M10 Promo Scans

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We have the scans from the magazin Lotus Noir showing the Magic 2010 ('M10') pre-release and release tournament promo cards. Thanks to Nokiou for the spoiler scan !

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Vampire Nocturnus, 1BBB
Creature - Vampire , Mythic Rare
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
As long as the top card of your library is black, Vampire Nocturnus and other Vampire creatures you control get +2/+1 and have flying.
3/3

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Queen of Ants, 3GG
Creature - Insect Rare
1{G}: Put a 1/1 green Insect creature token into the battlefield.
5/5

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The M10 promotional poster you will most likely see at your local gamery shoppe !

Yeah ! Spoiler Season !

M10 Prerelease & Release Cards

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Looks like spoiler season for the new core set release Magic 2010 ('M10') just (unofficially) started.

It appears that we may now ascertain that we have secured info for two of the four new card arts that I just speculated about in the previous article posted just this morning and have one more additional for you.

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First off - directly from the Facebook art thread . . .

Golden Lotus
Legendary Land, Mythic Rare
Golden Lotus comes into play tapped.
If Golden Lotus would come into play, sacrifice three untapped lands instead. If you do, put Golden Lotus into play. If you don't, put it into its owner's graveyard. Shroud
Tap : Sacrifice Golden Lotus: Add nine mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.

Thanks to Reinharts from the forums for the mock-up.
So - 9 mana on turn 5 . . . ? - I'm in. I'm thinking that it may now be easy to play the rainbow fatties such as Progenitus. Also - this card has combo written all over it . . . I'm holding onto my Knight of the Reliquary deckset for the time-being as I am envisioning something along the following . . .

Turn 3 - Knight of the Reliquary (or sooner maybe)
Turn 4 - Pass wit 4 Lands untapped
End of their turn, sacrifice a land (forest or plains), play Golden Lotus, sacrifice 3 lands
Turn 5 - Play a huge beater while Knight is now a 8/8 monster.

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Now on to what is believed (based on the French Lotus Noir magazin) to be the M10 Pre-Release and Release promo cards . . .

Vampire Nocturnus, 1BBB
Creature - Vampire , Mythic Rare
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
As long as the top card of your library is black, Vampire Nocturnus and other Vampire creatures you control get +2/+1 and have flying.
3/3

Nocturnus vampire, 1BBB Créature : vampire (Rare mythique) Jouez avec la carte du dessus de votre bibliothèque révélée. Tant que la carte du dessus de votre bibliothèque est noire, le Nocturnus vampire et les autres créatures Vampire que vous controlez gagnent +2+1 et ont le vol. 3/3

This player is hoping for a LOT of blood-suckers in this set to make this card worth while. I'm day-dreaming about a mono-black vampire deck right now. Essentially a 5/4 liege for only 4 mana is excellent.

AND

Queen of Ants, 3GG
Creature - Insect Rare
1{G}: Put a 1/1 green Insect creature token into the battlefield.
5/5

Reine des fourmis, 3GG Créature : insecte Rare 1{G} : Mettez sur le champ de bataille un jeton de créature 1/1 verte Insecte. 5/5

Did they just say 'battlefield' ??!!?? OK - which other MTG player just shuddered or will now deny they play magic ? Other than than I'm sure sure anyone will argue too strongly against a 5/5 for only 5 mana which also produces chump tokens.

M10 Speculation 1

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Wizards of the Coast appears to exploring and embracing all new and developing social networking media (such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook) as a vector to better be able to reach fans where ever they may be lurking. This simply is good business to be able to move outside of their own Gleemax site and develop . I'm certain we can see further development into other areas such as Bebo, Hi5, MySpace, Orkut and the like.


Late Friday or early Saturday witnessed and interesting note posted to the 'Magic: The Gathering - Fans' group on FaceBook. This fan page had been set up by Wizards of the Coast as yet another medium outlet to provide news / events / whatever to MTG fans. They currently have quite a solid following at the moment and I'm sure even more over the next few weeks.

