Magic the Gathering News: Vol 12, French Suspension [Again]. Worlds Overview, Player of the Year Race and much more

Hello everyone and welcome to the 12th edition of the monthly wrap up of magic news this month's news covers a few big things, Premium Deck Series Graveborn is finally out and available for the general public, another french suspension, worlds information and top 8, as well as the player of the year race effectively ending at worlds 2011, some big changes to how organized play is now done and so much more, so let's go.

Premium Deck Series: Graveborn has arrived on store shelves this month and it's quite a package as i've spoiled in this article ---> Graveborn List and is available for around 40-50 dollars roughly depending on the local game store you go to, expect this to go quick however as it's a highly demanded product, onto some more important news though.

Another french player has been given a ban and his name is Lucas Florent, he got a lifetime ban for the following comment "I made a joke on the french forum, i said i was going to rape helene bergeot at worlds, after the announcent, i personally know helene and i sait right after it that i was gonna have a talk with her about the meaning of the announcments, and know i receive this." so this makes him the 3rd major french player banned this year for something that wizards didn't like, the first 2 were for the incident with the whole godbook of new phyrexia which was spoiled almost a month early, his lifetime ban basically negates him from ever attending any more Wizards Play Network events ever even little store events like prereleases, have a nice life Lucas, it's gonna be a boring one since your banned and all.


Worlds 2011 happened earlier this month and was in the nest egg of san francisco which was basically the last time we will see a worlds event in any place other then indiapolis since that is where worlds is being held next year effectively, we had a heap of a worlds this year with both the team and individual events happening but there could only be one really whom dominated this year, congratulations to Junya Iyanaga for winning the 2011 world championships, Team Japan for winning the team competition and of course Rookie of the Year going to Matthias Hunt


Organized Play in magic is perhaps the single biggest thing for magic today, with hundreds if not thousands of players going to gun at the next big Grand Prix or perhaps even attempting the pro tour, but as of this month wizards has done a few things i'm not particularly proud of, the first of the new changes was the ending of 16 long years of history by killing off the pro tour event that made worlds what it is but as of this month it's all dead guy ale basically and this means starting next year we can expect to see a Invitational Like event for worlds where the top 16 will battle it out at Gen-Con to become the best of the best, but the question is how do you get there to be fighting for the title of being the best magic player, let's take a look at the 5 ways you'll get to do so.


1) Win a Pro Tour - yes to basically get into this major event you gotta show off and be the best you can be, one of those spots is already taken thanks to Samuel Estrattie whom won the first Modern PT earlier this year, 2 more of those spots however have yet to be decided as of this point.


2) Be the World Champion - It wouldn't be fair to the defending champ if he/she didn't get to defend the title they worked for would it, no it would so be unfair to them and believe me wizards took considerations into this change for organized play.


3) Qualify via Your Geo Region - Your geo region is your continent basically, taking the planeswalker point system into account and determining via that who has the best PWP for the continent, this hurts smaller countries but doesn't really affect bigger countries, but magic countries like the United States will have very few particpants as of now in this big time event.


4) Win the Magic Online Title - Yes this spot is always decided somehow near the end of the year and whomever wins the event at Worlds usually ends up getting a shot to go to the next one, this year's defending MTGO champ will have his chance to fight for the world title next year, good on you wizards.

5) Professional Planeswalker Point Total - All that grinding you fine folks did earlier before this event basically is taken into account, the remaining slots which is who knows who many will be decided via the highest totals among all active players today, so this still gives those whom didn't win a Pro Tour a shot or didn't get in via Geo-Region a shot in the dark basically.

This change also affects how the National Championships are done, it basically means that nationals as we know it are no longer going to be feeding into worlds and those whom win their national title will get a substantial amount of Planeswalker Points plus the cash for winning the event as per usual, but the chance to go to worlds ended as of this year's big event, sorry all you folks whom were looking to go to nationals to win a shot to go to worlds this next year. During the process of this change it also means the end of the current Pro Players club system which pro players use to pay for their expenses and stuff at the events they attend, though it ends as of this current year, it means that all the events they were eligible for will still be able to be attended but 2013 is a whole new ball game with no idea what comes next in terms of this major change.

