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…But John has to start discarding (counters like Mana Leak) after reaching about 4 land. Meanwhile I see 10 lands…

Monday, March 16th – Patrick Chapin is currently between formats. However, instead of disappearing into his shell, he’s decided to take a look at (almost) everything! This article contains Extended, Standard, Vintage, Limited, and Alara Block Constructed talk and tech. Legacy players need not apply…

…Basically, the dream is if the new set has decent variants on Pithing Needle, Mana Leak, and Careful Consideration. There…

…for answers? You get a chance to rip a Mana Leak. Going Explore -ing? Sphinx is coming along for the…

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths made a splash before the first spell was cast! Five SCG contributors recount their first impressions of this unique set.

…Honorable mention to Memory Leak for giving me more great excuses to play discard spells in Draft. Ryan Overturf: I…

Pro Tour Hall of Fame member Patrick Chapin talks about a recent spoiler from Theros, Abhorrent Overlord, and the implications of the devotion to black mechanic on it.

…Mana Leak, Jace the Mind Sculptor, Bloodbraid Elf, and more were all legal as well at different points. - Grave Titan…

…of Judgment as well as all around answers like Mana Leak and Oblivion Ring. On top of that UW allows…

…since you get to sit back with counterspells like Mana Leak while your opponents are stuck playing off-curve. #23…

…An opponent forgetting to flip his Delver, but immediately showing you a fresh Mana Leak after saying “draw,” greets you…

…in his hand, which he masterfully plays directly into Mana Leak and I fateseal away the Primeval Titan he has…

Catch up with how Ben Friedman did at GP Indy, GP Nashville, and the SCG Invitational in Baltimore. Learn about U/W Delver in Standard and Esper Stoneblade in Legacy to get ready for SCG Open Series: Des Moines.

…Cut Mana Leak in that matchup, as you can bet that they’ll play around it! Moving into Legacy, I…

…They have a mana cost (we don’t use the term casting cost any more) of 0. Listen Here The…

…In limited, though, I like all of the cantriping tribal “if you…” spells (the Wizard mana-leak, etc). You typically…

…Instant | | Hinder | Instant | | Impulse | Instant | | Into the Roil | Instant | | Mana Leak | Instant | | Miscalculation | Instant | | Misdirection | Instant | | Mystical Tutor | Instant | | Negate…

Like anyone else I’ve been testing and making new decks. Of course by new decks, I mean I’m putting old cards backwards in cases and then scribbling (in my terrible hand writing) words like”extraplanar” and”chrome” on small pieces of paper and then slipping them in. This, combined with a testing partner, results in testing out new decklists… Which I will now give to you, my readers. Then I will talk about the decklists. Which were tested and observed, under fire from other decks. Deck that might also be terrible. I think this is the real fun of new format testing: All of your decks are garbage, but you don’t know that yet .

…That means access to Mana Leak and other disruptive countermagic comes at too high a price to remain true Aggro…

…second blue source with Evolving Wilds (to flash back Mana Leak), but we already need BB and WW on turn…

Pro Tour Competitor Ari Lax asks and answers questions about cards in Avacyn Restored that haven’t been getting as much attention as others that he thinks may be role players in the future. Get ready for the Prerelease this weekend!

…3WW, three 4/4 fliers… Maybe not yet given that Vapor Snag and Mana Leak choke the hard cast options…

Ben Friedman does not regret his decision to run Humans at GP Orlando, and his report tells you exactly why. If you want a deck to take down SCG Open: DC this weekend, this might be the one.

…why would I protect a 1/1 Champion with Mana Leak, seriously), but I had a nice series of perfect…

GP Sydney 2010 winner Jeremy Neeman provides you with an in-depth, card-by-card breakdown of his Zombie Pod deck in Standard. If you want to kill Delver decks this weekend, take this to the SCG Open Series in Detroit.

