News

• Memoricide Spoiled—Gathering Magic spoils the Scars of Mirrodin box promo.
• A Chat with Magic’s Brand Managers—Trick Jarrett sits down with Mark Purvis and Paul Levy to discuss upcoming sets, Duel Decks, the From the Vault series.

Tournament Coverage

• Spain National Championships—The mothership’s coverage of Spain’s national tournament where Anibal Carbonero took the title with Vengevine Naya.
• Adventures with Mono-Green—Mike Flores breaks down the top eight decks from Spain’s Nationals and revisits Eldrazi Green.
• Pastimes Results—Pastimes posted results and decklists for the MMS as well as GenCon tournaments in Block, Standard, Vintage, and Legacy.

Standard

• Standard Going into Nationals—Patrick Chapin believes the current environment is ripe for innovation.  See which cards he feels are currently being undervalued and overlooked.
• UW Control—Noah Swartz breaks down the matchups for UW control and explains why a singular focus on card advantage can lead you astray.
• Nationals Results and how to use Jace, the Mind Sculptor—Kenji Tsumura’s extensive results breakdown, translated by Alex Lin, is rounded out with insights into playing Super Jace correctly.
• Ascending in Standard—Gerry Thompson discusses Standard’s newest combo deck, Pyromancer’s Ascension.
• Next Level Shaman—Ben Hayes takes Shaman Conscription for a test drive after it made Top Eight in Spain.
• Shaman, Vengevine, Bloodbraid, Profit—Alexander Shearer utilizes statistical analysis to refine his Shaman list.
• RWB Planeswalker Control—Frank Lepore invites Sarkhan the Mad to the Planeswalker party.

Limited

• Australian Nationals, Part 1—Jeremy Neeman, fresh off his second place finish, reflects on the draft portion of his national tournament.
• Magic 2011 Archetypes—Darwin Kastle experiments with forcing mono-color decks in M11.
• Getting Gimmicky with M11—LSV squeezes value from late picks and explores the potential of gimmicky sub-archetypes in core-set draft.
• M11 #1—Olivier Ruel opens a Titan in his first pack, but it’s his breakdown of less obvious picks that makes this a must-read for limited players.

Legacy

• GP Columbus Report Part Two—PV continues his report on playing Counterbalance in Columbus.
• Where Everybody Knows your Name—Conley Woods explains the reasoning behind his early morning audible at GenCon.
• Surviving GP Columbus—Kelly Reid looks at the value added to cards seeing play in Legacy.

Casual and Variant Formats

• First Four Picks—Evan Erwin debuts a new feature on his Cube Drafting website wherein players can debate picks from a randomly generated booster from his cube.
• I’m a Blockhead—Adam Styborski reflects on the lessons he learned from building, deconstructing, and reassembling his cube.
• Mental Magic—Max McCall describes the popular variant format where no one ever gets mana-screwed, and players can play a Runeclaw Bear as a Tarmogoyf or Sylvan Library.
• Pre-constructed Reconstructed—Dave Meeson tricks out a pair of M11 starter decks.
• The Coalition’s Deck Review—Ertai’s Lament roots for the underdog this week and assembles the Coalition’s shaky mana base.
• Answers to your EDH Problems—Bennie Smith takes a proactive approach to common concerns in EDH.

Miscellany

• Gen Con and the Art of the Trade—Brian Grewe explains the dynamics of convention trade floors when dealers have competition.
• Painting Magic—Ever drool over the altered cards on auction sites?  Adam Willson walks aspiring artists through the process of painting a playset of Sunpetal Grove.
• An Introduction to Abundance Trading—David Heilker explores the abundant value to be found in bulk rares.
• Pack to Power—Jonathan Medina continues his quest for a piece of Power Nine by snagging an Illusionary Mask.