Monday MTG Miscellaney

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

MTG Realm is freshly returned from a week's summer vacation from Ontario's Northland, where bears and rattlesnakes are plentiful and WiFi is non-existent. We have much to get caught up on, so let's get straight into all the Magic: the Gathering spoilers and news we've missed last week.

First up - Eldritch Moon Game Day is quickly approaching this weekend - August 13–14, 2016.  Get your standard constructed decklist tuned up and prepare for some great games (and prizes) at a local gaming store near you.  Although our vacation was full of Commander, we had not touched standard at all so we'll have to prepare before heading to our favourite games store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario.

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Next up - Kaya, Ghost Assassin

Be sure to check out last week's Magic story installment 'Laid to Rest', penned by Kelly Digges.  This is the first story preceeding our return to the Plane of Fiora, where Conspiracy: Take the Crown takes place.  This is the special supplementary MTG set releasing on August 26, 2016.

If you want to further immerse yourself further in the (unofficial) storyline, pop on over to our favourite Canadian ex-pat Magic: the Gathering personality, Bruce Richard, and read the lastest 'Paliano Post'.  Last week's story introduces Kaya, a Planeswalker visitor to Fiora, who has the ability to physically interact with the spirits of the dead. When an infamous assassin wanted Paliano's ghostly king destroyed, Kaya was more than happy to oblige...for a price.

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Next up - From the Vault: Lore

Collectors and those gamers who want to 'foil-out' their Commander lists are certainly looking forward to this. Releasing on August 19, 2016 for an MRSP of about $35), this set contains 15 cards from throughout Magic's history that are renowned for both their power and the stories behind them. Three of the cards feature new art (Cabal Ritual, Mind's Desire and Momir Vig, Simic Visionary). The set also includes an exclusive spindown life counter, a collector's guide and one (rather sought-after) Marit Lage token.

From The Vault: Lore brings you a collection of fifteen memorable cards (and one token) from throughout Magic's history, showcasing some of the most exciting story moments to ever occur in the Multiverse. Now you can see all of those moments, and the gorgeous art depicting them, like never before, in special From The Vault–exclusive premium foil.

Delve deeper into the events that shaped the Multiverse—and show your opponents that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it! This limited-edition set includes cards from throughout Magic's history that are renowned for both their power and the stories behind them. Surprise your foes with blasts from the past they'll have to see to believe.

Beseech the Queen
Cabal Ritual
Conflux
Dark Depths + Marit Lage token
Glissa, the Traitor
Helvault
Memnarch
Mind's Desire
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Near-Death Experience
Obliterate
Phyrexian Processor
Tolaria West
Umezawa's Jitte
Unmask
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Next Up - Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis !

The two decks represent the battle between Zendikar's protector, Nissa, and its would-be destroyer, Ob Nixilis. The ready-to-play, sixty-card decks, to be released on September, 2016 for a MSRP of $20 showcase cards from across Magic's history, including two premium Planeswalker cards with new artwork and four other cards with new artwork (Ambition's Cost, Doom Blade, Crop Rotation and Wood Elves).

Here is some flavour to savour - 

The stakes are high as Nissa and Ob Nixilis fight to control the power of the Khalni Heart. Who will prevail?

Planeswalker Nissa Revane gathers her forces to protect Zendikar from annihilation. Drawing on the power of the land itself, she summons mighty Elementals to overwhelm her foes.

Trapped on Zendikar for centuries, the demon Ob Nixilis will do anything to reignite his Planeswalker spark and escape. He summons terrifying Demons and wields dark, destructive powers to lay his enemies to waste.

