MTG - Puzzle and Dragons

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Puzzle & Dragons ( パズル&ドラゴンズ  ) is a puzzle video game with role-playing and strategy elements, developed by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire platforms.  This game is popular in Japan and is now making headway here in North America.  The game involves players moving / matching colored orgs in a grid which 'casts' a monster to do battle.  The popularity is that designers had developed numerous themes.  

Why are we talking about Puzzle & Dragons here on MTG Realm ? Glad you asked.  the publisher Gunhho had revealed a coming soon collaboration with Wizards of the Coast.  From the website, it appears that this game will feature evil Planeswalker Nicol Bolas, Chandra Nalaar, and the Weatherlight vehicle, all in a possible anime iterations of these characters.

Here are some screen shots now . .

Dominaria Stories continued

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We had started a page where one can find all the links to Dominaria stores, and perhaps as popular for Magic: the Gathering gamers, all those very cool / informative character spot-light / vignettes.  That link is right on over here.

We wanted to add on to the Dominaria story links but thought it best to break it off from the first page (episodes 1 through to 6, with the remaining stories continued on this page so as not to bog down mobile readers - yes we do listen to your constructive feedback.  Here it is now -

Episode 7

A glimpse into the lost days of Teferi's life . . . and how he regained his purpose.

Episode 8

The mystery of Chandra's disappearance is answered and she finds herself caught up in the legacy of Dominaria's darkest past

Episode 9

Chandra, Jaya, and Karn's situation becomes critical as Chandra presses Jaya for the guidance she now knows she always needed.

Episode 10

As companions old and new prepare for the final showdown with Belzenlok and the Cabal, a stowaway is discovered on the Weatherlight.

Episode 11


The plan for overcoming Belzenlok is put into motion . . . but not without potentially deadly complications.

Episode 12

Is excite - coming next week Wednesday 30th May.
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MTG Ravnica Concept Arts

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

This is our second post today, following up on the previous coverage of the big ‘Announcement Day’ post earlier.  In this post, we wanted to keep separate the concept art provided to Magic: the Gathering fans during the video posted.  

Wizards of the Coast Senior Art Director, Dawn Murin, showed off some very lovely concept art for the upcoming sets of Guilds of Ravnica, and Ravnica Allegiance.  Please do check out the video for the brilliant commentary from above linked video.  She indicated that WotC was very cognizant of the familiarity that fans have for this setting, and that is was of importance to deliver upon those expectations, while tempering it with something new and exciting.

Autumn on Ravnica
These images are showing a changing of the foilage colour with the changing of the season to autumn, along with all that one would expect from this season.

There were also some costume updates for the Ravnican Guilds as is showcased below -

• Rakdos Performers

• Rakdos Mages

• Golgari Elf Warriors

• Golgari Shamans

• Gruul Motifs

• Gruul Warriors

• Dimir Spies

• Simic Biomancers

• Simic Supersoldiers 

WotC Announcement Day

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

It is the 'May 2-4' Holiday, also known at the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada-Land.  Most Canadians will be celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday by spending most of the long weekend in traffic heading north from Toronto through my beautiful and fair hamlet of Barrie, on their way to cottage country in the North.  Upon arriving finally, they will then realise they did not bring enough beverages and insect repellent.

The MTG Realm group, as well as most Magic: the Gathering players have been waiting with bated breath in the much anticipated and speculated contents of today's 'Announcement Day' over at Wizards of the Coast.  This went live earlier today over at this link and featured a great video with following crew :: 

Left to Right :
Dawn Murin (Sr. Art Director), Dough Beyer (Sr. Creative Designer), 

Gavin Very (Sr. Game Designer), 

Magic the Amateuring gals Maria Bartholdi, and Meghan Wolff.

