Shadows Over Innistrad Spoilers 3-07

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We have had several posts here at MTG Realm over the weekend for Magic: the Gathering fans eager for the next new set, Shadows Over Innistrad, but where as the subject of these posts were storyline, art, and the teaser trailer, we did not focus on all the new cards previewed.  We have a full weekend's worth of cards as well as today's as official previews are kicking into a higher gear.  'Nuff said - let's go!

Avacyn, the Purifier // Archangel Avacyn - This legendary creature feels mythic - who doesn't like a flash, flying 4/4 Angel with vigilance that could save your team from a board wipe or taking damage on an alpha strike.  Flip side dripping with flavour.

Awoken Horror // Thing in the Ice - just leave a thingy in ice encased and walk away.  This 0/4 knocks off 'ice counters' and flips into a Kraken horror - go horror creature tribal!

Elusive Tormentor // Insidious Mist - pretty kewl design here - more flavour than competitive play-ability, but we are totally down with that.  

Hinterland Logger // Timber Shredder - Lumberjack Werewolf Chick - we're intrigued.  Good solid card given the rarity.

Lunarch Inquisitors // Avacynian Missionaries - again, sweet flavour and cool design with the use of equipment.

Aberrant Researcher // Perfected Form - Quite possibly Delver of Secret's long lost brother.  This critter is beefy and will pack a punch.

Declaration in Stone - not that bad for spot removal - deadly for lists relying on token strategies.  

Farbog Revenant - We are liking skulk mechanic on this lifelinker.

Just the Wind - bouncing a creature is fun, now improved with madness.

Magnifying Glass - there is a frack'n eye in her shoulder - AN EYE in her SHOULDER - neat, we should investigate.

Ravenous Bloodseeker - this vampire sucks.

Reaper of Flight Moonsilver - flying angel with a pump on delirium - ain't bad, but still does not have our interest.

Shard of Broken Glass - common equipment - love the art / flavour, not so much for the card itself, unless we have this in a list that wants some self-mill.

Soul Swallower - nice green wurm you can grow into a fatty (with trample!) on delirium.

Tamiyo's Journal - very cool legendary artifact, but will not make the cut for limited and standard at a cost of FIVE.

Thraben Inspector - decent one-drop common giving you a clue on entering the battlefield - she has the same look on her face when we used to hand homework in to our teacher.


Warped Landscape - not a bad non-basic land at common rarity.
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CardDrifter Trading Site

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I'm taking some time out from the Alara Reborn spoiler analysis to give a plug for the CardDrifter card-trading website. The folks here have been online since 2005 and have over 40,000 cards listed and available for trade. You can send a private message to another trader to negotiate a deal or post an offer for their cards. Your mailing address is kept confidential until the trade is finalised.


Entering your collection is a breeze with an auto-complete function which will mean more time playing Magic the Gathering and less time maintaining your inventory. CardDrifter also stores a complete price guide of all cards, updated weekly using data acquired from completed eBay listings. This heads-up price information is extremely useful in negotiating fair trades and ensuring both traders are getting a good deal.



CardDrifter provides easy access to useful information / tools such as: 'Most popular haves and wants', 'Most viewed cards', and 'Recent listings'. Another feature of CardDrifter is its ability to match users up with other users based on each others haves and wants list. Basically, it does all the work for you!

CARDDRIFTER CONTEST ! ! CLICK HERE !

Also - VERY COOL CONTEST now running . . . Refer all your magic-playing friends to CardDrifter.com using the referral link provided when you log in. For every friend you refer, you will win an entry into the drawing for the ALARA REBORN Booster Box! Additionally, if you are registering for the first time on CardDrifter, you will automatically win an entry!

Contest will end after 100 people are referred in total, or on May 25th, whichever comes first.

Naya Behemoths

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For the next few posts, I will give you the skinny on each Shards of Alara 41-card Intro Packs (previously theme decks). These packs come with a foil card, a learn-to-play insert, a strategy insert, and an additional booster pack (w00t!). These are a great way to get into the game. As these decks are all similarly built (mana cost and strength), several players I know enjoy picking these up for casual play . . . so get thee hence to a gaming store !

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Naya Behemoths

The plane of Naya is a paradise of lush growth where elvish and leonin celebrants worship the gargantuan beasts that roam the world. These ancient behemoths are yours to command, an army massive enough to blot out the sun and shake the earth. Other planeswalkers will tremble in your wake.

