Magic 2012 Buy a Box Promo and Keywords

So today was a huge deal for Magic 2012 since we got a few things outta today, the first being the Magic 2012 buy a box promotion card which is Chandra's Phoenix a really really interesting rare, let's take a look at this card shall we?

So it has Flying, Haste and whenever a opponent is dealt damage by a red instant or sorcery spell under your control, or a red walker you control you can return this to your hand from your graveyard, it's a 2/2 which is nice and solid for a 3 drop, it's coupled with the usual planeswalker cycle of cards we saw last year, which means this year this cycle of cards is continuing in this form, not bad, also this is the promo card to the first 20 who buy a box of this set, really solid personally.

Onto the mechanics of the set we have a returning mechanic a new mechanic, new term and some explanations on these things.

Bloodthirst - So this mechanic makes a return from the ravnica days and believe me it's a 2nd main phase mechanic for sure, this is the thing that taught players how to play cards in the second main phase rather then the first, so bloodthirst works a little like this [If a player was dealt combat damage this turn, the creature with this enters the battlefield with +1/+1 counters equal to the bloodthirst cost] So if it was bloodthirst 6 you'd get a creature with a +6/+6 pump off the bat, not bad huh, let's show off a card with it as a example

"Dies" - Replacing the old term of sent to the graveyard is fine and all since it's a core set, since it shortens the reading time of cards dramatically, this will only be featured on creatures as expected, let's take a look at one such example

This is Archon of Justice, it's a 5 CMC cost creature, it has flying it's a 4/4 and when it "Dies" it exiles a target permanent of your choice, pretty neat eh, don't worry i'll do the usual spoilers on this stuff.

Hexproof - So a new mechanic has risen, this one is known as Hexproof, it's a keyword that prevents this card from being targeted by your opponent but not you, there is a example card of this too, let's take a look at it.

This is Dungrove Elder a 3 cmc card with Hexproof. it's a rare obviously and it's power and toughness are equal to the number of forests you control, not bad eh, this means this cannot be the target of removal spells such as Doom Blade, Lightning Bolt or even Exiled via Path to Exile, this little keyword is gonna be featured on a few of these cards for the core set and i expect them to be decent at least, that's about it though since the final card has been revealed that was a planeswalker, Sorin Markov i don't need to talk about him at all i think, so till next time this is vergil signing off