Eventide Orientation

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Just as with the release of Shadowmoor, Wizards will be providing excellent primer information with the use of videos hosted at YouTube and posted on the Eventide Minisite. To this end, Brandon Bozzi (Creative Coordinator / Associate Developer at Wizards) joins us again as host and tutor. The first video covers hybrid and other instructional videos addressing new mechanics such as Chroma and Retrace will also be made available.









One interesting card Brandon revealed during the first video was 'Clout of the Dominus'.

Clout of the Dominus (Common) - Enchantment - Aura
(u/r)
Enchant Creature
As long as enchanted creature is blue, it gets +1/+1 and has shroud.
As long as enchanted creature is red, it gets +1/+1 and has haste.

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For soon-to-be-released Eventide cards, check out the spolers on the minisite, otherwise, stay tuned here on the blog, and I will try to get some spoilers before they are posted at Wizards.

For you spoiler nutters, here are three new ones . . .

Balefire Liege
Creature - Spirit Horror (Rare)
2(r/w)(r/w)(r/w)
Other red creatures you control get +1/+1
Other white creatures you control get +1/+1
Whenever you play a red spell, ~ deals 3 damage to target player.
Whenever you play a white spell, you gain 3 life
2/4

This appears to be quite a bomb - - just be sure that you delivered a fatal blow to your opponent before this comes out latter in the game.

Edge of the Divinity (Common) - Enchantment - Aura
(w/b)
Enchant Creature
As long as enchanted creature is white, it gets +1/+2
As long as enchanted creature is black, it gets +2/+1

This enchantment promises to be a great addition to decks running white / black hybrid critters.


Figure of Destiny - Creature - Kithkin (Rare)
(r/w)
(r/w) - becomes a 2/2 Kithkin Spirit
(r/w)(r/w)(r/w): If ~ is a Spirit, it becomes a 4/4 Kithkin Spirit Warrior
(r/w)(r/w)(r/w)(r/w)(r/w)(r/w): If ~ is a Warrior, it becomes an 8/8 Kithkin Spirit Warrior Avatar with Flying and First Strike.
1/1

This card is featured on the Eventide release posters . . . you probably walked right by one on your way into your local gaming store during Friday Night Magic.

I am somewhat undecided about this card . . .
it could be really great or downright unplayable.

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And now for something completely different . . .

Scourge of the Nobilis is to become a playmat and should be available at selected stores during the Pre-Release events.

Some other art images leaked include these two very cool works showing a Cinder and this group of Elves.

Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming everyone . .
Also - A very Happy CANADA DAY to my fellow Canadians.

Eventide MiniSite

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The Eventide Minisite is now up over at Wizards of the Coast.










If you are not familiar with this, here is a quick explanation. The constantly-updated minisite offers a solid place to begin familiarising yourself with the newest set. It also provides product / flavour descriptions, wallpapers, puzzles, and of course, visual spoilers.

Here is a brief summary of what was revealed today.

New Mechanics

Retrace - keyword meaning - "You may play this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to playing its other costs."
Cards shown today with mechanic - Raven's Crime, Worm Harvest, and Call the Skybreaker.

Chroma - ability word - associated with an ability which counts the number of mana symbols of a certain colour.
Cards shown today with mechanic - Outrage Shaman.

Tokens
Worm Harvest - 1/1 black and green Worm creature tokens
Call the Skybreaker - 5/5 blue and red flying Elemental creature token














Auras
Scourge of the Nobilis - +1/+1 pump for red and white with an additional payable pump for a red creature.

Enchantments
Endless Horizons - 3w. A very nice way to secure a regular delivery of (white) mana to play.

Instants
Unmake - w/b w/b w/b. Creature Removal. Not unsimiliar to 'Oblivion Ring'.

Sorceries
Raven's Crime - b. Discard spell with Retrace ability.
Worm Harvest - 2 b/g b/g b/g. Produces a 1/1 black and green Worm creature token for each land in your graveyard.
Call the Skybreaker - 5 u/r u/r. 5/5 u/r token flyer with Retrace ability.














