Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 2, Week 2

Hello everyone and welcome back, Day 2 of week 2 in the Dark Ascension spoiler season of course, i'm vergil and let's check out the one card i missed yesterday which is Vault of the Archangel

Ok, first rare land, nice, adds 1 to your mana pool, 2, white and a black grant all your creatures deathtouch and lifelink until end of turn, holy crap that's just nuts honestly, Black/White tokens is now legit folks, quite legit.

Grafdigger's Cage is kinda similar to Witchbane Orb except it prevents Undying from triggering at all, interesting and it stops Birthing Pod, perfect sideboard card don't you agree.

Warden of the Wall is a neat little limited card that works quite handily on your opponent's turn, turning intoa  2/3 flyer that can block while generating mana, interesting.

Deadly Allure grants a neat little combat trick when needed, deathtouch and forcing a block, while having flashback, as a uncommon it's defintely limited material.

Predator Ooze is my favorite card of the day, invincible, gets +1/+1 counters when it attacks and a creature dealt damage by it dies, costs a mere 3 green for a 1/1 rare, sick.

Feed the Pack is a nice little token generator when you sacrifice creatures to it, espically 13 toughness creatures like Ludevic's Abomination and feels much like Army of the Damned but does a lot more of course.

Last but most certainly not least is Hellrider a 3/3 haste that whenever a creature you control attacks, this deals 1 damage to defending player, this is so red's style of choice of course and it's a rare so don't expect this to be to going around in Drafts all the time folks, so anyways that is it for today's previews, stay tuned tommorow for Day 3 of week 2, this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 1, Week 2

Hello all and welcome to DKA spoilers for the 2nd week, let's get straight into the action with yesterday's only missed card first, courtesy of the magic show from evan erwin.

Wow 5/4 vigilance, trampler with undying, pod decks are gonna love you, for sure, Mythic rare and it costs 2, green, green, green that's the only thing that worries me is the mana cost for this particular mythic, other then that i think this is pretty good for a mythic rare.

So someone ordered a new Mikaeus, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed at that, 5/5 intimidate, 3, black, black and black, whenever a human deals damage to you destroy it, say what, whoa and other non humans get +1/+1 and have undying, so this enables undying for your creatures, sweet, oh did i mention it's a mythic rare as well, yeah we kinda have 8 mythics now.

Wait a minute, haven't we seen this guy before, on the one of the intro packs that's right, so we know his stats now and all that, 4/2 for a undying creature, whenever Flayer of the Hatebound or another creature enters the battlefield from your graveyard, that creature deals damage equal to it's power to target creature or player, oh my goodness this is a johnny card for sure, i love this thing it's second ability is just bonkers good, which is why i like it, good job wizards. Anyways that's about it for today, as per usual tommorow if i miss anything well it gets covered first, until next time fine folks, this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 5, Week 1

Howdy folks and welcome to this friday edition of the emporium as usual, it's DKA spoiler season let's get down to business now.

First on the block is a new DFC named Afflicted Deserter/Werewolf Ransacker which has a art that looks familar, i guess i was wrong, sorry.

Beguiler of Wills is basically a mythic mind control on a body, which is kind of fragile personally

Wolfbitten Captive/Krallenhorde Killer is ridiculously good, as well as being easy to cast 1 green mana at that.

Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells is the DFC mythic of the set it looks like or it could be 1 of 2 for the set, good mythic at that too.

Intro pack rare #2 in Fiend of the Shadows which turns out to be damn good, i'd write more if i had more time but this is all the time i have for today, week 2 begins on monday, this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 4, Week 1

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the DKA spoilers for thursday of week 1, let's see what we missed yesterday first.

So we missed only this yesterday, a enchantment that costs 3 mana, is a rare, allows the player controlling this to basically exile dead creatures and turn them into tokens, exiling the token at the next end step, interesting but irrevlant, let's move onto today's previews.

How about a legendary creature to start with in the form of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben whom costs only 2 mana, is a rare, has first strike, is a 2/1 and noncreature spells costs 1 more to cast, sweet control card yo, alright let's see what else we got today.

New DFC anyone, a green called Lambholt Elder/Silverpelt Werewolf 1/2 and 4/5 respectively, the elder has the simple transform clause while the wolf when it deals combat damage draw a card and the standard werewolf transform.

Introducing Havengul Lich, does he look familar yeah, i was dead wrong ok i'm sorry 4/4 for a 3 mana, blue and a black mythic rare that states pay 1 mana to cast target creature from a graveyard, when you cast it, Havengul Lich gains all activated abilites of that card until end of turn, sweet much this is sick tech seriously anyways that's it for me for today, short but sweet edition this is vergil signing off.