Righto - You were probably wondering when I was getting around to the subject of the matter - 'what was posted'. To answer, there were four card art images which the WoTC poster indicated were from the upcomming core set release of Magic 2010 ('M10'). An important thing to remember is that approximately half of the M10 cards are to be new. This of course means there will be more new card arts in M10 than we have had in the past.

Lets get to it . . .

Angel getting pwn'd. Obviously an instant / sorcery for removal or damage - possibly to flying creatures only. The art here is rather reminescent of the recent Alara Reborn card 'Bituminous Blast' but of course that would not be reprinted in the core set due to the cascade mechanic. Best guess IF it is a reprint is Expunge.

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Soldiers - most likely white, possibly blue (or hey - both). This art looks less like a creature spell and more like an instant / sorcery most likely generating 1/1 soldier tokens. One guess IF it is a reprint is Staunch Defenders but I will side with a token generating spell.

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Vampire Art. This creature spell art is very win. Obviously a vampire creature at a demonic pulpet or perhaps a balcony. Popular opinion suggests that IF this were a reprint, it would most likely be Sengir Vampire (or possibly Baron Sengir - based soley on the art).

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Monster Lotus. Talk about big - this lotus is HUGE. This suggests to me that IF it were a reprint it may be Rampant Growth. Others think it might be Lotus Vale. A lot of speculation about this one which includes some very good ideas on mana fixing.

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As always, please feel free to comment and provide your input as what cards this lovely arts may hit.

Grand Prix Seattle

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Grand Prix - Seattle/Tacoma is just around the corner folks. Here is some info if you are planning to attend this event . . .

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Wizards of the Coast celebrates the birthplace of Magic: The Gathering with a Grand Prix hosted in the greater Puget Sound. The event takes place May 30-31 in Tacoma. At the end of the weekend, the tournament winner will walk home with $3,500.


If you are participating in the main event, you score a free tournament promo card - 'Chrome Mox' (while supplies last).

Also - If you are one among the first 500 players to register for the GP will get an exclusive GP Seattle playmat !


If you aren’t competing in the main event, take it to the public events where players can compete for cash prizes and MTG products. For those who just love art, there will be eight amazing artists on site. The list includes rk post, Rob Alexander, Mark Tedin, Pete Venters, Mike Dringenberg, Franz Vohwinkel, Chuck Lukacs, and Corey Macourek. Special guest includes Richard Garfield (the father of Magic the Gathering).

Main Event
Participation Fee: $30

Registration and Schedule
Friday, May 29:
Main Event Registration - 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Saturday, May 30:
Main Event Registration - 7:00 am - 9:00 am
Saturday, May 30: Tournament begins at 9:30 am
Sunday, May 31: Day Two begins 9:00 am

The main tournament at Grand Prix – Seattle is open to Magic players of all ages.

Tournament Format
* Standard Constructed
* Deck lists are required
* Players must use the same deck on Day 2 that they used on Day 1

Here are the details for all the events from Cascade Games who are this event's host / organizer.
> apologies for the bulky spreadsheet - Please use your arrow keys to navigate ->

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Good luck to all the attendees ! - Please send along any stories / photos you may have from this event to CopySix [at] gmail [dot] com

What I'm Playing 6

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This particular episode of 'What I'm Playing' (WIP #6) features a deck which has yet undergone any playtesting to date. Hopefully, this will see some play that this week's FNM. Essentially, this is one of my older Naya decks featuring Realm Razer and Meglonoth at the business end tweaked to include new card goodness from the recently released Alara Reborn set.

Let's have a quick walk through to see where this is all going . . .


The requisite one-drop for many Naya decks is of course Wild Nacatl - a decent 1/1 which balloons to a 3/3 when you get a Plains and a Mountain on the board. There really is no other purpose here than to provide a board presence in the game's first turns.

Path to Exile provides good spot removal of threats. The purpose here is to trade your opponent's threats and replace them with a basic land card which you will get to remove when Realm Razer hits the board.

Many decent Naya builds also feature Druid of the Anima which provides additional mana to you at a critical time in the game. The Druid also gets a jump start on things when Realm Razer enters play and there is a sudden and distressing lack of mana.


