Commander 2019 Previews

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Yesterday at GenCon 2019, Wizards of the Coast held it's first of several panels / events.  Panelists Gavin Verhey, Scott Larabee, Mike Turian and Ethan Fleischer provided the first reveals of Commander 2019.

Each pre-constructed Commander deck has a returning keyword ability as it's main theme. The four featured abilities are populate, flashback, morph, and madness.

FACELESS MENACE - Morph (Black / Green / Blue) :
• Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer
• Kadena’s Silencer

MYSTIC INTELLIGENCE - Flashback (Blue / Red / White) :
• Sevinne, the Chronoclasm
• Sevinne’s Reclamation

MERCILESS RAGE - Madness (Red / Black) :
• Anje Falkenrath
• Anje’s Ravager

PRIMAL GENESIS - Populate (Red / Green / White) :
Ghired, Conclave Exile and signature spell Ghired’s Belligerence
 
The Card Image Gallery being posted and updated on Monday 5 August, 2019. The Commander series returns with four brand new ready-to-play decks for Magic’s most popular multiplayer format. 

This Magic: the Gathering fan blog does not get updated - please visit MTG Realm on Tumblr for the latest Magic: the Gathering news and previews.

Also of note - Ultra PRO is offering a full range of gaming accessories featuring all the very lovely looking Commander arts.

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Battle for Zendikar Art Spoilers

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

So far this week, we have been touching all our new cards from the Magic Origins PreRelease last weekend and beginning to think upon new and revised decklists for standard format.  One of the first lists we want to try out at this Friday Night Magic event at our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie is Blue / Red Thopters, but we'll yatter about that list a bit latter on.  Speaking of OMG! Games, they are scheduled to run a Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier to the first Pro Tour of 2016 this weekend (Saturday 18th July) with a ton of amazing prizes including a 1st prize of $500 cash ($600 credit) and an invite to the Regional Pro Tour Qualifier for the first Pro Tour of 2016.

Anywhoos, we should get on with today's article post which should be of great interest to Magic: the Gathering players around the world - this fall's 'Battle for Zendikar' set.

(Sean) Shoutout to all the #mtg players we met at #SDCC2015! We hope you enjoyed yesterday's panel. A recording will be available soon!

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 13, 2015

Since posted, we have not yet heard back from WotC as to a video from the San Diego Comic Con MTG Panel, so we want to follow through with a series of (live) tweets from the panel showing some really exciting Battle for Zendikar arts 'n' illustrations -

Here's another look at some of the allies we'll see in #MTGBFZ... what's that in Kiora's hand? pic.twitter.com/4vTrqQjUKa

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

Yep! - that looks like Gideon and Kiora (the Crashing Wave) with Thassa's (stolen) bident and a welcome wagon for some Eldrazi.

Tying up loose ends means allowing new and fascinating interactions to happen. #MTGBFZ pic.twitter.com/SLBiDjSnq6

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

Ob Nixilis has a plan. #MTGBFZ #SDCC2015 pic.twitter.com/J1CcpwAWCm

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

The art here for Ob Nixilis totally rocks.

...there's a chance Ob Nixilis is desperate for a way off of Zendikar. pic.twitter.com/GudWijzH5C

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

Ob Nixilis is being rather unkind to a Kor here.

Here's an example of a pivotal event from Battle for Zendikar! Three key words: Gate. Slaughter. Sea. #MTGBFZ pic.twitter.com/YWE7QvLEn7

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

Zendikar's Halimar inland sea is separated from the natural ocean by a massive sea wall ('sea gate') - you can see the Lighthouse in the background here.  Planeswalkers Nissa and Gideon battling Eldrazi brood.

Everyone's favorite hieromancer is back to face the Eldrazi alongside the residents of Zendikar. #MTGBFZ pic.twitter.com/HqPtpVz4TZ

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

Hieromancy - the magic of justice and order.

Cohesion in storytelling means connecting plotlines in ways we haven't before. Look who teams up in #MTGBFZ! pic.twitter.com/n7N0nLJjz4

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

...and Nissa's start on Zendikar sets us up nicely for a return in #MTGBFZ. pic.twitter.com/OSoybTyCLx

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

Epic art here showing Nissa going down town with the token 'Ashaya, the Awoken World'. 

