Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night... and snowpocalypse will stop the Magic world from writing. Another week of excellent writing from around the Magic web.

News and Tournament Coverage

• Pro Tour Paris Official Coverage—WoTC’s official coverage has already kicked off, and the new Tezzeret is already making waves.
• Great Designer Finalists Chosen—The Starkington Post has the scoop on the three finalists for the aspiring card designer’s dream job.
• Magic Cruise Photo Essays—Bill Stark kicks off a series of daily photo essays from this year’s Magic Cruise with this initial installment.
• Wizards Announces FtV: Legends—The newest From the Vault collection is sure to be in high demand among Commander players.

Standard and Block

• Testing the Format—Lukas Jaklovsky provides a Standard gauntlet including his current Quest build.
• One Step Ahead of Kuldotha Red in Standard ($) — Gerry Thompson let a player poll pick his deck last weekend and this week he returns with a report and revisions.
• Standard Besieged –Darwin Kastle runs down the archetypes that gained key cards with the introduction of MBS including Kuldotha Red and Tezzeret Control .
• Get Real—Kyle Boggemes urges deckbuilders to check themselves before they wreck themselves with Infect decks. He steers them back towards Jace decks and ramp strategies.
• The Tempo Game—Nick Spagnolo returns to UB Control and provides a primer on BUG to help you get maximum value out of your Mindsculptors.
• Forgemasters and a Funeral—Russell Tassicker discusses possible ways to cheat out the new Colossus on the block including Shape Anew.
• Vampires in Standard—Josh Silvestri on the tribe that just won’t die and how it is going to evolve in the new meta.
• Updating UG Wave—Brook Gardner-Durbin feels that this deck is currently underrated, and explains why it should be on your radar.

Limited

• Limited with Mirrodin Besieged ($) — Brad Nelson on the winning and losing archetypes in limited including infect and metalcraft.
• A Poison Master’s Guide—Marin Baraba’s breakdown of infect decks is sure to help you stick your opponent with those last few poison counters.
• Under Siege—Nina Illingworth has experimented with a few different draft strategies in a variety of drafts involving MBS, and she shares her experiences here

Extended

• A Cruel PTQ—Zaiem Beg mad the top four in an online Extended PTQ with an updated version of Five-Color Control. This is a must read for fans of Reflecting Pool.
• Extended Metagame Updates and Trends—Reid Duke runs his table from Wargate to Demigod Control.
• Pestering Extended—Caleb Durward reflects on Counter-burn and the other options he considered for GP Atlanta.

Vintage and Legacy

• Slinging Mud—Michael Bomholt took home the silver with his MUD deck in Indy and turned speculators back onto Grim Monolith. Read Corbin Hosler’s financial thoughts on the deck ($) here.
• Making Mana—Andy Probrasco’s primer on Legacy manabases should help you hit your land drops. Don’t miss the three bonus top-ten lists.
• Legacy Gu Elves—Matt Nass mixes Elves and Islands in this combo deck.
• Breaking up is Hard to Do—Gavin Verhey juxtaposes a break-up with a stubborn decision to stick with a deck through a grueling playtesting session.

Casual and Variant Formats

• MBS Casual Decks—Abe Sargent brews up a couple of decks for the kitchen table circuit based around new cards like Consecrated Sphinx and Phyrexian Hydra.
• Battling with Mark Tuttle—Seth Allison discusses MtG: Tactics with studio head Mark Tuttle who brings along some screen shots of the game.
• Doom Inevitable—Jay Kirkman reviews this bruising B&U precon which casts proliferate in a supporting role. Read more of Kirkman’s work here.
• Pauper Standard Metagame—Dave from PureMtGO explores the current pauper meta and the popularity of Esper decks.
• A Glissa of Hope—Bennie Smith discusses FtV: Legends, Portal, and then gets brewing type two decks with Glissa.

Finance

• Financial Review of Mirrodin Besieged—Brian Grewe speculates on all of the cards found at the back of the pack—the mythics, rares, and power uncommons in this detailed review.
• Fungibility, Mythics, and Trading—Sean Morgan shows you how to stock your binder so that you are able to trade for tournament-level mythics.
• Back in Black—Chas Andres continues an excellent series on the financial gains to be made by understanding the Commander format.

Theory and Miscellany

• Ten Rules of Reaction ($) — Mike Flores is in fine form this week with ten guidelines to help improve your sideboarding and play skill.
• A Realist’s Approach to Tournament Preparation—Josh Howe found most tournament preparation articles were written for those players in ideal situations and plenty of time. Find out what happens when tourney prep stops being polite and starts getting real.
• The Great Designer Search—Jonathon Loucks recollects the essay and multiple choice aspects of the GSD which sent him down the path of an eventual fifth place finish.
• Cast through Time Introductions—Luke Spinner introduces listeners to his favorite podcasts and the format of his new feature.
• GG—Geordie Tait has the definitive guidelines on the etiquette of “good game”.