Amonkhet Bundle Unboxing

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering's latest set, the Ancient Egyptian themed 'Amonkhet' is hitting the shelves of local gaming stores near you.  Attend the Amonkhet Launch at a participating store, and you may score the Launch Promo 'Oracle's Vault'.  Should you find yourself near Barrie, Ontario (just a bit north of Toronto), drop on in to OMG! Games, and tell them MTG Realm sent ya.

Anywhoos, as is our custom here, we picked up a Bundle, formerly known as a Fat Pack, and have produced this short video for you.

Contents:
• 10 Amonkhet boosters
• 1 Card storage box
• 1 Player's Guide
• 60 basic land cards
• 20 full-art basic lands
• 25 double-sided tokens
• 1 Spindown life counter

Rare Pulls:
• Anointed Procession
• Glyph Keeper
• Curator of Mysteries
• Archfiend of Ifnir (foil)
• Harsh Mentor
• Soul-Scar Mage
• Harvest Season
• Champion of Rhonas
• Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun
• Neheb, the Worthy
• Pyramid of the Pantheon

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Aether Revolt Bundle UnBox

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

It is finally the Aether Revolt Launch weekend!  This means that when we pop down to our local gaming store, OMG Games, here in Barrie, Ontario this evening to play in the regular Friday Night Magic event, we will score the Aether Revolt Launch Promo, Quick Smith Rebel.

We already did pop in to our store earlier to pick up an Aether Revolt Bundle as is our longstanding custom.  Formerly known as a 'Fat Pack', this box contains the following :

• 10 Aether Revolt booster packs
• 1 Card box
• 1 Player's Guide
• 80 Basic land cards
• 1 Magic learn-to-play guide
• 1 Spindown life counter

 

Here is our short unboxing video -

Here are our pulls -
Rares / Mythic Rare
• Sram, Senior Edificer ~ $2
• Planar Bridge ~ $8
• Pia’s Revolution ~ $2
• Greenbelt Rampager ~ $4
• Glint-Sleeve Siphoner ~ $3
• Merchant’s Dockhand ~ $2
• Rishkar’s Expertise ~ $3
• Solemn Recruit ~ $2
• Disallow ~ $6
• Consulate Crackdown ~ $2

Uncommon
• Fatal Push ~ $6 

With the average retail price at about $35 (US), the value of the rares / mythic rare along with the single Fatal Push was certainly adequate to 'pay for itself'.  We have been collecting the Player's Guide / visual card encyclopedia for a number of years and also rely upon the card storage box itself to organise our growing collection.  

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Aether Revolt Trailer & Tech

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

A Happy New Year to all as well - we hope you had a great year-end with family, friends and perhaps a few Magic: the Gathering games to boot.  With the first few days of 2017, we are now kicking off official Aether Revolt previews.  There is a bit of catching up to do with new spoilers but for this post, we will draw your attention to the Aether Revolt Trailer and Mechanics.  First, here's that awesome trailer.

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On to the mechanics now.  Two mechanics are being drawn from the previous set of Kaladesh - 

Vehicles 
Vehicle is an artifact subtype easiliy identified with a special bronze and grey blocked card frame.  Artifacts with this subtype have the crew keyword, which allows them to temporarily become artifact creatures. Creatures with the Pilot type have an ability that somehow cares about crewing Vehicles.

Energy counters
An energy counter is a counter that, unlike most other counters, is placed on players rather than objects. Energy counters are used to pay the cost to activate abilities.  Energy counters don't evaporate as phases or steps end, or as the turn ends but rather when you spend them.
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Now for the two new mechanics for Aether Revolt - 

Improvise — a keyword ability that enables you to pay generic mana cost with the help of your artifacts. Each artifact you tap after you're done activating mana abilities pays for 1 colourless mana.

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Revolt — an ability word that checks if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.

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Also - WotC Staff Michael Yichao has this short vid going over the bascis of playing in an MTG PreRelease event.  If you have never treated yourself by playing in one of these events, you are missing a ton of fun.  Check out where an Aether Revolt PreRelease event is taking place near you (lnky right here), and just bring yourself, and some Ultra PRO deck protector sleeves.

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EMN Fat Pack Unbox

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday - and - the official release date of the newest Magic: the Gathering set, Eldritch Moon, we suggest you make tracks down to your local gaming store.  The launch promo is the shiny alternate-art Identity Thief.  If you happen to find yourself in Central Ontario, pop by our fav gaming store, OMG! Games, in Barrie.  

