Guilds of Ravnica Spoiler 7-30

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Some important news on the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set, Guilds of Ravnica for you today.  Wizards of the Coast had let the kitten out of the clutch with an update to the Wizards Play Network (WPN) (linked here) resource site for gaming stores.  Of particular interest is that we can expect the pre-release events to to be Guild-based.

Specifically, the Prerelease Packs are to be Guild-based which includes a seeded booster, composed entirely of cards relevant to that player’s guild as well as five regular Guilds of Ravnica booster packs.  This set as well as the pre-release packs are to feature the following five of the bi-colored Ravnican guilds : 

• Selesnya (G/W)
• Boros (R/W)
• Golgari (B/G)
• Izzet (U/R)
• Dimir (U/B)

With Guilds of Ravnica set releasing on October 5, 2018, it is quite reasonable to imagine that the next set, Ravnica Allegiance, releasing in January, 2019 will feature the other five Guilds :  Azorius (W/U), Rakdos (B/R), Gruul (R/G), Simic (G/U), and Orzhov (W/B).

Also of interest, the same WPN page featured what is guessed to be the Guilds of Ravnica key art.  This particular piece features Vraska, the Planeswalker Gorgon.  We had last left Vraska at the tail end of the Ixalan story where she (voluntarily) had her memories wiped clean by new friend Jace.  Upon returning as an agent of Bolas, she was granted leadership of the Golgari Guild for services rendered.  This new art appears to be the Golgari underworld, with Vraska looking to be quite at ease, perhaps in new new position.  

Our only question about the art at this time - Could there be a Ravnica / Thor crossover ?  The little beastly pet that Vraska has in her arms looks very suspiciously like Miek, Korg's BFF in Thor Ragnarok.

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Origins PreRelease Prep

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Here in Central Ontario, we are now experiencing the first proper heatwave of summer.  For Magic: the Gathering players worldwide, things are also heating up as everyone is now looking to this weekend's Magic Origins PreRelease event.  Like most, here at MTG Realm, we are reviewing all the new cards after last Thursday's full reveal and are now evaluating the cards that would make for a strong sealed event.  As is tradition, we'll be off to our local gaming store, OMG! Games and hope to report a Top 8 success.  To find a Magic Origins event near you, pop on over to the 'Locator'.

We would highly recommend reading WotC staffer Gavin Verhey's article today (linky over here) on the mothersite to make the most of your PreRelease event.  For today's article, we want to confirm with you what to expect in the Magic Origins PreRelease Pack.

Magic Origins prerelease packs give players the opportunity to learn the origin of their favorite Planeswalker. There are five prerelease packs, one for each planeswalker's color - White (Gideon), Blue (Jace), Black (Liliana), Red (Chandra), and Green (Nissa). The pack's theme does not guarantee a specific Planeswalker card (obviously).

Each comes with a 7-card seeded booster pack that corresponds with that color. When registering for the Prerelease tournament, each player chooses one. The seeded booster pack will assist players in building a deck by providing a starting point in their chosen color. Each seeded booster pack contains a stamped premium promo card, which players may include in their tournament decks. The prerelease pack further contains 6 regular booster packs, 1 story booklet and 1 Spindown life counter. 

The TL/DR - Contents of the Magic origins PreRelease Pack:
• 6 Magic Origins booster packs
• 7-card seeded booster pack, with a stamped promo card
• Cool Planeswalker story booklet
• 1 Spindown life counter 

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FRF PreRelease Prep 2

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We is excite.  Only four more sleeps until the Fate Reforged PreRelease events this weekend - only three more sleeps if you are planning on attending a Friday Midnight PreRelease event (then you're only getting an afternoon nap while in class or at work).  Anwyhoos, some more good info for Magic: the Gathering fans out there, this time from MTG European Community Management team lead Dan Barrett (@dangerawesome) in this video posted to FaceBook.

Post by Magic: The Gathering.

Find a Prerelease near you and preregister to play over here http://locator.wizards.com/ 

Get some tips from the Fate Reforged Prerelease Primer to build your sealed deck here http://bit.ly/1BbCgfw

Dan is touching new Fate Reforged product for us - really never a bad thingy to watch.  Thanks Dan!

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FRF PreRelease Prep

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

As the last of the Fate Reforged previews wrapped up on Friday, Magic: the Gathering players have now shifted their collective focus on the Fate Reforged PreRelease events taking place this weekend (17th / 18th January).  If you are looking for an event near you, click on over to the handy WotC Store / Event locator page.  MTG Realm will be heading off to OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario where starting at midnight Friday (after Friday Night Magic), they will be running a total of six events over Saturday and Sunday.