With the Player of the year this year it came down to worlds and how it all ended for the season, but i am pleased to say congratulations to the 2011 player of the year Owen Turtenwald of channel fireball for winning the title for the last year, good work dude.

In other news most recently a new promotion card has surfaced in the form of a card called Faithless Looting which is a new promotion card that is being featured in the 2nd edition of the Magic the Gathering comic starring a new face named Dack Fayden, here's the image for the card promo.

It's confirmed to be in the new set Dark Ascension which hits store shelves as of Feburary next year, this does beat a lot of the current red cards of choice, but since the promo versions are always rares it will have a different which we know this to be a common from the set thanks to this arcana Faithless Looting and it will have new art besides this of course, expect it to be a interesting set then with Flashback on a Careful Study 

Last but most certainly not least it's time to take a look at something i feel is important for all you Friday Night Magic Players, the last FNM card of the year, which is going to be Savage Lands yes the alara block tri land that was the Red/Black/Green tri land of choice and i will be sure to post the necessary information picture in the next edition of the emporium which will follow this, so stay tuned, but for now this is all i have for the month of November, thank you for reading and i will see you at the Year End wrap up for Magic for the year of 2011 in December, this is vergil signing off.

Premium Deck Series: Graveborn Update

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the emporium, hosted by me vergil as always, let's get down to business this edition and take a minute to discuss Graveborn, the latest of the premium deck series which is scheduled to arrive soon on store shelves on November 18th, 2011 and has a MSRP of 34.99 US dollars.

The first major update for this series deck is the fact we know what the front of the box is going to contain, i'll attach the picture below for you fine folks to observe.

It will contain Avatar of Woe, Buried Alive, Animate Dead [New Art], Crosis, the Purger [New Art] and of course Entomb which entomb has dropped 15 dollars since the announcement of it's inclusion into the deck, remember this will be all foil, so expect shenigans to ensue of course, the obvious 20 sided dice is included in with this and has a skull where the 20 is normally, pretty cool inclusion for that if i might add, anyways onto the next bit of news in regards to this premium deck.

Anyone care to tell me what art this is from, well it's from a old card which is getting new art for this set, anyone take a guess, no well it's Cabal Therapy's new art and it's getting included in this 60 card premium deck, if anyone remembers cabal therapy here's the original card form with original wording of course.

Yeah the judgment card with the flashback is back in this set and i feel it's a perfect inclusion in this set as a revamped card that is for sure, but wait there's one more bit of news in regards to this premium deck, it apparently will also contain a mythic rare from the Shards of Alara block, which one is unknown as of this point but people are speculating it's Sphinx of the Steel Wind or even Empyrial Archangel but we will have to wait and see of course as per usual, in the meantime that's all for now i am afraid, the next article i write about this premium deck will be about the deck list itself and believe me i know it will be good since we've got the standard reanimator package included on the front of the box in the form of Buried Alive, Entomb and Animate Dead but for now this is vergil signing off.

Modern Magic: What to Expect to see in this format.

Hello everyone and welcome back to another emporium update, today i figured it's time to start talking about Modern Magic and what we can expect to see cards wise, deck wise and the overall feel of the new format which replaces Extended at this next pro tour, Philadephia in the early days of september.

Now as we all know Extended has a wide array of cards to choose from, Modern however has a lot more to go for, because it includes blocks all the way dating back to 8th edition what does this mean though, expect to see some flavourful decks once again, Dredge may end up making a appearance, Zoo, Goblins, Boat Brew, no fairies though though we could see Merfolk in this format, we have a lot of decks to go over, as well as cards so let's begin with the basics, the cards to expect in this format.

