Category: best of

  • PT Kyoto Round 2 Report: Destiny Unveiled

    Osamu Fujita (Red-White Kithkin) vs. David Irvine (Esper Vark)

    Florida native David Irvine grasped his plastic-covered deck carefully and deliberately. He closed his eyes and parted the deck into two relatively equal halves, one in each hand. He then pushed the two halves together at their sides in what is sometimes known as the “side shuffle,” a pragmatic and yet elegent way to quickly redistribute the contents of the deck.

    But one was not enough. Irvine’s opponent, Osamu Fujita, watched intently and nervously as Irvine again separated his deck into two parts and pressed them deliberately together, further redistributing the cardboard subcomponents.

    But they were not merely cardboard. A song had been stuck in Irvine’s head: the English folk song Greensleeves, for such was the protection he had afforded to his cards. As Irvine side shuffled for an unheard-of third time, spectators attempting to interpret his activity in hushed murmurs, he mentally noted that the version of Greensleeves his mind was humming through had ‘vi’ for its progression-concluding chord rather than the more-common ‘III’. His green, billed cap was upturned at an angle, as if firing a beam of contemplation into the cosmos. The busy sounds of the room surrounding him faded away, and he heard only the imaginary, distant lute, serenading his Sisyphean attempt at true randomization.

    Minutes, days, months, years passed. Or so it seemed. But when Irvine opened his eyes again the sounds of reality flooded back into the chamber of sensory acknowledgment. The fantasy lutist had performed his royally-commissioned task and had returned to his fictional forest home. Time rewound itself and Irvine discovered that mere seconds had passed since he first began to shuffle.

    Irvine presented his deck to Fujita, and Fujita his deck to Irvine. To each player, the others’ deck felt foreign, unnatural, distasteful. Even evil. They each winced and grunted in discomfort as they shuffled. Each tick of the clock caused an earthquake rated infinity on the Richter scale. The two players sighed a sigh of relief they relieved themselves of their opponents’ decks. Irvine could sense Fujita’s shadowy essence on his sacred possession. Fujita could almost feel Irvine’s fingerprints on his cards. They were each disgusted. Fujita noted that in chess, one never touched his opponent’s game pieces unless they were being captured. This was the way of the samurai. No such honor would be found in this American-made triviality.

    Fujita, absurdly adorned in a scarf, glanced over to his dice satchel, then back at Irvine. Irvine did the same. If Fujita acted quickly enough, perhaps he could procure some six-siders before Irvine could react. Sweat began to drip down Irvine’s forehead from the cusp of his cosmic ray brim.

    With that, Fujita made his move. In one swift motion he grabbed the lip of the dice satchel with his left thumb and forefinger while reaching inside with his right hand. In an eternal instant he successfully produced three cubic dice from the satchel, each with symbols representing the numbers one through six on their faces. Irvine moved not. Fujita wondered if Irvine had ever even planned to interrupt his dice-procurement maneuver. He would never find out, and the question haunted him for the rest of his Earth-life.

    “High roll?” Fujita asked Irvine. Or did he ask the audience? Or the universe? The universe responded through Irvine in the form of a nod. Fujita stood up, the dice in his right hand and, with all of his adrenaline and energy and effort and will and fear and being, launched a salvo of dice onto the table.

    Each die ricocheted off of the table in different directions at first. The wind itself seemed to gasp, however, as the dice began to unify their positions mid-air to conform to Irvine’s upturned hat brim. They collided with each other in impossible ways, challenging the observers’ notions of space, time, and self, before tumbling haphazardly to the table below.

    The result was dictated by the constitution of the initial singularity which spawned the cosmos combined with rules of conduct hand-scrawled by God in the metaphysical scroll of material existence: A couple of sixes and a two.

    Irvine was devastated, but in his devastation something awoke within him. A nihilistic, fatalistic, child-like amusement, like at the beginning of a roller-coaster’s descent from heaven to hell. His inner self chuckled, and soon his outer self joined him, until his guffawing filled the room with the echoes of insanity. He slowly regained his composure and managed to conclude his temporary madness with a cryptic, ominous phrase. “Hoo, that’s a high one!” said he.

