Monday Miscellany

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

As with every introduction to a new Magic: the Gathering set, there is a delicious time of deck-brewing and testing of new strategies.  The latest set, Gatecrash has players evaluating all the new cards for inclusion into their fav game format.  For standard constructed, the first builds out of the gate typically are aggro-based followed by more control variants.  At the moment, we think mid-ranged decks are getting the lion's share of attention, which means, we'll anticipate the next move and collect the last few control-based cards we need from MTG Mint Card in an attempt to stay of the curve.  We would love to hear from you what decks are making a splash at your local gaming store.  Unfortunately, we've been unable to get out to ours - OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario since Gatecrash was released to see where our local metagame is sitting. 

Today, we have a random selection of Magic: the Gathering news of interest for gamers.  Let's have a peak at what's new . . .
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Swords to Plowshares has been tapped to be the next new Judge Promo.  This is a great card that has received some pretty lovely art versions over time since released way back when.  The new art is 'interesting' to say the least and some players are calling it Swords to Golf Clubs.
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If you've not been out to a Friday Night Magic event recently (like us - sad-face), then you may be happy to know that February's alternate art foil FNM promo is Reliquary Tower.  Although not legal for standard play, this is a decent enough card for casual, modern and EDH / Commander and the new art is pretty sweet. EDIT - Apparently I need more coffee - R.Tower is in standard - sidenote - this art is dang sweet.
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Catching up again with some old news, we think with the release of Gatecrash, we failed to mention the official announcement from the mothership on the next Magic 2014, which features a preview / spoiler art with Chandra.

Gathering core set - Magic: 2014.
Set Name     Magic 2014 Core Set
Number of Cards     249
Prerelease Events     July 13-14, 2013
Release Date     July 19, 2013
Magic Online Release Date     July 29, 2013
Game Day     August 10-11, 2013

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Lastly, there had been an update to the Missed Trigger rules in the Magic Infraction Procedure Guide on the mothersite.  We suggest that you should read the article by WotC rules guru Matt Tabak as well as an in-depth analysis by Judge Tobby Elliot here or perhaps this article by Josh Silvestri over on Channel Fireball.   
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