FNM B/W Vampires - 1st Place

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We have some news we are happy about from the Friday Night Magic event at OMG! Games Barrie.  Before we get to that, a quick look at the week two metagame evolution with results from this weekend's SCG Classic in Philadelphia.  Here are the Top 16 Standard Classic Decklists :

1st Mono-Red Aggro Aiden Brier
2nd Mardu Vehicles Robert Stanley
3rd UW Eternalize Austin Herrick
4th Grixis Energy Tomas Hoffman
5th Grixis Improvise John Hughes
6th G/R Monsters Kevin Michael
7th Grixis Control Nicholas Ailes
8th U/B Midrange Benjamin Ragan
9th Jund Midrange Craig Rocco
10th Grixis Control Andrew Lopez
11th Grixis Energy Kevin Jones
12th B/R Aggro Aaron Schwarcz
13th R/B Aggro Ryan Carey
14th U/B Control Jacob LeJeune
15th Mono-Black Aggro AJ Kerrigan
16th Mardu Vehicles Joshua Schaffer

Still nicely diverse with no monoculture and we love where the game is at right now.  At my local gaming store, it appears that Grixis Energy as well as G/B Constrictor were representing fairly well, with the rest of the field quite diverse as expected with innovative and exciting decklists such as Abzan Tokens, Grixis Control and tribal strategies with Dinosaurs and Vampires.

With 4 Wins and 1 Loss, we think although we did well, we realise that there were a number of critical 'top decks' which helped push Black White Vampires through the field.  Instead of going through the decklist we used (it has already had a few minor amendments for next weekend), we should cover the core basics of the list as well as notes of some cards which had performed very well during the games.

The Buff
Legion Lieutant, Metallic Mimic and Radiant Desitiny all had a full four copies to buff the vampire team.  The Radiant Destiny anthem effect worked well and did produce the extra bonus of delivering vigilance (Ascend / City's Blessing).

The Ping
Both Vicious Conquistador and Sanctum Seeker's ability to deal non-combat damage to a player should not be underestimated.  We had anticipated Seeker's double-black casting cost to be awkward in a list which is around 60% white spells, but Unclaimed Territory (naming vampires) went a long way to smooth this out.

Honourable Mentions
What we had thought worked quite favourably.  Dusk Legion Zealot was great for card advantage which is critical when most of your creatures are low to the ground.  Legion's Landing is necessary later game to create a vampire token which typically hit the game table buffed.  Duskborne Skymarcher provided a solid creature, often buffed to get in some evasive damage.  Gifted Aetherborn also did some leg-work which forced opponents to think twice about attacking.  Dusk // Dawn reset the board, often with our own pumped creatures hitting the graveyard, but the Aftermath ability rapidly replaced board presence.

Should you be thinking about a post Rivals of Ixalan vampire tribal list, we will suggest you may be well served in reading ChannelFireball's article, Vampires with Rivals of Ixalan By Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, which supplied us with motivation in starting with this tribe.

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Magic: the Gathering - Stories

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday, make sure you kick your weekend off correctly by getting to your local gaming store and get some Friday Night Magic in.  Personally, we've made two new tribal decklists now (Merfolk and Vampires) with all the Rivals of Ixalan goodies and can't wait to try them out at our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario.  We know a lot of other Magic: the Gathering players will want to game with the same tribes as well, and think we have put just enough spin to get us over or through the new metagame.

We need to take a moment before we get into it to thank all of our regular readers.  We had just hit another milestone on our Tumblr blog with over 16,000 followers - w00t !  Thank-you.  We should probably run a contest to show our appreciation.

Anywhoos, on to today's post - 

Some news from late yesterday.  Alison Luhrs from Wizards of the Coast had some news from Magic R&D Narrative who create the wonderful Magic Stories.  Apparently, WotC has added one additional story to the Rivals of Ixalan story arc - from five to six now as one story had become "WAY too long".  Great news we think - ever become so completely engaged in a book and suddenly realise you are getting rather close to the end?  You just want to savour the read just a bit longer.  

Here is the list and short blurb of the stories from both Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan so far with links to the stories -

Ixalan Stories

• Jace, Alone - A man wakes up alone on an island, his memory as absent as his means of arrival.

• The Third Aspect of the Sun - Huatli is a Warrior-Poet of the Sun Empire. Her talent in combat and creativity know no bounds, but when faced with a frightening encounter and an even more astounding vision, she must overcome discomfort to live up to expectation.

