Carnival of Awesome

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As promised in yesterday's post about the new Planeswalker Dack Fayden, we were going to do a few show 'n' tell posts featuring the newest Magic the Gathering products from the Innistrad set. Look for a Fat Pack post and video latter but for now, let's check out an Innistrad Intro Pack.

We crack open an the / 'Carnival of Blood' preconstructed deck featuring Vampires. This vamp tribal theme deck is good - let's have a look at the video first . . .

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Carnival of Blood /
Foil Rare : Falkenrath Marauders

24 land : 12 Mountain, 12 Swamp

21 creatures : 3 Bloodcrazed Neonate, 2 Blood Seeker, 1 Child of Night, 2 Vampire Interloper, 2 Rakish Heir, 2 Markov Patrician, 2 Crossway Vampire, 2 Falkenrath Noble, 1 Night Revelers, 2 Stromkirk Patrol, 1 Falkenrath Marauders (R), 1 Sengir Vampire

15 other spells : 1 Traveler's Amulet, 1 Gruesome Deformity, 1 Cobbled Wings, 2 Mask of Avacyn, 1 Curse of Stalked Prey (R), 2 Vampiric Fury, 1 Night Terrors, 2 Tribute to Hunger, 1 Traitorous Blood, 1 Tectonic Rift, 1 Diabolic Tutor, 1 Fireball
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This is a creature heavy deck that should kick outta the starting gate quickly enough with some 14 creatures below 3 mana and some 7 decent finishers above 4+ mana. There are several nice spells to throw as well but we should warn you that you likely will only drop a land on the first turn and have to wait until the magic happens on turn two. We suggest that when you pick this up at your local gaming store, think about picking up some additional spot removal spells as well.

We have not yet played but hope to latter this weekend at OMG! Games, our local card watering hole after which we may have some additional suggestions. Intro Packs are a great way to get your head into the latest Magic the Gathering expansion and take this standard constructed format deck out for a spin at a Friday Night Magic event at a game / hobby store near you.

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Lastly, you may wish to modify one or more of the Innistrad Intro Decks above - we suggest getting your Innistrad singles from the folks over at MTG Mint Card.

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Dack Fayden

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

We are taking another break from the newest Magic the Gathering set, Innistrad again today to cover off some MTG related news but promise great things in the next several posts including video reviews of Innistrad Intro Packs and Fat Packs . . . honestly - how much fun is it crack'n open new product ? Quite a bit for us and hopefully entertaining for you as well.

For today's post however, you are likely wondering what or who Faded Duck is. It's actually Dack Fayden and this is the new Planeswalker to be addressed by IDW Publishing in their Magic: The Gathering comics to be hitting stores in just a few more months. You can bring yourself up to speed with our article several weeks ago covering the original news.















Here's the solicitation from IDW :

Magic: The Gathering #1

Matt Forbeck (w) • Martin Coccolo (a) • Aleksi Briclot (c)

Get ready, Magic: The Gathering fans, there’s a new Planeswalker in town! In search of greater magical knowledge and on the hunt for the people who destroyed his town, Dack Fayden is the greatest thief in the Multiverse. When he gets his hands on his latest prize, though, he has no idea where it will lead him - or to who!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

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What we finding interesting / exciting is the availability of two variant covers for this publication - one from Eric Deschamps and the other from Christopher Moeller - both amazing artists. We are also chomping at the bit to get a hold of the alternate-art Magic: The Gathering card to be included with each comic book. With author Matt Forbeck writing, we anticipate this will be a big hit with MTG fans.

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Lastly, we had a few questions about the new Innistrad card, Gutter Grime. We are definitely not judges (or even very good players) but wanted to pass along what we ourselves learned.

The question is - Do the Ooze tokens go away after the enchantment gets blown up ? The answer is 'Yes', unless you have something else which maintains their toughness above zero, such as Intangible Virtue.

Here's a snippet from the Innistrad FAQ Document . . .

* The power and toughness of the Ooze tokens will constantly update as Gutter Grime accumulates slime counters.

