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From Right Field: Bring the Steel!

The first time I played against a Suicide Black deck, I figured the guy was an idiot. Sure, Carnophage was a 2/2 for one mana. If he wanted to attack with it, though, he’d have to lose a life every turn. Being new to the game, I figured I was golden. I dropped my Shadow creature on my second turn and passed. He paid his life, dropped Unholy Strength on the Carnophage, and put me at sixteen. Then, he dropped his second Carnophage. Gulp. When the game ended, he was at two life, and I was dead.
In the past few years, Suicide Black has fallen out of favor. Luckily, we got a few creatures in Darksteel that scream to be used in Suicide Black decks.

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Bringing Portal into your Casual Game, Part I

When I first joined our multiplayer and casual Magic circle, I probably owned all of five Portal cards. Why would I need Portal cards, after all? I had a highlander Five Color deck with over 300 cards, several decks for each major sanctioned type, a more competitive Five Color deck, and a variety of casual decks. And yet, no Portal cards. Recently, Wizards of the Coast released official Oracle rulings for all Portal and Starter cards. However, there are some issues that need to be addressed before your playgroup uses these fine cards. Let’s go over them:

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From Scrub to Pro Tour: The Philosophy of Fun

Now you’re a seasoned veteran. You’ve witnessed the birth of ten new sets and watched the metagame evolve. Prerelease cards fill three whole pages in your binder and the Player Rewards program has made you a rich man. You’ve gone from a Timmy to a Johnny to Spike and back, and you attend PTQs regularly. You are the Stack Master, the Combat Damage King, the Timing … okay, you’re really good, and you’ve got your eye on the Pro Tour. Then you finally make it, and the dream is complete. Now the only thing left to do is win $30,000, and get your face on an invitational card. Is this the pinnacle of achievement? Or did you lose something along the way?

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What Geordies Do Best

So, you’re sick of the theory articles. You want Geordie to go back to writing tournament reports and strategy. You want to hear about him getting stopped at the U.S. Border and slinging spells. You want him to riff on Tim Aten’s DC10 skills and complain about bathroom facilities, while throwing in some toilet humor, the usual grousing, and bite-size tidbits of Mirrodin-Darksteel Limited strategy. Well fine then, here ya go!

The question is, are you man enough to read both parts? Highly doubtful my friends, highly doubtful…

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What Geordies Do Best Part 2

More of the same, including epic battles against Tim Aten and the dinosaur… E.D.T.! Don’t miss it!

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Tightening the Screws

What I am offering up is a list of points that you should think about if you ever want to improve your game. While I realize this type of thing has been done many times before, I think I have a number of things to hit on that many people haven’t covered, and that I find very important to anyone looking to get better at Magic, especially Limited. These are things that changed me from a mediocre player into a pro player years ago, and they are general enough that they can work for everyone.

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Digging into Post-Darksteel Cemetery

The buzz is in the air, the slow building excitement of a new Type 2 ready to be explored and exploited in the months leading up to Regionals. How will Darksteel shake up the metagame? Will any of the anointed Tier 1 decks stumble and fall? Will any Tier 2 or completely new archetype rise up to take their place? Will there be any secret tech that flies under the radar long enough to surprise and conquer like Ralphie Treatment or Turbo-Haups in years past?

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The Road to Regionals 2004: Adding Some Blood to White Weenie

Brian Kibler recently posited that with the release of Darksteel and the I-can’t-believe-it’s-a-three-dollar-uncommon Skullclamp, White Weenie, or, more accurately,”Equipped White” (somebody find a cool name for the deck!) is primed to take a run at Tier 1-dom. I agree… to a point.

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The Mirrodin Artifact Dilemma: One Condor To Bind Them?

Ken is sneaky like the Brass Man. I had agreed to debate the merits of Steel Wall, while Ken wanted to argue his points about Clockwork Condor. I agreed to this dilemma since I felt it is very close and that either card could win. I like that kind of argument, because I feel that our arguments often sway the readers’ opinions more than anything else.

So, I go off to Grand Prix: Oakland thinking about how cool it is to be debating Steel Wall… but sneaky Ken ran off with the Brass Man and started cackling.

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Darksteel in Constructed: Losing to U/W Is Just Bad Form

If you recall my last article, you’ll remember it was about Chittering Rats, and a Black/Green Cemetery deck that has still been testing well. I’ve put it on the back burner and have started to work this little number. It was something I have been working on since the spoiler was released. The Indestructible creatures jumped out and caught my eye. I loved NetherHaups when it was played, and thought hey, maybe it is possible to make a deck like it for this control heavy format.

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You CAN Play Type I #126: Deconstructing Darksteel, Part III – Sorceries

Oscar continues to look at Darksteel for more bang for his buck. Is he going to find any Chasey Lain videos here, or is”Cinnamon Buns” going to strike out with the Darksteel sorceries? Click on the link to find out!

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Changes in Five Color – February

The cycle continues. Every few months or so, the Five Color Council has a larger ballot. February appears to be the largest one in a while. This month, we take a close look at three new cards and try to see if an old card should be put out to pasture. We also have an interesting question of succession.

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The Mirrodin Artifact Dilemma: One Wall to Rule Them All

The dilemma this week is something I would not have expected at the beginning of this format, and is certainly not what I would have expected when I was told this was the artifact block…

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From Right Field: Probabilities, Randomness, and Averages for Non-Engineer Magic Players

Over the past few weeks, my columns have included additional sections that tended to be about the laws of randomness and probability, what laymen (“Heh, he said ‘lay’ and ‘men.'”) call the law of averages. A lot of people seem to be confused about these topics. Others just wanted to know more. I’ve typically not gotten involved in these types of detailed columns about complicated theories that seem to exist in the Magic universe. However, it was suggested by one of my readers that given my background, I might, you know, get involved and write something that was both informative and enteratining on the subject…

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Food For Thought – Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #90: Voltaic Constructions

Turn 5 – At this point, I was generating infinite mana. It was turn 5 because everyone had been targeting me, and I had had my turn 2 Metalworker and turn 3 Thran Dynamo killed. Not good enough. As I put 500 Blue mana in my pool, a bystander asked”But how do you kill them?” I dropped Memnarch, turned to the bystander and said”This game, I’ll kill them with an FTK, a couple elves, that Steelshaper and whatever Steve has under that Bonesplitter. But since I’m stealing everything on the board, including lands, they’ll probably concede.”

The real question was, could I take what I learned about Voltaic Construct and build a competitive Type Two deck capable of generating infinite mana? Well, I could certainly try…

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