Punishing Fire/Grove of the Burnwillows - This two card combination is expected to be run in like 2 or 3 different decks in this format, it was a good combo in Extended and should quite handily see play in Modern magic due to the powerful potential of both Zoo and Boat Brew

Tarmogoyf - This is a powerful card all on it's own, it may start a 0/1 but it's potential is limitless, Zoo, Boat Brew and a few others expect to run this card, even though it's over a hundred bucks right now, it's a necessity for this format.

Planeswalkers - This includes such cards like Tezzert, Agent of Bolas/Elspeth Tirel/Gideon Jura and even Ajani Vengenant to be run in this format though some sleeper hit may or may not include Garruk Wildspeaker/Chandra, the Firebrand and Koth of the Hammer personally though i wouldn't hold it against the deck builders to do such a thing.

Protean Hulk - Yes this big dude is a potential threat in Modern with a ton of combo based decks built for this format, because of the powerful potential even without Hypergenesis in this format it's a very potential threat, though could be easily beat out by Jund

Bloodbraid Elf/Bit Blast - With Jund legal again we can expect to see this menace once more, it's powerful combination of threats to drop turn 3 into turn 4 was destructive, this menace may be one of the many aggro based builds, but it can sure hold it's own against just about anything.

Since this format never rotates, it provides new ideas with new sets that come out as long as they are printed in the modern card frame with black borders, we could see Zombies, some Blue/Black Control hell even Dragonstorm again the skies the limit with this format since it has a ton of decks to base itself off of, i hope you enjoyed my little analysis of this format in it's infancy and tommorow i hope to talk about one of those decks, Boat Brew, this is vergil signing off.

Innistrad Card Arts: What we know so far

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another innistrad article, courtesy of the emporium, today we take a look at Innistrad card arts, speculated abilites of said cards and how they may work in current standard enviroments, so let's begin with a card known as Skirsdag Cultist which is a red creature, here's the art

Ok, so what we know of this card is the following it's a 2/2 that costs 2 anything and 2 red mana to summon, has the ability tap to sacrifice a creature, Skirsdag Cultist deals 2 damage to target creature or player, it's basically an upgraded Prodigal Pyromancer that costs 2 times as much to summon, deals twice the amount of damage it does and is basically a Shock on legs so it would seem, this may seem like a good idea to give us another one of these creatures, mind you at a uncommon level, but it's not your just making it worse for a lot of other players, when Innistrad arrives on store shelves on September 30th, i'll be sure to go to the release and see how this card gets played along with everything else i'll discuss today, onto a more impressive card, which is blue called Murder of Crows 

That's a blue dude alright, it flies, isn't a vampire and does card draw when something dies, sweet, here's what is known about this murder of crows, it's a 4/4 costs 5 mana 3 and 2 blue, flies obviously at a uncommon level, it also has the ability whenever another creature dies, you may draw a card, if you do discard a card, seriously do we really need a flying Riddlesmith right now, those whom aren't aware riddlesmith does the same ability for artifacts though when they are played, is a 2/1 costs 1 and a blue, for those who don't keep up with spoilers, IE Scars, MBS, NPH etc. This is really underestimated, due to the fact it flies, is a big body too so it can easily block chumpers all day long, seriously this is good for a blue dude, nice to see Innistrad representing blue to the fullest, my next art is from a card called Bloodgift Demon let's take a look shall we.

That is one impressive piece of art for a demon, amazing job on the art for thise one wizards, now as a 4/4 that flies obviously and costs 3 regular mana and 2 black mana to summon, has the ability, at the beginning of your upkeep, target player draws 1 card and loses 1 life and is a rare to boot, so this might be a 2 dollar rare, i don't know but i will say this much, this being the first card to fly and have that ability is kinda interesting to be honest here, if he is a 2 dollar rare i'll probably expect to see him in the Intro Packs for this set, who knows, anyways let's take a look see at a card known as Spectral Rider which is a knight believe it or not.

