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6.30.2016

Eldritch Moon Previews 6-30

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Tomorrow is Canada Day and we're not certain we will be around to provided Magic: the Gathering updates for official Eldritch Moon previews.  We will however are planning to attend a special Friday Night Magic Event at OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario where, in honour of Canda Day, special prizes are to be set out for the best performing Boros (Red 'n' White) decklist.

 
For today, we have the regular round-up of Eldrtich Moon previews gathered from the mothersite and around the interwebs which we will continually update as the spoilers, if any, trickle through.  The two foreign language cards in today's set have the unofficial translation below for your reference -

Decimator of the Provinces
Eldritch Evolution
Eternal Scourge
Geier Reach Sanitarium
Harmless Offering
Lupine Prototype
Murder
Wharf Infiltrator

Eternal Scourge, 3
Creature - Eldrazi Horror, Rare
You may cast Eternal Scourge from exile.
When Eternal Scourge becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, exile it.
3/3

Decimator of the Provinces, 10
Creature - Eldrazi Boar, Mythic Rare
Trample, Haste
Emerge: 6GGG
Whenever you cast
Decimator of the Provinces, creatures you control gain +2/+2 and trample until end of turn.
7/7



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6.29.2016

Eldritch Moon Previews 6-29

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Day three of official Magic: the Gathering Eldritch Moon previews are out and we have a lot to talk about.  What we won't talk about just yet is the new Eldritch Moon story installment, 'Innistrad's Last Hope', penned by Doug Beyer.  What we will say is that you should find time today to catch up on the storyline - expect a great short story of how Liliana and sibling necromancers Gisa and Geralf react to the threat of Emrakul.


Awesome Liliana necro art from Joseph Meehan

Anywhoos, let's get on to today's Eldritch Moon spoilers and previews ! 


Soul Separator - huge flavour here and 10 points to Gryffindor for the design.  


Tree of Perdition
Stitchers Graft
Reader
Bloodhall Priest
Gisa and Geralf
Haunted Dead
Ingenious Skaab
Soul Separator
Elder Deep-Fiend
Curious Homunculus // Voracious 
Voldaran Pariah // Abolisher of Bloodlines 


Werewolf Horror -->  Eldrazi Werewolf cycle !

Smoldering Werewolf // Erupting Dreadwolf
Vildin-Pack Outcast // Dronepack Kindred
Kessig Prowler // Sinuous Predator



German language translations (unofficial)

Haunted Dead, 3B
Creature - Zombie, Uncommon
When Haunted Dead enters the battlefield, put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying into play.
1B, discard two cards: Return Haunted Dead from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
2/2

Ingenious Skaab, 2U
Creature - Zombie Horror, Common
Prowess U: Ingenious Skaab gets +1/-1 until end of turn.

2/3

Also of note is the very soon to be released Eldritch Moon Facebook previews.  We do finally know the names of the cards - Extricator of Sin and Voldaran Pariah.  We will update as soon as these two cards go live.


PREVIEWED ! Vote for the vamp !
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6.28.2016

Eldritch Moon Spoilers 6-28

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Day Two of official Eldritch Moon previews is underway with the lion's share coming from the mothersite and few others from further afield.  One from French news website Le Monde, specifically the 'Pixels' gaming section.  The other from the Wizards EU Twitter account has a wonderful continuation of the Delver of Secrets back-story - let's just say that the tables are now turned for that researcher. 

