Knights vs Dragons Decklists

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Yes - a very rare Sunday post. Our typical Sunday entails coffee, church, brunch and several relaxing matches of Magic the Gathering but today we wanted to share the spoiled decklists from the last Duel Decks product, Knights vs. Dragons expected to be released April 1st, 2011.

First off - for those just getting into the game - Duel Decks are a series of theme decks of which Wizards of the Coast first released back in 2007. They contain two 60-card decks designed and developed specifically to be played against each other by two people. These products are not 'standard legal' which means players won't be able to take them to a Friday Night Magic event at the local store but are intended to pack a truckload of casual fun at the kitchen table and since we here at MTG Realm are all about casual Magic, lets have a look . . .

Knights

Creatures (24)
1 Caravan Escort, 2 Lionheart Maverick, 2 Knight of Cliffhaven, 1 Knight of Meadowgrain, 1 Knight of the White Orchid, 1 Leonin Skyhunter, 1 Silver Knight (new art), 1 White Knight, 1 Knotvine Paladin, 1 Steward of Valeron, 1 Benalish Lancer, 1 Zhalfirin Commander, 1 Knight Exemplar, 1 Knight of the Reliquary (new art), 1 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers, 1 Kabira Vindicator, 1 Kinsbaile Cavalier, 1 Alaborn Cavalier, 1 Skyhunter Patrol, 1 Plover Knights, 1 Juniper Order Ranger, 1 Paladin of Prahv

Other Spells (12)
1 Harm's Way, 1 Reciprocate, 1 Edge of Autumn, 1 Mighty Leap, 1 Reprisal, 1 Test of Faith, 1 Heroes' Reunion, 1 Sigil Blessing, 1 Loxodon Warhammer (new art), 1 Spidersilk Armor, 1 Griffin Guide, 1 Oblivion Ring

Lands (24)
2 Grasslands, 1 Sejiri Steppe, 2 Selesnya Sanctuary, 1 Treetop Village, 12 Plains, 6 Forest

Dragons

Creatures (17)
1 Cinder Wall, 1 Skirk Prospector, 1 Bloodmark Mentor, 1 Fire-Belly Changeling, 2 Mudbutton Torchrunner, 1 Dragonspeaker Shaman, 2 Dragon Whelp, 1 Henge Guardian, 1 Voracious Dragon, 1 Bogardan Rager, 1 Mordant Dragon, 1 Kilnmouth Dragon, 1 Shivan Hellkite, 1 Thunder Dragon, 1 Bogardan Hellkite (new art)

Other Spells (19)
2 Armillary Sphere, 1 Dragon's Claw, 1 Breath of Darigaaz, 2 Dragon Fodder, 1 Punishing Fire (new art), 1 Spitting Earth, 1 Captive Flame, 1 Ghostfire, 1 Seething Song (new art), 1 Seismic Strike, 1 Claws of Valakut, 1 Temporary Insanity, 1 Shiv's Embrace, 1 Cone of Flame, 2 Fiery Fall, 1 Jaws of Stone

Lands (24)
24 Mountain

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Our first look is at economy - if players were to purchase (in our area) the 'Knights' list as singles, it would cost around $45 and the Dragons list would be around $20 - so not bad at all considering you are getting approximately $65 worth of cards for a suggested retail price of $20.

We love the showcase of cool older cards we did not get a chance to play when they came out but do not really care for the many singletons in bother these decks as they result in serious inconsistency. From the list, we think that the Knight deck overpowers the Dragon deck and does not deliver what players want in a duel deck - a set of flavourful themed decks which play and perform well against each other.
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Previous Duel Decks include :
Elves vs. Goblins, Jace vs. Chandra, Divine vs. Demonic, Garruk vs. Liliana, Phyrexia vs. The Coalition, Elspeth vs. Tezzeret, Knights vs. Dragons, and the next one to be released is to be Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas.
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Lastly,
MTG Mint Card has Knights vs. Dragons Duel Deck Box for the upcoming Duel Deck. This most excellent product from UltraPro has 1 full colour duel deck box, 2 full colour deck boxes, 2 full colour dividers, and a Write-on Strip to ensure your name is on it and prevent it from being claimed by your envious friends.
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Paladins & Princesses

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Today's post title is a bit odd. Paladin is taken from the new Magic the Gathering 'Action' art, Puresteel Paladin and Princesses derived haphazardly from the accompanying art of Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Wallpaper. We may be a bit off here, but from all the very excellent art spoilers we've seen over the last few weeks, we are seriously considering that the last set in this block will hold more legendary creatures than your average set - time will tell when the set is released May 13th. (Will players of this game love additional legendaries ?)

Righto - anywhoos - let's get to the kewl wallpapers - usually seen on our Friday posts here at MTG Realm . .

Puresteel Paladin Wallpaper

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"Dark times do not last forever. It's true our losses are great, but we have not yet lost this war. These are our homes, our lands, and our people. As long as there is steel in my hand, I will not back down, and neither should you." – Yavash, Accorder Paladin, to Kemba

Puresteel ? What's this all then. Perhaps and answer to Darksteel seen in Mirrodin Besieged ? Speculate away please. The art from Jason Chan is all that and a bag 'o' chips.
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Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Wallpaper

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"Ah the glorious symphony of bitter hymns and forced hallelujahs! See the ignorant fall to their knees when I remove their heathen feet! All will be blessed with the pains of redemption! Look inside yourself to see the truth, or see my suture priests so they can open your chest to find it for you!" – delirious sermon of Elesh Norn

We have a feeling that the cheese has slid completely off the cracker for Elesh - perhaps hanging out too much Charlie Sheen. Anywhoos - on a side note, the flavour of this character reminds us of the mother-in-law and we can't wait until we see this card in a deck.