Magic Origins focuses on five central planeswalkers. Each will play a pivotal role in the blocks to come... #MTGBFZ pic.twitter.com/GJN4eOjUGb

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) July 12, 2015

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SDCC MTG Panel

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We hope all had a great weekend, whether you were at a Magic Origins PreRelease or attending San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), or even both.  As you may have guessed from us gushing over on our MTG Realm Tumblr stream, we took in a midnight Magic Origins PreRelese event over at Koros Games in Orangeville, Ontario and had a blast.  Here's a bit of the PreRelease before we get into some of the big Magic: the Gathering news out of SDCC.

The first PreRelease Pack colours to go were white, red, and black, pretty much in that order.  We saddled up with a green pack and when popped, we could not be more happier - a foil Nissa promo - shown on our lucky BCW Supplies Playmat.  Our most valuable players were Rhox Maulers, especially when paired with with pump spells such as Titanic Growth and Might Leap.  Since we got up really, really early for work Friday morning, we simply ran out of steam by the end of the second match and retired for the evening.
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The Wizards of the Coast Panel at SDCC 2015 was not streamed unfortunately but there were a number of 'live tweet' from the Wizards MTG Twitter account.  There was also a promise that there would be a recording available soon.  First up, the Panel had two previews for the upcoming From the Vault : Angels during the panel at SDCC - say hello to the Akroma sisters !

There was also a good measure of discussion on how WotC now presents storylines with references to the recent installments of the Magic Origins stories provided on the Uncharted Realms column.  There were also some very exciting images previewed for the next set, Battle for Zendikar, to be released early October 2015.  From the Q & A portion of the panel (and MaRo's Blogatog followup), we also learn that we may expect 'Allies' to return to the revisitation to Zendikar.  Pop back to MTG Realm tomorrow as we further discuss Battle for Zendikar. 

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Fate Reforged ReDux

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

We are wanting to revisit the PAX Australia MTG Panel previews 'n' reveals from the previous weekend which we had posted about here - more specifically, the Fate Reforged previews WotC Aaron had presented.  As WotC has just posted a video of the presentation on Friday, this nows means we now have better images from the Magic: the Gathering Panel.

The new black board sweeper, 'Crux of Fate' has a few interesting things going on - first and foremost is the spell's option to destroy dragon creatures or non-dragon creatures.  This of course begs the question, just how many dragons are we likely to see?  The art features Ugin (the Ghost Dragon) taking quite a walloping from Nicol Bolas with Sarkhan Vol in the foreground tucked away to the illustrations bottom right.  The flavour text is crafted perfectly to show a clouded timeline from when Sarkhan (and Sorin) arrive a thousand years to late to Ugin's summons as shown in the Tomb of the Spirit Dragon to the epic battle in Fate Reforged.  We speculate that when Sarkhan travels back in to time to the moment of Ugin's passing, the ghost dragon's spirit then enters Sarkhan.  Who knows, but we will discover more when the mother site posts a special Uncharted Realm's article on the 10th of December.

Speakin of Ugin, during the Fate Reforged pre-release, you will be able to pick your Tarkir Clan but can also get a special "Ugin's Fate" booster pack which will contain a token, a land card and a selection from a pool of 40 holo foil stamped cards with alternate arts demonstrating how the Plane of Tarkir has changed.  The PAX Australia panel gave us three cards illustrating this -

• Smith the Monstrous (exchanging a mastodon for a dragon),
• Ghostfire Blade (showing that everyone was left-handed a 1000 years ago), and
• Briber's Purse (showing a pay-off to a tyrannical dragon.

Also of note from the MTG panel - there was an indication that there will be no 3-colour gold cards in the Fate Reforged set which of course was popular in the previous Khans of Tarkir set to show a card's particular dedication to one of the five Clans.  As the Clans were not at continual open war back then during the time of the dragons, Wizards has expressed Clan membership with hybrid mana as shown here in Temur's Clan leader Yasova Dragonclaw.

