Ravnica Allegiance PW Decklists

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

As the last Magic: the Gathering cards are being previewed for the new Ravnica Allegiance set, the mother-site has posted the Planeswalker Deck Lists (conveniently linked right here).  Should you not know, Planeswalker deckds have been around for a while now and are well suited product developed by Wizards of the Coast to familiarise new players with basic game strategy as well as a great introduction into the flavour and mechanics of the new set.

The Planeswalker Decks introduced today are -

• Dovin (White/Blue) Dovin, Architect of the Law
- and -
• Domri (Red/Green) Domri, City Destroyer

Contents of each PW Deck -

• 1 x Ready-to-play 60-Card Deck Featuring a Foil Premium Planeswalker Card
• 2 x Ravnica Allegiance Booster Packs
• 1 x Strategy Insert
• 1 x Magic Learn-to-play Guide

Each Planeswalker deck produced to date generally features five cards that won't be found in the corresponding booster pack of the associated set, however, these cards are considered as a part of that expansion, and therefore will be legal to be played in any format, including Standard, as long as that set is legal in that format. 

The special cards included in each deck consist of:

One foil copy of a mythic rare planeswalker, typically with a high casting cost, designed to be fun and splashy but not pushed for tournament play. 

Two copies of a rare spell that has an effect and also searches your library for the specific planeswalker. The rare usually will cost one mana less than the planeswalker. This card will only looks for the Planeswalker Deck's version of the planeswalker and not any version.

Three copies of an uncommon permanent that is enhanced by having the planeswalker (or any other version of that planeswalker) on the battlefield.

Four copies of a common flavoured to the planeswalker with a basic staple effect.


Four copies of a supporting common dual land.

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Please do check out MTG Realm on Tumblr for the latest Magic: the Gathering spoilers, previews, as well as entertaining content (think funny MTG memes).
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Rivals of Ixalan Spoiler

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Happy Tuesday (again) MTG peeps,

Some late day news to share with you.  Charlie Hall of Polygon (Vox Media) had posted some exclusive previews for the upcoming Rivals of Ixalan set (linked here).  Specifically, some nine cards along with glorious artwork from the Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker Deck products were posted.  

 Vampire Champion, illus. Craig J. Spearing

Before we get to that, we should speak about what Planeswalker decks are to those new to Magic: the Gathering.

Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker Decks releases January 19, 2018 for an MSRP of $15.  These decks acquaint players who are interested in Magic with basic strategy, the game's settings, and characters, and include a premium foil Planeswalker card.

Contents:
• 1 Ready-to-play 60-card deck, featuring a foil premium Planeswalker card
• 2 Rivals of Ixalan booster packs
• 1 Strategy insert
• 1 Magic learn-to-play guide 

Vraksa, Scheming Gorgon, illus. Grzegorz Rutkowski
Angrath, Minotaur Pirate, illus. Chris Rahn

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Ixalan PW Decks

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Here in Canada, we are heading into the Labour Day long weekend, one holiday we share with our American cousins to the south.  It is this time of year we not only begin to prepare to a return to the academic school year, but also as Magic: the Gathering players, look for all the very awesome previews ahead of the 'Fall' set, in this case, Ixalan.

Today on the mothersite, linked right here, Blake previewed Ixalan Promos, Planeswalker Decks, packaging, and upcoming Friday Night Magic promos.  Due to the unfortunate and premature post to the Wizards Play Network back a last week (details linked here), the MTG Fan community did see all the upcoming promos.  What we did not yet see are this set's Planeswalker Decks.  First, a quick blurb about this product - 

Planeswalker Decks acquaint players who are interested in Magic with basic strategy, the game's settings, and characters, and include a premium foil Planeswalker card.  The decks play into mechanical themes of the block or standalone set, most often making use of a new keyword mechanic. 

Each Planeswalker deck features five cards that won't be found in the corresponding booster pack of that expansion, however, they are considered as a part of that expansion, means that those card will be playable in any format, including Standard, as long as that set is legal in that format - 

 • One foil copy of a mythic rare planeswalker, designed to be fun and flavourful but not pushed for tournament play. Expensive to cast and splashy.

• Two copies of a spell that has an effect and also tutors for the specific planeswalker. 

• A card flavoured to the Planeswalker with a basic staple effect.

• An appropriate common dual land.

Here are the details - 

HAUTLI - DINOSAUR KNIGHT

Hautli, Dinosaure Knight is the 6-cost Red and White (Boros) coloured Planeswalker.  Starting Loyalty is 4 with three abilities and it is all about the Dinos with her.  Stone Quarry helps us support this two coloured deck.  One rare creature and one uncommon instant provides bonus or helps support our PW Hautli.  A rather vanilla two-drop 2/2 with vigilance rounds out the special stand-alone cards.

