2006

States 2006- A Tourney Report
By Jonathan Young

So, States. Up until this year, I have had a curse on me at States. 4-3 has been my record every year that I've attended, and to be honest, it's somewhat aggravating. This year, I've been making decks for a few other people who are off at college, so I haven't really gotten the chance to make something for myself. I'd been playing U/R urzatron for about a month, so I just took out the 3 cards that rotated and replaced it with the closest thing I could find. I really like the deck, since it's mostly a responsive deck. I don't really like decks where I have to actively lay threats to win. [ more ]

Breaking The Lugoff Curse
By Michael Beichner

Hello there Rust fans, after a long hiatus, I am back to give you another tournament report for your viewing pleasure. As usual I will be long winded so feel free to go get a beverage before I begin. .....................back yet? ok here we go, my report from the inaugural South Carolina States Limited Championships. [ more ]

2005

Grand Prix Charlotte T8 Report
By Alan Hubbard

It was Friday afternoon and I was the first to arrive at my buddy’s house, Justin Doerfler (sorry big J if I spelled your last name wrong). In the freezing cold, whilst I waited for the rest of the crew to show up, I pondered if my deck choice was the correct one. [ more ]

A.J. Goes to Hawaii
By A.J. Fields

Here we go again RUST fans....this time we find our hero in Charlotte at a Honolulu PTQ. Coming out of PT:LA the format was more open than a hookers legs on navy pay day. Lots of decks look really good from LA, mainly anything with Tog. I wanted to play something along the lines of moreno.dec or No Stick. [ more ]

The creation of the Charleston Steamer
By Michael Beichner

Well Team Rust fans, another states has come and gone with once again the Charleston magic scene bursting to the forefront of South Carolina magic. This time it was on the backs of an origional creation from AJ "The Sex Machine" Fields and Michael "The Sweat Machine" Beichner. The deck which we titled "The Charleston Steamer" was a Green/White control deck with a nice little combo lock inside utilizing some of the best cards from the new Ravica set for control and recursion while using a long time Rust favorite that 9th addition brought back. [ more ]

Charleston Steamer drops deuces all over SC state champs!
By A.J. Fields

Well another States come and gone. I'd just like to start off by thanking Vern, Joe, and Toby for running another GREAT tournament. This year was probably the best States I've been to. Even with the lower turn-out it was still really fun. 99 speed bumps showed up this time to run the guantlet. [ more ]

High Point PTQ Tournament Report
By A.J. Fields

Well Rust fans I recently went to High Point, NC for a PTQ. It was a CHK block constructed format, which is one of the best formats I’ve seen in a while. This format is all about laying fat legends with which cost 6-10 mana. This could be seen as the "timmy" set by most but it’s got plenty of goodness and viable decks. After my regional’s debacle I was feeling a little depressed. We started testing for this the day I got back from regional’s. At first I wanted to play the gifts deck which took 2nd place at PT: Philly with some added goodness from Saviors. I built it on MODO and it seemed really great. [ more ]

Regionals 2005 Tournament Report
By John Shulimson

Regionals. There is no bigger tournament for most Magic players then Regionals. This year was no different. We playtested more for regionals this year than ever before, and it paid off. [ more ]

2004

I Wrote a Tournament Report
By A.J. Fields

Well another states come and gone. I'd just like to start off by thanking Vern, Joe, and Toby for running another GREAT tournament. Ever since these guys took it over from Starcity it's been a real blast to come out. Big thanks to Toby for letting over 100(123!) dorks into your place to play a silly card game, not to mention lots of them were really smelly and probably forgot to shower. [ more ]

Fifth Dawn
By Dacia Talbot

So, it has finally happened, the last chapter in Mirrodin's Cycle. The world draws to it's close, and the story nears it's end. But what has the Fifth Dawn to offer as a set? [ more ]

The Power of Artifact Steal
By Ryan Murphy

First I would like to thank Duelingground.com for the chance to write an article for them. It is an honor to help a wonderful website such as this to grow. I would also like to thank anyone who actually takes the time to read this article, and I hope it might help you have more fun in your gaming experiences. It is great to have the chance to write about something you love to do, and I thank everyone for that chance. [ more ]

Skull Clamps Banned?
By Dacia Talbot

I'm pretty sure that everyone has heard the rumors by now - Skull Clamp, the most versatile card in Type 2, is going to be banned. [ more ]

2002

JSS CHALLENGE - 1/12/02
By Travis McGee

See the decklist! [ more ]

