Author: basilisk

  • Dominion Comix #13

    Now we join our Dominion heroes as they encounter a new type of ally: The Duke! His amazing power is to leverage Duchies, but when the supply runs out there’s only one thing he can do.

    Mouse over the image or click here to view it in full!

    Here’s the original Duke:

  • Dominion Comix #12

    If you haven’t played Dominion before, then you may want to read about the game and then glance at this spoiler before reading these comix. You can also read a text spoiler here.

    Mouse over the image to view it in full!

    Here’s the original Envoy we all love:

  • Alara Reborn Contest: Voting

    ( Contest anouncementAll contest entries )

    The Alara Reborn contest is now over! Take a look over the submissions to remember the good times, and then head into the discussion thread to vote for your favorites. If you were a participant, remember to contact me so that you may claim your participation packs.

    And now, on with the contestants (in alphabetic order):

    Basilisk:

    Wizard Energy Beverages by Basilisk

    Ein:

    Oil // Emulsion // Water by Ein

    Encrypted Command by Ein

    Metrognomes by Ein

    Gasface:

    Breaking Triple ARB Draft: Aggro Jund Cascade by Gasface

    GyantSpyder:

    Lord of Jund to Nationalize Dragons by GyantSpyder

    JSexton:

    Unbelievable News by JSexton with images by Basilisk

    NicotineJones:

    NJ’s Alara Reborn Capsule Review by NicotineJones

    Ozymandias:

    Uril, the Miststalker: A Creepy Thing Not from Grixis by ozymandias

    Paz:

    What Magic Color are You, You Moron? by Paz

    Regionals Turbo Fog Players Regret Decision by Paz

    Choose Your Own Alara by Paz

    Prolepsis:

    Hypergenesis Combo in Classic by Prolepsis

    Sam111111:

    Dr. Hisoka: “Magic Players are Losers” by Sam111111

    Slearch:

    Magical Cards Facebook Feed by slearch with contributions from Basilisk and Skeletor

    Skeletor:

    GoodGamery News – May 2009 by Skeletor

    GoodGamery News – The Unexpected Malfegor Paradox by Skeletor

    Click on the link below to go vote for your favorites.

  • Unbelievable News

    Author Image

    Making Magic Archive
    Mark Rosewater Archive

    Mark Rosewater
    Monday, June 1, 2009


    The letter F! olks, I have a special treat to announce today. But first, a little background. Those of you that play Magic Online know two things: Magic Online is a terrific product; and it doesn’t always work as well as we’d like. We believe that, like the economy, Magic Online is fundamentally strong. Sure, it’s had hiccups. Sure, it’s had ups and downs. But at the core is an incredible play experience that brings together players from all over the world from a variety of backgrounds, and lets them duel as though they are sitting in the same room. We decided we wanted to thank the players that have stuck with us through the tough times, and now have a front row seat for V3, the most stable Magic Online platform ever. Now that we’ve worked out the kinks, I think we can all look back with a sense of humor and have a laugh.

    I’m proud to announce the third Un-expansion: Unavailable.

    Unavailable is the first product exclusive to Magic Online. That’s right: it will not be sold in stores, and will not be redeemable. Unhinged, after all, was only available in cardboard, and this is the same principle. Much like the Astral set from Microprose, we will take advantage of the unique features of online play and translate them to Magic in ways that simply can’t be duplicated in cardboard.

    Team Rocket

    The design began nearly two years ago. Justin Ziran (Gamer Zer0), was at the time the Brand Manager, and he approached me with the idea of putting together a set to try and lighten the mood online, since he felt like the feedback he was getting from the community was somewhat negative. We went with an approach that felt like a winner, a one-two punch of top Magic designers, and experts in Magic Online.

    Here’s the team:

    MaRO Mark Rosewater – I was Lead Designer for the set.

    This shouldn’t come as a great surprise. I was also Lead Designer of Unglued and Unhinged. Having written for Roseanne, I know funny. And any time someone has a good idea, I’m pretty quick to take credit. I may not have ever played Magic Online, but I’m pretty sure the skills translate.

    Gamerzer0 Justin Ziran – Justin was the Brand Manager and Community Liaison, and as such, knew the feelings of the Magic Online community better than anyone. I have always been impressed with Justin’s ability to create just the right tone with players, and to strike a balance between the needs of the community and the needs of the company. I really don’t know what we would do without him.