Main Deck

41 cards

7 Forest
2 Jungle Shrine
Land Uncommon
Jungle Shrine comes into play tapped.
{T}: Add {R}, {G}, or {W} mana to your mana pool.
3 Mountain 2 Naya Panorama
Land Common
{T}: Add 1 to your mana pool.
1, {T}, Sacrifice Naya Panorama: Search your library for a basic Mountain, Forest, or Plains card and put it into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
3 Plains

17 lands

1 Bull Cerodon
4{R}{RW}, Creature - Beast, Uncommon
Vigilance, haste, 5/5
1 Cavern Thoctar
2 Cylian Elf
2 Druid of the Anima
1{G}, Creature - Elf Druid, Common
{T}: Add {R}, {G}, or {W} to your mana pool. 1/2
1 Mosstodon
1 Naya Battlemage
2{G}, Creature - Human Shaman, Uncommon
{R}, {T}: Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
{W}, {T}: Tap target creature. 2/2
2 Rakeclaw Gargantuan
2{R}{G}{W}, Creature - Beast, Common
1: Target creature with power 5 or greater gains first strike until end of turn. 5/3
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
5{G}{G}, Creature - Beast Rare
Spearbreaker Behemoth is indestructible.
1: Target creature with power 5 or greater is indestructible this turn. 5/5
2 Wild Nacatl
{G}, Creature - Cat Warrior, Common
Wild Nacatl gets +1/+1 as long as you control a Plains.
Wild Nacatl gets +1/+1 as long as you control a Mountain. 1/1
2 Woolly Thoctar
{R}{G}{W}, Creature - Beast, Uncommon
5/4

15 creatures

1 Blaze
2 Giant Growth
2 Gift of the Gargantuan
1 Naturalize
1{G}, Instant, Common
Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
2 Rampant Growth
1 Titanic Ultimatum
{R}{R}{G}{G}{G}{W}{W}, Sorcery, Rare
Until end of turn, creatures you control get +5/+5 and gain first strike, lifelink, and trample.

9 other spells

Stay tuned for more intro packs and yummy spoilers.

Shadowmoor Mechanics

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Before we get to the new Shadowmoor mechanics, here is a brief video of some of the amazing card art that Wizards of the Coast have in store for us. Although 'bad-a$$ery' may not be found in the Webster's Dictionary, it can be found in almost all of the Shadowmoor cards spoiled so far.

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New Mechanics

Here is what we know so far. The formal rules and additional information are forthcoming hopefully before the pre-release tournaments.


UNTAP ( 'Orb of Insight' count - 24 ) - this mechanic allows a player to untap a permanent produce some effect as listed on the card for a stated mana cost.
example - Order of Whiteclay

PERSIST ( 'Orb of Insight' count - 14 ) - When a permanent with this persist ability leaves play for graveyard, and has no -1/-1 counters on it, it comes back to play, with one.
example - Rattleblaze Scarecrow

WITHER ('Orb of Insight' count - 22 ) - When a permanent with this abilitiy deals combat damage to a given creature, the player places a stated number of -1/-1 counters on that creature. Wither is a damage modifier. It only affects how the appropriate damage would be dealt to creatures.
example - Sickle Ripper

CONSPIRE ( 'Orb of Insight' 11 count) - As you play this spell, you may tap two untapped creatures you control that share a colour with it. When you do, copy it. Cards with Conspire have a self-replicate cost of tapping two creatures you control.
example - Ghastly Discovery

Here are some other spoilers that have absolutely nothing to do with the above post and was just too cool not to post anyways . . .

Ghastlord of Fugue / Gravelgill Duo












Mudbrawler Raiders / Roughshod Mentor










Safewright Quest / Sapseep Forest










Silkbind Faerie / Zealous Gaurdian












Until next time, Happy and Safe Gaming.

Block Talk

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The other weekend, I was yattering with another Magic player, who, like me had just started playing and had some questions regarding the rotation of blocks out of standard play. With the announcement of the new set of Eventide today on Magic Arcana, I thought this would be an appropriate post.

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Some Basics

A block is a set of three story-based editions, typically beginning with a large expansion and followed by two small expansions. In general, every 12 months a new block is released. This does not hold true for the 'mini-blocks' of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor which contain only two sets of cards each.

My friend's question concern the length of time he would be able to play his new Morningtide cards during our regular Friday Night Magic (FNM) games.

FNM in our neck of the woods is typically Magic games using 'Standard' player-constructed decks. Standard is the format defined by the current block, the last completed block, and the most recent core set. The current Standard card pool consists of Time Spiral block, Coldsnap, the Tenth Edition core set, and "Lorwyn" block. For a list of all the blocks and their respective sets, visit Magic: The Gathering's website.

