War of the Spark Spoilers

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Wizards of the Coast held the much anticipated War of the Spark Panel at PAX East today and delivered a set trailer as well as a number of previews.  Panelists included creative lead Doug Beyer, set design lead Dave Humpherys, and art director Taylor Ingvarsson, Magic: the Gathering Professional Player Brad Nelson.  The Panel was hosted by Jimmy Wong of Game Knights and the Command Zone.

For up-to-date previews, pop on over to http://mtg-realm.tumblr.com/

  
War of the Spark Mechanics

War of the Spark releases on May 3, 2019.  The main theme of the set is planeswalkers and cards that interact with them.  The set features 36 planeswalkers and ach booster pack contains a planeswalker card.  All planeswalkers are new cards never printed before cards.

Proliferate, originally from the Scars of Mirrodin block returns to Standard format. When a player proliferates, he or she chooses any number of players and / or permanents with a counter on them, then puts another of those counters on these players or permanents. However, it now has now been modified from choosing a type of counter already present and adding one counter of that type, to adding one counter of each type already present.

Affinity, last seen in the Mirrodin block, appears only on Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge. It reduces the mana cost of a spell by the number of permanents of a certain type that player controls (typically artifacts).

New mechanic - Amass. "Amass N" means put N +1/+1 counters on an Army creature you control. If you don't control one, create a 0/0 black Zombie Army creature token first.  Army becomes a new addition to creature types. 

PREVIEWS

Here is the text list of reveals :

Ajani, the Greathearted
Ajani's Pridemate
Augur of Bolas
Basic Land - Forest
Basic Land - Island
Basic Land - Mountain
Basic Land - Plains
Basic Land - Swamp
Bolas's Citadel
Dreadhorde Invasion
Emergence Zone
Flux Channeler
Herald of the Dreadhorde
Ignite the Beacon
Interplanar Beacon
Invade the City
Liliana, Dreadhorde General
No Escape
Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted
Ob Nixilis's Cruelty
Ravnica at War
Relentless Advance
Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge
Tibalt, Rakish instigator
Tibalt's Rager
Time Wipe
Vraska, Swarm's Eminence
Vraska's Finisher
Widespread Brutality 

Dominaria Trailer

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,
This, our third post for today we want to talk about the upcoming set, Dominaria, and quite specifically, the very cool trailer that was posted just a short while ago by Wizards of the Coast.

CAUTION : This video contains more than 100% of the recommended daily intake of AWESOMENESS.
 Here it is !

Wizards has put together yet another amazing set trailer.  We are very much pumped to immerse ourselves in the story and cards of this set.  For those Magic: the Gathering flavour fans out there, here is our (error-free?) transcript of the trailer -

How many times can you rebuild from Apocalypse?

On Dominaria, we've almost lost count.

As we celebrate a world reborn, darkness is growing.

Each day wasted, brings us closer to ruin.

I've been through this cycle, and I know.

This time, it will be different.

Together, we will crush this evil at its source, forever.

Dominaria cannot wait, and neither will we.

- KARN

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There are a lot of very interesting things to talk about in the trailer, but here are some bullet points for now, which has been tempered with today's story on the Wizards of the Coast MTG website :

• Karn - in a study with a globe of Dominara.  Sweet art, and it appears that this Planeswalker is prepared to go head to head against this next character.

• Belzenlok, King of Urborg, Demonlord.  Liliana needs to kill this demon and needs (what's left of) the Gatewatch to do this.  Karn looks to be a powerful ally with interests aligned in this endeavour.

• There is an image presented in the trailer of an individual being suited up in armor.  We suspect that this is Liliana's undead brother Josu being turned via a necromantic rite at the Vess manor house into a Lich now enslaved to Belzenlok.

• The unholy Cabal, with Belzenlok at its head appears to be pure evil in its dark ambition to control (or destroy) Dominaria.  

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Amonkhet Trailer !

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

It may be April 3rd today, but it feels like the start of Holidays with an abundance of gifts to all.  Today marks the first day of official Magic: the Gathering previews for Amonkhet.  This upcoming set, with a rich Ancient Egyptian theme, will have prerelease events on April 22nd / 23rd, and available for purchase at a local gaming store near you on April 28th.

