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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Art of Ravnica

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it Friday, we suggest you would be well served by getting out of the scorching heat and head to your local gaming store.  We are going to OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario this evening to see what exciting new decklists have been created with the release of the Magic: the Gathering Core Set 2019 the other week.  We also will bring along some very cool Ultra PRO random draw giveaways.

The big news yesterday evening was this announcement from publisher VIZ Media.

The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Ravnica, scheduled for publication in January, 2019.  This is an art book that will explore the vast and vastly powerful, the City of Ravnica.  

James Wyatt, Magic creative writer at Wizards of the Coast partnered with VIZ Media have produced a number of lovely hardcover art books featuring the incredible images and lore of Magic: The Gathering.  Here is the list of previous 'The Art of Magic: The Gathering' publications -

• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Zendikar (2016)

• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Innistrad (2016)

• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Kaladesh (2017)

• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Amonkhet (2017)

• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Ixalan (2018)


• The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Dominaria (2018)

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Commander 2018 Spoilers

Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

Some news for Commander fans we need to update you on.  Similar to previous products, Commander 2018 is to have four pre-constructed theme decks, which features twelve premium foil commanders.   Each of the four decks will have 100-cards each which will have a blend of new cards as well as reprints to support each theme.  Each will have 10 token cards, a strategy insert and a rules reference guide.

There is no specific pattern of colours presented with this year’s Commander decks. The themes were revealed by Wizards of the Coast on the weekly Twitch channel on Friday :

Deck 1 :: Izzet (Blue / Red) :: Exquisite Inventions - Artifacts theme

Deck 2 :: Jund ( Black / Red / Green) :: Nature's Vengeance - Lands matter

Deck 3 :: Bant (White / Blue / Green) :: Adaptive Enchantment - Enchantments

Deck 4 :: Esper (White / Blue / Black) :: Subjective Reality - Top Card of your deck matters

Commander 2018 releases August 10, 2018 with previews officially starting on July 23, 2018. The following artwork has also been released:

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M19 Art Previews

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

On Friday, Wizards of the Coast had another treat for Magic: the Gathering players.  Specifically the Weekly MTG panel on Twitch with Blake Rasmussen (Content Manager), Paul Cheon (Game Designer), Bill Rose (VP R&D), and Charlie Cateeno (Director R&D) sat down to discuss a variety of relevant and interesting items.

Of note for us here at MTG Realm was some art previews for the upcoming Core Set 2019.  Here are the six very lovely (and intriguing) artworks now -

• ‘Generic Burn Spell’, artwork by Chris Rahn

• ’Satyr’, artwork by Sidharth Chaturvedi

• ‘Leonin’, artwork by Jakub Kasper

• ‘Nicol Bolas Spell’, artwork by Svetin Velinov

• ‘Cool Horse creature’, artwork by Alayna Danner

• ‘Tezzeret’, artwork by Josh Has

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Dominaria Playmats

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday, make certain you kick off your weekend right and get thee to a local gamery shoppe.  Friday Night Magic is kicking off locally here in Barrie, Ontario at OMG! Games, and we are looking very much forward to the return of FNM promo cards coinciding with the release of Magic: the Gathering's newest set, Dominaria.

Speaking of Dominaria, a very naughty gaming store in Denmark posted on their sales page, the Ultra PRO product line-up for Dominaria.  As always, these great deck protectors, deck boxes and playmats have amazing artwork.  Some of the images posted, have already been officially previewed by Wizards of the Coast, while others are proper spoilers.  The posted images are not high quality definition (likely scanned from a brochure / flyer), and we can't wait to see the high res ones.  

Jodah, Archmage Eternal

Karn, Scion of Urza

 

Demonlord Belzenlok

 

Squee, the Immortal

 

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain

 

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

FLYING CAT !

Also of note, the Game Day Champion playmat prize was revealed over the the Wizards MTG website, and it is gorgeous !

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Return to Dominaria

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We are tremendously pumped this week.  Wizards of the Coast has two special Official Magic: the Gathering stories to be posted later today (Wednesday) with another one following tomorrow.  Author Martha Wells has been engaged to produce fiction for the upcoming set Dominaria.  Here is a sneak peek of the awesomeness to come with this nibble which was posted over at The Comics Beat, linked right here.
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“Return to Dominaria” excerpt
By Martha Wells

Sadage, cleric of the Cabal, made his way to the doors of the high-vaulted worship hall of the Stronghold. Smoke from torches and incense burners formed a cloud above the cultists sprawled on the stone floor. They begged for entrance to the hall, begged for the favor of the Scion of Darkness within.

