Artist Spotlight - Mohrbacher

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We have for you today, a great post about a great artist - Peter Mohrbacher.  If you are a Magic: the Gathering player, then this name should seem rather familiar to you as Peter has about forty or so MTG cards he has illustrated for Wizards of the Coast so far.  Commander fan favourites like Animar, Soul of Elements, horror trope Innistrad block cards like Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, classic hero / god cards from Theros block to the very latest  Destructor Dragon from Fate Reforged.

Peter Mohrbacher  is an independent illustrator and concept artist living in the Chicago area. Primarily self taught, he has been working in the game industry for around 7 years. More recently he is working primarily on self-owned projects in addition to an online mentoring program aimed at helping aspiring artists establish themselves.  One of his newest projects is Angelarium, a beautifully constructed concept world he has created.  You can help Peter get this project off the ground and soaring in the air over at this page on Patreon.

For now, we have for your eyes some truly amazing Magic: the Gathering pieces we've picked up from the very talented Peter Mohrbacher.  If you happen to find yourself in Kansas City next month for Planet Comicon, drop by Peter's booth! 

Sorry, but we must admit that our crappy camera does these beautiful illustrations no favours at all.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos

Born of the Gods Mythic Rare

Erebos, God of the Dead

Theros Mythic Rare

Mogis, God of Slaughter

Born of the Gods Mythic Rare

Pharika, God of Affliction

Journey into Nyx Mythic Rare

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The Fall of Elspeth

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We had provided a summary and review of the latest Magic: the Gathering eBook 'Journey Into Nyx, Godsend Part II' by Jenna Helland in this post here.  What we attempted was to avoid speaking about any major spoilers until the community at large had an opportunity to give this book a read.  Given all the attention on various forums and blogs, we think it safe to yatter about this now, so if you had not read Godsend yet, avert thine eyes now.

In summary, it appears that everyone's favourite planeswalker, Elspeth, met a sticky end on the plane of Theros with Erebos, God of the Dead claiming Elspeth's soul.  We suggest you may be well served by having a look at the 'Stinger' video posted by WotC which shows all Three Theros Block Trailers, with Additional Content at the end.  This Journey into Nyx video now shows some additional memories from Elspeth’s life, before she was killed by Heliod and claimed by Erebos. And there’s a short “stinger” after the Journey video that confirms Elspeth’s presence in Theros’s Underworld.  What we see is quite clearly Elspeth's weapon 'Godsend' had been fashioned into a funerary death mask which the Returned use in their afterlife.

Doug Meyer who has the popular Voice for Vorthos on Tumblr had this to say -

Like other mortals who die on Theros, she went to the Underworld, where she will reside for eternity unless she’s able to find some way out. She’s unable to planeswalk out of there, sort of in the same way she wasn’t able to planeswalk directly into Nyx — those realms have special properties that are not travel-able by planeswalking. Elspeth will have to find some other way out of the Underworld if she ever wants to planeswalk again someday.

The conclusion of the Journey into Nyx stinger shows a mask with two gems, similar to the shape of Elspeth’s sword / Godsend weapon. So Elspeth’s Returned mask is indeed forged — but she isn’t wearing it. Escaping the Underworld as a Returned, at the cost of her identity, is an option that may be open to her, but obviously it’s not a very palatable one.

As we now conclude the Theros story, Elspeth retains her identity along with the other deceased in the Underworld, in the clutches of Erebos.

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The cliffhanger here really is that we see the death mask but not Elspeth.  Some speculate on the words from Erebos within the stinger video 'true heroes never die', which is followed by a nearly inaudible whisper 'or do they?'.  We think that this may not be the end of Elspeth just yet, and similar to that of the Angel Avacyn (on the plane of Innistrad), she emerges her former self but tainted from her sequestration.

Anywhoos, all very good fodder for speculation.  We'll wrap up with some very cool artwork from Peter Mohrbacher illustrating some alternate death masks for Elspeth.  Singles from the Theros block are available from MTG Mint Card to help supplement your love of the game's storyline.

