Tumblr Thursday

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

A special Thanksgiving greeting to our American cousins south of the border as well - a Happy Turkey to you and yours.  The mothersite today / tomorrow is revisiting previously published content as staff are off feasting 'n' feting with friends 'n' family.  

As it is Thursday, we thought it an opportune time to catch up with our sister site, MTG Realm on Tumblr, which has been very busy delivering a miscellany of Magic: the Gathering items of interest.  Our Tumblr site has over 3,100 followers and post on average a few times daily.  Anywhoos - onto the latest from them . . .

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Photoset

November 28, 2013

 

 

Magic: the Gathering - Wooden Deck Boxes
Beautiful Magic the Gathering deck boxes carved by ‘Ales the Woodcarver ’ (aka Ales Janosik, fellow Canadian).  Ales is essentially self-taught and started carving in 2010.  You can check out his other works here -
http://alesthewoodcarver.deviantart.com/
http://alesthewoodcarver.blogspot.ca/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/alesthewoodcarver

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Photoset

November 28, 2013

Magic: the Gathering - EDH Storage
Franky Richard (@livewithfrank) recently upgraded his card storage solution (the bane of many MTG players).  From a variety of boxes, he has now consolidated all his 24 Commander (EDH) decks into the two MTG Holiday Gift Boxes.

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Photoset

November 27, 2013

Magic: the Gathering - Alt Mox
Alternate Moxen with artist proofs from Volken Baga.
The Moxen or Moxes are a collection of powerful gems infused with one of the colors of mana — Mox Pearl for white, Mox Sapphire for blue, Mox Jet for black, Mox Ruby for red, and Mox Emerald for green.

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Photoset

November 27, 2013

Magic: the Gathering - Christmas Decorating
Totally approved by Martha Stewart (maybe).  You know those oversized Commander Cards you have kicking around - yep, those ones - they’re pretty, they’re foily (real word maybe) - get that shizzle up on your festive Christmas tree.
EDIT - I finally found out who this is from - credit goes to http://plnsfrstmtn.tumblr.com/

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Photoset

November 26, 2013

Magic: the Gathering - Born of the Gods

We now have the image and name of the special challenge deck that will be part of the sixth quest on the Hero’s Path will take place at the Magic: The Gathering, Born of the Gods Game Day, March 1–2, 2014.

The first challenge deck, ‘Face the Hydra’, required individual or a team of players to overcome the Hydra by eliminating all of its (ever regrowing) heads before it nom’d you. 

We think a similar game of knocking down an ever growing horde of angry Minotaurs will be employed here at the Born of the Gods game day event

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Commander 2013 Nature of the Beast

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast
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Here is the new Commander 2013 Nature of the Beast (Naya - Red / Green / White) with the available Generals of Marath, Will of the Wild, Gahiji, Honored One, and Mayael the Anima).  Let's have a looky-loo . . .
Marath, Will of the Wild
Costing only a 'Naya' (red / green / white), you get a legendary beast whose power / toughness are equal to its casting cost - and with the commander tax of an additional two each time you re-cast this, it can get big.  The second ability allows you to pay 'X' to remove that many +1/+1 counters from Marath to have one of three effects.  Either transfer those counters onto a target critter, ping for that much damage to target creature / player, or generate an equally sized creature token - very lovely.

Gahiji, Honored One
Here's you next new Commander - a 4/4 Beast costing five (two colorless and one 'naya').  This is a nice enticement for your opponents to attack each other as well as a boost to your creatures when they attack. This looks fine in an aggro list and would likely benefit with similar strategy cards like Gisela.

Mayael the Anima
This reprint from Shards of Alara is a shoe-in for this sort of deck.  Costing one 'Naya', your 2/3 Elf Shaman has the ability to dig the top five cards in your library for a fatty with power five or greater and drop that right onto the battlefield.  The cost to cheat a potentially expensive creature right into play costs just six mana (three and a  'naya').  Since we cannot realistically have an entire tall stack choked full 'o' fatties, we suggest you float them to the top to take full advantage of Mayael with the likes of Congregation at Dawn.