    It was now Irvine’s turn to roll, but as he touched the dice he sensed the same corruption in these dice as he sensed on Fujita’s cards. He knew with axiomatic certainty that his roll would be lower than 14. What does one do when his prognostication foretells certain doom? He buries himself in the currents of society and world, weeping as his true, inner flesh is ripped asunder by the razor-sharp torrent. He finds himself rolling the dice despite the knowledge of certain failure, allegorically telling the story of every man’s life from protobiont to Julius Caesar to cyborg and beyond.

    It was worse than he ever imagined. His own roll wasn’t even a third of Fujita’s, and his slow-as-mollases Esper Vark deck would be starting eternally behind Fujita’s Red-White Kithkin deck, which was so blazingly fast that the cards tapped themselves.

    Irvine won the match 2-1.



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  • A Delicious New Plane Awaits

    Good news everyone! Our operatives have returned from the time rift and have come up with a partial spoiler from the set code named “Live!” Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

    Turns out, the set is really called “Delis of Gastronomica” and the set’s theme focuses on a powerful new card type! Without further ado…

    White

    Ham Sandwich on Wonder Bread – W
    Sandwich – Delicious (Common)
    Eat – Put 2 +1/+1 counters on the creature that eats this. (To eat a sandwich, tap an untapped creature you control and sacrifice the sandwich.)

    Hungry Cadet – W
    Creature – Human Soldier (Common)
    Whenever Hungry Cadet eats a sandwich, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
    “Plains, this guy, go.”
    1/1

    Virtual Time Walk – 1W
    Sorcery (Uncommon)
    Untap target creture that ate a sandwich this turn.
    Draw a card.
    “Okay Flores, this time you’re really stretching it.”

    Hypochondria – 2W
    Enchantment (Rare)
    Your life total is 10 more than you think it is.

    Red

    Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with Bacon – 1R
    Sandwich – Delicious (Common)
    Eat – The creature that eats this sandwich gets +4/+0 and first strike until end of turn. (To eat a sandwich, tap an untapped creature you control and sacrifice the sandwich.)

    Ironclaw Sandwichsmith Czar – 2RR
    Creature – Orc Gourmand (Common)
    When Ironclaw Sandwichsmith Czar comes into play, you may search your library for a delicious sandwich and put it into play.
    2/3

    Sauté – 2R
    Sorcery (Common)
    Sauté deals 5 damage to target player over a period of 2 to 3 minutes until they are a deep golden brown.

    Blue

    The One Sandwich to Rule Them All – 1UU
    Legendary Sandwich – Delicious (Mythic)
    Eat – The creature that eats this sandwich becomes unblockable, has shroud, and refuses to share it with anyone because it is a dick. (This effect does not end at end of turn.)

    The Ultimate Crime of Unforgivable Sin – U
    Sorcery (Rare)
    Gain control of target sandwich.

    Your Cake – 2UU
    Sorcery – Arcane (Common)
    Choose one – Have Your Cake, or eat it.
    Entwine: THERE IS NO ENTWINE.

    Distant Jingle – 3U
    Instant (Common)
    Draw cards equal to the highest converted mana cost among sandwiches you control.
    “Five dolla foot looooooooong!”

    Scornful Egosandwich – 8U
    Sandwich – Surly (Uncommon)
    Eat – Return the creature that eats this to its owners hand. (To eat a sandwich, tap an untapped creature you control and sacrifice the sandwich.)
    Morph U

    Green

    Bizarrogoyf – 1G
    Creature – Lhurgoyf (Rare)
    Bizarrogoyf gets -1/-1 for each card type among cards in all graveyards. (The card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, tribal, and sandwich.)
    9/10

    Sandwich of Oaks – 3G
    Sandwich – Not-Terribly-Delcious (Uncommon)
    Eat – Put 7 +1/+1 counters on the creature that eats this. (To eat a sandwich, tap an untapped creature you control and sacrifice the sandwich.)

