News

• Wizards is Looking for Artists—WotC is looking for Illustrators.  Could you see your artwork featured in upcoming sets?
• Announcing SCGLive—StarCityGames details the changes to live coverage for their events including their now-regular on-air personalities.
• February FNM Promo: Spellstutter Sprite—Well-timed and stunning these Spellstutters are sure to be highly sought after.

Standard

• Standard B/R Vampies — Eric Froelich ran vamps at Worlds, and here he shares his insights into the deck and its matchups.
• The Wakefield School and Next Level Birds—Brad Wojecheshonek, inspired after reading two Wakefield books, brews up some fresh standard decks.
• Finding Jamie Wakefield (fixed)—Nina Illingworth discusses her Scarlett Force Deck that has been testing well in a piece that exemplifies her blog’s slogan of “Competitive Magic with a Casual Attitude.”
• Building on a Budget—Darwin Castle builds UB Artifacts and a Mono-Black deck that would be perfect for players on a tight budget after the holidays.
• Building with Venser—Avery from 60Cards builds around the Planeswalker with an affinity for ETB effects.

Extended

• Beating Faeries: It’s Getting Worse before it Gets Better — Patrick Chapin believes the future is here and it looks a lot like 2008.  The innovator has been working hard at taking down the enemy and shares his findings with you.
• The Evolution of Extended—LSV has a handle on the Extended metagame and on where it’s headed.   Would you expect anything less?
• A Extended Compendium—Ali Aintrazi delivers on his promise of a comprehensive look at Extended.
• Better Beatdown — Brian Kibler explores Extended options for players who like to turn dudes sideways.
• Defining Extended—Nick Spagnolo on Cryptic .  Obviously, a must-read.
• The Best Cards in Extended You Need to Know About—Ben Hayes sees the new format as one where decks will not play “fair” and lists key cards to help you fight dirty.
• Extended Faeries Primer—Conrad Kolos considers some of the finer points of the fae menace.
• Staying Two Steps Ahead—Kyle Boggemes shares insights from a virtual roundtable about the blue control mirror and several tight Extended decklists.
• Adventures in Extendedland—Travis Woo shares early drafts of the decks he worked up for the current Extended format.

Legacy and Vintage

• Stifle and Wasteland—Drew Levin traces an evolution of an archetype in Legacy.
• It’s About Time(Spiral)—Lewis Laskin explores possibilities for the big-mana archetype.
• The Impact of Time Spiral in Legacy Storm Combo—Jason Schoennecker on the impact, or lack there-of, that Time Spiral will have on the format.

Limited

• Making Lemonade—Darwin Kastle manages a split in an 8-4 even after his draft went off the tracks and he ended up short on artifacts.
• Scars of Mirrodin Draft #11—David Ochoa walks us through a recent draft of UW artifacts.

Casual and Variant Formats

• MoJhoSto: A Primer—Russell Tassicker provides a nice introduction to the new twist on the MtgO’s casual format requiring Avatar cards and little else.
• More Other People’s Decks Again Redux—Sheldon Menery borrows the keys to McKeown’s new Memnarch deck and describes the ride.
• I Pick Grevious--Adam Barnello analyzes a long list of generals and gets to the heart of Commander deck building.
• Upgrading the Coalition—Robbie Johnston takes a turn with the popular Ertai’s Meddling concept by improving upon the famously underpowered coalition deck.
• Rubiana Soulsinger—Mike Morales overhauls the pre-constructed deck meant to introduce players to Commander while providing them with a good start on their singleton collection.
• Commander Savra and her Incubi—Bennie Smith gets in the pit with the Queen of Golgari as his Commander.

Finance

• The MTGO Renaissance – Jonathan Medina has become fully immersed in the economics of virtual cardboard.  Here he looks at ballooning prices and discusses how he spots cards on the rise.
• Starting a New Year Right—Brian Grewe explains the hot/cold rollercoaster of card prices, lays out the monthly map for his column, and goes on to share his Extended picks.
• A Financial Review of Commander—Chas Andres knows there is value to be gained at the trade tables by correctly valuing Commander cards and lists several oft-misvalued cards here.

Theory and Miscellany

• New Season’s Resolutions—Alexander Shearer on the importance of goal setting includes a discussion of mapping out actual changes in your approach.
• The Problem with Powercreep—Chingsung Chang demonstrates the impact of powercreep by testing a Deadguy Red deck against a gauntlet of Standard decks.
• Painting Magic—Adam Wilson alters Tempered Steel  and Pyroclasm demonstrating his creative process and advanced technique.
• Alterations: Ramifications and the Future—Mike Linnemann discusses some of the gray areas of card alterations and makes some interesting projections.

Updated 5:20pm, 1/8/2011: Fixed link for Cardboardwitch blog.