News

• New Keyword: Infect—What do you get when you combine Wither and Poison?
• Scars of Mirrodin Art—A slew of art was spoiled on MtG Salvation and has players speculating about a Mox Opal, a green-tinged Elspeth, and the return of Venser.
• Gimme a Hand—MaRo reveals there will be additional cards with the rules text phrase “in your opening hand” within the next year.
• Only at GenCon—Nate Price examines Magic’s role in “the best four days in gaming.”

Tournament Coverage

• Chinese Nationals—Lu Chao won the national title with a Boros Landfall deck.  The Starkington Post reported on how tragic mudslides impacted the tournament here.
• Nationals Recap—BDM’s breakdown of last weekend’s nationals in Ireland and China.

Standard

• Deck Selection—Sam Black crunches the numbers for current Standard matchups to demonstrate his deck-selection process.
• The Pillars of Standard—LSV ranks the most powerful cards in the format and suggests effective ways of keeping them in check.
• Additional Nationals Insight—Several other writers also focused on preparing for American Nationals including Brian Kibler, Jay Bailey, Adrian Sullivan, and Bradley Carpenter .
• Ascending to Mile-High Heights—Dave Meeson considers a variety of builds for the Pyromancer Ascension combo deck and shares a short city guide for Denver.
• UW Control— Dan Lanthier, past Canadian champion, revises UW control for the current metagame.
• Everything Naya—Jesse Smith continues to add to this innovative article with videos and an evolving list.
• Investigating Blue Black Control—Ben Hayes explores a deck piloted by Michael Hetrick on MtGO.

Limited

• Team Drafting—Darwin Kastle explains the dynamics and strategies of team drafting.
• Discovering M11 Sealed—Olivier Ruel provides insight into the current sealed format where the tempo is even slower and players scrounge for playables.

Extended

• Looking Forward to Amsterdam—Chris Jobin turns to online tournaments to get a feel for the top decks in the new Extended.

Legacy

• Lord of Columbus—Tomoharu Saito reports on his recent Grand Prix victory.
• The New Deck— Walton examines the current metagame and extols the virtues of Saito’s Merfolk as a meta-call.
• Jace, the Format Sculptor—Matt Elias looks at the evolution of public opinion concerning Super Jace in Legacy.

Casual and Variant Formats

• US Nationals, a Non-Primer for the Rest of US—Adam Styborski looks at the casual side of Nationals.
• Power Creep and You—Sheldon Menery considers ways to avoid an arms race in your EDH playgroup.
• Izzet Nationals Time Already—Matteo Orsini Jones shares a UR Pauper deck and breaks down its matchups.
• Glimpse of SoM Intro Packs—This sneak peak puts Ertai’s Lament in the mood for Mirrodin and inspires a look back at Planechase’s Metallic Dreams.

On-Going Series

• Pack to Power—Jonathan Medina continues his quest at GenCon.

Miscellany

• So You Want to Qualify for the Pro Tour—Sam Stoddard quantifies the time and the talent it takes to break through to the big show.
• Building a Better Binder—Jonathan Medina tackles a central topic in Magic finance—organizing your trade binder.
• Tempo: A Conceptual Framework—Chingsung Chang uses his concept of Marginal Mana to provide a clearer definition of Tempo.