This deck is good, but in our opinion not great.  Both Marath and Gahiji are decent but we found ourselves simply wanting to deck them in to choose Mayael for the command zone.  If you are thinking of getting into Commander and love the Naya colours, then pick this one up but for us, we would rather scrap a good portion of the list and have a much more dedicated list to work with Mayael.
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Commander 2013 Power Hungry

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

 
See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast
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Here is the Commander 2013 'Jund' (black / red / green) deck and although it may not be as sought-after as the Mind Seize deck, we just love the decklist here.  Let's get into the three Commanders or Generals available to you -

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
Costing  three colorless mana and a 'Jund' (black/red/green), Prossh is a solid 5/5 flyer with two other very cool abilities.  When you cast this legendary dragon you get a number of 0/1 Kobold creature tokens equal to what it cost you to cast Prosh - this of course gets bigger with the commander tax as you recast it from the command zone.  Perfect for a build with a theme of creature sacrifice for an effect.  Prossh also provides a sac outlet which will pump him +0/1.

Shattergang Brothers
A goblin artificer here costing one colorless and a 'Jund' to give you a 3/3 body with three very relevant abilities in this build.  Each ability costs three mana and requires a sacrifice.  For two and a black you sac a creature to force each other opponent to sac a creature.  Likewise, two and a red with an artifact sac or two and a green with an enchantment sac will cause your opponents to sac in a similar fashion.  Very solid.

Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
This is a Coldsnap reprint.  For two and a 'Jund', you net a 4/3 legendary Orc Shaman.  The ability here is rather potent - Whenever you have one of your non-token creatures dies, you gain a 3/1 black & red Graveborn creature token.  If you were about to ask whether a sacrificed (or even 'devour') creature does count as dying, then yes, so sac away and reap the benefits of yet another token which can feed into your strategy here.
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Like we mentioned, this may very well be one favorite of the five Commander 2013 decks.  There are a good number of cards such as Stronghold Assassin which provides an opportunity to sac for a powerful effect or cards such as Stalking Vengeance to transpose a sacrifice into direct damage to your opponent.  All-in-all - two thumbs up on this very solid decklist.
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Commander 2013 Mind Seize

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Happy Friday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

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See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast
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This Grixis (blue / black / red) has the folowing legendary creatures in the deck to choose as your Commander / General -

Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
This 1/3 Vampire Wizard has a cmc of four (one colorless and an 'grixis').  Not only does this fly but also mills (actually exiles) based upon how much you just cast her for - the spell cost and subsequent 'commander tax'.  From the pile of exiled cards, you can free-cast any of the spells whenever she attacks - very powerful.

Nekusar, the Mindrazer
For five mana (two colorless and a 'grixis), you can have 2/4 Zombie Wizard.  This guy forces everyone to draw an extra card each turn but goes further by dinging each opponent one damage for each card drawn.  We suggest you employ shenanigans like Forced Fruition for the lulz. 

Thraximundar
Here's a reprint from Shards of Alara. This is a great beater.  For seven (four colorless and a 'grixis') you get a hasty 6/6 which forces the defending player to sac a critter whenever Thrax attacks.  The bonus is that you also get a hard +1/+1 counter on Thrax every time a player sacs a creature as well.

This is the most difficult of the five Commander 2013 decks to get your paws on.  Even when stores had protected themselves on a product rush by jacking the price two or three times the suggested retail price, players still had no problem willing to pay.  Why?  A few reasons but foremost is True-Name Nemesis, a very powerful merfolk creature spell which a lot of Legacy players want - this will go as a single for about 40 or 45 bucks some places.  Balefule Strix, a reprint from Planechase also commands a price of 15 to 20 clams.  Another card of interest is Strategic Planning from Portal Three Kindoms, which original cards are going for $30 although the price is dropping as a result of the commander and recent Modern Masters reprinting.
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Angel Evolution

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Our local card shop, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario runs a Commander night on Thursday evenings and although we've not been out to one of these for a while, we're told that it is becoming more popular than ever and you can see all the recently released Commander 2013 decks at the tables.  We'll likely pick up a few extra singles from MTG Mint Card and upgrade one of our existing builds before committing to going though.

