Theros Previews 9-10

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We have progressed to about half way with the new Theros spoilers and previews and still have almost 2½ weeks left to go to the PreRelease / launch party on the weekend of the 27th.  Last evening we were working out some rough ideas for the new standard format and really could not concentrate at all - kind like a squirrel with too many nuts - we did settle on trying to work something out with the new Heroic ability and either Common Bond or Martial Glory as a potential / multiple enabler - we'll get back to you on that latter.

Anywhoos - let's get to today's new Theros goodness from the mothersite and around the interwebz which have already been updated in our Theros Spoiler List page.  Remember to update you 'must-have' singles pre-order list which we have and will be sending in to MTG Mint Card as soon as previews are almost wrapped up.

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Whip of Erebos, 2bb
Legendary Enchantment Artifact, Rare
Creatures you control have lifelink.
2{B}{B}, {T}: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

Motherisite preview - Dang.  One of our fav previews so far and certainly pegged to see great things. Lifelinking attackers or blockers is usually never a bad thing and having this ability not on your creature is amazing.  Double black will assist with devotion and giving your critters from the yard one last kick at the can is solid.
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Soldier of the Pantheon, w
Creature - Human Soldier, Rare
Protection from multicolored
Whenever an opponent casts a multicolored spell, you gain 1 life.
2/1

TCGPlayer preview - Rather nice one-drop which apparently brings along a big bag of hate for the mostly multicolored Return to Ravnica block.  We do love it but have to admit that this will likely find a spot in the sideboard.
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Prognostic Sphinx, 3UU
Creature - Sphinx, Rare
Flying
Discard a card: Prognostic Sphinx gains hexproof until end of turn. Tap it.
Whenever Prognostic Sphinx attacks, scry 3.
3/5

Wizards Twitter preview - The art may appear to have the face of a noted Hogwart's head master.  Solid body, deep scry ability, reasonably costed with conditional and reactive hexproof - there's not a lot we can find wrong here.
~Swan Song, u
Instant, Rare
Counter target enchantment, instant or sorcery spell. Its controller puts a 2/2 blue Bird creature token with flying onto the battlefield.

Magic Friends preview - Solid art from Peter Mohrbacher here and solid counterspell for just one mana.  Certainly you give your opponent an avian thingy but a price we would pay all day long to counter some of the rather powerful spells we've seen.
~Akroan Horse, 4
Artifact Creature — Horse, Rare
Defender
When Akroan Horse enters the battlefield, an opponent gains control of it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent puts a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield.
0/4

Mothersite preview - Chocked full 'o' flavour here.  We imagine sending this gift horse to the other side of the board and having it puke chump blockers all day long for us.  Alternatively using an anthem pump and swarming looks good too.
~Dissolve, 1uu
Instant, Uncommon
Counter target spell. Scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.)

Aaron Forsythe Twitter preview - We'd play this just for the sweet art from Wesley Burt honestly but this counterspell is a solid upgrade from Cancel giving the scry ability.  This may be our new fav hard counter in the new standard environment.
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- And here's a quick round-up of other Theros cards out and about today -

Fanatic of Mogis, 3r
Creature — Minotaur Shaman, Uncommon
When Fanatic of Mogis enters the battlefield, it deals damage to each opponent equal to your devotion to red. (Each {R} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts towards your devotion to red.)
4/2

Favored Hoplite, w
Creature — Human Soldier, Uncommon
Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Favored Hoplite, put a +1/+1 counter on Favored Hoplite and prevent all damage that would be dealt to it this turn.
1/2

Tormented Hero, b
Creature — Human Warrior, Uncommon
Tormented Hero enters the battlefield tapped.
Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Tormented Hero, each opponent loses 1 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.
2/1
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