On the mothersite, the Eldritch Moon Card Image Gallery is now up and populated with new preview cards from the previous day.  Ken Nagle, WotC lead designer for Eldritch Moon writes about some EMN concepts and theme including 'meld' and Blake Rasmussen showcases the Eldritch Moon Intro Pack rares.  Lots of cardboard goodness going on, so let's dive in -

Today's new reveals include :
Assembled Alphas
Docent of Perfection // Final Iteration
Emrakul's Influence
Galvanic Bombardment
Grizzled Angler // Grisly Anglerfish
Lone Rider // It That Rides as One
Niblis of Frost
Noosegraf Mob
Sanctifier of Souls
Take Inventory

Ulvenwald Observer





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6.27.2016

Eldritch Moon Spoilers 6-27

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Big day today for Magic: the Gathering players as Wizards of the Coast kick off with the first day of official Eldritch Moon previews.  For your 'to do' list today - 

• Watch the second episode of Access Magic
'Twisted Innistrad' with host Jimmy Wong has guest Jeremy Jarvis and Jenna Helland on to speak on to the story and art side to Eldritch Moon.  The big preview card delivered by Community Manager Dan Barrett (who looks absolutely dead tired?) delivers a whopping EMN preview, which we've covered below.



• Eldritch Moon Mechanics
MTG Rules Guru Matt Tabak goes over the new mechanics / themes in this post linked here for the new set which also include demonstrative previews of the set's cards (again summarised below).  MTG Realm will have a separate post tomorrow hopefully with comments on the new mechanics.  The new tech to expect are as follows - 

New mechanics - Meld, Emerge, Escalate

Returning mechanics - Double-faced Cards, Madness, Delirium

• Over the Moon, part 1
Mark Rosewater in his regular column of 'Making Magic' goes over the concept and design team details as well as delivering a preview.

On to today's Eldritch Moon previews !
Unsubstantiate
Cemetery Recruitment
Blessed Alliance 
Brisela, Voice of Nightmares
Bruna, the Fading Light
Gisela, the Broken Blade
Dawn Gryff
Wretched Gryff
Long Road Home
Hanweir, the Writhing Township
Hanweir Garrison
Hanweir Battlements
Midnight Scavengers
Graf Rats



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6.23.2016

Eldrtich Moon Spoilers 6-23

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Today we have two proper Eldrtich Moon spoilers, smuggled out of Spain.  Many Bothans perished to bring us these Magic: the Gathering cards.  As such, the cards are of course in Spanish and our poor attempt at providing such translation should be realised.  Again, as always, please refer to only official previews on the mothersite for final card names and text.


Thalia, Heretic Cathar, 2W
Legendary Creature - Human soldier, Rare
First Strike.
Creatures and non-basic lands your opponents control come into play tapped.
The Lunarch Council cannot guarantee salvation. It must be earned; by the sword if necessary.
3/2
046/205 / Buy-A-Box Promo / Johannes Yoss

Thalia is back as a 3/2 for 3 CMC.  This is a rather powerful 'Blind Obedience' effect and a solid card all around.  We would imagine that players across multiple formats will have interest in this.  The Hatebears archetype will benefit, and players with a fetchland in hand will think twice about a lost advantage.  Those Human decklists that were all the rage at the beginning of the new standard format may also want to pick up on this.  The only downside is that of the legendary status.
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Identity Thief, 2UU (perhaps Supplant Identity?)
Creature - Shapeshifter, Rare
Whenever Identity Impersonator attacks, exile target nontoken creature. If you do, Identity Impersonator becomes a copy of that creature until the end of turn. Return the exiled card under to the battlefield under its owners control at the beginning of the next end step. 
0/3

This is an interesting one.  There are some possibilities when this card turns sideways.  Blinking an opponent's biggest threat and landing some solid damage is one.  Perhaps you want a second shot of a good 'enters the battlefield' effect with one of your own creatures - perhaps a Goblin Dark-Dwellers or something that brings along tokens.
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6.22.2016

Eldritch Moon Spoilers 6-22

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Another Eldrtich Moon preview has slipped onto the interwebs today - this time courtesy of ZiggyD Gaming who we confess we've not heard of, but apparently a digital gamer of some note.  We can confirm that this Magic: the Gathering spoiler / preview is real and not scuttlebutt as the Wizards MTG twitter account did re-tweet.

