Khans of Tarkir Concept Art

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

It has now been a few short hours for Magic: the Gathering fans to absorb most of the new previews from the Khans of Tarkir panel at PAX Prime.  For our second post today we wanted to give a big helping of appreciation to Wizards of the Coast KTK Development Team, and more specifically the art folks (Richard Whitters, et al.) who deliver top-notch exceptional work from accomplished artists which go on to the cards in this game.

There are a number of new as well as already known creature races which inhabit the Plane of Tarkir and the concept art has stoked our imagination.  Not complete but here are a few creature types confirmed so far :
• Aven
• Demon
• Djinn
• Efreet
• Elemental
• Goblin
• Human
• Inoch (New - dog-like creatures)
• Naga (New - serpent-like creatures)
• Orcs
• Rakshasa (New - cat-demon)
• Spirit
• Zombie

Over on our sister site, MTG Realm on Tumblr, we've attempted to capture most of this impressive art / concept art previewed and have provided details on the artists there.  For now, here is a brief summary of some of the illustrations previewed - pop over to the Tumblr page for all of 'em.

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Khans of Tarkir PAX Panel 1

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"Sarkhan was not a hunter by training.  As an adolescent on a plane torn by the machinations of warlords, he had supposed his avocation to be war." ~ from Alara Unbroken

Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering fans around the world collected around the Twitch TV live stream to take in the Khans of Tarkir MTG panel at PAX Prime in Seattle this afternoon.  

There are around fifty plus new illustrations from card arts to concept art to even a few new Khans of Tarkir Cards - so lot's of new stuff to cover.  Here is the first post to cover off the major items.  Sit down, strap in, and let's go !
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Sorin, Solemn Visitor, 2WB
Planeswalker - Sorin, Mythic Rare
+1 : Until your next turn, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain lifeline.
-2 : Put a 2/2/ black Vampire creature token with flying onto the battlefield
-6 : You get an emblem with "At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player sacrifices a creature."
~Ugin's Nexus, 5
Legendary Artifact, Mythic Rare
If a player would begin an extra turn, that player skips that turn instead.
If Ugin's Nexus would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, instead exile it and take an extra turn after this one.
~Bitter Revelation, 3B
Sorcery, Common
Look at the top four cards of your library. Put tow of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. You loose 2 life. 
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We were not expecting Sorin at all and cannot understate just how dang excited we are that this Planeswalker is in Khans of Tarkir - definitely picking up a few from MTG Mint Card. Another piece of news is the official announcement of the next set following Khans of Tarkir - Fate Reforged -

To be continued, expect a few more posts from the content provided during the PAX MTG panel.

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Khans of Tarkir Mechanics

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Wow!  Last night's Magic: the Gathering previews at the PAX Prime Khans of Tarkir party was amazing.  We've got a dozen cards spoiled including Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker and the reprint of Onslaught Fetchlands.  You can check out all the new cards in our previous post here.

We were set to take a breather after mad typing / posting last evening but Bazinga!, we've got MOAR Khans of Tarkir previews on the motheriste today we were not expecting - the mechanics of Khans of Tarkir - let's go !
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The set centers around wedge colors. Each clan features their own mechanic. In addition all clans feature morph.

The Abzan keyword action is Outlast ((cost), Tap.gif: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Outlast only as a sorcery.). Cards may have an additional ability whenever you activate the outlast ability.

The Jeskai keyword is Prowess: (whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn).

The Sultai keyword is the cost-reduction Delve, introduced in Future Sight: (You may exile any number of cards from your graveyard as you cast this spell. It costs Mana1.gif less to cast for each card exiled this way).

The Mardu ability word Raid and related cards are all based around a very fast, aggressive strategy for winning. Raid gives an advantageous effect if you have attacked with a creature the same turn.  

Each of the five clans uses deception to outmaneuver its rivals. Morph is a returning mechanic that lets you cast spells as face-down creatures, disguising their true identity until you turn them face up such as the above Abzan Guide.  You can cast a creature spell with morph face down whenever you normally could cast that card.  A face-down creature spell is a 2/2 colorless creature spell with no name, no creature types, no abilities, and no mana cost. We are very excited to find out that within some Khans of Tarkir booster pack, you will be able to get this 'overlay' card you can put on top of one of your face-down creatures while it's on the battlefield as a reminder.  This is perfect for us when we game at OMG! Games here in Barrie as a lot of the games we have are 'intense' and we typically forget triggers unless we're caffeinated.

There are a few interesting twists with morph as well.  Icefeather Aven has a triggered effect when it goes face up and Lens of Clarity will allow a sneak-peak at your opponent's face-down card.  Given the good number of morph cards in this set, we'll likely be 'auto-including' a few Lens in our sideboard and will pre-order 'em from MTG Mint Card.  Definitely very excited to tune in to the Khans of Tarkir world building panel at PAX this afternoon, so stay tuned for additional posts.

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Khans of Tarkir PAX Party

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

If you happen to be a Magic: the Gathering player (in all certainty you are as you are reading this blog), and you want to get a belly-full of Khans of Tarkir previews, then you are definitely in luck.  

