Fate Reforged Promos

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Happy Friday (again) MTG peeps,

In our previous post (over here), we summarised all the new Fate Reforged spoilers and previews, which now takes us up to 70 of 185 new cards previews on the MTG Realm Spoiler List.  In this, our second post, we need to talk about all the Fate Reforged promo cards (and playmat) which could be yours during the upcoming weeks.  Pop over to WotC staffer Blake's post to the mothersite's Arcana article to see all the alternate art Magic: the Gathering goodness.

PreRelease Promos
January 17-18
Pool of 40 cards with holo stamp

Launch Promo
January 23–25
Sandsteppe Mastodon

Buy-a-Box Promo
Limited when you purchase a booster box
Shamanic Revelation

Game Day Participation Promo
February 14–15, 2015
Mardu Shadowspear

Game Day Top 8 Promo
February 14–15, 2015
Supplant Form









Game Day Winner Playmat
February 14–15, 2015
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon art 

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Khans of Tarkir Game Day

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

It certainly is an exciting time for Magic: the Gathering players worldwide as the new Khans of Tarkir is now fully absorbed in to standard format and everyone is brewing up new decklists to become top dawg.  In yesterday's post, we yattered about the break-out decklists at the Pro Tour event in Honolulu.  We suggest you check out Josh Silvestri's article at Channel Fireball to see which lists delivered and which fell short of the mark.

The big tournament this weekend is Grand Prix Los Angels and we'll see whether the two big winners in Hawaii, Abzan Midrange and Jeskai Wins will deliver again or whether there will be further evolution in standard format.  Although we will be watching, our focus is most definitely on Khans of Tarkir Game Day this weekend.  At our local gaming store, OMG! Games, things will kick off with Friday Night Magic to give an opportunity to try out their strategies in a more casual environment before the Game Day events following on Saturday and Sunday - see details below.

We now have our most recent order of cards from MTG Mint Card and have a tough choice to make as to which decklist to bring to Game Day - 
• White / Red Heroic, or
• Abzan midrange

Our two decklists are of course not exact but do closely approximate the R/W Heroic build from Yoshihiko Ikawa, and the Abzan list from Alexander John.  Which one to play for Game Day may come down to a coin flip for us.

What do you plan on playing ? - use the comment thingy below.

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Magic: the Gathering - Khans of Tarkir Game Day

When :

• Saturday Oct. 18: 11:30 registration, 12:30 start

• Sunday, Oct. 19: 11:30 registration, 12:30 start

Where : OMG! Games, 130 Bell Farm Road, Barrie, Ontario

Entry : $6 per player

Format : Standard Constructed

Prizes :

All participants will receive a full-art Heir of the Wild promo card. The top eight players will receive a foil full-art Utter End. The top player will receive a special Game Day playmat. Sealed product and additional prizes will also be added into the pool, based on attendance.

Contact :

Phone : (705) 721-4263

Website : www.OMGgames.ca

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Magic 2015 Promos

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

If you missed our earlier article today where we covered off the new Garruk, Apex Predator planeswalker card and other Magic 2015 core set previews, wander on back here.   In this post, we want to cover off all the Magic: the Gathering promo cards for the various events for this core set, so let's go -

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JULY 12-13, 2014 MAGIC 2015 PRERELEASE
Prereleases provide you with the earliest possible opportunity to play with the newest cards in Magic.  For more info, visit this page on the mothersite.  Prerelease packs are returning again for this event.  Each Prerelease Pack will include the following:
• 5 Magic 2015 Core Set Booster Packs
• 1 Magic 2015 Core Set Seeded Booster Pack
• 1 premium promo card (five colours available)
• 1 activity insert
• 1 Spindown life counter
• 1 oversized Garruk Challenge Card
• 3 Wolf tokens

The five Prerelease promos are

• WHITE - Resolute Archangel 

• BLUE - Mercurial Pretender 

• BLACK - Indulgent Tormentor 

• RED - Siege Dragon

• GREEN - Phytotitan

JULY 18 2014 MAGIC 2015 LAUNCH

The set is hitting store shelves.  Attend the special Friday Night Magic event and you could score this Launch Promo -

In Garruks' Wake

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AUGUST 9-10, 2014MAGIC 2015 GAME DAY
See how you match up against your local community, earn prizes, and become a champion in this unique day of competition taking place all around the world!  For more information, click on over here.