* If you control more than one Gutter Grime, each Ooze token remembers which one created it. The power and toughness of that Ooze will be equal to the number of slime counters on that Gutter Grime only.

* If Gutter Grime leaves the battlefield, the power and toughness of each Ooze token it created will become 0. Unless another effect is raising its toughness above 0, each of these Ooze tokens will be put into its owner's graveyard the next time state-based actions are checked.
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MTG Promo Round-Up

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

It's been a whilesince we last yattered about Magic the Gathering card promos - whether they are Gateway or Friday Night Magic, these alternate art card rock and are highly collectible. If you are new to the game, we suggest you get out and get involved - for more info, check out the this page on the mothership.


2011 Friday Night Magic Promos


January : Everflowing Chalice
February : Spellstutter Sprite
March : Wall of Omens
April : Artisan of Kozilek
May : Squadron Hawk
June : Rhox War Monk
July : Jace's Ingenuity
August : Cultivate
September : Teetering Peaks
October : Contagion Clasp

2011 Gateway Promos


Master's Call, Plague Myr, Signal Pest, Maul Splicer, Vault Skirge, Shrine of Burning Rage, Bloodcrazed Neonate, Curse of the Bloody Tome












While we are onto promo cards, check out what participants will score as a participation prize for this weekend's - the Innistrad Launch promo. We thought the original looked good, but check out the alt-art - very nice! We will likely try to get out to our local store, OMG! Games in Barrie, Ontario to take in this event and get some great games in.

Lastly, there are some play mats you may want to get a hold of - Innistrad has the Lilianna playmat and there are also the Titan playmats out just now as well . . .

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Need to sink your fangs into the latest set ? - We suggest getting your Innistrad singles from the folks over at MTG Mint Card.

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Innistrad Deck Ideas 1

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Now that we have had a proper look at the newest Magic the Gathering set, Innistrad, it's time to put on your skull clamp and get down to brewing. This and following posts with similar titles are certainly not meant to provide a full list from which to build and modify but rather some ideas from which we would hope to provide you with a nexus from which to create your own casual build and rock your game table.

Today's post is all about new Innistrad hexproof unblockable, Mr. Invisible Stalker, which we think will be a much seen card not only at the kitchen table but at your Friday Night Magic event. Getting a Curiosity on this fella, seems like a no-brainer (sorry Zombies) to get an early game kicked into high gear. Being able to provide the Invisible man with two such curiosities will only double your card draw.


To extrapolate this idea further, we need not look beyond recent successful Caw-Blade variants which just required a Swords package and a creature with evasion. We can imagine many an epic game win with Invisible Stalker with a Sword of War and Peace / Feast and Famine - or perhaps one of the several new artifact equipments now available in Innistrad such as Inquisitor's Flail, or Trepanation Blade. If we look for potential bonuses with equipment favouring the human subtype, which Mr. Inviso is, we may also consider Butcher's Cleaver or Silver-Inlaid Dagger.


To exercise full care and control over this little menance, we should also allow some space in our build for counters such as Mana Leak, Turn Aside, and / or Stoic Rebuttal. A parachute (another safety) may be Apostle's Blessing to protect our little blue buddy. To assist floating the cards correctly, we could try Gitaxian Probe or Ponder to help dig a bit.


anywhoos - we have a few cards for you to contemplate. Alternatively, you may wish a blue-white build, use a Mentor of the Meek for card draw, a Snapcaster Mage for some spell recursion, a Mirran Crusader for some aggro - whatever - you get the idea.


Drop us a line below in the comment thingy - how would you go about with an 'Invisi-Blade or Stealth-Blade build ?
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Lastly, you may wish to modify one or more of the Innistrad Intro Decks above - we suggest getting your Innistrad singles from the folks over at MTG Mint Card.
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Innistrad PreRelease

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MTG Realm headed out the the midnight Innistrad PreRelease event at OMG! Games in Barrie, Ontario, Canada to soak up this latest Magic the Gatering set. The evening was dark, stormy, and somewhat apropos given that classic horror theme to this new set.