• The Talented Captain Vraska - Vraska has never been happier. Finally able to be the leader she always knew she could be, she captains The Belligerent with the skill of the greatest of commanders. She had kept Jace Beleren alive initially to utilize his talents, but soon discovers that they make quite the team.

• The Shapers - With so many different groups seeking the golden city of Orazca, how will the River Heralds keep the city's power from falling into the wrong hands?

• Something Else Entirely - The Belligerent harbors at High and Dry, and Jace gets the lowdown on Vraska's mission.

• The Race, Part 1 - After the River Heralds marooned The Belligerent, Jace and Vraska escape intact. Meanwhile, Huatli and Tishana team up to track down the compass that could lead them to the Golden City, and Vona pursues.

• The Race, Part 2 - The race to the Golden City picks up the pace as each group jostles for position. Everyone needs the Thaumatic Compass to reach the city, but who will get there first?

Rivals of Ixalan Stories

• The Flood - Kumena awakens the city of Orazca as Jace's memory returns in an unrelenting torrent.

• Glimpse the Far Side of the Sun - Huatli races toward the Immortal Sun as Jace and Vraska encounter a surprising foe.

• The Arbiter of Law Left Chaos in his Wake - Huatli and Tishana reach the Immortal Sun while Jace and Vraska discover the callousness of the sphinx who made it.

That last story title is actually WAY too long.
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Rivals of Ixalan Standard

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

This weekend's Dallas Open Weekend hosted by StarCityGames.com marked the first major Magaic: the Gathering standard constructed event with the new Rivals of Ixalan cards.  With each new standard shake-up, whether it may be an addition of a new set or a rotation out of others, many players step back into the comfort zone with reliable decklists, should the essential key cards still be available.  With the recent domination of Energy and Ramunap Red, this may not have been a serious consideration given the new banned cards list.  Given this environment, many were now considering the safe bet to be Green / Black Constrictor or Mono-Red Aggro.  Aggressive decklists are typically the easiest default or 'go-to' strategies in a new standard.  The cycle continues as the metagame evolves to include a rise in mid-range decks and finally control themes given the particular environment.

The Dallas Open Weekend Standard Classic results demonstrated a very diverse range of lists, which is indicative of a healthy standard game.  There is a somewhat predictable lag time after a set's release to 'solve' standard as players determine the most successful cards, after which point sideboard evaluations mature and respond to the growing popularity.  The weekend of a set's release is however a glorious time with innovation and improvisation being one's most valued resource.  Here is what players brought to the StarCityGames.com Team Constructed Open, Dallas this past weekend -

1st Mono-Red Aggro Tristen Loob
2nd Mono-Red Aggro Salvador Barboza
3rd W/U Auras Jim Davis
4th Mardu Vehicles Keelan Snider
5th G/R Monsters Logan Berryman
6th Mardu Vehicles Richard Fernandez
7th Temur DInosaurs Sean Joyce
8th Mardu Vehicles Zan Syed
9th Esper Gift Joshua Phillips
10th U/R Winds Trevor Hunt
11th Grixis Energy Skyler Aschenbeck
12th G/B Constrictor David Hinojosa
13th Mardu Vehicles Max Shiffman
14th Grixis Energy Tomas Morales
15th G/R Monsters James Crow
16th B/W Tokens Garrett Lewis

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Rivals of Ixalan Release

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

The latest Magic: the Gathering set, Rivals of Ixalan releases today, so get thee out to your local gaming store and dive into the new set this evening.  

Although we had a few iterations of an Energy decklist, we really will not be complaining loudly about the recent banning.  We had been waiting for Rivals of Ixalan to release and complete the full tribal theme of Ixalan block.  With Energy in the picture, exploring some great new deck ideas personally curtailed us as we knew what the best list in standard constructed was.  

Where to go ?  Everywhere we think - the MTG Realm play group want to have at least one of each tribe.  

Dinosaurs already had a fairly solid shell in Ixalan and Rivals is bringing new power to the table.  Whether it is naya or gruul, expect big monsters.  We think Boros may be the more popular option.

Pirates have a large number of strategies whether it is midrange / aggro, tempo, or focusing on an ability such as flying (Favorable Winds).  This is one tribe which may not produce a popular tribal decklist due to the options.

Merfolk seem, from gamers we've been talking to, as the more popular tribe to build with.  Whether it is with the +1/+1 counter theme, aggro or go-wide, the best path forward will be determined in short order.