The REAL States Report!
By CurlyFry

Hello, I'm not sure if you've ever heard of me but my name is Matt Keene. Some people call me Curlyfry and I play Magic: The Gathering. I'm not exactly sure if I'm good at the game but I like to think that I'm better than some. [ more ]

Welcome to the World of Magic!
By Brandon Garris

Welcome apprentice to the world of magic. [ more ]

Testing a Tourney: July 1, 2002 Standard
By Jonathan Young

Another day, another tournament. A new twist to the gaming, though- Judgment is now legal, and a slew of new decks are popping out of nowhere. This includes my deck; I can't wait to take advantage of the new army, but the question is, what do I want to use? I have always been a blue person, a major fan of draw-go decks, so I would be sure to use the most annoying color, but I needed something to pair it with. Looking through the new set I quickly found my answer: Test of Endurance. [ more ]

Red/Green Madness v2.0
By Thomas Stuart

After 3 consecutive 8-1 victories and 3 consecutive second round gunslinger defeats (gunslinger is single round elimination) at a Type 1.5 tournament, I thought that it was time to make some alterations to the deck, and there is no better time than a new edition where red gets a new set of punisher cards. The old version is as follows. [ more ]

Red/Green Madness
By Thomas Stuart

I recently made a deck that was an experiment. This was my own specific design that I made on a bet whether a Type II deck could win in a Type 1.5 environment. So I took the dare (being a good player and playing some crappy newbies). [ more ]

I Really Don't Know!
By CurlyFry

Well I just read Rizzo's last article and the ferrets article on Rizzo's quitting of magic. I have never really read that Rizzo characters articles because they were too long for one and they didn't have the right amount of decklists for my net ranging needs. [ more ]

One Stop Deck List Area for Regionals!
By CurlyFry

Well it's that time again, time to playtest our butts off as magic players for a shot at one of the hardest and most prestigious events in the Magic: The Gathering circuit. One thing I know that all of us are doing is cruising the internet day and night for that little peice of secret tech to hopefully win with. Another thing I know is that I will most likely not be attending this years events. [ more ]

2001

PT Tokyo Report (3-20-2001)
By Lucas Benjamin Hager (*3rd*)

Back in the fall when my team (currently only David Devenport and I) learned that the PT after LA would be in Tokyo, we rolled our eyes, knowing that it would be too expensive to travel to Japan just to play Magic. After I finished all my exams for that semester, though, I thought it would be fun to go to a qualifier and see if I could cast some black and blue enchantments and win some money. [ more ]

Atlanta Regionals 2001
By David Devenport (*T-16*)

Preparations for this event started a month prior. Lucas Hager and I had been spending all of our time preparing him for Tokyo PT which, if you took note of the standings, proved fairly profitable. [ more ]

PTQ Barcelona Report - High Point, NC (1-06-01)
By Lucas Hager (*Winner*)

I'm going to jump right into my report this week without any amusing preliminary anecdotes about the drive. However, in the spirit of Fletcher Peatross, I will list the cards that were in my sealed so you can decide for yourself how you think the deck should have been built. Ready? [ more ]

PTQ-Barcelona - High Point, NC (1-06-01)
By David Devenport (*T4)

For any reader that has missed abusing him or herself by reading my reports I must apologize. Lucas Hager and I decided to skip the last PTQ season. It was Extended and it was in Japan. Neither of these prospects was appealing to me. The trip would be too expensive for me to attend and I was very out-of-touch with the current metagame. [ more ]

Land Destuction in post Odyssey - Standard
By Jesse Driggers

One of my favorite decks of all time was red land destruction. I didn't care how the lands came to be dead, as long as they were in the graveyard. And also as long as I had Mr. Beatstick in play. [ more ]

Bounce…The "Underground" Deck Type
By Tyler Reesey

As soon as the Planeshift spoiler was released, I was overjoyed to see Warped Devotion. Up until then, I had never seen this deck type, so I was very happy to be on the cutting edge of deck development. Since creature decks dominate the type two environment, bounce seems to be at a constant advantage. [ more ]

Metagame at SC's State Championships
By Kris Brown

With states coming up and the release of Odyssey at hand the entire metagame will change. This is my first States, but I know I will do exceedingly well. The only problem is to figure out what kind of deck should I play. [ more ]

DumbGuy Red
By CurlyFry

Recently on the net their has been a good deal of talk on the deck known as "The great white hope". Well I for one have been playing a somewhat similar deck since the release of Apocalypse. The deck I've been playing is a red/white deck I've dubbed Dumbguy Red. [ more ]

