End of the Year Finale: Overview of the year

So this is the first time i've done this and it won't be the last i admit that, this year we've seen all sorts of cool stuff in the form of new magic sets, new video games which blew away all my expectations and even some neat dvds that have recently made a appearance on store shelves including a certain little film from the middle of august which i'll talk about later on in this article, also my apologies for not writing as much as i would like to, personal crap got in my way and plus i've been working hard on the spoiler season for mirrodin besieged, so let us begin this entry with a tad bit of style hmm?.

First on the discussion block was the reformation of this blog, which i decided was necessary, the first thing though i felt i should do is make a bit of a personal experience review and that with recent stuff i've encountered and/or had some experience with in the past, this being said, i focused on one the things i enjoy doing a lot, which was magic the gathering, at the time which was around the beginning of may, there was this set known as Rise of the Eldrazi and i happened to get my hands on a box of this neat stuff when it came out, you can find the review for this set here ---> ROE Review in which i detail the new mechanics and abilites of the set as a whole, while focusing on the cards that are going to be seen with this set, after that i felt things took off swimmingly for me in terms of how i did things for here so i started to focus more on giving the incentive and advice of a experienced magic player to the new people whom were entering the game and didn't know how to play at all, beginning the idea with a M11 Spoiler fest and then moving along nicely into the usual FNM starter guide/beginner's guide to drafting. This was one of the ways i felt i was assisting people whom were unaware of how the game works and i believe it worked nicely into getting some fresh faces into the game and even helping them understanding the basic mechanics of it.

Next was the fact i've recently started to collect dvd's and believe it or not i found some real gems during the year, espically at a local DVD shop i happen to go to called HMV, i managed to find the complete series of a old cartoon i used to watch called Teknoman or Tekkaman Blade in english for just under 24 bucks while christmas shopping, also i've acquired as gifts the entire 8 seasons of red vs blue meaning a marathon of the awesome series no one can get enough of. However i expect next year my collection to grow a lot bigger and better with some awesome box sets and even some decent overall movies due out in the next 6-8 months as well, it's been a good year for movies i'll give it that much.

Video game wise it's also been a rather nice one with a lot of Nintendo DS purchases and even some wii game purchases most notably Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for the Nintendo Wii it's a good game but i've not got a chance to play it all that often at all. I started off the year with a measly 2 DS games and now my collection has tripled to 6 and my PS2 library has grown from a mere 6 to about 24 games, mostly all the old titles i used to have with the PS2 i sold a couple of years back but that's another story for another day, though i am hard at work with the Mirrodin Besieged Spoilers at this point it's gonna be a long year for me next year since i've got lots more stuff to do and so little time to do it in personally, I think though that about wraps up this edition of the year in review, i'll detail what i am going to do in the next post, since it is the end of the year in about 4 days as of this post.

Duel Deck Review: Chandra Nalaar vs Jace Beleren

So since the english version of this was released a year ago, the japanese version is the most recent form of this deck and it has pretty much the same contents, only  stylized in the japanese manga format and it has japanese text cards instead of the regular english cards, let's take a look at the decklists shall we?

1 Aethersnipe
1 Air Elemental
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Brine Elemental
1 Errant Ephemeron
2 Fathom Seer
1 Fledgling Mawcor
1 Guile
2 Man-o
1 Martyr of Frost
2 Mulldrifter
1 Ophidian
1 Quicksilver Dragon
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
2 Spire Golem
1 Voidmage Apprentice
2 Wall of Deceit
1 Waterspout Djinn
1 Willbender
1 Ancestral Vision
2 Condescend
2 Counterspell
1 Daze
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gush
1 Jace Beleren
1 Mind Stone
2 Repulse
23 Island
1 Terrain Generator

This first list is jace's list which has nothing but blue cards in it, you'll find some cards useful for precon decks as precon decks go and the next list i will present is chandra's list.

1 Chartooth Cougar
1 Fireslinger
2 Flamekin Brawler
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Flamewave Invoker
2 Furnace Whelp
1 Hostility
1 Ingot Chewer
2 Inner-Flame Acolyte
2 Oxidda Golem
1 Pyre Charger
1 Rakdos Pit Dragon
2 Slith Firewalker
2 Soulbright Flamekin
1 Chandra Nalaar
1 Cone of Flame
1 Demonfire
2 Fireball
2 Fireblast
2 Firebolt
1 Flame Javelin
2 Incinerate
1 Magma Jet
2 Seal of Fire
1 Keldon Megaliths
24 Mountain

This is chandra's list and believe it or not, this is somewhat of a good one, though this precon duel deck will be running in limited supply personally, now let's talk about the deck itself. This duel deck was released about a year ago in grand fashion and was scooped up just as quickly note that these were in limited quanities so technically once they were gone you had to look them up on sites like Ebay and all that crap, but i digress, the actual deck is pretty dang decent there are some good 1's and 2's in here including Flame Javelin and Magma Jet which are perhaps two better burn spells in the game. There are some good and possibly some ultra broken cards on both sites of course as always, Rakdos Pit Dragon is a fine rare and all but nothing could compare to the awesomeness of the Seal of Fire, 1 drop and it pings for 2 when sac'ed bring it on folks. Jace's side of the board also has many tricks up it's sleeve personally i like how they brought this back after popular demand and such, though things could have turned out a little different and the decklists themselves could have been improved slightly for the japanese version, but however i believe it to be fine enough to warrant a reproduce in terms of distribution.


Jace's side of the board including cards we should be familar with in all respects as well, including the ever present Man-O-War and Aethersnipe, Mulldrifter as well as always is a welcome addition back to a duel deck and even counter magic which is my favorite kind in the form of Counterspell and even Daze, not to say this deck is kinda outmatched but the obvious thing is this has always been one for the reprint, the duel deck and not specific cards mind you, though i expect the japanese version of this deck to go just as quickly for the most part and start to sell online for it's english counterpart's price of about 80 or so dollars considering the amount of good cards for Legacy, EDH and even some Extended builds, overall another fine choice from wizards of the coast to make this a obvious reprint and i look forward to see a japanese elspeth vs tezzert duel deck soon as well thanks to this little incarnation brought back from the dead, i give this duel deck a official 4 seals of fire out of 5 or for those whom read this a 8 out of 10

Magic the Gathering News: Vol 1, Saito, Worlds and more

So i'm thinking about this as i'm sitting here wondering if can do a news based thing for magic the gathering and the related changes wizards has made over the past couple of months, the booster pack order change, the lack of multiplayer rewards and of course the suspension of Tomoharu Saito, including the worlds information for those whom read this, so let's go.

Firstly i wanna talk about the changes for the booster draft starting with Mirrodin Besieged and the fact wizards has decided to make you start to open the new set first instead of scars of mirrodin i am seriously considering stopping drafting period since this change is stupid and not needed in all honesty. However here are my thoughts on this from a drafter's point of view and not a magic pro's or anything else. This is a good change as it focuses on strategy more then anything really, sometimes of course you end up having a bad strategy of course, with drafting your first or second pick, screwing up your draft and going 0-4 or 1-3 depending of course how bad it is, i've had that happen to me more then enough times already in my drafting career. The bad thing though is mirrodin besieged won't have anything different to expect but this will make the field a little more crowded by bringing one or two more players per event and in the long run that adds up after a while, so wizards is only doing this to make money and nothing more since to them magic is a business to be run effectively while maintaining a pro level scene like the pro tour, Grand Prixs and of course Pro Tour Qualifiers, however other then that this little change is actually something i look forward to working with in the near future since Mirrodin Besieged is less then 2 months away at this point in time.

The second topic on par for today's little article is the multiplayer rewards cancelling that was made public a couple of weeks ago by wizards of the coast as they stopped sending out multiplayer rewards cards for competing in sanctioned magic events such as FNM's and of course regular booster drafts throughout that month or year for the matter, i do hope to see this program replaced with something more revelant though in the form of something for the Wizard's Play Network as it was established not too long ago, however the likelyhood of that happening anytime soon is not so much since there is a lot of things happening in the next couple of months, but i do look forward to a announcement from wizards in regards to alterations or a new program altogether. Now for those whom don't know what this program was, lemme explain in full detail, say you compete in a certain number of events a year like 5-15 depending of course on your schedule and you have a legit DCI number, your tournament organizer submits this to wizards's play network and based upon the number of tournaments you competed in you get a certain amount of cards, now these cards are rewards for competing in various wizard's of the coast events throughout the world, whether it would be FNM's or sealed drafts these are still ways of getting those things, well not anymore anyways, usually the cards that were sent out to the players whom had good tournament schedules were full art textless promos such as Cryptic Command or even Ponder but this all depended on what wizards had in stock of course, but these rewards were usually quarterly and given out to a lot of players, whom only usually got one copy but it's still good for EDH or the now known commander which i will talk about also.

