New MTG Novel / New Planeswalker

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

As a complete surprise and very unanticipated, we are to be treated to a new Magic: the Gathering novella.  This news from io9 (linked right here) who had broke the news with an official Wizards of the Coast preview of the new work title "Children of the Nameless", penned by the popular author Brandon Sanderson.

Here is the blurb from io9 -

Written in collaboration with the Magic’s story team at Wizards of the Coast, Children of the Nameless invites readers to meet a young girl named Tacenda who is capable of great magic, until tragedy strikes at the worst possible time. But during that tragedy, Tacenda crosses paths with a mysterious new Planeswalker named Davriel, designed by Sanderson himself. Here’s a quick synopsis to whet your appetite:

Since the day she was born, Tacenda has been both blessed and cursed. Blessed by a powerful protection spell of unknown origin, she has warded her family and friends against any number of horrors over her 15 years. Cursed because the horrors which visit her small Kessig village are both numerous and frequent. Then, one night, for no reason she can fathom, her sacred song of protection fails. Seeking revenge on the man she believes responsible for the failure and the consequent destruction of everything she loves, she breaks into the manor of the local lord, a known consorter with demons. There she discovers the beginnings of an even greater mystery… starting with the fact the Lord of the Manor is anything but local . . .

Children of the Nameless will be available for free download starting tomorrow (December12, 2018) from the Magic: the Gathering website.  Until then, we can enjoy this very lovely (and intriguing) cover, illustrated by Chris Rahn.

First chapter was a good read and left us in anticipation of reading all of the subsequent chapters.

Looking past our new Planeswalker Davriel, who we assume is sitting, the gravity-defying towers, halls, and massive buttresses suggest Markov Manor, at a time before a certain Lithomancer (Nahiri) 'redecorated'.  

The seated party does indeed appear human, and this is suggest again with what appears to be a nice hot tea to his right.

The whole Phantom of the Opera thingy with his mask is very mysterious at the moment - and is he hiding the right side of his face ?  Perhaps not - but the mask does have a particular purple 'Liliana' necromancer magic haze around it.  This purple could very well be the type of magic that allows Kaya (the Ghost Assassin) to flow into the incorporeal world.  

All that is known for certain is that 'Whisperers' had de-peopled the village save Tacenda in the first chapter and that it is suggested in the blurb that a visit to the nearby Monor House is in order.  

Insert Kessig Province Problems hashtag.
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A Very Kiora Christmas

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Merry Christmas MTG peeps,

We wish all a very merry and a happy mtg.  Hopefully you will have a chance over the Holiday Season to sit down with friends 'n' family to get in a few games of Magic: the Gathering.  We had popped over to our local card shop, OMG! Games yesterday where some players were getting a few games in before traveling or time with family - oh - a few last moment Christmas shoppers. Speaking of Christmas shopping, although today is indeed the day, you can still pop over to MTG Mint Card and dial in to their Christmas Clearance Sale which ends this Friday.

Anywhoos - let's get on with today's post - a right proper Christmas treat from the mothersite! Say hellos to the much talked about but never seen Kiora, the first official preview for Born of the Gods -

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Kiora, the Crashing Wave, 2gu
Planeswalker — Kiora, Mythic Rare

+1: Until your next turn, prevent all damage that would be dealt to and dealt by target permanent an opponent controls.

-1: Draw a card. You may play an additional land this turn.

-5: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your end step, put a 9/9 blue Kraken creature token onto the battlefield."

Starting Loyalty: 2
Illus. Scott M. Fischer #149/165

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First off, we've got to say we here at MTG Realm have a soft spot for merfolk, are are simply gushing about this simic (green / blue) merfolk planeswalker.  Let's take a look -

For four mana (two colourless and a 'simic') you get a 'Walker with a somewhat low starting loyalty of two.  The plus 1 ability provides an interesting way to protect either Kiora (the most likely choice) or another creature by nullifying any damage to or from an opponent's permanent.  The minus 1 gives you an 'explore' effect - a card draw and an additional land which may be played.  The BOMB is the minus 5 ability which gives you an emblem to drop a 9/9 blue Kraken critter at your end step.

This new Born of the Gods Planeswalker looks fun to play and we'll certainly explore our options for standard and Commander after all the new BNG cards are out.

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Dack Fayden

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

We are taking another break from the newest Magic the Gathering set, Innistrad again today to cover off some MTG related news but promise great things in the next several posts including video reviews of Innistrad Intro Packs and Fat Packs . . . honestly - how much fun is it crack'n open new product ? Quite a bit for us and hopefully entertaining for you as well.

For today's post however, you are likely wondering what or who Faded Duck is. It's actually Dack Fayden and this is the new Planeswalker to be addressed by IDW Publishing in their Magic: The Gathering comics to be hitting stores in just a few more months. You can bring yourself up to speed with our article several weeks ago covering the original news.















Here's the solicitation from IDW :

Magic: The Gathering #1

Matt Forbeck (w) • Martin Coccolo (a) • Aleksi Briclot (c)

Get ready, Magic: The Gathering fans, there’s a new Planeswalker in town! In search of greater magical knowledge and on the hunt for the people who destroyed his town, Dack Fayden is the greatest thief in the Multiverse. When he gets his hands on his latest prize, though, he has no idea where it will lead him - or to who!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

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What we finding interesting / exciting is the availability of two variant covers for this publication - one from Eric Deschamps and the other from Christopher Moeller - both amazing artists. We are also chomping at the bit to get a hold of the alternate-art Magic: The Gathering card to be included with each comic book. With author Matt Forbeck writing, we anticipate this will be a big hit with MTG fans.

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Lastly, we had a few questions about the new Innistrad card, Gutter Grime. We are definitely not judges (or even very good players) but wanted to pass along what we ourselves learned.

The question is - Do the Ooze tokens go away after the enchantment gets blown up ? The answer is 'Yes', unless you have something else which maintains their toughness above zero, such as Intangible Virtue.

Here's a snippet from the Innistrad FAQ Document . . .

* The power and toughness of the Ooze tokens will constantly update as Gutter Grime accumulates slime counters.

* If you control more than one Gutter Grime, each Ooze token remembers which one created it. The power and toughness of that Ooze will be equal to the number of slime counters on that Gutter Grime only.

* If Gutter Grime leaves the battlefield, the power and toughness of each Ooze token it created will become 0. Unless another effect is raising its toughness above 0, each of these Ooze tokens will be put into its owner's graveyard the next time state-based actions are checked.
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NIssa - New Planeswalker

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Berlin, Germany is the second stop in the 2008 Pro Tour season. During a piece of event coverage, we were provided with some spoilers of the new Duels of the Planeswalkers, to be released for XBox Live Arcade.

Adam Radstock, of Stainless games gave Brian David-Marshall a quick spin on the new game and also revealed a new Planeswalker in a tour of the game. The new Planewalker is Nissa Revane, and can clearly be seen as a choice in this video HERE.

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Also, we have word of of a new MTG novel to be released on May 5, 2009. The title is 'Alara Unbroken', and is authored by Doug Beyer.

If I had to speculate (which this blog is all about), I would hazard a guess that this novel is just a 'one-off' sort of publication and meant only to be something of a companion tome to the 'Planewalker's Guide' to [fill in the blank]. I should think that from the title, we are given a glimpse as to what the plane of Alara may have looked like before (Nicol Bolas?) tore it apart. I am rather meh about the cover artwork and almost half-expect that this may change before its release.