Alara Reborn Playmats

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A very nice tournament organiser who was looking for Alara Reborn pre-orders via eMail sent card images off to WhytePanther from the forums.

The indication that these were to become playmats . . . Let's have a peek.

Mistvein Borderpost by Pete Venters
Esper-Grixis


Fieldmist Borderpost by Michael Bruinsma
Esper-Bant


Wildfield Borderpost by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
Bant-Naya


Firewild Borderpost by Jean Sebastien Rossbach
Naya-Jund


Veinfire Borderpost by Ralph Horsley
Jund -Grixis

It is assumed that these will be mana-producers and is strongly suspected to be all artifacts (clear indication from the art). Very likely these will be tapping for two colours - but hopefully at the same time (example 'Fieldmist will tap to give one White and one Blue mana . . . we will see.

Alara Alternate MPS

sporvan from the forums blew the dust off this interesting piece of Alara goodness.

MPS are Japanese Promotional basic lands distributed as the prize of FNM / Arena League / draft and so on. These beautiful / stunning alternate lands are from artist John Avon.

Bant - Plains

Esper - Island

Naya - Forest

Jund - Mountain

Grixis - Swamp

What are MPS?

Magic Premiere Shops are
- A shop where you will always find Mtg product
- Gain the latest information
- A store that runs weekly/annual events
- Where they'll teach you how to play
- Where you can find players to play test
- Where you can be a better player
- Where you can get promo cards

Alara Preview 4

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I was unable to get out to FNM last week (due to another obligation) and again today could not attend as I seem to have the mother of all head-colds. This however is not detracting from being absolutely pumped about this new release and I am still unsure which particular Shard to settle on.

As I am leaning a bit towards The Green / WHITE / Blue BANT Shard, I decided to get a bit into character. To this end, I hooked up with some exalted Knights (from the Society for Creative Anachronism) I met one evening while picking up my mail . . .











As I am off to retire my diseased frame to bed, here is a quick review of new Shards of Alara cards previewed this week on Star City Games and Evan Erwin's The Magic Show.


Hell's Thunder, 1{R}{R}
Creature - Elemental, Rare Flying, haste At end of turn, sacrifice Hell's Thunder. Unearth 4{R} 4/4

Were it not for the unearth ability on this card, it really would be fit for the pit. For a potential hit of 8 for only 3 mana is big win for this card.

Ad Nauseam, 3{B}{B}
Instant, Rare Reveal the top card of our library and put that card into your hand. You loose life equal to its converted mana cost. You may repeat this process any number of times.

This card could be a game winner or a game loser in a heart-beat . . . play with this if you like taking chances and walking on the edge of a knife's blade.

And here are the others previewed recently over at Wizards . . .


Ethersworn Canonist, 1{W}
Artifact Creature - Human Cleric, Rare Each player who has played a nonartifact spell this turn can't play additional nonartifact spells. 2/2

She's white but feels a really sexy control blue . . .
Look for this one in complete Esper decks.

Master of Etherium, 2{U}

Artifact Creature - Vedalken Wizard, Rare Master of Etherium's power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifacts you control. Other artifact creatures you control get +1/+1. */*

This one's inclusion in an Esper deck is a no-brainer. This card is mana cost is great as well as its abilities. I still don't know if that small thing he's holding is a pet or just lunch. ( ? )

Mindlock Orb, 3{U}
Artifact, Rare Players can't search libraries.

This is great control to clamp down on tutors / harbingers.

Knight of the White Orchard, {W}{W}
Creature - Human Knight, Rare
First Strike, When Knight of the White Orchard comes into play, if an opponent controls more lands than you, you may search your library for a Plains card, put it into play, then shuffle your library.

This card is a sweet two-for one special. A two mana drop that gets you a 2/2 first-striker is solid - having land-pull is just honey on top !

Bant Charm, {G}{W}{U}
Instant, Uncommon Choose one - Destroy target artifact; or put target creature on the bottom of its owner's library' or counter target instant spell.

Expect to see a deck set of this pulled out of Bant's side-board when this deck is going up against Esper.