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Khans of Tarkir

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Hope all have had a great weekend.  Up here in Canada-Land, it was the Victoria Day Long weekend (Fête de la Reine) where we celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday but actually are celebrating the final snow melt off decks and patios - and good thing too as Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall are freshly arrived here.

Since we were not near a wifi connection for a large portion of long weekend, we now have a lot of Magic: the Gathering news to catch up on.  This does not mean that we did not have a great weekend without some magic.  Kicking off on Friday, we took in the Friday Night Magic event at OMG! Games here in Barrie, and happened to pull one of those very cool Conspiracy card previews - the censored Pick, Plot, Play on the back of a 1/1 Soldier token.  We then returned Saturday evening to play in a Pauper Commander tournament which we took third place with Imperious Perfect as our Commander and a bunch 'o' Elves pumped with an assortment of auras and pump spells.  We had collected a number of rather inexpensive commons for this decklist from MTG Mint Card and have to admit we had a ton of fun in this format.  Anywhoos, lets' get straight to the MTG news now -

First up - Patrick Chapin defeated Nam Sung Wook in the finals to win Pro Tour Journey into Nyx in Atlanta, Georgia.  The tournament witnessed top players from around the world to battle for fame, glory, and $250,000 in cash prizes in the Theros Block Constructed and Theros Block Booster Draft formats.  Chapin won with a junk midrange deck (white / green / black).

Secondly, as part of the Pro Tour Journey into Nyx, there was an announcement on the fall set which was posted yesterday to the mothersite.  As many had suspected, we did already have the name via the trademark registery and it is a fairly sure bet that the other registered names of Dragons of Tarkir and Warlords of Khanar will be the following two.  Very happy this time around that two pieces of art were also provided to generate fodder for the speculation engine.

Set Name : Khans of Tarkir (codename 'Huey')
Block : Set 1 of 3 in the Khans of Tarkir block
Number of Cards : 269
Prerelease Events : September 20-21, 2014
Release Date : September 26, 2014
Launch Weekend : September 26-28, 2014
Game Day : October 18-19, 2014
Official Three-Letter Code : KTK
Twitter Hashtag : #MTGKTK

Initial Concept and Game Design - Mark Rosewater (lead), Mark L. Gottlieb, Zac Hill, Adam Lee, Shawn Main, Billy Moreno, and Ken Nagle
Final Game Design and Development - Erik Lauer (lead), Doug Beyer, David Humpherys, Tom LaPille, Shawn Main, and Adam Prosak, with contributions from Matt Tabak

Please check out the brief video WotC MaRo (Mark Rosewater) MTG Lead Designed and MTG Tournament coverage kingpin Rich Hagon.

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Creative and Story
Sarkhan Vol is a primarily red planeswalker who came from Tarkir, a plane scourged by war. This plane was controlled by constantly battling warlords, who had a tradition of slaying dragons for sport and glory, driving the beasts to extinction.  This horrified the shamans of the plane, who worshiped the dragon as the pinnacle of predation. 

Design and Mechanics
• Sarkhan will appear in the set.
• It is a Large-Small-Large block.
• They are doing something never done before with the block structure.
• The block contains two things that players have been wanting for a long time.
• One of them is something they are bringing back after a long absence.
• The other is something they haven't done yet.

More news will be forthcoming during the San Diego Comic-Con on July 24-27.  Feel free to speculate away with regards to the intriguing teasers provided by MaRo.  Some gamers are suggesting a return to full-art lands for this set, while others are calling a wedge block and others betting on orcs to return.  Just a few of the numerous speculations floating right now.
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Godsend Part II

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We've just finished the newly released eBook by Jenna Helland, Journey Into Nyx, Godsend Part II and are ready to provide a review.  For a sample chapter to whet your appetite, pop on over to this post on the Daily MTG Magic Arcana.  Journey into Nyx Part two provides an epic conclusion to the first Theros Godsend eBook, and is available on Kindle and Nook for just $1.99 as well as Google Play.

