MTG Halloween

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Happy Halloween MTG peeps,

Perhaps not so happy for all the folks in the U.S. in shelters after Frakenstorm ripped up the east coast - here's wishing a fast 'n' speedy recovery to normalcy as soon as possible.  Elsewhere in North America and here in Ontario, Canada, most kids will be heading out in the wind, rain, and cold (and stepping over some wind debris) to go door to door all guised up and trick-or-treating.  Oddly, not many people realise the origin that veiled threat.  A 'trick' is really a warning that the little monster at your front door will perform mischief on your property should then not get a 'treat' - most homeowner go for the candy option.

Anywhoos - let's have a looky-loo at some of the amazing halloween pumpkins carved which will likely end up smashed on your roadway by miscreants . . .

We suggest the perfect evening may be spent with all the lights off with a few halloween-themed games of Magic: the Gathering -

Here's a few apropos MTG wallpapers you may want to adorn your desktop screen for the next few days.
All Hallow's Eve, Legends by Christopher Rush

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Nightmare Lash, Mirrodin by Puddnhead

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Urborg Skeleton, Invasion, by Alan Pollack
 
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Childhood Horror, Odyssey, by Larry Elmore
 
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~Gravestorm, Odyssey, by Alex Horley-Orlandelli
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Grave Pact, Ninth Edition by Puddnhead
 
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MTG Gift Box

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,
Last evening was some serious weather for those living on the north-eastern seaboard.  Here in Barrie, some 900 kilometers north-west of where Hurricane Sandy hit land, we had no more than strong winds, driving rains and a few trees down.  We were expecting to accumulate a pile of Halloween decorations in front of our place but unfortunately we'll have to hit up a dollar store as no windfall was delivered.

Anywhoos - we wanted to catch up with a rather old piece of news from the mothersite.  First annonced back in August on Magic Arcana, the 2012 Holiday Gift Box is set to be released to local Magic: the Gathering stores worldwide on 16th November 2012, just in time for purchase as a Christmas gift for that gamer in your life - or, if like us, we'll buy it, wrap it, and slid it under the Christmas tree for ourselves.  We will also need to get some Magic: the Gathering singles from MTG Mint Card for stocking stuffers.

Anywhoos - let's have a look at what the MRSP of $20 will get you :

• Four Return to Ravnica booster packs
• A pack of twenty Return to Ravnica basic land
• Six illustrated plastic dividers
• A sticker sheet for customizing the dividers
• An alternate-art Dreg Mangler from Return to Ravnica

The alternate art Dreg Mangler, illustrated by Svetlin Velinov is pretty sweet and we think as good as Peter Mohrbacher's original art.
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RTR Game Day

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

On Saturday, Return to Ravnica Game Day events took place all over the world.  Yours truly (CopySix) headed over to the local Magic: the Gathering games store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario.  To say that the inclement weather had an adverse effect on attendance may be an understatement.  It was cold (~ 7ºC / 44 ºF), raining and at some times blustery with rainbands from Hurricane Sandy more than 900 kilometers south-east making the day less than ideal.  This inconvenience of course pales in comparison to what is being experienced by some of our friends and family working / living in New York City where there are some evacuations taking place.

Anywhoos - RetroTech and RStomp stayed home and I took my Black / White token build to game with.  Altough I am somewhat sheepish that this deck features essentially no new Return to Ravnica cards, I was happy with the result - going 3 wins (against excellent players Rob, Derek, and Nick), 1 draw (with sneaky Matt), and 1 loss (against Jonathan) to land me in third place and scoring the participation promo (Dryad Militant), the Top 8 promo (Cryptborn Horror), as well as 22 Planeswalker Points.

We think that strategies develop and evolve with any new standard and Return to Ravnica will be no different - from aggressive creature-based aggro decks with the release to more control-based strategies over the next few months.  The deck I took really is a throwback which may have took advantage of other players new and developing builds.  That black / white build did fail terribly against Jonathan's Rakdos burn.

We will be working on completing some new standard constructed decks with RetroTech playing Azorius, RStomp playing Naya (black / green / red) Zombies, and yours truly playing Selesnya.  We only have a hadfull more cards to pickup from MTG Mint Card to have everything complete.

We have friends all over the world and get a lot of eMails.  Our friend 'Marvel Sutantio' in Jakarta (Indonesia) sent in this excellent report from Game Day -
    I used a Jund control deck for yesterday's RtR Game Day (using Abrupt Decay, Dreadbore, Bonfires, and other removals while using Desecration Demon, Thragtusk, Vraska & Garruk Primal Hunter for the winning condition), and it sucked pretty badly.

    The deck just couldn't handle a plethora of big, ugly creatures my friend threw at me. My local metagame consist of either a mid-range / big creature decks or zombies. I'm totally prepared for zombies, but seriously, the big bad creatures deck is just horrid.

