Modern Masters 2015

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Today, the semi-finals are starting at the 2014 World Championships and most Magic: the Gathering players are glued to their monitors to see who is victorious in this great tournament. 

A rather exciting and important announcement was made by Wizards of the Coast only about an hour ago on the streaming coverage provided by Twitch TV.  In this, the very next Modern Masters release was announced.  Although perhaps not our fav format, we've been loving tinkering with Modern format and have amassed a small collection of the staples over the past few years from MTG Mint Card. It appears that this year's set, like the previous year's will have a number of cards the designers have included which will lend itself rather well to drafting.  The biggest initial complaint from the community is that although the print run is limited, it would not be as limited as that of the the previous Modern Masters - the issue was the MSRP of $10, a solid increase from from $7.

From the previewed art, it looks like we can expect Etched Champion.  They've also previewd Emrakul (the Aeons Torn).  In fact, it appears that all cards may be reprints with an opportunity to get that hard to find card you may have been looking for.  Anywhoos - let's get to the announcement -
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Draft Like A Master

Modern Masters (2015 Edition) takes players back to some of the most remarkable planes from recent history, including Zendikar, Mirrodin, Ravnica, Lorwyn, Kamigawa, and Alara. Featuring new artwork on a number of cards, every card in Modern Masters can be added to your favorite Modern-format decks. But first, enjoy a fresh Limited experience that combines some of Magic's most iconic cards in new ways.

Every box of Modern Masters (2015 Edition) contains 24 booster packs—each with 15 randomly inserted game cards, including one premium card in every pack—making it perfect for exciting draft play.

Set Name: Modern Masters (2015 Edition)
Number of Cards: 249
Release Date: May 22, 2015
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGMM2015 

Initial Concept and Game Design: Erik Lauer (lead), Ben Hayes, and Ken Nagle
Final Game Design and Development: Tom LaPille (lead), Ben Hayes, Max McCall, and Adam Prosak
Languages: English, Japanese, Chinese Simplified
MSRP: $9.99
 
Modern Masters (2015 Edition) will be releasing on Magic Online May 29. The digital MSRP will be $6.99. It will not be available for redemption.

Additionally, to celebrate the second Modern Masters set, we're running a triple Grand Prix weekend, May 30–31, 2015, in the following cities:

Las Vegas, Nevada
Chiba, Japan
Utrecht, Netherlands
All three Grand Prix will run Modern Masters Limited, with Sealed on Days One and Two and a Top 8 Draft.

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Full Conspiracy Spoiler

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering players we've talked to over the last few weeks are most definitely pumped and looking forward to this weekend's release of Conspiracy, the first-ever multi-player focused MTG set designed to be drafted.  A few gaming store owners we've talked to are planning to organise draft all day events with the new conspiracy set this Saturday 7th June.  

To find a store near you, pop on over to the handy Wizards of the Coast Store & Event locator here.  Our local store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario are holding 8-player drafts all day Saturday from 10 AM to 10 PM.  OMG! Games has also dug up some very cool older booster packs to use just in case you open up a Lore Seeker.

Anywhoos, the full set has now been revealed up on the mothersite's (linky here) card image gallery.  We have for your below just the Rare and Mythic Rare cards from the new set.  If you have some nostalgia for some of the older cards reprinted for this set, be sure to check MTG Mint Card.
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The first-ever multiplayer-focused booster set has new Magic cards with new mechanics that enhance multiplayer play. Returning favorites from throughout Magic's history round out the set and cultivate an environment of deception and treachery. The Magic: The Gathering–Conspiracy set is designed to be drafted with six to eight players who then split into groups of three or four players for free-for-all multiplayer games.

Set Information
Release Date: June 6, 2014
Conspiracy features 210 black-bordered cards, including randomly inserted premium versions of all cards in the set. There are sixty-five new cards in Conspiracy. Fifty-two of the new cards will be legal in Legacy and Vintage; thirteen cards (the new Conspiracy type) will not.  Conspiracy contains 210 cards (80 Commons, 60 Uncommons, 35 Rares, 10 Mythic Rares and 25 cards in the land slot.
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Conflux Spoiler 13

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Here we go again with SIX more Shards of Alara Conflux spoilers. Remember MTG fans, these are not final until the fat Wizard sings.

Dragonsoul Knight, 2R
Creature - Human Knight, Rare
First strike
WUBRG : Dragonsoul Knight becomes a 7/5 Dragon creature and gains Flying and Trample until end of turn.
2/2

Paleoloth, 4GG
Creature - Beast, Rare
Vigilance, trample
Whenever Paleoloth blocks a creature, Paleoloth deals damage equal to its power to target opponent.
6/6

Kaleidostone, 2
Artifact (rarity unknown at press time)
When Kaleidostone comes into play, draw a card.
5, Tap : sacrifice Kaleidostone: Add WUBRG to your mana pool.

Sylvan Bounty, 5G
Instant, Common
Target player gains 8 life.
Basic landcycling 1{G}

Gleam of Resistance, 4W
Instant, Common
Creatures you control get +1/+2 until end of turn. Untap those creatures.
Basic landcycling 1{W}

Traumatic Visions, 3UU
Instant, Common
Counter Target Spell
Basic landcycling 1{U}

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Also - for something completely different . . . MTG Booster Draft

This is a popular game format for Magic: The Gathering is booster draft. In a booster draft, four to eight players are provided three booster packs. Each player opens a pack, selects a card from it, and passes the remaining cards to the next player. Each player then selects one of the remaining cards from the pack he or she just received, and passes the remaining cards again. This continues until all of the cards have been drafted. The directions of passing is left for the first and third packs, and right for the second. Players then build decks out of any of the cards that they selected during the drafting.

Typically, at the end of the game, the players keep the deck they just drafted. It may be possible that a player drafts only the most sought-after cards without little attention to the objective of winning the game. As booster draft may be somewhat expensive format to some players, booster draft simulators played on-line have become even more popular than the physical real-life game played at the local gaming store.

Wizards of the Coast has provided an excellent booster draft simulator (link HERE) but unfortunately, one may only draft Tenth core edition booster packs.

On Le Bestiaire MTG booster draft, one may select any combination of booster packs from any expansion set to open.

Based on over 500,000 booster packs virtually opened, we are able to get a fairly good idea as to top draft picks of any set yet issued to date. As an example, here is the skinny on the top Shards of Alara picks.

Stay tuned for more MTG goodness.