 





If you've been reading our almost daily posts here on MTG Realm since 2008, then you will know that we are deeply appreciative of storyline ('vorthos') which is part of the Magic: the Gathering game.  In fact, we've had a handful of fun casual games at the kitchen table where a house rules required a player to read the flavour text on a card if it had it in order for the spell to resolve.  Anywhoos, let's get on with our brief review of the latest eBook Journey Into Nyx, Godsend Part II by Jenna Helland.

In the previous eBook, the stage was set and gods, heroes, monsters and other denizens of the ancient Greek mythology inspired Plane of Existence  were introduced.  Our hero, the Planeswalker Elspeth had joined forces with the Meletian oaracle Daxos who had defeated a mostrous Hydra at the book's conclusion.

The Akroan royal couple Anax and Cymede are introducted at the opening of Godsend part II and provides us with an insight of the chaos and turmoil now being experienced in every corner of the mortal realm as the gods of the pantheon move to indifference or to outright malevolence to the mortal inhabitants of the world.

The power of the Satyr Planeswalker Xenagos grows as does his insatiable appetite for power.  An army of creatures is fabricated by the Nyx-born creature Petros for Xenagos to sweep away humans.  A contrived allegiance is struck with Xenagos and Minotaurs but there appears to be concealed dark agendas at work here.

Daxos and Elspeth make a brief and perhaps unproductive foray into the underworld which we feel if expanded would have added wonderfully to the story.  Back in city of Meletis, Daxos and Elspeth learn just how bad things are becoming further afield from Anthousa of Setessa and seek guidance from the Sphinx Medomai the Ageless.

Events move rapidly which culminate in a wonderfully described siege and battle of Akroas by the Minotaur hordes.  The day is won by the humans but all appears lost as Xenagos harnesses enough mystical energy to ascend into the god realm of Nyx.  Jenna had constructed a solid understanding of the mechanics employed by Xenagos to propel the mortal creature into Nyx. 

At approximately the third quarter mark the story introduces a variety of other lesser but no less important storyline characters including Brimaz, the leonin King of Oreskos, the Planeswalker Ajani, and the Planeswalker Kiora as well as a number of notable locations.  We personally feel that at this point, the author was directed / required to deliver a conclusion very soon.  It almost feels that there was a list that needed to be checked off and events constructed to invite just about every outstanding character to the storyline.  We think readers would have enjoyed an expansion into a third novel to accommodate additional material on Brimaz, Ajani and Kiora.  Those characters like King Macar, Tymaret, and even Ashiok not addressed in the first or second book may have been provided a measure within a third novel.  

At the conclusion of this book, we feel that George RR Martin was providing counsel to Jenna in concluding the book which although provides much speculative fodder to the Magic: the Gathering community / fans but left me wanting more of an assurance as to the final state of characters and their environment.

In all, we most definitely enjoyed reading this and provide a '3/5 stars' suggest that Magic: the Gathering players like us who love the storyline, pick this up.Jenna Helland is a writer and editor for Wizards of the Coast in Renton, Washington. Before moving to the Northwest, she was a journalist in Missouri, Virginia, and California. She has a history degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and a journalism degree from the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri. 
 
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Post JOU GW Auras

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday, we suggest kicking off your weekend with a Friday Night Magic event at your local game store.  At our local store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, standard constructed in on tap and players will be grooving with new Magic: the Gathering cards from the latest set, Journey into Nyx.  As we now have a truckload of new cardboard awesomeness from OMG! Games and MTG Mint Card, we've been throwing together a number of Standard lists to see which one we like best.  In our last post, we were rather happy (and somewhat pleasantly surprised) with the Red / White Heroics build.  

