MTG - Chandra Comics

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Some news we had previously posted about in August earlier this year - another reboot to the Magic: the Gathering comics by IDW Publishing.  This new short series is to deliver all-new stories focused on the red-aligned pyrmancer, the Planeswalker Chandra Nalaar.  The first issue is to be released next month (November 28, 2018).  For more details on the series, read this article at IDW Publishing.

Magic: The Gathering: Chandra #1
(W) Vita Ayala (A) Harvey Tolibao (CA) Ken Lashley
In the wake of tragedy, Planeswalker and pyromancer Chandra Nalaar strikes out on her own. On her journey, she'll have to fight against threats both old and new, as well as her own sense of guilt. Can she overcome all of that alone? And who is that familiar face lurking in the shadows?

Magic: The Gathering: Chandra #2
(W) Vita Ayala (A/CA) Harvey Tolibao
After her latest defeat, Chandra feels broken as events of the past continue to haunt her, and a familiar foe seizes the opportunity to strike! Will Ajani's heroic intervention be enough to help her overcome the threat and stop her from traveling farther down a self-destructive path?

Magic: The Gathering: Chandra #3
Vita Ayala (w) • Harvey Tolibao (a) • Siya Oum (c)

Tibalt’s attacks on Chandra get more personal—and closer to home—as he thrives on her anguish. Meanwhile, Ajani tries to help her make peace with the events of her past, but will Chandra’s outrage be enough to overcome the devilish Planeswalker’s empathic onslaught?

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The MTG Collector

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday, we suggest you make plans to make it down to your local gaming store and get into a Friday Night Magic event.  We'll be at OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario to take a stab at an updated list the play group has been having some serious fun with recently - Green / White Hardened Scales.  Unfortunately, this list still does not have the best mana yet - namely Canopy Vista from Battle for Zendikar or Windswept Heath from Khans of Tarkir, but we did finally get two Undergrowth Champion in a recent trade.  If, you the reader did want to help out our group, you could always pop by out Wish List on CoolStuff Inc., and for that, we could work out a deal by giving you some air time / visibility on our MTG Realm online assets.

Anywhoos,  As we were saying, we were looking for a proper mana base and connected with another gamer in the area who was willing to talk about a trade - this fella was looking, among other things for a 'High Tide'.  We then remembered we did have a promo card from an IDS comic we had picked up in 2013 for which we forked out $5 for.

Doing the due diligence, we find out that this promo had shot up to just over $12 which was to our benefit in this particular trade.  Long story shortened, we nail down the details but also checked out the local stores to replace our comic book as it belongs to a completed set.  We were a bit shocked that we could get is ordered in for us for about $25.  We realise that we might be able to pick it up for less expense in the States perhaps be thought it too much fuss.  Suffice to say, we backed out of the trade deal.

We really do not consider ourselves collectors - sure we are happy to collect FNM / Release / Game Day promos to switch out 'normal' printings in our decks but we don't actively seek to acquire rare printings.  The one and only time we did feel like a collector was with our MTG comic books - picked each and every one up, admired the cover art and promo card and did not crack the shrink wrap.  This is not characteristic of our group - if you buy something, enjoy your purchase instead of having it sit on a shelf (and not even on display).  We now feel we can imagine how some collectors feel when they realise that their $5 purchase in now worth $25.
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Cardboard Crack

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Wow what a weekend!  At the 2014 World Championship, Shahar Shenhar  secured his second consecutive win while the Danish Team came out on top in the finals over Greece to win the 2014 World Cup.  Make sure to pop by the mothersite to catch up with the coverage from this weekend's events if you could not watch live due to work, school exams, whatever.  Speaking of coverage, on Sunday of the 2014 Worlds Week coverage, Modern Masters 2015 Edition was revealed - see our post from yesterday on this.

Anywhoos, for today's post we are sitting down with the brilliant talent behind 'Cardboard Crack' - a comic about the World's most addictive game - Magic: the Gathering.  There is little doubt about the additive quality of this our favourite game - we first started into this with a progression which may be familar with many - with friends giving us a bunch of terri-bad junk, buying our first sealed product (a Lorwyn Intro Pack from OMG! Games), to cherry-picking highly desirable singles from MTG Mint Card, resulting in a shelf in our games room groaning under the weight of cards.  Righto - enough of us, let's talk to fella about our fav comic strip -

MTG Realm (MTG R) : So a little bit of background about hour - how did you, Magic: the Gathering, and illustration first collide ?

