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      Ralphie’s Revenge, Rainbow Slide, and Other Tidbits

      B/W Astral Slide doesn’t have the luxury of Lightning Rifts to burn out the little ones like its R/W cousin. It needs to survive the initial creature rush a bit better, as decks like G/W and U/G still can provide a lethal amount of heat out of the gates a bit too regularly. Also, with mirror matches now figuring in heavily as part of the metagame, the Treatment also needs a more flexibility against the other kids on the Astral playground. So the green has to be there – but in what quantity?

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      You CAN Play Type I #68: The Control Player’s Bible, Part XXIII – Head to Head With German TnT

      Several weeks ago, TnT went toe to toe against the best control players in Virginia and New York at the Virginia States Black Lotus tournament. Can Oscar do any better against a deck that can throw out threats as easily as you throw out excess Tahngarth’s Glares? Watch and see!

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      From Right Field: How To Be An Elvish Impersonator

      ELVISH CHAMPION: Okay, settle down. Let’s get down to business. I’d like to welcome you to the 23rd meeting of the Elvish Convocation Interdimensional. I’d like to say 23rd”annual” meeting – but as we all know, Odyssey block was a bad one for elves. So we haven’t met in over a year. Luckily, Wizards took our petition to heart and has added to our ranks in Onslaught. Which brings us to our first order of business: It seems that Jason Jablonski is all hyped about all of the Elves in Onslaught.

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      Undefeated On Day One Again, Knocked Out Of The Top Spot Again – Grand Prix: LA Report

      I wouldn’t advise playing Weird Harvest in every deck… But when you luck out and get the strongest sealed you’ve ever seen with Rorix, Butcher Orgg, Starstorm, AND Slice And Dice, you know your critters will be better than theirs. And let me tell you how the Top 8 Draft would have been entirely different IF one of the players had known how to play Magic…

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      The StarCityGames.com Interview: Frank Kusumoto, founder of the Magic Dojo!

      Thanksgiving was yesterday… and what are we thankful for here at StarCityGames.com? We’re thankful that great men like Frank Kusumoto founded The Dojo and made it possible for us to continue in the tradition of providing Magic strategy, holding debates on Magic issues, and expanding the community, that’s what! And to remind us of our roots, StarCityGames.com founder Pete Hoefling interviews The Dojo founder Frank Kusumoto… and makes an exciting announcement afterwards!

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      Reanimating Benzo, Part 2: The Complete Sideboarding Plan

      The main deck served me well enough: Benzo gets lots of easy game one wins versus players who have their answers in the sideboard. The real key to my success was in our sideboarding plans. As my opponents were boarding in cards that allowed them to beat Reanimator decks in their testing, I was bringing in cards that changed the way my deck worked. The cards they sideboarded in were simply inappropriate to deal with the deck they were facing in game 2… So let me show you how, and why, you sideboard against The Rock, TurboOath, U/B Reanimator, Aluren, Tog, Infestation/Upheaval, Enchantress, and Angry Ghoul.

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      Multiplayer Is An Art: Part 21: Mox Jet Theories

      So I’ve tried to persuade you that Mox Jet is not round. Isn’t that enough? No? Well, how about I answer Rizzo’s questions for you, and discuss cards that no sane person should never touch in Magic – like Coat of Arms?

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      Force Of Will: Reworking The Metagame Clock For Extended

      There’s been a lot of debate about what sorts of decks The Rock and Reanimator are – and although people are wrong in their placement, there is a radical shift of the metagame clock that is happening as we watch. However, there are still lessons to be learned – and what can the metagame clock tell us about the viability of Aggro-Control and the future of Reanimator?

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      Synergy In Onslaught Limited: The White Cards

      Most players are capable of judging the face value of cards: Yes, Silvos is a good green card and Cruel Revival sure is consistent kill! This, however, is more a discussion of which cards work well with each other and what combos you should look out for while drafting, or building your sealed decks. Hence,”synergy.”

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      From Right Field: How To Do The Slide

      My friend Josh Sharp had been working on an idea for using Tainted Aether in an Astral Slide deck. Gosh, wouldn’t that just hose up someone if you could somehow **cough** **Astral Slide** **cough** find a way to make their creatures leave and reenter play a lot?

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      Building Your First Five, Volume 4: Girding The Deck

      we have been building three decks along through this series in order to give you an idea of how the steps work: By now, we should have a healthy decklist, with only twenty to forty spaces left for non-mana cards. How do we fill in the gaps and prepare for the next stage of creating a mana base?

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      Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #54: Good Things Happen When It Comes Into Play

      If you look hard enough, you can find almost any Magic spell replicated in the form of a 187 creature. These creatures are generally pretty good in duels, but are often even better in multiplayer. A good spell that leaves a chump blocker is almost always superior to a good spell on its own, so let me list the best ones for you and give you an overview.

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      Reanimating Benzo, Part 1

      Want the scoop on Extended? StarCity’s got the inside track! First of all, read Rob Dougherty’s article on how he developed the Reanimator deck that got him second place at Pro Tour Houston – why he abandoned the Zombie Infestation plan, what cards he tried in it that didn’t work, why he wanted the transformational sideboard, and how Dave Humpherys’ gave him the two cards that pushed it over the top.

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      You CAN Play Type 1 #67: The Control Player’s Bible, Part XIV.1: Building A 5-Color Mana Base After Onslaught

      “The Deck” players everywhere are looking at Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand and scratching their heads. It’s not a question of whether or not to use the fetchlands, but how… And years’ worth of mana-tuning intuition is suddenly out the window.

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      The Essentials Of Moneydrafting: Understanding In A Modo Crash

      Kurt Hahn had this to say about Tim:”The man is a money-drafter, so he knows what he’s talking about, and tells you. The only person on StarCity worth reading is a skinny kid from Ohio, but listen to him and your drafts can’t help but improve.” And hell, you wanna know the basics of money drafting? Tim’s gone toe-to-toe with guys like Baby Huey, PTR, Ed Fear, Ken Hsuing, Mike Turian, Alex Borteh, Chris Benafel, and Bob Maher… And occasionally comes out in the black. So listen to the man, willya?

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