We are definitely pumped for the next sets 'Fate Reforged' and 'Dragons of Tarkir' and are absolutely pleased with the storyline so far.  As the new cards begin to be previewed, we'll start compiling two lists for orders / pre-orders from MTG Mint Card - a list of singles from Khans of Tarkir which may become better and of course a list of new cardboard hotness we just cannot exist without from Fate Reforged.

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Elspeth vs. Kiora Redux

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

We were not able to get out to Friday Night Magic at our local shop, OMG! Games & Collectibles here in Barrie, Ontario last night and are kinda feeling a titch of Magic: the Gathering withdrawal.  To cure this, we're planning a big four-player Commander latter tonight to get our MTG on.  As we were yattering about earlier, we also were planning on picking up three of the five Commander 2014 decks but actually want to wait for the second printing as we've been reading about some rumoured product irregularities (additional or missing cards) in the first print run.  

Anywhoos - we wanting to revisit the PAX Australia MTG Panel previews 'n' reveals from the previous weekend as WotC has just posted a video of the presentation which means we now have better images from Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Kiora rather than those taken with a potato cam or odd angle.  So here is another repost of our previous one -

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Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Kiora

Deck Design and Deck Development: Chris Millar and Sam Stoddard
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGEVK
Languages: English, Japanese
Release Date: February 27, 2015
MSRP: $19.99

The knight Planeswalker Elspeth Tirel sees herself as the protector of the Multiverse. She has pledged her sword and shield to all who suffer, and she summons forth impressive armies to assist her. The merfolk Planeswalker Kiora calls upon the creatures of the deepest oceans to fight at her side. She is the master of the world beneath the waves, her true power only now beginning to surface. How will these Planeswalkers measure up when they meet in battle?

 

 











 
This is the 15th duel deck in the Duel Deck series which contain two pre-constructed sixty-card themed decks which are designed to be played against each-other.  There are a total of 6 of cards which are to receive new alternate artwork including the 'marquee' Planeswalker cards for each deck - Elspeth, Sun's Champion (originally printed in in 'Theros' set) and Kiora, the Crashing Wave (originally printed in the 'Born of the Gods' set).

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Fate Reforged PAX Spoiler

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We are still in the process of catching up with all the Magic: the Gathering news over the weekend - and more specifically the Fate Reforged previews revealed during the PAX Australia MTG Panel.  The panel, hosted by Aaron Forsythe (Director, MTG R&D), also had Will Chan [Brand Manager APAC, Hasbro Australia] as well as Dale Aitken [Regional Manager APAC, Hasbro Australia].

Fate Reforged is the second set in the Khans of Tarkir block and will released on January 23, 2015.  This set will contain 185 cards and will also feature hybrid mana or 'half mana' which represents a spell cost which can paid in your choice of one of two colours.

With regards to the storyline, we've learned that the block's main character, the Planeswalker Sarkhan Vol, travels back in history to a time before Tarkir's five clans are not yet at war with each other and before the fateful battle between Ugin and Nicol Bolas.  Sarkhan then meets each Khan of the five Clans such as Yasova Dragonclaw, Khan of the Temur warning them of what is to come thus altering the future.

Anywhoos, let's now get to the two new Fate Reforged cards previewed at PAX Australia !
Crux of Fate, 3BB
Sorcery, Rare
Choose one —
• Destroy all Dragon creatures.
• Destroy all non-Dragon creatures.
Ugin's whispered summons led Sarkhan Vol to the moment that would echo down the centuries and seal Tarkir's fate: the primal battle between Ugin and Nicol Bolas.
illus. Michael Komarck # 65/185 



Never underestimate the power of a board wiper - this may be a new tool to consider for mono-black control or devotion perhaps.  Flavour text is awesome and intriguing.
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Yasova Dragonclaw, 2G
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior, Rare
Trample
At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may pay 1(U/R)(U/R). If you do, gain control of target creature an opponent controls with power less than Yasova Dragonclaw's power until end of turn, untap that creature, and it gains haste until end of turn.
illus. Winona Nelson # 148/185
4/2
 
This looks to be rather decent card and perhaps a very welcome Commander / General for your Commander game.  The 'act of treason' effect could produce some interesting game play but we don't really see a powerful 'build around me' kinda card here.  Having said this, we're still wanting to get one from MTG Mint Card to have on hand for made home-brews.
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Khans of Tarkir Art

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

You will likely recall that very cool Magic: the Gathering panel at San Diego Comic Con last weekend which we did blog about as it happened (post over here) as soon as the panel wrapped up.  A bit of a hindrance was the unavailability of a live stream during the panel which the Wizards of the Coast staffers provided a sneak preview of the next several months of exciting MTG products.