Stun Sniper is a new addition and as I have mentioned has not been play tested yet. It appears that this will be a strategic inclusion in order to kill off single 1/1 tokens flying or not as well as being able to tap down any of your opponent's fatties which may hit the board.


Another new addition is Jund Hackblade. This card has been getting some fairly decent reviews from other players. The Hackblade's potential to become a hasty 3/2 on turn two provided the presence of another multi-coloured permanent on your side is enviable.


Woolly Thoctar is simply obligatory in any deck that runs the Naya colours of Red / Green / White. A 5/4 beastie for only 3 mana is just insane even considering today's power curve.


Many players consider the cascading 3/2 Bloodbraid Elf one of the best (non-rare / mythic rare) cards of the set. For only four mana, you get a hasty 3/2 AND a FREE random spell - which in this deck may be ANY of the previous cards - I'm personally hoping for the Thoctar or perhaps the Hackblade. I do agree with Evan Erwin (Mr. Magic Show), that Captured Sunlight may very well be on par with the Hackblade, but I thought that the colours were just a bit better with the Hackblade for this build.

Once more again into the unkown territory of new deck inclusions is Knight of New Alara. Although the Knight is a very tenuous and easily-removed 2/2 for a cost of 4, the proof of WIN is in this card's ability . . . "Each other multicoloured creature you control gets +1/+1 for each of its colours". When this card hits the board, Woolly Thoctar becomes an 8/7 monster and Jund Hackblade becomes a 6/5.

One cannot effect provisions for every possible late-game play but when things go into the ceramic bowl of games gone awry Wall of Reverence, may become very relevant. I needed something in this deck to deal with flyers other than Stun Sniper and this seemed most appropriate as the Wall can give the flaggin player new life . . literally. Life gain off one the afore-mentioned fatties is nothing to balk at.

Next up is Meglonoth. This vigilant / tramply (a real word?) 6/6 for six mana is a solid inclusion in this slot. An excellent threat is that whenever Meglonoth blocks, it also dings the attacking creature's controller for pain equal to it's power. If the Knight of New Alara is still out, this adds up to a total of 9 damage on the stack that your opponent is either going to have to take in the face or provide a strategy for.

Finally, we have Realm Razer. Realm Razer at 4/2 is again easily removed and you really do not want that considering that once this critter is gone, your opponent will have all those lands back in order to play all those nasty spells in their hand. Protect his creature with Meglonoth or at least ensure that it is pumped up with the Knight for a decent 7/5.

Also - I am still tweaking the mana base and need to include some artifact mana producers such as Firewild Borderpost or perhaps Obelisk of Naya so that I have an alternate deck power supply when Realm Razer hits play.

I am still working on a side board and would very much like to hear from you the reader - so please drop me a comment.

Stompy Razer - 60 Cards

Creatures - 40 Cards
4 x Wild Nacatl
4 x Path to Exile
4 x Druid of the Anima
4 x Jund Hackblade
4 x Stun Sniper
4 x Woolly Thoctar
4 x Bloodbraid Elf
3 x Knight of New Alara
3 x Wall of Reverence
3 x Meglonoth
3 x Realm Razer

Lands - 20 Cards
5 x Mountains
5 x Forests
6 x Plains
4 x Firewild Borderpost

Sideboard - ? ? ? (please assist)

Malodorous MTG

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Fetid, foul-smelling or funky. These are some undesirable adjectives that one would not have any great desire to collect to describe one's self. DCI Judges and participating players any Magic the Gathering event do not want to be near a gamey gamer who smells south of cheese.


To this end, Wizards of the Coast now presents it's premier scent line . . . Magic: The Cologne.

Understanding time constraints that players experience during playtesting and traveling to / from events, WoTC fully understands that sometimes personal hygiene may take a backseat. Players who may not have time to shower in the sink or perhaps may have inadvertently collected tortilla chip dust in their shirt pockets or pizza cheese / toppings in their hair will welcome this wonderful product.

