Lord of War

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Today at MTG Realm, we would like to yatter a bit about some of the cool new cards in the re-started Core Set, Core Set 2019.  Quite specifically, the five rare tribal lords.  A "lord" is an informal term that refers to any creature or other permanent that confers boons to other members of the same creature type, typically without conferring such bonus to themselves.  In Core Set 2019, there is one Lord in each colour :

• Valiant Knight (W knights) — Grants other Knights +1/+1, activated ability (3WW) to grant Knights double strike

• Supreme Phantom (U spirits) — Grants other spirits+1/+1.

• Death Baron (B zombies) — Grants skeletons and zombies +1/+1 and deathtouch

• Goblin Trashmaster (R goblins) — Grants goblins +1/+1, activate ability to destroy an artifact when you sacifice a goblin.

• Elvish Clancaller (G elves) — Grants other Eleves +1/+1, activated ability (4GG, Tap) to tutor another copy of itself onto the battlefield.

When Core 2019 releases on July 13, 2018, and before the large Fall set on October 5, 2018, there is a metric ton of cards in Standard format, but are we able to double down on the above Tribal Lords ?  Ixalan / Rivals of Ixalan was a block that did have a tribal theme, but restricted to Pirates, Dinosaurs, Merfolk and Vampires. 

There does exist however, some cards which may assist in a tribal theme should you want to move forward with the aforementioned Core Set 2019 Lords -

Arcane Adaptation (2U) - forcing all your creatures to creature type
Metallic Mimic (2) - +1/+1 counters on named creature type when they enter the battlefield
Radiant Destiny (2W) - conditional (City's Blessing) named creature type you control gets +1/+1 and vigilance
Vanquisher's Banner (5) - named creature type you control gets +1/+1, card draw upon casting that type

The most apparent choice may be Zombies.  There was a time, not that long ago, where Zombie tribal did climb to the top tier before the wheels fell off when some choice cards from Magic Origins / Shadows Over Innistrad block rotated out.  There are two Lords, or more specifically, a tribal enchantment and a Lord, in Amonkhet which may be shoed in to build a Zombie Tribal decklist -

• Liliana's Mastery (Amonkhet) - Zombies you control get +1/+1.
• Lord of the Accursed (Amonkhet) - Grants other zombies +1/+1, activated ability (1B, Tap) zombies gain menace

There is also a handful of other useful cards to support this theme as well which we will not go into, but do want to make a point that Embalm and Eternalize are two existing mechanics which also may be of use here.

Happy Brewing !
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Journey into Nyx Tokens

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

If you've been following the MTG Realm blog for any time you will likely know that since we first started yattering about Magic: the Gathering online back in 2008, our group has a thingy for spells which generate token creatures.  Playing inexpensive spells which churn out token creatures and following up with an anthem effect to pump those critters makes us happy.  

Currently in Journey into Nyx there are several spells which can embiggen yer token creatures temporarily or permanently (until that card is removed) like Ajani's Presence, Dictate of Heliod, Aerial Formation, Cruel Feeding, Rollick of Abandon, Rouse the Mob, Colossal Heroics, Setessan Tactics, Desperate Stand, and Hall of Triumph. Some of these are good, others not so much.  

The trick is to get a permanent out which is not easily removed, like an enchantment (Spear of Heliod) or even better - a Planeswalker's emblem such as Elspeth, Sun's Champion ultimate - "Creatures you control get +2/+2 and have flying".  Long gone from standard format are the very lovely 'Honor of the Pure' and 'Tempered Steel' - but hey - there is always Modern.  Speaking of Modern, we're thinking of picking up a few cards from MTG Mint Card to start toying with a B/W Tokens starring our fav 'Intangible Virtue'. 

Anywhoos, the Magic: the Gathering community typically gets treated to tokens on the Mothersite just ahead of the set's full reveal but we've just received these via Trick Jarret's post to Magic Arcana today - better late than never we say.  Let's have a look now.  The "*" symbol below indicates that there is no new token printed specifically for that Journey into Nyx card so make sure you keep close the token card printed in either 'Theros' or 'Born of the Gods'.
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* Launch the Fleet - 1/1 white Soldier creature token

Hour of Need - 4/4 blue Sphinx creature token with flying

* Rise of Eagles - 2/2 blue Bird enchantment creature tokens with flying

Ritual of the Returned - */* black Zombie creature (p/t = t of exiled creature)

Flurry of Horns - 2/3 red Minotaur creature tokens with haste

Hydra Broodmaster - X/X green Hydra creature tokens

Renowned Weaver - 1/3 green Spider enchantment creature token with reach

Pharika, God of Affliction - 1/1 black and green Snake enchantment creature token with deathtouch

* Revel of the Fallen God - 2/2 red and green Satyr creature tokens with haste

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