If you have not been to a prerelease event, just know that it is a ton of fun.  To learn about what to expect, we strongly suggest reading Gavin Verhey's excellent and extensive article on the mothersite today.  The only thing we will highlight is take the 'Choose your Clan' Quiz to see which of the five clans are most aligned with you.

Something else you may wish to consider is which mechanics (keyword abilities) associated with each Clan wins your affection - 

Abzan - Bolster N - Choose a creature with the least toughness among creatures you control. Put N +1/+1 counters on it.

Jeskai - Prowess - whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

Sultai - Delve - cost reduction, Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for a colorless mana.

Mardu - Dash - You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.

Temur - Ferocious provides an advantageous effect if the player controls a creature with power 4 or greater while attacking with a creature with Ferocious or casting a spell with it.

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Lastly, you may also wonder what exactly may in the Fate Reforged PreRelease Pack - 
• 4 Fate Reforged booster packs
• 1 Khans of Tarkir booster pack
• 1 seeded booster pack (includes one of six different PreRelease promo which you may play in your sealed deck)
• 1 Activity insert
• 1 Clan information card
• 1 Spindown Life Counter

• 1 clan identity button

You can also score an Ugin's Fate booster pack which contains 3 playable Magic cards from either Khans of Tarkir or Fate Reforged: 
• 1 Fate Reforged basic land, 
• 1 common, and 
• 1 uncommon or rare card
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Khans of Tarkir PreRelease

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Wow, what a weekend.  Magic: the Gathering players packed our local store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario, Canada-Land for Khans of Tarkir PreRelease events over the weekend.  This may perhaps have been one of the best attended PreRelease events in some time.  By the time Sunday morning rolled around and we finally had a chance to game, the store was out of Abzan, Mardu, and Temur PreRelease packs (in fact, in this particular order of preference) and if you did not already reserve one, you were stuck with either Jeskai or Sultai . . . we picked Jeskai.

The 'seeded' Jeskai pack produced the following ;
Sage of the Inward Eye (foil prerelease promo), Jeskai Banner, Arc Lightning, Dragon's Eye Savants, Take Up Arms, Mystic Monastery, Jeskai Student, Jeskai Windscout, Bloodfire Mentor, Alabaster Kirin, Mystic of the Hidden Way, Defiant Strike, Crippling Chill, Smite the Monstrous, Efreet Weaponmaster, Swiftwater Cliffs.

Some rather decent mana support and spell support for Jeskai but we were still gunning to play Abzan or Mardu for the Prerelease - so - we cracked the packs and here's what we scored -
Pack 1 - Abzan Ascendancy
Pack 2 - Abzan Ascendancy
Pack 3 - Windswept Heath
Pack 4 - Rakshasa Deathdealer, FOIL Polluted Delta (!)
Pack 5 - Rakshasa Vizier

After sorting through the pool, we were in fact able to scrap enough solid choices to go Abzan (white, green, black).  In fact the choices were good enough to take the decklist to first place.

Definitely impressed with the double Abzan Ascendancy, a double Mardu Hordechief, and the Abzan Falconer.   We are already planning our first standard format with these cards and will be picking up some additional ones from MTG Mint Card. Here's a quick video of the unboxing - 

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Khans of Tarkir PreRelease Box

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

With the very latest Magic: the Gathering set, Khans of Tarkir, Wizards of the Coast is continuing with the very popular 'PreRelease Box'.  Each of these boxes have a small treasure within - let's have a look now -

Each Khans of Tarkir Prerelease Pack contains items designed specifically for the chosen colour.
• 5 Khans of Tarkir Booster Packs
• 1 Seeded Booster Pack including a promo card
• 1 activity insert with Planeswalker Points code
• 1 Clan Identity Sticker
• 1 Clan Information card
• 1 Spindown life counter
• 1 Clan identity button

Each tri-coloured enemy 'wedge' are associated with an aspect of the revered by now extinct dragon on Tarkir and each of the five Clans favour an specific aspect of the dragon -

• The Abzan Houses (White/Black/Green) see endurance as the most important quality of the dragon. 

• The Jeskai Way (Blue/Red/White) prefer the cunning nature of the dragon.

• The Sultai Brood (Black/Green/Blue) make themselves ruthless like the dragon.

• The Mardu Horde (Red/White/Black) views speed as the greatest aspect.

• The Temur Frontier (Green/Blue/Red) believe in the dragon's savagery.

With Khans of Tarkir, instead of one known prerelease promo card per pack, WotC is providing the possibility of one of five different cards you can pull out of a seeded prerelease pack.  Dan (Wizards Europe facebook) unboxed a Temur prerelease box and scored a 'Temur Ascendacny' foil  promo.  The new promo cards do not have alternate art but still has the prerelease date shown.