Rogue Deckbuilers 101: Burning Vengeance

Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, in today's edition it's time to take a look at a card which i feel might make rogue deckbuilders jealous, in the form of Burning Vengeance which is a Innistrad enchantment similar to the format i use for the Card Examinations on Final smash let's take a look at the Vengeance.

So how are we going to use this particular enchantment which costs 2 and a red mana, well there are quite few cards out there with Flashback these days and if we go Blue/Red we might have a shot since there are alot of mana fixers out there to help us along with this deck, let's first build the list and i will explain my choices

Creatures wise we will need some form of protection, Snapcaster Mage and Delver of Secrets seem to be our best options for this deck, along with the obvious but ever helpful Chandra's Phoenix in this list to make up the main creature base of the deck, so here's the creature base i had in mind for this particular list.

Creatures
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Chandra's Phoenix
4x Delver of Secrets

Since we need lots of spells in the deck let's breakdown what Flashback spells we are able to use in this deck first.

Instants
- Ancient Grudge
- Cackling Counterpart
- Desperate Ravings
- Dream Twist
- Forbidden Alchemy
- Geistflame
- Memory's Journey
- Think Twice

Sorceries
- Devil's Play
- Grasp of Phantoms
- Nightbird's Clutches
- Past in Flames
- Rolling Temblor
- Silent Departure

So that's the Innistrad sorceries and Instants for this potential deck, that we can use for Flashback, but there are at least 3 Dark Ascension cards we can use for the deck potentially, Faithless Looting, Secrets of the Dead and Altar of the Lost which all help towards flashback in some way shape or form, but we can also use non flashback style spells for the deck, since we are in Blue/Red for the deck let's take a look at the top 5 of each color used lately

Blue
- Mana Leak
- Ponder
- Dissipate
- Negate
- Flashfreeze

Red
- Incinerate
- Gut Shot
- Brimstone Volley
- Galvanic Blast
- Desperate Ravings

So out of all the listed cards i posted above what would work in this list, Blue/Red tempo control might work with Burning Vengeance as a finisher card for all our good flashback material spells, here's my list for the spells for the deck besides the obvious 4 copies of Burning Vengeance

Spells
3 Dissipate
4 Burning Vengeance
4 Faithless Looting
3 Gut Shot
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Galvanic Blast
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Mana Leak
2 Vapor Snag

With the sideboarding having the following for the deck itself

Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Mana Leak
2 Flashfreeze
3 Shatter
1 Dissipate
1 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Vapor Snag
1 Devil's Play
2 Galvanic Blast

That's a pretty diverse sideboard for the deck i feel, since the meta is all about Tempered Steel/Green/White humans these days, so test with this sideboard at your own lesiure and tell me in the comments of this article what your sideboard is for the deck, i want everyone to at least adapt the original sideboard.

Lands for the deck are pretty basic

Lands
4 Sulfur Falls
9 Mountain
10 Island

Here's the final list for the deck when you go to build it of course

U/R Burning Vengeance


Creatures
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Chandra's Phoenix
4x Delver of Secrets


Spells
3 Dissipate
4 Burning Vengeance
4 Faithless Looting
3 Gut Shot
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Galvanic Blast
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Mana Leak
2 Vapor Snag


Lands
4 Sulfur Falls
9 Mountain
10 Island


Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Mana Leak
2 Flashfreeze
3 Shatter
1 Dissipate
1 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Vapor Snag
1 Devil's Play
2 Galvanic Blast

Let me explain the sideboard a bit for you folks, the 4th chandra's phoenix is in here to basically go for the more heavy red decks in Red Deck Wins, espically as a blocker against a 4/4 koth'ed mountain in this format, we have a bunch of counter spells for situational purposes including the 4th Dissipate and Mana Leak and all the basic spells to go with Burning Vengeance, for anyone whom tries to use this deck keep in mind lots of testing is needed so use Cockatrice or Magic Workstation to test, other then i wish you rogue builders a lot of luck, till next time this is vergil signing off

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 3, Week 1

Hello everyone and welcome back to yet another edition of the emporium, we are in the midst of the middle of week 1 of Dark Ascension spoiler season, but first let's take a look back at the missed cards that were previewed yesterday, with the first mythic of the set, Drogskol Reaver

Now just take it easy, this is so a timmy card if you ask me, a 3/5 flying, double striker with lifelink and whenever you gain life, draw a card, but the mana cost ugh, 5, white and a blue for this gold bordered card, i'd much prefer EDH thank you very much for this card, anyways let's see what else was spoiled yesterday shall we.