We do have a big news day with a load of information such as mechanics, as well as spoilers / previews but we want to take this post to share our appreciation for one of the BEST MTG trailers we have seen for a while.  You should go and give it a watch over on YouTube at this link now.

WOW !   Wizards of the Coast had stepped up their game.  Just when we thought the trailers were tops, we are treated to a new one which nearly eclipses the previous ones.  Anywhoos, let's talk about this amazing trailer now -

One from Many 

(Gideon)
By Force of Will 

(Jace)
Forged by Might 

(Nissa)
Driven by Fire 

(Chandra)
Born by Death 

(Liliana)
to Rise Eternal. 

(Nicol Bolas)

SO. MUCH. FLAVOUR.!  The chanting here is minimal with direct messages allowing you to colour this new world of Amonkhet with your imagination.  The video work was wonderful and hit enough highlights to afford one to start 'world-building' the environment and culture of this Plane.  Here are a few stills from the video -

 

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Aether Revolt Trailer & Tech

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

A Happy New Year to all as well - we hope you had a great year-end with family, friends and perhaps a few Magic: the Gathering games to boot.  With the first few days of 2017, we are now kicking off official Aether Revolt previews.  There is a bit of catching up to do with new spoilers but for this post, we will draw your attention to the Aether Revolt Trailer and Mechanics.  First, here's that awesome trailer.

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On to the mechanics now.  Two mechanics are being drawn from the previous set of Kaladesh - 

Vehicles 
Vehicle is an artifact subtype easiliy identified with a special bronze and grey blocked card frame.  Artifacts with this subtype have the crew keyword, which allows them to temporarily become artifact creatures. Creatures with the Pilot type have an ability that somehow cares about crewing Vehicles.

Energy counters
An energy counter is a counter that, unlike most other counters, is placed on players rather than objects. Energy counters are used to pay the cost to activate abilities.  Energy counters don't evaporate as phases or steps end, or as the turn ends but rather when you spend them.
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Now for the two new mechanics for Aether Revolt - 

Improvise — a keyword ability that enables you to pay generic mana cost with the help of your artifacts. Each artifact you tap after you're done activating mana abilities pays for 1 colourless mana.

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Revolt — an ability word that checks if a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn.

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Also - WotC Staff Michael Yichao has this short vid going over the bascis of playing in an MTG PreRelease event.  If you have never treated yourself by playing in one of these events, you are missing a ton of fun.  Check out where an Aether Revolt PreRelease event is taking place near you (lnky right here), and just bring yourself, and some Ultra PRO deck protector sleeves.

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Kaladesh Mechanics Preview

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Happy Friday (afternoon) MTG peeps,

The floodgates have opened and new content is spilling out from the Wizards of the Coast panels at PAX West in Seattle, where the next Magic: the Gathering set, Kaladesh, is the order of the day.  We're quite certain that all the Friday Night Magic players at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario will be yattering about nothing else.

We've attempted to keep up with all the previews over at our sister site MTG Realm on Tumblr but that is a pretty Herculean task.  Here is a more organised summary -

First - the Kaladesh trailer -

The new themes / keyword abilities / mechanics next -

'Energy'
Energy. You get (E), which is an energy counter. Energy counters persist on you until removed/spent.

'Fabricate'
Fabricate N (When this creature enters the battlefield, put N +1/+1 counters on it or create N colorless Servo artifact creature tokens.)

'Vehicles'
Vehicles: Crew N (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power N: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)

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Shadows Over Innistrad Trailer

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Wizards of the Coast continue to deliver loads of goodies for Magic: the Gathering players looking forward to the next set, Shadows Over Innistrad.  In Detroit over the weekend, event goers to the Grand Prix event were treated to a lovely re-creation of the Cathedral at Thraben in Innistrad.  For fans like us who could not get there, a lot of cool 'clues' were posted by WotC inlcuding some awesome previews and of course, what we've been waiting for - the Shadows Over Innistrad trailer - w000t ! !  Here's the vid - 

The residents are unhinged. Markov Manor is in ruins. 