As is our custom here at MTG Realm, we've picked up a Eldritch Moon Fat Pack and provide this video of its dissection for you now - 

Fat Pack Contents:
•  9 Eldritch Moon booster packs
•  1 card box
•  Player's Guide / visual card list
•  Basic land pack
•  1 learn-to-play insert
•  1 Spindown Life Counter
•  2 deck boxes

Our Pulls - 
PK 1  Bruna, the Fading Light  +  Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Pk 2  Noosegraf Mob
PK 3  Ulvenwald Observer
PK 4  Wharf Infiltrator
PK 5  Imprisoned in the Moon
PK 6  Stitcher's Graft
PK 7  Summary Dismissal
PK 8  Assembled Alphas
PK 9  Bloodhall Priest  

 

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Commander Videos 6

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We are back again and on track with the final installment of our wildly popular video series on Commander 2015 with our good buddy Jon at CommandTower.tk.  Today we are looking at the blue / green Simic-coloured pre-constructed decklist called 'Swell the Host'.  MTG Realm playgroup member 'R-Stomp' has already sleeved up with the matching Ultra PRO sleeves and has kicked butt / taken names with this decklist.  

Righto, here are our videos to date -
(1) Commander 2015 Intro
(2) Call the Spirits (Black / White)
(3) Seize Control (Red / Blue)
(4) Plunder the Graves (Black / Green)
(5) Wade into Battle (Red / White)
(6) Swell the Host (Blue / Green)

- and here we present our video review -

Swell the Host
Ezuri, Claw of Progress once led a resistance against the Phyrexians—but now he seeks to extend their gift of “perfection” to his former allies. As more creatures join his mighty host, he infuses them with ever-greater power.

The primary theme of the deck is +1/+1 counters, and the secondary theme is Snakes on a Plane. The primary new commander is Ezuri, Claw of Progress, the secondary new commander is Kaseto, Orochi Archmage, and the reprint commander is Prime Speaker Zegana.

New cards for Commander 2015
• Arachnogenesis
• Broodbirth Viper
• Command Beacon
• Ezuri, Claw of Progress
• Ezuri's Predation
• Gigantoplasm
• Great Oak Guardian
• Illusory Ambusher
• Kaseto, Orochi Archmage
• Mirrormatch
• Scytheclaw
• Skullwinder
• Synthetic Destiny
• Thought Vessel
• Verdant Confluence

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Commander Videos 5

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Friday again is (finally upon us).  We suggest making a clean mental break from your work / school week and head on down to your local gaming store for Friday Night Magic - full of fun / adventure / prizes, and in some places, rather unusual odors.  Anywhoos, we are heading down to our fav store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario Canada-Land to fine-tune our current standard (B/R devoid Eldrazi) to get some game play in before next weekend's Game Day Tournament.

Anywhoos, we are back again with another installment of our wildly popular video series on Commander 2015 with our good buddy Jon at CommandTower.tk.  Today we are looking at the red / white Boros-coloured pre-constructed decklist called 'Wade into Battle.  Can't wait to sleeve up this bad boy with the matching Ultra PRO sleeves / box / playmat and get down to gaming.  Here are our videos to date -
(1) Commander 2015 Intro
(2) Call the Spirits (Black / White)
(3) Seize Control (Red / Blue)
(4) Plunder the Graves (Black / Green)
(5) Wade into Battle (Red / White)
(6) Swell the Host (Blue / Green)

Wade into Battle
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas is a giant who’s right at home on the front ranks of a fight. Her power increases as more large creatures answer her call, so her lightning-fast sword swings grow deadlier as the battle wages on.

The primary theme of the deck is giants, and the secondary theme is big creatures. The primary new commander is Kalemne, Disciple of Ioras, the secondary new commander is Anya, Merciless Angel, and the reprint commander is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight.

New cards for Commander 2015
• Anya, Merciless Angel
• Blade of Selves
• Dawnbreak Reclaimer
• Dream Pillager
• Fiery Confluence
• Herald of the Host
• Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
• Kalemne's Captain
• Magus of the Wheel
• Meteor Blast
• Oreskos Explorer
• Rite of the Raging Storm
• Sandstone Oracle
• Thought Vessel
• Warchief Giant

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Commander Videos 4

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Last weekend, our Bro-Chacho Jon, of CommandTower.tk, dropped by and we went through all five Commander 2015 decks.  These were a very lovely gift from our awesome Bro Eric at Christmas.  