Most people i know whom have heard of this man, Tomoharu Saito know him as a legendary japanese magic player whom has quite the talent for playing these days and his decision making skills are higher then most at best, making him perhaps the best japanese player of all time, not counting Shoota Yasukoa whom ranks still at no 1 in my list of the top 5 japanese players, but i digress the recent suspension of tomoharu saito caught me off guard and it was for something as small as slow play, seriously wizards's recent suspension of Pro Tour Champion Remi Fortier was reason to suspend him for match fraud and such which is a warranted automatic 24 month suspension or 2 years in this case as per on the DCI banned list. But saito's slow play doesn't really warrant such a massive suspension, this is a man whom was on the verge of going into the prestigous hall of fame, on the verge of winning player of the year and even was a member of Channel Fireball perhaps the best group magic has ever known to date. However his recent suspension has me thinking now, 18 months for slow play and the fact he was removed from the channel fireball squad isn't bad enough, but now he's not eligible for the hall of fame status, which i understand as it is that damned good to get into the hall of fame which i will discuss later in the article. But also the fact most of the time i've heard of this man whom has won quite a few Pro Tours and even some Grand Prix's in the face of adversity he's been very consistent so what went wrong, well he kinda got nervous and slowed his play to run out the clock it would seem, doing that got him a warning, but he did it again in his next match and got disqualified for it which is a damn shame, he ended off his year with a whopping 47 pro points and even was on his way to worlds which is going on as of this article. However small it was it would appear wizards does not take kindly to rules infractions and such, i hope though when saito comes back to playing magic professionally he'll remember that infraction and look back on it, so he won't make the same mistake twice or one would hope in all honesty as coming from a fan of his and a long time follower of magic news.

So worlds is finally upon us and the man known as Brad Nelson is looking to take the infamous player of the year title, however if you've kept up with the coverage of the event you will know that he has gone 6-6 as of this writing and his spot at making top 8 is pretty much gone, one can hope though he makes it to the top 64 or even top 100 to have a good shot at player of the year this year, but i digress it would be nice to see a american take player of the year and have the united states take home the team competition like they did a couple of years back personally. Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa or paulo for short is looking for his Player of the year title as well as he as of this writing sits 10-3 and in some serious contention to take both the worlds title and player of the year title since he sits like second on the list at a mere 48 points but then again worlds gives out 25 points for winning and this could be his year as far as i know, good luck to him though on his quest to get both titles this year. However though there are like 6 rounds left of the regular competition before the end of the worlds determining whom makes it to top 8, congrats go to brian kibler, gabriel nassif and bram snepvangers whom made it into this year's hall of fame class but it would seem brian kibler wants to win it this year just as badly as he went 6-0 with his brand new standard deck and did pretty dang well in today's draft, though that's enough worlds news, for those whom want to watch the worlds top 8 coverage be sure to stay tuned to the mothership aka wizards of the coast's main site on saturday december 11th at 8:45 pm eastern standard time, i'm sure you can figure out the time zones from there.

Finally i want to bring up the recent changes to the format known as Elder Dragon Highlander or the now known form of Commander which is essentially the same damned thing but they are using the magic online terms for it now, even though it is a fan created format it will still be run by the fans but it would seem wizards is finally giving it a chance, 51 new cards and a bunch of precon decks will be made for this sort of thing, believe it or not it's gonna be a interesting change as most people whom don't play EDH will now be able to pick up one of these and play instantly when they come out in June of course. Now for those whom usually play EDH means basically you don't have to waste hundreds of dollars getting all the cards from previous sets, basically you're given a deck for a specific price and off you go and these will even have a event for them, another excuse for wizards to basically make a buck off a format that was never really reconigzed till most recently, anyhoo that's it for this one, i hope you enjoyed the basic news of what's been going on in magic for the past month, i intend to try and make this a monthly thing if i can of course, see you next article

MTG Set Review #6 M10 Core Set

Throughout this review i will be discussing the 2010 core set of magic the gathering which had the first abbreviation of M10 and not 2010 like it was supposed to be called, this introduced to us some new fresh faces we would see in standard for a long time and the fact that there was also some returning walkers in this set from the Lorwyn age where they were first introduced so let's go.

Now the 2010 core set or as it is called the M10 core set had some balance issues i must admit when it first came out, following the release of the usual 3 block set which was Shards of Alara/Conflux and Alara Reborn this had a good deal of noteritety to live up to in terms of power and balance and this seemed to throw the scales a tad overboard, this reintroduced us to the 5 base walkers, Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Garruk Wildspeaker, Ajani Goldmane and of course Lilanna Vess from the fall set of 2007 aka lorwyn. It also brought forth the ridiclous costing creatures in the form of Baneslayer Angel and a few other cards including Time Warp and some others to name a few, but first the basics, this core set was designed and released in the middle of summer during the 2009 summer of magic, the core set had 249 cards and 20 of those were as always basic lands along with the stand rare lands, rare creatures and a walker for each and every colour in the set, along with the fact artifacts were present again in a core set since 10th edition which had quite a few but this set had a few new things to it in the form of instants, sorceries and of course creatures, with the creatures to survive the latest change being Birds of Paradise, Giant Growth, Giant Spider, Llanowar Elves and quite a few other green cards for a change, this set was comprised of 15-20 reprints and the rest being brand new cards but with abilites in which we have seen already in game.

Mythics - This introduced quite a few mythics into the mix including the base 5 walkers which i mentioned earlier and the most overpriced card of the time, Baneslayer Angel along with some newbies to the mix, let's look at them, Bogardan Hellkite is back in this set and is a mythic instead of a standard rare since the 2007 worlds featured this card as well as the fact it was a good reprint to bring back, but into mythic form. Darksteel Colossus was also a reprint in this set who doesn't love a 11/11 with invincibilty and the fact it has trample eh?, Master of the Wild Hunt is a basic newbie to the mix, green got the most mythics in this set with 3 believe it or not, but this mythic ended up being a token generator which turned out quite alright and not as overpowered as i was first lead to believe. Platinum Angel got a reprint, i'm sure everyone whom reads my articles knows what she does nowadays and all that jazz, plus the fact it became a mythic rare makes me believe she was overpowered in tenth edition as a rare. Protean Hydra was another newcomer to the mix, green's pretty much beatstick on steroids since burn can't touch this only removal can, and it can easily grow to a large level faster then most rares or in this case mythic rares. Sphinx Ambassador was blue's only other mythic for the set, i felt blue got the shaft once again and all that jazz, i thought blue managed well for what it did, though i could've been wrong at that time i thought this, though i think there is one more. Oh yes in the form of Time Warp, this beast of a sorcery was just bad to fight and basically gave you a extra turn, which was always nice to be honest, as it gave you the advantage which balanced out the set's overall power level. Oh one more in the form of Vampire Nocturnus, the new lord of vampires as long as the card on top of your library was never anything else but black and not a land, otherwise it was a 3/3 beatstick for 4 mana, even though it was never reprinted in the next core set, oh well personally i couldn't be happier. Xathrid Demon was the last mythic of the set and it's pretty much filler, with the least pleasing ability of life loss upon sacrificing a creature, which didn't get past no one really with this core set.

Rares - We had basics in the form of Birds, some newbies in Ant queen and such, as well as rare lands like Sunpetal grove and Rootbound Crag which would be reprinted as of next core set, but let's discuss some of the ones that were never reprinted or were altered for the next core set shall we? Ball Lightning was just plain nuts for this, as it was the first casualty of the reprint less cycle and believe me it was overpowered in mono red decks as it could come as early as turn 2 and make your life a living hell, graveyard and recursion had a good reason to fear this as well as the fact mono red was a good craze as netdecking was catching on back then since vampires had a good reason to be feared as well. some other reprints were also left out of the loop for M11's cycle including Nightmare and a few other rares and normal cards, this set was the last print of that particular rare and hasn't been seen since, with Crowd of Cinders being the closest thing to the same kind of card, but from a previous set. Capricious Efreet and Captain of the Watch were also casualties on the list, since they were only printed once to date and both were not played as much as they would have liked to have been, but still picking up one for a EDH deck is not a bad decision if i may say so. Cemetery Reaper and Coat of arms didn't see play much either besides the obvious zombie/control deck though it is nice to have a zombie deck for extended personally just this guy isn't the kind of thing for it, as for the coat of arms, it's a decent enough rare. I'll make a list of the cards that never really saw play after this set so far and well i'll leave the rest up to you on how to decide if they were good or not.

- Djinn of Wishes, Earthquake, Elvish Piper, Gargoyle Castle, Great Sable Stag, Guardian Seraph, Hive Mind, Howling Mine, Hypnotic Specter, Indestructibility, Kalonian Behemoth, Lightwielder Paladin, Lurking Predators, Magebane Armor, Manabarbs, Mesa Enchantress, Might of Oaks, Mind Shatter, Mirror of Fate, Open the Vaults, Pithing Needle, Planar Cleansing, Polymorph [This would become Mass polymorph in M11], Sanguine Bond, Shivan Dragon, Siege-Gang Commander, Twincast, Underworld Dreams, Warp World, this was the entire casualty list except for the few cards in which i spoke of previously, surprisingly enough the only survivors of the entire set were the dual lands, a couple of decent rares and not so decent rares like Royal Assassain. But i digress this set turned out to be the start of something interesting, most of the commons/uncommons though had a similar feel in overall power/toughness/overbalancing issues but that is just me of course when it comes to the first new type of core set from Wizards of the Coast, to see a full list of the cards i've mentioned go here to look at the list and make your assumptions on this set, you won't regret it the link will be at the end of the article as always.