Vampires have a lot of potential as well and a number of very interesting builds have been suggested.  Personally, our first dip of the toe into this new standard is with a mono white vampire build with Oketra's Monument.

Anywhoos, get ready, set, and build.

For now, here are some sensible chuckles from our MTG Realm page on Tumblr - http://mtg-realm.tumblr.com/
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January BanHammer

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Today, January 15th, is supposedly 'Blue Monday', a name given to this day in January, which is claimed to be the most depressing day of the year.   Well we do have some good news to nudge you out of your mid-Winter malaise.  Or - perhaps not.

Many Magic: the Gathering players have been anticipating today's Banned and Restricted Announcement for some time.  The general consensus, from our own limited discussions with a number of players over the last few weeks, was that Wizards of the Coast may hobble the popularity of the ubiquitous Energy decks.  We did express this somewhat sarcastically last Monday (here on MTG Realm on Tumblr) when WotC had been pumping the Rivals of Ixalan PreRelease with the quip of 'Who will claim the golden City of Orazca?'.  Certainly not one of the four tribes in the new post-RIX standard but an (Temur) Energy decklist.  The smart money was on Attune with Aether or Rogue Refiner.

Today's official announcement (linked right here), was not surprising / was certainly surprising :

• Four cards have been banned in the Standard format - Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, Rampaging Ferocidon, and Ramunap Ruins. 

Two additional cards hit the list in addition to the two we had prognosticated.  Whether you fully, partly of completely disagree with the announcement today, we believe that most will agree that the supporting article was well written with a satisfactory explanation as to the changes.  

Attune with Aether and Rogue Refiner were most decidedly, the most common inclusion in all the energy variants we had seen some time, and those decklists were dominating everywhere from Friday Night Magic to Pro-play.  Coming up behind this top shelf list was Ramunap Red with Ramunap Ruins being an 'auto-include' in essentially every aggressive red list.

As we had waited for Rivals of Ixalan to deliver a fun and functional tribal build, we were more than cognisant that consideration for any tribal list we could imagine relying too heavily upon the generation of 1/1 (Vampire or Merfolk) tokens would need a plan against Rampaging Ferocidon.  This red Dino was the go-to sideboard answer for token lists and of course lifegain strategies.

We loved our Energy decklists we had built - the first was Electrostatic Pummlerer which evolved into Temur Energy.  We will admit that our interest did wane after a time, as games did often come down to who was on the play or who had the better sideboard.  


Although we do not doubt that Energy and aggro Red will be around until rotation, we do feel as if a large weight had been lifted off the lists we wanted to build with Rivals of Ixalan.  We will get to dust off our Anointed Processions, collect a full deckset of Radiant Destiny and get totally tribal.  

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Rivals of Ixalan Standard

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

This weekend is the much anticipated Magic: the Gathering PreRelease for the newest set, Rivals of Ixalan.  The best way to enjoy this cold 'n' icy weekend if you find yourself in Barrie, Ontario (an hour north of Toronto) is to attend one of many scheduled Ixalan PreRelease events over the course of the weekend at OMG! Games, conveniently located off Highway 400, near Georgian College in the City's North end.  If you are just getting into MTG and wish to learn more about PreRelease events, click on over to this informative Wizards of the Coast page here. 

A number of Players that we have been talking to recently have expressed a dissatisfaction with the current dominance of (Kaladesh block) Energy decklists and are looking forward not only to the upcoming new set but anticipating possible ban / restriction announcements anticipated on Monday 15th January.

Whatever does happen, we are still very much looking forward to a number of cards in this set to complete and enhance tribal strategies.  As always, we love to see what the professional players are thinking, an to this end, pop on over to this link for the full HareruyaWayfinder "Rivals of Ixalan" edition from Kenji Tsumura and associates.  Hareuya has been doing this for some time now, and we do look very much forward to seeing their innovative and creative take on the new standard game.

