MTG News 4-18

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

There was some news of note for Magic: the Gathering gamers this morning on the Wizards of the Coast site which, if you had not already seen, should do so now.  Specifically, read Helene Bergeot's post on competitive play linked here (which also reveals the name of the new fall set), and the announcement of this year's Commander 2017, linked over here.

Let's get to the details of each now -

Command Tower, illustrated by Ryan Yee

Commander (2017 Edition)

This year's Commander (formerly Elder Dragon Highlander or 'EDH'), is to be release on 29th September and will feature FOUR and not the typical five pre-constructed Commander decks.  Previously, Commander products were based on the conventional colour where (white, blue, black, red, and green) and the combinations therein, but this year, it is to feature "some of Magic's most popular, and interesting, tribes".  The four new tribal-themed, 100-card decklists are to include 56 new, (never-printed before) cards.  With a suggested retail price of about $35 bucks (U.S.), it is to be released in Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German and English. 

Fall Set Named

Director of Organised Play Helene Bergeot indicated that more details are forthcoming during the planned big June announcement, but did have the following important MTG news.  In summary, the fall set has been officially revealed as named IXALAN, and will be releasing on September 29, 2017. This set will be legal for the 2017 World Championship's Standard and Limited play. Pro Tour Ixalan is to be held November 3–5, 2017. Grand Prix Providence and Shizuoka will both be Team Sealed GPs as part of this release weekend.

You may recall our previous post about the fall set back in early December (linked HERE), where Trifecta Research had provided a number of short questions designed (what appears) to be a customer profile and purchase preferences / habits.  Also included where a number of mocked-up product images where the survey participant also provided opinion.  Among those images were booster pack images with the names 'Atlazan' and 'Conquest of Power'.  There was quite a bit of speculation around this of course in the weeks following.  It is clear now that Ixalan is the real set name.  Speculate away, but we here at MTG Realm think that this does very much sound like a mesoamerican theme.  Think Olmec culture and Gods such as the feathered serpent diety Quetzalcoatl. 

'NON-MTG image - Temple Sacrifice', by Concept Artist Jonathan Guzi

Moving forward with this name, it may be of interest that IXALAN.COM was a domain name registered 23rd September, 2016.  It is also unlikely that 'Conquest for Power' is to be the name of the second set in this block, but it is interesting that the domain RIVALSOFIXALAN.COM (Rivals of Ixalan) was registered on 17th March 2017.  Food for speculation there.


That is a wrap for today, catch up with you again soon.
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