Cardboard-Crack (CC) : I started playing Magic around Ice Age, and have played on and off ever since. Most recently, I came back to Magic during Avacyn Restored, and I was mainly playing Magic Online because I have a family now. Although I was often having fun, it also didn't feel particularly rewarding without my friends to play with like when I played when I was younger. You make a mistake to lose a big game and then have no one to share your bad beat story with, and you start wondering what the point is.

I had long been a fan of comics and one day it just dawned on me that it would be fun to do Magic related comics. I was hoping that doing the comics would help give me that feeling of community that I was missing when just playing Magic Online. Now I've met so many people through the comics, and now via email, Twitter, and whatever, that I never would have met without the comic. It's really helped make Magic so much more rewarding for me.

 
MTG R : I concur - half the fun of MTG is about all the IRL shenanigans at the WPN store or kitchen table.  Tell us about the when / where / hows of your first Cardboard Crack strip you shared with the interwebs.  How was it received ?

CC : I was a little unsure about posting the comics online because I wasn't sure if I could find enough material to write about. In particular, most Magic comics I found online were more focused on the Vorthos (or flavor) aspects of the game, and I thought it would be interesting to write about the players' perspective. Things like recent news from big tournaments, anticipating new sets, or just getting together with your friends on a Friday night. So anyway I set one day aside, and just started drawing, and I think I had like 5 comics by the end of the day. This gave me the confidence to start posting them, in fact I think I posted 2 on my site the first day.

The reception has been overall positive. Of course there are detractors, but you have to expect that from the Internet. Also, Magic people tend to like to think critically about everything and pull things apart, even when they don't really mean anything bad by it. So that can require a tough skin. But yeah, most people have been amazing. You can really see this from the growth my site has had because so many people have been so generous in sharing my work through links and word of mouth. I really owe them a lot for any success I've had.

On top of this, Reuben Bresler and Lauren Lee were still working for StarCityGames at this time, and pretty early on they contacted me for their newsletter. So I owe them a lot as well for believing in me when I was still fairly unknown. Heath Newton from MTGO Traders was another person who helped me out quite a bit early on.

MTG R : That's wonderful you've had some early support.  Have you had any recognition at all from Wizards of the Coast that may have validated your great work to date ?

CC : I've had a little, but not too much really. Trick Jarrett was nice enough to send me an encouraging email early on. Aaron Forsythe generously linked to me on Twitter. And Mark Rosewater has linked to me on Tumblr and Twitter when I mention him in my comics. It's really rewarding when people you admire so much and make this game you love take time out of their day to do things like this.

MTG R :  That is pretty sweet.  How are you drawing material or inspiration for your strips - local store, playgroup, online tournament coverage, etc. ?

CC : A little bit of everything really. I try to post almost every day if I can think of something, and this really means I have to look at every nook and cranny of Magic for humor!

MTG R : The strips are most definitely humorous and certainly put a smile in my day.  I've been blogging (almost daily) at MTG Realm since 2008 and have (with some effort) tried always to be on the singular topic of the game - have you ever felt compelled to address non-MTG issues in your strips ?

CC :  I definitely get this feeling from time to time. If you notice my comics, I've sometimes made connections with science or philosophy, especially early on in the writing. It would be to do more focus on this, but obviously this wouldn't really work in a Magic comic. In addition, there are often current events that I'd like to comment on (especially political things), but it just wouldn't be appropriate with my audience.

So for now I just add these non-Magic ideas to my notebooks, and hopefully someday I'll get a chance to share them!

MTG R : So what future projects or aspirations do you want to be realised ?

CC : For the most part I feel like I've hit a good groove. I'm been producing the comics fairly consistently and people seem happy to keep reading them.

In terms of future projects, I'm not sure what more I have time for. Drawing Cardboard Crack almost daily takes up quite a bit of time! I would definitely like to do some playmats or sleeves at some point, so hopefully this is something to look forward to.

Other than this, I just hope my audience can keep growing so that I can make Cardboard Crack more and more of my life. It's hard to see from the outside, but I really feel like some of my best weeks of comics are when I have more time to work on the writing. So it would be so amazing for me (and hopefully for my readers as well) if I could be able to consistently dedicate all the time I'd like to Cardboard Crack.

MTG R : Thank-you so very much - it was great yattering with you.  All the very best to you in the continued success of Cardboard Crack.
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If you've been loving the comics and are a fan of the game, check out some of the cool 'n' witty merch on the site, and when the WiFi goes down, go analogue like your forebears and pick up one of the truly outstanding bound collections filled these great strips and includes as a special bonus, a number of new comics never published on the Cardboard Crack website.

http://cardboard-crack.com/
https://twitter.com/cardboard_crack
https://www.facebook.com/CardboardCrack

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MTG Theros Comics

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

According to our calendar and a host of other online media websites, today is the first day of Spring ('March' equinox).  Images called into mind are newborn lambs frolicking in a meadow festooned with a fresh vernal growth of flowers.  This is of course not the case here in Central Ontario (just North of Toronto) where there is yet another snow blizzard raging outside our window.  If you happen to be near Barrie, Ontario, drop by OMG! Games this evening to get out of the weather and take in some Commander.

