Magic - Ctrl Z

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

MTG Realm did not have a post yesterday - we had to sit down, lay down, breath deeply and calm ourselves down.  It actually took a full day to recover from the huge bombshell of an announcement yesterday from Wizards of the Coast (linked right over here).

Before we yatter any further about that, here are some nuggets of Magic: the Gathering related newsworthy items -

• Yesterday's Magic Story ('A Grateful Consulate') from James Wyatt was awesome !  Tezzert is still a dick but we've almost warmed up to Dovin Baan (whom we suspect has a stick in his posterior).

• WotC Staffer Blake previewed the Friday Night Magic Promo Card for January, 2017 - hint - do you like snakes ?

• Kaladesh Game Day is THIS WEEKEND.  Tune up your vechicles (erm, decklists we meant to say) and get on in with some standard format action at your local gaming store for a chance to win kewl prizes.  If you find yourself in Central Ontario, do drop in to OMG! Games in Barrie.

Righto - 
Speaking of Kaladesh and Standard format . . . 

The BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

When MaRo posted the 'Meamorphosis' article on August 25, 2014 announcing several very important changes to Magic: the Gathering, it was received with mixed reviews.  That is to say, some of the changes were quite welcome, and others not so much.  Essentially, the changes were :

• Magic Blocks were moving from three sets to two.

• Magic will have two blocks per year.

• Core Sets would no longer see print.

• The first set of each block would cause a standard format rotation (Spring and Fall)


That was then, this is now.

In yesterday's article from Aaron Forsythe ('Revisiting Standard Rotation'), Wizards of the Coast admits that "the twice-yearly rotation has resulted in a barrier to new or casual players" and that there would be an immediate return to an annual (once per year) rotation.

Click Image to Embiggen!

WOW - We are rather pleased with this.

Your Eldrazi just got another six month lease on life and if you fancy Kaladesh, then you'll be pleased to see that this block won't rotate until Fall 2018.  Which means you will have more time, and a somewhat larger card pool to develop a decklist than under the previous arrangement.

The Tl/DR -

Fall 2017: Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows Over Innistrad, and Eldritch Moon rotate.
Fall 2018: Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation rotate.

If you are looking for a more in-depth evaluation of the big announcement, we suggest you read Corbin Hosler's article 'A Changing Standard - Everything Old is New Again' over at TCG Player.
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