We'll Miss You When You're Gone!
By Ken Collier

You know it's going to happen. As summer presses on and turns into fall, and as we near the release of the next major Magic expansion: Odyssey, the articles are going to start to appear. Everyone who is capable of typing in complete sentences (and a few people who aren't) are going to start listing their "Top Ten Cards of Masques Block," and lamenting (or in some cases rejoicing) about the exit of their favorite (or least favorite) cards from the Standard tournament environment. [ more ]

Invasion Block Constructed: The Sad Format
By CurlyFry

The reason I call it the sad format is because you can't play monocolored decks in IBC. Sure you can try and then finish up the day with the 1-4 record in the room. See when you try to build a monocolored deck you just see better cards. [ more ]

Evolving Snuff-O-Derm
By Ken Collier

Okay, so just call me the Black/Green guy. Since sometime around the first of the year I have been working on various builds of Black/Green, trying to port the success of the Masques block "Snuff-O-Derm" deck over into Standard. I've had some successes and some failures. (Just look at my tournament report from California States - yuck!) [ more ]

Play Go-Mar in Standard
By Ken Collier

Lately, one of my pet type two decks has been a U/W/b control deck similar to the U/W Blinding Angel prison decks that were so popular last year around the time of State Championships. The deck splashes black for powerful sideboard cards such as Tsabo's Decree and for the main deck beating stick that is Dromar, the Banisher. [ more ]

What I learned Scrubbing Out at Regionals!
By Ken Collier

Heading in to Southern California Regional Championships I was in a bit of a quandary. I simply didn't have a deck that I felt like playing. I didn't feel like playing the Fires mirror match ad naseum, nor did the boredom of playing U/W Control, Counter-Rebel, or Nether-Go really appeal to me either. [ more ]

Are We Being Force Fed?
By Ken Collier

I frequent a lot of Magic web sites, and I read a lot of commentary and theory regarding the game of Magic. More than I care to admit. Lately, I've seen a few comments similar to the one above that insinuate that the card designers at Wizards of the Coast are "building our decks for us." I have to admit that I am puzzled. [ more ]

Only YOU Can Prevent Mana Screw - Part ONE of Two
By Ken Colliert

Everybody looses to it sooner or later. Nothing hurts quite like it either, especially when you loose a match to a deck or a player that you should have been able to beat. What am I talking about? Why, the bane of every Magic player! Mana screw of course! [ more ]

Shuffle Like You Mean It! How to Prevent Mana Screw, Part 2 of 2
By Ken Collier

OK, so you've taken my advice. You play a deck with a solid mana base and you mulligan aggressively. Yet, for some reason you still find yourself drawing into huge clumps of no lands or all lands, and that often costs you games and matches that you should otherwise win. [ more ]

2000

The Intentional Draw, Good or Bad?
By Beeblemaster

Ok, not everyone is going to know what the intentional draw is when I talk about it. [ more ]

May Money Madness!
By Beeblemaster

This past weekend, I went to the world famous Dueling Ground Money Tournament. All in all, it was a great tournament that was well run and had an amazing showing. [ more ]

A Dueling Ground Weekend
By Beeblemaster

Hey, It's the good old Beeblemaster again. I was sitting back and figuring, there's probably a bunch of people that come to this site. Most people may wonder..."Wow, I wonder what it's like to hang out at the Dueling Ground." Well, here ya go. One full weekend review coming right up. [ more ]

Breaking Dueling Grounds
By Ken Collier

As promised, in this article I'll be taking a look at the new Invasion card that is the namesake of the web site: Dueling Grounds. What an honor for Vern and Joe to get a card named after the store! (Hee hee!) What other Magic web site can say that? (Just wait until they print "The Dojo" card in Planeshift�.) [ more ]

Role-playing Revival - 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons
By Joe Burch

Gaming has always been a passion of mine, from the time I was about 11 I had this thing about Fantasy. Dragons, wizards, mighty swords wielded by even mighty warriors. I guess it all began with Professor Tolkein, when I heard about this set of books about elves, hobbits and dragons. I picked up a copy of The Hobbit from my local library and, as they say, the rest was history. [ more ]

Magic is a Growing Experience
By David Devenport (*T8)

There was a time when Magic was mysterious. It was an enchanted era when all of the players brought original decks and made play decisions based on hunches. The game was about creativity and instinct, about artistry and craftiness. The game was about guts. [ more ]

The New Type 2: Elvish Beatdown
By Ken Collier

The new Standard tournament season is upon us. As Urza’s block rotates out, taking 600+ cards with it, we say good-bye to the days of the third turn combo kill and prepare to embark upon a fun-filled journey into an entirely new Magic the Gathering expansion. [ more ]