The merger of ManaNation.com and GatheringMagic.com is overshadowed by things like the pending changes for the 2012 tournament scene, a new L5 judge, and the pending retirement of another judge. Here is, This week in Magic!

News

• Wizards Announces Big Changes to Tourneys in 2012—No more regional prereleases should be great news for local stores, while bigger organizers should enjoy the expansion of the Grand Prix Series to 40 events.
• PureMtGO honors Friborg—Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg is memorialized in the latest episode of “Freed from the Reel”, and a memorial college fund has been created for his son.
• Welcome to the New GatheringMagic.com—ManaNation and GatheringMagic have merged together after months of talks.
• Scott Marshall Promoted to Level Five Judge – Here in Denver, Scott is well-known and well-respected, so it is great to see him join the level fives. Earlier in the week Sheldon Menery announced his pending transition to Emeritus status.

Standard and Block

• Masters in the Making—Nick Spagnolo interviews Alex Bertoncini and Korey McDuffie about their respective top eight finishes in Dallas with Caw-Blade and RUG.
• The Monster with 32 Faces—Josh Silvestri on the Dallas results which launched a thousand tweets #banjace.
• Innovating in a Stale Environment—Kyle Boggemes finds five decks that bring something new to the Standard table.
• Red versus the World—Josh Silvestri shares his RDW primer and explains how the deck plays out against the top four decks in Type Two.
• The Lonestar without Jace—PVD’s Boros build was the only non-Jace deck to crack Dallas’ top 16.
• Too Much Information Marches On—Glenn Jones has six weekends worth of numbers to crunch and the data runs much deeper than twitter tags would have you believe.
• First Grand Prix of the Year—Harrison Greenberg rode GW Jumanji to a top 32 finish in the Lone Star State.
• Yeas and Nayas—Valeriy Shunkov looks to Naya and its silver bullets as the answer for Standard.
• Birds and Cats Aggression—($) Sergio Garcia, inspired by an Extended brew, ports a powerful mono-white strategy into Type Two.
• Karn and the Black Four Drop of the Future— ($) Patrick Chapin discusses newly spoiled cards

Vintage and Legacy

• Beating Combo in Legacy—Matt Sperling explores how players can take down the powerful eternal combos.
• Bantlanta—Caleb Durward’s meditation on Bant paid off with a top eight finish.
• Spiraling out of Control—Adam Barnello implores players to forget the trendy cries of #banjace and consider the case for banning Time Spiral.
• Understanding the Vintage Metagame —Brian DeMars demonstrates how Mishra’s Workshop and MUD decks hold a prominent position in the Vintage meta.

Casual and Variant Formats

• Taking Command of your Commander Deck—Mick Podruch feels that much of Commander’s fun stems from the construction of the decks and building for a social environment.
• Commander Theory, Part Two—Jeremy Blair speaks to concepts of Tempo, Card Advantage, and End Game and how they play out in Commander games.
• How to Stay Alive—Abe Sargent traces the family tree of Maze of Ith in multiplayer and unveils a good deal of redundancy which should prove useful in Commander.
• The Top 20 Overrated Cards in Cube—Andrew Cooperfauss explains how some of Constructed’s most iconic cards don’t quite make the cut in Cube draft.

Finances

• Carne Asada Tacos and Trading Infrastructure—Jonathon Medina explains his multi-binder syste and what it takes to make the Big Boy Binder.
• Winners and Losers (And a Banning?) From Dallas— ($) Corbin Hosler points to a Titan as the biggest winner of the weekend.

Theory and Miscellany

• Cheating at Magic, Phyrexian Style—Russell Tassicker—inspired by Phyrexian Mana—explores cards and mechanics that bend Magic’s most fundamental rules.
• Commander—Mike Linnemann—self described Vorthos—breaks down the spoiled art for the new multi-player product.
• Awesome TCG Blog Business Models—Theodore Knutson considers the questions facing bloggers hoping to turn a profit.