Prior to Journey into Nyx being released we've had a couple of attempts at a Naya Hexproof decklist but unfortunately we thought things a bit too inconsistent with the manabase no matter how we tried to tweak it.  With the preview of another hexproof creature, Bassara Tower Archer, we are interested in giving it another go.  We also were very happy with the new any-colour painland Mana Confluence but we have yet to acquire any at the time of this post - so - we went strictly with a Green - White Hexproof / Enchantment build as our first iteration.  Future builds may include cards like Eidolon of Blossoms, and Eidolon of Countless Battles.  We still are unsure of sliding red in for a Naya build even with Mana Confluence as we really want to be able to also play Chained to the Rocks which needs a Mountain to work - but that's our particular hang-up we'll have to work around.

Anywhoos - here is the first of many builds -

4x Elvish Mystic
4x Gladecover Scout
3x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Fleecemane Lion
4x Bassara Tower Archer
4x Witchstalker

4x Ethereal Armor
3x Murder Investigation
3x Girft of Orzhova
4x Unflinching Courage
2x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes

SideBoard
3x Deicide
3x Rootborn Defenses
3x Fiendslayer Paladin
3x Eidolon of Countless Battles
3x Banishing Light

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The addition of the new G/W Ajani variant Planeswalker looks good but nothing is set in stone.  The library dig and card draw is cool as well as the counter-party but these two might be exchanged latter depending upon play for Eidolon of Blossoms.

An interesting addition, now currently in mainboard is the often under-looked and under-evaluated Murder Investigation.  Again, the jury is still out but we've had this particular card just puke creature tokens on the game table after our hexproof battleship got nerf'd.

Happy deck-brewing !
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Post JOU RW Heroics

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Happy Hump-Day MTG peeps,

As we now have our full book set of 4x Uncommon / Common cards from Journey into Nyx from MTG Mint Card along with a variety of other purchases from our local card shop, we are now under full steam brewing decklists with our lovely new Magic: the Gathering acquisitions.

One of the very first and rather simple / straightforward decklists we've created was Red / White (Boros) Heroics.  This particular strategy employs inexpensive-to-cast early creatures followed up by some instant spells and auras not only to trigger each of the heroic abilities on the creature but to evolve them into serious must-answer threats.  Here's the initial build at the moment - 

20 lands (plains, mountains, Sacred Foundry but no Temple of Triump 'scryland' as this slowed the build down a titch)
4x Akroan Crusader
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Satyr Hoplite
4x Nyxborn Rollicker
4x Hero of Iroas
4x Phalanx Leader
3x Akroan Skyguard
2x Launch the Fleet
4x Titan's Strength
4x Madcap Skills
3x Gift of Orhzova

In the sideboard we have the following -
3x Banishing Light,
3x Boros Charm,
3x Gods Willing,
3x Chained to the Rocks, and
3x Skullcrack.

 

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We've got to admit that this decklist worked out better than expected and not only was this fun to play but delivered some rather promising results.  If we were to change anything, it would be more Launch the Fleet - dang that card was great in the games it came down.

With a bit more polishing, we think this a relatively inexpensive thing to build and be good enough to provide some decent wins at Friday Night Magic.  If you are looking to play something like this, drop us a line and tell us how it performed for you at your local gaming store.
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Tuesday MTG Miscellany

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Not much Magic: the Gathering stuff happening just at the moment at the MTG Realm Lair - organising a big pile of Journey into Nyx we purchased from MTG Mint Card as well as evolving some decklists to accommodate some of the new cards for this Friday Night Magic event at our local gaming store OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario - and that is just about it.

So - for today's post, we're just putting up some Magic: the Gathering silliness for your entertainment . . .
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German language Athreos - has gas ?

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 Equipping Gorgon's Head to Fellhide Minotaur - 

as useless as an ejection seat in a helicopter.

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 Weight of the Underworld and Bearer of the Heavens - 

Alkmenos moonlighting as a Giant now ?

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 There was comedy gold to be mined here WotC -

at the very least have the flavor text in different font!

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 Overly Manly Man loves 'em some Mino-burger.