Contents: 
• 2 Ready-to-play, 60-card decks
• 10 tokens
• 2 deck boxes
• 2 Spindown life counters
• Strategy insert
• Rules reference card

Nissa Decklist  
Planeswalker - 1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Creature - 2 Scythe Leopard, 2 Elvish Visionary, 1 Oran-Rief Invoker, 2 Thornweald Archer, 1 Nissa's Chosen, 2 Citanul Woodreaders, 2 Civic Wayfinder, 1 Fertilid, 2 Gilt-Leaf Seer, 1 Wood Elves, 2 Briarhorn, 1 Saddleback Lagac, 2 Jaddi Lifestrider, 1 Thicket Elemental, 2 Woodborn Behemoth, 1 Oran-Rief Hydra, 1 Cloudthresher, 1 Oakgnarl Warrior, 1 Walker of the Grove
Sorcery - 1 Gaea's Blessing, 1 Seek the Horizon
Instant - 1 Crop Rotation, 2 Vines of the Recluse, 1 Natural Connection
Enchantment - 1 Abundance
Land - 2 Fertile Thicket, 2 Khalni Garden, 1 Mosswort Bridge, 1 Treetop Village, 18 Forest

Ob Nixilis Decklist
Planeswalker - 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
Creatures - 2 Carrier Thrall, 2 Fetid Imp, 1 Despoiler of Souls, 1 Foul Imp, 2 Blistergrub, 1 Giant Scorpion, 1 Cadaver Imp, 1 Bala Ged Scorpion, 1 Desecration Demon, 1 Squelching Leeches, 1 Indulgent Tormentor, 1 Priest of the Blood Rite, 1 Renegade Demon, 1 Pestilence Demon
Sorcery - 1 Innocent Blood, 1 Mire's Toll, 2 Grim Discovery, 2 Smallpox, 1 Ambition's Cost, 1 Demon's Grasp 
Instant - 1 Disfigure, 1 Altar's Reap, 2 Doom Blade, 1 Hideous End, 1 Tendrils of Corruption
Enchantment - 2 Quest for the Gravelord, 1 Shadows of the Past, 1 Unhallowed Pact

Land - 2 Leechridden Swamp, 22 Swamp
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Wednesday MTG Miscellany

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

A sort of bits 'n' bobs for the lot of you today.  First Magic: the Gathering tidbit is some rather exciting details of the fall's Penny Arcade Expo / PAX West in Seattle, which we will all will have to wait until September for.  WotC staffers are back again with a variety of rather cool events / panels / programs including payload of Kaladesh previews.  

Of interest is a 'street fair', whatever that may be, being held on the street (of all places), just outside the Paramount Theater.  Colour us intrigued - we imagine a line of stalls, hawkers, entertainers all in a sort of exotic Kaladesh market theme thingy.  There is to be a Kaladesh World Building Panel, a Kaladesh Mechanics Panel and a number of other events.  If you've been reading MTG Realm for any time, you will know that we are huge fans of Panels - especially ones that are live-streamed.


Next item up - Magic Story.
Ken Troop delivered a great short in the continuing Innistrad / Eldritch Moon storyline arc.  Today's story, titled 'The Promised End', was entertaining and completely engaging.  The twist at the end of the story (involving the discourse between Jace and Tamiyo) was not expected, and like any good television mini-series, had a measure of cliff-hanger to it.  Looking forward to the next magic story !

In other news, the gang here at MTG Realm are choosing our 60-card weapons carefully for the next several months of metagame.  The previous season's best decklist was green / white tokens, but going forward, indications are that Bant Company is the monster to beat.  Additions from Eldritch Moon such as Spell Queller will make this build the most popular list.

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New Eldritch Moon Standard

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

The dust has settled on the weekend's StarCityGames Open Tournament in Columbus, Ohio and the results are in as to how the newest set of Magic: the Gathering, Eldritch Moon has impacted standard format.  From the 120 decklists going forward on Sunday, it appears that although there is still a measure of variation required for a healthy format, Bant Company was a clear winner as shown below in the top eight deck archetypes.