As for us, we'll likely baton down the hatches, build a fire and curl up with the latest Magic: the Gathering comic book from IDW Publishing we picked up this week.  A good part of our fondness of the game stems from the storyline ('vorthos') behind the set themes and flavor text on the cards.  Another reason we love getting the MTG comic books is the alternate-art cards of course.  Since we now have all of the promo-cards, we also want to pop over to MTG Mint Card and pick up original printings as well.

Anywhoos, now that we now have all five comic books in the latest Theros series, here's a handy summary -  
 

IDW Comics Magic: the Gathering Volume 4 - "Theros"
• Theros #1 — Alternate-Art High Tide
• Theros #2 — Alternate-Art Gaze of Granite
• Theros #3 — Alternate-Art Wash Out
• Theros #4 — Alternate-Art Acquire
• Theros #4 — Alternate-Art Duress

Magic: The Gathering – Theros #1 (of 5)
Jason Ciaramella (w) • Martin Coccolo (a) • Eric Deschamps (c)
DACK FAYDEN RETURNS! After eliminating Sifa Grent, the Planeswalker that destroyed his hometown, Dack has settled down in Ravnica to do what he does best: break in and steal the secrets from Ravnica's rarest artifacts. But upon uncovering the half of a strange gauntlet, Dack is led to a strange new plane: the realm of THEROS, a sun-dappled ruled by gods and inhabited by mythological beasts!
FC • 32 pages • $4.99
Variant Covers: variant Martin Coccolo

Magic: The Gathering – Theros #2 (of 5)
Jason Ciaramella (w) • Martin Coccolo (a) • Dan Scott (c)
Dack Fayden follows the trail of his most recent stolen artifact to THEROS, where he makes his way to a sinister island that holds the secrets of his newest acquisition. But such powerful artifacts are rarely left unguarded...
FC • 32 pages • $4.99
This issue includes an exclusive, alternate art playable Magic: The Gathering card
Variant Covers: variant Martin Coccolo

Magic: The Gathering – Theros #3 (of 5)
Jason Ciaramella (w) • Martin Coccolo (a) • Volkan Baga (c)
Dack Fayden has managed to assemble the powerful artifact that first brought him to THEROS. But as a monster of the deep attacks the vessel he sails on, Dack must put his new acquisition to good use… and fast!
FC • 32 pages • $4.99
This issue includes an exclusive, alternate art playable Magic: The Gathering card
Variant cover by Martin Coccolo

Magic: The Gathering – Theros #4 (of 5)
Jason Ciaramella (w) • Chris Evenhuis (a) • Anthony Francisco (c)
Dack Fayden remains in THEROS with his new artifact—a powerful gauntlet that holds many secrets. But those secrets may bring trouble to Dack’s doorstep… and the Planeswalker thief will have to face a foe unlike any other.
FC • 32 pages • $4.99
This issue includes an exclusive, alternate art playable Magic: The Gathering card
Variant Cover by Martin Coccolo

Magic: The Gathering - Theros #5
Release Date - Wed, March 19th, 2014
Jason Ciaramella (w) • Martin Coccolo (a) • Michael Komarck (c)
A new threat stalks the nightmares of the people of THEROS and it’s up to Dack Fayden to figure out a way to stop this new enemy. But will Dack’s own dreams be overtaken before he can confront this threat? Perhaps he will have to seek help from the gods of Theros before he can stop Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver!
FC • 32 pages • $4.99
This issue includes an exclusive, alternate art playable Magic: The Gathering card.
 Variant Cover by Martin Coccolo
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IDW Theros Promos

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

A happy Friday indeed as it is Friday Night Magic.  Magic: the Gathering fans around the world are taking part at local FNM events held at their local gaming stores.  We will be heading off to OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario.  As school is soon underway, we'll be expecting a few more familiar faces as students at Georgian College across the road start to re-occupy dorms.