Deck 1 "RW Metzali" by Yoshihiko Ikawa

Deck 2 "RB Pirates" by Pierre Dagen

Deck 3 "UW Control" by Christian Calcano

Deck 4 "UG Merfolks" by Martin Muller

Deck 5 "RG Dinosaurs" by Grzegorz Kowalsk

Deck 6 "Blue Aura" by Atsushi Ito

Deck 7 "Sultai Energy" by Oliver Polak-Rottmann

Deck 8 "GW Ghalta!" by Yuuta Takahashi

Deck 9 "UR Pirates" by Kenta Harane

Deck 10 "Vampire's Monument" by Petr Sochurek

Deck 11 "Jeskai's Gateway" by Kenji Tsumura

Deck 12 "Mardu Aura" by Tomoharu Saito

Deck 13 "Ascending Vampires" by Marc Tobiasch


Deck 14 "Blood Stompy" (Legacy) by Javier Dominguez

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RIX Planeswalker Decks

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering fans are heading to their local game stores this very weekend to participate in the Rivals of Ixalan PreRelease.  As anticipated, Wizards of the Coast posted the decklists for this set's Planeswalker decks, as many (ourselves included) love 'dueling' with these in between games at the event.  Back in our day, these were Intro Packs, and although the intention of this product is much the same - that is to introduce a new or returning player to Magic, there have been some rather decent improvements to highlight the set's theme and new keywords.  The lists published today look like good value for your money and appear to be relatively balanced to be played against eachother.

For a suggested retail price of 15 clams,Planeswalker Decks acquaint players who are interested in Magic with basic strategy, the game's settings, and characters, and include a sweet foil Planeswalker card.  Here's what's inside - 

Contents: 
• 1 Ready-to-play 60-card deck &foil premium PW card
• 2 Rivals of Ixalan booster packs
• 1 Strategy insert

• 1 Magic learn-to-play guide

And here are the lists as posted on the mothersite - 

WHITE / BLACK
Vraska, Scheming Gorgon 
1 Mythic Rare, 4 Rares, 16 Uncommons, 39 Common (including basic land)
27 Creatures, 3 Sorcery, 5 Instant, 24 Lands, 1 Planeswalker

Legendary planeswalker (1) : 1 Vraska, Scheming Gorgon

Creature (27) : 1 Champion of Dusk, 1 Paladin of Atonement, 1 Bishop of the Bloodstained, 1 Deathless Ancient, 1 Dusk Legion Zealot, 2 Queen's Bay Soldier, 2 Skymarch Bloodletter, 4 Vampire Champion, 1 Vicious Conquistador, 3 Vraska's Conquistador, 1 Exultant Skymarcher, 2 Famished Paladin, 2 Inspiring Cleric, 2 Skyblade of the Legion, 1 Legion Lieutenant, 2 Gilded Sentinel

Sorcery (3) : 2 Vraska's Scorn, 1 Recover

Instant (5) : 2 Moment of Craving, 1 Bright Reprisal, 2 Moment of Triumph

Land (24) : 4 Forsaken Sanctuary, 11 Swamp, 9 Plains

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BLACK / RED
Angrath Minotaur Pirate
1 Mythic Rare, 4 Rares, 11 Uncommons, 44 Common (including basic land)
25 Creatures, 4 Sorcery, 5 Instant, 24 Lands, 1 Planeswalker

Legendary planeswalker (1) ; 1 Angrath, Minotaur Pirate

Creature (25) : 1 Daring Buccaneer, 2 Goblin Trailblazer, 2 Headstrong Brute, 2 Storm Fleet Pyromancer, 4 Swab Goblin, 2 Swaggering Corsair, 3 Angrath's Ambusher, 2 Fathom Fleet Boarder, 1 Fathom Fleet Cutthroat, 1 Grasping Scoundrel, 2 Dire Fleet Captain, 1 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, 2 Gilded Sentinel

Sorcery (4) : 1 Repeating Barrage, 2 Angrath's Fury, 1 Impale

Instant (5) : 2 Lightning Strike, 3 Sure Strike

Artifact (1) : 1 Vanquisher's Banner


Land (24) : 4 Cinder Barrens, 11 Mountain, 9 Swamp


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Rivals of Ixalan Commanders

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Today we will address the Dinosaur in the Room and see what the newest Magic: the Gathering set, 'Rivals of Ixalan' delivers for potential Commanders.  This is quite obviously a rather important decision to make.  Although your Commander may very well be the most important card in your deck, we would suggest that if you are building your very first list (we built our first when the format was still called Elder Dragon Highlander), that you may be well served in deciding on your individual playstyle and choose your colour(s) first.  After this, you can then decide upon your Commander to support your strategies.  This is a suggestion however, and there is no reason for you to choose your Commander first, especially one that strongly suggests to build around it.  Perhaps you already have a solid deck-list and are entertaining the idea to replace and existing Commander which has not been performing to expection. 