The Angels no longer protect us. Prepare to unravel the madness of Innistrad!

The trailer was awesome !
Let's discuss - here's

Here's what Jace says -

Some strange force is working on this world, twisting it into a bent reflection of itself.
I've travelled the roads of Innistrad, searching for the meaning of this change, but all I find is more questions.
Curses grow stronger, Monstrous thirsts cannot be waited and the living are once again haunted by the dead.
The source of this evil must be found, before its dark presence consumes the world, consumes me.
Strange clues, a trail, dark magic, a tangled web of insanity, but the knots are unravelling.
Those who once protected the world, now fly on blood-stained wings.
They've led me here to this consecrated ground, to this, this madness. 

In the video, we see Jace seeking 'clues', and finds Tamiyo's famed Journal at what appears to be the ruins of Markov's Manor (he takes the Journal from a dead dude's hands).  amiyo is particularly enamored with the mysteries of Innistrad and its silver moon. Observing them for many cycles, she’s carefully charted the forces at work here, including the moon's influence on the lycanthropic curse and the ebb and flow of the vampire frenzies  When Avacyn was freed from the Helvault Tamiyo excitedly began writing theories about the angel's influence on the land, its creatures, and the moon. The nature of the Helvault, the creation of the wolfir, the reappearance of the gryffs, and the origins of the newly empowered holy wards have been filling her scrolls with further questions.

 

There is some interesting flavour text in the new Shadows Over Innistrad card 'Tamiyo's Journal' - 

Entry 434: There's more to Avacyn's madness...

There are a few random shots of different locations and creatures, all anticipated to eventually be seen as card arts.  

The video ends with dangerous looking dark (fallen) angels and Avacyn, who definitely is looking far removed from Angelic. Here is another Shadows Over Innistrad spoiler - the double-sided Avacyn card itself - 

"Wings that bore hope are now stained with blood. She is our guardian no longer." 

Archangel Avacyn, 3WW
Legendary Creature - Angel, Mythic Rare
Flash
Flying, vigilance
When Archangel Avacyn enters the battlefield, creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
When a non-Angel creature you control dies, transform Archangel Avacyn at the beginning of the next upkeep.
4/4
//
Avacyn, the Purifier
Legendary Creature - Angel
Flying
When this creature transforms into Avacyn, the Purifier, it deals 3 damage to each other creature and each opponent.
"Wings that bore hope are now stained with blood. She is our guardian no longer." —Grete, cathar apostate
6/5
 
Lastly, a leaked image - perhaps the illustration to be the wrap-around art for the Shadows Over Innistrad Fat Pack -

It looks to be Tamiyo and Jace arriving just in time to see the Sorin destroying his creation Avacyn.   More plot twists than a M. Night Shyamalan movie !

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Theros Trailer

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

We are continuing to roll with all the amazing Magic: the Gathering cards from Theros being previewed by Wizards of the Coast at PAX Prime being held in Seattle this weekend.  Yesterday afternoon we provided posts on cards being previewed at PAX itself and then followed up with the greatly anticipated Theros Preview Party at the Showbox at the Market.  We gotta say that we here at MTG Realm were kinda breathing heavy seeing some of the very cool cards due to be released on 27 September, 2013 and we can't wait to get our pre-orders into MTG Mint Card and get our game upgraded.

Anywhoos - Wizards has now two vids out - 
• The official Theros Trailer which is just off the hook, and
• A vid of Nathan Holt (from Walking the Planes) at that awesome Theros Preview Party last night.


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To wrap up - here are some stills from the Theros trailer.  Absolutely wonderful job so far by the Wizards Creative Team and the members who put the trailer together.

Expect another post fairly soon as we update everyone on this afternoon's Theros World Building Panel at PAX.