Here's what Dan pulled from the Temur seeded prerelease pack -

Temur Ascendacny
Temur Banner
Temur Charm
Pine Walker
Secret Plans
Frontier Bivouac
Weave Fate
Wooly Loxodon
Ainok Tracker
Naturalize
Scaldkin
Alpine Grizzly
Snowhorn Ridder
Rugged Highlands
Savage Punch
Embodiment of Spring 

Find a Prerelease near you http://locator.wizards.com/ 

Check out WotC Khans of Tarkir Prerelease Primer.

If, after playing in the Khans of Tarkir prerelease this weekend you totally fall in love with a card, make sure you preorder extra copies over at MTG Mint Card. We'll be at OMG! Games & Collectibles in Barrie, Ontario (near Georgian College) this weekend to take in one or more of the prerelease events, all kicking off at midnight Friday.
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M15 PreRelease Pack

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering fans worldwide are most likely very pump'd for this weekend's Magic 2015 core set pre-release event.  For those preparing for game tournaments this weekend, you may be well served by giving the M15 Release Notes a review, and we suggest also popping over to the mothersite to read Marshall Sutcliffe's Limited Information article 'Magic 2015 Removal Overview'.  As all the M15 cards are now up on Gatherer (although comment / rating functionality was not operating this morning), we also suggest you drop by MTG Mint Card to get your pre-order organised.

Anywhoos - for today's article we just wanted to provide some geek eye-candy so you may be orientated on the contents of the Magic 2015 PreRelease Packs you will be getting this weekend.  Images from Dan at Wizards MagicEU.  

The M15 core set promos - one for each colour :
• Hunt with Valor - white
• Hunt with Guile - blue
• Hunt with Ambition - black
• Hunt with Ferocity - red
• Hunt with Strength - green

Each Magic 2015 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

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PreRelease Preparation

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

 The very last Journey into Nyx previews were previewed on Friday, and now Magic: the Gathering players all have eyes to this coming weeekend's PreRelease events.  For more information on this weekend's fun events, please check out the mothersite's PreRelease Info Page, this handy guide posted today on the Wizards of the Coast MTG page, and to find a store near you running a PreRelease event - the handy Store & Event Locator.  We'll be planning to get in one (or perhaps two) events at OMG! Games here in Barrie so we can try two different colours, and after the events, check the new cards against our wishlist and finalise our pre-order with MTG Mint Card.

This PreRelease is similar to previous ones before that like Theros and Born of the Gods, where you pick your fav colour and get the corresponding Journey into Nyx PreRelease Pack which has everything you need to play in the sealed deck format.  Each PreRelease pack has the following goodies including your PreRelease Promo card -

• 2 Journey into Nyx booster packs
• 2 Theros™ booster packs
• 1 Born of the Gods™ booster pack
• 1 Seeded booster pack
• 1 Premium promo card
• 1 Activity card
• 1 Spindown life counter
• 1 Welcome Letter
• 1 Hero Card
 
Here's the very lovely foil alternate art PreRelease Promo cards in each of the colours -

 Dawnbringer Charioteers

Promo art by Volkan Baga

Regular art by Ryan Alexander Lee

Scourge of the Fleets

Promo art by Adam Paquette

Regular art by Steven Belledin

  

Doomwake Giant

Promo art by Nils Hamm

Regular art by Kev Walker

Spawn of Thraxes

Promo art by Jason Rainville

Regular art by Swetlin Velinov

Heroe's Bane

Promo Art by Volkan Baga

Regular art by RAymond Swanland

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Remember to check in with your store to make sure whether they need to take reservations (as sometimes it can be rather crowded), and confirm time(s) of the events.  If you're in Central Ontario (north of Toronto), we'll see you at OMG! Games next weekend.
 

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Born of the Gods PreRelease

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

That was quite a weekend!  We're not really talking about the Seattle Seahawks 43 - 8 Superbowl win over the Denver Broncos but rather the Born of the Gods PreRelease.  Starting at Friday midnight, our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, ran events all weekend long.  We were able to get out to the 3:00 pm event on Saturday to take part in the tournament, and grab some pics including this video where we yattered with Jon from the Command Tower blog and Rick from OMG! Games.

 

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There are five different colored BNG PreRelease packs containing among other thingys, 3 Theros booster packs, 2 Born of the Gods booster pack and a special seeded booster pack of which there are 8 different variations for each color chosen. 

