TagExtended

More Necro Than Prison – Shredder in Extended

Patrick brings us the story of Shredder.dec, an Extended offering capable of running with the big dogs. Last season, we all saw Friggorid rear its mighty head, overshadowing the format with its broken power. Extended is a format with a number of strong archetypes, and Shredder has game against them all… but the Friggorid matchup was a cause for concern. Patrick has now changed that, bringing game to the table against Ichorid’s Finest Hour. Strategy, sideboarding, and detailed matchup analysis, all available with a click of the mouse!

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy # 136: Conclusions about the Value of Playtesting On MTGO

Peter completes his analysis of the MTGO test-bed. Through thorough testing and examination of results, he brings us the low-down on the relevance of the electronic game in today’s thriving community.

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Teaching an Old Tog New Tricks

There are an awful lot of articles out there that deal with Constructed decklists. They explain what a deck does, why certain card choices were made, and how to sideboard against the top decks. If I were to write such an article about a Psychatog deck right now, no one would care. Extended season is over!
But this is a different kind of Constructed article. This is the story of a decklist: how my team started with one Psychatog list at the beginning of the season, tuned and updated it as the season progressed, and what we learned about innovation and deckbuilding strategy along the way.

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Still Working on my Mental Game – Grand Prix: Charlotte *10th*

Star Wars Kid checks in with tales of his most recent adventures, including money finishes at two recent Grand Prix and detailed analysis of some of his more subtle mistakes at recent premier events.

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Yawgmoth’s Whimsy #135: How Useful is Testing on Magic Online?

It is getting harder to find new topics that are worth writing about – and, more importantly, give me an excuse to play a lot of Magic. I think I’ve found one, though: I want to see how useful testing in the casual rooms on MTGO can be. Specifically, I want to compare the Casual Play Constructed room, the Tournament Practice room and actual MTGO tournaments with each other, and with real life.

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Lessons from the Road

You didn’t see his name at the top of the standings, but Zac Hill attended Grand Prix: Charlotte with his crew and learned more than a few important lessons along the way.

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Any Ichorids? A Grand Prix: Charlotte Report *Top 8*

A thoughtful and learned look back on Lapille’s first Grand Prix Top 8 experience.

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Attacking is the Nut Low – 2005 Worlds Report Part 2

After yesterday’s forum responses, how could you not read today’s installment from the most controversial writer in Magic?

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Three Lessons

Tiago explores lessons he has learned about metagaming, drafting, and the Pro Tour lifestyle while travelling the world recently.

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SCG Daily – Diary of a Magic Player: My First Pro Tour

Yesterday, I told tale of my Second Grand Prix. I placed fourth, winning the allotted prize for my finish plus the cash bonanza that accompanies the title of Highest Placed Amateur. My Constructed ranking gained almost 300 points overnight and I was able to treat my friends in Team Leeds to a slap-up Chinese meal. But most importantly… I was qualified for the Pro Tour!

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Peace of Mind: Again With the Mole

When I left off two articles ago, I had thrown together an Extended deck predicated on disruption. Despite the fact it had little or no testing, I wanted to create a starting point. Sure enough, it was – but it’s far from an end point. Today I’ll take what we started with, test it, tweak it, and see if we can end up with something good and quite rogue.

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Friggin’ Deck

Mike went 5-0-2 in the swiss of his most recent PTQ with… well, isn’t it obvious? A full PTQ report with matchups plus a Flores-approved decklist for what is suddenly the hottest deck on the planet. Confused? Click the friggin’ link.

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The PTQ Breakdown

It’s Extended season. The metagame is vast and varied, and PTQ attendance seems to be way up. I played in Madison, along with 195 others, and I’ll break down what worked, what didn’t, and what to expect at the PTQs. With 15 decklists, including a Top 8 Reanimator list!

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Ichorid, The Blood-soaked Soul Kiss

The creator of Extended’s hottest new deck takes but a moment to bask in the glory of his elevation from scrub to cool kid on the block before going right back to telling you exactly what is on his mind.

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Bottoms Up

Astral Slide decks have been on the rise lately both at the PTQ level and at the World Championships. Today Flores shows you the version of Slide that he’s been running and fills you in on his latest tournament performance with the deck.

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