Anywhoos - onto today's article - An interesting Theros spoiler - not from the actual MTG set but rather from the IDW comics.  Some time ago, IDW comics had teamed up with Wizard of the Coast to create a 4-comic book series based on the storyline. It introduced a new planeswalker, Dack Fayden (Eric Deschamp concept illustration shown here) who could easily be mistaken for a GQ front pager.  Long story short, the first series whose story was rooted in the Plane of Innistrad was a hit, and serveral more series was developed.  One thing which we definitely look forward to is that in each of the comic books, there is playable MTG alternate-art promo card - see below for the full list.

Recently on Imgur / Reddit, a total of five never seen before cards were posted and then the original poster deleted their account - weirdness.  The following cards were shown all with the IDW publishing logo which suggests they will be the new MTG Comic promos in the Theros series - 

Acquire - Fifth Dawn (Rare)
Wash Out - Invasion (Uncommon)
High Tide - Fallen Empires (Common)
Duress - Urza's Saga / multiple (Common)
Gaze of Granite - Dragon's Maze (Rare)

We were expecting another four in this Theros set but we have five cards here which may mean that the new volume will contain five issues (and cards) OR that Wizards had IDW produce a supplemental product with one of the 'extra' cards shown to be handed out at a venue like PAX Prime.
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Anywhoos - for reference, here's the run down of all the IDW issues along with their promo card -

IDW Comics Magic: the Gathering Volume 1
• Issue #1 (2/1/12) — Alternate-Art Treasure Hunt
• Issue #2 (2/29/12) — Alternate-Art Faithless Looting
• Issue #3 (3/28/12) — Alternate-Art Feast of Blood
• Issue #4 (5/23/12) — Alternate-Art Electrolyze

IDW Comics Magic: the Gathering Volume 2 - "The Spell Thief"
• The Spell Thief #1 (6/27/12) — Alternate-Art Arrest
• The Spell Thief #2 (8/8/12) — Alternate-Art Consume Spirit
• The Spell Thief #3 (9/19/12) — Alternate-Art Standstill
• The Spell Thief #4 (11/7/12) — Alternate-Art Breath of Malfegor

IDW Comics Magic: the Gathering Volume 3 - "Path of Vengeance"
• Path of Vengeance #1 (12/5/12) — Alternate-Art Turnabout
• Path of Vengeance #2 (12/19/12) — Alternate-Art Voidmage Husher
• Path of Vengeance #3 (1/30/13) — Alternate-Art Ogre Arsonist
• Path of Vengeance #4 (2/27/13) — Alternate-Art Corrupt

IDW Comics Magic: the Gathering Volume 4 - "Theros"
• Theros #1 (10/21/13) — Alternate-Art High Tide (?)
• Theros #2 (11/13/13) — Alternate-Art Gaze of Granite (?)
• Theros #3 (?) — Alternate-Art ?
• Theros #4 (?) — Alternate-Art ?

• ??? - a fifth one ???
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Wednesday Miscellany

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We thought it best to do a catch-up today on MTG Realm with a variety of Magic the Gathering news which for whatever reason we felt not to dedicate a full post for. Strap yerself in for the ride . . .

First up - Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored spoilers -

On Twitter, WoTC minion MaRo dropped some interesting news about the second and third sets in the Innistrad block. Specifically, he mentioned that Dark Ascension will as with the previous set, as many have already postulated, have double-faced cards (or DFC's) - BUT - according to his tweets, Avacyn Restored will NOT have any double-faced cards. We are rather interested in the story line / flavour as to why and will wait with anticipation until February / May until all the blanks are filled in. Here are MaRo's tweets . . .

@maro254: I've gotten a lot of people inquiring, so let me set the record straight. #MTGDKA will have cool new DFCs. #MTGAVR will not have any.

@maro254: We're doing things to connect #MTGAVR to #MTGINN & #MTGDKA but DFC's didn't make sense with what happens in #MTGAVR. I can't explain why yet

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Next up - Keeping with Dark Ascension spoilers -

This interesting image showed up on the forums whose posted indicated that this is a Red / White Dark Ascension Intro Pack. Specifically, Ascesa Oscura is the Italian name for this set and the foil rare appears to be an Angel with red hair. Unfortunately, as the image is small, we can only guess as to the other qualities (including mana-cost) of said card.

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Time as well as to catch up with upcomming Promo Cards.

The following Gateway / Wizards Play Network promo cards should be showing up in a game store near you. If you are not in the know, Gateway promos are foil promotional cards provided to players for participating in tournaments at local stores.

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Next up - MOAR MTG comics from IDW.

IDW Comics have now released some details and the cover for MTG Comic #4. Our local store Big B Comics should be expecting the first issue in the series shortly. Anywhoos - here's the 4.1.1 on the latest issue . . .

