Modern Masters 2017 Ultra PRO

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

If you are a fashionable and hip Magic: the Gathering player at the game table, half the effort should be the bling, which includes perhaps the Commander's Arsenal life counter (or Ultra PRO's 'Realms of Havoc' Dayoote or ShadoΦte) and of course a sweet playmat and card sleeves.  You may have noticed we did not mention a tacky Crown Royal velvet dice bag.  

Anywhoos, if you are looking forward to the upcoming Modern Masters 2017 release, go all in with some sweet artwork featuring Snappy, Gobby Guide or the Ranger (folks round here call him Strider).  Here is the Ultra PRO line-up for Modern Masters 3 being released March 17, 2017.

Modern Masters 2017 Playmats
playmats are sized approximately 24" wide x 13.5" tall, and made with a premium fabric top for a smooth, protective playing surface. The back of the playmats are lined with non-slip, textured rubber material for added grip and padding.
• Snapcaster Mage, illustrated by Ryan Alexander Lee 
• Ranger of Eos, illustrated by Ryan Pancoas
• Goblin Guide, illustrated by Filip Burburan

Modern Masters 2017 Snapcaster Mage Deck Box, illustrated by Ryan Alexander Lee Deck Boxes hold approximately 80 sleeved cards, featuring our full-view design with clean artwork presentation and include a bonus deck divider.

Modern Masters 2017 Snapcaster Mage Deck Protector, illustrated by Ryan Alexander Lee.  Limited Print Deck Protector sleeves are produced with archival-safe polypropylene materials and sized 66mm X 91mm to store and protect standard sized gaming cards.

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Aether Revolt Ultra PRO Offering

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Some gamers in the Magic: the Gathering community are understandably salty with the recent Banned & Restricted update earlier this week.  After all, for a standard legal card to get hit by the Ban-Hammer is pretty much unheard of.  To this end, we want to draw your attention to the Exclusive Playmat being provided by StarCityGames.com Columbus Open event on Aether Revolt launch weekend of 21-22 January.  It features the art work of none other than Smuggler's Copter, aka the 'Looter Scooter'.  Unfortunate, and perhaps a bit awkward, but humourous to some none-the-less.

Anywhoos, moving on, we should summarise the very sharp looking Aether Revolt gaming accessories brought to you by Ultra PRO gaming.  Deck Boxes, Deck Protectors (card sleeves), binder and a wallop of play mats featuring aesthetic arts in this upcoming MTG set.

Magic Aether Revolt Playmats
The standard playmats are sized approximately 24" wide x 13.5" tall with the following six designs:
• Baral, Chief of Compliance
• Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
• Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• Sram, Senior Edificer

• Freejam Regent 

Also available are Aether Revolt 6ft and 8ft Playmat / some call this 'Table Play Mat' for Magic: the Gathering (approximately 72" X 30" or 96" X 30") featuring the Aether Revolt key art work.  

There are three Magic Aether Revolt Deck Protector Sleeves and Full-View Deck Boxes available as well.  Sleeves come in 80 to apack and fits perfectly in the Deck Boxes along with your sideboard and tokens.  The three arts to adorn this are:

• Ajani Unyielding, illustration by Kieran Yanner
• Tezzeret the Schemer, illustration by Ryan Alexander Lee

• Herald of Anguish, illustration by Vincent Proce

Magic Aether Revolt PRO-Binder, features Heart of Kiran, illustrated by Jaime Jones and holds 360 sleeved cards.  The black backing of the pages are textured for low friction and easier card insertion and removal, while an elastic strap holds the binder securely shut. 

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Aether Revolt Spoiler

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

As you may see from my tweet below, it is Snowpolcalypse just now here in Barrie, Ontario.  

If we are getting to our local gaming store OMG! Games tomorrow for Friday Night Magic, there is going to have to be some serious snow removal in order to just get out our front door.  Anywhoos, enough of our frozen precipitate problems, let's get on to today's news - Another Aether Revolt card just got previewed - and - it looks like Ajani finally took the plunge and gave an Oath.

Oath of Ajani, GW
Legendary Enchantment, Rare
When Oath of Ajani enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Planeswalker spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.

"Until all have found their place, I will keep watch."

This card looks solid, and is likely our favourite Planeswalker Oath to day.
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Righto - in other news, we want to talk about how some of our older sleeves and the issues we were having with double faced cards being almost visible through the sleeve back.
 Problem solved ! We took a test drive with Ultra PRO's new Eclipse deck protectors and are thoroughly impressed.

The Eclipse PRO - Matte Deck Protector sleeves

• Completely hides card backs with an added layer of opaque black material.

• Great for all the Double-Faced cards

• Eclipse sleeves uses matte clear material to show the card face while minimizing glare.

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Conspiracy Draft Archetypes

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Conspiracy: Take the Crown is landing in a local gaming store near you this very weekend and Magic: the Gathering players who are fans of this draft-game format are looking forward.  For those out there, who like us, are not tip-top outside of constructed format, there are some good resources out there to help make this and following weekends fun.  First and foremost, pop on over to the mothersite to read Marshall Suttcliffe's really solid and helpful article 'First Look at Drafting Conspiracy: Take the Crown' for tips 'n' tricks.  Otherwise, scroll on down to the bottom for a nice summary we've found online.