Vein Drinker, 4{B}{B}
Creature - Vampire, Rare
Flying.
{R}, Tap: Vein Drinker deals damage equal to its power to target creature. That creature deals damage equal to its power to Vein Drinker.
Whenever a creature dealt damage by Vein Drinker this turn is put into a graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Vein Drinker.
4/4

Heartless, cold and dangerous . . . I'm also rather certain I dated her back in College. She has some big-time Tim on her which just simply grows with each critter she sends for a dirt-nap . . . watch-out !

Player Rewards Promo

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I have been enrolled in the Magic 'Player Rewards' program since December, 2007 and frankly I simply forgot all about it until recently. Now I am completely hyped (keep reading to find out). Due to an electronic error somewhere on the Wizards end, my enrollment did not take. The excellent staff corrected it promptly and professionally and now I am looking at a letter stuffed with 6 token sets and 1 foil. You can log in and check out your player rewards here.

Here are the details - For every 20 sanctioned events you participat in, you qualify for one foil textless card. Some past cards were Wrath of God and Damnation.
Also, for every 5 sanctioned events you participate in, you also qualify for one "token set," which consists of two textless cards (one in the current rotation and one old one). This reward stacks with the 20 events mentioned previously. So the long and short of it is if you play in 20 events, expect to get four token sets and one foil in the mail courtesy of Wizards. For more information on this program, click HERE.

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Now speaking of player rewards, Mr. Orange Guy (aka Evan Erwin), star of the popular 'Magic Show' spoiled us in the latest episode (HERE) with what can expect for the Fall 2008 Magic Players Reward textless foil card . . .
One can expect to sell these beauties (if you really want to sell them) for about 20 to 25 clams.



Cryptic Command
Instant

Choose two - Counter target spell; or return target permanent to its owner's hand; or tap all creatures your opponents control; or draw a card.





One word . . . w0w ! This is awesome art and also a solid win of a card. Cryptica command is Blue's answer for White's Wrath of God, and Black's 'Damnation'. I'm not an overly religious person, but I will pray that I get this card (after praying for world peace / prosperity, and the end to election campaign season).

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Also a quick note of what we have seen recently in previewed cards from the soon to be released Shards of Alara set.


Sedraxis Specter {U}{B}{R}
Creature - Specter, Flying

Whenever Sedraxis Specter deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card. Unearth 1{B} : Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)

First off, this is one of the better cards released so far. I rather like that once this flier takes a dirt nap, it will come back for just one more turn to take another bow . . . or is that deliver another blow.

Also - we have no image yet but some details about a card that is sure to be quite a head turner . . .

Lich's Mirror 5
Artifact, Mythic Rare
If you would lose the game, instead shuffle your hand, your graveyard and all permanents you own into your library, then draw seven cards and your life total becomes 20.

Since I don't have an image for you yet, I have dug up something else with the name Lich on it . . .

For some reason, this fellow Lich reminds me of the unseen long-lived character in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.


Stay tuned for more Alara art, spoilers and previews.

Monday MTG Preview

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Today on Wizards, Doug Beyer helped kick off the official Shards of Alara Previews in this article. From the Orb of Insight and other clues, we had speculated that Mr. Vol had one positive and two negative ability effects as well as the ability to summon creatures (dragons would have earned you a prize if you guessed this). This article was the limo that the new Planeswalker Sarkhan Vol in all his agrro-glorious-ness pulled up in. Lets have a look . . .

First Ability

[+1] : Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain haste until end of turn.
Total aggro, pumping all your critters and providing haste. As Doug had mentioned, my first reaction to this was - w0w - Sarkhan would feel really good in a deck with token generators. By pumping up Sarkhan on the drop he comes out puts him out of reach from a lot of spot removal cards. You had better conspire with a Burn Trail or face quite a beating in two more turns.

Second Ability
[-2]: Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.
Very nice for you, very bad for your opponent. While you are in control of said creature (or creatures!), you could have them give their previous owner a nasty poke or perhaps have them start beating on their former team mates . . what chaos !