Before we get into our opinions on the potential of our pool of Rivals of Ixalan Commander choices, it may be of use to see how well the previous Ixalan set had done.  In our own (perhaps limited) opinion, there were only two clear winners from Ixalan which went on to become popular Commanders.  Here is the list -

# 1 : Gishath, Sun's Avatar - NAYA.  Designed for Dinosaur tribal and good at dropping dinos onto the battlefield.

# 2 : Admiral Beckett Brass - GRIXIS.  Designed for Pirate tribal. Pirate lord which steals your heart.

# 3 : Tishana, Voice of Thunder - SIMIC.  Seeing some tribal Merfolk builds, but quite a few simply being inserted as support into existing Simic lists like Ezuri and Kruphix.

Did not really become favourites with the Commander community, but certainly acceptable in a supporting role :
• Vona, Butcher of Magan, Orzhov
• Kopala, Warden of Waves, Blue
• Captain Lannery Storm, red
• Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle, white

Given the popularity contest winners from Ixalan, it stands to reason that dino and pirate tribal will continue to reap the benefits of further members joining its ranks in Rivals of Ixalan.  The big question however, will these two cards be eclipsed by the new hotness ?

There are a cycle of five Elder Dinosaurs presented with Rivals of Ixalan, one within the colour wheel.  These dinos are big, like really big.  Unfortunately these will unlikely be picked up by players to be a Commander.  With the exception of Zetalpa and Tetzimoc, which may have a sliver of a chance of being promoted to General, these will be best used in a supporting role.

• Zetalpa, Primal Dawn 
• Nezahal, the Primal Tide 
• Tetzimoc, Primal Death
• Etali, Primal Hunger 
• Ghalta, Primal Hunger 

Zacama, Primal Calamity - NAYA
This Elder Dinosaur does have a shot of being a Commander, but looks look further.  NAYA colours of red, green and white with a CMC of 9.  Solid 9/9 body with vigilance, reach and trample.  When this enters the battlefield, all your lands untap which is a big deal.  There are three decent activated abilities to pinging a creature, gaining life and nerfing an artifact / enchantment - again, not too shabby.  There may be some players interested in a mana ramp deck with Zacama at its head (or is it heads?), but we think it safe to have this included, along with Zetalpa, Etali, and Ghalta in a Gishath tribal build.

Azor, the Lawbringer - AZORIOUS
The competition is fierce in white / blue.  The popular Commanders are Brago, Grand Arbiter and Bruna.  So what does Azor bring to the table?  A 6/6 flying Sphinx for six mana and two abilities.  What appeals to us is the ability to shut down your opponent's instants / sorceries until your next turn.  If Azor sticks the landing, this will present a big evasive threat.  The second activated ability to gain life and draw cards will also endear Azor to Commander players.

Elenda, the Dusk Rose - Orzhov
We have been fans of black / white tokens for years now and are enthusiastic to give Elenda serious consideration.  Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and Teysa, Orzhov Scion are the popular Commanders for B/W tokens.  Elenda could also be a consideration for more traditional gain and drain lists perhaps as well.  For now, our only hesitation is that a rather frail 1/1 body will make her an easy target for a turn or two.

Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca - SIMIC

We have two Simic Commander decks at the moment - Experiment Kraj and Momir Vig, Simic Visionary.  We really desperately want to build a Merfolk tribal list, and Kumena is the closest card we have seen to do that.  Our wishlist also includes a Bant (white, blue, green) Commander so that we could also roll in Sygg, River Guide and some of our fav supporting spells in white.  An anthem effect with Radiant Destiny and high token production with Parallel Lives would be ideal in a Bant Merfolk list.  Anywhoos, We have good feelings that there is now enough card support and interested players to propel Kumena past in popularity fo at least Edric, Spymaster of Trest to eventually rival that of Ezuri, Claw of Progress. 

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Rivals of Ixalan FULL REVEAL

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Magic: the Gathering players this weekend will likely be spending a good volume of time pouring over the full reveal of all Rivals of Ixalan cards which was posted by Wizards of the Coast's card image gallery linked right here.  With all the cards now out it will indeed take a bit to soak in and evaluate.  