    Famished Famished River Horse – 3GG
    Creature – Hippo Rogue (Common)
    Trample
    When Famished Famished River Horse deals combat damage to a player, you may have it eat target sandwich that player controls.
    4/4

    Relentless Groffskithur – 5G
    Creature – Beast (Common)
    Whenever Relentless Groffskithur becomes blocked, you may return target card named Relentless Groffskithur from your graveyard to your hand.
    A deck can have any number of cards named Relentless Groffskithur.
    3/3

    Colossal Sandwich – 2GG
    Sandwich – Shapeshifter (Rare)
    Changeling (This sandwich is all sandwich types at all times.)
    Eat – The creature that eats this sandwich gets gains protection from black and +X/+X until end of turn, where X is its power.

    Form of the Hoagie – 1G
    Enchantment (Mythic)
    You can’t cast spells.
    You can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.
    Creatures you control have: “T: You lose the game.”

    Black

    Dumpster Diver – 3B
    Creature – Human Programmer (Common)
    When Dumpster Diver comes into play, you may return a sandwich from a graveyard to play under your control.
    “Hey, this sandwich is still good! It’s not gluten free though…”
    2/3

    Word of Command of Make Me a Sammich – BB
    Sorcery (Rare)
    Search target player’s hand and library for a sandwich card and put that card into play under your control. That player must draw as much mana as possible from lands he or she controls to pay for the sandwich.
    If the target player is of the opposite sex, search for two sandwiches instead.

    Broodwich – 3BB
    Legendary Sandwich – Demon (Mythic)
    Eat – The creature that eats this sandwich gains “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game.” (This effect does not end at end of turn. Also, you just lost the game.)
    “Mmmm, sun dried tomatoes.”

    Mayor McCheese – 2BB
    Legendary Sandwich Creature – Delicious Human (Rare)
    Eat – Cause civil unrest in McDonaldland. We’re pretty sure that any human creature that eats this guy counts as a cannibal and is a sick fuck.
    3/3

    Fuck You Elemental – BBBBB
    Creature – Elemental Asshole (Rare)
    1B, Sacrifice Fuck You elemental: You and target player both lose the game.
    Remove Fuck You Elemental from your deck before the game if playing with fewer than 3 players.
    PS, you just lost the game again.
    6/6

    Land

    Brass Land
    Land (Rare)
    Add 1 to your mana pool.
    Brass Land does not untap during your untap step.
    1: Untap Brass Land. Play this ability only during your upkeep.

    Hill From the Sound of Music
    Land – Terranthrope (Uncommon)
    Hill From the Sound of Music comes into play tapped.
    T: Add G to your mana pool.
    2GG: All terranthropes you control become 4/4 creatures with trample. (This effect doesn’t end at end of turn.)

    Multicolored

    Irony – 2UG
    Creature – Incarnation (Uncommon)
    Trample, Unblockable
    When Irony is in your graveyard, creatures you control have trample and are unblockable.
    “It’s like raaaaaaaain…”
    3/2

    Nicol Bolas, Plainswalker – 2UUBBRR
    Legendary Creature – Elder Dragon (Mythic)
    Plainswalk
    7/7

    Artifact

    Concrete Rockin’ Moroccan – 7
    Legendary Artfact Sandwich – Delicious Grinder Equipment (Rare)
    Equip: 3
    Equipped creature gets +4/+4 and may eat the Concrete Rockin’ Moraccan if it is tapped.
    Eat – The creature that eats this sandwich gets +9/+0 until end of turn. Sacrifice it at end of turn.

    Brown Paper Bag With Your Name on It – 0
    Artifact (Uncommon)
    Sandwiches you control have shroud.




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  • Linzards of the Linoast Releases Open Magic

    (From the Linzards of the Linoast web site…)

    Wizards of the Coast (WOTC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, NYSE: HAS) has long held a monopoly over the collectible card game known as Magic: The Gathering (MtG). We at Linzards of the Linoast have been working, along with several prominent MtG players, such as Trey Van Cleave, to produce an open source version of the popular game, one that combines all the features one would expect from the original, yet offered under the GPL. The result of this work is Open Magic!