Participation card - Reclamation Sage
Top 8 promo - Chief Engineer
Game Day winner- playmat

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That's not all - 
Many Game Stores run organised tournaments or 'league events'.  Find a local store here and ask.  The League promo card is this lovely Squid Token, which is generated by the M15 card Coral Barrier.

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Theros Promos

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

You most definitely need to check out the very awesome Theros Promos over on the mothersite today.  Whether you are breaking over a Theros prerelease pack and starting your Hero's Path, or scoring that Top 8 prize card during Game Day, these alternate art cards are just simply sweet.  Personally, we have a few casual decks which we run a few promo cards in the mix with the full book set and definitely take a collector's pride 'n' joy in our tall Commander stacks that feature a few of these.  The arts are outstanding - anywhoos - here's the round-up of Theros promos you can expect to see.

September 21-22, 2013 - Prerelease Promos - The five Intro-Pack rares again are mirrored in the special premium foil promos.  These are Celestial Archon (Matt Stewart / Wesley Burt), Shipbreaker Kraken (Jack Wang / Svetlin Velinov), Abhorrent Overlord (Slawomir Maniak / Dave Kendall), Ember Swallower (Slawomir Maniak / Vincent Procee), and Anthousa, Setessan Hero (Howard Lyon / Howard Lyon again).

Release Promo - Bident of Thassa (Yeong-Hao Han / Ryan Yee)

October 19-20, 2013 - Game Day -
Participation Promo - Phalanx Leader (David Palumbo / Raymond Swanland)
Prize Promo - Nighthowler (Nils Hamm / Seb McKinnon)

Buy-a-Box Promo - Sylvan Caryatid (Chase Stone / Lars Grant-West)

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Dragon's Maze Game Day

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We all have finally arrived at Dragon's Maze Game Day this coming weekend.  Check where there may be an event close to you at this link.  Magic: the Gathering Game Day is a standard constructed event taking place world wide approximately one month after the release of each new set.  

This affords players to collect the new cards they need, polish their strategies and get down to gaming.  We here at MTG Realm will get to the local Friday Night Magic game tonight at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario to get a few extra matches in and tweak for tomorrow's Game Day.

If you've been away from standard constructed format for the last little while, we suggest you give Jacob Van Lunen's article, May Standard Compendium over on the mothersite a read over.  For a 'quick 'n' dirty' run down of where standard is at now, look no further than our sister site, MTG Realm on Tumblr where we have this handy graphic from @SunByrne.  From this, the standard metagame looks diverse and healthy.

Righto - we should yatter about what's up for grabs at tomorrow's Game Day . . .

All participants receive an exclusive Trostani's Summoner full-art promo card (while supplies last). The Top 8 players each receive an exclusive Melek, Izzet Paragon full-art foil promo card. The cards are awarded to the Top 8 players even if the tournament cuts only to the Top 4.  In addition, the first-place winner of Dragon's Maze Game Day will receive an exclusive Playmat. 

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M14 Game Day Promos

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We have some Magic: the Gathering news today regarding promos we can expect at the Magic 2014 core set Game Day scheduled 10th / 11th August, 2013.  Magic Game Day gives you a chance to go big at your local game store and takes place approximately 4 weeks after a new MTG set is launched.  This also affords enough time to collect and build with the newest cards and fit them into a standard constructed strategy.  Here at MTG Realm our pre-orders from MTG Mint Card usually take only two or three days to get to us which means ample time to playtest as well.  To find a shop near you, click on over to the handy Wizards Locator page.