Bant Company – 34
U/W Spirits – 18
Bant Humans – 10
W/R Humans – 7
B/W Control – 6
U/R Eldrazi – 4
G/B Delirium – 4
G/W Tokens – 3

The best card in standard appears to the anchor of the Bant Company decklist, Collected Company.  This card got a lot better with the addition of Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Spell Queller which provides a volume of control in this list.  Thalia slows down your opponent a titch while Spell Queller can now exile key components such as Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, members of last season's strong list G/W Tokens.  Here are the top 16 finalists for the SCG tournament in Columbus.

Bant Company 1st Devin Koepke
Sultai Control 2nd Ali Aintrazi
Bant Company 3rd Kyle Boggemes
G/W Tokens 4th Eric Rill
Bant Company 5th Dan Jessup
G/R Goggles 6th Matthew Voltz
B/G Seasons Past 7th Kasey Walton
B/W Angel Control 8th Ronnie Ritner
G/W Tokens 9th Andrew Boswell
Bant Company 10th Tom Maney
G/W Tokens 11th Chris Robinson
W/R Humans 12th Tom Ross
U/W Spirits 13th Jeff Hoogland
Bant Company 14th Jack Fogle
W/R Humans 15th Todd Anderson
Bant Company 16th Chris Andersen

Given the new powerful cards such as Mausoleum Wander (buff and instant / sorcery counter), Selfless Wanderer (saving your bacon from a board-wipe) and Spell Queller (jack of all trades remoal) we were expecting to see a strong presence in the top 8 of U/W Spirits.  These lists did do decent going forward to day two, just not quite across the finish line, which indicates to us that perhaps fine-tuning against Bant Company may be all that is needed.  The format is still very young and what is certain is the evolution of strategies.
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Eldritch Moon Standard

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

The the newest Magic: the Gathering set, Eldritch Moon, now joining standard format, fans are now looking to see just what sort of an impact this will have with the first big tournament.  

This weekend, Columbus hosts the StarCityGames Open Weekend, where many will attend but only a few will prevail to shape the evolution of standard format over the next months.  Here at MTG Realm, the current decklists of our playgroup will be modified every so slightly with new Eldritch Moon cards but no big changes are anticipated just for the moment.  

With each new standard season, we look to the largest card shop in Japan, Hareruya (@hareruyaEnglish), and the wildly popular suggestions of #KenjiWayfinder as a way to peer through a crystal ball into the potential future of standard constructed.  Undoubtedly, the tournament in Columbus taking place right now as we write the article will have a few of these lists on the game tables.

The proposed decklists also serve as a sounding board of sorts to determine whether similar ideas we've spawned are all that off the mark.  Anywhoos, here is the offerings provided - 

Deck1 "Deploy the Gatewatch"

Deck 2 "Spirit Company" (shown below)

Deck 3 "Splendid Reclamation"

Deck 4 "Emerge Green"

Deck 5 "UB Zombie"

Deck 6 "Eldritch Evolution"

Deck 7 "UR Puzzle"

Deck 8 "Mono Black Vampire" (shown below)
 

Deck 9 "Naya Legends"

Deck 10 "RG Token"

Deck 11 "Jeskai Moon"

Deck 12 "GW Stitcher's Graft"

Deck 13 "Abzan Delirium" 

 Previously printed cards such as Rattlechains, Reflection Mage, and Collected Company support an essentially tribal spirits list - love this list.  We've had restricted ourselves to U/W and think the green splash for CoCo and Tamiyo Field Researcher well worth the third colour.

 

A handful of skeletons and vampires take a supporting role in this build which is all about churning out a massive volume of zombie tokens.  The MVP here is Liliana, the Last Hope, whose ultimate is a game-changer.

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MTG Thursday Miscellany

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Tonight at midnight, the newest Magic: the Gathering set, Eldrtich Moon finally goes on sale.  Although some large 'big box' store chains may have ignored the 'street date' by a day or two, a large number of local gaming stores are open late after midnight to run booster drafts or just sell new product.  We'll be popping by our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario to pick up our customary Fat Pack and perhaps a few singles and hopefully scrap together a list for tomorrow's Eldritch Moon Launch for Friday Night Magic.  Participating stores with have that lovely Identity Thief launch promo for gamers.