Anywhoos, here's what ZiggyD had to say -
 Magic: The Gathering - The Fate of Hanweir REVEALED! (Card Reveal) Strange things have been happening in the Township of Hanwier of late… And now the town’s true nature reveals itself! Thanks to Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro for affording me the opportunity to reveal this awesome new card and give some answers to the ongoing mystery reported by the Hanweir Chronicle. This card is part of the upcoming expansion “Eldritch Moon” in the Shadows Over Innistrad block.


Hanweir, the Writhing Township, Rare
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi Ooze
Trample, haste
Whenever Hanweir, the Writhing Township attacks, put two 3/2 colorless Eldrazi Horror creature tokens onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
7/4

Dang !!  As we are only shown the 'sunny-side-down' side of the card, we cannot ascertain casting cost, colour, card type, or how difficult we can flip from sunny-side-up.  This could be a land for all we know and some activation cost to get to this lovely juicy side.  Eldrazi Horror creature tokens with a 3/2 body appear to be on tap for this set and this monster of a DFC looks really strong - crossing fingers that this resides somewhere between unplayable junk rare to OMGawd way too OP.

In other news, WotC also revealed the full art from Vincent Procee - weird and beautiful !

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6.21.2016

Eldritch Moon Spoilers 6-21

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

After yesterday's revelations for Eldritch Moon, we needed to take some time to re-read the Emrakul Rises story and the Eldrazi threat to the Plane of Innistrad in the form of Emrakul, the Promised End.  We've also watched the Eldritch Moon Trailer a few times to let it all settle in and trying to wrap our noodle around how Liliana,  and perhaps not the Oath of the Gatewatch Planeswalkers (Gideon, Jace, Chandra and Nissa) may be Innistrad's last hope.  

Which brings us to an interesting point.  On the Wizards Play Network, geared toward supporting Magic: the Gathering retailers, if one were to select Portuguese and view the large poster choices for retailers, you can see the one poster with the name "Liliana, a Última Esperança".  This translates to Liliana, the Last Hope - perhaps the proper card name when finally previewed.  

Anywhoos, we do have to catch up with yesterday's news.  There were two additional Eldritch Moon cards previewed in addition to that of Emrakul - here they are now -


Coax from the Blind Eternities, 2U
Sorcery
You may choose an Eldrazi card you own from outside the game or in exile, reveal that card, and put it into your hand.
At Nahiri's call, Emrakul traversed the vast emptiness between the planes and arrived on Innistrad.
illus. Jaime Jones # 51/205

Kimberly Kreines preview.  Very appropriately flavoured card when paired with her story 'Emrakul Rises' posted yesterday.  Very interesting Eldrazi fetch card - Just keep your binder within reach and you are good to go.  Seems good for standard format, but when you open this up to Modern or other formats, you are cooking with gas.  At this point, you can now grab Eldrazi non-creature spells - tribal spells, such as Eldrazi Conscription or All Is Dust.  Very powerful indeed.
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Ulrich of the Krallenhord, 3RG
Legendary Creature - Human Werewolf
Whenever this creature enters the battlefield or transforms into Ulrich of the Krallenhorde, target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform Ulrich of the Krallenhorde.
illus. Slawomir Maniak # 191/205
4/4
//
Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha
Legendary Creature - Werewolf
Whenever this creature transforms into Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha, you may have it fight target non-Werewolf creature you don't control.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if a player cast two or more spells last turn, transform Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha.
illus. Slavomir Maniak # 191/205
6/6

Twitter @wizards_magic preview.  The ship has come in for Magic: the Gathering players who were pining after a legendary werewolf.  Card looks good and time will tell is Standard likes it or an EDH player will go for a red / green 'Fight' decklist with Ulrich here as Commander.  We have dreams of Ulrich transforming with Xenagos, God of Revels on the field and swinging in as a hasty 12/12.


