Dominaria Promos

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Happy Wednesday (again) peeps,

This is our second post for today, and likely not our last.  We do expect Wizards of the Coast to post the first of several Official Magic Story installments, penned by Martha Wells in under an hour from the time of this post.

For now we have to post about the upcoming Dominaria set - specifically the promo cards associated with it.  We have yet another spoiler and it is getting kind of tiresome.  As everyone is now talking about it, we might as well get to it.  It appears that a Spanish gaming store may have posted eight Dominaria promo cards.  Please note that these are unofficial and some things may be lost in translation to English - 

• Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, FNM Promo, illus. Magali Villeneuve
"I'm the heir of many treasures, but none as prized as the knowledge of how my ancestor lived."

• Firesong and Sunspeaker, Buy-a-Box Promo, Illus. Zoltan Boros
Hurloon's summits are never silent.

• Champion of Steel Leaf (?), Store Championship Promo, illus. Simon Dominic

• Llanowar Elves, Open House Promo, illus. Vitor Adame Minguez

• Opt, FNM Promo, illus. Tyler Jacobson
The crystal pulsated with the power of Teferi's planeswalker spark. Was what Jhoira had given them a blessing or a curse?

• Zhalfirin Void, League Promo, illus. John Avon
"The wind whispers 'Come back home', but I can't."  - Teferi

• Fade into Oblivion, PNM Promo, Illus. Bastien L. Deharme
"Your life is over, your name lost and your deeds forgotten. It is as if Mazeura had never existed." - Chainer's Torment

• Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp, Draft Weekend Promo, illus. Tyler Jacobson

"I do as I wish, insignificant mortal. However, do tell me of your wishes; I find them exceedingly entertaining."

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Conspiracy Draft Archetypes

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Conspiracy: Take the Crown is landing in a local gaming store near you this very weekend and Magic: the Gathering players who are fans of this draft-game format are looking forward.  For those out there, who like us, are not tip-top outside of constructed format, there are some good resources out there to help make this and following weekends fun.  First and foremost, pop on over to the mothersite to read Marshall Suttcliffe's really solid and helpful article 'First Look at Drafting Conspiracy: Take the Crown' for tips 'n' tricks.  Otherwise, scroll on down to the bottom for a nice summary we've found online.

For now, we want to bring you attention to the Ultra PRO product line-up for Conspiracy: Take the Crown set to keep your awesome pulls protected and looking slick while playing at the games table.

Playmat versions 1 - Queen Marchesa

Playmat versions 2 - Summoner's Bond

Playmat versions  - Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

Deck Protector / card sleeves - Kaya art

Deck Box - Queen Marchesa

Righto - back on track to drafting Conspiracy -

In limited, we've always thought of building sealed pool / draft akin to building our own game table monster - starting with creatures as the skeleton and other spells as 'fleshing' out the rest.  Beyond this horrible analogy, we're quite useless at strategy but we do know that certain colour combinations lend itself well to evasion, whether it is W/U flyers or Aggro Ramp with R/G.  We have noted in this set, there are a fair number of cards in black / white which lends itself more to becoming the 'Monarch' at your table and the benefits of additional card draw that come with that designation.

Redditor 'CountryCaravan' had put together a very decent guide over here which provides a decent primer and suggestions for colour archetypes to consider when drafting this set.  Good luck to all those gamers cracking Conspiracy packs this weekend.

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Conspiracy 2

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Something unexpected happened today.  We were expecting an announcement for Magic: the Gathering fans sometime this week on the next 'From the Vaults' product from Wizards of the Coast but instead we have this announcement (linky to the mothersite here) on the next (and totally unexpected) Conspiracy set.  Perhaps we will not see a FTV product offering this year.  WotC certainly did not very forthcoming (until gamers asked) that Clash Packs and Event Decks were to be discontinued, so perhaps this Conspiracy set is to replace the FTV - who knows.  

Anywhoos, if you are new to the MTG scene, the first Magic: The Gathering – Conspiracy set which was released in June 2014, was the first-ever multiplayer-focused Magic booster set designed specifically to be drafted and from what we've heard from friends and online, players rather enjoyed the quirky and fun games this set made.  As you may know, we really are not fans of the draft format but were certainly head-over-heels on a number of cards from the original Conspiracy set which we gobbled up and prompted absorbed into a few of our Commander decklists. 

We are fans of the storyline and the lovely card arts of the first Conspiracy set, and are most definitely salivating for the second one now - thanks WotC for providing an illustration of Brago so we can dream upon and speculate - which we will now start.  Here's hoping that Brago comes back not as a Legendary Creature but a Planeswalker which we know pretty much impossible as a dead dude cannot have his 'spark' iginite.  :(

Here is the official announcement - 

Long May He Reign

Add deeper layers of gameplay to your next Magic draft and fight for King Brago — or plot his downfall. The Conspiracy: The Reign of Brago set builds on the revolutionary abilities introduced in the original Magic: The Gathering—Conspiracy set, with new cards that affect the draft itself and new Conspiracies that twist the rules against your foes and those who dare oppose Brago. Trade votes and spread your attacks to manipulate the game in your favor.

How will you defend the throne?

This set is designed for eight-player drafts followed by free-for-all games of three to five players each.

Set NameConspiracy: The Reign of Brago
Number of Cards: 221
Release Date: August 26, 2016
Official Three-Letter Code: CN2
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGCN2
Languages Available: English, Japanese, Chinese Simplified
MSRP: $3.99

Initial Concept and Game Design: Shawn Main (lead), Nik Davidson, Bryan Hawley, Ken Nagle, Matt Tabak

Final Game Design and Development: Ben Hayes (lead), Bryan Hawley, Jonathan Skolnik, James Sooy, Gavin Verhey
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Here is a quick summary of who, or rather what King Brago is for fans of vorthos / storyline -

Brago, also known as he 'King Eternal' on account that he has moved on from a corporeal being to that of a spirit, rules the High City of Paliano on the plane of Fiora.  When he finally took a dirt nap, courtesy of his friend Selvala, the Custodi which is a priesthood with ambitions to stay in power, kept Brago's spirit bound.  Although Brago's rule "persists beyond death itself", and "no matter is settled until King Brago offers an opinion", this new set's storyline may show Brago breaking away from the Custodi.

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