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Anywhoos - let's see what Wizards of the Coast has to offer for promos.  All participants receive an exclusive Hive Stirrings full-art promo card (while supplies last). The Top 8 players each receive an exclusive Goblin Diplomats full-art foil promo card. The cards are awarded to the Top 8 players even if the tournament cuts only to the Top 4.

Hive Stirrings, 2w
Sorcery, Common
Put two 1/1 colorless Sliver creature tokens onto the battlefield.

Goblin Diplomats, 1r
Creature - Goblin, Rare
{T}: Each creature attacks this turn if able.
2/1

In addition, the first-place winner of Magic 2014 Core Set Game Day will receive an exclusive playmat. 

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Gatecrash Game Day

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

This weekend (Saturday / Sunday 23rd / 24th February) local gaming stores around the world will be hosting Gatecrash 'Game Day'.  This standard constructed tournament held at card shops everywhere are held a few weeks after the official launch of the new set.  This is a great opportunity to take a break from kitchen-table gaming and unleash your 60-card creation at the store.  For details, check out the mothersite link here.  We here at MTG Mint card have not quite settled on a deck to bring along but for now we think R.Tech might take a Simic (blue-green evolve) build and C6 might have an Orzhov (black-white extort) token build to our local slice of Gamer heaven - OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario.  R.Stomp is thinking about an old-skool standard Zombie build but is looking at some other lists he found on MTG Mint Card's Deck Central website.
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Anywhoos - here's the run down of what you might score at the Game Day event -participants at the Gatecrash Game Day will receive this Zameck Guildmage promo.










Those to make Top 8 during the Gatecrash Game Day event can expect to receive this Firemane Avenger promo.
 
The first-place Champion will walk away with this very slick Gatecrash Game Day Champion Play Mat featuring the card art from Merciless Eviction with art from Richard Wright.

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RTR Game Day

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

On Saturday, Return to Ravnica Game Day events took place all over the world.  Yours truly (CopySix) headed over to the local Magic: the Gathering games store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario.  To say that the inclement weather had an adverse effect on attendance may be an understatement.  It was cold (~ 7ºC / 44 ºF), raining and at some times blustery with rainbands from Hurricane Sandy more than 900 kilometers south-east making the day less than ideal.  This inconvenience of course pales in comparison to what is being experienced by some of our friends and family working / living in New York City where there are some evacuations taking place.

Anywhoos - RetroTech and RStomp stayed home and I took my Black / White token build to game with.  Altough I am somewhat sheepish that this deck features essentially no new Return to Ravnica cards, I was happy with the result - going 3 wins (against excellent players Rob, Derek, and Nick), 1 draw (with sneaky Matt), and 1 loss (against Jonathan) to land me in third place and scoring the participation promo (Dryad Militant), the Top 8 promo (Cryptborn Horror), as well as 22 Planeswalker Points.

We think that strategies develop and evolve with any new standard and Return to Ravnica will be no different - from aggressive creature-based aggro decks with the release to more control-based strategies over the next few months.  The deck I took really is a throwback which may have took advantage of other players new and developing builds.  That black / white build did fail terribly against Jonathan's Rakdos burn.

We will be working on completing some new standard constructed decks with RetroTech playing Azorius, RStomp playing Naya (black / green / red) Zombies, and yours truly playing Selesnya.  We only have a hadfull more cards to pickup from MTG Mint Card to have everything complete.

We have friends all over the world and get a lot of eMails.  Our friend 'Marvel Sutantio' in Jakarta (Indonesia) sent in this excellent report from Game Day -
    I used a Jund control deck for yesterday's RtR Game Day (using Abrupt Decay, Dreadbore, Bonfires, and other removals while using Desecration Demon, Thragtusk, Vraska & Garruk Primal Hunter for the winning condition), and it sucked pretty badly.