After employing liberal volumes of your favourite colour of Magic: The Cologne to yourself you may, with full confidence, take a seat at that crowded tournament table even with air-conditioning / ventilation off in the building. This Cologne even may be used to de-grease buger-juice stains on your track-pants.

Magic: The Cologne is an original idea / design of artist Christian Jessen. Check out his unique and beautiful work on DevianArt or at his webpage.

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Dross Crocodile
"As soon as it surfaced, we could all smell it. Its rancid breath reeked of half-digested carrion and its own rotting innards."
—Dafri, Auriok champion



Marsh Gas
"Comes right outta th' ground. If ya can smell it, it's too late."
—Keevy Bogsbury

WPN Promo : ARB

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It appears that soon-to-be-release Gateway promos were possibly released a titch to soon. One report indicates that the gateway promos were inadvertently directed to Alara Reborn Prereleases in Germany and mixed with the regular prerelease foils.




Slave of Nicol Bolas, 3{U/R}B
Sorcery, Uncommon
Gain control of target creature. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn. Sacrifice it at end of turn.






Marisi's Twinclaws, 2{W/R}G
Creature - Cat Warrior, Uncommon
Double strike
2/4



Unfortunately both cards are somewhat lackluster especially when compared with other previously released WPN promotional cards, both in the alternate art department and the actually cards themselves.

Anywhoos - If you have no clue what I'm yattering about, here are the details of the Wizards Play Network (WPN) / aka 'Gateway', formerly 'League' set up.

The Wizards Play Network offers stores, schools, libraries and organizers all the tools they need to run events for Wizards of the Coast games. If you want to offer Magic: The Gathering or Dungeons & Dragons events for your players, the WPN gives you everything you need to get your game going!

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How you get your paws on a Promo ? ?

From the back of the DCI "participation kit sheet" . . .

"You may disseminate the magic promo cards to your players however you would like. The DCI recommends you use most of the promo cards to support magic league play to help maintain and grow your player base. Planeswalker achievements is another way for players to earn promo cards. Achievement instructions are on the back of this document. Another great way to use promo cards is to supplement your prize support for any magic tournament run at your location, like Friday night magic."

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Marisi's Twinclaws, although not top shlef may be salvageable by adding additional ingredients into the stew . . .


Behemoth Sledge : This equipment provides a 4/6 Lifelink, Trample, Double-Striking nutter.

Colossal Might : This instant gives a 6/6 Trample double-hitter until turn's end.

Knight of New Alara : This creature provides a pump of 3 giving you a decent 5/7.

FNM Promos 2009

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Good Day my peeps. If you are like me and so happen to live near an urban center which say perhaps has a store that hosts Friday Night Magic events, then you must get fairly enthusiastic about the potential of winning a DCI Friday Night Magic promotional card. FNM Promos are cool . . . perhaps not as cool as a Magic the Gathering Stonehenge replica constructed from MTG packs but still cool none the less.


Some recent promos however did not go over huge with my fellow FNM players . . . in fact there was something of sushi joke every Friday during May. Apparently Merrow Reejerey warranted some level of unprecedented cruelness - Players obtaining this DCI promo would get cheered on by the rabble to slice 'n' dice poor Mr. Reejery. :-(

Anywhoos - if you reside under a rock, here is the FNM factoid . . . Each month a different FOIL card will be given out. The cards feature the FNM logo in the text box and many have original flavor text and updated wordings. Below are the promos for the first six months in 2009 :

January : Magna Jet

Feburary : Myr Enforcer

March : Kitchen Finks

April : Merrow Reejerey

May : Wren's Run Vanquisher
I happen to have TWO of these - want to trade ? - Visit CCG Tradepost.

June : Mulldrifter
Totally kewl art on this !

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Previous FNM promos may be found HERE.

Alternatively, had a look at this website for previous FNM, and a load other promotional cards including tokens, check out this Japanese LINK.

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Purifying Fire

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Hey there folks - just a 4.1.1 on an upcoming Planeswalker novel if you have not yet heard. Due out in July, 2009, it is called 'The Purifying Fire: A Planeswalker Novel' by Laura Resnick.

