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Welcome to the most complex — and the most enjoyable — game in the world! Hopefully, we can help you through the newbie stage that everyone goes through, and launch you into the world of professional Magic with ease! Below you'll find four articles that explain the basics of what serious Magic is all about - and below that, you'll find an archive of beginners' articles. You don't have to read every last article, of course - but we can guarantee your game will improve dramatically if you manage to get through the entire series.
If you have a question about how a specific card works, feel free to Ask Our Virtual Judge, with a database of over 4,000 rulings and explanations of individual cards!
As always, we're looking to improve this section. If you're new to Magic and think there's something we need here, tell us!
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| By default, this page only shows the past year's worth of fundamental Magic articles. Click here to see a complete list.
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To see the articles as only titles, without the paragraph of introductory text,
click this link.
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All Fundamentals Articles At StarCity |
Chatter of the Squirrel - Deckbuilding as “Problem Solving”
by Zac Hill
Wednesday, May 7th - I’m going to talk about how I went about generating a decklist for one of my Hollywood prototypes. The difference is that I’m making no claims as to the value of this particular deck. Instead, what I want to emphasize is the means through which I’ve attempted to solve an existing archetype‘s problems, and how I’ve created space for the necessary slots that try to do so. The execution isn’t what’s important; rather, it’s recognizing the holes that presently exist and taking steps to plug them.
[A Premium Article] Arcane Teachings - Judging a Deck By Its Cover
by Tom LaPille
Tuesday, May 6th - When we roll up to a large Constructed tournament, we like to think we’re prepared. We’ve quietly and thoroughly honed our deck and sideboard with a myriad of tweaks and a plethora of gauntlet test games… right? If things haven’t gone to plan, we could be scrambling for cards in the hour before the tournament. So how do we maximize our chance of success when we’re working on no preparation whatsoever? Let Tom show us how!
[A Premium Article] Sullivan Library – Playtesting: Tips, Tricks, and Traps
by Adrian Sullivan
Friday, May 2nd - Playtesting. Everyone does it. Thing is, the actual nuts and bolts behind the process is shrouded in mystery. We throw the decks against a gauntlet, hoping to gain knowledge through games and matches… but what do our results actually mean? And can our data be trusted? Adrian reveals all…
[A Premium Article] Deep Analysis – How to Think
by Richard Feldman
Thursday, May 1st - Advice in Magic can come from the most unexpected of places. We all read articles, and we all listen to folk we perceive to be better than us… but how can we truly judge the quality and usefulness of such information? Richard Feldman is here to help us remove the cloud of woolly thinking and arm us with laser-guided clarity. Intrigued? Then read on!
[A Premium Article] Peebles Primers – Tournament Preparation
by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy
Wednesday, March 5th - A few weeks ago, Benjamin Peebles-Mundy powered into the Top 8 of the StarCityGames.com $5K Standard Open on the back of a Reveillark Combo deck. Today, BPM outlines his preparation before the event, including his deck selection process, deck-tweaking techniques, and advice for maintaining focus on the tournament floor…
Insert Column Name Here - Thirty-Three Areas Of Improvement
by The Ferrett
 There is too much good Magic going around the Internet these days. Everywhere you look, there are awesome decks, player-busting strategies, amazing plays and bluffs that just blew the game wide open. Problem is, how many times have you learned from your wins? And so The Ferrett, encouraged by someone else's admission, discusses why it's important to talk about awful Magic.
[A Premium Article] Sullivan Library - My Favorite Wrenches
by Adrian Sullivan
As Magic deckbuilders and players, we have a number of tools at our disposal. We have creatures that attack, spells that affect the board, and so on. Today’s Sullivan Library sees Adrian share his favorite tools for Magical accomplishment, offering insight into his deckbuilding processes and a look at some of the cogs behind this game we all love…
Feature Article - Four Good Reasons Not to Play a Deck
by Tom LaPille
Finding the best deck in a format can be hard. However, there are often obvious signs that a deck is just not good enough to win a tournament. Tom shows us four of them, and also warns us about two reasons that we should not use as justification for rejecting decks. Also, Tom and Evan Erwin invite you to Saturday Night Cube Drafting at Worlds this weekend. Details inside!
[A Premium Article] Peebles Primers – The Fearless Magical Inventory
by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy
Improvement in Magic: The Gathering is a tricky beast to tame. Sure, we read the articles, we sling the spells, and we draft along with Tiago and pals… but we still need something more. Today’s Peebles Primer, held back from Black Wednesday, sees Benjamin Peebles-Mundy share his Fearless Magical Inventory, an aid to improvement coined by Sam Stoddard. Will YOUR Fearless Magical Inventory open the door to success?