Sets only rotate out in October. This October (10/01/2008), the two previous blocks of Time Spiral and Cold Snap will rotate out of Standard play.

It is expected that the 'mini-Blocks' of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor will be treated as one large Über-Block for Standard and will not expect to have it rotate out of Standard until October, 2009.

This leads to a controversial point; With an average of three or four new sets being released each year, some players complain that it requires a substantial investment to maintain a current deck for Standard Magic play.

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Provided here is a summary of the recent and soon-to-be releases;

Set Name : Lorwyn
Block : Set 1 of 2 in the Lorwyn Block
Number of Cards : 301 black-bordered cards (80 rare, 80 uncommon, 121 common, 20 basic lands)
Release Date : October 12, 2007
Pre-Release Events : September 29-30, 2007

Set Name : Morningtide
Block : Set 2 of 2 in the Lorwyn Block
Number of Cards : 150 black-bordered cards (50 rare, 40 uncommon, 60 common)
Release Date : February 1, 2008
Pre-ReleaseEvents : January 19-20, 2008

Set Name : Shadowmoor
Block : Set 1 of 2 in the Shadowmoor Block
Number of Cards : 301 black-bordered cards (80 rare, 80 uncommon, 121 common, 20 basic lands)
Release Date : May 2, 2008
Pre-Release Events : April 19-20, 2008

Set Name : Eventide
Block : Set 2 of 2 in the Shadowmoor Block
Number of Cards : 180
Release Date : July 25, 2008
Prerelease Events : July 12-13, 2008

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If I have a date incorrect, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an eMail.

Morningtide Release Party

I attended a Morningtide Release party at my local store, OMG Games, here in Barrie on Saturday. Some 18 players were in attendance for this event.

The tournament held was 'sealed deck' in which players received one sealed deck of 75 random cards consisting of 45 game cards and 30 basic lands. Also provided was three Morningtide Booster packs which include 15 random cards. From this 'mess' of 120 cards, participants attempt to build a deck with which to play against other opponents . . . easy right ?

One beneficial aspect of a sealed deck format is that one only is required to build a deck of 40 cards instead of the typical 60 common to most other formats.

The first step one should take is to sort the cards by their respective colour to determine the number and strength provided in each colour. As it is very rare for a player to be able to pull a sufficient number of cards for a mono-coloured deck, it is expected that at least two colours are to be used.

One of the most important skills to have in Magic is card evaluation. Experienced players will be able to quickly assess which cards would be suitable for inclusion as well as knowing which other cards may provide synergies or use in combinations. Participants at this event had 50 minutes in which to build their decks.

Here is a brief look of what I received.

RED - 26 Cards; 11 elemental creatures, 7 goblins, 1 changeling, and 7 instants / sorceries / enchantments. Included among other decent commons, was Nova Chaser (rare 10/2 with trample), Vengeful Firebrand (rare 5/2 with conditional haste), Brightearth Banneret, War-Spike Changling, Stingmoggie, Stomping Slabs, and Inner-Flame Igniter. A red goblin Sensation Gorger (rare 2/2 with kinship discard ability) was also in the mix.
Given the last goblin card, I then looked over my support in black which did not look that bad.

BLACK - 23 Cards; 11 goblins, 2 elementals, 2 treefolk, 3 Elves, 1 faery, 1 changeling, and 3 instants / sorceries / enchantments. Included in this lot was the very lovely Nettlevine Blight (rare milling enchantment), Stinkdrinker Bandit (uncommon 2/1 with prowl and conditional pump), a pair of Prickly Boggarts (common 1/1 with fear), and a Moonglove Changeling (common 2/2 with payable deathtouch).

WHITE - 20 Cards; 6 Kithkin, 3 Giants, 1 Changeling, 1 Elemental, 1 Merfolk and 8 instants / sorceries / enchantments. A fairly poor turn-out with only 3 cards of any note. Austere Command (rare sorcery with table-clearing ability), Cloudgoat Ranger (uncommon 3/3 a token generate with 'tapable' flying ability), and Cenn's Tactician (uncommon 1/1 with payable pump ability).

GREEN - 16 Cards; 6 Elves, 3 Treefolk, 1 Shapeshifter, and 6 instants / sorceries / enchantments. Cards of note within this colour included Eyes of the Wisent (rare elemental tribal enchantment), Wolf-Skull Shaman (uncommon 2/2 kinship wolf-token-generator), and the highly desirable Imperious Perfect (uncommon 2/2 tribal pump and payable elf-token-generator).