Here is the 'quick 'n' dirty' summary of the rather exciting news for Magic: the Gathering gamers -

Guilds of Ravnica releases October 5, 2018

On Ravnica, whoever you are a soldier or scientist, merchant or spy, your guild is the core of your identity. It provides structure and greater purpose. Now, the time has come to defend it.  This set will prominently feature the harmonious Selesnya (green-white), the militant Boros (red-white), the life-and-death-focused Golgari (black-green), the frazzled geniuses of the Izzet (blue-red), and the mystery of the Dimir (blue-black).


Ravnica Allegiance  - releases January 2019

Darkness is coming to Ravnica. A conflict that could tear apart the world itself looms large, and the fragile peace between the guilds is strained to its breaking point. Now, with everything on the line, it's time to step up, prove your loyalty, and fight for your guild.  This set will feature the orderly Azorius (white-blue), the chaotic Rakdos (black-red), the wild Gruul (red-green), the experimental Simic (green-blue), and the devious Orzhov (white-black)


Guild Kits - releases November 2018 / February 2019

Guild Kits will feature a 60-card deck flavored after your favorite guild, plus guild schwag like pins, stickers, and Spindown life counters. Play as any one of the Guilds of Ravnica guilds with the Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kits releasing on November 2, 2018. Ravnica Allegiance Guild Kits release February 2019.

There was also a rather nice preview of a pair of cards from the upcoming Battlebond set !

Say 'wassup' to Pir, Imaginative Rascal and that card's partner, 'Toothy, Imaginary Friend'.

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Commander Anthology Vol. II

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Commander Anthology Volume II is Magic: the Gathering's second collection of classic decks from across Commander history, showcasing some of the game's most renowned, legendary creatures.  The four decks featured are some of the most iconic and hard to come by in the Commander series.These preconstructed Commander decks will be released by Wizards of the Coast on June 8, 2018 and have an MSRP of $165.

The anthology box contains four classic decks from four different commander releases, including thirteen premium foil commanders. Namely Commander (2011), Commander 2014, Commander 2015 and Commander 2016. All legendary cards have the special card frame that had been introduced with Dominaria.  Each of the decks features alternate Commanders to encourage different play styles and deck building experiences.

Contents: 
• Four 100-card decks, including 13 foil commanders
• Sixty single-sided token cards
• Four deck boxes, each capable of holding 100 sleeved cards
• Four 100-point spinning life total trackers
• Rules and information insert

The Decks in this collection include -

Devour for Power, Blue / Black / Green : graveyard as a resource theme.
Commander - The Mimeoplasm
Alternate Commanders - Damia, Sage of Stone, Vorosh, the Hunter

Built from Scratch, Mono-Red : artifact / salvage theme
Commander - Daretti, Scrap Savant
Alternate Commanders - Feldon of the Third Path, Bosh, Iron Golem

Wade into Battle, White / Red : large creatures theme
Commander - Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
Alternate Commanders - Anya, Merciless Angel, Gisela, Blade of Goldenight

Breed Lethality, White / Blue / Black / Green : +1/+1 counters theme
Commander - Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
Alternate Commanders - Ikra Shidiqi, the Ursurper, Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, Reyhan, Last of the Abzan


Full decklists are featured at this link.

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Battlebond Spoilers

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Before we get into the shizzle of today's post, we encourage you to drop on over to the mothersite and take in the continuing story of Return to Dominaria.  In Episode 9 of today's story, Chandra, Jaya, and Karn's situation becomes critical as Chandra presses Jaya for the guidance she now knows she always needed.  Spoiler alert ! - We are introduced to Multani, the Maro-Sorcerer / Elemental of the sentient Yavimaya forest of Dominaria.  Think Groot, but with more kick-arsery.

Anywhoos, we did want to yatter to you today about BATTLEBOND !

This is standalone booster release optimized for Two-headed Giant draft and Sealed play, with preview events scheduled for June 2–3 and the Launch Party taking place June 8–10, 2018.  This new set introduces a new setting ( the Plane of Kylem ! ) and new mechanics suited for multiplayer gaming, as well as some new cards legal in Eternal formats.  There are suggested rules to allow you to get the most enjoyment from this special set whether you are inclined to draft or prefer sealed.  Each Battlebond booster pack will have 15 randomly-assorted cards and contain 1 rare/mythic rare, 3 uncommons, 10 commons, and 1 basic land.