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JOU Fat Pack

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

A happy Friday indeed as the latest Magic: the Gathering set, Journey into Nyx officially releases today.  Speaking of official street release dates, we're a titch miffed at a number of large 'big box' retail stores in our area and around the world (according to reports to the community).  This sort of thing is not healthy for local brick 'n' mortar gaming stores which provides a nursery to grow the player base.

Anywhoos, late last evening (or very early this morning if you look at it differently) we popped over to our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario to pick up a bunch of sealed and single Journey into Nyx product.  There was quite a gathering at midnight with gamers queuing up to purchase.  Among other thingys, we picked up a Journey into Nyx Fat Pack, and as is our tradition here at MTG Realm, we are prepared to dissect it for your entertainment - here's the video -  

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For a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $40, here's what you get -

• Player's Guide visual encyclopedia
• Journey into Nyx card box
• Nine booster packs
• Eighty-card basic land pack
• Special edition Spindown™ life counter
• Two deck boxes 

You may also not want to watch the above video, so here's our pulls.  We have to say that we are extremely happy and the box 'paid for itself' -

FAT PACK PULLS
• Twinflame
• King Macar, the Gold Cursed
• Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
• Eidolon of the Great Revel
• Temple of Ephipany
• Skybind
• Keranos, God of Storms
• Polymorphous Rush
• Silence the Believers

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Defeat a God

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

We, like most Magic: the Gathering players worldwide, are most definitely excited to get our paws on some new Journey into Nyx cards when the set officially releases tomorrow.  Our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario will be open at midnight this evening and we will certainly be there - and likely with a throng of other gamers as was the case of the last several set releases.  All this in order to pick up singles (and sealed product of course) which otherwise may not be available the following day.  We did pack a parachute as it were and pre-ordered a few Journey into Nyx cards from MTG Mint Card which we'll have in hand early next week but not in time for tomorrow's Friday Night Magic release event.

Anywhoos - for today's post, we wanted to cover off the very cool Defeat a God is a challenge deck.  The  Defeat a God Challenge techically will take place during the Journey into Nyx Game Day event on the weekend of 24th May, but some gaming stores have jumped the gun and have already played / taken pictures of this.

If you were rooting for Xenagos to 'win' instead of Elspeth in the storyline, here's your chance to set things right.  :)

The Challenge Deck is a special self-running deck with its own set of rules, which are printed on the Game Day vinyl playmat. A paper copy of the playmat is included with each Challenge Deck. The 60 card deck contains 15 different cards, which for the first times include enchantments. The God may be battled with the custumized "Godslayer" forged by the player in step #7 of the Hero's Path and features the revelling Satyrs of Theros, aand the ascended Xenagos.
Defeat a God Decklist

Legendary Enchantment Creature
• 1 Xenagos Ascended, Illus. Tyler Jacobson

Enchantment Creatures
• 2 Maddened Oread, Illus. Julie Dillon

Creatures
• 16 Ecstatic Piper, Illus. Steve Argyle
• 4 Pheres-Band Revellers, Illus. Mathias Kollros
• 6 Rollicking Throng, Illus. Karl Kopinski
• 2 Serpent Dancers, Illus. Ulrich Brunin
• 2 Wild Maenads, Illus. Winona Nelson

Sorceries
• 6 Impulsive Charge, Illus. Willian Murai
• 2 Impulsive Destruction, Illus. Zoltan Boros
• 4 Impulsive Return, Illus. Cyril Van Der Haegen
• 2 Rip to Pieces, Illus. Kev Walker
• 3 Xenagos' Scorn, Illus. Lucas Graciano
• 5 Xenagos' Strike, Illus. Zoltan Boros

Enchantments
• 2 Dance of Flame, Illus. Christopher Moeller
• 2 Dance of Panic, Illus. Mike Bierek

The card illustrations are kicking it and we would not mind picking up a copy which is available for sale on Game Day.

