It never ceases to amaze me how frequently I see a Starbucks. It's become so omnipresent that it's a joke about Western Society. The comedians scream about the Starbucks being across the street from a Starbucks! Oh the humanity!

Well this past week Starbucks announced the closure of 600 under performing stores. Perhaps these are ones tucked away in shopping centers, or stand alones in less affluent parts of town that can't afford a nine dollar mocha frappuccino. I don't know.

The real lesson though is the danger of expanding too fast.

A lesson which carries over into Magic. As an aggro player, I love laying dudes and attacking with them. It's where Magic 'happens' for me. So I will lay dudes and attack. Lay dudes and attack. And then, with an empty hand I'm playing off the top of the deck as I try to jump start the deck after it's run out of gas.

That's the problem with Aggro decks, if you don't win in the initial rush you tend to run out of gas. In the old days we relied on Armageddon to keep our opponent's off balance while we bashed them in the head turn after turn. There was no better feeling than dropping Serra Angel and then casting Armageddon.

But in this creature laden format, the answers are plenty. Wrath of God, Damnation, Firespout and more. Just last week I lost a draft thanks to an opponent's beautifully timed Firespout.

I was Green/White, he was Green/Black, and he just kept building up his forces as I built mine. I began attacking into him and trying to get around his two big guys. He kept letting me through. Then when my hand was exhausted and I was obviously playing off the top of my deck he plays a Firespout. It wiped my board and his, except for two creatures. A creature enchanted with Shield of the Oversoul, and the 5/4 that gives trample to all his guys. Ugh. 'gg' as they like to say.

It's the trap of Aggro. You need to build up enough that your deck has the gas on the board to push your acceleration and try to win fast, but as soon as you pass that point then you have to switch and begin holding creatures. Your deck is no longer "the beatdown" as Flores wrote, you're now trying to outwit your opponent. Either with a well timed combat trick, or perhaps a secret bomb, but if you over commit, you will often find yourself in trouble.

Just like the rule that states you should never get involved in a land war in Asia, you shouldn't open too many high-end Coffee shops too quickly and you shouldn't overplay your hand of creatures in Magic.

Cheers!

-- Trick