You can check out a sample chapter HERE.

Here is the corporate on the novel . . .
Award-winning author Laura Resnick brings readers into the adventures of Chandra Nalaar, a young and impulsive mage on a collision course with destiny. The novel that begins the story of Chandra Nalaar, the impulsive young fire mage whose exploration of the multiverse and the extent of her own volatile power draws the attention of an ancient faith that sees her as a herald of the apocalypse. Will she control her own destiny, or suffer the will of others?

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If you had a coma since this Planeswalker first made an appearence in Lorwyn, you can check out the skinny on the Wizards site.

Chandra Nalaar is a red-magic-wielding planeswalker. Her specialty is pyromancy: spells of fire, fire, and more fire.

There's no virtue in subtlety—at least not as far as the fire-mage Chandra Nalaar is concerned. Impulsive, passionate, and short-tempered, she's as ready to explode as the pyromantic spells of her ever-growing repertoire. Chandra's spark ignited when she was still quite young, and as she has grown, so have her abilities as a wielder of fire magic and as a planeswalker.

As a source of immense and unpredictable power, authority figures have sought to restrict and control Chandra, which comes into direct conflict with her need for independence and freedom. As Chandra's wild inner fire comes in contact with world after world of rules and strictures, the results are sure to be explosive.

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Your first source for all details MTG should be the MTG Salvation Wiki. Check out the Chandra Nalaar wiki HERE.

Deranged Deck Design #1

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For some odd reason that could only be understood by a fevered and unwell mind, I decided to explore the theoretical probabilities of a game win with Mayael's Aria - you know - that new geeky Alara Reborn card that no-one is really paying any attention to. Well, if you don't know, this enchantment provides +1/+1 counters to each creature you control provided that you already have a creature with a power of 5 or better. Additionally, it also pumps your life by 10 if you control a creature with a power of 10 or better. This card's bomb text resides within the last sentence . . . "you win the game if you control a creature with power 20 or greater".

Now that we have a clearly defined objective (making fatties), let's take a look a the game plan. If one were to have a sinfully gluttonous mana pool readily available to transform a creature from fatty to stupid-huge fatty, this may just work. With Apocalypse Hydra and Sigil of Distinction, a player would be able to dump a potentially unlimited volume of mana to produce said fatty with power 20 or greater to meet the game win condition.

Mana now is our focus. With Noble Hierarch, Druid of the Anima and particularly Knotvine Mystic, one may be able to culture an enviable pool of available mana which may be then dumped into the Sigil of Distinction or Apocalypse Hydra.

Having a quick jump start into the red zone or having available defenders is also sage advice. To this end, Bant Sureblade and Esper Stormblade are available. These two provide a solid first strike and flying creature which is certain to give your opponent pause especially if they are both pumped up to a highly desirable 6/5 by Knight of New Alara.

The blades become 6/5 critter.
Woolly Thoctar becomes a 8/7 beater
Whoa, Wha ?

As for the sideboard, we have to make allowances for Wrath of God and Timmy effects which may be accomplished with the likes of Mark of Asylum and Dauntless Escort.

Land
5 x Mountain
5 x Forest
5 x Plains
4 x Jungle Shrine

Creatures
4 x Noble Hierarch
3 x Bant Sureblade
3 x Esper Stormblade
4 x Druid of the Anima
4 x Oblivion Ring
4 x Mayael's Aria
3 x Knotvine Mystic
4 x Woolly Thoctar
4 x Knight of New Alara
4 x Sigil of Distinction
4 x Apocalypse Hydra

Sideboard
4 x Mark of Asylum
3 x Cancel
4 x Seaside Citadel
4 x Dauntless Escort

Please feel free to leave a comment as to your opinion if this is likely to go to the top during a Friday Night Magic or other casual MTG event.