Anywhoos, on to today's miscellaneous round-up of Magic: the Gathering related notes -

First up - 
Eldritch Moon / is available now on Xbox One, iOS, and PC via Steam in a new update.  Magic Duels gamers can now play through the conclusion of the Innistrad story in a new campaign, and collect over 120 new cards for your favorite decks. Take on the darkness with eldritch abominations, shambling zombies, and the return of the Gatewatch

Second / finally,
We missed a post to MTG Realm yesterday.  Wednesdays we usually talk about that day's Magic short story posted to the mothersite.  The story, titled 'Battle of Thraben', penned by Nik Davidson, sets the stage for the final showdown between the 'Gatewatch' Planeswalkers and was pretty damn awesome.  

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Eldritch Moon PreRelease

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

On Friday, we took in a Friday Night Magic Event over at our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario.  Our mon-white Humans decklist did well to take 3rd spot and we were quite prepared to wait an hour to participate in the midnight prerelease of Eldritch Moon but needed our beauty sleep as we got up at a terribly early hour that morning.  So we came back on Saturday.

Grab some pop-korn - Here is a short 5-minute video of the Prerelease -

Here was our pulls -
•  PreRelease Promo - Distended Mindbender  
•  DOI PK 1 Fortified Village 
•  SOI PK 2 Invocation of Saint Traft 
•  EMN PK 1 Ulvenwald Observer 
•  EMN PK 2 Tree of Perdition 
•  EMN PK 3 Collective Brutality 
•  EMN PK 4 Bedlam Reveller (Foil) / Mausoleum Wanderer 
  

First round was a 'bye', which was OK but we would rather be playing with the new cardboard.  The next rounds were all lost tragically.  There was some nice flashy stuff in black, but just not quite enough support in that coulour, so in the end we went blue / white which had some flyers and control.

What was doing great at your local prerelease ?

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Eldritch Moon Intro Packs

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

It is almost upon us - Eldritch Moon PreRelease events coming to a local gaming store near you.  We will be partaking in the excitement at our local store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario, who will start at midnight on Friday and run events throughout the entire weekend.  While playing this weekend, don't forget to protect your new cardboard awesomeness with Ultra PRO sleeves, boxes and playmats - remember, dragging a new chase rare across a rough game table is like ten-times worse than listening to someone scratch a chalkboard (if you know what those are).

Anywhoos, it is a 'big news' day today, with both items coming from the mothersite.  James Wyatt posts this weeks very well written Magic Story 'Saint Traft and the Flight of Nightmares', which left us breathless - no, not because we are asthmatic, but because it was a dramatic action cliff-hanger of a story.  The other big news item is from WotC staffer Blake R with the Eldritch Moon Intro Pack decklists.  We are happy to say that we here at MTG Realm posted this Eldritch Moon spoiler yesterday on our Tumblr, where we revealed the deck colours and names.

Here are the decklists now -

White / Black - Unlikely Alliances 
Foil rare - Sanctifier of Souls

Blue / Red - Dangerous Knowledge
Foil rare - Niblis of Frost

Black / Blue - Shallow Graves 
Foil rare - Noosegraf Mob

Red / Green - Untamed Wild
Foil rare - Assembled Alphas

Green / White - Weapons and Wards

Foil rare - Ulvenwald Observer

Magic: the Gathering - Eldritch Moon Intro Packs
What’s in the Box?
• Ready-to-play 60-card deck featuring a foil premium card
• 2 Eldritch Moon 15-card booster packs
• Strategy Insert

• Magic learn-to-play guide

Note that this will be the last MTG set for Intro Packs as WotC moves to another set / introductory product called 'Planeswalker Decks' for the next set, 'Kaladesh'.
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Eldritch Moon Tokens

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

As you are very much likely aware, all the new Eldritch Moon cards were previewed on Friday.  This meant that Magic: the Gathering fans on the most part are talking about how this set may fare across a number of formats.  Not here at MTG Realm today.  We now have the full list of previewed Eldrtich Moon cards so we want to talk about the creature tokens (and emblems) that spell from the new set generate.  