The was abosolutely packed with just over 40 or so, with most of the players from the Friday Night Magic game staying for the midnight prerelease which got off the ground around 12:30 a.m. Given the close proximity to Georgian College, several students at the adjacent student residences dropped in to see what the party was all about, including crazy bunny girl which the store regulars would want to make an appropriate t-shirt.

Anwyhoos - let's get to the short video we shot . . . .


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Our pulls - (bold = rare, otherwise an uncommon)

Pack 1 : Nevermore, Gustaff Sheppard, Abbstoir Ghoul, Make a Wish, Sharpened Pitchfork

Pack 2 : Snapcaster Mage, Cellar Door, Curiosity, Falkenrath Noble

Pack 3 : Evil Twin (foil), Ludevic's Test Subject, Elite Inquisitor, Intangible Virture, Murder of Crows, Dissipate

Pack 4 : Angel of Flight Alabaster, Geistercatcher's Rig, Disciple of Griselbrand, Demonmail Hauberk

Pack 5 : Heartless Summoning, Moan of the Unhallowed, Skaab Goliath (foil), Skaab Goliath, Village Canabals

Pack 6 : Isolated Chapel, Civilized Scholar, Hallowhenge Scavenger, Scourge of Geier Reach, Bitterheart Witch


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We loved the rare slot with the highly sought after Snapcaster Mage, but we estatic when we opened not one, not two but three rares in pack three. Three rares in a booster pack would be highly irregular except this is Innistrad where one slot is reserved for a double-sided card which means that a possibility exists where one could get a rare, a foil rare and a rare double-sided card. Very cool indeed.

We loved all the new cards, the awesome flavour and good games we had. Our sealed batch included some deep pools in black and blue with very shallow pools in the remaining colours. We built like a n00b in black and white and really did not stand a chance. We went 2 : 0 and dropped after the second match at around 3:30 in the morning to go back home and drool over the awesome Innistrad loot. Our trade binders are now filled with about $60 worth of singles and our minds engaged with new deck ideas and game plans.

Tell us how your prerelease event went - what you pulled, what you played or an amazing game you had or witnessed.
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Innistrad Hot Sellers

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

The folks over at MTG Mint Card shared with us the Top Ten Selling Innistrad Singles prior to the official pre-release which goes down tomorrow. We're interested in this sort of list as it provides an indication as to what Magic the Gathering fans are contemplating for standard.

1. Snapcaster Mage

2. Bloodgift Demon

3. Stromkirk Noble

4. Mentor of the Meek

5. Isolated Chapel

6. Skirsdag High Priest

7. Endless Ranks of the Dead

8. Angel of Flight Alabaster

9. Hinterland Harbor

10. Elite Inquisitor

Interesting list - especially the last card - no-one expects an Elite Inquisition ! Anywhoos, Happy brewing - please expect another post or two over the weekend as we report back on our Innistrad prerelease events we plan to attend at OMG! Games in Barrie, Ontario.
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Innistrad Intro Pack Decklists

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

We finally have word from the mothership today as to what we will get in the Innistrad Intro Packs. We first spoiled images about two weeks ago HERE and have been happily anticipating the lists until today. Intro Packs are a great way to splash into the newest set whether you are new to the game or just want to battle your buddies at the kitchen table with other Intro Packs. We usually grab one or two from our local store, OMG! Games and will likely pick up the b/g Deathly Dominion as well as the w/u Spectral Legions. Here's what you get : 1 premium foil card, a 60-card deck, 1 booster pack, 1 learn-to-play insert, and one 1 strategy insert.