Anywhoos - there was one Commander 2013 card which caught our attention (yes, we admit that many more did) but this had more to do with the art than the actual game card abilities.  Specifically, we're talking about Angel of Finality with the lovely art from Howard Lyon.  We've seen this angel very recently in the Innistrad set - Angel of Flight Alabaster.

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The new Commander 2013 version is most assuredly a reference to the previous Innistrad one but beyond the art and creature type, everything is quite different.

 











Where the Innistrad Angel of Flight Alabaster allowed graveyard recursion of a spirit creature card from your graveyard to your hand, Commander's Angel of Finality nuked cards in a target player's graveyard.  Both these cards can still be good friends in the same deck however and we know there is a number of MTG Realm readers out there who have told us they have a thingy for angel themed decks, so we say 'go for it' - there are more than a dozen legendary angel creatures in a variety of colors you can call upon to be your commander / general.
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Now - for some flavor -
Innistrad Angels were organized into Flights of Angels - Flight Goldnight, Flight of Herons, and Flight Alabaster.  As our angel in today's article is from Alabaster, here's some background from the MTG creative team -  

The Flight of Alabaster
These angels personify the Blessed Sleep and are associated with the Hunter's Moon season. They provide magic that wards against the desecration of dead humans. In the absence of Avacyn they remained the most active and continued on to reinforce wards that protected the human populations.

This flight of angels is centered in Thraben, and is instrumental in maintaining Avacynian wards. These angels reside mainly in the Lofts and are a familiar sight to the inhabitants of the city. They generally travel in small groups as they visit the centers of healing in the city. Alabaster angels also aid priests and cathars in maintaining the protective wards on the city walls and holy sites throughout Innistrad. According to the other flights, Alabaster angels tend to be overly sentimental, but they think of themselves as practical yet sympathetic. They often do not travel with weapons, preferring to use their magic, and engage in battle only when the conflict can't be resolved another way. During the archangel's absence, the Alabaster angels were first to recognize the Avacynian wards were failing. Many remained active—more than those of other flights—doubling their efforts to reinforce the wards. These efforts likely saved Thraben from the fate that befell many other towns and settlements. 
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Eternal Bargain

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

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See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast

 This Esper deck (white/ blue / black) has the following Commanders to choose from:

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
This legendary Giant Soldier costing six mana (3 colorless and an 'esper' gives you a 4/5 body on the field and has a lifegain theme in each of the cards three abilities.  Ability one nets you two life, while the second one allows you to pay one coloress whenever you gain life to chip one life off your opponent.  To ensure the life train keeps going, you also add another two onto your total even if Oloro is in your command zone.
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Sydri, Galvanic Genius
This Human Artificer costs three (one 'esper') and provides a 2/2 onto the battlefield.  Both activated abilities are all about artifacts.  For one blue mana, you can turn a target noncreature artifact into an artifact with p/t equal to the cmc.  The second ability allows you to pay a white and black to give a target artifact lifelink / deathtouch until end of turn.
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Sharuum, the Hegemon
Here is the reprint - for six mana (three colorless and an 'esper') you get a 5/5 flying artifact Sphinx creature.  The enter the battlefield effect has the ability to return an artifact card from the 'yard back onto the battlefield, which can get really crazy if you develop a strategy to cheat huge fatties or other high costed artifacts onto the field.
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This is certainly not an 'all in' artifact deck and frankly the list developed by WotC is not meant to be that but rather yet another robust list able to adapt to the game situation and happens to have an artifact theme.  Having just said that, we are keen to develop a major artifact theme with this deck at it's base - we would want to consider both Tezzeret the Seeker and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in this mix along with similarily themed card choices.  One concern we have is that should you play Oloro in multiplayer, you could get hated on simply because of his lifegain potential.  
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Evasive Maneuvers

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part one of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

 

See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast

 This Bant deck (green / white / blue) has the following Commanders to choose from:

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
A 2/3 flying bird wizard for three (bang) mana allows you to tap or untap a target permanent when either Derevi enters the battlefield or when a creature you control lands damage.  The most exciting ability on this card may be able to cast Derevi from the command zone onto the battlefield for only four mana (one and a 'bant') getting around the 'commander tax' requiring your pay an additional two accumulative mana for every time you cast the general.