Dude that's a cool horse, ok so let's go over the basics for this one, it costs 2 white mana to summon yes a mere 2 white mana, is a 2/2 that has Intimidate wait say what we haven't seen that keyword for a long bloody time, last time we saw something with that keyword was a while back if i am not mistaken, someone be sure to note which set had it last in the comments below because i cannot remember, but to see that ability again along with Flashback in the same set, wow seriously this is good, i like it a lot really i do, this is one of the many reasons i am falling in love with Innistrad once again due to the horror themed/returning abilites category man it's great to be a magic player these days, last card of the day, it's known as Wreath of Geists surprisingly this one is a green card, let's take a look at this final piece of art.

Seriously a fricking pirate in the art to this one, man this is good, ok so it costs 1 green mana to play, is a enchantment - aura, has the ability Enchanted creature gets +X/+X where X is the number of creature cards in your graveyard, it's a uncommon, i get it it's a graveyard based enchantment that works to your advantage, seriously wow, i didn't know that was possible, this is good as a uncommon, i'm kinda anticpating the next set of spoilers, provided we don't get what happened with New Phyrexia again that was a total bust of a spoiler season if i do say so myself, anyways that is it for today, we will have to wait and see what shows up tommorow news wise and i'll probably discuss it as usual, for the Emporium this is vergil signing off.

Magic 2012 Speculation and Discussion

As per usual about 3 or 4 months before a new set is released it's time to discuss the potential of Magic 2012 and the recent rumours surrounding it, first off we have the fact that one of the two remaining Alpha cards, Giant Growth and Giant Spider will not be reprinted for this year's core set, in fact if i had to guess i'd say Giant Growth was going to get reprinted since it's a combat trick and everyone loves a combat trick in almost any format but i digress. Second is the rumour that a certain 1 drop red spell will not get reprinted according to MTGsalvation this card is of course Lightning Bolt the infamous 1 drop red spell that does 3 points of damage and now officially has become a 2 dollar card because it is so good in a format like this, due to the nature and severity of the rumour i cannot show it to you since there are quite a few arguements going on in that topic, they do that all the time over there but just check out the rumour mill for more information.

Let's take a look at last year's major red cards that managed to sneak their way out of the format known as Standard shall we, beginning with a top 5 list of what i believe was good in M11 for the color red.

5. Fling - I feel this card was a lot of fun to play, attack with a 6 power dude get 6 damage in, sac the dude to this and with fire servant was on the field it deals 12 damage instead, great combo card that literally makes good things happen.

4. Goblin Chieftain - What is there to say about a goblin lord, that provides both a pump and gives other goblins haste, this was the focus of a deck i feel is under played and under valued, though it's a small precentage it's still a decent card for most respects.

3. Inferno Titan - When the titan cycle arrived i thought to myself oh great here we go again, this one was no different along side it's Black/Blue and Green Cousins it proved to be a standard force as well as the white one, but this made a difference because it deals damage even when it enters the battlefield for 6 mana, as well as when it attacks, monstrous anyone?

2. Pyroclasm - This two drop made white weenie and Fae cry so badly turn 2 bitterblossom no problem, sit on a pyroclasm boom instant fae killer, turn 2 geopede no problem boom instant geopede killer it killed a lot of creatures and gave advantages to all whom used it, i wouldn't be surprised to see this for the next core set.

1. Lightning Bolt - As expected this card saw serious play for the 2 years it was in standard, i expect it to be in a lot of Boros builds along with some Red Deck Wins builds but overall it is a great turn 1 burn spell that literally is a finishing blow to most opponents, most end up scooping when they get hit with 3 or 4 copies of this bad boy spell.

Further speculation may end up revealing that we may see some new cycle of cards who's to say, but we do know 2 things 1) There will probably be 2 new walkers on the block taking Ajani and Lillana's Spot in the color block, 2) This set should be a doozy and provide some sort of fun for us all, till next time this is is vergil signing off.