    The requirements for using Open Magic are as follows:



    • 1 Collection of physical MtG cards
    • 1 Pair household scissors
    • 1 Pack standard issue index cards
    • 1 Pen
    • 1 Stapler pre-loaded with staples
    • 1 Scanner
    • 1 Computer capable of running Adobe Photoshop™
    • 1 Copy of Adobe Photoshop™
    • 1 Color Printer
    • 1 Set of standard issue card sleeves to fit MtG cards

    As you can see, the barrier to entry is very low!

    In order to use Open Magic, simply do the following:


    Step One:



    Trace one of you regular MtG cards on one of your notecards, using some type of pen. To facilitate proper integration with standard MtG cards and sleeves, make sure to trace carefully! (Linzards of the Linoast recommends not consuming caffeine, alcohol, or other drugs at least 45 minutes prior to beginning tracing to ensure a steady hand.)


    Step Two:


    Cut out the card you just traced, using your scissors. Again, following the lines in essential for future compatibility.


    Step Three:




    Scan both the front of the card you are intending to use with Open Magic (this is why it is imperative that you own a collection of physical cards!), and the back of any card you choose.


    Step Four:


    Print out the card front and card back that you just scanned.


    Step Five:


    Cut out your front and back printouts, then staple them (make sure you face them the right way!) to the piece of notecard you cut out in Step Two. This is now your Open Magic card!


    Step Six:


    JK, there isn’t really a step six (:D)!! Check out this sample hand. It was generated using both the pre-existing, proprietary Magic: The Gathering cards, as well as our new Open Magic island. You can’t tell the difference, can you? We thought not!




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  • Good Gamery News – December 2008

    Hasbro Executive Points at Graph

    As the latest rumour season heats up, details of a Conflux planning meeting involving a highly placed Hasbro executive are starting to come to light. According to an inside source, the meeting was brief and gave the dev team a very clear direction.

    “The meeting started off very typically, with Randy and Mark trying to see who could blow spitballs through straws up their nose the farthest,” the source said, “but then one of the rarely-seen big bosses barged in and started yelling at us, talking about sagging profits and stuff.”

    “He was quite fat,” the source added.

    Those present were given more than a tounge-lashing, however. “He had this big graph of company revenue from like ’98 onwards. He pointed at a spike at September 2000 and said ‘Do you nerdy $#%!s see this? Just do whatever you did here’.” September 2000 is when Wizards of the Coast released the Invasion expansion.

    “At first we were just going to reprint everything, even the cards we printed the first time just to hose Rebels and Port. We instead decided to split the cards up over two smaller expansions as this gave us more time to find names for the cards whose flavour didn’t make sense any more. I mean, can you believe that we haven’t had a card called ‘Goblin Outlander’ yet? Discoveries like these take time.”

    Wizards to Release “From the Vault: Disenchants” in Time for Valentines Day

    Hot on the heels of its wildly sucessful “From the Vault: Dragons” boxed set, Wizards of the Coast has announced “From the Vault: Disenchants”. This limited edition boxed set will feature 15 all-foil cards with the ability to destroy target artifact or enchantment. See the announcement page for more details.

    Deck Validation Problems Continue to Plague MTGO

    Many MTGO players attempting to enter Standard tournaments with completely legal decks this weekend were met with a “Deck Not Valid” message. After much speculation as to the cause, Wizards has released a statement on their MTGO messageboard claiming the problem has to do with basic lands.

    “Right now we are having a server-side issue with Standard deck validation, specifically decks with basic lands in them. As of now, any deck containing basic lands is being rejected as invalid by the system,” the post by representative WotC_Mike read. “Devs are working on a fix, but players should know it’s not a huge priority for us. The format is still playable in its current state and honestly we have more pressing issues.” He went on to say it may take “a couple weeks or more” for the issue to be resolved.

    This is the second time in as many months that MTGO has had deck validation problems. Last month some legal Prismatic decks were being rejected by the system as invalid due to a problem in dealing with split cards such as Fire/Ice. As of publishing this issue also remains unresolved

  • Good Gamery News – November 2008

    Casual Player Sick of Playing Against Elves

    When asked about his Casual Extended Game message “No Elves, No Dragons; Only Discard, LD, Counters or other interesting decks pls”, Magic Online User darkraistlin13 was unrepentant.