EDIT : Following up on Jeff's comment as well as n0rm's eMail - here's the critter from the movie you guy's were talking about . . .
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Next up -

Some news via a tweet from Michael Robles, WoTC minion - it appears that there will be an early preview of the upcoming Duel Decks : Knights vs. Dragons at PAX East. Michael spoiled this image here - pretty much the same product shot we spoiled in this post HERE last month.

Anyways - if you are not aware, PAX East is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers and will be held this weekend March 11th to 13th, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. Wizards of the Coast have regularly attended this event and have several times in the past provided previews on their video games or upcoming Magic the Gathering product releases - if you're in that neck of the woods, check it out - and more importantly - send us pics of new MTG cards / products / WOTC booth shot, etc. and we'll post 'em.

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Lastly,

We don't often plug friends 'n' family here on MTG Realm but can say we are throughly impressed with the business a close friend has. Her business is BLITZ Business Solutions and whether you are already a business entrepreneur or are thinking of becoming your own boss (Magic Store Owner?), we think you may benefit greatly - check her out.

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Dragons & Knights

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Interesting spoiler / preview from WoTC Monty today over at Magic Arcana. It appears that we now have our very first confirmed card appearing in the Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons (near page bottom) . . . perhaps not much of a stretch of the imaganation as this was the go-to Knight for some time - say 'hello again' to Knight of the Reliquary.
Released in Conflux back in February, 2009 - it became a popular card (it went for around $8 locally) but not for long - it soon fell out of favour as the new set feeling wore off and we were able to pick up a deck set for around $1.60 each. Then, the whole 'land matters' theme hit standard with Zendikar and the Knight was making Top 8 deck lists everywhere - this was when it hit about $15 locally during spring of last year (April / May, 2010). After it rotated out of standard, it returned to it's orignal price and still commands about $8.

We are uncertain whether there will be the man-lands and fetchlands on the Knight's side of this duel deck to necessitate having a KotR but that of course is up in the air still.
We can very well imagine which Dragons and Knights may be in the new Duel Deck but we have a good feeling that the product will be awesome - - that is except for the art preview . . .

Sorry but the new alternate art by Wayne Reynolds for KotR just is not making the cut for us - we guess that Michael Komarck's original was just so spot-on, we cannot accept an alt-art for this card. We're also not altogether sold on the other alt art for Bogardan Hellkite.

And here are the vital stats . . .

Deck Design and Development: Chris Millar and Zac Hill
Languages Available: English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish
Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons will be available in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish on April 1, 2011 with an MSRP of $19.99.

Valor and Steel Clash with Rage and Fire! The greatest knights have gathered together to once and for all end the reign of terror that has plagued their lands for centuries. Holy paladins, noble cavaliers, and swift skyhunters all answer the call to hunt dragons to the death and restore order to the realm. For dragonkind, the answer is simple - incinerate the invaders! Enraged goblin minions pour from the mountain crags to repel the intruders, but that’s only to give the majestic hellkites time to take to the skies and unleash a firestorm that no knight could hope to survive. A world hangs in the balance. Will you enter the battle under the banner of purity and order, or will you plunge the land into chaos and dragonfire?

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And finally -
A reminder about the list from MTG Mint Card showing the Mirrodin Besieged Top 10 selling cards as of Feb 2011 . . .

1. Psychosis Crawler
2. Black Sun's Zenith
3. Thopter Assembly
4. Contested War Zone
5. Phyrexian Vatmother
6. Bonehoard
7. Creeping Corrosion
8. White Sun's Zenith
9. Mitotic Manipulation
10. Inkmoth Nexus

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Fac Pac

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Happy Tuesday folks,

Intereresting bit of MTG news from Monty today on Magic Arcana. This piece of Magic the Gathering news was somewhat expected - regarding playing either Mirran or Phyrexian factions during the Mirrodin Besieged Prerelease Event scheduled for January 29-30, 2011.

What was not expected was that participants would be provided three regular Scars of Mirrodin booster packs and their choice of three Mirran boosters or three Phyrexian boosters. Monty indicated that there will be two different prerelease promo cards provided for the prerelease corresponding to either Mirran or Phyrexian.















Very cool indeed. Some punters are already bantering about whether or not to open these special once-only booster packs or to keep 'em sealed and sell them to collectors latter. Choosing the latter of course would result in a net loss of fun in participating in said pre-release and we here at MTG Realm are about fun.
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Also of note - in case you are pimping your EDH deck or cube with the awesome that is foil, check out MTG Mint Card which just restocked a bunch of Scars of Mirrodin foils.

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Speaking of Monty, we would be remiss in our MTG blog duties if we do not make mention of Monty's post yesterday (we were enjoying Thanksgiving up here in Canada-Land). Anywhoos - looks like we have another Duel Decks announcement - have a look at Knights vs. Dragons . . .

The greatest knights have gathered together to once and for all end the reign of terror that has plagued their lands for centuries. Holy paladins, noble cavaliers, and swift skyhunters all answer the call to hunt dragons to the death and restore order to the realm.

For dragonkind, the answer is simple—incinerate the invaders! Enraged goblin minions pour from the mountain crags to repel the intruders, but that’s only to give the majestic hellkites time to take to the skies and unleash a firestorm that no knight could hope to survive.

A world hangs in the balance. Will you enter the battle under the banner of purity and order or will you plunge the land into chaos and dragonfire?

Deck Design and Development: Chris Millar and Zac Hill
Languages Available: English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish
Release Date: April 1, 2011
MSRP: $19.99

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