    SloggerSucks Devin Low – An all-star Magic Designer. Devin is the kind of guy who instinctively knows what players want, even if they don’t quite realize it themselves. With his finger on the pulse of the Magic community, he is utterly irreplaceable.

    GTFO Jenna Helland – Jenna is a flavor guru, but more importantly, Jenna was the lead designer for the User Interface for Magic Online V3. As such, she was uniquely qualified to recreate the classic look and feel of the Magic Online experience. We wanted the cards themselves to reflect the intuitive familiarity of online play.

    On With The Show

    Unavailable features several new mechanics that reflect the nature of online play. One of the most fun is Ban. Any time a card is Banned, it will be, well, banned. That means it will instantly disappear from play, your hand, your library, your graveyard, in fact from all zones. This will affect every player in the game, and will last for the rest of the match. That’s right, it will carry over into the next game.

    (Amusing aside: during the beta testing, Banning was coded to prevent wishing for the card later in the game, which required removing the Banned card from your collection temporarily. The code to replace it didn’t quite work, however. Randy Buehler cast Radiate in a FFA game and eradicated every card on the test server. Permanently. That pushed us back a few days of testing. Don’t worry, though, we’re pretty sure that’s fixed.)

    buffer-overrun

    Another powerful new addition to your arsenal is Edit. Mages have long been able to change certain words on card, typically related to color or land type. Now, Edit allows you to change the text of a given card is all-new ways, such as swapping abilities, doubling, them or removing them outright.

    strconst-dat-out-of-date

    Not all new cards focus on a new mechanic. Some harken back to the old days and poke a little fun at some problems that you may have forgotten ever happened.

    wrath-of-marit-lag
          
    temporary-isolation

    Finally, there is a subtheme that players have been clamoring for ever since we hinted at it in Future Sight. Many people had guesses about what it would mean, but now you know for sure: The Magic Online game servers have been nicknamed Contraptions for years now!

    server-machinations

    You’re Such A Tease

    You’ve gotten a taste of what’s to come, but I’d like to leave you with some hints. You won’t believe what we’ve held back.

    • A 13/13 creature for 2 mana. Hint: its creature type is “Crasher”.
    • A way to make your opponent’s cards non foil – permanently!
    • The first ever “rating matters” card.

    I think all of you are going to get a real kick out of this set. I know it’s been a long road, but we’re finally a place of stability and consistency, and all of you are a big part of why that came to be. Without your positive feedback and steadfast loyalty, I don’t even want to think about where we’d be. Hopefully, giving you this set will let you know just how much we listen to you.

    Until then, may your client be stable, your packs be winners, and your rares be cool.

  • Dominion Comix #11

    If you haven’t played Dominion before, then you may want to read about the game and then glance at this spoiler before reading these comix.

    Mouse over the image to view it in full!

  • Dominion Comix #1 through #10

    Dominion is a hit card game where each player makes miniature combo decks and tries to buy all of the Provinces and Labs before other players can. It is super replayable due to the number of combinations that are possible with the 25 cards in the base set.

    If you haven’t played Dominion before, then you may want to read about the game and then glance at this spoiler before reading these comix.

    Mouse over each image to view it in full!











  • Wizard Energy Beverages

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Welcome to the Wizard Energy Beverage tasting experience! I’m Teferi.

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: And I’m Ertai. We’re going to try all of the top Wizard Energy drinks so that you don’t have to.

    5-Mana Taste Rating System:

    Tastes like a kiss from a blessed fruit golem.

    You fall face-first into a pile of dried out old shoes, but someone spilled fresh lemonade over them first, so it’s not all bad.

    Tastes like a zombie-cursed imp tree growing on top of a haunted rubbish pile in the plane of festering insects and dying dreams.



    Bottle Gnomenergy Classic

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: This is the standby energy drink of students at the Tolarian Academy. I remember pulling countless all-nighters on this stuff. It has a tangy berry flavor, but mysteriously it has an odor reminiscent of a healing salve. I could drink this stuff all day!

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: We’re off to a good start here. Bottle Gnomenergy Classic is the drink that walks on its own, and when you drink it, you’ll feel like you are moving on energy that isn’t your own. The only problem is that the kick doesn’t last very long.

    Rating:



    New Bottle Gnomenergy

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: This is the reformulated “new” Bottle Gnomenergy, which now comes in two bottle designs, although there is nothing discernibly different between the flavors of each. They added a brassy aftertaste, and took away some of the berry flavor. Why?

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: This is the drink preferred by all of the Delifs of the Wizarding world. Subpar.