Well that is it for this set, i've talked about the types of things to expect in this one and believe me for the year this set was legal this was a doozy, some of these cards even made net deck lists like Jund and even Mono Blue control, but i digress, thanks for reading and i give this set a confirmed 8 out of 10 for being a innvator into the new realm of standard for magic the gathering. Gatherer Link here you go and see you next article.

Magic the Gathering Basics Part 5: Final Thoughts and Combat Step Procedures

For the Finality of this article we are going to go over the most complex step the attack/blocking step otherwise known as the combat step, during this step there are tons of decisions to be made and i will go over them all of course so let's go.

Attacking - Now for this step you can choose however many creatures you want that do not have the ability of defender to attack, let's say you have a Lumengrid Drake a trio of Myr Galvanizer and 3 islands and 1 swamp in play untapped of course, with two cards in hand for you, your opponent has a Kargan Dragonlord that has 4 levels on it, making it a 4/4 flyer, a Goblin Guide and 1 mountain left untapped with 1 card in hand on his side of the field, do you attack with everything or attack with the drake only, well that is up to you to decide, comments below i wanna see the response to this problem. Now this step you must declare all your attackers at once so you cannot choose one and then a second later choose another you have to make the decision before the attack step begins, once you attack however he is free to block.

Blocking - This is really simple to understand, let's use the same situation, but your in control of the goblin guide and kargan dragonlord, your opponent attacks how do you respond since you have 1 mana left open and a capable blocker in both the guide and dragonlord, i'd also like a response below for the situation answer if you would please. The attacker however can declare battle damage to creatures when it is blocked, the attacker also gets to choose the amount of damage assigned to creatures and if a creature has trample well you know the rest as i explained trample in a previous article, during this step though entire combat step spells can be played as long as they are instants and not sorceries, that is something also to consider.

Resolution - After the blocking step there comes the resolution step where as all creatures that have been dealt critical damage are sent to the graveyard and removed from play, if a creature ever reaches 0 points of toughness that creature is then sent to the graveyard, or if a creature is removed from play via a spell such as Doom Blade then the creature is sent to the graveyard automatically regardless of combat damage assigned in this case there are multiple instances of how people think the combat step works but this is the most direct and easiest way to explain the combat step in general terms for the new magic player on the block.

Final Thoughts - This concludes the how to guide for the beginning magic player, i've referred you to enough sources to get started and such at playing wizards of the coast's game of magic the gathering, i hope you have found this a useful tool for getting started and i will see you again in the next article.

Magic the Gathering Basics Part 4: Terms on Cards

Now throughout the course of the article i will be looking over what you will see on a typical card and how they work in game, since there are several different things to watch out, Mana Costs, Rarity, Types of Cards, Power/Toughness, Card Abilites., so let's go.

Mana Cost - For this article i'm gonna be taking a look at one card and breaking it down for you in steps to look out for, the first one is the summoning cost to play the card, or mana cost in this case, each mana cost is different and has different rules around it, some require various types of mana and others don't for this let's use for this case, Sphinx of Jwar Isle it has a mana cost of 4 of any type of mana, a blue mana and another blue mana meaning this card needs 2 blue mana to cast it plus four of any other type of mana, though it is not as bad as some of the costs on other cards in the following sets to come including Ancient Hellkite which costs 7 total 4 of anything and 3 red mana in this case, now how to get the mana, it's from playing lands and tapping the card to represent your adding 1 of that colour to your mana pool for the duration of your turn, the more lands you have the more powerful and more ridicliously casting cost cards you can play in game, meaning more high end cards including some very powerful planeswalkers, there are also several types of mana costs in one card at times for example Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker whom has 3 different types of mana in his casting cost in this case, 2 black mana, one red and one blue as well as 4 of anything else, so keep a eye on everything and look for the mana costs in cards before playing them in game, but also be sure to attune your deck to the cards you want to play.

Rarity - On each and every card there is 3 different types of symbols, usually located in the middle of a card on the right hand side, this is a rarity value and is used to determine how well or how expensive the card is most times for some better known cards, one is black meaning it is a common card and is found just about everywhere these days, one is silver and it is a uncommon rarity, so the amount of times you'll see this card decreases and one is gold meaning it is a rare card for this i'll look at the three rarities and of course the brand new rarity level mythic rare. For commons it is usually found once a pack in most cases and that, meaning you'll often see it in draft or in most cases the amount of times you'll see it per box is about 4 roughly so there is 4 in 36 packs a box that contain a full set of these commons and one of these commons i'll be looking at really. Let's take a look at one of my favorite commons in game Mana Leak which is a common and is found in the latest core set Magic 2011 at the time of this writing, most cases each box of magic 2011 will contain a full playset or 4 of this card in cases and sometimes not only containing 3 or 2 of the card in question the way wizards's breaks up the rarity value is just maddening.

Let's now take a look at the uncomon level of card, most boxes of product end up having at least 3 of a specific uncommon considering uncommons are only twice as rare as a common in most cases, for this one i want to take at one of my top 5 uncommons ever printed in the form of Hedron Crab also known as the boston crab in this case as it's annoyance level for mid range blue decks is just retarded and in zendikar you could easily get 3 of him in a single box, though price wise most uncommons end up going for about a dollar to 2.50 depending on the card and how it impacted the game, in this case let's look at another card for the uncommon level in the form of Mind Funeral which can go for about 2.50 these days in terms of price since it's effect is just broken and can cause some major headaches when mill decks are being played, i should know i bought two of these recently. This happens to be one of my top 5 favorite uncommons as well, also it can be rather effective in game, so keep a eye on the uncommons for this set and all that jazz. Now moving onto the rarity value of rare there are usually one of these in every booster pack you pick up these days and most of them are never the same, with some being so hard to find while others are a simple eye look away from obtaining and all that, rare cards are usually divided well into booster boxes with no box having a single set of 1 rare anymore since the sets are all so large. Let's look at one particular rare from the Alara Reborn set of cards in the form of Nemesis of Reason which is a rare from the Alara reborn block from 2 years ago and this card goes for about 3 dollars roughly these days, since it's not widely played anymore, a rare that is widely played however is, Marsh Flats which is a sacrifice land from the Zendikar set of things and was just introduced last year around this time into tournaments with these kinds of cards ranging from 8 to 14 dollars in most cases or even more now that they are a tournament staple.

Now moving onto the mythic rarity value of card and boy these ones impact the game more then ever, with most new mythic rares going for a expensive and insane price in this case let's look at a couple of recent mythics and such. The first one i wanna take a look at is Skittles he's actually known as Skithryix, The Blight Dragon and he is a mythic rare legendary card, now mythics however there are usually only 5 a box, no two same mythics are in each box unless your extremely lucky and all that jazz but i digress, each mythic is very powerful and it's money cost is different for Skithiryix however it is about 10 dollars these days, though there are another subtype of card that are way more overpowered and all that and they are planeswalkers with them going at sometimes over 40 dollars a piece in this case let's look at a new walker in the form of Venser, The Sojourner and the fact he is a 30 dollar card these days even if the set is brand new shows the fact how playable he is in most cases but i digress i've gone on long enough bout rarity and such, time to move onto more important matters in the form of other topics for this article.

Types of Cards - There are 5 different types of cards in game, planeswalkers, sorceries, instants, creatures and enchantments now most of these are self explanatory, planeswalkers are other caster type creatures you can summon such as Venser or even Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Sorceries can be played only during your turn, instants can be played at anytime, creatures can sometimes be cast if they have a unique ability called flash, though most cases only during your turn and enchantments can be only cast during your turn i won't go into detail as most of this stuff i've already covered for the most part in prior articles so next please.

Power/Toughness - This is a pretty self explanatory thing as these only show up on creatures each has a specific indicator showing how much power they do, which is their attack power and the toughness means their endurance which is how much damage they can take before they die off, again this is self explanatory and all that stuff just read the combat phase stuff when i can do it and it will be fine to understand this particular portion of a creature card.

Card Abilites - Lastly i wanna look at card abilites, each card has a specific ability and does something completely different, as there are no two cards that have the same unique ability, could range from haste to even destroying a permanent when a card comes into play, each card varies and it would take almost forever to describe each card ability in detail so go to wizards's youtube page to learn as much as you can bout the game i've provided the link in the last article.

Anyhoo that is all for this edition of the basics of Magic the Gathering, see you next time.

