Hello folks and welcome to another round up of great articles and blog posts from around the Magic metaverse. It was requested that I provide a list of the sites I trawl looking for nuggets of awesomeness, I append that list at the end so scroll on down if that is what you're looking for.

Monday, 11/16/09

• Wizards.com - Announcing: Rise of the Eldrazi - Simply so that we can stop hoping the set name is different, I was overjoyed that the set was released.
• AffinityForIslands.com - Power vs Consistency - An excellent exploration into the topic about the trade off between power and consistency in decks.

Tuesday, 11/17/09

• ManaNation.com - Magic's Next Year - Trick looks over the upcoming sets, the unannounced block, and speculates on some of the things coming in Magic's future.
• ManaNation.com - Ben's Smash into the Red Zone - A very fun EDH deck and article by Ben McDole.
• StarCityGames.com - The Long Winding Road Legacy Metagame Analysis - With so much attention showered on Standard, Legacy can be a nice change of pace and this is an excellent overview of a store's Legacy event Metagame.
• BlackBorder.com - Standard Roundup - By Joel Calafell, he gives an excellent overview of the metagame for Standard (pre-Worlds)
• Gwafa's Bazaar - Accepted Value - I enjoyed the brief discussion about the ethics of a trade and the value of cards.
• MTG Metagame - The Beginning - Tricks of the Trade - Another fun human interest-ish story about one player's entry into Magic, his plan setting, and going 'infi'

Wednesday, 11/18/09

• ManaNation.com - Magic : the Classroom - Testing Prep - Dan explains what he does with his students to support limited play on a very tight budget.
• ManaNation.com - Can Vampires Compete in the Current Standard? - A guest article submitted to us, I liked this article for its take and perspective as well as the final list it provided.
• StarCityGames.com - The Kitchen Table - Yet more stories from the Three Kingdoms - I didn't do anything with Three Kingdoms when it came out, so I greatly enjoyed this look into the inspiration and history behind it.
• theStarkingtonPost.com - Quiet Speculation 12 - Kelly takes a look at an interesting Standard deck that has been making the rounds, though admittedly it didn't make a showing at Worlds.

Thursday, 11/19/09

• ManaNation.com - Catching Lightning in a Bottle - Kelly discusses how you can follow tournaments and utilize that knowledge to better invest in Magic cards.
• ManaNation.com - Off the Beaten Path - Three Pyromancers - Sam explores three alternative Standard decks around Pyromancer Ascension.
• Wizards.com - Worlds 2009 Round 3: Wise, Mise, or Otherwise - I greatly enjoyed this match report as it included the banter between Matej Zatlkaj and Kai Budde.
• Wizards.com - Level Up - A fun post on the coverage blog that looked at the Pros and how they needed to perform to attain the next Pro player level for 2010.

Friday, 11/20/09

• ManaNation.com - Drafting with JBoots Zendikar #5 - Jon Boutin is competing in Rome at Worlds but he still found time to send us this draft video series.
• Wizards.com - Look Out, R&D! It's a Trap! - Matt Place shares some insight from R&D about what they face and what traps they avoid.

Now, onto the list. All in all I scan nearly 30 websites either via regular visits or using RSS feeds. Then I collect the week's articles I enjoy, find enlightening, or interesting in my bookmarks to later be assembled into this post. Sometimes posts don't stand up to the second viewing and so get cut as I write the article, though not often.

Article Sites:

• Wizards.com
• ManaNation.com
• StarCityGames.com
• ChannelFireball.com
• TCGPlayer.com
• MTGSalvation.com
• Blackborder.com
• PureMTGO.com

Blogs:

• 5 Color Control.com
• CasualMagic
• MTG Rares
• Five with Flores.com
• MTG Color Pie
• Magic Malaysia.com
• Mister Orange Productions
• QuietSpeculation.com
• theStarkingtonPost.com
• GatheringMagic.com
• Show us your Noobs
• Magic Lampoon.com
• Planeswalker Stronghold
• Affinity for Islands.com
• Gwafa Hazid
• MTG Metagame
• Otherwoldly Journey
• Wrong Way Go Back.com
• The Jitte.com
• MTG Drafter.com
• MTG Realm
• Death mark
• Dragon Guardian.com
• Cube Drafting.com
• DCI Family.org

You will note that Podcasts are not listed here, that's because the truth is I rarely have time to listen or watch other podcasts. I do my best but nothing is regular enough I feel confident in listing here. I'm working on it :)

-- Trick