    “I just find it stupid and pointless to play against the same deck over and over again” he said. “Don’t these players have any sense of fun or originality? I play Magic for fun, and getting killed on the second turn every game before I’ve had a chance to use my Cancels and Stone Rains isn’t fun. I mean, who finds playing with Elves and Dragons enjoyable anyway?”

    “It’s getting to the point where I will concede if my opponent plays a basic Forest on the first turn.”

    Secret Magic Online Programming Credits List Found

    As first reported by ModoSharks, the programming credits list is stored on every computer on which Magic Online is installed. For many, the contents of the list were mostly expected.

    “I’ve suspected for a while that a motherfucker, a shithead, and a sonofabitch have had a hand in programming v3,” noted online magician Aziridine said. “It’s no surprise to me that cannabis was involved either.”

    When asked if there were any surprises on the list, he responded affirmatively.

    “Surprises? Yeah, there were a few,” Aziridine said. “For instance, I would have bet like 5tix that there would be at least one retard credited in there. Most shocking to me was that something as wonderful as boobies could have had anything to do with writing this program.”

    “Planeswalker Deck” Tears Up States, Old-School Player Rolls Eyes

    News of a new “Planeswalker Deck” similar to the one piloted by Themistoklis Panagiotaras to victory at Missouri Champs has changed the way many are thinking about the standard metagame. At least one player, however, is unimpressed.

    Rick Dustington of Seattle, upon hearing news of this exciting new deck, visibly scoffed. “A what deck? Shit, in my day something like that wouldn’t have gotten past the second round. First of all no one played Plains. Sure, Islandwalkers were a good choice if they were efficient enough. But Plainswalkers? Sheesh.”

    “And even if someone was dumb enough to play Plains, they had tons of ways to deal with Plainswalkers” he continued. “Heck, they had Wrath of God, Swords to Plowshares, and if things got really hairy, Great Wall. Players these days must be really unresourceful to let something like that get the better of them.”




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  • It’s Been A Shard Days Night









    [Editor’s note: This article is a bit long, so it was split into two parts. Unfortunately not even we can figure out the new site, so all we were able to get it to do was split it exactly in half by character count.]

    Hi, it’s time for another look behind the scenes at some of the design magic that helps make Magic so magical.


    Early in development, the 5 power matters theme was slightly under-performing, and Firestoker was seen as an ideal place to give it a little nudge. A lot of improvements were suggested – higher stats, making red mana, dealing more damage, and so on. Eventually though we decided on adding a second belt. We’re really happy with how the two-belt version plays.


    As you might have guessed, this was a top-down design. Its creation started with the flavor theme of, “Aggravating the Chinese censors as much as humanly possible” From there its concept, art, name, and functionality were a breeze to work out.


    This card actually started its life while we were working on Planar Chaos, and it went something like this:

    Them: We’ve got slots for a few more plane-shifted cards
    Me: I’ve got it! We could plane-shift Braidwood Cup from colorless…to white!
    Them: You’re supposed to shift a card from one color to another, not from no colors to another.
    Me: That’s what makes it brilliant!
    Them: Ok, even so, we don’t print artifacts with colored mana in their costs.

    Me: We don’t yet, but we could pre-print a planeshifted card from the future when we will!
    Them: We’re not doing pre-prints in this set; that’s the next set.
    Me: But what if when we did the next set, we retroactively send this set a printing of the pre-print of the planeshifted Cup.
    Them: … you want us to add a card to this set when the next one comes out? There’s no way we’re doing that.

    But fast forward to Shards design, and suddenly I have the upper hand:
    Me: So, I can’t help but notice you have a slot open for a white artifact.
    Them: Yeah, do you have an idea?
    Me: Well I was just thinking, we could post-print the retroactive addition to Planar Chaos of the pre-printed planeshift of Braidwood Cup.
    Them: Or we could just print it.

    Me:Well sure, if you have no sense of wonder and are basically dead inside.
    Also Me: Don’t worry Mark, we’ll always remember the beautiful truth about this card, no matter what they say.