Magic the Gathering Basics Part 3: Card Abilites

Throughout the course of this series i've explained two things thus far how to get cards and the standard procedure on each player's turn now it's time to explain the card abilites and the more indepth look at the combat/blocking step of each player's turn. The article will focus on the card abilites and how they interact during the combat step and how some of them even affect the player itself.

There are a lot of keywords in magic that appear on cards and there are some terms in which most people have no clue what that specific term does, well it's time for the explanation there are 8 terms i wish to go over for this article that are the most common terms in the game and such appear in every single set to date including the first few sets of revised and the like, let's look at a few of these terms shall we?

Haste - As explained in my previous article haste gives the creature the ability to bypass summoning sickness which prevents a creature with summoning sickness to not attack on the first turn it is summoned regardless, this allows the creature to attack immediately when it is summoned to the field and is more apparent in red coloured cards then anything, though there are some other cards in other colours which have this ability, but it is more common in red then most.

Trample - Think of this ability as dealing direct combat damage even after a creature with this ability has been blocked, let's say you have a 5/5 beast token in play and you give it trample for the turn with Garruk Wildspeaker's Ability to give it a +3/+3 bonus and trample and a 0/6 creature blocks, you still deal 6 points of combat damage to the creature but the remaining 2 damage is dealt as direct to the opposing creature's controller and is subtracted from the life points of the controller, note all players will start at 20 life unless there are other forms of magic going on such as Elder Dragon Highlander and Two Headed Giant which i will explain the various forms next article.

Flying - This is a common ability among creatures that have wings, such as dragons, griffons and other mythical creatures, this allows a creature with this ability to go over non flying creatures and deal their damage directly unless another ability is used or a creature with flying is in play for the opposing player, let's say you have a 2/4 Darkslick Drake and your opponent controls a 3/3 Barrage Ogre that doesn't have flying, the darkslick drake can bypass the ogre and deal it's 2 points of damage as direct in this case and doesn't have to worry about being blocked in this case. Now let's take a look at the same creature the drake vs a actual flying creature in this case Kemba's Skyguard which also has flying and a enter the battlefield ability which i will explain later and in this case is a 2/2 which means it has 2 power and 2 toughness for those not able to follow along in common magic terms. If the drake was to declare a attack the Skyguard could block and prevent the damage the drake would deal, instead both creatures would clash, dealing 2 points of combat damage each and this would cause the skyguard to die since it deals only 2 points of damage to the drake which isn't enough to kill it but the drake would kill the skyguard sending it to the graveyard. This is just one of the examples of flying creatures and how they interact during the combat step.

Defender - Creatures with this ability on the card cannot attack at all and can only block other creatures this is a more common thing on the wall sub type of creature since walls are just well walls. Each particular wall though has a different toughness which is it's endurance and also has some different abilites let's look at the newest wall of magic Wall of Tanglecord this has defender and it's power is 0 and it's toughness is 6 in this case meaning it can block up to 6 points of combat damage before dying, it also has a mana ability where you can tap a green mana and block a creature with flying with this card. Though creatures with defender sometimes have abilites that cause them to lose defender and are able to attack this is not the case in most walls as there are only a select few walls that can actually declare a attack and have power such as Mirror Wall when you pay the 1 plains mana cost for it's ability to attack as it also has 3 power and 4 toughness, though this kind of ability is rare it's not always the case in magic and should be observed with patience and understanding, some walls even have first strike and flying such as one of my favorite walls of all time Illusionary Wall which also has defender, a power of 7 and a toughness of 4, though i will explain what first strike does soon.

First Strike - It's actually pretty common these days to see creatures with first strike on them and such, basically for those who don't know first strike damage is always applied first before regular combat damage so this is another combat step thing, let's look at a couple of examples of this prominent keyword with a first strike card called Baneslayer Angel which has a ton of keyword abilites in this case but we are only looking at first strike with this particular section of the article. When a creature with this ability clashes with a creature without first strike, creatures with first strike act first dealing their power in the form of damage to said creature so let's take a look at a combat example if say the Angel was to clash against a Cloud Elemental which doesn't have first strike in this case, when the angel attacks and the elemental blocks, the angel would get to deal enough damage to cripple or kill the elemental in this case since it's toughness is lower then the angel's power and the elemental wouldn't get to deal damage back to the angel instead it would get a one way trip to the graveyard. Now let's look at a prominent example of two first strikers in action, with the angel clashing against a Cloud Crusader which also has first strike and flying, so the angel declares a attack and the crusader blocks what happens you may wonder, well since both have first strike they would both deal damage simultaneously and would both have either been crippled or killed in battle, but since the angel has 5 toughness and the crusader only has 2 power the angel would survive and the angel deals 5 points of damage to the crusader's 3 toughness causing it to die, this is a useful example of this ability i would think and is sometimes questioned in game of course.

Lifelink - This keyword is more common these days then one would think with at least seven to 8 cards a set receiving this ability with various colours, costs and even types of creatures or spells in this case let's look at a few prominent lifelink cards in the game today. The first one we will be taking a look at is Child of Night which has 2 power and 1 toughness and it is a black card that costs 1 of any mana and one black mana to cast, each time this creature is either blocked or deals damage to anything in this case even a defender creature the lifelink keyword kicks in and causes you to gain as much life as the creature has power so if you were to be blocked by a 0/3 Wall of Vines while child of night was in play and declaring a attack you would gain 2 life and would still have a child of night in play, now let's look at combat damage and how it interacts with lifelink in this case with the child of night going against a Vulshok Berserker with the child of night on the defensive, both would essentally deal their respective points of damage to each other, but the child of night's lifelink ability kicks in and causes the controller of the vampire to gain 2 life while losing the creature and taking out the opposing creature since the Berserker deals 3 points of damage to the child of night and the child of night deals 2 damage which is just enough to kill the attacking creature.

Deathtouch - This actually is a ability which is one of my preferred favorites in the game of magic today and is common enough to earn a place on the list these days, since most new sets end up printing at least 3 to 4 things with this ability whether it would be creatures, artifacts or enchantments in this case with instants and sorceries sometimes being the lucky dog to get this keyword printed let's look at some of the more newly printed cards with this keyword. Wurmcoil Engine actually comes to the top of my mind when i think of this ability as it's brand new, it's a artifact creature at that and is just dangerous when it's in play as are all deathtouch creatures in the game but this is a exception, a creature with deathtouch only needs to deal a single point of combat damage to any other creature to kill it, in this case let's look at a few blocking examples. Let's say your opponent had a 2/2 Vulshok Heartstroker a 0/6 Wall of Tanglecord and a Trinket Mage with 2 power and 1 toughness and you controlled a wurmcoil engine with 6 power and 6 toughness and all three of these creatures were blocking, you would only need to deal a single point of combat damage to each of these creatures to kill them espically since you can divide combat damage among creatures that are blocking, so you would normally choose in this case to apply 1 point of combat damage to each creature blocking and you would take 4 points of combat damage on the engine but it would survive regardless, all three opposing creatures would get sent to the graveyard and you would have a 6/6 wurmcoil engine sitting on your side of the field, note though deathtouch only applies to creatures and not to players as you cannot instantly kill the opposing player with this ability otherwise it would be broken.

Double Strike - This is the last ability i am going to be looking at and this one is exactly as it says a creature with this ability deals twice the amount of damage it would normally deal, first strike damage and then regular combat damage would apply for a creature with this ability. Let's look at one here shall we in the form of True Conviction which is a enchantment that grants your creatures double strike and lifelink when it is on the field, now a creature with double strike if it is not blocked it deals twice the amount of damage in the form of it's power to the opposing player so let's say you have a 2/2 Snapsail Glider in play and it is attacking with this enchantment on the field, it would deal 2 times the damage in the form of it's power to the opposing player since first strike damage always goes first and then normal combat damage is applied in this case it would be 4 points of damage dealt and the player would lose 4 life points. This ability also interacts with creatures as well so let's take the glider again and pit it against a 5/5 Steel Hellkite which also has flying so when the glider attacks it would deal it's 2 points of first strike damage to the hellkite and then normal combat damage kicks in and both creatures would deal their respective damage in the form of power to the opposing creature meaning the hellkite would survive however the glider would die since it only has 2 toughness and the hellkite has 5 meaning it has more then enough to take a double strike from a 2/2 creature in this case, there are lots of examples with this ability which are explained a lot easier in some cases.

Well that concludes this part of the series, for more information on the other abilites in game i would suggest you refer to wizards of the coast youtube page at the following link Wizards of the Coast Youtube and check out the abilites and some of the video examples of how some abilites mentioned here interact including a how to guide on the newer sets including Scars of Mirrodin, till next article i'm vergil and this has been part 3 of the MTG basics ability how to guide.

Magic the Gathering Basics Part 2: Abilites and Terms in game

So for the duration of the article i will spend it talking about the terms and phases of the game there are several dozens of terms to go over as well as turn phases to discuss including the beginning of the game and the rules of each particular phase in the turn of the player so let's go.