Yesterday, as promised by WotC, a 45-minute video was posted to the Wizards YouTube account.  We most definitely encourage MTG fans who were not there to check out Mark Rosewater, Mark Purvis, Doug Beyer, and Gavin Verhey as they discuss Magic's near future.  All the awesome sauce is in it including previews of Commander 2014, From the Vault: Annihilation, Duel Decks Anothology, and Khans of Tarkir!

For today's post to the MTG Realm blog, we wanted to do a wrap up of some of the very lovely illustrations commissioned by WotC for the set, some of which did not appear to be shown during the MTG Panel at SDCC.  Here is an art-dump which is indeed candy for the eye and imagination -
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MTG Commander 2014

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We here at MTG Realm are still processing all the revelations from last weekend's Magic: the Gathering Panel at San Diego Comic-Con.  For today's post, we want to cover off the previews for this November's upcoming Commander product release.

Here is a brief blurb from yesterday's announcement on the mothersite -

For the first time ever, you can lead your forces with a Planeswalker commander in this exciting multiplayer Magic format. Dominate the battlefield with new combinations of strength and skill. Swarm opponents with mighty creatures and arm yourself with powerful artifacts. But fight wisely, for only one commander will prevail.

Also for the first time ever, Planeswalker commanders will headline five monocolored 100-card Commander decks. There will be 61 new cards legal in eternal formats (Vintage and Legacy) but not legal in Standard, Block Constructed, or Modern, with 15 new cards in each deck.

Release Date: November 7, 2014
Magic Online Release Date: November 21, 2014
Three-Letter Abbreviation: C14
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGC14
MSRP: $34.99 (per deck)
Languages: English, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese Simplified
Initial Concept and Game Design: Ethan Fleischer (lead), Dan Emmons, Aaron Forsythe, James Hata, Charles Rapkin
Final Game Design & Development: Ian Duke (lead), Mark Globus, Peter Lee, Dan Emmons, Max McCall

The two cards previewed at the MTG Panel at SDCC are :
• Teferi, Temporal Archmage - (to be featured in the blue 'Peer through Time' decklist), from Dominara.
• Ghoulcaller Gisa - from the plane of Innistrad, the sister of Geralf, both necromancers.

Teferi, Temporal Archmage, 4UU
Planeswalker - Teferi, Mythic Rare
+1: Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the other on the bottom of your library.
-1: Untap up to four target permanents.
-10: You get an emblem with "You may activate loyalty abilities of planeswalkers you control on any player's turn any time you could cast an instant."
[5]

Ghoulcaller Gisa, 3BB
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard, Mythic Rare
B, T, Sacrifice another creature: Put X 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the sacrificed creature's power.
"Geralf, must you always whine? I agreed to nothing. I'll raise ghouls anytime I wish."
3/4

Teferi looks to be crazy good and incredibly powerful.  The first two abilities are solid while the third is so conditional that we would not really want to plan on using it, like evar.  Gisa is set to puke out hordes of zombie tokens for an alpha strike or some sacrifice shenanigans.  We will likely pick up at least two of the five decks and will be ordering singles from the other ones from MTG Mint Card.
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Duel Decks' Anthology

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Wow, what a weekend for Magic: the Gathering players worldwide.  First off, we want to extend a huge thank-you to the very capable / amazing WotC staffer Alison Luhrs (MTG Community Manager) who provided a blur / barrage of real time tweets as live coverage of the MTG Panel at the San Diego Comic Con was not available due to 'technical difficulties'.  Fav quote on this absence of service from Evan Erwin (who cracks up every time).  Anywhoos, there was a massive volume of previews and teasers during the MTG Panel on Saturday during the San Diego Comic Con -