Speaking of Ulrich, here is a lovely art from Josu Hernaiz for Ulrich's Kindred from Shadows Over Innistrad


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6.20.2016

Eldritch Moon - Emrakul

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

The inaugural first episode of Access Magic went up today and as promised by Mark Rosewater and Jimmy Wong, we were treated to the first Magic: the Gathering Eldritch Moon spoiler.  The video not only contained a preview card but also the Eldritch Moon video trailer.  If you want to just watch the Eldritch Moon Trailer only, click on over here.
  
Here it is now in full -



Yep !! That's and Eldrazi.

As many had suspected (we did - check here), Wizards of the Coast has this big-arse'd tentacled freak (properly named Emrakul, the Promised End) pop up on Innistrad.  I imagine if The Hanweir Chronicle had a video interview with the denizens of that Plane, it would sound a lot like Antoine Dobson's 'hide yo kids' messaging.

Anywhoos, here are the crit stats for the big fella -
Emrakul, the Promised End, 13
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
Emrakul, the Promised End costs 1 less to cast for each card type among cards in your graveyard.
When you cast Emrakul, you gain control of target opponent during that player's next turn. After that turn, that player takes an extra turn.
Flying, trample, protection from instants
An enigma as vexing as life itself.
illus. Jaime Jones # 006/205
13/13 
 
It's a good card, likely to be enjoyed by Standard and Commander players alike.  Some were hoping for a lot more, such as hexproof or indestructibility, but we are just fine as is.  This thing can come out early with a delirium-like ability to shave a bit off your casting cost.  Should it land on the game table without being countered, then the opponent's very next turn is nerf'd.  The flying, trample and 'protection from instants' all add up to rather admirable abilities as well.  We suggest you pick up cards such as Clip Wings and Stasis Snare before all the copies are purchased at your local gaming store.  


Wrapping up, we also suggest you pop on over to the mothersite, if you have not already done that, and read Kim Kreines Magic Story - 'Emrakul Rises' to coincide with today's Eldritch Moon preview.
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6.16.2016

Access Magic: Eldritch Moon

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

With previews of the next new Magic: the Gathering set, Eldritch Moon, not starting until next Monday (27th June), it kinda feels like a trekking across a barren desert, devoid of any life.  Mind you, there had been some comfort in this wasteland, an oasis, if you will - in the form of two stories from Eldritch Moon -

Episode 01: The Archmage of Goldnight
A werewolf howls in the night. A mad angel cackles. Without its protector, Avacyn, Innistrad is falling to monsters and madness. But not all monsters are what they seem. In the dark of night, the howl of a werewolf might just be the answer to your prayers

Episode 02: Stone and Blood

Over a thousand years ago, Nahiri arrived on Innistrad to find her old friend Sorin Markov. That meeting set Nahiri on her course of vengeance, but the reasons for her anger have remained shrouded in mystery.

With our thirst somewhat slaked with the continuation of the Shadows Over Innistrad storyline, we were rather prepared for more doldrums.  Then an unexpected surprise - this brief video posted today by the mothersite on their YouTube channel -



The video description - 

Watch here June 20 as host Jimmy Wong takes you inside Eldritch Moon with Mark Rosewater, revealing the ancient horror behind the madness on Innistrad, new cards from the set, and more!



This purported new series called 'Access Magic', has us intrigued.  Next week we are being promised this -

On Episode 1 of Access Magic, Jimmy Wong sits down with Mark Rosewater to set the scene for Eldritch Moon and preview an exciting new card. Take on the darkness at Prerelease on July 16 and 17, 2016.


We do not often pop onto YouTube but it is with great certainty that we'll be anxiously awaiting to when this goes live on the 27th.  Jimmy Wong (you may likely know him from the Command Zone) promises to be a very well suited host.  Let's hope that Wizards of the Coast doesn't go Noah's Arcade on this.
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6.15.2016

MTG Story Wednesday

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

As it seems to have become our habit each Wednesday, we here at MTG Realm turn our attention from the regular round-up of Magic: the Gathering news and other frivolities to the new Magic Story posted on the mothersite.  Last week's story was 'The Archmage of Goldnight' and a intriguing background on Arlinn Kord, the newest double-sided Planeswalker.  We will sheepishly admit that we are still uncertain as to how this human actually became a lycan.