Duel Decks: Ajani vs Nicol Bolas Speculation

Well it's that time again and this week it would seem wizards has finally let the cat out of the bag with the latest duel deck, Ajani Goldmane vs Nicol Bolas, 2 60 card decks with both walkers in foil art, so we can expect to see a mono white build vs Blue/Black/Red since that's the colors represented in this particular duel deck, let's look at the picture below shall we to examine just what the hell is going on here.

As you can clearly see the war bewteen these two walkers has been taken to a new level, on the plane of alara, so we can expect one hell of a battle can't we, but what's this there is more then meets the eye, the price and release date have also been announced here but for those lazy i'll post it below Duel Deck Announcement

MSRP: $19.99
Release Date: September 2nd, 2011
Ships in: English, French, Spanish, Italian and German

Now this particular duel deck may end up having some grixis element to it but i'm sure when the decklists are revealed we will know full well what the hell is going on here, sorry for a short article again however this piece of news was noteworthy of being the 101st article for here, so till next time this is vergil signing off.

Duel Deck Speculation: Knights vs Dragons

Now i normally do not do this sort of thing however i am a big dragon fan and i enjoy seeing a duel deck of this nature, however with it being about 3 months away from release no one knows what the heck is going on with this, that is why i feel it necessary to discuss this one since of course we don't have the decklists for this duel deck and the fact of the matter is each card in this deck either has something to do with knights so let's go over what we know so far.

This duel deck is scheduled for release on april fools day and has a price of 19,99 american, it is going to contain 2 60 card decks, one for knights and one for dragons as obvious as that is, according to the image below there may be a certain 8 converted mana cost dragon in the set, take a look at this image.

Now if that isn't a hellkite i don't know what is, the next few images also covered the symbol for this duel deck and the logo of the deck.

Both of these images are interesting and i'd like to examine the hellkite image a little more, shall we, let us first start with the obvious, firstly the amount of spikes on a dragon usually end up determining what breed it is and by the looks of it, it's truly a hellkite and even has the spiky tail to boot, the duel deck logo for this is also a representation of what appears to be knights clashing with dragons in the old fable tales. However no one truly knows what the deck will contain, speculation though the mythic for the knights could possibly be the recently spoiled white mythic known as Hero of Bladehold, found here ----> Hero of Bladehold speculation may end up changing this rumour, all that is known so far is the information provided for this duel deck, though i'd like to run through a few possibilites for the knights decklist and of course the dragons decklist starting with the knights

For the knights i expect there to be the following cards, Knight Exemplar, since it provides a boost to knights and has a awesome ability all around and it is pretty easy to get your hands on these days, Paladin En-Vec is another one of these knights that could possibly be seen since we have not seen him in any form of play since the good old tenth edition days when he was super popular, White Knight is also a decent choice for this duel deck since it's protection from black is a key element in keeping it alive and dragons are known for going into black and finally the most obvious choice off the top of my head Honor of the Pure since it provides a boost to all white creatures on the field and knights are known to be honorable, also let's not forget Knight of the Skyward Eye and Knight of Meadowgrain those two are solid knight cards for this set and should also be included, now let's move onto the obvious dragon side.

For the dragons side of things let's hope there ends up being a Flameblast Dragon thrown in there since dragons love to make things burn and flameblast is one hell of a card in the late and early game, you also have dragon whelp since it's a deadly little beast, but another one i hope that makes it is, Karthus, Tyrant of Jund it would be a bad ass card for this one and would make for one fine mythic, though they might demote Hellkite down to a regular old rare if that were to happen, some obvious spells for the dragons would be Crucible of Worlds and of course Firebreathing as well as the occasional lightning bolt, but we will see the lists when the dang thing is released this april fools day, for now that's all the speculation i can muster see you next article.