Why?  As it happens, there is always (and we do we mean always) one person from the MTG Realm playgroup rocking a token-themed decklist.  In standard constructed, Second Harvest is still available to help fill the game table with tokens.  For modern, there are a number of other helpful cards such as Intangible Virtue.  You get the idea.

Anywhoos, here is the summary of all new tokens and the Eldritch Moon cards which create them - 

The Eldritch Moon set features 8 tokens and 2 emblems and contains 5 additional Shadows over Innistrad tokens named on Eldritch Moon cards.  There are a total of 29 cards in Eldritch Moon which create tokens or emblems.

• Colourless 3/2 Eldrazi Horror creature token for Desperate Sentry, Extricator of Flesh, Extricator of Sin, Enlightened Maniac, Emrakul's Evangel, Foul Emissary, Hanweir, the Writhing Township, Howling Chorus, Otherworldly Outburst and Wharf Infiltrator

• Blue 1/1 Human Wizard creature token for Docent of Perfection and Final Iteration

• Three different card illustratiosn for a Black 2/2 Zombie creature token for Cryptbreaker, Dark Salvation, Graf Harvest, Liliana, the Last Hope, Noosegraf Mob, and Oath of Liliana

• Black */* Zombie creature token for Soul Separator

•  Red 1/1 Human creature token  for Hanweir Garrison

• Green 1/2 Spider creature token with reach for Ishkanah, Grafwidow

• Emblem for Liliana, the Last Hope
• Emblem for Tamiyo, Field Researcher


Tokens from the previous Shadows over Innistrad set, generated by Eldritch Moon cards:

• White 1/1 Human Soldier creature token for Thraben Standard Bearer

• White 1/1 Spirit creature token with flying for Sanctifier of Souls and Spectral Reserves

• Red 1/1 Devil creature token with “When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.” for Make Mischief

• Green 1/1 Insect creature token for It of the Horrid Swarm


• Green 2/2 Wolf creature token for Wolfkin Bond

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Eldritch Moon Full Spoiler

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

All new Magic: the Gathering cards for the upcoming set Eldritch Moon is now up on the mothersite - linky over here.  If today is Friday 8th, we want to know why you are here at MTG Realm and not rolling through all the new cardboard hotness.  

Since you are here, you've come to the right place - that is, you've come to the right place for an MTG Art Fight.  Apologies, but this graphic of Ed Norton in Fight Club and artist Bob Ross may not quite represent what we're doing just right now . . .

Here is the round-up of all reprints in the new Eldritch Moon set.  Do you have a preference ?  Would you pull out the older original card over the new one.  In one case, it is the same artist with a modification to better fit within the updated storyline (example - Dave Kendall's Prey Upon), while in another case, it's the same art (Wayne Reynolds' Hamlet Captain) with updated flavor text - so perhaps not really an art fight.  Here they are - 

Convolute

Ravnica: City of Guilds - Dany Orizio

Eldrtich Moon - Viktor Titov

Rise from the Grave

Commander 2015 - Vance Kovacs

Eldrtich Moon - Kieran Yanner

Prey Upon

Innistrad - Dave Kendall

Eldrtich Moon  - Dave Kendall

Murder

Magic 2013 - Allen Williams

Eldrtich Moon - Tyler Jacobson

Terrarion

Ravnica: City of Guilds - Luca Zontini

Eldrtich Moon - Titus Lunter

Turn Aside

Scars of Mirrodin - Shelly Wan

Eldrtich Moon - Jaime Jones

Hamlet Captain - Wayne Reynolds

Same illustration for Innistrad and Eldrtich Moon, just different flavor text.