    The deck just couldn't handle a plethora of big, ugly creatures my friend threw at me. My local metagame consist of either a mid-range / big creature decks or zombies. I'm totally prepared for zombies, but seriously, the big bad creatures deck is just horrid.

    They kept throwing Thragtusks, Angel of Serenities, Restoration Angels, Armada Wurms, Huntsmen, you name it.

    And due to Angel of Serenity as well as zombies, I think the best solution to any kind of threat in this format is Detention Sphere.

    And even then, it's a lot wiser to play a big creature deck ourselves. At least we can trade 1 for 1 with their creatures.

    Dunno bout the metagame in your place, but I'm sure as heck disappointed with the current standard. It's like an pseudo Legions-only-with-a-splash-of-onslaught kind of standard where creatures run rampant... But we lack the means to nullify them. Supreme Verdict enables regeneration, Abrupt Decay is almost useless since most powerful creatures are at least cc5. Dreadbore is a sorcery.

    Good luck with the Game Day, hope you have better luck than I do :P
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Return to Ravnica Promos

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Today on the mothersite, all the Return to Ravnica promos had been unveiled by WoTC Monty.  All of these promos feature very slick alternate art and we say highly collectible as they would look absolutely lovely in any deck whether you are playing standard, modern, EDH / Commander or rocking the kitchen table with some casual Magic the Gathering games.  If you are looking for regular art Return to Ravnica foils or other sets, swing by MTG Mint Card.

Anywhoos - here's the looky-loo at all the Return to Ravnica promos . . .

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Return to Ravnica - 
PreRelease Guild Pack Promos
Azorious - Archonof the Triumvirate
Izzet - Hypersonic Dragon
Radkos - Carnival Hellsteed
Golgari - Corpsejack Menace
Selesnya - Grove of the Guardian

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Return to Ravnica 
Buy-a-Box Promo
 
Supreme Verdict

~Return to Ravnica Release 
Friday, October 5, 2012
 
FNM Promo
Deadbridge Goliath


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Return to Ravnica League
starting Friday, October 5, 2012
 
League Promo
2/2 White Knight token with Vigilance

~Return to Ravnica 
Game Day
October 27-28, 2012
Participation Promo 

Dryad Militant


 
~Return to Ravnica 
Game Day
October 27-28, 2012

Top 8 Promo 
Cryptborn Horror

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Magic 2013 Promos

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

If all has unfolded to plan, this post would have published automatically in our week absence.  While we endure the great outdoors, we want you, the MTG Realm reader to ensure you know what all the very lovely looking Magic 2013 promos will be.  We'll be back riding the wild software soon . . .

PreRelease Promo - foil Xathrid Gorgon will be given out (while supplies last) at Magic 2013 Prereleases on July 7-8.Original Art illustrated by Chase Stone
Promo Art illustrated by  Wesley Burt

Launch Promo - On Friday, July 13, Friday Night Magic players can score this special promo version of Staff of Nin. 

Original illustrated by Brad Rigney

Promo Art illustrated by Dan Scott

Buy-A-Box Promo - If you're a serious MTG gamer and buy a full booster box of Magic 2013, you'll get this Cathedral of War. We suggest you reserve your box early.
Original illustrated by Kekai KotakiPromo Art illustrated by Franz Vohwinkel
 

If you plan to attend Magic 2013 Game Day is on August 4-5, 2012 - participants will get this full art Mwonvuli Beast Tracker.
Original illustrated by Zoltan Boros
Promo Art illustrated by Jason A Engle
The Top 8 players on Game Day will receive an exclusive Magmaquake.
Original illustrated by Gabor Szikszai
Promo Art illustrated by Sam Burley 

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Finally, 
If you have not pre-ordered any Magic 2013 cards yet, now is the time.  Check out the best selection and prices at MTG Mint Card.

 

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