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Weekend Report

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I hope all had a great weekend and if you were able to get out to the Regionals event on Saturday, hoping you did well there too (or at the very least, did not epic fail spectacularly). As this was the holiday weekend here in Canada (Americans have one next week), I unfortunately had plans which did not include my attendance at the regional event in Toronto. I hear that there was a big legacy event in Oshawa (at the World's Collide store) for a Mox Emerald which apparently went very well.


Anywho - here is a quick summary of what happened in Toronto . . .

1st - Brandon Davis (22 points) - Woodstock Jund Ramp
2nd - Derek Lansche (20 points) - Finest Hour
3rd - Michael Culligan (19 points) - unknown
4th - Benson Lee (19 points) - UW Lark
5th - Scott Rochon (19 points) - BW tokens
6th - Jay Jiang (19 points) - UW Lark
7th - Jamie Naylor (19 points) - unknown
8th - Juan Jose Ayala (19 points) - RB
9th - Clinton Chan (19 points) - Boat Brew
10th - Nathan Jones (19 points) - unknown
11th - Chris Lake (19 points) - unknown
12th - Ari Barmapov (19 points) - Boat Brew
Honourable Mention
13th - Nate Cutler (18 points)

Unfortunately, this list contains some 4 decks which were not reported resulting in a 'unknown' type. One of the above unknowns are reported to be a Faerie build and the other a GW tokens deck - if you were there, send me an eMail to copysix (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Right - What did I do with my weekend other than spring cleaning / gardening ? Well - since I did have 3days, why not build 3 casual decks? These builds were based purely on what was on hand in my binder (I tried to get close to deck sets of each card) are are certainly not meant to hit anything than a kitchen table or perhaps a Friday Night Magic. Essentially, these were built for 'fun' and take a test drive with some of my newer Alara Reborn cards. Decks were played against either an artifact or elf build for at least two matches to provide some feeling as to whether I should consider them for futher development.

Deck One : Green-White Whatever

Really no theme here than to see if I could get Knight of the Reliquary to work . . . which it did to my surprise. This deck also was built to provide some competition against an Esper Artifact deck and included Nacatl Savage and Fracturing Gust.

I found that I actually was able to play Qasali Ambusher on more than one occasion for free which left me somewhat satisfied. I was happy with the way Knight of the Reliquary played (it did get rather huge) and to a lesser degree Knotvine Paladin. My opponent hated me for playing my artifact board-wiping Fracturing Gust. Overall it was fun but nothing really to write home about . . . I may decide latter to use the Knights in another build.

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Deck Two : Crashing Snakes

This essentially was a Blue-Green build featuring Shorecrasher Mimic. This deck performed rather well and is slotted for futher development. I was able to get Nulltread Gargantuan out on turn two in at least two games (using Noble Hierach for the mana acceleration and returning the Slippery Boggle).

I am sitting on the fence with regards to the snake element in this deck. Snakeform is a great combat trick and will do well in many casual decks. I am a bit unsure of Winged Coatl and Lorescale Coatl - they seem like they may perform OK but just did not wow me. Most of my wins were due to either Shorecrasher Mimic or a pumped up Jhessian Infiltrator.

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Deck Three : Naya Stompy Life Thingy

This casual deck was perhaps the most fun at the kitchen table. During one game, I was able to cascade a Woolly Thoctar off a Bloodbraid Elf and then throw the Scourge of the Nobilis aura on it . . . imagine a 8/6 lifelink monster with Wall of Reverence in play. Unfortunately, even though I had a deck set of Cradle of Vitality in the deck, I did not see it once . . . oh the humanity of it.

Anywhoos - kudos to Stun Sniper which I now have a very healthy respect for. I love the synergy with the Wall of Reverence / Scourge of Noblis / Captured Sunlight with Cradle of Vitality - I just don't know if this could evolve into a decent deck.

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Please post a comment if you have any good ideas with regards to these decks - but please REMEMBER - sure I'd love to have a Figure of Destiny BUT really now - unless you mail it off to me, chances are I don't have the disposable income for this improvement.