• Khans of Tarkir,
• From The Vault: Annihilation,
• Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning,
• Duel Decks, Anthology, and
• Commander 2014

We'll be rather busy for at least the next two weeks going over all the new material but for today's post on the MTG Realm blog, we want to yatter a bit about the announced Duel Decks' Anthology product.  This new product which is to be expected to be released on or about December 12, 2014.  Duel Decks' Anthology is to be a compilation set that combines the first four Duel Decks all provided with the new card frames. Now the big question is on many gamer's minds is exactly what is meant by 'combined'.  To many, this means all eight 60-card theme decks (or 480 cards) from each of the Duel Decks in one product :

• Elves vs. Goblins (2007)
• Jace vs. Chandra (2008)
• Divine vs. Demonic (2009)
• Garruk vs. Liliana (2009)

We would love to get a hold of this product when it comes out, or at the very least get a variety of card singles from MTG Mint Card.  Should this be the full monty of all eight decklists what would be a reasonable manufacturer suggested retail price - sixty bucks, eighty bucks, who knows?  As soon as we did read this tweet / announcement, we could imagine the big retailers groaning as their sealed product took a hit (maybe).  Here are the very rough values of the sealed Duel Deck products from just before the Duel Decks' Anthology announcement which we will revisit in another month or so :

Elves vs. Goblins ~ $200
Jace vs. Chandra ~ $150
Divine vs. Demonic ~ $175
Garruk vs. Liliana ~ $50

Stay tuned to latter posts on MTG Realm as we play catch-up on all the very exciting announcements including our postulations / speculations on the next Duel Deck - Speed vs. Cunning, due to be released on 5th September, 2014.  Until then, happy gaming everyone!
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SDCC MTG Panel

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Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

Very giddy and excited here over all the amazing / awesome / intriguing revelations from the Magic: the Gathering panel today (just wrapped up a few minutes ago) at San Diego Comic Con.  There will be a host of further posts here at MTG Realm to go over all the spoilers 'n' previews from upcoming Wizards of the Coast MTG product but for now, we're doing a quick and dirty summary of some of the high lights.

Many thanks to WotC staffer Alison who had provided blisteringly fast posts to the MTG Twitter machine.  It is from here we've obtained most of the images and text news.  Let's go !!
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@wizards_magic  · (Alison)

From the Vault: Annihilation is Coming August 22!
WRATH OF GOD
Rolling Earthquake
From Duels to paper -- a physical version of this Living Death
Cataclysm

Coming September 5th, Speed vs Cunning Duel Deck!

Commander set out November 7th!
TEFERI! Check out one of 5 upcoming monocolor Commander decks our November 7
 One of the other Commanders -- check out Ghoulcaller Gisa! Coming November 7

KHANS OF TARKIR TEASER TRAILER IS PLAYING NOW!

This is a LARGE-SMALL-LARGE set with a unique draft structure and time travel element

Tarkir is a plane of five warring clans! Each worships one aspect of the (now extinct) dragons...

ENEMY WEDGE COLORS! 

Abzan: WBG 
Jeskai: URW 
Sultai: BGU 
Mardu: RWB
Temur : GUR

The ABZAN value endurance...
The JESKAI admire the cunning of dragons
The SULTAI respect the ruthlessness of dragons
The MARDU value the speed of the dragon
The TEMUR have a savage streak

The Mardu's Khan is Zorgo Helmsmasher. Recognize him from the Speed vs Cunning Duel Deck earlier.

Meet the Mardu clan leader ZURGO HELMSMASHER

FORTY POSSIBLE PRERELEASE CARDS AT THE KHANS PRERELEASE

That's eight possible prerelease rares per color
question time! Will we see a three color Planeswalker? Probably!

Each clan gets their own mechanic, plus morph is back!

One more thing! Curious about mechanics? We're happy to announce the return of MORPH! 

Conspiracy was a big success, and it has definitely impacted what we'll do in the future
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