Leading up to Commander, Magic 2012, GP Providence, and so much more this week had quite a lot to read. Check out the collection of links from around the Magic metaverse!

News

• The Mechanics of Magic 2012—Troll shroud is now “Hexproof”, creatures now “die”, and Bloodthirst is back.
• 2011 Community Cup Members Announced—Louis Scott Vargas is amongst the list of players, personalities, and Magic media members who will be the first to try out the proposed Modern format.
• Magic Celebration—Save the date of September 10^th for the first “Magic Celebration” which is rumored to combine both paper magic and Duels of the Planeswalkers.
• Magic 2012 Products Revealed—New Planeswalker art confirms Gideon as the White planeswalker in the 2012 set.
• Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012—Trick Jarrett’s interview with Paul Levy covers a variety of topics including Archenemy mode, the paper Duels decks, and the new planeswalker, Kiora Atua.
• New Commanders Spoiled—Three new Legends from the Commander pre-cons have been spoiled suggesting new possibilities for the popular format.

Standard and Block

• White Weenie: Then and Now—Brad Wojeshonek examines the WW archetype and provides a possible list for the current environment.
• Red Revisited—Josh Silvestri chose to PTQ with this mono red list after becoming frustrated with the Caw-Blade grind.
• Deceiving Louisville—Jon Agley ran Grixis Twin in Kentucky and he shares his insights here.
• Ten Facts about the End of the World (SCG$) — Mike Flores piloted a U/R Twin deck to a strong finish and predicts the demise of Caw Blade.
• Two Decks to Rule Them All—Nick Spagnolo sees the format as a two horse race now that there’s a deck that can keep pace with Caw Blade.

Limited

• Limited Differences—Conley Woods adjusts popular archetypes to the addition of the third set.
• New Phyrexia in Limited—Darwin Kastle weighs in on how NPH changes the format now that it’s taken it’s rightful position as the first pack in draft.
• Uncommonly Good Removal—David Ochoa reviews the uncommon removal available in NPH and winds up ranking up half a dozen cards as either a four or five star option.
• Limited with NPH—Kai Ruan weighs in on the impact of Phyrexian mana and the rest of the third set on the current limited environment.

Vintage, Legacy, and Modern

• GP Providence Prep—Adam Barnello’s expansive list of lists provides a current snapshot of the format. What impact will Mental Misstep actually have this weekend?
• Everything you Need to Know about GP Providence—Carsten Kotter has you covered on all Legacy topics ranging from the “big three” to the sleeper decks getting boosts from NPH.
• Ten Decks to Play and Five Decks to Skip(SCG$) — Drew Levin knows that not all Legacy decks are created equally. Luckily, there is a wide variety of competitive decks in the eternal format.
• Merfolk—Eugene Ho fine tunes his fish list for GP Providence.
• The New Modern Era (SCG$) — Patrick Chapin turns his innovative mind to brewing in a the proposed format that would incorporate only cards with the modern frame.

Casual and Variant Formats

• Finding Indrik Stomphowlers—Abe Sargent alludes to his memorable Silklash Spider article with this instant kitchen table theory classic.
• Eight Week, Sixteen Decks—Sheldon Menery is ready for summer
• Sculpting a Commander Deck—Bennie Smith provides a case-study in Commander deckbuilding by building a fungus-centric deck around Thelon of Havenwood.
• Fate or Free Will—Robby Rothe unleashes the foil legend rule on the Commander community.
• Sharruum the Hegemon—Robert Davis explains exactly how you can paint a big, red target on your forehead.
• Virtual Pauper—Adrian Posiou runs down the strongest decks in Pauper, which he compares to Legacy.
• Ravaging Storm Review—Jay Kirkman finds a good deal of satisfaction in this deck that pairs Infect and Proliferate.

Finance

• Investing in an Modernly Overextended Format (QS$)—Corbin Hosler weighs the risks of investing in proposed formats.
• Trade Tech for Providence—Sean Morgan looks at several Legacy legal cards that are showing strong monetary trends.
• A Financial Analysis of New Phyrexia at One Month—Craig Wescoe looks at the bottom line for NPH now that the hype has died down and the sleepers are wide awake.

Theory and Miscellany

• Why Do you Play Magic—While Poker may be more lucrative, Shaheen Soorani has his reasons for preferring PT glory to a large pot at the WSOP.
• 10 Most Impressive Players—Jonathon Randle counts down ten players and their defining matches.
• Planning a Trip—PVD, like many pros, has become an expert in the art of travel and he shares his insights into living the jet-set lifestyle.
• The Place of Combo—Chingsung Chang explains the role of combo decks in the circle of predation.
• iPhone Deckbuilders and Databases—Michael Evans drops the dough on the iPhone databases so you don’t have to. Which one suits your needs?