Anywhoos, today's story by kelly Digges' article 'Stone and Blood', details the falling out of Nahiri, the Zendikar Kor Planeswalker with Sorin Markov, the Vampire Planeswalker of Innistrad.  


The story was pretty damn awesome.  Very tense reunion of the two (former) friends, resulting confrontation and the consequences.  Long story short, Sorin is a moody elitist, Zendikar suffered in Nahiri's absence and now the stage is set for the devastation of Markov Manor and it's vampire residents which was shown to us when the Shadows Over Innistrad teasers started.

Kelly Digges delivered big in his description of Nahiri's imprisonment within the Helvault.  We were sort of expecting a tea room crammed with demons and other devilry all moaning how much it sucks that there were stuck, made even more awkward when Griselbrand and Avacyn join the party.  Instead, Kelly perfectly describes a void of infinite blackness where one's somatic presence appears to be absent.  A horrifying confinement of a mind or essence until the Helvault is destroyed by Thalia, tricked into this by the Planeswalker Liana Vess who had business with one of the imprisoned demons.

Scooch on over to the Wizards of the Coast Magic Story installment and catch the latest game flavour.


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6.14.2016

Eternal Masters Supply & Demand

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

What likely catch captivated the attention of most Magic: the Gathering players over the weekend was the release of the special ('one-off') summer set of Eternal Masters.  Like Modern Masters, released in 2013 and in 2015, these sets have a higher expected average value of the cards contained in each booster and a more limited print run resulting in a higher (MSRP) sticker price.  

Where Modern Masters may have had a limited print run, Eternal Masters has a "very" limited print run.  There are quite a number of reports from a gamers to local gaming store owners indicating that there will not be any second print run or re-stock.  Some claim that retailers claiming no anticipated product restock work to the retailers benefit providing them license to charge more. The Eternal Booster box contains 24 packs (a perfect number to draft with) and here in our region (Central Ontario, Canada), the booster box costs about $360 and booster packs go for about $16.  


If you are drafting, then the cost could be likened to what you may spend on a trip to the movies (food 'n' all) or a drinks out at a pub.  We think you would be on the right path if you spent this money as being funds allocated for entertainment.

On YouTube, there are a number of unboxing vidoes of fans cracking packs hoping to lucky enough to pull one or more of the high value cards for re-sale to the secondary market.  Pulling a Mana Crypt, Force of Will, Karakas or a foil Jace, the Mind Sculptor at a worth around a $100 does go a long wat for you to 'recover' the value of your investment but there is real danger here.  The big question for those wanting to receive value is simply - 'Is it worth it to buy into Eternal Masters?'.


Consider this - out of the 69 Mythic Rares and Rares in the set, only about 19 of these cards (>$10) are valuable enough to equate to the value of a booster pack.  For each one of those videos showing a really amazing box, there are likely a dozen other individuals less than satisfied with their return.   We think you would be most happy having the mindset of gaming with the set rather than attempting to turn an economic profit.

Singles Prices - Expect great variance and volatility -

Mana Crypt (M) $98.31
Force of Will (M) $91.76
Karakas (M) $85.01
Jace, the Mind Sculptor (M) $69.00
Wasteland (R) $48.85
Sneak Attack (M) $27.00
Natural Order (M) $26.65
Vampiric Tutor (M) $25.86
Sensei's Divining Top (R) $22.00
Sylvan Library (R) $19.99
Dack Fayden (M) $19.99
Maze of Ith (R) $18.25
Entomb (R) $17.70
Sinkhole (R) $15.74
Gamble (R) $15.00
Chrome Mox (M) $14.95
Maelstrom Wanderer (M) $12.34
Enlightened Tutor (R) $11.79
Vindicate (R) $10.15
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6.13.2016

GP Costa Rica

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

This past weekend was the release of the greatly anticipated Eternal Masters set.  If your local gaming store is anything like OMG! Games, our local gaming store here in Barrie, Ontario, then chances are is that there was a LOT of players drafting Eternal Masters.  We had a bunch of family drop over for the weekend and the only Magic: the Gathering we had was a few quick games of Commander.  This, of course, did not preclude us from keeping an eye on the standard format event coverage for Grand Prix Costa Rica 2016.  Pop on over to the mothersite to get the news.



