BFZ Event and Intro Pack Lists

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

The Battle for Zendikar PreRelease events are taking place this weekend and Magic: the Gathering players are quite understandably rather excited for this.  If you are heading into a local gaming store (like OMG! Games in Barrie, Ontario like we are), we suggest you may wish to review the Battle for Zendikar Release Notes so that you are well prepared.  For today's post, we are letting you know that the decklists for the Battle for Zendikar Event Deck and Intro Packs were posted today on the mothersite (linky over here).  For now, here is a brief summary of contents -

Ultimate Sacrifice Event Deck 

The theme is described within the name of this deck - sacrifice creatures and tokens to your benefit.  Battle for Zendikar Event Deck releases 2nd October and is a perfect way to jump into a Standard tournament, like Friday Night Magic, with a powerful deck.  For an MSRP of about $25 you get the following :
• One Ready-to-play 60-card deck
• A 15-card Sideboard
• One Spindown life counter
• A Strategy insert
• All within one Deck Box

There are five different Battle for Zendikar Intro Packs releasing on 2nd October each featuring a theme along and showcasing new mechanics from the set. These are great for introducing new Magic players to Battle for Zendikar.  For an MRSP of about $15, you get the following:
• One Ready-to-play 60-card deck featuring a foil premium card
• TWO Battle for Zendikar 15-card booster packs
• A Strategy Insert
• A learn-to-play guide

RALLYING CRY (Red / White)
Featuring the new 'Rally' mechanic and Ally creature sub-type.

SWARMING INSTINCT (Blue / Green)
Featuring a lot of 'Devoid' (colourless) spells.

CALL OF BLOOD (Black / White)
Featuring a number of creatures with flying and a life gain theme.

ELDRAZI ASSAULT (Black / Red)
Featuring a great sampling of Eldrazi creatures with 'Devoid' and 'Ingest'. 

ZENDIKAR'S RAGE (Red / Green)

Featuring a number of spells with 'Landfall'

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DTK Event Decklist

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Happy Wednesay MTG peeps,

We now have the Event Decklist for Dragons of Tarkir, which should be hitting the shelf of a local gaming store near you on 27th March, when the full set officially goes on sale.

If you are new to the game, an Event Deck is a standard-format pre-constructed product which is an upgrade over the Intro Pack.  The Event Deck is more competitive with and in the case of this Dragons of Tarkir Event Deck, contains ten rares along with a decent measure of other powerful spells which promises to put up a good fight at your local Friday Night Magic event.

In this Temur-flavoured (Green, Red, splashing Blue) Dragons of Tarki Event deck, one can employ a number of large beffy creatures and red burn spells to relentlessly attack your opponent, touching on blue mana to play some powerful three-color cards as well as a few tricky blue spells to keep opponents off balance.

The Landslide Charge Event Deck is available when Dragons of Tarkir releases on March 27 and ready to be played right out of the box.  For a MRSP of about $25, you get the following to rock your game table :

• Ready-to-play 60-card deck
• 15-card Sideboard
• Spindown life counter
• Strategy insert
• Deck Box

Dragons of Tarkir Landslide Charge Event Decklist

Creatures (23) : 4 Elvish Mystic, 2 Golden Hind, 4 Heir of the Wilds, 2 Mogis's Warhound, 1 Yasova Dragonclaw (Rare), 1 Boon Satyr (Rare), 4 Fanatic of Xenagos, 1 Savage Knuckleblade (Rare), 1 Polis Crusher (Rare), 1 Mistcutter Hydra (Rare), 1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller (Rare), 1 Thunderbreak Regent (Rare)

Sorcery (4) : 1 Arc Lightning, 1 Crater's Claws (Rare), 2 Roast

Instant (7) : 2 Wild Slash, 1 Stubborn Denial, 2 Lightning Strike, 2 Temur Charm

Enchantment (1) : 1 Outpost Siege (Rare)

Land (25) : 4 Evolving Wilds, 4 Frontier Bivouac, 1 Temple of Abandon (Rare), 10 Forest, 5 Mountain, 1 Island

Sideboard (15) : 1 Stubborn Denial, 2 Arc Lightning, 2 Rending Volley,  2 Disdainful Stroke, 2 Encase in Ice,  2 Abzan Beastmaster, 2 Reclamation Sage,  2 Act of Treason


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Khans of Tarkir Event Deck

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Some news on the mothersite today that some Magic: the Gathering players may be interested to hear - the Khans of Tarkir Event Deck.  The Khans of Tarkir Event Deck gives players an easy way to jump into a Standard tournament, like Friday Night Magic, with a powerful deck and has the following contents:
• Ready-to-play 60-card deck
• 15-card Sideboard
• Spindown life counter
• Strategy insert
• Deck Box

We know quite a few players who pick up the event deck and with only a few minor tweaks (typically just a two or three extra rares from the card shop or online retailer like MTG Mint Card), and then you're good to go.  In fact, our buddy Rick, co-owner at OMG! Games here in Barrie has been using Event Decks at Friday Night Magic Events and we'll freely admit that the decklist kicks butt.   

Anywhoos, on to the decklist !