In Seattle, PAX Prime has wrapped up its day and MTG fans are converging on the Shadowbox to take in the famous PAX MTG Party.  More specifically, the Khans of Tarkir party where we now have about a dozen new card awesomeness to share with you courtesy of a number of fans at the party tonight. We are already making a list for pre-order to go in to MTG Mint Card.  Anywhoos Let's have a look -

Herald of Anafenza, W
Creature - Human Soldier, Rare
Outlast 2W (2W, Tap: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Outlast only as a sorcery.)
Whenever you activate Herald of Anafenza's outlast ability, put a 1/1 white Warrior creature token onto the battlefield.
1/2

 Jeskai Elder, 1U
Creature - Human Monk, Common
Prowess (Whenever you cast a non creature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Whenever Jeskai Elder deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
1/2

Mardu Skullhunter, 1B
Creature - Human Warrior, Common
Mardu Skullhunter enters the battlefield tapped.
Raid - When Mardu Skullhunter enters the battlefield, if you attacked with a creature this turn, target opponent discards a card.
2/1

 Necropolis Fiend, 7BB
Creature - Demon, rare
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for 1.)
Flying
X, Tap, Exile X cards from your graveyard: Target creature gets -X, -X until end of turn.
4/5

Rattleclaw Mystic, 1G
Creature - Human Shaman, Rare
Tap: Add G, U or R to your mana pool.
Morph 2 (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When Rattleclaw Mystic is turned face up, ad GUR to your mana pool
2/1

 Duneblast, 4WBG
Sorcery, Rare
Chose up to one creature. Destroy the rest.

 Narset, Enlightened Master, 3URW
Legendary Creature - Human Monk, Mythic Rare
First strike, hex proof.
Whenever Narset, Enlightened Master attacks, exile the top four cards of your library. Until end of tureen, you may cast non creature cards exiled with Narset this turn without paying their mana costs.

 Sultai Charm, BGU
Instant, Uncommon
Chose One -
• Destroy target monocolored creature.
• Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
• Draw two cards, then discard a card.

 Crackling Doom, RWB
Instant, Rare
Crackling Doom deals 2 damage to each opponent. Each opponent sacrifices a creature with the greatest power among creatures he or she controls.

Temur Ascendancy, GUR
Enchantment, Rare
Creatures you control have haste.
When a create with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control., you may draw a card. 

 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, 3RR
Planeswalker - Sarkhan, Mythic Rare
+1 : Until end of turn, Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker becomes a legendary 4/4 Dragon creature with flying, indestructible, and haste. (He doesn't loose loyalty while he's not a planeswalker.)
-3 : Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker deals 4 damage to target creature.
-6 : You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your draw step, draw two additional card" and "At the beginning of your end step, discard your hand"

FETCHLANDS ARE BACK ! ! !
    Flooded Strand
    Polluted Delta
    Bloodstained Mire
    Wooded Foothills
    Windswept Heath

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Khans of Tarkir Spoiler 8-28

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

We're only a sliver of time away from the start of the Labour Day long weekend heralding the end of summer - and dang! - it went by way to quick.  Sure, this makes us kinda morose but hey!, Khans of Tarkir official previews begin next week with the PreRelease / Release events just a few short weeks away.

Speaking of previews, there is a Khans of Tarkir spoiler out today - apparently the Buy-A-Box promo - for each customer who purchases a full display of Khans of Tarkir booster packs, you can score this alternate art foil while supplies last.  Again, this is not official and the card is in Spanish so check back in a few weeks until we get the official not on this from WotC.

Mística Garrasonora (Mystic Sounclaw?), 1G
Creature - Human Shaman, Rare
Tap: add G, U or R.
Morph 2 (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 2 Mana. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When this is turned face up, add GUR to your mana pool.
2/1

This is almost a weir hybrid between Noble Hierarch and Knotvine Mystic until you put your glasses on.  We love the Morph bonus here and most definitely want to get a full deckset pre-ordered from MTG Mint Card.  We don't really expect to see a cycle of these in each Clan (which would be way kewl btw) but perhaps just a one off.
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Next up - MOAR Khans of Tarkir art previews from yesterday's latest installment of Uncharted Realms (Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes) as well as from Planeswalker Points.

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Khans of Tarkir Spoiler 8-26

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Happy Tuesday (again) MTG peeps,

We realise that we've already did our daily post (the FNM report for our take on Alex Sittner's 'No Limit Soldier' list), but we've just had to share some rather exciting Khans of Tarkir artwork which has recently surfaced on Wizards of the Coast's Planeswalker Points website.  Magic the Gathering players can sign up to keep track of their Planeswalker points on the Wizards of the Coast website PlaneswalkerPoints.com. At certain point totals, players level up in the Planeswalker Points program and improve their rank. The ranks go all the way up from Prodigy (level 1-5) to Archmage (level 46-50). Players earn points for every sanctioned event they join, and they earn even more for each victory.

Similar to the program where players could join 'Guilds' when Return to Ravnica was released, players may now be able to join Clans for the upcoming release of Khans of Tarkir.  Although official Khans of Tarkir previews begin on the mothersite next week, we are very excited to see some of these lovely arts previewed on PW Points when you sign up for a Clan.  Here are a few of the not-yet-seen before illustrations.

Here are some descriptions of the Clans to assist you in making a decision about joint a Clan on PW Points -
 
Abzan society is built around family bonds to survive their harsh desert environment. The Abzan revere their ancestors but also adopt orphans of war from other clans. The scale of the dragon is their symbol: one part among many that forms an impenetrable defense.

The Jeskai are martial artists, mystics, and wandering warriors. They revere cunning and strategy in combat, taking the dragon's eye as their symbol. Isolated mountain strongholds form the basis of Jeskai culture, each with its own mystical styles and schools of thought.

The Mardu are feared warriors who live for the heat of battle. Thundering waves of humans, orcs, ogres, and goblins constantly raid other clans, but never hold territory for long. Their swiftness is symbolized by the wing of the dragon.

The decadent Sultai are founded on wealth, cruelty, and an ever-growing undead army. The clan's naga rulers made pacts with rakshasa demons to secure their elite status. The fang of the dragon is the Sultai's symbol, embodying ruthlessness.

The Temur value strength, savagery, and independence. They are represented by the claw of the dragon. They have little desire for conquest but fiercely defend their community. Temur shamans, or whisperers, speak to nature spirits and elementals.


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