Speaking of lands, that is the focus of today's post.  New Battlebond dual lands enter the battlefield tapped unless you have two or more opponents ::
• Sea of Clouds
• Morphic Pool
• Luxury Suite
• Spire Garden
• Bountiful Promenade

The product looks great so far and we are very intrigued by the booster pack artworks, each showing a pair of characters, which is thematically appropriate given the design for team play.  

Of interest to us is the introduction of a new Multiverse Plane of existence - that of Kylem and the Arena of Valor's Reach, which we totally dig, and not just because we are nuts about the Sakaaran Arena (on Sakaar) in the movie Thor Ragnarok.  We are drifting away from MTG, so here is the blurb on Kylem -


On the Plane of Kylem, beings flock from all over the plane to the arena of Valor's Reach, where two-on-two combat is the pinnacle of sport. The goal of the combatants isn't to kill their opponents outright, but to defeat them with style and flair, using spells and spectacles that make the crowd go wild.

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M19 Leak

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Something rather odd had happened on or about Saturday May 5 (yes,  Cinco de Mayo) - Magic: the Gathering fan, @MoxMoonstone had cracked several Dominaria booster packs and pulled some nice cards.  These cards however, were not from the Dominaria set, but from Core 2019 ('M19'), which is not expected to be released until July the 13th.  Quite specifically, 18 commons were pulled from his packs.  

This is not the first incident where there has been mismatched contents.  Some were quite decidedly created to whet the gaming community's appetite for an upcoming set, while other times, did indeed appear to be a packaging error.  In this case, it does feel like an issue at the printing and packaging facility.  There are a number of new rather decent looking cards along with some solid reprints.

Here are the pulls now -

• Act of Treason
• Anticipate
• Cancel
• Daybreak Chaplain
• Disperse
• Dwarven Priest
• Dwindle
• Goblin Instigator
• Hostile Minotaur
• Inspired Charge
• Knight's Pledge
• Loxodon Line Breaker
• Mighty Leap
• Omenspeaker
• Onakke Ogre
• Scholar of Stars
• Sure Strike
• Tormenting Voice

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Dominaria Theme Booster Packs

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Here at the MTG Realm playgroup, all of our Dominaria pre-orders are in, and everyone is now physically going over all the new Magic: the Gathering cards for their Commander or standard decks.  By and large, all the decklists are remaining the same since before the release of Dominaria with a few small, but efficient amendments (the strictly better argument).  Last Friday Night Magic event at our local store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario, our improved lists sleeved up with crisp Ultra PRO deck protectors, the games went well and will get better with tuning.

Speaking of our local gaming store, a new Magic: the Gathering product from Wizards of the Coast NOT expected to be seen on the shelf is a new Dominaria Theme Booster.  What on earth is a Theme Booster ?  Let's find out.

We would suggest you check out Gavin's article today on the mothersite (linked right here).  Essentially, Dominaria Theme Booster, available in each of the five colours (White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green) have been rolled out to approximately 300 Walmart retail locations within North America.  Each of these theme boosters contain 36 cards with cards within that colour (artifact / colourless cards may be included) broken down to one rare or mythic rare, and a variable number of uncommons and commons.  

The indication from Gavin's article today is that there may be a degree of theme shown with a level of synergy shared with the cards.  Gavin writes "For example, in the white theme booster, if you open Danitha Capashen, Paragon, you will also open Auras and Equipment to go with her".

NEAT !  We love this idea as new players may be further encouraged into the game and provided a level of assistance with the themes suggested within these booster packs.  It is kind of like the old Intro Pack, but without the training wheels, in that one is allowed to explore a wider range of decklist construction.  Here is an image of all five -

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