A group of dark-robed disciples approached from the other direction, picking their way around the moaning supplicants to meet Sadage. He recognized the leader as Needle, an agent of the Cabal tasked with infiltrating New Argive. As the group reached him, they dropped to their knees. “You’ve returned,” said Sadage, “I hope for a worthwhile reason.”

In answer, Needle unwrapped a large, black sword, holding it up for acceptance. “I bring you a gift for the Scion of Darkness.”

art by Chris Rahn

Continue the excerpt of this story over at The Comics Beat.

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Weatherlight Crew

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

When we had started playing Magic: the Gathering (in Lorwyn), the Plane of Dominaria was already in the rear view mirror, and for reasons which are perhaps inexcusable, we had not read any of the stories.  To this end, we are perhaps at a bit of a loss as we approach the upcoming set of Dominaria.  We are very much looking forward and are now starting to read about some of the fantastical characters in the old stories.

From the description / blurb on Amazon and Viz Media for The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Dominaria, it appears that the airship Weatherlight may feature -

Step aboard the legendary airship Weatherlight and explore Dominaria, an ancient world whose stories are known throughout the Multiverse. Dominaria has weathered one apocalypse after another and emerged into a time of rebirth and renewal.

It is likely a rather good place to start then, with the crew of the Weatherlight in order to begin an orientation of Dominaria, before it releases at the end of April, 2018.  The following is from the Wizards of the Coast article 'Meet the Weatherlight Crew' post linked here to help us prepare for the awesome new set.

Gerrard
Born to inherit the Legacy--a collection of artifacts destined to overthrow the evil forces of the multiverse--Gerrard has endured much hardship during his life. After years spent as a Master of Arms in Benalia, Gerrard has chosen to return to the Weatherlight to lead the rescue for his former captain and mentor, Sisay. 

Sisay

Sisay spent some years traveling with Gerrard in search of the Legacy, then years more on her own after his abrupt departure. Her kidnapping by Volrath was a calculated plan on evincar Volrath's part to draw Gerrard back into battle.

Mirri
Abandoned by her cat warrior kin when she was young, Mirri was raised alongside Gerrard for many years as they were both trained in the arts of war and magic. She is a skilled combatant and Gerrard's closest friend. Gerrard sought her out in Llanowar after he decided to return to the Weatherlight, and she eagerly rejoined him aboard the ship.

Crovax
Crovax was brought to the edge of his sanity by the forces of Volrath when Volrath had Crovax's noble family destroyed, leaving Crovax the sole survivor. Believing himself to be cursed, he eagerly joined the Weatherlight crew on their journey to Volrath's realm, hoping that there he might find salvation from his plight.

Tahngarth
Part of the proud race of Talruum minotaurs, Tahngarth served as first mate of the Weatherlight under Sisay's command. Impatient, gruff, and vain, Tahngarth now follows Gerrard, but he cannot hide his suspicion that Gerrard is not ready to be a leader.

Hanna
The daughter of the ancient wizard Barrin, Hanna was educated at the Argivian University where she learned much about the uses of artifacts. She brought her talents to the Weatherlight and began to develop a romantic relationship with Gerrard. That relationship ended abruptly when Gerrard left the ship years ago, but his return may have rekindled her interest in him. 

Ertai

Trained under Hanna's father Barrin, Ertai is an untested wizard of potentially great power, which is exactly how the arrogant young man thinks of himself. When Barrin elected not to join the Weatherlight crew, Ertai came in his place, leaving behind Tolaria and his mentor.

Karn

As part of Gerrard's Legacy, the silver golem Karn was charged with protecting the child Gerrard from harm. When he was tricked into killing an innocent man, Karn vowed never to take another life, no matter what the circumstances. He rejoins Gerrard on the Weatherlight after spending years deactivated.