These posts (to be updated) will link off to all the videos we had worked on - 
(1) Commander 2015 Intro
(2) Call the Spirits (Black / White)
(3) Seize Control (Red / Blue)
(4) Plunder the Graves (Black / Green)
(5) Wade into Battle (Red / White)
(6) Swell the Host (Blue / Green)

In today's post, we have a video where we will discuss the black and green 'Golgari' Commander product named 'Plunder the Graves'.

If you love using your graveyard as a resources to filter and power-out threats to the battlefield, you will likely find this Commander 2015 to fit your style.  I would even go so far as to suggest that Necromongers (of the Riddick science fiction franchise) would likely pick up this decklist to do battle as well.  Anywhoos, here's the 411 for you -

Plunder the Graves 
Meren of Clan Nel Toth draws on the corpses of mighty creatures to serve as her minions. The more creatures die, the faster the fallen return to fight on her behalf, so she freely sacrifices the living to make room for the dead. 

The primary theme of the deck is graveyard recursion, and the secondary themes are sacrificing permanents and +1/+1 counters. The primary new commander is Meren of Clan Nel Toth, the secondary new commander is Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest, and the reprint commander is Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. 

New cards for Commander 2015 
• Banshee of the Dread Choir 
• Bloodspore Thrinax 
• Caller of the Pack 
• Centaur Vinecrasher 
• Corpse Augur 
• Dread Summons 
• Great Oak Gurdian 
• Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest 
• Meren of Clan Nel Toth 
• Pathbreaker Ibex 
• Scourge of Nel Toth 
• Skullwinder 
• Thief of Blood 
• Thought Vessel 
• Wretched Confluence

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BFZ Fat Pack

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Today is the day that Magic: the Gathering players have been waiting for quite some time - the official release of the Battle for Zendikar set. 

Last night, or rather very, very early this morning, we were at our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario to pick up our Fat Pack for our traditional unboxing video.  We'll be back again tonight for Friday Magic Magic =

 

Fat Packs for this particular set are a sweet purchase as you are also getting 80 full art lands.  Anywhoos, here's the this sealed product contains:
9 Battle for Zendikar 15-card booster packs,
1 card box, Player's Guide with card images,
80-card basic land pack (FULL ART basic lands, 16 of each color),
1 learn-to-play insert,
1 Spindown Life Counter,
2 deck boxes

And here is our pulls - 

Oblivion Sower
2x Endless One
Smothering Abomination
Oran-Rief Hydra
Beastcaller Savant
Nissa's Renewal (foil)
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper
Lumbering Falls
Ally Encampment

 
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Magic Origins Release

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Happy Friday indeed as it has now finally come to the much anticipated Magic Origins Release.  With Magic: the Gathering fans taking part in the PreRelease last weekend, tonight at Friday Night Magic at local gaming stores, players will now launch into a new format, whichever that format may be - standard, modern, commander, etc.  

Speaking of local gaming stores, our very own OMG! Games, in Barrie Ontario has a fun filled weekend, kicking off of course with FNM tonight, and then a whack of good-stuff on Saturday including a 20% off sale on MTG singles and a preliminary PTQ.

#MTG Magic: the Gathering SINGLES ON SALE - 20% Saturday 18th July - One Day Only @OMGGAMES #barrie #Ontario ! pic.twitter.com/dtMT0v5dxj

— OMG Games (@OMGGAMES) July 15, 2015

#MTG Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier to the first Pro Tour of 2016 Sat. July 16 Noon $25 entry for $600 1st Prize crd. pic.twitter.com/P7pTysjH5L

— OMG Games (@OMGGAMES) July 7, 2015

Anywhoos - on to our post - 
As is our custom, we popped by OMG! Games and picked up a Fat Pack.  Here is our dissection video for you -

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Fate Reforged Fat Pack

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We is excite.  This evening at gaming stores around the world, Magic: the Gathering players will be heading off to Friday Night Magic events to take part in the official launch of Fate Reforged.  We'll be off to FNM at our local card shop, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario and although we did swing by very, very early this morning (12:01 AM) to pick up a Fat Pack and a couple of boosters, we still do not yet have all the components to assemble our next 60-card weapon to game with - our pre-orders is expected later next week.