…Anyone with Vapor Snag, Mana Leak, Dismember, Go for the Throat, or Celestial Purge makes Obliterator a sad panda. (A…

…Disrupt and Mana Leak become unreliable when there is a plethora of mana available, and the other counterspells (Remove Soul…

…They have a mana cost (we don’t use the term casting cost any more) of 0. Listen Here The…

Sometimes you can prepare all you want for Magic and life. Sometimes you can have things perfectly in order. And sometimes you can totally screw all that up and win anyway! Read SCG Tour star Kevin Jones’s unbelievable journey from missing the event he wanted to attend…to finding himself representing America at the World Magic Cup!

…Any removal spell that costs one helps mitigate the cost of things like Mana Leak and Electrolyze, which, while clunky…

Todd Anderson has had it with these formats. Enough is enough! Be wary of giving Todd the keys to your tournament Magic kingdom. He rules with an iron fist, and he’s throwing cards out of contention left and right! Would you ban less cards than Todd? Surely you wouldn’t ban even more…

…Mana Leak would have been far too good in the W/U Flash deck and probably put it miles above…

Jamie Wakefield brings us this week’s look into all things Green from the comfort of a foregin shore… Spain! He takes us through the developments he’s made to his evolving Beast Attack Mono-Green deck, and shares more stories from his ever-changing life. Soon, Jamie’s Madrid Adventure will become a permanent one, and we all wish him luck. In the meantime, can his Extended beatdown machine conquer the degenerate likes of TEPS and Scepter-Chant?

…two shuts off his Memory Lapse, Remand, Counterspell *and* Mana Leak. Go Go Narrow Decks! I win the 8-man…

More Draft and Standard action from StarCityGames.com’s baldest writer. In today’s installment Dave battles a poker hero, drafts an abysmal deck, and wraps up the weekend with a few words of sage advice.

…I’m assuming he’s running the Mana Leak and Condescend in that deck, and he’s content to let…

Monday, November 17th – There are quite a few cards there that every casual player not only should own, but can own for a low investment. These older, no-longer-in-print cards will make your casual decks much more powerful, generally for under a $12 investment. So let’s take a look!

…rans like Cancel and Mana Leak. You *want* this in your deck, because for two mana it stops pretty much…

…power slowly if it meant I could still hold Mana Leak open. The deck was quite successful in terms of…

Pro Tour Born of the Gods champion Shaun McLaren can add “Grand Prix semifinalist” to his resume! Get his insight on the innovative U/W/R control deck with a Kiki-Jiki finish that he used to make his first Grand Prix Top 8 and is sure to be a staple of the upcoming Modern PTQ metagame!

…This can cause them to slow down a little, making cards like Mana Leak <br> a bit better than they…

Kick off the new year at Friday Night Magic with Matt’s latest Standard brew: a hyper-aggressive Nivmagus Elemental deck!

…back with two or three mana available for X … Sigh… I miss Mana Leak. Dangerous Wager Originally a pair until…

…In the case of the Birds-into-Specters threat, we had Mana Leak and Remand on two versus Hypnotic Specter…

This is it, folks. The final installment for this monster review of what could be Magic’s best set yet. Today the legendary michaelj covers the Lands, Cycles (including the very powerful Hunted creatures), and the mechanics of Ravnica, detailing everything you need to know about Ravnica for Constructed. If you missed out on the earlier installments we’ve linked them all below for easy accessability. [ White ] [ Blue ] [ Black ] [ Red ] [ Green ] [ Gold ] [ Guild ]

…Foregoing the chance to run a Mana Leak on turn 2 will be greatly counterbalanced by playing, and even when…

…Cards like Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, and Arcane Denial are better in Grand Arbiter decks because of the cost reduction…

Limited specialist Nick Eisel takes us through the many options presented when drafting the Simic guild in RGD. While conventional wisdom shows us that doing so leaves us with a lack of guild picks from one of the first two boosters, PT Prague proved that the Green and Blue guild delivers strength in depth. What are the cards you need to succeed? Which picks have now risen in value? All this, and more, just a click away…

…costs so much to even make it into a Mana Leak. Plumes of Peace<br> Great removal spell and stops…