For now, we want to bring you attention to the Ultra PRO product line-up for Conspiracy: Take the Crown set to keep your awesome pulls protected and looking slick while playing at the games table.

Playmat versions 1 - Queen Marchesa

Playmat versions 2 - Summoner's Bond

Playmat versions  - Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

Deck Protector / card sleeves - Kaya art

Deck Box - Queen Marchesa

Righto - back on track to drafting Conspiracy -

In limited, we've always thought of building sealed pool / draft akin to building our own game table monster - starting with creatures as the skeleton and other spells as 'fleshing' out the rest.  Beyond this horrible analogy, we're quite useless at strategy but we do know that certain colour combinations lend itself well to evasion, whether it is W/U flyers or Aggro Ramp with R/G.  We have noted in this set, there are a fair number of cards in black / white which lends itself more to becoming the 'Monarch' at your table and the benefits of additional card draw that come with that designation.

Redditor 'CountryCaravan' had put together a very decent guide over here which provides a decent primer and suggestions for colour archetypes to consider when drafting this set.  Good luck to all those gamers cracking Conspiracy packs this weekend.

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Ultra PRO Oath of the Gatewatch

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Ultra PRO product offerings for Oath of the Gatewatch are now finally out.

As you may have guessed, all (four) of the 'Oath' Cycle of card arts are provided on the Ultra PRO deck sleeves and deck box with the Kozilek, the Great Distortion illustration featured on the fifth.

Card portfolio featuring Fall of the Titans & Bonds of Mortality while the two playmats have the OGW key art and 'Call the Gatewatch' art.

http://www.ultrapro.com/division.php?d=g

 
Play mat with premium fabric top to prevent damage to cards during game play. Dimensions are approximately 24" X 13-1/2". Rubber backing lets the play mat lay flat and prevents the mat from shifting during use.
♢  Call the Gatewatch Play Mat - # 86312
♢  Key Art Play Mat - # 86313

9-pocket PRO-Binder with printed cover. Embossed middle black web material gives cards a classic framed look. Side loading pocket design to prevent cards from easily falling out. Elastic strap holds the binder shut when not in use. All materials made from archival-safe, acid-free non-PVC material. Holds 360 Cards in Ultra Pro Deck Protector sleeves. Features Fall of the Titans & Bonds of Mortality.
♢ Full-View PRO-Binder for Magic, 9-Pkt

Vertical, top loading Deck Box with full flap cover. Holds 82 cards in Deck Protectors sleeves. Acid free, durable polypropylene material.
♢ Kozilek, the Great Distortion - # 86307
♢ Oath of Chandra - # 86309
♢ Oath of Gideon - # 86308
♢ Oath of Jace - # 86311
♢ Oath of Nissa - # 86310

Deck Protectors with Ultra PRO's hologram quality seal. Sized 66mm X 91mm to store and protect standard sized cards. All Ultra PRO Deck Protectors are archival-safe and acid-free. 80-count pack.
♢ Kozilek, the Great Distortion - # 86307
♢ Oath of Chandra - # 86302
♢ Oath of Gideon - # 86303
♢ Oath of Jace - # 86306
♢ Oath of Nissa - # 86305

 

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BCW Sleeves

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Here at MTG Realm, we have yet another product review again from BCW Supplies - this one for the card sleeves.  More specifically, the standard gaming sleeves as well as their Inner Sleeves.  We're certain that Magic: the Gathering fans, or for that matter, any card gamer has experienced the pain and frustration of poor quality sleeves.  Sometimes new and right outta the package the inexpensive ones split, even with a very careful shuffle.  Another somewhat common sleeve issue which we've personally experienced some years ago is the purchase of several same-brand card sleeve packs from the same manufacturer where not only the colour was ever so slightly off, the solid colour sleeve back on the one sleeve pack was considerably thinner so that one could see the back of the MTG card.

Since August of last year, we've been using Double Matte Deck Guards from BCW Supplies on several of our Magic: the Gathering standard and Commander decks and have not yet had one break so far.  Here's a quick summary of our observations based on approximately 9 months of moderate playing - that is, a minimum of at least one game per week with multiple shuffles per game :

• No card splits / robust seams
• Easy shuffling / handling
• No corner-edge bends yet
• No discernable wear on sleeve face
• Perfect colour match between sleeve packs
• Minimal sleeve front glare

Specifically, these were the BCW Supplies Double Matte Black Deck Guards, 66 x 91 mm sleeves which are designed to fit the standard 2½" x 3½" game card.  We have really no concerns at all with these sleeves and the only note was that although these are labeled as clear non-glare, there was indeed a slight glare.  We would temper that statement with 'we've seen so much worse' and consider the amount of perceived glare (at the local store as well as our play group at home) to be barely worth to be mentioned.

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Next up -
BCW Supplies Inner Sleeves.