    Rating:



    KnowlEDGE Thirstberry

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Tasting this is like a nightmare. It’s like you are drinking a dry cloud dipped in ink, with a sharp metallic aftertaste. There are little floating orbs of some sort of jelly, except it’s from a jellyfish of some sort. It even smells like an old library, which is incredible because it looks almost the same as Bottle Gnomenergy. The only good thing about it is that you aren’t thirsty afterwards, but that’s probably because your body develops antibodies that fight off liquids as soon as you start digesting it.

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: Why is this called Thirstberry? There are no berries anywhere in the flask, unless you count the balls of jellyfish that some beverage mage decided to add to this mixture in a fit of delirium. This has a huge kick to it, though, much more so than Gnomenergy.

    Rating:



    Suleiman Djinnergy 3% ABV

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: This incredible limited-edition drink is a mix of Gin, Mint, and a concentrated energy elixir. After the first sip I was so wired I went outside and beat up a Hill Giant. It’s kind of expensive, though.

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: This was awful. The initial taste was fine, but the aftertaste was like a swift kick in the lungs from a smelly titan with rotting pine trees for feet.

    Rating:



    Bottled NRG Orange Cloister

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: It tastes like a Cloister, all right. Did you know that a Cloister is a piece of architecture, and not a tasty flavor? Imagine you’re drinking a tincture made from chalk and sand, and then someone sets an orange on the table while you drink it, so you can imagine that it tastes like oranges. At least it didn’t try to kill me.

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: When I drank this, I was fine for a couple minutes, but then I fell asleep. Five minutes later, I was up again with twice the energy I had before. Crazy! It’s too bad it tastes like a gigantic boat full of rocks crashed into a single orange tree.

    Rating:



    Ventifact Xtra

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Wow, I’m afraid to even try this. That’s a real spider. The bottle looks like a necromancer tried to make a thrull out of a potato and a chair.

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: Even the bottle knows it tastes bad. It’s throwing up a little. I’m throwing up a little.

    Rating:



    Feroz’s Grape

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Oh, I’m glad we are back to normal-looking drinks. Like everything from the Homelands, this costs a lot but doesn’t give you much energy. Through some clever illusion, it looks like there is a small planet inside the bottle, but it tastes like grapes. Not bad!

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: This is the type of drink that all of the Delifs in the world prefer to drink. Bland and ineffective.

    Rating:



    XXtra Clear Energy Tincture

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: This tastes like literally nothing. There is no taste, no odor, no viscosity, and no temperature. I don’t see what other Wizards see in this beverage.

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: You can taste the power, but almost nothing else. It takes a very refined and powerful Wizard to enjoy this. It’s also good mixer for vodka.

    Rating:



    Trips Energy Mixxxture

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: This comes in three flavors, all in one bottle: Time Grape, Time Blueberry, and Time Raspberry. Each is good in their own right, but when mixed together in the right proportions you are effectively time walking all other beverages.

    Rating:

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: You get a three-for-one on flavor. It’s a tremendous advantage when drinking with enemies, and a good time when drinking with friends.

    Rating:



    Powerwine Iron Fortifier Cola

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Look how intense the guy on the label is. He is bursting with energy.

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: There is so much energy in that wine that he became cross-eyed! I bet you can see the future if you drink the whole bottle at once.

    Rating:

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: In the future, everything tastes like iron, and then you throw up.

    Rating:



    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: Well, that was an experience.

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: An experience that you, the reader, no longer need to have!

    Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: I feel like I was punched in the face with a lightning bolt.

    Ertai, Wizard Adept: See you next time, if we don’t become corrupted or phase out before then!

  • NJ’s Alara Reborn Capsule Review

    The usual disclaimers: I don’t play MTG anymore, I haven’t shuffled up in years, and I’m mostly out of touch with the modern metagames. Every one of these I do is a little less useful than the one before it.

    If this isn’t your kind of thing, you shouldn’t bother, but if it is and you do and you want to comment/agree/disagree/expand/ask me to expand on something, I make an effort to read and respond to everything in the discussion thread.

    I only evaluate cards in the context of constructed play, and I only talk about cards that I think have a shot at seeing play in block, standard, or extended. If I don’t talk about a card, it’s because I don’t think that it’s constructed caliber.

    This set is on the whole quite weak, but I think that block is likely to be a varied metagame and that a bunch of these cards fit in at the block level.