    Everyone in design loved the simple combination of staple effects and the fun, flavorful pun in the name. We loved it so much in fact that it quickly led to a super-cycle including Enblightenment, Twiblight’s Call, and Flightning of Fancy. Somewhere around Eightning and a Half Tails we realized we’d lost all perspective and that the set was currently over 80% red and agreed it would be best to cut everything but the original and start fresh.


    Often Magic art is about more than just aesthetics; it can also convey information about the function of the card. Nowhere is that more true than the art of Sedraxis Specter. The tiny nondescript humanoid being overshadowed by his mount lets you know this is a specter. Since Poultrygeist was a 1-power, 1-color flier, the three undead chicken heads imply a 3-power, 3-color flier. The animate skeleton ribcage hints at a graveyard ability, and the whip denotes conditionally available haste. The tethers between the heads represent how even our closest relationships to those we foolishly believe we love drain our humanity and vitality. Oh and the barrels are full of stuff that makes you discard.


    Originally this gained all abilities instead of just activated abilities. I thought there was some reason we didn’t generally print that sort of effect, but could not remember what it was until development had a 100-card highlander Future Future League tournament for fun. In the second round Gary played a Borrower revealing Volrath’s Shapeshifter with Yixlid Jailor on top of his graveyard. This quickly led to two changes. First, skill borrower was changed to its current wording, and second, the following addendum to the comprehensive rules about continuous ability layers was made:

    418.5L Gary is a complete douche; do not under any circumstances agree to play against him.


    Originally this guy was a larger vanilla creature, but we though that was a better fit for the Naya member of the cycle. Some power and toughness weren’t the only casualty of his gaining lifelink though. He also lost the bit of his flavor text explaining how he came to be a humanoid rhinoceros monk surrounded by enchanted golden frisbees. Here’s the uncut version:

    H [ed: continued next week]



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  • Jumping Through ‘Hoops’




    (Due to the new MagicTheGathering.com being unnavigable, Wizards of the Coast has teamed up with Good Gamery to provide Magic fans with the latest research and development news and features straight from the source. The following was handwritten, mailed, and arrived at our desks this morning. – Paz)

    Multicolor-themed blocks have always been well received, from the recent Shards of Alara all the way back to Legends. So we’re proud to say we’ve taken the next big step in multicolor with Hoops of Alpaca.

    First some notes on changes to the pre-release structure. Instead of 6 days before the standard release date, pre-releases will occur on the second Tuesday after the standard release date. Events will be sealed deck format run in a modified Swiss style, followed by a top 8 single-elimination hopscotch showdown. Each player will need to register a deck allied with a single hoop, or two if you affix a 20-dollar bill to your registration sheet and surreptitiously wink while handing it to the tournament organizer.

    Now what you’ve been waiting for, a preview of each hoop:

    The Ghatoss Alliance, the RGWUB hoop, are a catlike culture of barbarians that hail from the Djorgia Savannah. They demonstrate red’s love of chaos and confusion by mixing all the colors together. You’ll see the theme of colored artifacts expanded with treats like our first preview:


    Mr. Whiskers’ Deathgolem

    RGWUB

    Artifact Creature Enchantment – Cat Golem Warrior

    8/8

    Instead of paying Mr. Whiskers’ Deathgolem’s cost you may pay WUBRG.


    The T’bbie Brotherhood, the GWUBR hoop, is a leonine race (not to be confused with the Leonine race or The Amazing Leonine Race) of gladiators that prowl the Latte Steppe. Green has always been about natural balance, and now in the T’bbie it finds itself perfectly balanced with every other color. Its preview card gives a new twist on the always-popular lord mechanic:


    T’bbie Liege

    GWUBR

    Creature – Cat Warrior

    6/6

    Green creatures you control get +1/+1. White creatures you control get -1/+1. Blue creatures you control get +0/+0. Black creatures you control get +1/-1. Red creatures you control get -1/-1.