BLUE - 4 Cards - a very poor showing; 3 Merfolk and 1 Changeling. Received was a Waterspout Weaver (uncommon 3/3 with a pumped kinship), Sage of Fables (uncommon 2/2 static pump with payable draw), Inkfathom Divers (common 3/3 with islandwalk), and a Mothdust Changeling (common 1/1 with a tapable fly ability)

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Where I went terribly wrong . . .

One Word - Inexperience.
I have been playing Magic for approximately one month (just a week before starting this Magic Blog). In a flash, my 50 minutes of deck-building had expired and participants were ready to play. In somewhat of a panic, I decided to play the cards with with I had some limited familiarity with - blue and white. Quite possibly the worst choice here.

After having won the first match and lost the next three, I retreated back home, had a coffee and looked over my cards once more. Writing this blog post has also assisted me greatly in understanding where I went wrong and how to improve next time.

Having played in my very first tournament has left me a more experienced magic player. Next time, I fully expect to improve in my card selection and be able to stretch my match wins to at least two. :-)

Morningtide Release Primer

With the Morningtide release just over a week away, we thought it was an appropriate time to go over some of the new keyword abilities one should expect at the table. This is only an overview of the new abilities and you are encouraged to download the official DCI Morningtide Rules Primer.



As Lorwyn had a strong tribal theme, Morningtide has a stong class theme. Expect to see Rogues, Shamans, Wizards, Warriors, and Soldiers in this set of 150 cards being called into service to support your deck in the Release Tournament. The most common event organised for the Release weekend are "Limited" where the player is provided a pool of cards with which to play. At the Release weekend, most venues will provide a "Sealed" Lorwyn tournament pack and two Morningtide booster packs. A sealed pack contains at total of 75 cards which includes 45 random cards and 30 basic lands. Of the 45 cards, one can expect to typically find 32 common cards, 10 uncommon cards, and 3 rare cards. Booster packs contain 15 cards. Within the Booster pack, the player can typically expect to find around 11 common cards, 3 uncommon cards, and 1 rare card.

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New Keyword Abilities

To start off, "Evoke" makes a return appearence from Lorwyn and is found on seven elemental creature cards in Morningtide . Although the creatures with evoke in Lorwyn all had "comes into play" effects, the creatures with evoke in Morningtide all have "leaves play" effects. Basically, the player can choose to pay the evoke cost and just obtain the ability, not the creature so the creature will be sacrificed when it comes into play. Alternatively, the player may choose to pay the full cost for the creature and its evoke ability.

Prowl:
Prowl is a static ability that is found on nine Morningtide creatures, sorceries and an instant. This ability is restricted to certain Rogue cards. A card with prowl allows the player to pay an alternative mana cost if a player was dealt combat damage. Futhermore, the damage dealt to the player had to be dealt by the specified creature (Goblin or Faerie) and / or a Rogue.

Kinship:
A dozen Morningtide creature cards will contain the "kinship" ability word. This ability will allow the player to look at the top card of their deck. If the top card shares a creature type with the card with the card with kinship ability, you may reveal it to obtain a stated bonus (gaining life, etc.). Note that if the palyer does not reveal the top card, the bonus cannot be obtained. Also important to note is that the top card, revealed or not, remains on top of the library.

Reinforce:
Reinforce is an acitvated ability on seven Morningtide cards. This ability is used only while the card with that ability is still within its owner's hand. A card with this ability will allow a player to to pay the card's mana cost and discard it in order to give a target creature a stated number of (+1/+1) counters.

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We hope this brief overview will assist the new or casual Magic player at the Morningtide Release event. For more information on Release events, visit the Wizards of the Coast Magic website.

Tribal Vignettes Two

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Lorwyn Tribal Vignettes #2
"Vignette - a brief literary description"

BOGGARTS (Goblins)
This is the second of eight posts in the Tribal Vignette Series. In the first post, we reviewed the Merfolk of Lorwyn. In this post, I hope to furnish the casual Magic Player some insights into Lorwyn's Boggarts which are limited to the colour black, with some red. For beginners, this means that these creatures use primarily black 'mana' or the magical energy resource used to cast spells.