    Ardent Plea – 1WU

    Enchantment (Uncommon)

    Exalted

    Cascade

    For this and for several of the other cheaper cascade spells, you’re not playing it because you want the spell effect; you’re playing it because you want to tutor for something and have built your deck such that cascade gets you one particular effect. Giving up everything with a CMC of 1 or 2, other than your cascade target, is a huge sacrifice in some formats and almost no sacrifice at all in other formats. In a format with this many CIPT lands, it’s less expensive than it might otherwise be so that’s something.

    Similarly, the quality of the targets varies by format. If this is getting a Balance effect, then it’s very strong; in the past you might have been willing to mess with your deck enough to guarantee Skullclamp or Jitte or Grim Monolith. Right now, I guess you can go get Bitterblossom and that isn’t bad, but I don’t think it’s enough to make you swear off all other cheap spells, even if you can fill in with stuff like Shriekmaw.

    Specific to Ardent Plea, I can see this getting play if a) 3 drops aren’t much better than 2 drops and b) you have a curve that has a billion 2s and no real 3s. I don’t think that’s the case right now but it has been at a number of times in the past.

    Ethercaste Knight – WU

    Artifact Creature – Human Knight (Common)

    Exalted

    1/3

    If there’s a million billion Pyroclasms in the format, ok, maybe.

    Fieldmist Borderpost – 1WU

    Artifact (Common)

    You may pay {1} and return a basic land you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay Fieldmist Borderpost’s mana cost.

    Fieldmist Borderpost comes into play tapped.

    {T}: Add {W} or {U} to your mana pool.

    These basically suck for constructed unless you can get some additional added utility out of the fact that they’re a multicolored artifact. Would it have killed them to make it not CIPT if you paid the actual mana cost, or to let you bounce nonbasics?

    Meddling Mage – WU

    Creature – Human Wizard (Rare)

    As Meddling Mage comes into play, name a nonland card.

    The named card can’t be played.

    “This violent wasteland is an indictment of its people. These cowards lack the will to oppose disorder.”

    2/2

    Hey, Pikula is still good! What do you know. This will see play all over the place, just like it always has.

    Sovereigns of Lost Alara – 4WU

    Creature – Spirit (Rare)

    Exalted (Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)

    Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, you may search your library for an Aura card that could enchant that creature, put it into play attached to that creature, then shuffle your library.

    4/5

    You’re going to need some kind of redundant tutor effect to make this worth building around, but 6 mana for a guy who swings next turn as an 8/9 flier that makes people drop their hand is potentially pretty good. This is especially true since he has sort-of-haste. On the minus side, you have to put bad cards in your deck to make him happy and he’s expensive, so yeah probably not so much.

    Brainbite – 2UB

    Sorcery (Common)

    Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose a card from it. That player discards that card.

    Draw a card.

    If everyone’s swapping 6+cc haymakers then stuff like this starts to look almost attractive. Almost.

    Mind Funeral – 1UB

    Sorcery (Uncommon)

    Target opponent reveals cards from the top of his or her library until four land cards are revealed. That player puts all cards revealed this way into his or her graveyard.

    #26/145

    This is going to reliably put a *lot* of cards in the yard, although you need something else to actually deck people. Maybe you have card interactions that want you to do that or maybe decking gets to a critical mass.

    Mistvein Borderpost – 1UB

    Artifact (Common)

    You may pay {1} and return a basic land you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay Mistvein Borderpost’s mana cost.

    Mistvein Borderpost comes into play tapped.

    {T}: Add {U} or {B} to your mana pool.

    See previous Borderpost comments.

    Anathemancer – 1BR

    Creature – Zombie Wizard (Uncommon)

    When Anathemancer comes into play, it deals damage to target player equal to the number of nonbasic lands that player controls.

    Unearth {5}{B}{R}

    2/2

    One of the few game-changers in the set, Anathemancer gives an actual disincentive to running 26 nonbasics. It’s *still* not a great pressure creature if it’s doing less than ~4 damage for you on the way in, and you’re probably not unearthing it, but it may mean that life is a bigger issue in control on control rumbles than it would otherwise be.

    Deathbringer Thoctar – 4BR

    Creature – Zombie Beast (Rare)

    Whenever another creature is put into a graveyard from play, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Deathbringer Thoctar.

    Remove a +1/+1 counter from Deathbringer Thoctar: Deathbringer Thoctar deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

    3/3

    Murders token creatures and I guess that’s a big deal right now. Really wanted to have devour. Probably too expensive but may fill an important niche anyway.