Creatures
Swirling Spriggan - 3/3 Goblin Shaman. g/u g/u: Target creature you control becomes the colour / colours of your choice until turn's end.
Outrage Shaman - 2/2 Goblin Shaman. 3rr. Chroma ability dealing target creature or player damage equal to the number of red mana symbols in your stable.
Shorecrasher Mimic - 2/1 Shapeshifter. 1 g/u. Provides a Power / Toughness pump on g/u spells.
Stigma Lasher - 2/2 Elemental Shaman. rr. Wither with a nasty disruption to an opponent's life gain ability.
Needle Specter - 1/1 Specter with flying. 1bb. Wither with discard equal to damage dealt to opponent.
Doomgape - 10/10 Elemental. 4 g/b g/b g/b. Trample with life gain on sacrifice.
Overbeing of Myth - */* Spirit Avatar. g/u g/u g/u g/u g/u. Power and Toughness equal to number of cards in your hand.

Until next time, Happy & Safe gaming everyone.

Eventide Art Spoiler 2

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As promised in yesterday's post, I have for you some more Eventide-set art spoilers . . . Let's get to it.

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The first (Bloom Tender), was brought to my attention from Norm over at Casual Magic, who had received a promotional eMail (prerelease announcement) from WoTC. I nested this spoiled card on top of of the spoiled art image found over at MTG Salvation. I believe that Wizards intend to have the Bloom Tender Art serve as a puzzle when the Eventide mini-site is up and running.
Bloom Tender - Tap this 1/1/ Elf Druid - for EACH colour among permanents you control, add one mana of that colour to your mana pool.
What a great card in a variety of different decks . . . this card may even find a home in those very interesting decks running Horde of Notions and Reaper King.

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Following are wild, baseless speculations as to the cards expected from these very wonderful pieces of art.











To the left is a creature that perhaps just walked out of David Cronenberg's malfunctioning telepod. What walked in may have been a dragon, a treefolk and a scarecrow. (I see a joke somewhere in here).
To the right appears some spirit avatar in the same vein as Ghastlord of Fugue or Oversoul of Dusk.

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We have already seen this gimpy imp on the cover of the 'Sidestep' Eventide Theme deck. As for the critter on the right, it bears a familiar resemblance to Cemetery Puca, the only shapeshifter still hanging around in Shadowmoor.

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Both creatures here are yelling . . . but for very different reasons I should think. The fellas on the left appear to be subterranean Kithkin. I'm thinking some twist on H.G. Wells' Morlocks (Time Machine). Perhaps this is a natural movement for the xenophobic Shadowmoor Kithkin. As for the unfortunate Kithkin on the right, it looks like 7-years of bad luck. I am seeing perhaps some relation to Mirrorweave here.

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The left-side image appears to be a very minute peck from Willow. The peck is riding a retarded moth. . . . sorry - your guess is as good as mine. The fiery fellow on the right is Cinder Pyromancer and the artwork suggests another enemy-hybrid card.

Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming everyone.

Eventide Orb

Happy Monday everyone!
Stay tuned tomorrow for additional Eventide Art spoilers.

The Orb of Insight for soon-to-be-release Eventide set is now up on the Wizards site. If you are new to this, the Orb application is a recurrent feature that is available prior to a set's release which allows the user to type in a word (or number). The Orb then informs you how many times that word appears on (each of the 180) Eventide set of cards. Although you are able to enter numbers and mana abbreviations to try and figure out mana costs and activation costs (including hybrid mana), the Orb does not does not search / count flavor text.


Here are the results of a few limited searches -

Card Types :
ARTIFACT = 12 / CREATURE = 225 / ENCHANTMENT = 18 / EQUIPMENT = 1 / INSTANT = 21 / LAND = 23 / SORCERY = 23

From a look at the creature / tribe numbers, it appears that Elves took a big hit here. Not far behind them are Goblins and 'Cinders'. Making a bit of a come-back are Treefolk.
Some new critters to make an appearance are 'Hatchlings' and 'Gwyllions'.