Anywhoos, speaking about Fat Packs, as is our custom here on MTG Realm, we've got an unboxing video for you.  For the MRSP of $40, here's what you get -

FAT PACK Contents:
• 9 booster packs
• 1 card box
•  Player's Guide (card encyclopedia)
•  80-card basic land pack
• 1 learn-to-play insert
• 1 Spindown Life Counter
• 2 deck boxes

Aaannnd - here's the vid -

Aaannd here's our pulls -

PACK 1 Foil Dismal Backwater, Dromoka, the Eternal 
PACK 2 Temporal Trespass 
PACK 3 Monastery Siege
PACK 4 Mob Rule 
PACK 5 Foil Supplant Form, Rally the Ancients 
PACK 6 Foil Sultai Runemark, Monastery Mentor (!w00t!) 
PACK 7 Flamerush Rider 
PACK 8 Soulflayer 
PACK 9 Foil Soul Summons, Temporal Trespass

 

As we had some extra change in our pocket at midnight we also picked up two extra Fate Reforged booster packs and DANG! we were rather happy ->

Have a great time tonight at FNM !  The promo for the release is Sandsteppe Mastodon.

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KTK Holiday Gift Box

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

We were able to get out to Friday Night Magic last evening to our local gaming store, OMG! Games despite the nasty arctic-like meteorological conditions.  There was however only about half the number of players unfortunately.  We brought along a Mardu midrange decklist and failed quite miserably - which is OK as we love deck-brewing just as much as playing.

 

Anywhoos, the Khans of Tarkir Holiday Gift Box also released just yesterday and we did pick one up for ourselves.  Our very fluffy American Eskimo also approved of this purchase.  This really is quite a kick-butt deal considering that the price for the box is equivalent to just the four KTK booster packs in there with the rest of it simply all gravy.  Here's a quick video of the unboxing -

Here's what you get -
CONTENTS
• 4 Khans of Tarkir Booster Packs
• Rather handsome card storage box (2,000+ card capacity)
• 20 Khans of Tarkir basic lands
• Six illustrated plastic dividers
• Sticker sheet for the dividers / your school textbook
• An alternative-art foil Sultai Charm from the Khans of Tarkir set

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Divider Arts
Plains, illustrated by Noah Bradley
Island, illustrated by Florian de Gesincourt
Swamp, illustrated by Noah Bradley
Mountain, illustrated by Florian de Gesincourt
Forest, illustrated by Adam Paquette
Tomb of the Spirit Dragon 'Colorless Land', illustrated by Sam Burley

Sultai Charm, Khans of Tarkir Uncommon Arts
Regular Printing, illustrated by Mathias Kollros
Holiday Gift Box Alternate Art, illustrated by Ryan Lee  

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Khans of Tarkir Fat Pack

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As is our custom here at MTG Realm, we've popped over to our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario to pick up a Fat Pack from the newest set.  Khans of Tarkir officially releases today but we were at the store at Midnight (Tumblr post here) and wow was it packed with Magic: the Gathering fans eager to get a hold of the new cards.  Hopefully before Friday Night Magic begins, we will have replaced approximately half the decklist (as it has now rotated out of standard format) we've been playing for the last month or so with the new Khans of Tarkir goodness.

Anywhoos - sit back and have a looky-loo at our Khans of Tarkir Fat Pack unboxing . . .
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FAT PACK CONTENTS
• 9 Khans of Tarkir booster packs
• 1 card storage box
• 1 player's guide (always awesome)
• 1 x 80-card land pack
•  2 x  60-card deck boxes
• 1 Spindown life counter

Here's the rares we pulled -

• Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
• Sage of the Inward Eye (FOIL)
• Temur Ascendancy
• Rattleclaw Mystic
• Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
• Rakshasa Vizier

• Ankle Shanker
• Siege Rhino
• High Sentinels of Arashin
• Herald of Anafenza

 

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Magic 2015 Fat Pack

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering players are likely all a rather happy bunch at the moment - the latest core set, Magic 2015 officially released on Friday with the special launch event taking place during Friday Night Magic.  Those in attendance at their local gaming store may have scored a lovely alternate art 'In Garruk's Wake', which although may not see a lot of constructed play, does perfectly present the theme / storyline of this core set.  

We played on Friday Night at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario, Canada-Land to get our launch promo and try out a new Magic 2015 card in an existing Naya Hexproof Auras decklist we already had.  Specifically, we had added a full deckset of Heliod's Pilgrim which, all things considered, is a rather powerful card - being able to search your library for any aura card to get it in your hand is great.  We modified the conventional list to run it a bit akin to a 'toolbox' where we floated out the right auras at the right time.  Unfortunately we did not do too well at OMG! Games and think we need to modify our mana a titch.  Speaking of our local gaming store, they ran a Charity Event on Sunday for a former regular who had been battling cancer.  Although the event is over, you can still contribute to good guy William Howe's recovery here.