Let's press on through and see the full Innistrad Intro Pack deck lists . . .
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Deathly Dominion /
Foil Rare : Skirsdag High Priest


24 land : 11 Swamp, 13 Forest

24 creatures : 1 Typhoid Rats, 2 Disciple of Griselbrand, 2 Reassembling Skeleton, 1 Skirsdag High Priest (R), 1 Ambush Viper, 2 Warpath Ghoul, 2 Devouring Swarm, 1 Brain Weevil, 2 Festerhide Boar, 2 Woodland Sleuth, 2 Lumberknot, 1 Somberwald Spider, 2 Morkrut Banshee, 2 Hollowhenge Scavenger, 1 Moldgraf Monstrosity (R)

12 other spells : 2 Dead Weight, 2 Caravan Vigil, 1 Prey Upon, 1 Altar's Reap, 1 Doom Blade, 1 Naturalize, 2 Rampant Growth, 1 Demonmail Hauberk, 1 Make a Wish
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Carnival of Blood /
Foil Rare : Falkenrath Marauders


24 land : 12 Mountain, 12 Swamp

21 creatures : 3 Bloodcrazed Neonate, 2 Blood Seeker, 1 Child of Night, 2 Vampire Interloper, 2 Rakish Heir, 2 Markov Patrician, 2 Crossway Vampire, 2 Falkenrath Noble, 1 Night Revelers, 2 Stromkirk Patrol, 1 Falkenrath Marauders (R), 1 Sengir Vampire

15 other spells : 1 Traveler's Amulet, 1 Gruesome Deformity, 1 Cobbled Wings, 2 Mask of Avacyn, 1 Curse of Stalked Prey (R), 2 Vampiric Fury, 1 Night Terrors, 2 Tribute to Hunger, 1 Traitorous Blood, 1 Tectonic Rift, 1 Diabolic Tutor, 1 Fireball
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Eldritch Onslaught /
Foil Rare : Sturmgeist


24 land : 13 Island, 11 Mountain

15 creatures : 3 Deranged Assistant, 2 Merfolk Mesmerist, 2 Armored Skaab, 2 Fortress Crab, 1 Pitchburn Devils, 2 Murder of Crows, 1 Sturmgeist (R), 1 Scourge of Geier Reach, 1 Charmbreaker Devils (R)

21 other spells : 1 Ghoulcaller's Bell, 3 Dream Twist, 2 Silent Departure, 1 Geistflame, 1 Cellar Door, 2 Think Twice, 2 Desperate Ravings, 1 Harvest Pyre, 2 Curse of the Bloody Tome, 2 Burning Vengenace, 1 Rolling Temblor, 2 Grasp of Phantoms, 1 Into the Maw of Hell
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Repel the Dark /
Foil Rare : Elder of Laurels


24 land : 10 Forest, 14 Plains

23 creatures : 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim, 1 Elite Vanguard, 2 Selfless Cathar, 2 Hamlet Captain, 2 Jade Mage, 2 Avacynian Priest, 3 Unruly Mob, 1 Elder of Laurels (R), 1 Benalish Veteran, 2 Elder Cathar, 1 Mentor of the Meek (R), 1 Fiend Hunter, 1 Slayer of the Wicked, 2 Thraben Purebloods

13 other spells : 1 Blazing Torch, 1 Silver-Inlaid Dagger, 1 Sharpened Pitchfork, 2 Titanic Growth, 2 Bonds of Faith, 1 Spare from Evil, 1 Butcher's Cleaver, 2 Smite the Monstrous, 1 Bramblecrush, 1 Overrun
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Spectral Legions /
Foil Rare : Angel of Flight Alabaster


24 land : 14 Plains, 10 Island

19 creatures : 2 Doomed Traveler, 2 Spectral Rider, 2 Voiceless Spirit, 2 Lantern Spirit, 2 Chapel Geist, 2 Mausoleum Guard, 3 Moon Heron ,1 Angel of Flight Alabaster (R), 1 Gallows Warden, 1 Battleground Geist, 1 Geist-Honored Monk (R)

17 other spells : 1 Lifelink, 1 Curiosity, 2 Unsummon, 2 Divine Favor, 1 Moment of Heroism, 2 Pacifism, 1 Spirit Mantle, 1 Negate, 1 Ghostly Possession, 2 Midnight Haunting, 2 Rebuke, 1 Lost in the Mist
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Lastly, you may wish to modify one or more of the Innistrad Intro Decks above - we suggest getting your Innistrad singles from the folks over at MTG Mint Card.
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