    Demonic Dread – 1BR

    Sorcery (Common)

    Cascade

    Target creature can’t block this turn.

    Probably the weakest of the cheap cascade spells, since you need a target for it.

    Terminate – BR

    Instant (Common)

    Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated.

    You can’t do this for any cheaper. Will see play everywhere except possibly extended, and even there it’s a strong contender.

    Thought Hemorrhage – 2BR

    Sorcery (Rare)

    Name a nonland card. Target player reveals his or her hand. Thought Hemorrhage deals 3 damage to that player for each card with that name revealed this way. Search that player’s graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with that name and remove them from the game. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

    Not as good as people are going to think it is, but it’ll see play in exactly the same situations that Cranial correctly saw play. The damage isn’t a total red herring– planeswalkers– but it’s pretty much irrelevant. You have to be able to put a major dent into someone’s strategy for Extracting them to be a good plan, just like always.

    Veinfire Borderpost – 1BR

    Artifact (Common)

    You may pay {1} and return a basic land you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay Veinfire Borderpost’s mana cost.

    Veinfire Borderpost comes into play tapped.

    {T}: Add {B} or {R} to your mana pool.

    Supra.

    Bloodbraid Elf – 2RG

    Creature – Elf Berserker (Uncommon)

    Haste

    Cascade (When you play this spell, remove cards from the top of your library from the game until you reveal a nonland card that costs less. You may play it without paying its mana cost. Put the removed cards on the bottom in a random order.)

    3/2

    The best of the cascade spells by a fair margin. You can play this productively in an aggro deck; even if you’re just hitting burn, it’s still plenty fine.

    Dragon Broodmother – 2RRRG

    Creature – Dragon (Mythic Rare)

    Flying

    At the beginning of each upkeep, put a 1/1 red and green Dragon creature token with flying and devour 2 into play. (As the token comes into play, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. It comes into play with twice that many +1/+1 counters on it.)

    4/4

    Not as good as Broodmate but still might see play. Broodmate is real good and maybe you want 5 of them.

    Firewild Borderpost – 1RG

    Artifact (Common)

    You may pay {1} and return a basic land you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay Firewild Borderpost’s mana cost.

    Firewild Borderpost comes into play tapped.

    {T}: Add {R} or {G} to your mana pool.

    Once more with feeling!

    Predatory Advantage – 3RG

    Enchantment (Rare)

    At the end of each opponent’s turn, if that player didn’t play a creature spell this turn, put a 2/2 green Lizard creature token into play.

    Predatory Advantage will crank out creatures on a very regular basis, and the creatures are a nontrivial size. This is a fine way to leverage time into a win, although it’s totally outclassed by stuff like Bitterblossom and may be straight outsized in block.

    Spellbreaker Behemoth – 1RGG

    Creature – Beast (Rare)

    Spellbreaker Behemoth can’t be countered.

    Creature spells you control with power 5 or greater can’t be countered.

    5/5

    The stats get you are a reasonably good deal. Not sure there’s enough countermagic floating around to justify playing him right now, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be at some point in the future.

    Vengeful Rebirth – 4RG

    Sorcery (Uncommon)

    Return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you return a nonland card to your hand this way, Vengeful Rebirth deals damage equal to that card’s converted mana cost to target creature or player.

    Remove Vengeful Rebirth from the game.

    I actually like this guy a lot, since it provides two turns worth of action in a lategame situation. It is, however, slow as shit, and its value as removal is very much contingent on opposing threats being cards you can kill with single-target burn. Not sure that’s true right now.

    Violent Outburst – 1RG

    Instant (Common)

    Cascade

    Creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.

    I don’t think this is good enough to see play for its effect+cascade, so it’s probably limited to uses that abuse Cascade. It is, however, instant and does not require a target, so in a vacuum it’s the strongest of the 3-cc cascade spells.

    Vithian Renegades – 1RG

    Creature – Human Shaman (Uncommon)

    When Vithian Renegades comes into play, destroy target artifact.

    3/2

    Sure yeah whatever. An extra point of power on Uktabiridian Shamrangutan isn’t going to change anybody’s life, but its predecessors were good enough to see play and so is this.

    Captured Sunlight – 2GW

    Sorcery (Common)

    Cascade

    You gain 4 life.