    They kept throwing Thragtusks, Angel of Serenities, Restoration Angels, Armada Wurms, Huntsmen, you name it.

    And due to Angel of Serenity as well as zombies, I think the best solution to any kind of threat in this format is Detention Sphere.

    And even then, it's a lot wiser to play a big creature deck ourselves. At least we can trade 1 for 1 with their creatures.

    Dunno bout the metagame in your place, but I'm sure as heck disappointed with the current standard. It's like an pseudo Legions-only-with-a-splash-of-onslaught kind of standard where creatures run rampant... But we lack the means to nullify them. Supreme Verdict enables regeneration, Abrupt Decay is almost useless since most powerful creatures are at least cc5. Dreadbore is a sorcery.

    Good luck with the Game Day, hope you have better luck than I do :P
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MTG Memes

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Get your standard constructed deck ready for this weekend and rock some Magic: the Gathering sweetness on Return to Ravnica Gameday.

We'll be attending the tournament at our local games store OMG! Games, here in Barrie Ontario to not only to score a Dryad Militant participation promo but also try to win one of the Cryptborn Horror Top 8 prize promos.

Here are the details for the OMG! Games event (they are about an hour north of Toronto)
Registration: 11:30am
Start time: 12:30pm
Cost: $5
Prizes:
• All participants recieve a full art Dryad Militant
• Top 8 players recieve a full art Cryptborn Horror
• First place will recieve a exclusive champion playmat
• Booster packs will go to top players based on attendance.
Format: Standard swiss rounds with cut to top 8
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Anywhoos - onto today's post . . .

'meme' (mēm) : An image, video, etc. that is passed electronically from one Internet user to another. 

Check out these very witty posts from Tumblr blogger 'MTG Memes' - this is one of the MTG blogs we read regularly. 

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Selesnya Surge

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

This weekend is Return to Ravnica Game Day. We'll head down to OMG! Games here in Central Ontario to Friday Night Magic to take our standard constructed builds for a test run and then sling cards on Saturday.

Today's post is a bit of catchup for us.  As is tradition here at MTG Realm, we capture an Intro Pack from the latest set, do a video dissection for you and then provide a derpy review.  Well, here it is - let's have a look at Return to Ravnica's G/W 'Selesnya Surge' Intro Pack . . .
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After about 3 games, we felt that the list is decent for an Intro Pack.  First changes we would make to personalise this is to provide additional focus on the goal of making loads of happy tokens.  We suggest dropping some spells to make room for some more mana dorks like Arbor Elf and Avacyn's Pilgrim to get to quicker to those Call of the Conclave and Centaur Healers.  Where you take it from there is up to you but we think this will deliver big fun to the novice player.

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With a MRSP of $15, you get
•  1 premium card,
•  1 60-card deck,
•  2 Return to Ravnica booster packs,
•  1 learn-to-play insert,
•  1 strategy insert

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Selesnya Surge - g/w
Grove of the Guardian. The Selesnya Conclave relentlessly seeks to grow its ranks—both outward and upward. Use the populate ability to multiply your largest token creatures, then go forth and spread the good word. Grow big or go home! 

25 lands : 12  Forest, 1  Grove of the Guardian*, 11  Plains, 1  Selesnya Guildgate

17 creatures : 1  Arbor Elf, 1  Axebane Stag, 1  Brushstrider, 3  Centaur Courser, 1  Centaur Healer, 2  Centaur’s Herald, 1  Healer of the Pride, 1  Phantom General, 1  Risen Sanctuary, 3  Seller of Songbirds, 1  Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage, 1  Wayfaring Temple*

18 other spells : 2  Bountiful Harvest, 2  Call of the Conclave, 2  Chorus of Might, 1  Coursers’ Accord, 1  Druid’s Deliverance, 2  Eyes in the Skies, 1  Heroes’ Reunion, 1  Rootborn Defenses, 2  Savage Surge, 2  Selesnya Keyrune, 2  Trostani’s Judgment 
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Commander's Arsenal Spoiler

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

As we had told you way back on August 10th, Magic: the Gathering players can expect a new Commander (aka EDH) product once a year which replaces the Premium Deck Series products.  Unfortunately, this year does not feature a new Commander product but rather a special ‘Commander’s Arsenal’ which will be hitting gaming store shelves on 2nd November and which Wizards has promised will contain Commander staples ‘n’ goodies.  The MRSP for this is $75 which in our opinion is a titch steep but we will not yet pass judgement on this until we see the full list of cards and item details.
EDIT - Full Commander's Arsenal list now spoiled - see below.
Speaking of contents, WoTC minion Trick Jarrett unveiled a few juicy items on the mothersite yesterday - here's a summary . . .