Roon of the Hidden Realm
Here's a solid 4/4 Rhino Soldier costing five (two colourless and a 'bant').  Also equipped with vigilance and trample, this already seems like a decent inclusion but let's have a look at the final ability.  Feed this two colourless and tap it you can blink a target creature.  Exiling and returning one of your own critters with a sweet 'enters the battlefield' effect or perhaps removing an opponent's attacker or blocker is downright great.

Rubinia Soulsinger
This flightless 2/3 Faerie costs five (two and a 'bant').  This first ability allowing you to choose not to untap Rubinia won't make much sense until you read the second one.  Just tap her and you can now take control of a target creature for as long as she's tapped - not bad at all to remove a potential threat.

There are a lot of neat cards in this deck such as Azami, Lady of Scrolls for draw, Deceiver Exarch to play into the tap / untap theme, or the witty Borrowing 100,000 Arrows.  The list looks rather robust to address a variety of situations on the ever developing battlefield but we would rather take the chassis out and build upon it a singular theme.
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Theros Block Speculation

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

A very interesting post over on the mothersite today - if you've not yet have had a chance to look, click on over.  WotC TJ posted to the Magic Arcana the 'title images' of each of the sets in the current Magic: the Gathering block - Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx.  We have of course seen the Theros art with Elspeth, sun's Champion standing in triumph over a slain hydra and have even seen stylized hints of the other arts on the Hero's Path website but not yet seen them in full - which affords us an opportunity to generate some almost-baseless speculation.  For the Planeswalker Guide to Theros, check out the Magic Creative Team's articles here.  Let's have at it now . . .
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First up - the title art for Theros.

Nothing new - Elspeth, now on Theros is true to form and fights for the humans inhabiting this plane against the many monsters.  A forge with her and Heliod, god of the Sun now emerges.

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Second - the next set 'Born of the Gods' with this title art. 

We can clearly see that the Planeswalker Xenagos from the previous Theros set has a major role to play.  As Xenagos already has received a card, we should expect cards indicating a theme of his (or his 'faction'?) evolution.  This art suggests that Xenagos has supplanted Purphoros and possibly a bleeding through of Nyx (the realm of the gods) in to the corporeal plan.

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Third - the title art for the final set 'Journey into Nyx'

From this image, we see the full extent of the corruption of being that was Xenagos.  Super Xenagos, holding his lyre-spear-staff thingy is about to engage in a confrontation with two well-known Planeswalkers - Elspeth and Ajani.  In the background to the left are battle banners of forces but whether this army is marching against or for Xenagos is unknown. Below this final battle are ruins of temples of which Erebos, god of the Underworld suggests has been, like Purphoros, defeated by super Xenagos.
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Lastly, a heads up about MTG Mint Card (their banner on the left) who are having some pretty amazing deals, so click on over and check that out.
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Theros Holiday Gift Box

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We'll be heading out to OMG! Games latter on tonight to play in the Friday Night Magic event but wanted to swing by today during lunch break to pick up the 2013 Theros Holiday Gift Box on the chance it may sell out latter today.  Apparently we did have nothing to fear as the store ordered a good number.  While at the store there happened to be a few other players there also on a lunch break to grab some singles ahead of the event tonight and not there to pick up the Holiday Gift Box.  After a discussion of what they would pay for four booster packs of Theros (it's about $5 here in Central Ontario), they realised that given the price tag on the Holiday Gift Box (priced at $19.99 at OMG! Games), it was essentially a no-brainer.