Third Ability
[-6] : Put five 4/4 red Dragon creature tokens with flying into play.
Dang ! - So your opponent is not fielding any flyers or critters with reach you would be able to deliver 20 (!) points of damage. My first thought is that you had better have a deck-set of Raking Canopy to knock some of those dragons out of the sky to make it a bit friendlier.

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Mark Rosewater also took a kick at the Alara Preview with this article. In it, he introduced the Shards of Alara design team. MaRo also provided two preview cards from Bant : the Sigiled Paladin and Battlegrace Angel (which is the foil rare from the Bant Intro Pack).

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Both cards feature the new Alara mechanic 'Exalted'. "Exalted" means "Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn." My first impression is that you would want to seriously consider getting a deck set of each of these creatures as the more creatures with 'exalted' you have the bigger the individual hitter.

I would love to watch the game with MaRo's example :
Two Sigiled Paladins and two Battlegrace Angels with one of the angels attacking making her an 8/8 flier with double lifelink . . . Sweet Mother of Bant !

Alara Mechanics Spoiler

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Aside from 3 new spoiled Alara cards, we have confirmation of 2 new mechanics and 1 returning mechanic for the new Shards of Alara set.

According to the Orb of Insight, we can expect 7 cards with the 'Devour' mechanic, 13 cards with the 'Unearth' mechanic, and 13 cards with the 'Cycling' mechanic.

Devour (#) : When (Card Name) comes into play, sacrifice any number of creatures. Put a +1/+1 counter on (Card Name) for each creature sacrificed this way.

Unearth : Put (Card Name) from your graveyard into play, it gains haste until end of turn, remove it from the game at until end of turn or if it should leave play. You may Unearth only when you could play a sorcery.

Cycling : (Rumour) Pay X mana to draw another card and discard this card. Cycling cards may also have an effect when cycled; this effect is often a weaker spell of the card's normal effect. We will have to wait for the final on this.

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On to the new cards spoiled from a French Source . . .

Caldeira Hellion (Monstruosité des caldeiras) 3{R}{R}
Creature - Hellion, Rare
Devour 1 (When ~ comes into play, sacrifice any number of creatures. Put a +1/+1 counter on Caldeira Hellion for each creature sacrificed this way)
When Caldeira Hellion comes into play, it deal 3 damages to each creature.
3/3

w0w - I really hope that you would be able to provide a bunch of chumps for this hungry critter when it comes into play . . .

Corpse Expert (connaisseur en cadavre) 4{B}
Creature - Zombie Wizard, Uncommon
When Corpse Expert comes into play, you may search your library for a Creature card and put it into your graveyard. If you do, shuffle your library.
Unearth 3{B} (Put Corpse Expert from your graveyard into play, it gains haste until end of turn, remove it from the game at end of turn or if it should leave play. You may Unearth only when you could play a sorcery)
3/3

I think I would like some further translation here before passing judgment.

Skillful Duellist (Duelliste adroite) {W}{U}
Creature - Human Rogue, common
First Strike
Shroud
2/1

Nice solid common.


More spoilers / previews latter.

Alara Preview 1

~ If you have either been living under a rock or perhaps have just discovered the internet, you may have missed the spoiler season to the Shards of Alara. Today at Wizards is the first day of official previews. So pop over, play a puzzle and review the new set goodness. At press time, the 'Five Worlds' flavour was not yet up. (EDIT - see below).

Many of the cards provided in today's visual spoiler preview had already been spoiled here on MTG-Realm and the usual forums (you know who you are). To this end, we will provide a brief look at three cards not yet revealed.

Bull Cerodon, 4RW
Creature - Beast, Uncommon
Vigilance, haste
5/5

This is a really solid card. For those nay-sayers out there who may think the mana cost is a bit steep, just consider that not only this horned monstrosity have haste but vigilance a well.

Tezzeret the Seeker, 3UU
Planeswalker - Tezzeret, Mythic Rare
+1 : Untap up to two target artifacts
-X : Search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost X or less and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.
-5 : Artifacts you control become 5/5 until end of turn.