Arcane Teachings - Sideboard Planning
by Tom LaPille
Seasoned players tend to talk about "sideboarding plans," which is not a surprise since sideboarding well is really all about planning. Tom looks at some decks and asks you to think about how their sideboards do or do not fit with the decks’ game plans. He wants to convince you that you need to be aware of and take into account your deck’s plans to build the most effective sideboard you can.
[A Premium Article] Feature Article - Sixes and Sevens: Mulligans in Constructed
by Dan Paskins
Seven cards are better than six. This much we know. But how often can we be sure that the hand we’re keeping is stronger than a prospective six? Dan Paskins brings us an interesting look at the process of playtesting with regards to mulligan decisions. By examining those hands that win against those hands that lose, Dan helps us along the road to a greater understanding of mulligans in general.
Arcane Teachings - Three Ways to Think Faster
by Tom LaPille
The majority of the time you spend playing Magic is occupied by thought. Tom, in his first strategy article for StarCityGames.com, shows us three ways to think faster inside the game, and explains why doing that will make you play better and win more often.
Feature Article - Redefining a Moniker, Part 1
by Zach Thorp
If you’re like me, you’ve gone through various stages in your Magic career. You likely started out as a random scrub, impressed by the power of a Dragon Whelp but willing to trade it for some Jumps. Gradually you fine-tuned the rules and became more competitive, until either all the local players left or you were happy where you were. In time, you also likely discovered that you had an affinity for a particular color or play style. In my case, the style was the mid-range U/G deck. Over the years since Fallen Empires, I found I had built far too many of these decks, and all those Walls of Blossoms and Ertai, Wizard Adepts were starting to run together. So I set myself a simple-sounding project…
[Editor's Note: Mark Young is ALSO having a week off... he too will be back next Thursday!]
[A Premium Article] Flores Friday - How to Win a PTQ
by Mike Flores
The elusive Blue Envelope... the Holy Grail for which every PTQ player pines. How, exactly, can we put ourselves in the proper mindset to achieve a PTQ win? Is it about practice, belief, luck... all of these things? Today’s Flores Friday examines the qualities you need to step up and reach your true potential. Another master class from Mike – you don’t want to miss this!
[A Premium Article] Deep Analysis – One Game
by Richard Feldman
We all know that Magic is packed with intangible, incremental gains and losses. Players show their true colors time and again, bluffing and counter-bluffing all the while, attempting to throw their opponent off their game. By highlighting the true level of complexity that is found in one single game, Richard shows us how we can charge those tiny credits to our accounts. This is one of the best articles I’ve read for a while… an instant classic. Enjoy!
You Lika The Juice? - Basic Deckbuilding on the Fly
by Bennie Smith
Magic has remained fresh and fun for me because the number one appeal of the game is the constant infusion of new cards. This time of year is the very best because there is a large crop of cards leaving the Standard format. I tend to go on a deckbuilding frenzy, whipping out new decklists by the hour. It occurred to me that the method I go about sketching out initial decklists allows me to get a pretty good idea whether an idea has "juice" enough to warrant further exploration. So for those of you interested in the method, here’s how I do it...
[A Premium Article] Deep Analysis — Public Service Announcement
by Richard Feldman
Richard is on a mission. For the past few weeks, Mike Flores has been lending his support to the "four and one" school of deckbuilding: this theory explains why having any number of a particular card in your deck other than "four" and "one" is inherently flawed. Richard disagrees. In today’s Deep Analysis, he attempts to set the record straight with what we in England call "fightin’ talk." Let battle commence!
The Beautiful Struggle: All We Need...
by Mark Young
I’ve been playing a lot of Tenth Edition Release Events on Magic Online lately, for a lot of reasons. In part it’s because I do most of my Constructed work online these days, and thus I’ll need the cards; in part because I love the format and hate drafting Time Spiral block; and in part because I’ve done pretty well in them, especially if you count events that crashed after I was able to draw into Top 8.
[A Premium Article] Deep Analysis - Four Heartbreaking Punts... er, Bad Beats
by Richard Feldman
The Bad Beat story... as timeless as Magic itself. We’ve all been there: our opponent needs a ridiculous series of luck in order to turn our surefire win into a crushing defeat. Does he get there? You betcha. However, Richard believes that at the core of most Bad Beat stories lies a lurking evil, an insidious demon that tells us we could have played better. Today’s Deep Analysis looks at four Bad Beat stories, and translates them into lessons from which we can improve. Another winner from Mr. Feldman!
Insert Column Name Here - Shaddap!
by The Ferrett
 This week, The Ferrett takes a break from Sealed discussion to talk about something that not enough Magic novices consider: Controlling information. There are a lot of articles devoted to giving yourself an edge at tournaments; this is a very basic primer on how not to hand your opponent the edge by mistake.
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