M12 Spoilers 1

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

While we were away over the course of our long weekend, a whole bunch 'o' news happened - again. It seems that whenever we step away from the interwebs, something significant happens - we don't mean that someone posted a really funny cat video to the tube, we mean Magic the Gathering spoilers previewed on the mothership so its catch-up time for us. Let's see what the stork devilvered . .

In yesterday's feature article on the mothership, we were provided the 'Mechanics of Magic 2012'. The new evergreen keyword is 'Hexproof'. A creature with hexproof can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control, but you can target it with spells and abilities normally. The slang a lot of players had been using up to now had been 'one-way' shroud but we rather appreciate the new name. The card previewed by way of an example for this was Dungrove Elder.

Dungrove Elder, 2
Creature - Treefolk, Rare
Hexproof
Dungrove Elder's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Forests you contorl.
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Another new word in that article was 'dies'. By replacing 'is put into a graveyard from the battlefield' with die, we save a lot of extra ink and possibly provide more space for flavour text which we love. The preview for this new word is the reprint from Eventide, Archon of Justice.

Archon of Justice, 3
Creature- Archon, Rare
Flying
When Archon of Justice dies, exile target permanent.
4/4

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A returning keyword is 'Bloodthirst', originally from Future Sight / Guildpack. Bloodthirst N" means "If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this creature enters the battlefield with N +1/+1 counters on it. The example card previewed was Gorehorn Minotaurs.

Gorehorn Minotaurs, 2
Creature - Minotaur Warrior, Common
Bloodthirst 2 (If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this creature enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it.)
3/3

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Also - as we have already guessed, Sorin Markov was also confirmed as the black Planeswalker in M12.

Sorin Markov, 3
Planeswalker - Sorin, Mythic Rare
+2: Sorin Markov deals 2 damage to target creature or player and you gain 2 life.
-3: Target opponent's life total becomes 10.
-7: You control target player during that player's next turn.
4

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In yesterdays Magic Arcana post, WoTC Monty also gave us the 'buy-a-box' promo. This is a free alternate-art premium card that's given to the first twenty people to buy a Booster Box at participating locations. The promo for this core set is Chandra's Phoenix and makes us seriously think that another Planeswalker cycle similar to M11 has been developed.

Chandra's Phoenix, 1
Creature - Phoenix, Rare
Flying
Haste
Whenever an opponent is dealt damage by a red instant or sorcery spell you control or by a red planeswalker you control, return Chandra's Phoenix from your graveyard to your hand.
2/2
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On Twitter, we also had another preview provided from WoTc Aaron. It's a reprint from Shards of Alara - say hello to Flameblast Dragon.

Flameblast Dragon, 4
Creature - Dragon, Rare
Flying
Whenever Flameblast Dragon attacks, you may pay {X}{R}. If you do, Flameblast Dragon deals X damage to target creature or player.
5/5

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Another Magic 2012 card previewed by Aaron is Furyborn Hellkite. This news of course pretty much ligitimizes the odd M12 spoiler cards leaked at the end of April. We called 'em fake in this previous post but now will eat our hats. We will most likely see the other card, Gideon's Avenger previewed in short time.

Furyborn Hellkite, 4
Creature - Dragon, Mythic Rare
Bloodthirst 6 (If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this creature enters the battlefield with six +1/+1 counters on it.)
Flying
6/6

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We always intersted to see what other players are brewing. There are quite literally thousands of different decks one may see across the table from you at Friday Night Magic. One place where you may get some feedback is at a very nice page MTG Mint Card had created. Post your decks or ideas here at 'Deck Central'.
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