Creature (25)
1 Herald of Anafenza
3 Mardu Hateblade
3 Tormented Hero
1 Bloodsoaked Champion
2 Chief of the Edge
2 Chief of the Scale
2 Seeker of the Way
3 Oreskos Swiftclaw
3 Mardu Skullhunter
1 Pain Seer
1 Mardu Hordechief
1 Herald of Torment
2 Timely Hordemate

Sorcery (1)
1 Rush of Battle

Instant (2)
1 Bile Blight
1 Silence the Believers
Artifact (1)
1 Spear of Heliod

Enchantment (7)
1 Spirit Bonds
2 Banishing Light
2 Raiders' Spoils
1 Dictate of Erebos
1 Dictate of Heliod

Land (24)
1 Caves of Koilos
4 Scoured Barrens
10 Plains
9 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
2 Despise
2 Solemn Offering
3 Glare of Heresy
3 Dark Betrayal
1 Drown in Sorrow
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Brain Maggot 

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 We rather like this list.  In fact, this was not too far removed from one of the first new standard format decks we were going to develop for the next FNM event.  Our only criticism is that out of the 10 rares in here, only 2 are from Khans of Tarkir.  We should have liked a bit more if WotC threw in some of the sweepers like Utter End / End Hostilities or even Grim Haruspex.
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Born of the Gods Event Deck

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Born of the Gods, the newest Magic: the Gathering set will be officially released tomorrow during Friday Night Magic events taking place world wide.  Some local gaming stores like OMG! Games here in Barrie, like many other stores will be open at midnight for players who want to get their paws on singles and sealed product.  We'll be there at the stroke of midnight to pick up a Born of the Gods Fat Pack, a few booster packs and perhaps a few singles so we can get some of the new cards in our decklist for FNM.

One sealed product you cannot purchase just yet is the Born of the Gods Event deck. An event deck is a tournament-level deck that contains more competitive cards than their intro deck counterparts. Event decks contain 10 rares and multiple playsets of cards, where intro decks contain two rares, more 1’s and 2-ofs, and two sealed booster packs.  The new BNG Event Deck releases February 28, 2014.  For a MRSP $25, here’s what you get -

• 1 60-card deck
• 1 15-card sideboard
• 1 Spindown life counter
• 1 strategy insert
• 1 card box

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Over on the mothersite today, we were furnished with the decklist.  Here's the 4.1.1. from WotC -

The "Underworld Herald" deck combines aggressive swarms of creatures with devastating spells that destroy your opponent’s forces. Enchantment creatures and powerful devotion creatures give you a solid backup plan if your initial offensive can’t finish things off.

This deck features a mix of aggressive mechanics. Unleash lets you choose to have your creature enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter at the cost of not being able to block. Bestow lets you cast some of your creatures as Auras that turn into creatures if the target they are enchanting is removed. This gives you resilience against opponents who can kill your creatures. Abilities that count your devotion to black get more powerful based on the number of black mana symbols among the mana costs of permanents you control, including hybrid mana symbols like the one on Rakdos Cackler—perfect for a deck with only black cards.

24 lands : 24  Swamp

26 creatures : 1  Agent of the Fates, 1  Blood Scrivener, 1  Crypt Ghast, 1  Desecration Demon, 1  Erebos's Emissary, 1  Herald of Torment, 3  Mogis's Marauder, 1  Pack Rat, 4  Rakdos Cackler, 4  Rakdos Shred-Freak, 3  Spiteful Returned, 3  Tormented Hero, 2  Xathrid Necromancer

10 other spells : 2  Bile Blight, 3  Doom Blade, 1  Fated Return, 1  Gift of Orzhova, 1  Hero's Downfall, 2  Ultimate Price

15 sideboard cards : 3  Cremate, 2  Dark Betrayal, 4  Duress, 2  Gift of Orzhova, 2  Pharika's Cure, 2  Staff of the Death Magus
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What do we think?  We can't say we really care for this list.  So many odd 'one of's' wuch as Blood Scrivener, Crypt Ghast, Agent of the Fates, etc. to feed into a focused strategy.  The appearance of Staff of the Death Magus is simply weird.

Having said that, we do think that one could simply use this list as a foundation and pick up singles from MTG Mint Card to make it rock.   We also do think that the list does deliver very good value.  There is approximately $60 or so bucks after tallying up the singles and not matter what you may think of this mono-black list, you'll be getting solid cards which can be ripped into another decklist you have or as mentioned modify the existing list to make it competitive in your local meta-game.

Drop by the WotC  sample hand generator here to get a feel for it.

 

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Born of the Gods Products

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Happy Tuesday (again) MTG peeps,

For our previous post earlier today which covered off today's Born of the Gods spoilers 'n' previews, click on over here.  We wanted to get to you a second post to cover off the 4.1.1. on all the sealed Born of the Gods products coming out.  Whether you are just starting to play Magic: the Gathering and are interested in getting an Intro Pack, or (like us) want to know more about what is in the BNG PreRelease pack when we open it up at our local gaming store (OMG! Games, Barrie, ON.), there is literally something here for everyone.  Anywhoos, let's have a looky-loo now -

Born of the Gods Fat Pack, MRSP ~$40
(available on the release date February 7, 2014)
9 Born of the Gods booster packs
1 card box
1 player’s guide
1 80-card land pack
1 learn-to-play insert
1 Spindown™ life counter
2 deck boxes


Born of the Gods Intro Pack, MRSP ~$15
(5 different versions available - available on and after the prerelease date)
1 premium card
1 60-card deck
2 Born of the Gods booster packs
1 learn-to-play insert
1 strategy insert

Born of the Gods Event Deck, MRSP ~$25
(1 version, Releases February 28, 2014)
1 60-card deck
1 15-card sideboard
1 Spindownlife counter
1 strategy insert
1 card box


Born of the Gods Prerelease Pack, MRSP ~$25
(5 different versions available - these are not for sale until after the PreRelease events take place)
The Prerelease Packs are as follows;
• WHITE - Destined to Lead
• BLUE - Destined to Outwit
• BLACK - Destined to Dominate
• RED - Destined to Conquer
• GREEN - Destined to Thrive

2 Born of the Gods booster packs
3 Theros™ booster packs
1 Seeded booster pack
1 Premium promo card
1 Activity card
1 Spindown life counter
1 Welcome Letter
1 Hero Card

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