Creatures/Tribes
CINDER = 5 / DRUID = 2 / ELEMENTAL = 24 / ELF = 4 / FAERIE = 5 / GIANT = 10 / GOBLIN = 7 / GWYLLION = 5 / HAG = 12 / HATCHLING = 22 / KITHKIN = 16 / MERFOLK = 9 / OUPHE = 2 / SCARECROW = 7 / TREEFOLK = 6 / WARRIOR = 13 / WIZARD = 11



From a review of the mechanics and abilities, it appears that persist and wither will be a large part of the flavour of this set (as expected). What is unexpected however is the number returned when the Orb was queried for 'flying'. Ensure that you do not trade away your cards with reach folks!

Mechanics/Abilities
DESTROY = 10 / FLASH = 1 / FLYING = 32 / HASTE = 7 / LIFELINK = 4 / PERSIST = 11 / REACH = 1 / REGENERATE = 3 / SACRIFICE = 9 / SHROUD = 4 / TAP = 6 / TRAMPLE = 9 / UNTAP = 21 / VIGILANCE = 1 / WITHER = 13



Power/Toughness:
1/1 = 27 / 1/2 = 4 / 1/3 = 3 / 2/3 = 5
2/1 = 11 / 2/2 = 24 / 2/3 = 3
3/1 = 1 / 3/2 = 2 / 3/3 = 13 / 3/4 = 2
4/4 = 12 / 4/5 = 2
5/5 = 3 / 6/6 = 6 / 10/10 = 1

Stay tuned for more folks,
Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming.

Eventide Art Spoiler

I just came across these Eventide Art Spoiler images posted over at the popular Brazilian Magic website, The Magic Tutor.

It appears that we have these five creatures to speculate about until the release scheduled for July 25, 2008.

As for this image, the mount is almost certainly a cervin - the deer-like creature the Elves favour for patrolling their havens. This image bears a resemblance to the Elf Knight card Rune-Cervin Rider.

Perhaps a spirit.
It almost looks like a cross between Ghastlord of Fugue and Midnight Banshee.

Moster certainly a Shadowmoor-type Goblin in the same style of the Mudbrawler or Scuzzback Boggarts.
Appears to be standing over an unfortunate Elf.

We saw this image on the last post being featured on the black/green theme deck 'Death March'

Here is another odd-looking creature.
If you look carefully at the above Goblin image, you may be able to see a few of these critters in the fore-ground.
I think I will call it an Ouphe for now.












Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming.

Eventide Theme Decks

Wizards spoiled the Eventide Theme Decks today.
Edit - Theme Deck contents provided 6/03/2008 .

Eventide previews begin June 30th on magicthegathering.com.
First off, its a bit weird seeing the 'enemy-hybrid' here. I am sure I will get used to . . . change is good.
Just remember - 'Bend like the reed in the wind Grasshopper'.
Secondly, the names assigned to these pre-constructed theme decks just seems lees cool than those we have seen in the past. I wonder if WOTC would feel comfortable allowing a contest to name these decks . . .

Life Drain - White / Black
He who lives the longest gets the last laugh. Drain your enemy's life total down to nothing while you keep your own comfortably high. Meanwhile you'll lay down the law, punishing any creatures your opponent makes the mistake of putting in your way.
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This pre-constructed theme deck sounds like another good control deck. The creature featured here appears goblin-like and somewhat reminiscent of the two lovely ladies on the Disturbing Plot sorcery. This is the new creature (type?) called Gwyllion.

Sidestep - Blue / Red
What's wrong with a little mischief, as long as you never get caught? Your creatures are some of the most slippery and sneaky around. They'll get in and out like cat burglars, while you set up tricks and traps to befuddle your enemies.
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Am I missing something here . . or perhaps should I say - is that creature missing something. Somewhat goblin-like in appearance with only one leg and one arm. Anywho - sounds like an interesting pre-con.

Death March - Black / Green
Send your creatures on the attack, or use them to feed a colossal monster of doom. It won't matter whether your creatures are in play or in the graveyard. The power of black-green hybrid means that life and death are playthings for your amusement.
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This pre-con definitely smells like it has a solid recursion. The Elemental creature featured on the pack looks like it would make a dentist very happy.