…is that you can play it and still have Mana Leak up for their follow-up Garruk. So while we…

…Mana Leak art We don't have sufficient data to conduct a full metagame breakdown, but we have more than…

…and saw Sword of Feast and Famine; he took Mana Leak instead. I easily killed him with the Sword, which…

…Logic Knot and Mana Leak are too restrictive, and Counterspell would represent a sweet upgrade. Conclusion *Modern Horizons* will have…

…As for Standard, we already have access to Remand, Mana Leak, and Rune Snag. That is some stiff competition at…

All right, you know the drill: I’m going to list tons of cards, then I’m going to rate them for both Champions of Kamigawa Block and Standard. Can Ponza work? Is the blue Shoal worth putting in your deck? And what Legends should you be concentrating on breaking?

…1*<br> <br> It’s hard to imagine that this can compete with Mana Leak and Condescend. Chisei, Heart of…

Mono-Black fans, Patrick Chapin has your back. With every set that comes out, the potential of mono-black is on the radar. With its fresh Zombie additions, will it make the big stage?

…A blue mana base would be similar, offering Vapor Snag, Mana Leak, maybe Snapcaster Mage, Diregraf Captain, or even Screeching…

…I figured that if he had a Mana Leak he would tap me down to 1 mana source regardless (I…

…I don't have any counter spells main deck so I would suggest adding Mana Leak or Condescend to the…

Thursday, October 7th – Swedish Pro Anton Jonsson has to make some difficult decisions in today’s M11 draft. Follow him pick by pick, as he examines his every pick and every play!

…My Vanguard goes unopposed for three turns and his first spell is Mana Leak on my Phantom Beast. On turn…

Patrick Chapin, “The Innovator,” takes a look at the new possibilities in Standard thanks to all of the sweet new cards in Magic 2015. There’s so much power here if you want it, how will this shake up the entrenched Standard metagame?

When was the last time a Core Set was hitting like this? M11 with Titans, Mana Leak, Preordain, Fauna Shaman…

Have you ever wondered where that weird foil or full art card came from or what the most valuable FNM card of all time is? Chas has got you covered in his first article in a series on promotional Magic cards.

…Looking for a sleeper? This version of Rewind is just $6, while the Arena Mana Leak is $20. If Rewind…

Thursday, September 30th – Anton drafts one of his best decks so far in the series, R/B Act of Treason! Follow his draft pick by pick and pick his brain in the forums!

…This way Mana Leak doesn’t really do anything. I end up doing this the next turn anyway after drawing…

In order to bring you more content, and to expand the host of fine writers we have here at StarCityGames.com, we’re pround to announce that, from today, we’re mirroring our Premium “floating” articles with a free article in the same design! Today’s offering comes from Legacy writer Chris Coppola. Here’s what he has to say on his article: In this article, I draw on my experience as a Legacy deckbuilder and player and discuss the foundational cards of the format. I also emphasize the importance of creative deckbuilding and suggest some methods for creating new decks.

…This card is most successful in aggro-control decks. (Mana Leak is in a similar position.) There are also some…

…The turn after that I was able to cast the Jinxed Idol with a Counterspell and a Mana Leak to…

…Steve has tried Rune Snag and Mana Leak as replacements, but he keeps coming back. Hard counters are at a…

Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you that Heartbeat is the must-have deck in Team Standard. It’s the strongest deck in the field, or so we’re told. Chad, however, has a different opinion. With Aggro on the decline, what’s the best way to combat mid-game sorcery-speed shenanigans? That’s right… Control . Looking for a deck that crucifies Heartbeat? Look no further…

…when they had enough mana to force a spell through either Remand or Mana Leak. On to the matches: Round…

What changes will be made to the Modern banned list prior to Pro Tour Born of the Gods? Reid Duke speculates and makes some predications about what he thinks might happen.

…extremely hungry for mana in its early turns between Celestial Colonnade, Spell Snare, and Mana Leak, so adding a cantrip…