How bout a Jar of Eyeballs for lunch eh, nah i kid this one is a doozy, whenever a creature dies on your side of the field put 2 eyeball counters on it. Pay 3 and tap it to remove all eyeball counters from it, look at the top X cards of your library where X is the number of counters removed this way, put one of em into your hand and the rest on the bottom of the library in any order, gotta say that sucks honestly, also why are all the artifacts 3 mana cost, i wonder.

Seriously a 10/10 zombie treefolk named Ghoultree, yes much, it's a rare as expected and it has the ability ghoultree costs 1 less to cast for each creature in your graveyard, sweet very sweet in my EDH deck replacing probably Kozilek in my deck yes much, other then EDH this is really lack luster as expected, sorry wizards. Now let's move onto the actual previews for today.

Yes a brand new Sorin, but he's Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Mythic rare, has 3 abilites +1 put a 1/1 black vampire creature token onto the battlefield with lifelink. -2 you get a emblem with Creatures you control get +1/+0, -6 his ultimate destroy up to three target creatures and/or other planeswallkers, return each card put into a graveyard this way to the battlefield under your control, he also has 3 loyalty, god this is good.

Third gold card this article, introducing Falkenrath Aristocrat a 4/1 flying haste, Mythic rare, sacrifice a creature: Falkenrath aristocrat is indestrucible this turn, if the sacrificed creature was a human put a +1/+1 counter on it, wow, this is sick folks, this is sick for sure.

Third mythic rare spoiled today in the form of  Moonveil Dragon which has flying, is a 5/5 and gives each creature you control +1/+0 until end of turn, but the cost to summon his butt is 3, red, red, red whoa triple red ugh that's a turn off but at least it's only 6 mana eh.

Introducing Scorned Villager/Moonscarred Werewolf another DFC for the set, a common that costs 1 and a green and taps to add 1 green to your mana pool, if no spells were played transform it, it changes into Moonscarred werewolf which has vigilance, taps to add 2 green to your mana pool and is a 2/2, interesting.

Another enchantment in the form of Secret of the Dead whenever you cast a spell from the your graveyard, draw a card, so it's a card draw engine for flashback, interesting, costs 2 and a blue to play as a uncommon so this might have usefulness i think, anyways that's it for today, stay tuned tommorow for Day 4 this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 2, Week 1

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, in today's edition we will take a look at the 2 cards that were spoiled today via wizards of the coast, so without further ado let's begin.

Ok so there seems to be a pattern here with these Increasing cards, first the blue one, now this, but let's see for 3, white, white you get 5 1/1's and if it was cast from a graveyard you get 10 of those tokens instead and it has a flashback cost of whoa, 7, white, white and it's a rare, holy crap wizards way to impress the EDH crowd here, but this could also be used as a finisher for Green/White tokens this days, possibly as a 1 or 2 of in the deck, since the mana cost is a bit higher then that of a Hero of Bladehold let's move onto the second card today.

Oh my goodness, Altar of the Lost is such a unique card, it's going to for sure power a Burning Vengeance deck for sure, since flashback is a thing again and wow this thing makes it worth it, Snapcaster Mage, plus this balls good anyways that's it for today's previews, yes a very short edition compared to yesterday i guess wizards wanted to give us a break from the madness anyways this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Promotion Cards

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, in this edition it's Dark Ascension promos time.

We already know about Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed being our prerelease promos, as well as this next card.

Mondronen Shaman/Tovolar's Magehunter being the release cards, but what about Game Day, let's take a look

Game Day for this set features Strangleroot Geist in full art form with new art as always as the particpation card for game day, with this next card as the top 8 card for the set.

Full art Zombie Apocalypse anyone, yes this is the top 8 card for the set for game days all round the world as per usual, onto our buy a box promo

Alternate art Gravecrawler anyone, ah yes this is the Buy-a-Box promo card for Dark Ascension and is perhaps one of  the better promo cards in this writer's humble opinion, anyways that's it for this short but sweet edition, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 1, Week 1

Hello everyone and it's spoiler season, so let's get cracking onto it.

Let's start with the new Double Faced Cards, so this is Chalice of Life and Chalice of Death which are new non creature DFC's of course, Chalice of Life gives 1 life and it's transform clause is if you have more then 10 life more then your starting life total, transform it, so you have to have 30 life to transform it, it changes into Chalice of Death which states Target player loses 5 life, not bad.

Next DFC is all about changing into a aura, introducing Soul Seizer and Ghastly Haunting, which are the second DFC of this set, Soul seizer is a creature that's 1/3, flys and whenever it deals combat damage to a player transform it, if you do attach it to target creature that player controls, costs 5 mana and is a uncommon. Ghastly haunting however is a aura that enchants target creature, you control that creature, so think of Mind Control in DFC form.

