Zendikar Kor Equipment

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Before I yatter on about the new Kor Lord, Armament Master and the all the neat things this guy can do with equipment, I want to draw your attention to the MTG Realm Zendikar spoiler list HERE, which is now full powered at 249 of 249 cards. This was an interesting spoiler season which I will venture to suggest almost Orwellian largely due to Wizards cracking down on unofficial spoilers. In hindsight, I should think that it may have made for an environment that generating a bit more new set hype which is a good thing and having strategic releases of information ('slow spoilers') did add a good deal of fan excitement.

Anywhoos - some words on to what will be not only a popular casual deck but something which might actually be pushed into the tournament circles - the new white weenie hotness - the Zendikar Kor. Every white weenie deck needs a lord to help it all click together and if you had not yet seen him, it is Armament Master. Also, given that we have 3 solid Kor critters (Armament Master, Kor Duelist, and Kor Outfitter) with an affinity for equipment, you can safely bet that that the Kor build will include these handy artifacts. One may not only search your library for expensive equipment but also be able to 'cheat' out onto the battlefield with the use of that uncommon Quest card, Quest for the Holy Relic.

Of course Armament Master does not have the best body being at only 2/2 but he does come out early as a turn 2 drop which may buy you some time to ensure he is provided some sort of evasion or protection against red burn. Given that there are about 10 Kor creature cards available to choose for your build, things are looking up. One may have to have board sweeper like Martial Coup to either vomit soldier tokens or buy time.

In the standard environment, I can see the use of Sigil Captain (before any equipment goes onto Armament Master) as well as Honor of the Pure, Captain of the Watch, or other soldier pumpers from M10 such as Rhox Pikemaster. All this gets event better with Conqueror's Pledge when you barf six (or twelve if kicked) 1/1 white Kor Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.

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Let's go window shopping for Zendikar equipment and see which ones Mr. Armament might like.


Adventuring Gear - 1
Artifact - Equipment (Common)
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, equipped creature gets +2+2 until end of turn.
Equip {1}
This is nice 'n' cheap and chances are, you will probally be dropping a land often enough to make this worth it.

Blazing Torch - 1
Artifact - Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature can't be blocked by Vampires or Zombies.
Equipped creature has: "{T}, Sacrifice Blazing Torch: Blazing Torch deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Equip {1}
Consider this for sideboard.

Explorer's Scope - 1
Artifact - Equipment (Common)
When equipped creature attacks, you may look at the top card of your library. If it is a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped.
Equip {1}
This is decent and will see play with this set's landfall mechanic. If anything, this will allow some small measure of ramp for your white weenie.

Grappling Hook - 4
Artifact - Equipment (Rare)
Equipped creature has double strike.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, you may have target creature block it if able.
Equip {4}
This is a pretty sweet card but fairly expensive - Armament Master will likely be dead by the time you get to have an opportunity to equip this. We suggest you evaluate Quest for the Holy Relic to get this out a bit earlier.

Spidersilk Net - 0
Artifact - Equipment (Common)
Equipped creature gets +0/+2 and reach.
Equip {2}
Another cheap piece of equpment which may save your dude by bumping up the toughness.

Trailblazer's Boots - 2
Artifact - Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature has nonbasic landwalk.
Equip {2}
Nonbasic landwalk may see some constructed casual play given all the nonbasic lands out there now. This may not however be a good choice for Armament Master himself.

Trusty Machete - 1
Artifact - Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip {2}
Not that bad for the Kor Lord but certainly not the best.

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We will have a quick look at other standard environment equipment for evaluation to make our Kor Lord shine . . .

Magic 2010 (3)
Gorgon Flail (+1/+1 and deathtouch) for 2, equip 2
Magebane Armor (+2/+4 loses flying, non-combat damage prevention) for 3, equip 2
Whispersilk Cloak (unblockable and shroud) for 3, equip 2

Shard of Alara (10)
Behemoth Sledge 1gw(+2/+2 and lifelink) for 3, equip 3
Bone Saw 0 (+1/+0) for 0, equip 1
Demonspine br Whip br(gets +x/+0 ueot) for 2, equp 1
Mage Slayer 1gr (timmy power to opponent) for 3, equip 3
Mask of Riddles ub (gains fear) for 2, equip 2
Quietus Spike 3(half life lost if damage) for 3 equip 3
Shield of the Righteous wu (+0/+02 and vigilence)
Sigil of Distinction x (+1/+1 for each charge minus 1 charge to equip)
Unscythe, Killer of Kings ubbr (+3/+3 first strike zombie creature generation potential) equip 2

Out of this bunch, Bone Saw seems a good choice as it comes out quick and equiqs cheap to your Armament Master to pump up your Kor. Alternatively, consider Whispersilk Cloak (even though it is a bit expensive) as it provides shroud for Armament Master which your opponent will have painted a huge bull's eye target on it.

We hope to have a special video for you after our Zendikar pre-release event on Saturday so stay tuned . . .