New - premium foil cards:
• Chaos Warp
• Command Tower (new art)
• Diaochan, Artful Beauty
• Dragonlair Spider
• Duplicant (new art)
• Kaalia of the Vast
• Loyal Retainers
• Rhystic Study
• Sylvan Library
• The Mimeoplasm

Oversized Cards
• Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• Brion Stoutarm
• Glissa, the Traitor
• Grimgrin, Corpse-born
• Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
• Mayael the Anima
• Sliver Queen

Personally, although we think the oversized commander cards are kewl, we will like just leave them on the shelf and not use them on the game table.  We really want to get back into EDH / Commander again but want to track down some additional cards at MTG Mint Card before taking our decks for a spin.  Here's a quick bullet list of what you can expect when you crack open the new Commander’s Arsenal box -

• 18 premium foil cards

• 10 oversized premium foil cards

• 120 UltraPRO foil card sleeves

• 20 double-sided Battle Marks (+ and –)

• A life counter that goes up to 99

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EDIT - full list now spoiled -

Regular Sized Foils:
Chaos Warp, Command Tower, Decree of Pain, Desertion, Diaochan, Artful Beauty, Dragonlair Spider, Duplicant, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Kaalia of the Vast, Loyal Retainers, Maelstrom Wanderer, Mind’s Eye, Mirari’s Wake, Rhystic Study, Scroll Rack, Sylvan Library, The Mimeoplasm, Vela the Night-Clad


Oversized Foils:
Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Brion Stoutarm, Glissa, the Traitor, Godo, Bandit Warlord, Grimgrin, Corpse-born, Karn, Silver Golem, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, Mayael the Anima, Sliver Queen, Zur the Enchanter
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Tumblr Tuesdays

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Sorry about the lateness of this post but our internetz connection was being a beotch - likely a line being chewed on by a bear or wolf outside the cabin in the woods here.   Anywhoos - Don't forget that this weekend is Return to Ravnica Game Day.  If you're in Central Ontario (just north of Toronto), be sure to drop into the biggest 'n' best store - OMG! Games on Saturday - game play begins half-past noon.  We have cards coming in from MTG Mint Card to put the finishing touches our our kick-butt standard constructed deck.

Righto - onto today's post - awesome stuff from our sister site - MTG Realm on Tumblr . . .
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Photo

October 23, 2012

1 note

Magic: the Gathering
Friday Night Magic (FNM) Promo card - November 2012

Pillar of Flame / Avacyn Restored Common Sorcery (illustrated by Dave Kendall, original art by Karl Kopinski)

Pillar of Flame deals 2 damage to target creature or player. If a creature dealt damage this way would die this turn, exile it instead.

This card is seeing decent play at the moment with Gut Shot now rotated out of standard and is a highly desirable sideboard option against Jund Zombies.

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Photo

October 22, 2012

12 notes

‘New Tarmo or Old Tarmo’? 

• The ‘old Tarmogoyf’ was a Future Sight rare with art from Justin Murray and featuring that unique card template indicative of Future Sight. 
or
• The ‘new Tarmogoyf’ is a Modern Masters special edition mythic rare in a traditional card template and illustrated by Ryan Barger.

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Photo

October 22, 2012

9 notes

Return to Ravnica Game Day at OMG! Games
(Barrie - just north of Toronto)

Registration: 11:30am
Start time: 12:30pm
Cost: $5
Prizes:
• All participants recieve a full art Dryad Militant
• Top 8 players recieve a full art Cryptborn Horror
• First place will recieve a exclusive champion playmat
• Booster packs will go to top players based on attendance.
Format: Standard swiss rounds with cut to top 8

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Photo

October 20, 2012

8 notes

Magic: the Gathering - Fat Pack box wrapper art from Innistrad, Dark Ascension, and Avacyn Restored.
Need your help to fill in the blank here :
• Innistrad poster illustrated by Karl Kopinski / corresponding card ???
• Dark Ascension poster illustratedby Karl Kopinski / corresponding card Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (by Michael Komarck)
• Avacyn Restored poster illustratedby Jaim Jones / corresponding card Helvault (also by Jaime Jones)
UPDATE - It may be Champion of the Parish featured in the first Innistrad FPat poster.

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Photo

October 20, 2012

4 notes

Magic: the Gathering
That new Return to Ravnica list I played at Friday Night Magic certainly features quite a few tokens.  Do you know what loves Selesnya tokens ? Yep - Parallel Lives.
Some really decent games with that epic play coming from Garruk (Primal Hunter’s) ultimate while Parallel Lives was in play - that was 12 x 6/6 Wurm tokens.

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Photo

October 19, 2012

7 notes

basurairreal:

Hoy es viernes deeee… #FNM !

This is a very slick deck box - yeah, I’ll need one with a badass bunny.

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Photo

October 19, 2012

73 notes

amadmansmess:

Ravnica Guild Colors

What a lovely and beautiful web.