Each player draws 7 cards at the beginning of the game to signify that the game is underway, then both players decide to keep or discard their opening hands based on their own choices as always, if you choose to discard your opening hand this is what is known as a mulligan, in this term you shuffle the 7 cards you drew back into the deck, shuffle the library well or deck in this case since the library is also known as the deck and draw one card less then 7 in this case this would be 6, if you don't like this hand of 6 cards you may choose to mulligan again down to 5 and 4 and so on provided you continue to get bad hands, but most players play off the top of the deck anyways, this is what is known as top decking in which most players tend to play off the cards they draw in the library.

Once both players have decided on their opening hands in this case the game begins with the first turn and the decision of the person whom goes first, the player who always goes first does not get to draw a card from the top of their deck they instead work with what they have and continue the game as per normal, there are several phases to a turn, Upkeep, Main Phase 1, Attacking Step, Blocking Step and of course Main Phase 2 and the End phase so i will be going over each and every phase with you the reader.

The upkeep phase always happens at the beginning of a player's turn, if they are upkeep effects in play they are chosen to be activated or ignored, this is also known as the draw phase as you get to draw a card during this phase, let's say you have a upkeep on a enchantment known as Arnjlot's Ascent where it's upkeep cost is 1 blue mana, if you pay the mana it will stay on the field for the turn and you'll get to use it, if not then it is removed from the game and placed in the discard zone or pile in this case meaning it cannot be used unless you return that card to your hand, this is a prominent example of a upkeep effect and they are lots of them in the game so keep a eye on them as you continue playing the game.

Main Phase 1 is the time you can play your spells like sorceries, enchantments and even creatures, by paying the costs of the cards you play in game which is played by playing lands, you are allowed to play a land a turn and only one can be played a turn if you don't have cards that say otherwise, if you do then it is a different story, as long as the costs of the cards you play are met you are allowed to play them and thus allowed to play the spells you the player cast by paying the appropriate costs, this is rather simple to get used to, however spells you play can be responded to during this phase and any other phase including the next few phases i am going to go over this is what is known as the stack, when a spell is played if it resolves it stays on the field and it's effect activates, if it is responded to by a counterspell such as Counterspell aptly named of course, then the cards are put on the stack and the last card played in this case being the counterspell, would resolve first and prevent the card played first to be not played and sent to the graveyard instead. All of these effects can and mostly likely will occur during this phase causing confusion to the new players of the game but over time most will get used to these phases and terms in the game of magic.

The next phase is the combat phase this phase pits creatures up against either players or other creatures controlled by the opposing player, during this phase any and all creatures without summoning sickness can attack, summoning sickness prevents the creature on the turn it is played from attacking in this case if you have a Ryusei, The Falling Star in hand and you just played it, it will have summoning sickness and is unable to attack but it can still block on the turn it was played in this case. However there is a ability which bypasses the rule of summoning sickness known as Haste, this ability allows creatures with this evergreen keyword to attack on the same turn they are summoned, but if a creature with haste is played on the first turn and you are the one going first it cannot attack as it is against the rules of the game to attack immediately, in the case of Goblin Guide from the zendikar block if it is played on the first turn it is unable to attack even though it has haste and has to wait a turn before it can declare a attack. All creatures that can attack are able to on this step, but you may declare the amount of attackers, which have to be at the same time in this case with 3 creatures on the field that are without summoning sickness and you choose to attack with 1 you cannot take the decision back and must only attack with the 1 creature you chose, the blocking step is next on the combat phase however.

The next step in the turn is the blocking phase and is only used when attackers have been declared. the player whom is attacking attacks as per normal but the defending player chooses the blockers and how they block   creatures in this case depending if blockers are declared if not it is dealt as direct combat damage and subtracted from the opposing player's life points which start at 20 for both players, however if blockers are declared the attacking player gets to decide how much damage is dealt to each opponent's creature this is the only thing the attacking player gets to do during this phase. After damage is dealt however the appropriate cards are placed in the card graveyard zone as when a creature's toughness hits 0 it is dead and removed from the game into that zone and spells can also be played to either deal damage to attacking creatures, pump spells to pump attacking creatures to make them survive and even removal spells can be played as a response to attacking creatures in this phase so there are a lot of tricks that can be done during this phase.

The last main phase of the turn is a different one then the first as you can play sorceries and creatures during this phase but not lands as that is only one time per turn, though if you forgot to play a land during this phase then you are allowed, if not then don't worry about it. This is a simple phase to remember and that, as always spells can be responded to during the phase and such, but after the phase ends there is a final phase which is the end phase where the player ends their turn during this phase and passes prority to the opposing player which the turn order stays and plays till one player reaches 0 life and the game ends afterwards, for the next part i will go over abilites and other keywords on the cards themselves as well as power and toughness, mana costs and the like, so till next post see you later and goodbye.

Magic the Gathering Basics Part 1: Obtaining the Cards and What to do with em

I've thought about turning this into a series of posts in general and i think this is the best option of the two really, in this series i intend to focus on the key basics for getting started in the world of magic the gathering, including deck construction, price guides, articles to read and a basic how to be good at the game. For this article i'll focus on the very beginning aspects, how to get the cards and where to go, then i'll be going over the what to do with them aspect of the game, next article i'll focus on the more unique aspects including how to play, casting costs and abilites.

So your probably new to the game and have no idea of what the hell magic the gathering is coming into this article, let's begin magic the gathering is a collectable card game designed by wizards of the coast and has been around for about 15 years now, i myself have been in the game for a good 7 or 8 at this point no one really knows anymore so enough about that and let's move on. You are probably wondering how to obtain the cards, well most collectable shops such as your local hobby store, conveneice store and even online retailers have these cards and carry them for a select price, some of the more known online retailers including Blackborder.com, Channelfireball.com and Starcitygames.com, for most though it will be your local hobby store/retail store in your local area. for a price you can pick up a pack or two, but to build these days you'll need most of a set or two depending on what you want, with sets varying from core sets to sets that come out during the fall season. For those new players it is best to try and get started with having lots saved up as this game does not come cheap mind you, for a good deck these days it costs in the range of about 100-300 dollars and that is all getting it via singles and that, which is the cheaper method for collecting since you don't need to go out and buy the ridicilous priced booster boxes for the specific sets hoping to get only 1 or 2 of the rare cards you need, though most booster boxes even give out a full 4 of specific cards in most cases.

Now that you have the cards your looking for your wondering what to do with em, well you'll need lands to go along with these cards and trust me having lots of land is crucial to even begin to build decks these days, with lands coming in all shapes and sizes including that of rares, uncommons and commons in which i'll explain the rarities in another article since of course that is a different subject entirely. Basic lands are the best option to start with as all packs end up giving you a basic land to start so you'll never run out and they are cheap to get these days at a mere 10 cents per land, there are five different types of basics for the game, Forest, Mountain, Island, Swamp and Plains and i'll go over the basic land types as expected

Forests represent the green lush landscapes and are used to cast green spells in the game, with mana costs that are high but are easy to obtain later on in the game, the green land base also produces some very large power creatures and beings of all shapes and sizes from elves to even massive elephants and tiny snakes, this is perhaps the easiest land type to get used to. Mountains are fiery and fierce with lava and liquid hot magma flowing around the landscape the most ravage and destructive of the 5 landscapes personally, these house the goblins and berserker type of creatures known as the Vulshok which are a savage humanoid race living in caves. Islands are home to the sea's creatures, Merfolk and the like reside here with wisdom and grace and cunning, the seas's power gives way to knowledge and understanding as well as very smart beings including a certain planeswalker. Swamps are very muck filled and are home to the dead, vampires, zombies and all the expect creatures out of a halloween scary story reside here with the rotting corpses of dead animals and the dying trees, not a friendly place to be if your not wanting to be there. Plains are home to the land animals whom are noble and care for the world, these particular beings are filled with law and order and appease the natural balance of the world and are known as the lawgivers of the worlds they live in, wise and yet gentle the landscape is a pure field of longevitity.

This covers the basic land types and what to expect in the game, next article i'll go over the how to's and what abilites the game produces including that of some evergreen keywords we are mostly familar with if you have been in the game for a good deal of time these days, till next article this is vergil signing off.

Scars of Mirrodin Abilites and Keywords

So as i promised here is this article on the newest abilites and such of scars of mirrodin so you people aren't too confused on what they are and how they work, the three key abilites to look out for are, Metalcraft, Infect and of course Proliferate, so let's begin examining all of the three abilites starting with Metalcraft.