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Here is a brief orientation video on the Boggarts of Lorwyn:

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Here is an excellent description of Boggarts taken from a Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) theme-deck description;

"When playing the "Boggart Feast" deck, you're running a raucous warren of expendable, accident-prone Goblins. Enjoy the sadistic delight of offing your own creatures for fun and profit, since that's what Facevaulter, Tar Pitcher, and Fodder Launch do. But have no fear—there are always more Goblins! Boggart Birth Rite and Warren Pilferers yank your critters back from the grave, and Marsh Flitter and Boggart Mob put Goblin tokens into play. If that's not twisted enough, some of these insane little freaks like to die! When Mudbutton Torchrunner or Hornet Harasser keels over, it can take an enemy creature out with it. And Boggart Shenanigans damages your opponent whenever any of your Goblins gets whacked. With this deck, that can add up in a hurry!"

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In most circumstances, cards in a player's graveyard are tpcially no longer relevant to the game, but the Lorwyn Boggart deck is suited to use or re-use cards in this graveyard, thus making this zone a useful resource for the player. This is the sort of card mechanic or ability that is sometimes referred to as 'recursion', and if a player has all the right cards, the graveyard could be his/her playground.

Some cards such as Boggart Forager, Boggart Loggers, Facevaulter, Knucklebone Witch, Mudbutton Torchrunner, and Tar Pitcher activate abilities when sacrificed or is killed such as increasing or decreasing strength / power, or dealing damage to an opponent. Other Boggarts such as Warren Pilferers, Wort and Boggart Auntie are happy to return the recently deceased back to your hand. Spells such as Boggart Birthrite and Footbottom Feast also provides the same service.

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Tribal Vignettes One

Lorwyn Tribal Vignettes #1
"Vignette - a brief literary description"

MERROW (Merfolk)
Today is the first of several posts we will provide giving a broad overview of each of Lorwyn's Tribes. In this post, I hope to furnish the casual Magic Player some insights into Lorwyn's Merfolk which are limited to the colour blue, with some white. For beginers, this means that these merfolk use primarily blue 'mana' or the magical energy resource used to cast spells.

Merrow or Muirruhgach is the Irish name given to Merfolk. In 'Magic: The Gathering', these water bound creatures may bear down upon otherwise 'land-locked' opponents with the use of aquitect cards such as 'Aquitect's Will' which will flood an opponent's land, or, 'Streambed Aquitect', which may target an opponent's land cause it to become an island until end of turn. The flavour text for 'Aquitect's Will' offers this; "There is nowhere on Lorwyn that the Merrow Lanes cannot go".

Here is a brief slideshow providing a glance at the Lorwyn set Merfolk.


A very good ability among some Merfolk are their power to tap or untap which make available or withhold the use of a card during a turn. Some Merkfolk creatures may be used to tap or untap your own or the opponent's creature while others may be used to do the same to any permanent. A permanent is any object in play and includes land (or mana) cards. This may be used to starve your opponent and deny them the mana they require to play a spell. Some Lorwyn Merfolk would be a decent choice for inclusion in a player's constructed 'Control Deck'. Control decks include cards which attempt to interfere with, prevent, deny, or otherwise cancel the opponent's actions.

In general, individual Lorwyn Merfolk, as with other Merfolk in previous sets, do not deliver heavy blows to an opponent, but when played together, may provide bonuses that increase the power and/or toughness needed to do battle against larger creatures. A smart move may be to also include a larger Elemental creature which may provide some muscle for the tribe. Unfortunately, the card previews for the new Morningtide set show no additional Merfolk with increased power and toughness. There are also no fliers within this tribe, it there may be a need to provide within your deck some Faeries or Changelings which are able to use the same-coloured mana base.

Here is a list of Merfolk within the Lorwyn set.
For card details, visit the official card look-up database at MTG Gatherer.

Morningtide Prerelease

Avid Magic players will be attending the much anticipated Morningtide prerelease events being held worldwide. Sneak previews, or 'spoilers' of cards from the new Morningtide set have been released in publications an the official Wizards of the Coast website since early January.

Pre-release events are typically 'limited' tournaments (to be discussed latter) where players receive a sealed deck, and three booster packs of the new card set. These are usually held two weeks before the new set hits the retail market and affords a great opportunity for the ardent player to get their paws on some new card goodness.

Here is what some Magic players might be doing the morning of the release . . .


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There are two places here in Ontario where I know prerelease events will be held . . .

Toronto, Ontario
Saturday, January 19 & Sunday, January 20, 2008
Best Western Primrose Hotel - 111 Carlton Street, Toronto,
Tel#: (416) 977-8000
For more information, call Skyfox Games at: (905) 721-1521.

and

OTTAWA
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Algonquin College Observatory (Building A)
1385 Woodroffe Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario
Telephone: (613) 727-4723 Ext.5129
For more information, call Spell Keeper Events at: (514) 286-9099.