Anywhoos - let's have a looky-loo in the box now !

Contents:

• A storage box that can hold more than 2,000 cards

• Six illustrated plastic dividers

• A sticker sheet for customizing the dividers

• Four Theros booster packs

• An alternative-art Karametra's Acolyte from the Theros set

• 20-card Theros basic land pack

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Release Date: November 15, 2013 for an MSRP: $19.99

Enchant the Magic™ player in your life with the Magic: The Gathering® Holiday Gift Box, containing four booster packs from the Theros™ expansion, 20 basic land cards, and a premium card featuring an illustration unique to this gift box.

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Notes :

• Peel 'n' stick sticker are great.

• The box art is nice but not as epic as last year's Return to Ravnica box art.

• The Dan Scott art for alt-art foil Karametra's Acolyte is stunningly beautiful but we have wishes for a more popular standard-format card.  Last year's foiling on Dreg Mangler was a bit weird 'n' flat.

• The art for the six card dividers are simply gorgeous.  The divider thickness seems a bit thinner from last year.

• Card storage box appears robust and on the same quality as the previous year's box.

•  Our four booster packs did not net us anything epic : Temple of Silence / Nighthowler / Artisans of Forms / Labyrinth Champion.  We did finally get a token that we've been looking for which is cool.

•  All in all a very solid purchase and of great use to just about every Magic: the Gathering player we can think of.

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Tumblr Thursday

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

We are rounding out the week rapidly so don't forget to not only make plans to get off to your local gaming store for Friday Night Magic, but to perhaps also get there a bit early to pick up the Theros Holiday 2013 Gift Box as they go on sale tomorrow.  

Righto - on to today's article - let's get to recent posts to our sister site MTG Realm on Tumblr -
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Photoset

November 12, 2013

320 notes

 

 

 

 

Magic: the Gathering - New Phyrexia
New Phyrexia, Set 3 of 3 in the Scars of Mirrodin block. Here’s a sampling of some of the amazing / epic concept illustration from Richard Whitters (lead), Mark Tedin, Chippy, Dave Allsop, Wayne Reynolds, Franz Vohwinkel, and Jeremy Jarvis.

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Photoset

November 13, 2013

54 notes

Magic: the Gathering - The Alara Work Environment
Little known fact - the Plane of Alara was quite frankly an OSHA and work insurance nightmare.  Labor laws were simply ignored and never enforced.
Enlisted Wurm art and sketch by the great Steve Prescott

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Photoset

November 13, 2013

158 notes

 

 

Magic: the Gathering - Creativity
You quite obviously have not had enough images of CARDHALLA - Here ya go!

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Photoset

November 11, 2013

38 notes

 

 

Magic: the Gathering - Dark Apostle
Do you know what blows chunks?  That there are only 7 demons in Standard currently, none of which unfortunately are stellar.  I guess if you Modern you could probably party with Griselbrand.  Anywhoos - there are potential shenanigans to be had though with Immortal Servitude.
Embarrassing admission - I had one or two Shadowborn Apostles in a casual kitchen table deck for lulz and just to funk with my opponent’s mind.  Opponent played Momoricide to look in my hand / deck for a demon that just wasn’t there.

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Photoset

November 10, 2013

56 notes

 

 

 

Magic: the Gathering - good gawd …

The gods of Theros are ethereal beings who live among the stars. If mortals’ belief in them is strong enough, they can manifest themselves and wage war beside them.  There are five mythic rare legendary enchantment creatures that embody one of the gods of Theros. Each card has a low casting cost, but is not a creature until your Devotion to that colour is 5 or more. They all are indestructible, have one static ability and one activated ability — Heliod, God of the Sun, Thassa, God of the Sea, Erebos, God of the Dead, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Nylea, God of the Hunt.  Along with these gods, there are also five rare legendary enchantment artifacts that give all player’s creatures a ability and have a activated ability for it own — Spear of Heliod, Bident of Thassa, Whip of Erebos, Hammer of Purphoros, and Bow of Nylea

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