To be very honest an clear, in the 8 or so years we've been playing Magic: the Gathering, we have not once used inner sleeves on any of our cards.  In retrospect, we will freely admit that there have been a handful of occasions in the past where we really should have.  Case in point - one rather late evening with the playgroup at home, one of the members unknowingly had a very small volume of cold beverage condensate wick into a foil Noble Hierarch and then mangle-shuffled.  Sobriety was not present.  This lovely card (just under a $100) now had a nasty corner (sorry no image taken of ths).  We should think that were the card double-sleeved, such a disaster would have been averted.

Anywhoos, here's the low-down on the BCW Inner Sleeves - These are a perfect skin-tight fit of 64 x 89 milimeters and when employed in an opposing fashion (inner / outer sleeves at opposite), the arrangement provides a near impenetrable barrier to safeguard your cardboard asset.


We personally found it a bit time-consuming to get the perfect fit inner sleeve on but will admit that the time spent is well spent indeed to keep your precious investment looking tip-top.

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Commander 2014 Ultra PRO

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

A quick post ahead of of our regular one here on MTG Realm to update Magic: the Gathering fans on the Ultra PRO product offerings for the latest variant set, Commander 2014.

To be released on Friday 7th November 2014, these official gaming supplies will feature artwork of each of the new five Planeswalker Commanders on playmats as well as extended variant illustrations on the card sleeves -

• Nahiri, the Lithomancer, illus. Eric Deschamps
• Teferi, Temporal Archmage, illus. Tyler Jacobson
• Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, illus. Daarken
• Daretti, Scrap Savant, illus. Dan Scott
• Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, illus. Adam Paquette

The Commander playmats look great, feature roman numerals across the top (tracking damage or tracking Commander re-costs?) as well as a zone in which to place your Commander during game play.  The sleeves feature a foil-like 'Chrome effect' on the graphic as well.

For a better look at the artwork, pop on over to MTG Realm on Tumblr where we posted high-res images.

Let's have a look at these very cool items now -

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Ultra PRO M15 Product Line Up

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

This is our second post for today - as we had mentioned in our previous post (http://mtg-realm.blogspot.com/2014/06/m15-spoilers-6-25.html), we had a LOT of catching up to day with all the new Magic: the Gathering / Magic 2015 core set news, spoilers 'n' previews coming out.  There are two thingys we have to cover off in this post -

First up - The John Avon Kickstarter project - 

To celebrate 30 years of producing beautiful fantasy art for books, record covers and card games, John Avon, with his agent Guy Coulson, is putting together his collected works book, ‘Journeys to Somewhere Else’.

John Avon (born 1961 in Cardiff, Wales) is a fantasy and science fiction illustrator. His work has been used for book covers, CD covers, games, toys and advertising campaigns. He is best known for his artworks for the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, of which he has produced over 200 paintings.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnavonart/journeys-to-somewhere-else-by-john-avon
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Second, and lastly - All the very cool Ultra PRO products for the Magic 2015 core set.

ULTRA PRO has been designing, manufacturing, and distributing gaming and collectibles accessories since 1952. They are recognized as the premier brand of protection and display products within the trading card game (TCG) and sports trading card industries.  Look for Ultra PRO products at your local gaming store and MTG Mint Card.

ULTRA PRO Magic: The Gathering® – Magic 2015 Deck Protector - SIX versions

ULTRA PRO Magic: The Gathering® – Magic 2015 Full-View Deck boxes - SIX versions

ULTRA PRO Magic: The Gathering® – Magic 2015 Play Mats - THREE versions

ULTRA PRO Magic: The Gathering® – Magic 2015 PRO-Binder - TWO versions

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Ultra-PRO Round Up

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Today we wanted to provide a cross post from MTG Realm on Tumblr in order to catch up with some very lovely Ultra•PRO products.  Personally, we have a variety of sleeves and boxes and have yet to be disappointed.  Anywhoos - Let's check 'em out! -
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Photoset

November 04, 2013

98 notes

 

Magic: the Gathering - Accessories
Yer fav PWs - the Lorwyn 5!  - MTG Ultra•PRO ‘Mana Series 4’ Planeswalker play mats.
Expected to be released in December 2013.
Depending upon which store you go to, this may retail anywhere from $20 to $25.

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Photoset

November 04, 2013

38 notes

 

Magic: the Gathering - Accessories
MTG Ultra•PRO ‘Mana Series 4’ Planeswalker card sleeves and deck boxes.  Expected to be released December 2013.

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Photoset

November 04, 2013

42 notes

 

 

Accessories - Ultra•pro

Check out this sweet Ultra•PRO Satin Tower Deck Box to get your stack of awesome to your game. 

• It’s heavy-duty construction uses ballistics proof (maybe) rigid plastic.

• This can hold up to a 100+ standard sized sleeved cards.

• Secures your precious cargo with a unique snap lock system.

• Has an accessory compartment for your dice / tokens / opponent’s broken dreams.

This is like an epic three-stage rocket you can blow up your game table with.

Pro Tip - confuzzle your opponent by using a white UPR Satin Tower deck box to carry your mono-black control deck.

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