We changed things up a bit and had went with the Green 'Destined to Thrive' Born of the Gods 'seeded' prerelease pack (variation #4) -
Nessian Wilds Ravager (prerelease promo) Hero of Lena Tower, Culling Mark, Siren of the Fanged Coast, Unravel the Aether, Ashiok's Adept, Mortal's Resolve, Mortal's Ardor, Kragma Butcher, Setessan Oathsworn, Nyxborn Triton, Aspect of Hydra, Akroan Skyguard, Nyxborn Wolf, Fall of the Hammer, Necrobite

Pulls - Rares
Scourge of Skola Vale (BNG)
Hunter's Prowess (BNG)
Pyxis of Pandemonium (THS)
Steam Augury (THS)
Temple of Slience (THS) 

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OMG! Games was packed with players excited to game with the new cards and some in the crowd had already participated in the Friday midnight and the Saturday morning prerelease events prior to this afternoon event.  Although our pulls were not stellar and sealed is not our strong suit, we did rather enjoy ourselves.  We are most definitely looking forward to getting our pre-orders from MTG Mint Card and getting down to building / modifying decklists for standard, modern, and commander.

Stay tuned for more Magic: the Gathering news 'n' articles here at MTG Realm as we absorb all the new awesomeness in this set.
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Born of the Gods Products

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Happy Tuesday (again) MTG peeps,

For our previous post earlier today which covered off today's Born of the Gods spoilers 'n' previews, click on over here.  We wanted to get to you a second post to cover off the 4.1.1. on all the sealed Born of the Gods products coming out.  Whether you are just starting to play Magic: the Gathering and are interested in getting an Intro Pack, or (like us) want to know more about what is in the BNG PreRelease pack when we open it up at our local gaming store (OMG! Games, Barrie, ON.), there is literally something here for everyone.  Anywhoos, let's have a looky-loo now -

Born of the Gods Fat Pack, MRSP ~$40
(available on the release date February 7, 2014)
9 Born of the Gods booster packs
1 card box
1 player’s guide
1 80-card land pack
1 learn-to-play insert
1 Spindown™ life counter
2 deck boxes


Born of the Gods Intro Pack, MRSP ~$15
(5 different versions available - available on and after the prerelease date)
1 premium card
1 60-card deck
2 Born of the Gods booster packs
1 learn-to-play insert
1 strategy insert

Born of the Gods Event Deck, MRSP ~$25
(1 version, Releases February 28, 2014)
1 60-card deck
1 15-card sideboard
1 Spindownlife counter
1 strategy insert
1 card box


Born of the Gods Prerelease Pack, MRSP ~$25
(5 different versions available - these are not for sale until after the PreRelease events take place)
The Prerelease Packs are as follows;
• WHITE - Destined to Lead
• BLUE - Destined to Outwit
• BLACK - Destined to Dominate
• RED - Destined to Conquer
• GREEN - Destined to Thrive

2 Born of the Gods booster packs
3 Theros™ booster packs
1 Seeded booster pack
1 Premium promo card
1 Activity card
1 Spindown life counter
1 Welcome Letter
1 Hero Card

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Theros PreRelease Packs

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Magic: the Gathering fans are gearing up for the big Theros pre-release party this weekend and we think game stores are gonna be packed.  Tonight, we here at MTG Realm will likely be finalising our singles pre-order to MTG Mint Card, with Friday Night Magic tomorrow, and then two solid days of Theros PreRelease.  We'll likely only be leaving OMG! Games & Collectibles here in Barrie, Ontario to shower and shave.

Some players we've talked to just cannot decide which Theros PreRelease pack to go with this weekend, while others want to play all the colors.  If you are still sitting on the fence as to which color to go with, here's a set of videos from Derium'ss CCGs in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio who has kindly presented a show 'n' tell of each - have a looky-loo.  Give 'em some link love to their Facebook page and their Twitter y'awll.
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EDIT - 7:00 PM EST 9.19.2013 - It appears that the videos have been removed or set to private now.  We suspect that Wizards may have directed correspondence to Derium.
Deriums Review: MTG Theros Path of Honor (White) prerelease pack


Deriums Review: MTG Theros Path of Battle (Red) prerelease pack



Deriums Review: MTG Theros Path of Might (Green) prerelease pack



Deriums Review: MTG Theros Path of Ambition (Black) prerelease pack



Deriums Review: MTG Theros Path of Wisdom prerelease pack


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All the seed packs seem to follow a similar pattern - - Each has 11 commons (5 off-color, and 6 on-color, one of which was the same in both pre-release packs of each color).  It has  3 uncommons. 1 on-color, 1 off-color, and 1 of either a multicolor or off-color and 1 rare/mythic, which can be multicolor.

Just a an additional note - Each prerelease seed booster has a playable promo. It has a primary color but isn't monocolor. Can open a God but no other mythic.
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