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Eldritch Moon Previews 7-07

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

If you follow Hoops and Yoyo, it's 'Second Guess Thursday' but there is no second guessing that official Eldritch Moon previews are winding down quite quickly.  We now have approximately 118 of 205 Magic: the Gathering cards revealed for the new set, with the remaining expected to be posted to the mothersite tomorrow.  Speaking of which, WotC Blake posted all the Eldritch Moon Tokens and Promo Cards in this article today.  As is our custom here at MTG Realm, we will provide another post with all the tokens along with the particular spell which generated said token for easy reference.

Anywhoos, let us get on to today's new Eldritch Moon spoilers and previews collected from around the 'net.  Today's offering (Heron's Grace Champion) has us contemplating going with a green / white tribal humans decklist as our very first build after the official release on July 22nd, although we have a feeling that we will want to try to go with a zombie theme for the pre-release event on July 16th.

Collective Forces
Courageous Outrider
Crop Sigil
Heron's Grace Champion
Imprisoned in the Moon
Mausoleum Wanderer
Noose Constrictor
Olivia's Dragoon
Sigarda's Aid
Stunning Growth
Wolfkin Bond

Unofficial English translations - 

Collective Forces, 1WW
Sorcery, Rare
Escalate: Tap an untapped creature you control 
• Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater 
• Destroy target enchantment 
• Put a +1/+1 counters on each creature target player controls 

Sigarda's Aid, W
Enchantment, Rate
You may cast Aura and Equipment spells as though they had flash.
Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may attach it to target creature you control.
The support of Sigarda breathed new strength into the Order of Saint Traft.

Stunning Growth, 3G
Sorcery, Rare

Return all lands from the graveyard to the battlefield tapped

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Eldrtich Moon Previews 7-04

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Happy July 4th to our American cousins to the south.  

We hope all have had a great weekend.  Here in Canada-Land, Friday (Canada Day) was a bit overcast in Central Ontario, but the rest of the weekend was great.  We got to the FNM event at OMG! Games in Barrie and did will with our Canadian (Boros red 'n' white) standard decklist and had a bunch of Commander games over the rest of the weekend, which also included some patio time downtown.

Although it may be a Holiday state-side, that does not mean there is not new Eldritch Moon spoilers and previews.  Today on the mothersite, the last episode of Access Magic: Power in Darkness is now out.  Host Jimmy Wong and guests Mark Winters and James Wyatt unveil Liliana’s role in the battle for Innistrad and preview her new Oath card.  We suggest you pop on over to watch.  For now, here is a round-up of new cardboard for gamers -

Unofficial Translation here - 

Selfless Spirit, 1W

Creature - Spirit Cleric, Rare

Flying

Sacrifice Selfless Spirit: Creatures you control get Indestructible until the end of turn.

2/1

Collective Resistance
Deploy the Gatewatch
Incendiary Flow
Ishkanah Grafwidow
Liliana, the Last Hope
Nephalia Acadamy
Oath of Liliana
Peace of Mind
Prey Upon
Providence
Selfless Spirit
Spirit of the Hunt
Summary Dismissal
Turn Aside
Wailing Ghoul

Liliana and her Oath look decent, especially when played on the same turn.  The new Deploy the Gatewatch sorcery looks to be promising for those wanting to go big on a superfriends (Planeswalker) strategy.  The new green mythic is Ishkanah, Grafwidow and we are considering this already as a B/G commander in with a strong spider tribal theme - thinking Spider Spawning as an auto-include in the 99.


The new red rare escalate sorcery, 'Collective Resistance' looks absolutely tip-top and we think it will be a hit with red mages everywhere.  Spirit of the Hunt looks good for standard werewolf builds, mostly as an effective play against Languish.  In other news, Providence may not be the best choice in a Commander build, but in standard, not a bad parachute to pack.

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