Avacyn Restored Trailer

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We realise that we have already providing you with a post to the MTG Realm blog earlier today (Duel Decks : Venser vs. Koth decklists), but as it turns out, today holds for Magic the Gathering gamers / fans more news. Specifically, in today's Magic Arcana, we were provided a sneak-peek of the Avacyn Restored Trailer. Wizards of the Coast have been providing some very good trailers ahead of the release of sets, the most impressive (we thought) being the 'All will be One' Scars of Mirrodin Mirran / Phyrexian Trailer. The last few trailers have bee good but could be great with improved character voice-overs.

Anywhoos, here's the video for Avacyn Restored - brace yourself for loads of possible card Avacyn Restored art spoilers ! SCROLL DOWN for screen-caps of the potential new arts.


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Legions of Angels have been given a renewed sense of purpose
and clearly strength is returning to our people. Archmages are again weilding their devine power. Once fearsome predators are now subservient guardians. And this reign of darkness will end.

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We are loving all the Angel love promised here in the trailer and look forward to what the other colours may hold. Griselbrand is also looking completely bad-a$$ - dude has a hammer and a sickle for appendages - Dang. Which means some lesser demon gets the job of spoon-feeding Big G and wiping for him too. Also peaking our interest - what the Human 'Archmage' may do.
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Finally,
The next set in the Duel Deck series, Venser vs. Koth is due out next month (March 30th). There is already a bit of hype about this set and we should very soon within the next few weeks have the full decklist. We suggest you stay tuned to MTG Mint Card which will have all the coolest singles from this set for pre-order.
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Magic / DotP 2013

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Something rather interesting had popped up on the Magic the Gathering spoiler radar recently. An Italian gamer had posted to YouTube what appeared to be an trailer for the upcoming Duels of the Planeswalker 2013. If you recall from last year, the DotP release coincides approximately with the core set release and contains many similar cards. With the release of core set M13 and DotP 2013, we expect much of the same.

The video for the Magic 2013 trailer appears to be real with the same motion comic style and narration, perhaps just not quite finalised. There are some fans which perhaps thought it fake but when Wizards of the Coast requested that content to be removed, the argument for a leaked trailer became convincing.

Of interest -
Nicol Bolas appears to be narrating and speaking about the original 'Lorwyn Five' planeswalkers rather than the updates we received in the last core set. Anywhoos - no video but here are some stills . . .
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Of my foes, these five are potentially are potentially problematic.


A noble predator, he believes himself to be. This Garruk Wildpeaker brutal savage, nearly merciless killer. His impatience is my virtue.


Jace Belaren's greatest strength is his greatest flaw. A supremely powerful mind incapable of perceiving how he could rule all. The keystone in an unfathomable plan.


So utterly filled with power, so wholly lacking in restraint and vision. Seeking freedom. Will Chandra Nalar rise above personal retribution or will her furry consume all?


A dark power commanding the dead, Lillianna Vess inspires terror. In debt to demons, entranced in a pursuit of unattainable desire as ruthless as myself.


Reinforcer of life, light and strength in allies, a contemptible blight. Should we cross again, I'll snuff Agani Goldmane's spark, consigning him to an endless night.


They're but obstacles, part of a grand design. Fight them endlessly, they're likely to prevail every time. However, should you prove to be a duelist of measure, having depeated these opponents with skill, consider your fate. Or, if you dare face me, destroying you shall be my pleasure.

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Lastly,
The folks over at MTG Mint Card has one heck of a Christmas Holiday deal - you can knock off 50% (!) off express shipping for any purchase. This deal is good until 21st December which should allow you loads of time to Christmas shop for that special MTG fan.

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Duels Trailer

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You may recall this POST, where during Pro-Tour Berlin, we were provided with some spoilers of the new Duels of the Planeswalkers, to be released for XBox Live Arcade sometime in 2009.

Wizards just posted a trailer for the game today on You-Tube . . .

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Here is the propaganda from WoTC marketing . .

Enter the multiverse of Magic: The GatheringDuels of the Planeswalkers. Challenge immensely powerful planeswalkers, expand your arsenal of fantastic creatures and devastating spells, and destroy online foes in your quest for domination. Available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The ultimate strategy game comes to Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PC in 2009