Metalcraft is a unique keyword that focuses more on artifacts and how many you control a few examples of metalcraft are Chrome Steed, Ezuri's Brigade and of course Argent Sphinx with each their own metalcraft ability, note there are no two same abilites in metalcraft, each affects a card in a unique manner and it's interaction is always different when it comes to artifact based decks in general, a good example of this is Galvanic Blast, it's a burn spell that only costs 1 red mana, but metalcraft effects this card greatly in the long run, espically since the amount of damage with metalcraft is doubled from 2 to 4. A more interesting card in terms of metalcraft usage i feel is Argent Sphinx as it's ability to blink in and out when targeted by damage in general is something most blue players would appreciate these days, espically when it comes to blocking, as the Sphinx comes into play at the end of a turn, whether it be the opponent's or yours. Another card with metalcraft that is very unique and useful is Kuldotha Phoenix, it has a return to the battlefield clause from the graveyard with metalcraft, as long as you have the 3 artifacts and pay the 4 mana cost for it's ability, however there is a small drawback, you can only use it during your upkeep at the beginning phase of your turn, this in mind however it's nice to have a 4/4 that is pretty much unkillable with metalcraft similar to Argent Sphinx in it's respect, metalcraft however is a brand new mechanic and i think we may end up seeing in the late set of the block again since it seems to be kicking off very well, depending on how things go of course.

Before i begin detailing infect, let's look at the other ability of course Proliferate, this is a keyword that phyrexia uses for conquering and such in the magic universe, Proliferate is as follows, A card with this ability when proliferate activates, you may place a counter on a already existing counter and any other counter present on the battlefield, so meaning you may place another poison counter on your opponent if he/she has one prior to proliferate, a counter on your planeswalkers, whatever is present, -1/-1 counters on creatures that possess these counters and +1/+1 counters on any creatures that possess these counters, you are allowed to choose any and all of these effects when proliferate is activated, so meaning you have the oppourtunity to put yourself ahead of your opponent when proliferate activates, there are 12 cards with proliferate in this set, let's look at a few of these shall we?. The first one i want to go over is Steady Progress, this costs 2 and a blue mana and has proliferate as well as giving you a extra card in that respect, this is useful since it is a common blue card in this set and your going to be seeing it a lot passed around during drafting and the like. Proliferate is not bad at all but it does have some minor drawbacks, if you choose not to put any counters on anything, then no counters are issued and such the game continues as per normal, if you do select one then that particular thing will get a counter, whatever it may be of course. The next card on my list for proliferate is of course Throne of Geth, this is a artifact that costs 2 mana and has tap this artifact and sacrifice a artifact to proliferate, this is unique as there are only one of these type of effects where sacrificing something causes you to proliferate and add counters as per you want, again if you choose not to, then it is your decision proliferate is a mechanic that speeds up what i am about to talk about Infect.

Perhaps the most common keyword of the three in this set with over 20 cards possessing this keyword, infect is a damage based ability where as you deal damage the power of the creature that deals damage puts that many poison counters onto the player whom was dealt damage on the turn he/she was attacked, blockers who decide to block creatures with infect receive what is known as -1/-1 counters which remove a point from power and toughness making a creature all the more weaker, however there are certain things which make infect a little more powerful, one of them being trample damage, the remaining damage is dealt as poison counters plus standard combat damage, so if a Ichorclaw Myr attacks and is blocked, but has something that gives it trample such as overrun, it has a overall P/T Ratio of 4/4 without the blocking effect kicking in and it is blocked by a 2/2 Runeclaw Bear the runeclaw bear will receive 2 -1/-1 counters and be removed from play with the remaining damage which is 4 in this case being dealt as damage plus poison counters, note you only need 10 poison counters to win against your opponent, Also the damage is chosen as per obvious from this, so if two blockers are chosen, you assign damage as per normal in this case, then the -1/-1 counters are issued from the combat damage and assigned to the two blockers whom blocked the creature this makes things a little easier to understand doesn't it?

There is a returning effect from this set called Imprint, which removes a card from the game, depending on what imprint ability card is put into play and the effect varies, i don't need to explain imprint as it is a older ability and is such taken care of by the rules FAQ which is found here ----> Rules FAQ Well that is all for now and i hope you find this article useful for some respect for the new set of scars of mirrodin which is a week old as of this article, thank you for reading and i will see you next article.

MTG Set Review #5 Scars of Mirrodin

It's been a couple of weeks since i've had the motivation to write recently and i figured let's talk about the newest magic set scars of mirrodin in this set review so let's break down the basics of the set as per usual, there are 249 cards, 26 of those being lands as well as 223 regular spells to sling in this set, with 15 mythics, as well as over 50  rares for this set which i believe this is the most a set has ever had to be quite honest so let's go.


So for this set i'll be going over quite a few things, including the cycles of cards, some interesting picks and such for various ideas in drafting as well as the fact i want to also go over a few cards i believe will assist you in winning a local draft as well as possibly a standard event or two, depending on the deck of course, first one i want to talk about is the walkers for this set, each walker in itself is very powerful as i'm sure you all know and this set has no exceptions to this rule, in fact this set has produced 3 of the most powerful walkers in the game today so far which are, Venser, The Sojourner, Elspeth Tirel and of course Koth of the Hammer, let's go over each of them shall we. First on the list is venser, this bad ass walker is a combination of a white and blue casting cost, meaning he's only the third walker to get this rare dual colour casting cost or higher, the other two being Ajani Vegenant and of course Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. There was also a rare printed with this known as Venser's Journal, think of it as a Spellbook on steroids but at a high casting cost like venser himself, now you may be wondering what makes venser so special in this set, let's take a indepth look at his abilites. His first ability alone is worth more then enough for this card to warrant it's price tag which is still over 40 dollars US these days, his uber blink ability is just supreme and can really change the game by giving out a nasty 2/2 the ability to blink in and out for 1 turn, much like Argent Sphinx can when it has metalcraft which is easier to achieve then summoning venser to the field i think, but it's second ability to make things unblockable is a game changer which means all your creatures can alpha strike your opponent for a nasty amount of damage sometimes even enough to win the game, but his ultimate is useful as well, since it's a path to exile for any and all spells that come into play on your side of the field, genius wizards sheer genius.


The next one i'm going to talk about is Elspeth Tirel and her nasty white weenie abilites, now white weenie i feel is going to change, since she can make dudes, give life and do a wrath of god like effect on all nontokens and lands, so she's a perfect fit for this deck type right, yep and no, she is more versatile then one would think, i mean she makes dudes, that's good enough,  gives life for all the dudes you make, damn good, then wraths the boards for her ultimate, white weenie tokens anyone, this and spectral procession and perhaps even bitterblossom to splash black into it makes this deck a more viable option in extended these days, probably tommorow i'll do a indepth review of some of the decks she has been featured in as of late since scars has been out for less then a week as of this point and all, but that is another article for another time.


Finally it's time to go over Koth of the Hammer, this guy is bad ass, makes lands animate, he gives off mana for every mountain you control and even makes lands do damage when they tap, i can see a few things outta this guy even if he is priced currently at 50 dollars US and 80 Dollars US for the foil versions, i swear this is more then jace ever was in terms of power level, this guy is beast when it comes to RDW or red deck wins as well as mono red decks in general, he's got the same CMC as Garruk for crying out loud and he's been priced at 10 dollars for a good year and a half, wait a couple of months though and this guy will probably go up even higher then JTMS or Tarmogoyf from Time Spiral, seriously if you get this card don't let go of it at all costs, even if it means your life, this guy is a collector's piece for a lot of people and all that,  plus he works well with SOM's new ideals and mechanics quite a decent fit for 3 new walkers which are very powerful probably easily beating JTMS And Garruk as the top walkers of all time.


Now i believe it's time to move onto the cycles of cards for this set, there are 3 cycles as per usual with every new set, let's go over them shall we, first there is the smith cycle which is a set of 5 commons that all interact with artifacts and the like they are as follows, Myrsmith, Painsmith, Embersmither, Riddlesmith and Lifesmith. Then of course there is the Replica cycle which are Moriok, Auriok, Neurok, Sylvok and Vulshok which each correspond with their respective colours as well as the smiths, these are always a unique thing since wizards tends to make cycles based off the set ideals and the like which is nice, the smith cycle itself is very fun to play since one makes dudes, one deals damage, one gives life, one gives deathtouch and a pump and one lets you replace useless cards with better ones, which is always nice in my book, the replicas though are a tad underwhelming i feel as you need a certain type of mana to use their effects and the fact they always cost 3 colorless mana means you will probably pass on them unless you need a slot to fill for your draft deck and all that, but onto better matters the final set of this block is dun dun dun, the trigons which are these weird shaped objects according to the pictures of them, ok then, this seems like a decent uncommon cycle for this set, i mean they all represent some form of color in terms of abilites and each correspond to their color in general which is all well and good i feel, but the best one of the 5 i feel has gotta be the trigon of thought since it's my favorite color costs and well it gives good reason to proliferate most times.


The final thing i want to touch on is the amount of rares in this set, there are good rares in this set such as Argent Sphinx, Sunblast Angel, Myr Battlesphere and even Ratchet Bomb, if i had to choose a set to start with though for magic if i was going to enter the game i would see this being the set of choice to enter with and get started since this is a reimagining of mirrodin in general and all, but some rares are undesired and are considered junk, next time i talk about SOM i'll go over each of the abilites and the cards to look out for and all, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Scars of Mirrodin Spoilers Part 8 [Final thoughts and Conclusions]

So i believe that it will wrap up the set in general so far, we've seen artifacts that are overpowered, some reprints, hell even some new ideas on old cards including a few old friends from the old mirrodin block including Koth, Venser and even Elspeth has returned for the set as a whole let's break down what to expect at a prerelease this weekend, lots of artifacts and the like, perhaps with a color feel to them, but with some new flavour as always, could we see a foil elspeth, venser or Koth perhaps, it's more then likely gonna happen, whatever the case i hope you people have fun drafting these cards this weekend and such.