Perhaps no suprise at all to you that W/G Tokens was the top deck to beat.  The general idea of this decklist is to hit token generating Planeswalkers like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and then being able to pump those tokens with either Gideon's emblem or pile on +1/+1 counters with Nissa.  At this sort of high level event, the finesse pretty much boils down to your choice of flexible options (see Craig Wescoe's great article over at TCG Player), as well as what decisions you made with your sideboard. 

Here is the Top eight players as well as the decklist of Seth Manfield (winner) and Branddon Fischer (2nd place).

1st  Green-White Tokens Seth Manfield
2nd  Green-White Tokens Brandon Fischer
3rd  Bant Humans Oliver Tiu
4th  Green-White Tokens Erick Manuel Lopez Basulto
5th  Bant Company Brian Braun-duin
6th  Green-White Tokens Michael Derczo
7th  Green-White Tokens Javier Dominguez

8th  W/B Control Saul Alvarado



By not restricting himself to just green and white, Brandon nearly clinched the top spot with the very spicy addition of Arlinn Kord, which in out opinion is just an amazing card providing a total of five Planeswalke abilities on both sides.
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6.08.2016

MTG Conspiracy Puzzle

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Happy Wednesday (again) MTG peeps,

Betcha did not expect to hear from us again.  This is our second post to the MTG Realm blog today - our earlier post may be found here.   Why the second post? Magic: the Gathering news of course! The subject at hand concerns BOTH Eternal Masters (releasing this very weekend) AND Conspiracy: Take the Crown.  We know - very exciting.  Let's get down to it then -

About three days ago, redditor 'anothermtgtosser' (nice handle), had posted a rather interesting set of images to Imgur.  The images showed lines of (cut-off) text on the sides of marketing inserts - specifically, those adverts from the back of token cards obtained from Eternal Masters booster packs.  We won't ask the details of opening EMA boosters before the official release this Friday, but we will draw your attention to the claim that once several of these cards are placed together, sentences may be realised.


The bright MTG fans went straight to work at starting to assemble more cards as shown above, it was soon understood that more cards needed to be obtained to determine the full message of this puzzle.  One individual, zingfrod did solve this and it required a full 11 cards by 11 cards to clarify two messages . . .

SPOILER ALERT 
DO NOT READ FURTHER 
PUZZLE SOLVED

We warned  you - here is is . .