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Journey into Nyx PreRelease

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

In this post we wanted to cover off our adventures in last weekend's Journey into Nyx PreRelease event at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario.  It sort of all really started during Friday Night Magic when with just a few short hours away to the midnight event (we did not go), Magic: the Gathering players were yattering about some incredible rumours of Journey into Nyx 'god' packs being opened at PreRelease events in earlier time zones.  With several images being posted of players pulling all 15 gods from a pack, we were cautiously optimistic thinking Wizards of the Coast had yet again re-created another 'Zendikar Priceless Treasures' promotion.  In fact they did as they had claimed in this post to the motersite for which we say 'well done Wotc!'.
 

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As for our Journey into Nyx Pre-Release we attended on Saturday, everyone's choices for PreRelease packs were as follows :

Forged in Glory / White - Dawnbringer Charioteers
Forged in Intellect / Blue - Scourge of Fleets
Forged in Tyranny / Black - Doomwake Giant
Forged in War / Red - Spawn of Thraxes
Forged in Pursuit / Green - Heroes' Bane 
Contents:
• 2 Journey into Nyx packs
• 1 Born of the Gods packs
• 2 Theros booster packs
• 1 seeded booster pack
• 1 promo card
• 1 activity card
• 1 life counter
• 1 welcome letter
• 1 Hero Card

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Here's a short 'n' sweet video from OMG! Games -

 
We went with White (as did a large percentage of players) - here are our pulls -

• Dawnbringer Charioteers (Seeded Pack)
• Aegis of the Gods (Seeded Pack)
• Hydra Broodmaster (JOU Pack)
• Eidolon of Blossoms (JOU Pack)
• Fated Retribution (BNG Pack)
• Gift of Immortality (THS Pack)
• Arbor Colossus (THS Pack)

We did manage 2 wins and 2 loss which brought us just short of some prize packs unfortunately, but we're happy with our games and very happy to get our paws on some of the new cards.  We're popping over to MTG Mint Card to pick up additional Journey into Nyx cards which we were not able to pull just yet.
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MTG Nemesis

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Today marks the very last Friday Night Magic event before the Magic: the Gathering game format evolution when the next Journey into Nyx set is released next weekend.  In the forefront of players thoughts are this weekend's Journey into Nyx PreRelease event.  

Our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario is running multiple events all weekend long including a midnight event tonight.  Join MTG Realm at OMG! Games at the Saturday morning PreRelease event when someone's name will be drawn to win a very cool Power 9 Pro Dragon's Egg Tournament Bag.

Anywhoos, as we look forward to the new Journey into Nyx set we can't help but also look back.  Today's post is a bit of nostalgia for us - here's a quick look at two Nemesis Intro Packs we picked up a long time ago . . .
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Storyline
For eons the twisted machine rulers of the hellish world of Phyrexia have watched Dominaria, world of magic. For centuries they have plotted their invasion and conquest of this world. Now the long-awaited time is approaching.

The plans of the Dark Lord have assumed their final shape. On the artificial plane of Rath, staging ground for the invasion, the Phyrexians prepare to stop their greatest enemy, one who has combated them down through the millennia, one who alone can halt their attack: Urza Planeswalker.  

Nemesis released in February 2000 as the second set and first small expansion in the Masques block.  The Masques block is a Magic: The Gathering block that is set on the planes of Mercadia, Rath, and plane of Dominaria. It consisted of Mercadian Masques (October 1999), Nemesis (February 2000), and Prophecy (June 2000). The Masques block was the first set that is not subject to Wizards of the Coast's Reprint Policy.  Here are our two Intro Packs we picked up -

Eruption Nemesis Theme Deck
Eruption is bubbling over with creatures that can spell death to your rivals. Anything they fail to destroy is fodder for the laccolith and flowstone brutes that inhabit this deck.

Mercenaries Nemesis Theme Deck
With Mercenaries you enlist an infantry of vile fiends to do your bidding. Where there is one, there are many as you use these creatures' recruiting ability to spawn other monstrosities until the victory is secured.

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