Squee

Squee serves as goblin "cabin boy" aboard the Weatherlight. Sneakier and smarter than the average goblin, Squee's loyalty to Gerrard is shadowed by his much stronger loyalty to the abducted Sisay

Orim

Orim is skilled in numerous languages as well as the healing arts of the Samites, and she has served faithfully aboard the Weatherlight for many years. Highly spiritual, she believes that challenging Volrath is morally vital. 

Starke

After escaping Volrath, Starke was forced back into the evincar's service when Volrath took Starke's daughter prisoner. Since then, Starke has tried to ally himself with Sisay, betrayed Sisay to convince Volrath to let his daughter go, and has now pledged his services to Gerrard as the Weatherlight's guide to Volrath's realm. His duplicity has often been his undoing.

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Rivals of Ixalan Art Dump

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

There is another large salvo of Rivals of Ixalan previews out again today which should make Magic: the Gathering players rather happy.  For this post, we wanted to get to a number of new Rivals of Ixalan arts previewed over at Hasbro China (Hasbro CN).  Be sure to pop on over to the mothersite which now has the Rivals of Ixalan card image gallery linked right here.

These are lovely and as usual, Wizards of the Coast looks like they delivered another set with epic arts to fire the imagination and graphically deliver you into the Plane of Ixalan.  There are a few more new pieces over at MTG Realm on Tumblr as well.  Lets get to these now -

Vampires !

PIRATES !

MERFOLK !

Sun Empire

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Rivals of Ixalan Spoilers 11/20

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Something rather odd happened early this morning with the Wizards of the Coast's Brazil community Twitter.  They had posted, very likely by mistake we think, two Rivals of Ixalan cards, which releases January 19, 2018.  The post went up around 6:00 AM this morning (local EST) and was subsequently removed at around 10:00 AM.  Do not fret, we did take a screen-capture of it.

https://twitter.com/Wizards_MagicBR/status/932609237322215426

First card - the Immortal Sun, what every faction and tribe on Ixalan seems to be after at the moment.

The Immortal Sun, 6
Legendary Artifact, Mythic Rare
Players can’t activate loyalty abilities of planeswalkers.
At the beginning of your draw step, draw an additional card.
Spells you cast cost 1 (colourless) less to cast.
Creatures you control get +1/+1.

The card's flavour ties in very nicely to the artifact's ability to prevent poor Mr. Angrath from returning to his home Plane to celebrate his daughter's birthdays.  The card illustration from artist Kieran Yanner is lovely and is very close to the design of Ixalan's Binding (art from Chase Stone), which is though to act like one-way valve on the Plane of Ixalan where Planeswalkers can visit or 'check in', but never leave.  If there were ever an Infinity Stone in Magic: the Gathering, we suspect it would like like this.  Hopefully Jace, Vraska, Angrath and other Planeswalkers are able to neutralise this relic and escape.  If not, they will settle for the warm smell of colitas at Hotel California forever.

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Tetzimoc, Death Incarnate, 4BB
Legendary Creature - Dinosaur Avatar, Rare
Deathtouch
B, Reveal Tetzimoc from your hand: Put a prey counter on target creature. Only activate this ability during your turn.
When Tetzimoc enters the battlefield destroy each creature with a prey counter on it.
6/6

Artist Zack Stella created a wonderful piece here.  Tetzimoc "Spike', Death Incarnate is able to start handing out 'prey counters' while building the mana to cast it.  This reminds me of the 'Black Spot' in  Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island - we almost think that this may have been a Pirate (Brazen Coalition) card early in development.
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Catching up with one transform card earlier is Storm the Vault // Vault of Catlacan.  The card art from Victor Adame Minguez shows what appears to be Pirates taking down an elemental guardian and hitting pay-dirt in the form of a vault full of treature.  Speaking of the Treasure Tokens the vault may generate, we need to re-visit Aether Revolt's 'alternate win condition' in Mechanized Production, and see if we can create the right condition for a win condition.

Storm the Vault, 2UR
Legendary Enchantment, Rare
Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, create a colorless Treasure artifact token with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
At the beginning of your end step, if you control five or more artifacts, transform Storm the Vault.

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Vault of Catlacan
Legendary Land
(Transforms from Storm the Vault.)
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
T: Add U to your mana pool for each artifact you control.


Swimming in coins proved harder than they'd hoped, but dancing was a jingling delight.

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