    Bloodbraid Elf is an aggro effect, and it goes in a deck that has a bunch of cards you can flip that do something useful no matter what the board situation may be– creatures and burn. This is a controlling effect. Controlling decks tend to play a combination of removal and resource-gathering spells at their low drops. Removal is conditional; resource-gathering is not. If you’re in a situation where your opponent just played a threat and you flip a resource card, then this is a misspent turn; ditto if your opponent does not have a threat and you do flip removal.

    If your deck has a bunch of Rampant Growths at the low slots, then Captured Sunlight may be a great deal; if you need those slots to play Path to Exile and Oblivion Ring, then not so much.

    Dauntless Escort – 1GW

    Creature – Rhox Soldier (Rare)

    Sacrifice Dauntless Escort: Creatures you control are indestructible this turn.

    3/3

    No big deal here, but in a sweeper-heavy environment– or just in an environment where lots of guys are banging into lots and lots of other guys– Escort might see some play. 3/3 for 3 mana isn’t totally tragic anyway.

    Knotvine Paladin – GW

    Creature – Human Knight (Rare)

    Whenever Knotvine Paladin attacks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each untapped creature you control.

    2/2

    Knotty is regularly going to swing as a very large dude, and he has synergy with Elspeth and especially with Ajani Not-Vengeant. I think that there are probably too many other good options, but it may be that the lure of flopping down Procession or the like after Knotvine is just too strong.

    Mycoid Shepherd – 1GGW

    Creature – Fungus (Rare)

    Whenever Mycoid Shepherd or another creature you control with power 5 or greater is put into a graveyard from play, you may gain 5 life.

    5/4

    Backloading the life gain is significantly worse than frontloading it, and I think you basically never get to trigger Shepherd off of another creature’s death, but it’s pretty big and the lifegain is substantial. This is so, so not Loxodon Hierarch, though.

    Qasali Pridemage – GW

    Creature – Cat Wizard (Common)

    Exalted

    {1}, Sacrifice Qasali Pridemage: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

    2/2

    An excellent package. 2 mana for a 2/2 exalted seems reasonable, even without a built-in Naturalize. I think that zapping enchantments may turn out to be a bigger bonus than it has been in the past.

    Reborn Hope – GW

    Sorcery (Uncommon)

    Return target multicolored card from your graveyard to your hand.

    Regrowth is kind of unexciting unless you’re doing something abusive with it.

    Wildfield Borderpost – 1GW

    Artifact (Common)

    You may pay {1} and return a basic land you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay Wildfield Borderpost’s mana cost.

    Wildfield Borderpost comes into play tapped.

    {T}: Add {G} or {W} to your mana pool.

    Again and again.

    Identity Crisis – 2WWBB

    Sorcery (Rare)

    Remove all cards in target player’s hand and graveyard from the game.

    Any control mirror needs to be prepared for this; it is a game-winner. I think it’s costed just outside the range where aggro and even midrange decks will be able to play it comfortably.

    Tainted Sigil – 1WB

    Artifact (Uncommon)

    {T}, Sacrifice Tainted Sigil: You gain life equal to the total life lost by all players this turn. (Damage causes loss of life.)

    Sigils corrupted by outsiders do not lose their power, only their purity.

    If there’s something awesome you can do by paying a bunch of life, then this is compelling; otherwise not so.

    Zealous Persecution – WB

    Instant (Uncommon)

    Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and creatures target opponent controls get -1/-1.

    This is totally unremarkable unless you are playing a bunch of little tiny dorks yourself and are also expecting to fight against other people who are playing a bunch of little tiny dorks. However, my understanding is that that statement defines a good chunk of the present standard metagame, so pencil the ol’ ZP in.

    Double Negative – UUR

    Instant (Uncommon)

    Counter up to two target spells.

    Other than Cascade, I don’t think you get this to fire, but countermagic is expensive anyway so maybe somebody wants this.

    Lord of Extinction – 3BG

    Creature – Elemental (Mythic Rare)

    Lord of Extinction’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in all graveyards.

    */*

    Lord of Extinction is the new Sutured Ghoul, if anybody ever wants a Sutured Ghoul again.

    Maelstrom Pulse – 1BG

    Sorcery (Rare)

    Destroy target nonland permanent and all permanents with the same name as that permanent.

    On reflection, I think this is slightly worse than Vindicate, but Vindicate was really good and being able to take out tokens or randomly 2-for-1 some guy is useful too. This should see play in standard and in block, although probably not in extended.

    Putrid Leech – BG

    Creature – Leech (Common)

    Pay 2 life: Putrid Leech gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn.