    The Mowsur Legion, the WUBRG hoop, is a stealthy, graceful, curious group of professional fighters from a level, woodless area who always land on their feet. They champion white’s need for rule and order by uniting all colors in solidarity under their banner. The Mowsur preview card has strong implications in the hoop block but could also be put to any number of unexpected uses:


    Chromatic Ball of Prismatic Twine

    WUBRG

    Artifact

    WUBRG, T: Target permanent’s colors appear in the order of your choice until end of turn.


    The Qat Symposium, the UBRGW hoop, is an ancient species steeped in mystery. So thoroughly steeped that even the members of R&D were unable to learn anything about their cards in time for this spoiler. The closest we could get was their part of the new filter land cycle:


    [UNKNOWN CARDNAME]

    Land?

    T: Add 1 to your mana pool

    (U/B/R/G/W) (U/B/R/G/W) (U/B/R/G/W) (U/B/R/G/W), T: Add (please refer to the Hoops of Alpaca rules primer appendix b for a full list of what you may add to your mana pool) to your mana pool.


    The Pan-Tharr Cabal, the BRGWU hoop, is a race of feline warriors that rule the Mnolpf Veldt with an iron paw. They exemplify the fact that black will do anything, up to and including joining forces with all of their competitors, to win. Nowhere is this clearer than in its preview card:


    Snugglepuss the Conqueror

    BRGWU

    Creature – Cat Warrior

    5/5

    Do anything, 2: Win


    We hope you’ve enjoyed this preview. We think Hoops of Alpaca will present you with a lot of complex dilemmas when deciding which hoop to ally yourself with. But no matter which way you go you’re sure to have a fun experience. As one tester excitedly proclaimed, “With Hoops of Alpaca, every choice is 5!/5!”

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  • Chandra Nalaar for Planeswalker

    For the past 8 turns, the Goldmane administration has been content to sit in office, gaining life for the special interests, while threat after threat came into play.

    When he sent our troops into battle, Goldmane, who never served in the military, gave them only one +1/+1 counter. Every independent study showed that, for the safety of our troops, they needed at least three +1/+1 counters, and sure enough, many were double blocked and killed. They deserved better.

    Ajani Vengeant represents a third term for the failed policies of the Goldmane administration. Vengeant claims that only he can keep the threat against us tapped down, but in fact, thanks to Goldmane, we’re now facing more problems than he can handle.




    Chandra Nalaar has a proven record of taking on our opponents directly. When there’s a threat against us, she isn’t content to tap it down and wait for more problems to arrive before solving them. When Dread came into play, Nalaar dealt 6 damage to it, at great personal cost.

    Nalaar promises to deal 10 damage to our opponent and its minions. Vengeant says that it’s too costly–that we can’t afford it. Nalaar asks, can we afford an Ajani Vengeant administration?

    My name is Chandra Nalaar, and I approve this message.

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  • Mad Libs: Choosing a New Magic Set!

    The newest set in the Magic the Gathering Universe is called the

    of

    . It will debut in October 2008. This set will be the first in a series of three that makes up a new block. It will be aimed at

    as all Magic the Gathering sets generally are — we need the money. Inevitably, the theme of this new set will leave many players with the urge to voice their displeasure on


    . We have decided based on previous research that the most
    set theme is


    . Regardless, we hope to circle back to the

    theme in the near future, so don’t worry! Another exciting development in this new set is the introduction of

    rares that we hope will increase everyone’s

    in the game.

    Probably the most fun part of

    Magic set is picking the codename for that set and block. For the next set, we have decided that the codename will be

    . I bet you can’t guess why! Okay we’ll tell you: we love watching funny shows!!!

    As with any new Magic set comes the job of integrating it into Magic the Gathering online. We know that players will be excited to see and play with the newest cards. We assure them that server overload

    be a problem during that week. We ask them to be patient (but not to give up

    cards) and remember that it’s just a game. If you experience any problems, please don’t hesitate to call us (note that offer of help is merely a kind gesture of appeasement on our part, no help is actually available; for rules and limitations contact our lawyers).

  • Second Eventide Preview Booster Surfaces

    Greetings friends! Another Preview Booster has appeared on magicthegathering.com, and as usual I have the real scoop. I have once again been leaked a second preview booster, and wanted you to be the first to see its secrets.

    Take a look!

    (Discuss this item in the forum!)