Dominaria Story 4

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

There is literally a TON of new Dominaria previews out again today and it certainly appears that there is something that every Magic: the Gathering would enjoy gaming with.  For this post however, we do want to touch upon the very great work that Martha Wells has been doing in returning the story to Dominaria.

In today's posted story, Episode 4 does address a number of questions we had since first learning about the angel Tiana, and then seeing the character spotlight on Arvad.  First and foremost, the one question we had is how on earth (or quite specifically Dominaria), does and Angel and a Vampire exist together within the same space without attempting to put an end to each other ?  

Another question we did have brewing since the last story is more along the explanation as to how an angel like Tiana fall into the Weatherlight crew, instead of being called into being to serve some more higher cause.  Martha does an excellent job at explaining all of these questions - the link is right here.

Here is today's story blurb -
As the Weatherlight comes under attack, its newest crew members bond over their unique, yet not dissimilar, origins.

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Dominaria Stories

TO BE UPDATED AS ADDITIONAL CHARACTER SPOTLIGHT CARDS 

ARE PUBLISHED BY WIZARDS OF THE COAST

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Although many Magic: the Gathering players are familiar with the massive tome of stories about or originating from the Plane of Dominaria, we had never been exposed as we had not started playing until after Lorwyn block. We do admit trying to go back when the new Dominaria set was announced and we were frankly quite overwhelmed. When Wizards of the Coast had announced that Martha Wells and others would produce a dozen stories, we could not be more happy and have been consuming these short story installments each day they had come out (Wednesdays and perhaps on Thursdays).  Character spotlight cards all from Wizards of the Coast.

Almost more for our reference, here is a list of stories to date along with some character spot lights for which we are very appreciated of.  Something else we do appreciate, is the supply of a map along with the story.  We realise that there may be two (or more) camps to this, where one think is it a crux for weak writing, while the other equips the reader with a useful tool.  We are very much in the latter.

High resolution Map of the Plane of Dominaria (2560x1600)

Episode 1
In the wake of the disaster on Amonkhet, Liliana and Gideon struggle to move forward against Nicol Bolas on a plane with its own storied past.

Episode 2
Discovering her lost brother commands the Cabal in Aerona, Liliana enlists Gideon's aid in laying him to rest before striking at Belzenlok.

Episode 3

With the 'Weatherlight' raised and under reconstruction, Jhoira scours Dominaria for a new crew . . . with ancient pedigrees.

Episode 4
As the Weatherlight comes under attack, its newest crew members bond over their unique, yet not dissimilar, origins.

Episode 5

Gideon, Liliana, and Jhoira muster their forces for the showdown with Belzenlok . . . but first must solve a myster at Tolaria West.

Episode 6

Jhoira takes Liliana and Gideon for a timely reconnection with a very old—and very powerful friend.

KARN, SCION OF URZA

WEATHERLIGHT

JHOIRA, WEATHERLIGHT CAPTAIN

TIANA, SHIP'S CARETAKER

SHANNA, SISAY'S LEGACY

RAFF CAPASHEN, SHIP'S MAGE

ARVAD, THE CURSED

SLIMEFOOT, THE STOWAWAY

DEMONLORD BELZENLOK

JOSU VESS, LICH KNIGHT

 URGOROS, THE EMPTY ONE

WHISPER, BLOOD LITURGIST

KARZAROV, SENGIR PUREBLOOD

MARWYN, THE NURTURER

HELLAR, THE FIRECATCHER

SHALAI, VOICE OF PLENTY

KWENDE, PRIDE OF FEMEREF

LYRA DAWNBRINGER

EVRA, HALCYON WITNESS

BAIRD, STWEARD OF ARGIVE

VERIX / KAROX BLADEWING

TRAXOS, SCOURGE OF KROOG

VALDUK, KEEPER OF THE FLAME

GARNA, THE BLOODFLAME

TETSUKO UMEZAWA

FIRESONG AND SUNSPEAKER

RONA, DISCIPLE OF GIX

ZAHID, DJINN OF THE LAMP

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Amonkhet Spoilers 4-07

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday, we encourage you go henceforth this evening to a local gamery shoppe, (like OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario), and take in a fun filled evening of Friday Night Magic.  

Week number one of official Magic: the Gathering Amonkhet previews is closing now and should we get additional previews over the next 24 hours or so, we'll update this post.  We also invite you to check out our sister site MTG Realm on Tumblr, where we've been rather busy posting this, that, and yes, the other.  

Speaking of Tumblr, news from MaRo's Blogatog on Tumblr indicate that we can expect one more Planeswalker to join the Amonkhet set, and that (due to popular demand), there is to be a lesser presence of the Gatewatch starting with the next Magic: the Gathering set, Hour of Devastation.  
Also of note, our friend Trick Jarret (@TrickMTG), the Global Content and Community Manager for Magic: the Gathering indicate that in the Amonkhet 'Bundles', we can expect that 20 of the 80 basic lands (in the land pack) are to be the beautiful full-art lands!  Trick also indicates that the Bundle will have a pack of double-sided tokens, including those new 'Embalm' creature.  This is awesome news !