    2/2

    Beats up everything else that costs less then 4 mana, and lots of things that cost more. I can see this sneaking in somewhere.

    Cerodon Yearling – RW

    Creature – Beast (Common)

    Vigilance, haste

    2/2

    Vigilance mostly sucks here, but two mana for a 2/2 haste is a reasonable deal and might squeak it in. Haste is very good.

    Lorescale Coatl – 1GU

    Creature – Snake (Uncommon)

    Whenever you draw a card, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Lorescale Coatl.

    2/2

    Gets very respectably-sized quickly. Not sure being big is enough, but if it is then the Coatl is a contender. Bonus points for being easy to cast off of a Hierarch. I’m not sure that it’s worth trying to dick around with card draw to make the Brain Snake bigger, but rather you can simply appreciate him for the big growing hunk of p/t that he is.

    Vedalken Heretic – GU

    Creature – Vedalken Rogue (Rare)

    Whenever Vedalken Heretic deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.

    1/1

    I think the time of the Phid has just plain passed us by.

    Sphinx of the Steel Wind – 5WUB

    Artifact Creature – Sphinx (Mythic Rare)

    Flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, protection from red and from green

    No one has properly answered her favorite riddle: “Why should I spare your life?”

    6/6

    Unless you’re cheating her out, I think there are better uses for your mana, but if you’re cheating anything out this is a decent contender.

    Thraximundar – 4UBR

    Legendary Creature – Zombie Assassin (Mythic Rare)

    Haste

    Whenever Thraximundar attacks, defending player sacrifices a creature.

    Whenever a player sacrifices a creature, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Thraximundar.

    6/6

    So is this. Thrax is probably trump if there’s a reanimator mirror sometime in the future.

    Dragon Appeasement – 3BRG

    Enchantment (Uncommon)

    Skip your draw step.

    Whenever you sacrifice a creature, you may draw a card.

    To be useful this has to be abusive, and I think it’s too expensive to be abused.

    Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund – 4BRG

    Legendary Creature – Dragon (Mythic Rare)

    Flying, haste

    When Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund comes into play, gain control of all Dragon creatures in play and untap them.

    Dragon creatures you control have haste.

    7/7

    Obviously, this is a strong answer to your opponent’s Broodmate. Outside of that– and that might be a really big deal in block– I’m not sure you want it at all.

    Lavalanche – XBRG

    Sorcery (Rare)

    Lavalanche deals X damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.

    Alara’s burning blood cannot be contained by mere earth and stone.

    The upside of this is that it does considerable damage to your opponent, and there’s enough incidental burn floating around between Ultimatums and Regrowthbolt and Banefire that accidentally doming somebody is a perfectly reasonable way to win a fight. The downside is that it’s super expensive. I suspect that it sees plenty of play in midrange decks and up, but I don’t think you can support it unless you’re planning on casting it for at least 3-4 and that means you better have 26+ mana sources.

    Finest Hour – 2GWU

    Enchantment (Rare)

    Exalted

    Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, if its the first combat phase of the turn, untap that creature. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.

    This card is freaking amazing when it goes off. Rafiq into Finest Hour, with no other enhancement whatsoever, does 24 points of damage. Other exalted dudes get somewhat less impressive but still great results. I think this might be a reasonable two-of, since it adds a commendable burst, but a lot has to go right for it to function at peak efficiency.

    Flurry of Wings – GWU

    Instant (Uncommon)

    Put X 1/1 white Bird Soldier creature tokens with flying into play, where X is the number of attacking creatures.

    This is a fog, typically, in the worst case. That matters because Fog is a card that you never want to put in your deck, but that you often want to have in your hand. That said, you need to get 3 guys out of this to be happy with it as a creature generator, and since a lot of the time you’re not getting 3 guys you have to expect 4 some of the time. I don’t think that happens often enough for this to make the grade.

    Jenara, Asura of War – GWU

    Legendary Creature – Angel (Mythic Rare)

    Flying

    {1}{W}: Put a +1/+1 counter on Jenara, Asura of War.

    Wounded soldiers looked up, grateful for her appearance. But she passed over them, her eyes firmly on their foe.

    3/3

    Tidy little package. I think Jenara isn’t an all-star but does provide a useful dimension against a lot of people; she’s quite hard to kill with toughness based removal, can brawl effectively early, and in the late game can become big enough to fight with anybody. Her legendary status probably means you won’t want a full boat.

    Wargate – XGWU

    Sorcery (Rare)

    Search your library for a permanent card with converted mana cost X or less and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.

