’t trust R&D to make what they think are”Type I-specific” cards. No one there knows enough about Type I, and their little gift might prove more abusive than they realized. Then, we’re stuck with it until DCI says something, and no one knows whether or not they’re looking at the new mistake until they actually make a restriction.”

The above text seems to suggest that you do not think Wizards can make cards for, or even designed with half an eye towards, Type 1. In fact, Wizards themselves have admitted they simply have not the time and resources to playtest Type 1 (a statement which, although I find it disappointing, I fully sympathize with), and they would probably agree with your assertion that no-one at Wizards knows enough about Type 1 to design cards for it. But, my question is, does anyone?

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Waiter, Menu Please! The Return of DoctorJay

I’m writing for you folks who gather regularly around dining room tables for one-on-one duels and who think competitive thrill is a 3-2 Friday Night Magic record with a deck of your own creation. I used to think my target audience was too small to matter, but writing for MTG.com changed my mind. I know you’re out there, so sit back and enjoy yourself.

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The Mirrodin Black Dilemma: Pewter Golem

If you are already committed to mono-Black, I implore you draft the Consume Spirit. You will not find a better spell. In fact, draft it over Terror in this deck. The card is that good. Okay, now it is time to leave fantasyland – you will never be mono-Black. It is too weak and too shallow.

Now Pewter Golem on the other hand… that guy bears a strong resemblance to a certain beating stick from Scourge that we all know and love.

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Ah’ll Lurn Ya Real Gud – Pale Mage Unleashed!

If you’re reading this, then you either really, really like my stuff or you are fairly interested in Aluren. For your sake, I hope it’s the latter. In any case, I’m going to stop taking dictation from the tape recorder and give it to you straight, like a normal writer. I’ve been reading a lot of forum threads on Extended lately. I’ve also been sitting in on conversations in real life and on the net about the format. One thing I’ve noticed is that nobody seems to know anything about Aluren. At least, nobody who’s talking. This has upset me to the point that I’m prepared to write in paragraphs to try and pass on my vast store of infinite knowledge about the slowest (good) combo deck in Extended.

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The Mirrodin Black Dilemma: Consume Spirit!

Mirrodin Black is good at attacking. Consume Spirit is good at finishing your opponent once all your guys go through unblocked. Without any decent counters in Mirrodin, Consume Spirit always hits for the full boat. Guaranteed damage. I like the sound of that.

You know why I hate Pewter Golem? Guess you’ll have to check inside to see…

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The Comprehensive 8th Edition Draft Review: Green

  • 8th Edition Green has very few out and out bombs, but also has fewer unplayable cards than any other color. Even cards appearing in the bottom half a dozen on this list are not awful in the same way that some of the Black and Blue cards have been in the last couple of weeks.

  • I stressed before the importance of drafting more passively in 888 than in other recent formats, but let me stress here that if you are going to force a color, it almost has to be Green. This is for two reasons, first, because it is deeper than any other color (see above), but also because it is far easier to play a three-color deck if you have a Green base. Rampant Growth and Fertile Ground will ease your mana base woes.

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    The Twiddle Desire Godbook: Ten Thousand Goldfish Can’t Be Wrong

    Before we get started, let’s talk about the deck itself. Relatively few articles have been written about Twiddle Desire, and most people are dismissing it as a viable deck for PTQs. There is good reason for this, since it is one of the hardest decks to play, and is not as rewarding as I would like it to be in terms of supporting good play. Simply put, the average player should not just pick up this deck and go to town expecting to get a turn 2 kill consistently. It isn’t going to happen.

    Even for experienced players Twiddle Desire does not win on turn 2 25% of the time. Not even close. It’s far better.

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    The Twiddle Desire Godbook: Part Two

    The article is so extensive it broke the database size.

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    Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #82 Combo Winter, Take Two?

    I used to love Extended. I have written more articles on Extended than any other (sanctioned) format. I play Limited, I like T2, but I have always loved Extended. At least, until now I have. The sheer power of the Tier I combo decks makes it futile to play any original decks. In a format where a turn one Isochron Scepter imprinted with Counterspell may be too slow, other non-combo decks have very little chance…

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    You CAN Play Type I #113: The Control Player’s Bible – Head to Head: Dragon!

    This week Oscar plays in a real life Type I tournament, writes about his performance, and goes in-depth on the Keeper versus Dragon match-up. Everyone who has ever complained that Oscar rarely writes about his losses needs to read this one…

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    StarCityGames.com Digest for the Week Ending 11-28-2003

    Twelve-Land Decks, B/R Slivers, Osyp’s Main Chimp, and more, all in the latest edition of the StarCityGames.com Digest!

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    Slugs and Big, Dumb Elephants: Mirrodin Rare Power Rankings

    A Tier 1 Anchor card is a card that you will never pass if you open it in Pack 1. Consequently, some of the artifacts in this category are cards that you will never pass…well, ever. These are far and away better than any common, and I would say”any uncommon” as well, but in Mirrodin that is an assertion that is liable to get you into trouble. You will pump the fist when you see one of these in a pack. Throughout Onslaught Block, it was never possible to open two Tier 1 cards in the same pack. Sure, Lightning Rift was good and all, but if you open Visara the Dreadful and Lightning Rift, the Rift is getting shipped like you were Aristotle Onassis.

    This has changed. There is a big dumb elephant lurking about. You may be sending Bosh, Iron Golem off to the left. Just a warning.

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    Talking Turkey About “Land Grant” Limited

    With Mirrodin almost ready to be released on Magic Online, I’ve received a number of emails regarding the makeup of a successful draft deck in the new format. How many Lands? Spells? Creatures? Equipment? As with most things in Magic, the number of Spells and Equipment tends to vary from deck to deck. Two important constants that I’ve found though are the amount Creatures and Land you want to have. Usually I’d never want to run less than twelve creatures, and fourteen or more is gravy.

    Now let’s talk about Land. For those of you who have been unable to get a good amount of experience in the format as of yet, you need to know that the standard rule has just been thrown out the window…

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    Holiday A-Musings

    Welcome to the holiday season, at least here in America. It is a time for family, friends, and toasty warm feelings to keep us comfortable on long, cold winter nights. For me, where there are friends, there is also Magic. So, what is your Magic group doing for the holiday? Here are a few suggestions to make things a little extraordinary.

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