Catch up with these on the Wizards of the Coast page linked here.  Out today so far, we have the following;

• Angel of Sanctions
• Approach of the Second Sun
• Bounty of the Luxa
• Champion of Rhonas
• Cruel Reality
• Dissenter's Deliverance
• New Perspectives
• Nimble-Blade Khenra
• Supply Caravan
• Winged Shepherd

Rise of the Second Sun, illustrated by Noah Bradley.  Alternate win condition which may actually win you the game.  There appears to be a theme of '7' with this card.

Cruel Reality, illustrated by Kieran Yanner.  Gids (aka MeatSlab) is not having a good day here as shown on this aura curse.  We've not seen a curse since Innistrad.  Powerful effect here.

Champion of Rhonas, illustrated by Winona Nelson.  Jackal Warrior is going straight to value town here.  Ain't nothing quite like cheating a card into play, even with exert.  Leverage with vigilance or slide a hasty critter when the Jackal goes into the red zone.

Angel of Sanctions, illustrated by Min Yum.  A feathered O-Ring, which can boomerang back with embalm for an encore.  Hell yeas - Zombie Angel.

New Perspectives, illustrated by Darek Zabrocki.  Six mana seems a bit steep here, but hey - there may be a fun 'n' janky decklist with this.

Bounty of Luxz, illustrated by Jonas De Ro.  So much flavour here.  As mirrored in the ebb / flow of the river, this card cycles mana / flood counters.

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SOI Spoiler 2-25

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

There is yet another ('unofficial') spoiler we should talk about today.  Wizards must be getting miffed with these - anywhoos, this one is from the upcoming and greatly anticipated Shadows Over Innistrad, which is to be released in early April 2016. This image, courtesy of an anonymous /b/-boarder from 4Chan appears to be an oversized card somewhere in the supply / shipping train.  Sorry Trick, here's our non-journalism . .

Clip Wings, 1G
Instant, Common
Each opponent sacrifices a creature with flying.
It is a grim duty to save the world from those created to protect it.
197/297, illustrated by Howard Lyon.

Back.
The Truck.
Up.

Read that flavour text ?  Damn !! What on earth (or rather the Plane of Innistrad) is happening here ?  Have the Angels gone mad ? Have they been turned somehow ?  Sooo many questions here.  Howard Lyon rocks again with this art showing what appears to us to be a Boros-coloured Angel of the order Flight of Goldnight, being surrounded / hunted down by a Cathar and a human hunter.

As for the card itself, all we will say that this common instant looks damn powerful.  You could have just sunk seven mana into an Emeria Sheppard or a Defiant Bloodlord which happens to be your ONLY flyer and then this guy shows up to the party.  Dang.  :)

Lastly,

Here is a quick tip for WotC investigators looking to identify the culprit who leaked this . . .

Look for a white guy who frequents 4Chan.
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Angel Evolution

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Our local card shop, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario runs a Commander night on Thursday evenings and although we've not been out to one of these for a while, we're told that it is becoming more popular than ever and you can see all the recently released Commander 2013 decks at the tables.  We'll likely pick up a few extra singles from MTG Mint Card and upgrade one of our existing builds before committing to going though.

Anywhoos - there was one Commander 2013 card which caught our attention (yes, we admit that many more did) but this had more to do with the art than the actual game card abilities.  Specifically, we're talking about Angel of Finality with the lovely art from Howard Lyon.  We've seen this angel very recently in the Innistrad set - Angel of Flight Alabaster.

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The new Commander 2013 version is most assuredly a reference to the previous Innistrad one but beyond the art and creature type, everything is quite different.

 











Where the Innistrad Angel of Flight Alabaster allowed graveyard recursion of a spirit creature card from your graveyard to your hand, Commander's Angel of Finality nuked cards in a target player's graveyard.  Both these cards can still be good friends in the same deck however and we know there is a number of MTG Realm readers out there who have told us they have a thingy for angel themed decks, so we say 'go for it' - there are more than a dozen legendary angel creatures in a variety of colors you can call upon to be your commander / general.
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Now - for some flavor -
Innistrad Angels were organized into Flights of Angels - Flight Goldnight, Flight of Herons, and Flight Alabaster.  As our angel in today's article is from Alabaster, here's some background from the MTG creative team -  

The Flight of Alabaster
These angels personify the Blessed Sleep and are associated with the Hunter's Moon season. They provide magic that wards against the desecration of dead humans. In the absence of Avacyn they remained the most active and continued on to reinforce wards that protected the human populations.

This flight of angels is centered in Thraben, and is instrumental in maintaining Avacynian wards. These angels reside mainly in the Lofts and are a familiar sight to the inhabitants of the city. They generally travel in small groups as they visit the centers of healing in the city. Alabaster angels also aid priests and cathars in maintaining the protective wards on the city walls and holy sites throughout Innistrad. According to the other flights, Alabaster angels tend to be overly sentimental, but they think of themselves as practical yet sympathetic. They often do not travel with weapons, preferring to use their magic, and engage in battle only when the conflict can't be resolved another way. During the archangel's absence, the Alabaster angels were first to recognize the Avacynian wards were failing. Many remained active—more than those of other flights—doubling their efforts to reinforce the wards. These efforts likely saved Thraben from the fate that befell many other towns and settlements. 
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