This here is the prerelease card for Dark Ascension, it's called Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed and it is the 3rd DFC of this set, Ravenous Demon is a 5 cmc rare that you can sacrifice a human to transform it into Archdemon of Greed, is a 4/4 which isn't bad. Archdemon however is a 9/9 with flying, trample and at the beginning of your upkeep tap Archdemon of Green and it deals 9 damage to you, whoa serious reprecussions.

Last but certainly not least is the Release card for Dark Ascension, introducing Mondronen Shaman and Tovolar's Magehunter which are the final DFC revealed for today, it's a rare, the shaman is a 3/2 that has the basic transform if no spells were played clause, while the magehunter has whenever a opponent casts a spell, it deals 2 damage to that player, if two or more spells were cast last turn, transform it, it's a 5/5 not bad.

Introducing Zombie Apocalypse, it's the newest rare from wizards, costs 3, Black, Black, Black and it states Return all zombie creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped, then destroy all humans. wow seriously wow much.

Here we have another flashback card, Increasing Confusion, it's a X and Blue mana rare, sorcery that puts the top cards where X is the number, if it was cast from a graveyard, it puts twice that many cards in, has a flashback cost of X and Blue as well

Ray of Relevation basically is the new enchantment removal for Humans, it costs 1 and a white, has a flashback cost of Green mana and it states destroy target enchantment simple

Gravecrawler is a new zombie, 2/1 for 1 black, you can cast it from a graveyard as long as you control a zombie but it can't block it's pretty good.

Introducing the new ability Fateful Hour, which has a specific clause to it, it kicks in at 5 life or less and do the clause it, this is the first one of two with this, Gather the Townsfolk which is a sorcery that puts 2 1/1 white humans onto the battlefield, but fateful hour can put 5, is a common and is very very persistent.

Thraben Doomsayer is a Human cleric and a rare that generates a 1/1 white human token everytime you tap, it has Fateful Hour, as long as you have 5 life or less, other creatures you control get +2/+2 and is a 2/2 that costs 3 mana.

Of course Morbid's back why wouldn't it be, this new morbid starts with Hunger of the Howlpack, you put a +1/+1 counter on target creature but morbid puts 3 of those if a creature died, it costs 1 Green mana as well as a common and a instant.

Curses are back too with Curse of Thirst which deals damage during upkeep by the number of curses attached to that player, costs a hefty 4 and a Black though as a uncommon.

Introducing the second of the 2 new mechanics Undying which gives the creature when it dies a +1/+1 counter and brings it back, so this is Nearheath Stalker and it has Undying, it's a 4/1 common and when it dies it will become a 5/2 got it, let's look at another example.

This is Strangeroot Geist and it too has the new term Undying, it has haste is a 2/1 that costs 2 green mana, is a uncommon and when it dies it will become a 3/2 ok, anyways that's it for DKA previews for today, we will see you next time, which is tommorow for DKA previews this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Intro Packs

Hello everyone and welcome to this special sunday edition of the emporium, spoiler season starts tommorow for those curious souls of course, but today, thanks to the folks at Gathering Magic, we have learned of the 5 intro packs for Dark Ascension, so let's take a look see at them.

The first one is my second favorite color combination, Black and White, this rare is known as Fiend of the Shadows, costs 3, Black and Black, is a vampire wizard and that is all we know of it, well fiends often fly so expect to see flying on this one at least, other abilites are yet unkown.

Blue and Black's rare intro pack card of choice this time is Havengul Runebinder, it costs 2, Blue and Blue, is a human wizard, while this is my favorite color combination of all time, it really leaves speculation for these wide open till we learn what these do.

Blue and Green's Intro pack of choice features a treefolk, but it's a zombie treefolk, named Ghoultree costing 7 and a green mana, is a rare of course and would probably have some seriously high toughness since it's a tree and a zombie, leaving ideas of it's abilites of course always open to the imagination.

Ah White and Red, how do you do once more, this particuar intro pack rare is known as Requiem Angel costing what appears to be 5 and a white mana, unknown if there is more cost to her, we will have to wait and see, she's a angel and with angels they would fly of course giving the static ability of Flying to her, though that's all we know of her so far.

Meet Red and Green's intro pack rare, Flayer of the Hatebound, costing a lavish 5 and a red mana, is a devil of course and perhaps is the best intro pack color choice as always, though we will have to wait and see what this guy does since devils can be crafty little buggers, anyways that's it for this sunday edition of the emporium, spoilers start Monday, so until then this is vergil signing off.