JACE - INGENIOUS MIND-MAGE

Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage is our six-cost (double dip on blue) Walker with a starting loyalty of five.  In true Jace fashion we have card draw, along with an ability to untap all our critters and an ultimate to gain control of three target critters.  Woodland Stream indicated a Simic (Blue and Green) coloured base.  A rare soccer to bounce two and tutor Jace and an Uncommon1/3 Merfolk for one and a blue gets a +1/+0 boost and unblockable when the named Jace is on the battlefield and a common Aura shows us a sad-Jace reminiscent of sac-Keanu.

For about $15 (USD) MSRP, here is what to expect in your Planeswalker Deck : 

• Ready-to-play 60-card deck, featuring a foil premium Planeswalker card
• 2 Ixalan booster packs
• 1 Strategy insert

• 1 Magic learn-to-play guide

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Kaladesh Previews 8-06

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering players still absorbing all the new cards, mechanics, artwork, and supporting storyline will not get a chance to catch their collective breath as Wizards of the Coast delivers another batch of cards for Kaladesh, releasing at month's end on September 30, 2016.

Among today's big reveals are Kaladesh product packaging, the new Planeswalker Decks and promo cards (posted by Blake Ramussen over here).  As the the Kaladesh Planeswalker Decks are new, here is some information on this -

Planeswalker Decks acquaint players who are interested in Magic with basic strategy, the game’s settings, and characters, and include a premium foil Planeswalker card.  

Kaladesh will feature two such Planeswalker decks, with BOTH Planeswalkers being legal for standard format play -
• Chandra, Pyrogenius
• Nissa, Nature’s Artisan

Contents: 
• 1 Ready-to-play 60-card deck
• 1 Foil premium Planeswalker card
• 2 Kaladesh booster packs
• 1 Strategy insert
• 1 Magic learn-to-play guide

These two featured Planeswalker already have cards represented in the following cards:
• Chandra, Torch of Definance
• Nissa, Vital Force

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We've tried to keep up with the torrential flow of Kaladesh previews over at our other site, MTG Realm on Tumblr, so pop on over there if you may have missed the previews from the PAX weekend.  For now, here is the summary of new cards collected in one spot from today -

Animation Module

Chandra, Pyrogenius

Decocotion Module

Fabrication Module

Lathnu Hellion

Madcap Experiment

Nissa, Nature's Artisan

Nissa, Vital Force

Torrential Gearhulk

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MTG Announcements

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Or rather - Happy 'Announcement Day', as the folks over on the mothersite have called it for today.  As suggested by MaRo last week, there was to be product announcement today - Mark was not entirely accurate.  There were many new and wondrous Magic: the Gathering announcements today.  Here's the big picture you need right now - 

New on this list that we did not know anything, or at the very least - very little of are the supplemental products of Planechase Anthology, Commander 2016, Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis, and the fall set 'Kaladesh' with the second set of this block 'Aether Revolt'.  Wow - that's a lot to take in.  For today's post, we will just yatter a bit about Kaladesh block.

You will recall from the Magic Origins story, that Chandra is indeed a native of the Plane of Kaladesh - an ethnically diverse population with a background that would make Steampunk fans happy.  Automatons, thopters, other artifact creatures and devices are wrought with high precision and beauty and then imbued with aether which fuels the creation and brings it to life.  The aether is scarce and heavily controlled by the Consuls.

Given the key art here for Kaladesh as well as the names of the creative consultants provided in the product credits, we think it a distinct possibility that one should expect the further colouring of this world to have an (East) Indian feel to it.  Here is a blurb from the mothersite -

"Invent your Tomorrow" as we explore the plane we first caught a glimpse of in Magic Origins—Chandra’s home plane of Kaladesh. Imagination, invention, and ingenuity await when we debut Kaladesh at PAX West on September 2, 2016, and release it in stores September 30, 2016.

For Aether Revolt -

Aether Revolt. Ingenuity will only get you so far when the revolt comes. Releasing January 20, 2017.

New Bundle and Planeswalker Deck 

Each set will have two Planeswalker Decks, each built around a different Planeswalker. Those Planeswalkers will be characters relevant to that block. Each Planeswalker Deck will be a preconstructed 60-card deck and will be packaged with two booster packs from that block with an MSRP of $14.99. 

The Planeswalker Decks will premiere with Kaladesh, this year's fall set, where they will replace Intro Packs.  The decks will play into mechanical themes of the block, most often making use of a new keyword mechanic. The default will be that the decks will be two-color even if the Planeswalker is monocolor. 

• One copy of a mythic rare planeswalker
• Two copies of a rare spell that has an effect and also tutors for the specific planeswalker
• Three copies of an uncommon permanent that is enhanced by having the planeswalker on the battlefield
• Four copies of a common flavored to the Planeswalker

• Four copies of an appropriate common dual land

The name "Fat Pack" has always been a bit nondescript, so we're changing them to "[set name] Bundle." So with the fall set, we'll be creating the Kaladesh Bundle. It will have an MSRP of $42.99.

Here's what you can expect with the product:
• A card storage box
• 80-card land pack
• Ten booster packs
• One player's guide
• One Spindown life counter

• One rules reference card
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