I of course will not be there at one of the two prereleases at my local store, i look forward to seeing how each new card interacts with itself in general, everyone should have fun playing with the 229 new cards in this set, not including the basic lands which always have fantastic art and such, spells flinging even the newest artifacts coming off the line fresh from WotC, with that said time to wrap it up, enjoy your prerelease everyone and i hope you have as much fun as i will with that this is vergil concluding another set of spoilers

Scars of Mirrodin Spoilers Part 7 [Artifacts]

Alright this is part 7 of the spoilers from me, this will conclude the overall set with the artifacts, as well as some reprints, new artifacts and of course legendary things, so let's go.

#136) Accorder's Shield - A artifact that pumps how original really, well it gives vigilance as well, not too bad, but a tad slow in this format i feel.

#137) Argentum Armor - Wow another bomb rare equipment, for 6 this drops and it costs 6 to equip seriously, this is beast if you get it on a good infect creature since infect deals poison counters equal to the number of it's power, i like this now.

#138) Auriok Replica - A prevention of damage with it's sacrifice effect could be useful for alpha striking and such with no threats, beats using it as a chump blocker but as a 2/2 body it's a decent blocker all the same

#139) Barbed Battlegear - Another equipment that doesn't have any good usage in this set, not too good

#140) Bladed Pinions - Finally a decent equipment, first strike and flying when a creature is equipped with this, sign me up, plus it's a turn 2 or 3 possibility for a common.

#141) Chimeric Mass - As expected this is the first thing to pop up, as it's ability is so amazingly busted with some combos in the earlier sets and stuff, perhaps this in conjunction with some other things, who knows anymore, this seems like a good start with wizards fall set for artifacts anyways, we will have to wait and see as always how this ends up turning out at the prerelease worldwide on the weekend of the 25-26th.

#142) Chrome Steed - Another metalcraft creature, but it's pump is slightly less overpowered for 4 though it's a decent common.

#143) Clone Shell - This my friends is the first ability with imprint actually and it doesn't seem that bad, for a mere 2/2 for 5 is something less desired however small it is, the imprint ability as i explained in the scars of mirrodin part 2 discussion which you should find a few articles back as of this writing, explains the ability in a more detailed manner, nonetheless solid card for a artifact and expect to see this somewhere in drafts.

#144) Contagion Clasp - This was the second of the 2 previews of scars of mirrodin thanks to those duel decks elspeth vs tezzert, this one features proliferate and was the first spoiler to have this brand new ability, for a 2 drop it doesn't seem that bad, standalone with something else and it is broken, for it's ability is pretty well balanced in terms of power, adding a counter to everything you want to add a counter to, poison, walker counters, etc, very respectable ability.

#145) Contagion Engine - Another proliferate card, but this time it's a dual proliferate, wow so, this and voltaic key means this card is broken, yep, for a uncommon too it's a decent artifact with potential i feel that will effect standard for at least a year if a artifact deck is ever constructed by me or someone else, good card choice wizards personally prolifeation to the extreme.

#146) Copper Myr - Reprint, nothing needs to said about this since it's known to be a good decent common for mirrodin standards and drafting yeah looks nice to see the first other non colour reprint personally.

#147) Corpse Cur - Something that returns infect creatures, now we are talking, this seems like a piece of a key engine in this set and it also has infect nice.

#148) Culling Dais - Not a good artifact since you gotta sacrifice creatures to even use it's charge counter upper ability, and then to sacrifice it to draw cards equal to the number of counters on it, next!

#149) Darksteel Axe - First actual none mythic equipment for this set goddamn this looks like fun with a few other cards from this set and personally i hope it gets to be a nice equipment again, i loved my equipment deck from back in the day and it's good to see it's return.

#150) Darksteel Juggernaut - A rare for darksteel, how original and it attacks each turn and has a master of etherium effect, seriously good for artifact decks which is gonna be common for a while.

#151) Darksteel Myr - Chump blocker is a chump blocker, nothing more but being invincible is ok if you want a 3 drop for a 0/1 but avoid this one worst card of the set thus far.

#152) Darksteel Sentinel - The second darksteel card printed and wow it has flash, vigilance and is indestrucible like all other darksteel cards, as a uncommon for 6 mana and at 3/3 i understand why these kinda cards are imbalanced when it comes to being printed, with this set at least.

#153) Echo Circlet - Double block is always nice i feel, in this set it's gonna be a must have somehow me thinks, good overall solid common too

#154) Etched Champion - Alright this perhaps seems like a ok printing, at the rare level it seems like most of the time wizards ends up making cards no one really wants, this is one of those cards, i mean it does have metalcraft giving it protection from all colors but that's it really for 3 and a 2/2 it's not that desirable

#155) Flight Spellbomb - Decent for a artifact that gives off flying if you sacrifice it and paying a single blue mana allows to draw a card, it's a decent artifact, again decent but not the best expect this in limited and sealed.

#156) Glint Hawk Idol - Something that makes itself into a solid 2/2 creature for 2 mana is very solid indeed when artifacts or a white mana is paid for the cost, good job.

#157) Gold Myr - Another reprint, all that i will say about it.

#158) Golden Urn - Another charge counter card, nothing to really say here.

#159) Golem Artisan - Something that helps other artifacts for paying it's cost decent but the cost should have been lowered to compensate for certain things.

#160) Golem Foundry - Charge counter card that throws out golem tokens, but for a hefty fee, with proliferate this shouldn't be a problem at all though.

#161) Golem's Heart - Another uncommon that is similar to Wurm's Tooth, Dragon's Claw etc for the exact same cost, i was hoping there was a card like this in the set, meaning a collector would have fun getting all of these together, hopefully there is no more made of these though personally.

#162) Grafted Exoskeleton - Another goddamn pump equipment that gives off infect, what wait infect but there is always a downside to this sorta thing, because whenever a creature gets unequipped with this you gotta destroy it, ah the ways of phryexia at work folks.

#163) Grindclock - A decent rare that sets itself to go off on a 3 or 4 turn clock as long as you got the mana base and such for it, with voltaic key, i'd like to see a combo deck based around this sometime but likely that isn't gonna happen, decent for what i like anyways

#164) Heavy Arbalest - Another equip for a decent cost, deals damage when it taps too but it's first ability and it's equip cost is a tad of a turn off.

#165) Horizon Spellbomb - Wow is all i gotta say turn 3 setting this thing off to add extra lands and grab extra cards is always nice, love this one personally as it's a game changer if played properly.

#166) Ichorclaw Myr - As the ghost from starcraft 2 would say "You called down the thunder, now deal with it" this is thunder at it's finest for me a infect that pumps itself upon being blocked, for 2, for 2 mana wizards, gimme four copies for a infect deck please.

#167) Infiltration Lens - Something that lets you draw cards, oh wizards you tempt me so much for being a blue player, why does it turn out so good.

#168) Iron Myr - Reprint no 3 of the myr cycle, nuff said.

#169) Kuldotha Forgemaster - First actual rare on this list for a change, for artifacts anyways, it's a decent creature to fetch Darksteel Colossus and the like, but other then that, it's not really a good rare in terms of P/T Or CMC or it's ability for that matter, this one is a pass i feel for most days and can stay in the dollar rare bin.

#170) Leaden Myr - Another goddamn reprinted myr, next.

#171) Liquimetal Coating - Turning things into artifacts is great with some other cards from this set, though i wish it was a all game thing then it would make this a desired card, for 2 mana though it's a decent artifact at the uncommon level that can be said at least.

#172) Livewire Lash - Ouch this sounds really interesting for a card, who doesn't love payback by dealing 2 damage to target creature/player when this is equipped to a creature that has been damaged, i love this, expect this to be a infect key card.

#173) Lux Cannon - Last mythic rare and it's a doozy of a mythic at that, can you say proliferate beast here folks.

#174) Memnite - Wow a 1/1 for 0 turn 1 first drop and no one is the wiser, perhaps the best 0 drop we have seen in the past 3 or 4 years with standard potential out the wazoo, great for the new ability metalcraft for colour creatures and such, it's a uncommon too folks.

#175) Mimic Vat - Something that generates copies of the card it imprints, and it's a rare too, wow, something no words could describe here.

#176) Mindslaver - God wizards why did you have to reprint this bad boy, it could have stayed right where it was, i hated this card when i played mirrodin, i really did and now you bring it back for old times sake, seriously, as a mythic i'm not gonna bother with it unless i draft it, but then again that is highly unlikely.