    I think Wargate has a shot. It’s bad at doing everything it does, but versatility is sometimes useful too.

    Maelstrom Nexus – WUBRG

    Enchantment (Mythic Rare)

    The first spell you play each turn has cascade.

    Nexus is Future Sight on crack. I think this is probably the most important new card in the set for the control wars. Once you land this, you’re just in an amazing position in terms of accruing resource advantage; you’ll be getting Capsules all over the place, removal for free, et cetera, et cetera.

    Esper Stormblade – {wb}U

    Artifact Creature – Vedalken Wizard (Common)

    As long as you control another multicolored permanent, Esper Stormblade gets +1/+1 and has flying.

    2/1

    One of the more promising dudes like this. There’s a nice critical mass of good two-color dorks on both the WUB and the GWU axes.

    Trace of Abundance – {rw}G

    Enchantment – Aura (Common)

    Enchant land

    Enchanted land has shroud.

    Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, you may add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

    It’s basically Fertile Ground except that it’s not as good at manafixing. Fertile Ground is good enough, and this may be good enough too if you don’t want your resource acceleration to be dependent on creatures.

  • Alara Reborn Contest

    What happens when a plane of predators collides with four planes of prey?

    This is a question you might ask yourself, if you are reading aloud the flavor text for the new Magic: The Gathering set, Alara Reborn!

    Contest

    To commemorate this rebirth, we are holding a contest. Every Officially Acknowledged Content you create and submit starting now and during the month of May, 2009 is automatically entered in the contest, and every participant is eligible to receive valuable prizes. At the end of May, everyone on the GoodGamery.com forums will vote for their four favorite contributors, whether they contributed fake cards, funny articles, or even set reviews and tournament reports. Once a top four is decided, there will be a runoff to determine which of the four top contributors gets the top prizes.

    Prizes

    1st place: 18 Alara Reborn boosters

    2nd place: 9 Alara Reborn boosters

    3rd place: 6 Alara Reborn boosters

    4th place: 3 Alara Reborn boosters

    In addition to this, every participant who creates at least one piece of Officially Acknowledged Content will recieve 2 Alara Reborn boosters, as long as supplies last. This includes the top 4 winners!

    How do I submit an entry?

    Please take a look at these instructions.

    Tips

    Here is a link to the Alara Reborn Visual Spoiler, which will aid you in your quest to create Officially Acknowledged Content. There are plenty of good ideas in there!

  • Pokémon Koffing Arrested for Failing to Meet Emission Standards

    Koffing, one of the many adorable characters featured in the Pokémon television shows, movies and collectable card games, has landed in hot water tuesday for failing to meet newly tightened emission standards. Koffing, known most for his ability to blast plumes of poisonous smoke at his enemies, has been detained by police following a recent crackdown on unclean Pokémon. This is just the most recent in a string of Pokérrests, with other notable Pokémon — Gloom, Weepinbell and Haunter, taken into custody earlier this week — facing similar charges.

    “We’ve had plenty of reports from neighbors, complaining about the smell and the smoke, and we take those complaints seriously,” Sergeant Juan Raminez said in a press statement yesterday, “The smell is unmistakable. It’s like if you mixed doo-doo with a banana. It’s a very unique smell. You’ll never forget it.”

    Koffing’s lawyers have a different take on the matter. “It’s discrimination, pure and simple,” attorney Suzanne Milner countered, “All you need to do is look at who has been arrested, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of who this new legislation was aimed at. Gloom, Weepinbell, Haunter. Poison, poison, ghost/poison. Do I have problems with some Pokémon? You bet I do, there’s a Pikachu next door that won’t fucking stop Pika-ing. It keeps me awake for hours. Do I want them to make new legislation to stop that? Sure. Would it make me look like a hypocrite? Undoubtably.”

    Legal aid was advised for Koffing after Haunter attempted to represent himself, only to fail disastrously due to the fact that he could only say his own name.

    “Discrimination? Nothing could be further from the truth,” claimed Police Chief Brian Beetworth, “We’ve warned Koffing in the past that in order to go out in public, he needed to wear a bonnet, or a diaper or something for the good of other citizens.”

    “Or,” Beetsworth continued, “he could plug his holes up with something that could slide in comfortably, but not easily pop out. Man, if somebody had just invented some sort of plug that could slide into an orifice and stay in there firmly, this whole situation could have been avoided!”



    (Discuss this item in the forum!)