What is clear at the moment is that we have support designed for 10 two-coloured draft archetypes.  This of course is the most obvious paths, but the beauty of Magic: the Gathering is individual innovation.  Should you be exploring something with a more tribal theme, then you should want to include the appropriate 'forerunner' as mentioned in the below section in the cycles.  For now, here are the 'suggested servings' of critical cards all at Uncommon rarity to build upon - 

• Blue / White ASCEND - Resplendent Griffin
• Blue / Black ASCEND - Deadeye Brawler 
• Black / Red PIRATES - Fleet Neckbreaker
• Red / Green AGGRO - Raging Regisaur
• Green / White RAMP - Atzocan Seer

• White / Black VAMPIRES - Legion Lieutenant
• Black / Green (? Recursion / Elementals) - Jungle Creeper
• Green  Blue MERFOLK - Merfolk Mistbinder 
• Blue / Red PIRATES (Raid) - Storm Fleet Sprinter
• Red / Whte AGGRO - Relentless Raptor

Here were three late Rivals of Ixalan previews from yesterday, before the full reveal - 

Hadana's Climb // Winged Temple of Orazca - one of my favourite enchantments - low casting cost, and relatively easy to transform into a relevant and useful land with utility to shoot over an evasive and pumped up threat.  Little doubt that this will be at the very least a two of in my Merfolk tribal build in the new standard.

Wayward Swordtooth - A 5/5 dino for 3 mana - what's the catch here ?  It allows an extra land drop each turn which is damn fine - what's the drawback.  It can't attack / block unless you have the City's Blessing, which should not be that difficult.

Twilight Prophet - 2/4 Vampire for 2BB.  Has flying and ascend, which when you have the City's Blessing

allows for a card draw with a damn solid drain 'n' gain - classic Orzhov goodness here.  A decent four-drop, with the only restriction here the doulbe-black casting cost, unless you are going in for a build with mostly swamps.

OF NOTE - 
The Rivals of Ixalan Release Notes have been loaded as well (pop over to this linky), so do read about the new Ascend mechanic, the returning ones and of course, the card specific notes.  All we will touch upon, now that we do have all the cards posted, are the card cycles you can expect.  Not noted is the cycle mentioned above in the draft archetype section.  Note that given we have a unique arrangement of the four tribes, the tradition colour distribuion would not have the full 'wrap-around' (we're certain there is a better phrase to convey this).  Anywhoos, here they are - 

Elder Dinosaurs: 
Five rare legendary Elder Dinosaurs and one mythic -
• Zetalpa, Primal Dawn 
• Nezahal, Primal Tide 
• Tetzimoc, Primal Death 
• Etali, Primal Storm 
• Ghalta, Primal Hunger 
• Zacama, Primal Calamity

Legendary transforming enemy color enchantments: 
Five rare legendary enchantments in enemy color pairs that transform into legendary lands whenever a condition is met. Each of these lands tap for one mana of any color and have other powerful abilities -
• Profane Procession // Tomb of the Dusk Rose (W/B), 
• Journey to Eternity // Atzal, Cave of Eternity (B/G), 
• Hadana's Climb // Winged Temple of Orazca (G/U), 
• Storm the Vault // Vault of Catlacan (U/R), and 
• Path of Mettle // Metzali, Tower of Triumph (R/W).

Forerunners: 
Four uncommon creatures, one for each major tribe. Each has an enters the battlefield ability that tutors a creature of the respective type to the top of your library, and a triggered ability whenever a creature of that type enters the battlefield under your control -
• Forerunner of the Legion (W vampires)
• Forerunner of the Coalition (B pirates)
• Forerunner of the Empire (R dinosaurs)
• Forerunner of the Heralds (G merfolk)
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Rivals of Ixalan Previews 1-4

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Sooo many Rivals of Ixalan previews out again today.  Personally, our highlight was the very brilliant thing Wizards of the Coast had posted to coincide a preview of the card 'Hornswoggle' with that of Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day (for Thursday 4th, January 2018).  Also - that word is contains 99% awesomeness.  An extra one percent would be added should we get a Magic: the Gathering fan to post an accurate impression of Foghorn J. Leghorn saying that word.  Do drop over to MTG Realm on Tumblr to see (what we think are witty) MTG related posts.  Some of today's posts are not in English, so be certain to make tracks over to the official Rivals of Ixalan card image gallery linked right over here.