Righto - back on track!
As is our custom here on MTG Realm, we've grabbed a M15 Fat Pack from OMG! Games and brought it back to our lair for a video dissection - let's have a look 

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For an MRSP of just $40 USD, here's what you score in a Magic 2015 Fat Pack -
• Card Storage Box
• Nine M15 Boosters
• 2 deck boxes
• Player's Guide
• A learn-to-play insert
• A pack of 80 basic lands
• Spindown life counter

We were more than happy with our Fat Pack Pulls - a total of 3 Mythic Rares, one of which is most definitely a 'money card' at the moment.  The Sliver Hivelord is also very welcome as we had pre-ordered from MTG Mint a bunch of M14 / M15 Slivers and Sliver Hive as we want to play a fun Sliver build at FNM before this fall's rotation.

• Garruk, Apex Predator

• Jace, the Living Guildpack

• Sliver Hivelord

• Cruel Sadist

• Chasm Skulker

• Kurlesh, Onakke Ancient

• Battlefield Forge

• Preeminent Captain

• Phyrexian Revoker

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JOU Fat Pack

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

A happy Friday indeed as the latest Magic: the Gathering set, Journey into Nyx officially releases today.  Speaking of official street release dates, we're a titch miffed at a number of large 'big box' retail stores in our area and around the world (according to reports to the community).  This sort of thing is not healthy for local brick 'n' mortar gaming stores which provides a nursery to grow the player base.

Anywhoos, late last evening (or very early this morning if you look at it differently) we popped over to our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario to pick up a bunch of sealed and single Journey into Nyx product.  There was quite a gathering at midnight with gamers queuing up to purchase.  Among other thingys, we picked up a Journey into Nyx Fat Pack, and as is our tradition here at MTG Realm, we are prepared to dissect it for your entertainment - here's the video -  

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For a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $40, here's what you get -

• Player's Guide visual encyclopedia
• Journey into Nyx card box
• Nine booster packs
• Eighty-card basic land pack
• Special edition Spindown™ life counter
• Two deck boxes 

You may also not want to watch the above video, so here's our pulls.  We have to say that we are extremely happy and the box 'paid for itself' -

FAT PACK PULLS
• Twinflame
• King Macar, the Gold Cursed
• Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
• Eidolon of the Great Revel
• Temple of Ephipany
• Skybind
• Keranos, God of Storms
• Polymorphous Rush
• Silence the Believers

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Magic 2014 Intro Pack

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

For today's post, we wanted to get along to a review of a Magic 2014 Intro Pack.  These preconstructed theme decks are possibly the best way to get into Magic: the Gathering if you are new to the game, or if your more seasoned, a lot of players we know battle each other with Intro Packs which makes for a lot a fun as Wizards of the Coast makes all efforts to attempt to balance the power of these decks.

MTG Realm grabbed a new Magic: the Gathering Magic 2014 core set Intro Pack and a handful of M14 booster packs for this brief unboxing and review.


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For a MRSP of only $15, here's what you get -

• Premium foil card
• A full 60 card deck
• Two M14 booster packs
• Learn to play insert
• Strategy guide

We got the M14 'Lightforce' Intro Pack (white / green just happen to our fav colours) - Here's some descriptive text off the box -

Wield the power of light, booster your creatures with powerful enchantments.  If your opponents don't crumble under the first wave of your assault, they'll be primed for defeat when your larger beasts hit the battlefield.

With enchantments being hinted as being a thingy in 'Theros', the next set  this fall, we're certain to be well prepared to modify and take this Intro Pack to the next level.
 

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M14 Fat Pack UnBox

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Happy Tuesday MTG Peeps,

As is our custom here at MTG Realm, we've popped over to our fav game store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario, Canada-Land, and picked up the latest set's Fat Pack.  Fat Packs are not only rather useful for beginners getting into the game, but also a target of affection for collectors such as ourselves.  We've been collecting for quite some time and even remember a time when a short novella was included to get your vorthos on.

For an MRSP of $40, here's what you get.

• Player's Guide with complete visual encyclopedia
• Learn to play insert• Magic 2014 Core Set card box
• Box sleeve with a mural art poster
• Nine Magic 2014 Core Set booster packs
• Eighty-card basic land pack
• Special edition Spindown life counter
• Two 'fold 'em yerself' deck boxes


Of course you want to see what glorious cardboard we got in the Fat Pack . . . Here's the video, so grab some pop-korn :


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Fat Pack Pulls
• Lilliana of the Dark Realms
• Ajani, Caller of the Pride
• Sanguine Bond
• Strionic Resonator
• Goblin Diplomats
• Domestication
• Silence
• Planar Cleansing
• Into the Wilds

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