Battle Blitz - White / Red
You'll start with a classic rush strategy: flood the board with ferocious fighters as fast as you can. Then the big guns kick in. A barrage of burn clears the way for your army, and then a rapid-fire blitz of tricky tap-untap combinations clinches the victory.
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The creature here appears to one of the two featured on the Shadowmoor sorcery card Mine Excavation. I rather like the hint of the mechanics promised in this theme deck.

Superabundance - Blue / Green
Start this deck's engine, and you'll go from zero to unstoppable in seconds. With each spell you cast, you'll trigger more and more rewards—bigger creatures, more tokens, better cards—and set yourself up to reap even more rewards the next turn.
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The creature featured on this pre-con appears to be merfolk in need of a hair saloon. The description provided sounds very typical for blue (spells) and green (big critters).

Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming.

Non-Rare Shadowmoor Picks

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I had recently enjoyed watching another episode of ManaNation, with hosts Trick Jarrett and Lee Steht. In this episode, released 19th May, they discussed their picks for the 'Top Ten Shadowmoor Non-Rares'. On the whole, I somewhat agree with their selection which were as follows . . .


10 Trip Noose / Type: Artifact / Uncommon

9 Curse of Chains / Type: Enchantment - Aura / Common

8 Prision Term / Type: Enchantment - Aura / Uncommon

7 Kulrath Knight / Type: Creature - Elemental Knight / Uncommon

6 Kitchen Finks / Type: Creature - Ouphe / Uncommon

5 Murderous Redcap / Type: Creature - Goblin Assassin / Uncommon

4 Burn Trail / Type: Sorcery / Common

3 Flame Javelin / Type: Instant / Uncommon

2 Firespout / Type: Sorcery / Uncommon

1 Incremental Blight / Type: Sorcery / Uncommon

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- My comments -

In a drafting environment, players more than often pick off the bombs first with little heed to the possible mana-curve skew. Players who look to pick up cards with threat-removal in my opinion often win the game; I have witnessed (more than once) a player drop an expensive bomb in turn 5 or 6 (with less than half his/her life left), only to have said bomb removed from game with an oblivion ring . . . ouch (!).

Shadowmoor, comparative to other sets, does not provide us with many removal cards. To this end, I will suggest another list of cards which may prove beneficial for players so that they may more effective deal with nasty enchantments or threatening creatures.

Æthertow - you definitely want to use it's conspire ability.

Burn Trail - yet another conspire card.

Smash to Smithereens - its like RAID® for scarecrows.

Fate Transfer - move those nasty -1/-1 counters to another more deserving creature!

Inquisitor's Snare - prevent damage AND potential to destroy.

Last Breath - removal and life-gain.

Elvish Hexhunter - destroy enchantment.

Memory Sluice - mill 8 cards using conspire for only 1 mana! crazy!

Strip Bare - shave off equipment and auras from problematic critters.

Faerie Macabre - empty their graveyard of any potential threats.


Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming everyone!

Eventide Booster Spoiler

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From the look at the Eventide Booster Pack preview posted today at Wizards, it appears that the prediction of enemy hybrid is confirmed.

The rare provided in this sample Eventide booster pack visual spoiler was Overbeing of Myth / Creature - Spirit Avatar

Overbeing of Myth's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand. / At the beginning of your draw step, draw a card. */*

The other 14 commons and uncommons provided in this sample booster pack is as follows:
Cinder Pyromancer (C), Snakeform (C), Dream Thief (C), Desecrater Hag (C), Hoof Skulkin (C), Aerie Ouphes (C), Kithkin Zealot (C), Nettle Sentinal (C), Insie Out (C), Drain the Well (C), Double Cleave (C), Soul Sniffers (U), Voracious Hatchling (U), and Unwilling Recruit (U).

Following are my prognostication of what these new cards may be - - based on absolutely nothing but my 'hunch' suspicion. Please click on each image to enlarge in order to better see my baseless and uniformed blathering.















































































Until next time spoiler nutters, Happy & Safe gaming.