Rivals of Ixalan from Ultra PRO

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

The kitten's out of the clutch.  We do love to speculate a bit as to what the next Magic: the Gathering set may hold, not really from a collector's financial point of view, but that of furthering the Magic story and inspiration to brew the night away with imaginary cards that have not yet come to be.  Mark Rosewater has been leaving little nuggets on Blogatog suggesting what players may expect - such as the almost obvious hint to expect a Merfolk Lord in the upcoming Rivals of Ixalan set.  We also have previews which suggest a partial colour cycle of elder dinosaurs, and from the Creative Team at Wizards of the Coast, the chance of some named secondary characters seeing print as legendary creatures.  

We do now have official images from gaming accessory supplier Ultra PRO of the products associated with Rivals of Ixalan.  The art is incredible and our imagination is fired up.  Here is the round-up now - 

Rivals of Ixalan Playmats for Magic - Playmats from Ultra PRO with premium fabric top to prevent damage to cards during game play. Dimensions are approximately 24" x 13-½". Rubber backing lets the playmat lay flat and prevents the mat from shifting during use.  Crazy Hydra-Dinosaur - count ‘em three heads.  Our friend Jay Annelli (Vorthos Jay) keenly pointed out a striking similarity to Ghidorah. Ixalan landscape with happy dinos and of course Captain Beckett Brass leading a Brazen Coalition charge.

Deck Protector sleeves with matte clear front finish, for a smoother, professional shuffle feel. Sized 66mm X 91mm to store and protect standard sized cards.  Looks to be legendary Merfolk creature (hinted to a 'Lord'), Angrath the angry Minotaur dad, and quite likely the fabled vampire Elenda (Saint Elenda, Elenda of Garrano).

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Building a New Standard

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Tomorrow, a brave new world will open up for Magic: the Gathering players at their local gaming stores.  Like thousands of other gamers, we'll be dropping by our local store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario to have a fun-filled Friday Night Magic evening.  With the rotation of 2 blocks (four sets), the standard card pool just became a little bit smaller, but in our opinion, a whole lot more exciting.  

The newest set Ixalan, provides some incentives to build a list based upon the four tribes of Ixalan -
• Dinosaurs (Sun Empire)
• Pirates (Brazen Coalition)
• Vampires (Legion of Dusk)
• Merfolk (River Heralds)

We have ordered the above list in line of which tribes are expected to be the most powerful in the new standard environment.  Synergies and other tribal-based bonuses are great but may not be fully realised until the next set, Rivals of Ixalan produces additional support.  

For now however, the smart player (by way of example), may not be playing a tribal go-wide strategy with Orzhov (black / white) vampires but may be better served with a token-based strategy instead, utilising some of the new vampire spells which create tokens, such as Queen's Commission or Call to the Feast.  

There are some potential pitfalls of course.  For example, playing a Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle to create vampire tokens does force one to go 'all in' with vampire tribal, whereas it may be more prudent to look to previous black / white tokens lists prior to the rotation (some of which were not that bad), and simply update that with the goodies from Ixalan.  Examples again may be Servo Exhibition and Sram's Expertise coupled with Hidden Stockpile and Anointed Procession to double-down on token producing.

Whichever way you may be charting your course, it is typically rather important to set yourself up a strong board presence upon which to build as early on in the game as possible.  Another example used here is what one would love to see in an opening hand (or early card draws) should you be playing a Naya (white / green / red) Dinosaur decklist.

Playing Imperial Lancer turn one immediately followed by Nest Robber just seems sublime as you look to land four damage on the second turn.  As these two creatures become less relevant later game then you always have fodder for chump blockers.

Likewise, as Dinosaurs are relatively a tich more mana intensive, consideration should be given to mana acceleration early game.  Whether it is a 'man-dork' or a 'Banneret' (Morningtide reference) to reduce your mana cost.  The example here may be having Drover of the Mighty come down turn turn (which is a lovely 3/3 should you already have a dinosaur out) to tap for any colour - and / or - have an Otepec Huntmaster reduce your dino overhead by one.  The Huntmaster, also provides the benefit of sending a toothy hasty surprise over the fence.  Again, building your list for synergy (whether tribal or no), should be provided equal weight in most cases with designing with your opening hand in mind.


Happy Brewing Ixalan fans !

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Ixalan Tribal

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

There are a number of new (and one previously spoiled / now officially confirmed) Ixalan cards out today.  Before we get into into it, here is a brief summary of all the new Magic: the Gathering cards to be released into the wild at month's end.

Adanto Vanguard
Captivating Crew
Charging Monstrosaur
Dire Fleet Ravager (confirmed)
Imperial Lancer
Makeshift Munitions
River Sneak
Vicious Conquistador

Righto, if you've been following the MTG Realm blog for a good stretch, you will most likely know we have a thingy for Tribal.  This fondness may be a function of just when we came into the game - Lorwyn - a block which most definitively tribal in nature.  

We also do not count ourselves among good standard deck-builders and we admit that often we take an easy path by choosing a tribal 'Lord'.  Specifically a card which provides an advantage to playing with the same creature type.  Often this is basically a simple buff to power and toughness.

In the upcoming set Ixalan there are the four following 'tribes' - 

• Pirates (blue-black-red)

• Dinosaurs (red-green-white)

• Vampires (white-black)

• Merfolk (green-blue)

To date with just over half of the Ixalan set now revealed, there only appears to be two conventional 'Lords' as well as a handful of other cards lending some synergy to a creature type.  The following Ixalan tribes have a conventional Lord -

• Dinosaurs - Thundering Spineback - Other Dinosaurs you control get +1/+1.

• Pirates - Admiral Beckett Brass - Other Pirates you control get +1/+1.

Not to fear however.  Should you wander down the tribal path in the new standard constructed format, you will be very well served in securing copies of the following cards - 

• Arcane Adaptation - All will be one.  This enchantment is a great equalizer.

• Pillar of Origins - Mana rock to play any colour for the chosen creature type.

• Vanquisher's Banner - Buff's P/T as will as given you a card draw - damn good.

• Unclaimed Territory - same as the pillar, but in Land form.

We are certainly excited about taking tribal for a spin in this set and are hoping for additional support cards forthcoming this week.  We suggest that you may wish to Sam Stoddard's article today on the mothersite 'Developing a Tribal Set' to receive a better appreciation of some of the tricky and strategic work that Wizards of the Coast does to make tribal work in balanced and engaging game environment.

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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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