Oath of the Gatewatch Spoiler

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Last evening, we had spent several hours reviewing forum posts, tweets, and researching several possible Magic: the Gathering spoilers for the upcoming set Oath of the Gatewatch.  

Awesome graphic from TheProxyGuy.

In the last few years, proper spoilers have become almost as rare as a Unicorn as Wizards of the Coast and what 'spoilers' there were have become strategically orchestrated previews.  Gone are the days when and entire 'God Book' is leaked or sealed product inadvertently shipped before it's due time.  What 'spoilers' there may be are almost always fakes created for some nefarious purpose.

MTG Realm has always prefaced any UNCONFIRMED and UNOFFICIAL spoilers with statements of caution to the reader as we will do once again.  Let's see these new, game-changing and exciting new spoilers now -
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Last evening MTG Focus Podcast (@Mtgfocus) posted two images of what appears to be new Oath of the Gatewatch card obtained from an anonymous source and subequently removed.  Shortly afterward, the post to Twitter, another card image was posted to the MTG Salvation forum by Greenseeker (Maringá, Brazil).  Here they are -

Kozilek, the Great Distortion, 8◊◊
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi, Mythic Rare
When you cast Kozilek, the Great Distortion, if you have fewer than seven cards in hand, draw cards equal to the difference. 
Menace 
Discard a card with converted mana cost X: Counter target spell with converted mana cost X.
A void as cryptic as reality itself.
004/184 M, Illus. Aleksi Briclot 12/12

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Wastes
Basic Land
Illus. Raymond Swanland

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Mirrorpool
Land, Mythic Rare
Mirrorpool enters the battlefield tapped. 
T: Add ◊ to your mana pool. 
2◊, T, Sacrifice Mirrorpool: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new tarets for the copy. 
4◊, T, Sacrifice Mirrorpool: Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of target creature you control.
174/184 Illus. Cliff Childs
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Wait?  
Wut?  
Could this be the fabled 'Barry's Land' playtested by R&D for Invasion?  
Could this be sixth basic land ('Purple') which was playtested by Wizards R&D for Planar Chaos? Who knows?  

We do know that for ruling reasons, these lands were never printed, despite its popularity with R&D. Development wanted more time to understand the power of this and perhaps Oath of the Gatewatch is this time.

All of the card illustrations appear new and not too unlike the styles of the artists named within the cards.  Card art from Battle for Zendikar provided some illustrations of blighted landscapes caused by the Eldrazi sapping the mana from this plane.  This shows up as an intricate meshwork of white filaments.  With the card art for the 'Wastes' land and to a lesser extent, Mirrorpool, gone are any intact formed Hedrons.  In its place are fractured forms closely resembling that of the spiral, stair-stepped structure of bismuth crystals.  Supporting the authenticity of this are some elements found with the card art of Skitterskin and Kozilek's Sentinel from Battle for Zendikar.


Colourless mana and to a lesser extent hybrid mana (first introduced in the Ravnica: City of Guids set did add a level of enjoyable complexity to the game.  The theme of devoid as it relates to the storyline in Zendikar would welcome something such as this new land type but we do have our reservations that this 'Ghostfire' 'diamond mana' on the impact of all the game formats. If these Unofficial cards are real, we are riding the hype train all the way to January 22 next year when Oath of the Gatewatch is officially release.

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