This is the second Alara Planeswalker previewed (Ajani Vengeant being the promo). The mana cost is reasonable and the comes-into-play loyalty counters are acceptable to just put it out of range of spot removal. I like the first ability of virtually creating vigilant artifacts. I am still pondering the second and third abilities as to whether they are overpriced . . . I will need to see the other artifact creatures in this set to decide perhaps.

Windwright Mage, WUB
Artifact Creature - Human Wizard
Lifelink
Windwright Mage has flying as long as an artifact card is in your graveyard.
2/2

I think I should like this card much better if it had unconditional flying ability but then we are getting lifelink out of the deal as well. Good card, too bad about the crazy multi-colour mana cost.

Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming.

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UPDATE - It appears that the second installment of the Alara flavour section is now up and four new Alara art images are up in the 'Five Worlds' section.

Goblins of Jund getting blown up real good perhaps by even the Planeswalker Sarkhan Vol.

A Rhox warrior champion receiving a medal from a Cleric for a job well done.

A demon beast of Grixis joining Eliza of the Keep (maybe) in a whimiscal tune for an upcomming Grixis talent show.

A Vedalken wizard waiting for the valet to return his pimped-out artifact Sphinx ride at an Esper night club.

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Alara Intro Pack & New Cards

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We now have images available for two additional Shards of Alara Intro Packs. Specifically for the Bant Exalted and Esper Artifice Intro Packs.











As discussed previously in this post, Intro Packs now replace 'Theme Decks' (or pre-constructed decks) as a way to get new players the 41-card preconstructed deck, which includes 1 premium foil rare and one non-premium rare, a booster pack of the current set, A set-specific insert explaining the new mechanics in the set and info on the preconstructed decks included in the intro packs, and A learn-to-play insert for new players that includes game rules, deck building tips, and storyline information.

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Also, new for your spoiler hungry eyes, 3 more Alara Card Spoilers from Game Japan . . . Remember - Click on any image to enlarge.
Kiss from Amisha 4{W}{U}
Sorcery, Uncommon
Target player gains 7 life and draws two cards.
177/249

This card seems just a bit expensive and feels like it should be a common card. Compare this to another 2 cards draw like Mulldrifter, where you a 2/2 flyer on the side - still 7 extra life may be worth it. On the other hand, perhaps this may a bomb in block constructed . . we will have to see how the gears mesh here.

Shardduster Sphinx 4{U}{U}
Artifact Creature - Sphinx, Rare
Flying
Whenever an artifact creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may put a blue 1/1 Ornithopter artifact creature with flying token.
4/4
55/249

This certainly looks like a solid card. A 4/4 Flyer with a repeatable effect which producers chump blockers. To take full advantage of this card, I am thinking of a power / toughness pump for the 1/1 flying tokens or perhaps a 'Deepchannel Mentor' to produce unblockable critters and kick the token generator into a higher gear.

Qassal Ambush Force 1{G}{W}
Creature - Rhino Warrior, Uncommon
Reach
Whenever an opponent's creature attacks and you control both a Forest and a Plains, you may play Quassal Ambush Force without paying its mana cost and as though it has flash.
2/3
184/249

This would be a sweet card on drop two but I won't hold my breath. The thing I like best about this card is the annoying reach ability it provides.

More spoiler goodness latter,
Until next time, Happy & Safe Gaming !

Alara Fat Pack

~Today on Magic Arcana, WoTC has provided images of some very cool-looking Shards of Alara Fat Packs. Let's have a look - -

CONTENTS - Each Shards of Alara Fat Pack will include 8 Boosters, 1 Spindown I Life Counter, 1 Player's Guide, a 40 card Land Pack, 1 Card Box with killer art, and 1 Excerpt from A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara. Alara Fat Packs retail for approximately $ 30, so get thyself to a local gaming store.

Artwork on the Fat Packs feature your choice of Shard Realm . .

BANT

ESPER

GRIXIS

JUND

NAYA

Stay tuned to MTG-Realm for discussion on the results and summary of the Shards of Alara Orb of Insight, also posted to Wizards today.