The message are as follows - 

Free citizens of Paliano: When you fell asleep last night, you were loyal. You laid down your heads as steadfast servants of the one true king of Paliano, Brago the Eternal. Perhaps you did not love him. It is not the role of a ruler to be loved. But you obeyed him, and you respected him, as any citizen should. You awakened as unwitting traitors beneath the blood-stained banner of a usurper queen: Marchese the Black Rose, a known assassin and plotter, a criminal of the highest order whose veiled threats and hidden thorns have allowed her for far too long to flaunt the law of Paliano. She has made you traitors by raising her flag above the palace and placing the crown upon her treacherous brow. She has forced you to choose between loyalty to the crown and loyalty to your city. Somehow, this vile deceiver murdered King Brago, ending his immortal existence and dispersing the essence of his spirit. She inserted herself into the sovereign’s will and testament – a document forged, no doubt, from whole cloth. For why would the King Eternal have a will at all? And if he did, why would he name the murderous daughter of a fallen house to rule in his place? Somehow, she commands the loyalty of the Custodi Priests who once made the King’s word manifest in the world. Alongside them stand numerous servants of the throne who cannot or dare not question her right to rule, and in the shadows lurks her own existing network of thieves, spies, saboteurs, informants, and assassins. Already the false queen raises her own sigil, the emblem of the Black Rose, above Paliano. She would quietly ignore the symbol of our city, the symbol Brago carried with him of his own sword, an image so endearing, so emblematic of our city and its’ lawful ruler, that the Custodi consider it a religious icon in its’ own right. Oh, the Custodi wave it even now, and it means as little from them as it ever did. But the banners of the city troops have already changed. You will not see that symbol in the halls of Marchesa’s palace or on the shields of her defenders. She claims to rule legitimately, to have the interests of the city at heart, but the flag that has flown above us all these years is absent at her own command. And why? The reason is simple. Marchesa has no right to that sign of our city’s history, and she knows it. She wears the crown and sits upon the throne but she does not carry the sword of Brago – the blade that bears the symbol of our city. I know this because I now carry that sword, and with it the burden of upholding law and order in Paliano. I have been stripped of my title by the traitor queen, but I do not relinquish it. I hold this sword, this symbol, this duty to defend our city from all its’ enemies – even and especially an enemy who sits upon the throne. I have no wish to rule, only to unseat the usurper so that we may determine our rightful sovereign in the wake of King Brago’s tragic end. Marchesa would have you to stand with her, in service to a true crown that rests upon a false head, and thereby she would make you a traitor. I offer you a different path! Stand with me, and with Brago, and show your loyalty to your city through your disobedience to the pretender. If her flag is not your flag, then do not bow to it. IF her rule is illegitimate, then so too are her laws. If she is not truly queen, then the servants of the throne are no better than her spies or assassins, and should be treated accordingly. What say you, citizens of Paliano? Do you stand with the city, or with its’ self-proclaimed queen? Are you loyal rebels, or obedient traitors? As long as Marchesa sits upon the throne, you are one or the other. Make your choice! – Adriana, Captain of the Guard

People of the High City! It is my solemn duty to inform you that Brago, King of Paliano, is no more. His death shocked the city all those years ago, his spiritual continuance brought joy and relief to us all. Now, he has at last passed truly and forever beyond the veil. His long reign has come to an end, and his spirit is finally granted the eternal rest it deserves. In his beneficent wisdom, our late king appointed a successor with the will and the strength to bring peace to his beloved city. As his designated heir, recognized by the sacred order of custodi as his one and true successor, I vow to uphold the laws of Paliano, to maintain order in the city, and to see that justice is served swiftly and even-handedly. Though I know that I will never be a worthy heir to a man whose commitment to his city transcended life itself, I must hope that, with the blessings of the custodi, I am able to guide our fair city to a new age of prosperity. The transfer of power is always difficult, and all the more so when the end of a monarch’s reign comes unexpectedly. Even loyal and steadfast servants of the crown may find themselves ill-equipped to serve a new monarch in the same capacity as the old. As of now, the post of Captain of the Guard is disbanded. The soldiers of this city will now report directly to me. The former captain has retired with thanks from our fair city and a generous pension from the throne that will support her for the rest of her life, however long that life may be. In the absence of any natural heir, Brago made his intentions for the disposition of his throne quite clear. Lamentably, not all of the king’s former vassals respect his final wishes. Those who might use this transition as an excuse for rebellion should know that treason will be answered, as it always has been, with the harshest punishments, while loyalty will be rewarded lavishly. May fortune shine upon Paliano!

As proclaimed by her Majesty Queen, Marchesa, The Black Rose, First of her name, Head of the Council, Guarantor of Lawful Governance, Soul Sovereign of the High City, True Heir to the Throne of Paliano and all the rights and privileges thereof.
We love what Wizards of the Coast has been doing so far with this Conspiracy set as well as the previous one.
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