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Photo

October 19, 2012

5 notes

Magic: the Gathering - Return to Ravnica cycle
Guild charms : Each of these uncommon instant spells costs two colored mana, one for each guild color, and allow their controller to choose one of three thematically relevant effects.  These include Azorius Charm, Golgari Charm, Izzet Charm, Rakdos Charm, and Selesnya Charm.

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Modern Masters

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

The big question on most every Magic: the Gathering player's mind at the moment is 'New Tarmo or Old Tarmo'?  The 'old Tarmogoyf' was a Future Sight rare with art from Justin Murray and featuring that unique card template indicative of Future Sight.  The 'new Tarmogoyf' is a Modern Masters special edition mythic rare in a traditional card template and illustrated by Ryan Barger.

Some of you may be saying 'Wait, wut'?  Do not worry - let's get up to steam.  Aaron Forsythe just joined the Pro Tour Webcast on the weekend to announce "Modern Masters" a product targeted at Modern players.  Aaron also announced that there would be held a There will be a Modern Masters Limited Grand Prix next year.  

This would be a short production run of a booster pack set featuring cards from 8th Edition to Alara Reborn.  All told, there will be a total of 229 card with 15 mythics, 53 rares, 60 Uncommons, and 101 Commons.  Booster packs will be similar to 'normal' booster packs - 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 11 commons and a land BUT instead of a land, there would be a premium foil card.
We here at MTG Realm have not yet taken a dip into Modern (or legacy for that matter) but are now giving it some serious thought.  We do have a truck load of cards, mostly from Lorwyn block on and think that with some select purchases from MTG Mint Card, we could easily get into a Modern deck list.  Some cards items of note - some cards to receive a reprint may shift rarity for various reasons - you may note that the mythic rarity was not introduced until Alara block.  Here is the 4.1.1. -

• Release date 7th June, 2013
• 229 Reprint Cards for the Modern Format, many with new art
• Cards are reprints from Eighth Edition through Alara Reborn
• New never before printed tokens
• 15-card booster packs, one premium per pack
• Designed to be drafted
• 24 packs per box
• $7 MSRP
• English only, global distribution
• Conservative print run

So far we have a solid confirmation of Tarmogoyf but there was another art provided on the mothersite - could this be City of Brass ?

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Return to Ravnica Cycles

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday, why not take in a Friday Night Magic event at your local gaming store (LGS).  We'll be trying out a few ideas at OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario latter tonight.  If you're not near an LGS, get some friends over.  Should you not have any friends, just catch-up with some of our previous posts.

Anywhoos - as indicated with today's post title, we wanted to cover off some cycles in the newest Magic: the Gathering set - Return to Ravnica.  What is a cycle you ask ? - We're glad you asked - a cycle is a number of cards that has one or more relationships with one another card.  These may share a particular set converted mana cost (CMC), or perhaps a name but most likely it will share a common theme.  The cycles in Return to Ravnica are all about the Guilds - Azorius, Izzet, Rakdos, Golgari and Selesnya.  Each of the cycles (thre are quite a few) consist of five cards each corresponding to each guild.  Let's have a look at some select cycles now . . .
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Keyrunes : Each of these uncommon artifacts can tap to produce one mana of either color of the guild to which they are aligned and can be activated to become a creature until end of turn.  These include Azorius Keyrune, Golgari Keyrune, Izzet Keyrune, Rakdos Keyrune, and  Selesnya Keyrune.

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Guild charms : Each of these uncommon instant spells costs two colored mana, one for each guild color, and allow their controller to choose one of three thematically relevant effects.  These include Azorius Charm, Golgari Charm, Izzet Charm, Rakdos Charm, and Selesnya Charm.

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Gold guildmages or gold-mages : Each of these uncommon 2/2 creatures costs two colored mana, one of each of its guild's colors. Each gold-mage has two activated abilities that cost both colors of its guild and are thematically related to both of the colors of the guild.  These include New Prahv Guildmage, Korozda Guildmage, Nivix Guildmage, Rix Maadi Guildmage, and Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage.

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Uncommon 1-CMC hybrid creatures : Each of these uncommon creatures have a converted mana cost of 1.  These include Judge's Familiar, Slitherhead, Blistercoil Weird, Rakdos Cackler, and Dryad Militant.

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Off-color activation cards : Each of these permanent cards have an activated ability costing mana of other color of the guild to which they are aligned.  These include Tower Drake, Stonefare Crocodile, Pursuit of Flight, Deviant Glee, and Selesnya Sentry.

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Guildgates : Each of these common nonbasic lands enter the battlefield tapped and produce one of either of the guild's colors.     These include Azorius Guildgate, Golgari Guildgate, Izzet Guildgate, Rakdos Guildgate, and Selesnya Guildgate.

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