Here is the dump of today's cards - 

 Arch of Orazca
 Arterial Flow
 Azor's Gateway
 Blood Sun
 Champion of Dusk
 Crafty Cutpurse
 Deadeye Brawler
 Deadeye Rig Hauler
 Dire Fleet Daredevil
 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
 Dire Fleet Poisoner
 Disperse in the Wind
 Hornswoggle
 Jungle Creeper

 Mastermind's Acquisition
 Metzali, Tower of Triumph
 Moment of Craving
 Mutiny
 Naturalize
 Negate
 Nezahal, Primal Tide
 Path of Mettle
 Raging Regisaur
 Resplendent Griffin
 Sanctum of the Sun
 Siegehorn Ceratops
 Slaughter the Strong
 Steelclad Ferocidons
 Sun Collared Raptor
 Sun Crested Pterodon
 Thunderherd Migration
 Tomb Robber
 Vicious Cagemaw

 Zacama, Primal Calamity

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Rivals of Ixalan Tokens

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

In this post, we wanted to cover off what Magic: the Gathering players may expect in the way of new Rivals of Ixalan Tokens and Markers.  In today's article on the mothersite linked here, Blake posted a total of four Tokens and two Markers.  Here is the summary -

• Red 1/1 Elemental creature token, generated by Tilonalli's Summoner

• Red 0/1 Elemental creature token with "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this creature and return target card named Rekindling Phoenix from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste until end of turn.", generated by Rekindling Phoenix

• Green 1/1 Saproling creature token, generated by Tendershoot Dryad

• Colourless 4/4 Golem artifact creature token, generated by Gold-Forge Garrison

• Emblem - Hautli - Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may draw a card, generated by Huatli, Radiant Champion '-6' ability

• Marker - City's Blessing indicated on numerous cards.

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Returning Tokens and Markers carried over from the previous Ixalan set identified so far to date -

• Colourless Treasure artifact token with "t, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.", generated by a number of cards.  The Ixalan set contained four different treasure tokens, all based upon a tribal theme. 

• White 1/1 Vampire with Lifelink, generated by Elenda, the Dusk Rose

• Blue 1/1 Merfolk with Hexproof, generated by Aquatic Incursion


• Green 3/3 Dinosaur with Trample, generated by Baffling End

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Rivals of Ixalan Previews 1-3

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Day 3 of official Rivals of Ixalan previews.  Magic: the Gathering players should check out the official Rivals of Ixalan card image gallery linked here.  Here is today's summary so far.

• Azor, the Lawbringer - big and flashy is what is delivered with this mythic.
• Baffling End - We're not baffled - this looks kinda bad
• Bishop of Binding
• Cherished Hatchling - Momma dino to the rescue
• Dead Man's Chest
• Deeproot Elite - love this card - go Merfolk tribal !
• Dusk Legion Zealot - 1/1 Vamp with a draw 1 card / loose 1 life
• Fanatical Firebrand - ain't nutt'n wrong with a hasty 1/1
• Flood of Recollection - Instant / Sorcery recusion

• Forerunner of the Coalition
• Forerunner of the Empire
• Forerunner of the Heralds
• Forerunner of the Legion

• Golden Guardian // Gold Forge Garrison - Fight Me (myself) !
• Mysterious End
• Pirate's Pillage
• Polyraptor - Big cost here but then again, hitting enrage to generate a 5/5 copy is a big deal.
• Profane Procession // Tomb of the Dusk Rose - payoff takes way too long on this.
• Protean Raider - 2/2 raid clone for 3 seems ok.
• Rekindling Phoenix - seems rather decent as we boomerang the Phoneix back.
• Silent Gravestone - solid sideboard graveyard hate.
• Skymarcher Aspirant
• Sphinx's Decree - be still.
• Storm Fleet Splinter - sign us up for this hasty unblockable 2/2
• Swift Warden
• Warsail Marauder
• World Shaper

Unofficial Translations -

Golden Guardian, 4
Artifact Creature - Golem, Rare
Defender 
2: Golden Guardian fights another target creature you control. If the Golden Guardian dies, return it to the battlefield under your control transformed.
4/4
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Gold-Forge Garrison
Land
T: Add 2 mana of any one color to your mana pool. 
4, T: Create a colorless 4/4 artifact Golem creature token.

Profane Procession, 1WB
Legendary Enchantment, Rare
3WB : Exile target creature.Then if there are three or more cards exiled with Profane Procession in exile zone ,transform Profane Procession.
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Tomb of the Dusk Rose
Legendary Land
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
2WB,T : Put one creature card exiled with this permanent onto the battlefiled under your control.
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