#177) Molten-Tail Masticore - A mythic rare for it's ability, seriously good artifact as well for a 4/4 with three seperate abilites the only thing i don't like is you gotta discard to keep him on the field, otherwise he'd be perfect honestly, but who am i to say, this seems like a decent mythic and i hope to see at least one more mythic rare printed for this artifact set personally.

#178) Moriok Replica - A sign in blood basically for it's effect, seems ok for a 2/2 body as well as well as the fact it is a cheap summon for a common too i might add

#179) Mox Opal - You must be shitting me a mox in this set, with metalcraft on it to balance it, your too kind wizards, collection here it comes.

#180) Myr Battlesphere - Oh goodness myr are back in force this time, even when this comes out onto the battlefield, there are 4 1/1 colorless artifact myr tokens placed onto the field, geez and it's secondary ability dear god, you can go off the next turn after this is summoned it's broken for a rare, myr decks are back thanks to this and a few other cards.

#181) Myr Galavanizer - You can officially call this a lord, blue and white artifacts here i come, although this is part of a infinte combo, still busted ass as ever personally as a uncommon too dear god.

#182) Myr Propagator - Another damn myr seriously this is gonna be invasion of the myrs at this rate, though it's a solid 1/1 body for 3 mana, i still think it could use a improvement and to put it as a rare is just pushing it, give it uncommon status for it's effect since it's decent but that is only saying so much

#183) Myr Reservoir - Another myr based artifact that produces mana, this seems like another card i want, but who knows with the current game state and all i just can't say personally.

#184) Necrogen Censer - Another damned charge counter artifact but a good one, proliferate and untapping love this card i feel, expect this a lot for a common to pass by your table come drafting.

#185) Necropede - A 1/1 for 2 with infect, another infect creature, this i imagine will be early and often in most games since infect is a more common theme then you would believe, i think this may end up going well after all.

#186) Neurok Replica - Another replica, but with a twist it returns creatures this time instead of the prior effect, which is nice really, but it costs blue mana to use it's effect.

#187) Nihil Spellbomb - Can i just call it, best spellbomb ever, i mean exiling a entire graveyard full of crap, potential out the wazoo and all that, wow much.

#188) Nim Deathmantle - Yet another rare equip, who knows we might see another busted rare with this one, but it's effects will be so easy to counter since it's a artifact based set, oh well, nice try wizards.

#189) Origin Spellbomb - Another common artifact in which no one will play except in causal and perhaps even draft, this is so passable if you get it, collectors may want it though who knows.

#190) Palladium Myr - Well well well, a 3 costing myr for a 2/2 that produces 2 colourless mana per time it is tapped, can you say infinte combo breaker here, at the common level it's a damn decent myr, worth a draft pick, but not much else.

#191) Panic Spellbomb - Hmm another decent spellbomb, good overall effect for red really and it gives a extra card providing a red mana is paid, decent.

#192) Perilous Myr - Another myr that sounds like fun to play, potential is insane here folks.

#193) Platinum Emperion - Think of this as platinum angel no 2, with the ability to prevent life loss, seriously this is so broken for a 8/8 for 8 mana overall, at the mythic rare level it's not very easy to get out, but it's possible that is for sure.

#194) Precursor Golem - Did they seriously reprint this card, i mean for what it does you'd think this was a nice rare, putting out tokens but nope it's second effect makes a dollar rare as it forces removal to target all golems in play espically a single removal like doom blade, but for a 5 mana monster it's acceptable as long as there is no removal present.

#195) Prototype Portal - Well well well, we've got a breaker in the format for a rare these days, i did not expect this, putting copies of any artifact onto the field is just insane at the cost of the CMC of the artifact you exiled, seriously this is good, constantly massing Darksteel Colossus

#196) Ratchet Bomb - Oh my goodness another charge counter rare that basically screws over walkers, could this be the answer to superfriends, if so i want a playset of these artifacts, this is looking better each day.

#197) Razorfield Thresher - 6/4 and it costs 7 with no static abilites, pretty damn unbalanced i feel i mean there are a lot better 6/6's for 7 these days and all, as a common too it's avoidable.

#198) Rust Tick - Another artifact creature that is kinda underwhelming i feel but it's controllish which is something i love, but again this dies so easily to other things, espically removal.

#199) Rusted Relic - Metalcraft is more common for this i feel, this is a serious threat if it gets out onto the field provided of course control and such don't counter this one, but still metalcraft for a 5/5 artifact golem, it isn't that bad a beater personally at the uncommon level it seems like a different thing.

#200) Saberclaw Golem - Another artifact creature that is a decent body for 5, plus first strike is always nice me thinks.

#201) Semblance Anvil - Well well well something with imprint that works nicely, i like this as long as it remains on the field, as it reduces mana cost, i think i would like to wait and see how this is intergrated when it comes time for release.

#202) Silver Myr - Last function draft reprint here, for blue nonetheless my favorite colour too.

#203) Snapsail Glider - a 3 drop with metalcraft and it's metalcraft effect is it gives itself flying for a 2/2 it's decent but not that good really

#204) Soliton - A 5/4 beatstick that can untap itself for 5 mana to cast it, blue mana only required to untap it, seriously a good beatstick in this set.

#205) Steel Hellkite - Rare dragon that is a 5/5 beatstick for 6 mana is not that bad really it's got some functional abilites including it's second one, a wrath of god like effect for specific mana colours when those specific creatures block and receive combat damage by this, however it's a 1 dollar rare i feel and won't be very useful other then kitchen tables and EDH perhaps.

#206) Strata Scythe - Hmm a imprint that is decent, i mean exiling a land and it gives +1/+1 for each land with the same name under your control, seriously game changer right here folks.

#207) Strider Harness - Ok another equipment but this gives haste, not bad, less then desired but not bad.

#208) Sword of Body and Mind - The first official actual spoiler besides Memrocide which was spoiled courtesy of from the vault relics, which i'll talk about in a future article as always after about a month or two, as a mythic rare personally i don't agree with it's rarity and all, for a Mythic rare it's not bad at all though for a equipment, for tokens and milling meaning it's a green/blue equipment, who knows we may see more of these kinds of cycles.

#209) Sylvok Lifestaff - Pretty good casting cost is a little cheap and it gives off life for the creature when it dies that it is equipped to, pretty good.

.#210) Sylvok Replica - Qasali Pridemate in disguise for artifacts but targets artifacts as well, this is the first not so good artifact i've had to talk about, it's a definite pass for standard and other formats, including drafting, not good wizards your slipping.

#211) Throne of Geth - This is just a filler uncommon with proliferate to make it sound good, seriously it is not worth it personally and all, i expect better from wizards in the coming days.

#212) Tower of Calamities - Another artifact that has a huge cost for it's effect, at the rare level it's not looking very worthwhile, i'd rather this be at the uncommon level for what it does, period, though it was a nice attempt by wizards.

#213) Trigon of Corruption - First trigon of the set, seems ok but this cycle will probably not see standard play.

#214) Trigon of Infestation - Another charge counter card, but it puts tokens on the field seriously this is nice, constantly pulling out tokens for the time this is on the field and using this in conjunction with elspeth whom i've spoiled already, it's looking good even for a uncommon.

#215) Trigon of Mending - Hmm decent for a trigon, but again sorta slow for this kinda artifact like set.

#216) Trigon of Rage - Well there is a trigon cycle for this set it seems and boy does it get interesting, this is for the red color for this set and wow it's a decent pump when you pay the cost for it's abilites, as a uncommon too it's balanced for a artifact.

#217) Trigon of Thought - Another cycle perhaps, this one is somewhat ok, if you're looking for a cycle anyways, as a uncommon artifact it's somewhat slow too.

#218) Tumble Magnet - A uncommon charge counter artifact you say that is a controllish artifact well how dare you leave me outta the loop, control is my element and i love this to no extent of the law, beautiful absolutely beautiful.

#219) Vector Asp - Wow infect possibiltes here are nice, it's cheap decent P/T ratio and it's a overall good turn 1 play, should fit right in in drafting.

#220) Venser's Journal - Another spellbook but for more, but here's the kicker, upkeep gives you life with this on the field, oh you bastards at wizards making this more epic then it sounds, good on you.

#221) Vulshok Replica - Finally a replica that is useful for ending a game, i mean a 3/1 is bad enough but to do 3 damage when you sacrifice it, wow, this is just crazy.

#222) Wall of Tanglecord - I figured there was gonna be a wall in this set and it's a big one too 0/6 and it costs 2 mana with defender and it's got reach potential, dangerous wall is dangerous it looks like

#223) Wurmcoil Engine - EDH, Draft and Standard perhaps has found a reason to live again, this is a nasty 6/6 for 6 mana that pulls tokens outta it's ass when it dies, with deathtouch and lifelink, then it splits those abilites up into two seperate tokens, seriously this is awesome, Mythic rarity has just made my day, i want four of these.

Ok well that is all for this set of spoilers, thank you for reading and stay tuned for part 8 of the overall spoilers finale, thank you again.