MBS Mechanics Recap

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Happy Thursday MTG Peeps,

We wanted to do a followup on Monday's post featuring new cards and mechanics, so let's get straight to that.

As for the Mirrodin Besiged mechanics, we still have Infect, Metalcraft, and Proliferate, which will of course provide additional cards for inclusion into our existing decks and will certainly make the PreRelease and Release events go just a bit smoother as players will be familiar with these abilities which in turn may make for better games.

The new rules term "poisoned" should also not be a hinderance at the game table for players already familiar with how infect works and should also provide some additional zest to our existing infect decks. Some forum members are already working on some great infect combos and synergies.














Now for the two new mechanics - one assigned to each faction - Mirran and Phyrexia. Do not let the flavour of these mechanics limit your decision to include either of them in an opposite build. We're sure that Blight Mamba or Ichorclaw Myr would be more than happy to see a Battle Cry effect on the table.

Speaking of Battle Cry, this new Mirran mechanic will certainly allow Mirrans to find strength in numbers and pump each other up. A creature attacking alone that has Battle Cry is less than impressive as it will receive no pump but just add another Battle Cry critter into the mix and then you would be able to maximize the benefits. Two Battle Cry critters attacking together twill give each other +1/+0, three will provide +2/+0, etc. The jury is still out as most of the set has still yet to be spoiled / previewed but for now, we still prefer a metalcraft aggro pump.

Onto the new and very interesting Phyrexian ability to be seen in cards with Living Weapon. Living Weapon is an ability featured on Artifact Equipment cards which essentially allows the palyer to have the equipment act like a creature. As an equipment with 'living weapon' enters the battlefield, one will also put a 0/0 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield and immediately attach the equipment to the 0/0 Germ which would otherwise have slide straight into the graveyard as it's toughness was equal to or less than zero. As more living weapon cards are spoiled / previewed, casual players will may be looking into some crazy deck ideas but one thing is definitely certain - get a hold of a playset of Stoneforge Mystic (if you haven't already) as well as Flugent Distraction which went from crappy to decent as soon as Flayer Husk was previewed.

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Hero of Bladehold (the Mirrodin Besieged prerelease promo) and her new best buddy Accorder Paladin both have Battle Cry which means good times when they are swinging. A few players have some questions about the 'stack' and the tules abilities of Hero of Bladehold - a really good and simple expanation may be found by Gaminger from the forums.

"Hero of Bladehold has two triggered abilities—battle cry, and a second triggered ability that puts Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Because you control both abilities, you get to choose the order in which you put them on the stack (along with any other triggered abilities you control that are triggering at the same time, such as other battle cry abilities). If you put the token-making ability on the stack last, it will resolve first, and the tokens will be there to get the bonus from Hero of Bladehold's battle cry (and any other battle cry abilities you put on the stack before the token-making ability)."

Stick around for more updates as we get them.

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Lastly, the folks over at MTG Mint Card is running another very FaceBook contest / giveaway - two winners will score the very excellent Garruk vs. Liliana Duel Deck. This Duel Deck came out in October 2009, and had awesome alternate art for Garruk Wildspeaker, Liliana Vess , Blastoderm, Harmonize, Mutilate, and Snuff Out.

Click 'Like' on the page and follow the instructions -

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