Magic: The Gathering #4

Matt Forbeck (w) Martín Cóccolo (a) Karl Kopinski (c)

Dack Fayden has finally caught up to the mage that destroyed his home village, but it might be too late: she has begun casting a deadly spell that will drain hundreds of their life force. And, now that Dack has arrived, he may fall prey to the same dark magic as the rest!
FC 32 pages $3.99

*Variant covers: Variant Tyler Walpole cover!

Bullet points: This issue includes an exclusive, alternate art playable Magic: The Gathering card! Continuing the adventures of the brand new Planeswalker, Dack Fayden!
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Finally,
The folks over at MTG Mint Card has one heck of a Christmas Holiday deal - you can knock off 50% (!) off express shipping for any purchase. This deal is good until 21st December which should allow you loads of time to Christmas shop for that special MTG fan.

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MTG Comics

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

This is an unusual second post for today. If you were looking for Innistrad spoilers and previews, check out our earlier post today featuring the new Garruk Relentless / Garruk, the Viel-Cursed.

Onto the news . . .

We're unsure if we posted or tweeted about the planned Magic the Gathering comic book series earlier. If not, here is an image from the San Diego Comic-Con Programme / Souvenir book . . .

Wizards of the Coast and IDW Publishing had initially announced the fall launch of the first new Magic the Gathering comic in this advertisement.


Most recently, we have further news from several different comic book trade companies which included an image for the cover as well as additional details of the deal between IDW and Hasbro / Wizards of the Coast . . .

The initial 4-issue Magic the Gathering miniseries, which will be written by author and game designer / player / novelist Matt Forbeck (The Lord of the Rings RPG, The Marvel Encyclopedia) while Martin Coccolo and Aleski Briclot will be providing art for this installment of the comic book miniseries.

The initial publications will focus on a "unique new Planeswalker, a powerful mage with the ability to move between the worlds of the Magic Multiverse". (- wow - not giving away too much here are we ?)


The comic will come with exclusive, playable, alternate-art cards for the Magic: The Gathering Trading Card Game, which will only be available in select issues of the IDW Magic: The Gathering comic book.

Anywhoos - let's soak up this beautiful art adorning the cover . . .


Yep - we haven't even flipped through past the cover and we want to get all of these. We want to know - Would you pick these up / collect them ? Are you a fan of the recent Path of the Planeswalker graphic novel ? Or perhaps you just want to sling the cards ? Pipe in below with your comments.
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Path of the PW 2

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Happy Tuesday MTG Peeps

The upcoming Magic: the Gathering graphic novel Path of the Planeswalker II is now available for preorder from your favourite online book retailer. Some good news, this novel, originally listed for $20.50 here in Canada on Chapters-Indigo has now been marked down to $15.88. marked down from $20.50. Our cousins south of the border in the States will of course pay a few dollars less for this.

Here is the shiznat from corporate . . .

"Following the success of Path of the Planeswalker, the latest collection of Magic: The Gathering''s® immensely popular Web comic series tops the original in style and concept.

United by their ability to bridge the chaotic gap between worlds, and set apart by that same unfathomable power, Planeswalkers wander the Multiverse in an endless quest for knowledge and power. The life of a Planeswalker is one of infinite possibility, of self-determination free from the mundane boundaries of a single world, but sometimes the gift of choice can be the greatest burden."

Path of the Planeswalker II will feature 160 color pages and will be published on May 24, 2011.

. . . and the details

Imprint: Wizards of the Coast
Country of origin: United States
Series: Planeswalker Novel
Release date: 24 May 2011
First published: May 2011
Authors: Doug Beyer • Brady Dommermuth • Jenna Helland
Format: Paperback - Trade
Pages: 160
ISBN-13: 978-0-7869-5852-8
Categories: Fantasy
Graphic novels
LSN: 0-7869-5852-9

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Also, catching up with some news across the seas in the land of the rising sun. MTG Japan, the genitor of so much kewl MTG promos, indicates that there will be a foil Japanese promo of of Kuldotha Phoenix to be sold with a new Chandra manga comic book. Sales started November 27th, 2010 and this will be called Book 1 and it contains several of the stories/comics that were first published in the Dengeki Maou magazine earlier this year.

で連載中のマジック漫画『マジック:ザ・ギャザリング　燃え尽きぬ炎』、この単行本が11月27日(土)に発売される。

　この単行本につけられるプロモーションカードがこの《カルドーサのフェニックス》なのだ。

The following image from Eric (aka ThisSatori) living in Japan














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Finally, if you have not already, look into getting singles from the classy all-foil premium deck series Fire & Lightning, look no further that MTG Mint Card.

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