LSV Top 8 ARB

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Hey there - remember just yesterday I was yattering away about Regionals and what impact Alara Reborn may have on Standard format ? Great. Well, anywhoos, this may be a good time to have a quick look at the top 8 Alara Reborn picks for constructed as present by Luis Scott-Vargas on Channel Fireball. You may have heard of 'LSV' - the exceptionally good who has been kicking butt and taking names on the GP / PT circuits . . . so - when this player has something to say about the standard metagame, most people take a listen.

Let's have a look at the video first before we get started.

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So how cool were those video effects ?! LSV was throwing exploding MTG cards . . . w0w ! - Just like Gambit of Marvel Comics / X-Men fame. I would love to have the kind of cash which allows me to throw ('gasp') a Maelstrom Pulse like that - Perhaps Luis had stunt cards stand in. Like I said - great video - solid delivery and much more engaging than those MTGO draft vids that LSV has been posting.


LSV's Top 8 ARB constructed : Anathamancer / Bituminous Blast / Bloodbraid Elf / Borderposts / Dauntless Escort /Maelstrom Pulse / Quasali Pridemage / Zealous Persecution

Anathemancer - 1BR
Creature - Zombie Wizard (Uncommon)
When Anathemancer comes into play, it deals damage to target player equal to the number of nonbasic lands that player controls.
Unearth {5}{B}{R}
2/2
With all those Five Colour Control decks out there filled to the brim with nonbasic lands are feeling the hate this card delivers. This promises to put a dent into some B/W token decks as well.

Bituminous Blast - 3BR
Instant (Uncommon)
Cascade / Bituminous Blast deals 4 damage to target creature.
Cascade mechanic rocks. BB is all that and a bag 'o' chips. This gives you 2 spells for only 5 mana . . one spell dealing 4 damage and the second giving you a random - just how fun is this ?! FTK

Bloodbraid Elf - 2RG
Creature - Elf Berserker (Uncommon)
Haste / Cascade
3/2
Altough some players would rather choose the similar Captured Sunlight (2GW / Cascade / gain 4 life), over Bloodbraid Elf, I still think that the typical aggro player will go with the elf. 'nuff said - cascade provides not only a level of fun to the game, but also card advantage.

Borderposts
(Fieldmist, Firewild, Mistvein, Veinfire, Wildfield) Common Artifacts
You may pay 1 and return a basic land you control to its owner's hand rather than pay (Name) Borderpost's mana cost. (Name) Borderpost comes into play tapped.
Tap: Add Colour 1 or Colour 2 to your mana pool.
I concur that multicoloured artifacts in this block are a plus (and sometimes necessary) but cannot agree 100 % with LSV's assessment for standard - having a CIPT land/artifact in the fast-moving game of today, one had better ensure that these borderposts are fitted appropriately to your deck.

Dauntless Escort - 1GW
Creature - Rhox Soldier (Rare)
Sacrifice Dauntless Escort: Creatures you control are indestructible this turn.
3/3
Amazing card in constructed / limited. There has been a high number of solid G/W cards in this set / block but this one sits on top. If you see an Escort hit the table, you can be certain that your opponent will eventually be setting up with a Wrath of God / Martial Coup . . . be scared.

Maelstrom Pulse - 1BG
Sorcery (Rare)
Destroy target nonland permanent and all permanents with the same name as permanent.
A vicious Vindicate. Say bye-bye to multiple pesky problematic permanents. If anyone would like to donate this card to me, please eMail me so I don't have to take a second mortgage.

Qasali Pridemage - GW
Creature - Cat Wizard (Common)
Exalted / {1}, Sacrifice Qasali Pridemage: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
2/2
A solid two drop for just two - add exalted into the equation and this just went from decent to awesome. Then, just when you thought it can't get better, add a sac utility to eliminate a threatening artifact or enchantment . . . over the top my friends.

Zealous Persecution - WB
Instant (Uncommon)
Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and creatures target opponent controls get -1/-1.
For only 2 mana, one can mow the ENTIRE field clear of those 1/1 tokens. This instant is a solid combat tactic to employ - - when I saw this spoiled, I immediately planned this for inclusion with my one deck which runs Stillmoon Cavalier for enhanced combat step hilarities.