Magic the Gathering News Vol 19: That time of Season, GP's, More News then you can shake a stick at

Hello everyone and welcome to the 19th edition of the monthly, in the midst of Magic 2013 spoiler season of course, let's of course remind everyone what this month is going to feature, the return of the Magic Celebration, Some Grand Prix results and of course the Infamous Star City Games: Detroit scandal, so without further ado let's begin.

So as many may remember last year was the first time that the Magic Celebration was held, a Mini Master event that drafted the core set last year, well good news for those waiting for it again it has returned for another year. Let's see here, Mini Master is a small draft variant that drafts only a single pack of the latest set, this being the core set of course, which will be Magic 2013 this time around, the event takes place on September 8th, 2012, at your local game store, check with them if they are holding one. Each win in this event will grant you another booster pack to add to your deck, 3 wins, gives you a grand total of 4 boosters, what is the cost of the event though, it's free, yes a event where you can enter, not pay a dime and get some sweet sweet cards from the latest core set, a neat oppourtunity if you do ask me, for more information see the link below.

http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/events.aspx?x=mtg/event/mcelebration-facts

So how about them Grand Prix's this month, with june there's a slight lack of em, unfortunately there are only 2 to talk about Grand Prix Yokohama and Grand Prix Vancouver which is the only canadian stop on the schedule before the invitational event, Congratulations goes out to David Stroud for winning the GP in vancouver and Juyn'ichi Miyajima for the win in Yokohama, both were fantastic events to say the least and i enjoyed reading every bit of the coverage for that particular event, good luck in the next pro tour boys.

Unfortunately not all news is good i am afraid to admit, there was yet another Star City Games open scandal in Detroit the 2nd last weekend of the month, during a legacy match in one of the Legacy open rounds there was a bit of a cheat, by a player named John Elden, he had just played Stoneforge Mystic, but he got Vendillon Clique'd and sent Batterskull to the bottom of the library, this is not the cheat, just a standard play Elden responses with a Clique of his own, of course a natural play. The cheat happens when he sets his hand down next to his library, which at this point is a mere 2 cards, somehow he adjusts his deck and makes it so the Batterskull gets into his hand, all within a very short period of time, for video of this cheat please see the link below.

. http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/322528713?t=8h10m40s

Now if you missed it i will show off the photo below.

Notice the current board state as to the still of this video, he has a Stoneforge Mystic in play, cracks his Polluted Delta, puts the land into play from it, shuffles and all that, leaving the bottom card of his library on the table, presenting it and of course placing it back on the table. Now allow me to explain the cheat a bit further, using one hand he is adjusting his graveyard and deck while the other hand he is tapping the lands required to equip the sword onto his mystic and attack, a few seconds later somehow a Batterskull gets into his hand, he plays it and Friedman scoops, Blatant cheating right there, even if your trying to hide it a cheat is still a cheat and that deserves a lifetime ban from the game, this is the 3rd time a cheater has been caught in the act on this particular type of event, once with Alex Bertocheater, another of course with the infamous Edgar Flores, not related to Michael Flores of course, both whom were suspended from the game for a long time. For a full blog on the subject i'd suggest going here.

http://blog.andreashubert.com/?p=22.

Folks, cheating is still cheating i don't care who you are, if you cheat in the game of Magic, you are showing you have 0% skill in the game and deserve to be kicked outta the game, this goes for you Alex Bertocheater, you don't deserve to be playing magic period, anyways that's it for this edition of the emporium, remember we are only a few days away from the Magic 2013 prereleases, so have fun, enjoy and all that, this is vergil signing off.

Magic 2013 Spoilers: 3rd Time's a Charm

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another spoiler filled edition of the emporium, in today's edition i'll be talking about some of the interesting stuff to come along in terms of new spoilers, so let's get straight into the spoiled cards.

So who called for the Akroma's Memorial reprint hmm, certainly not me but it is nice to have it back once again in the current enviroment, we know the whole deal with this being uber expensive, it's sure to drop in price, hopefully.

Master of the Pearl Trident is essentially the new Lord of Atlantis but with none of the downsides Lord offers of course, a 2/2 with a 2 blue mana cost, rare other fish get +1/+1 and have islandwalk that you control, this is important as Lord's effect was global, makes modern and legacy scream in joy.

So does everyone remember that saproling token i showed off yesterday, well here's what makes it, Fungal Sprouting, where you get to put 1/1 green saprolings onto the field equal to the highest power creature you control, which is nice in EDH, but that's about it.

The translation for this bad boy is Trading Post and it does 4 things, Pay 1, tap it discard a card and gain 4 life, pay 1, tap it, pay 1 life and put a 0/1 goat token onto the battlefield, so we know what the goats are made from. Pay 1, tap it, sacrifice a creature, return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand, pay 1, sacrifice a artifact and tap it to draw a card. A very interesting choice of artifact but cool none the less.

Introducing yet more new cards, Spelltwine, 6 mana for a sorcery that exiles target instant or sorcery from your graveyard and from a opponent's graveyard, copy those cards, cast the costs if able without paying their mana costs, Exile this card, Now i am a big fan of the copy spells in this game, this just makes me excited for sure, EDH material for certain, Limited bomb, neat stuff wizards.

Is that what i think it is, Mutilate's back, wow they'd actually reprint Mutilate in the core set of all things, well for those not familar with this, 4 mana for a sorcery speed that gives all creatures -1/-1 for each swamp you control, it's essentially a indestrucible dodger card, so Avacyn eat your heart out, thank you for reprinting this wizards i loved this card back in the day.

All in all this set is shaping up to be quite a spectacle this year, we can expect to see the remaining cards in the set over the next week and a half roughly, so until next time this is vergil signing off.

Magic 2013 Tokens

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the emporium, today it's all about the M13 tokens that will be in the for the yearly core set, so without further ado let's look.

Hey we've seen this token before it's the cat that the new Ajani generates on his ultimate, good times, good times.

Goats, lots of god damn goats bro, well honestly we don't know what will generate it yet, you'll have to wait and see tommorow of course, when i do more spoiler updates.

That neat soldier token is so generated off that spell Captain's Call, which i gotta admit is a decent spell but may not see more then a few plays limited wise.

Well with Drakes, we can expect two different things to generate these, Talrand, Sky Summoner and of course Talrand's Invocation which i gotta admit are decent spells to generate these, plus these two cards combined generate a lot of em.

More zombies huh, must mean a zombie generator is in the set, either Cemetery Reaper or that stupid Zombie Infestation enchantment, I'd much prefer Reaper in the set over the enchantment, but wouldn't put it past wizards to put the stupid enchantment in.

Ah goblins, Krenko, Mob Boss and Krenko's Command generate these lovely things, red players love these and the fact that goblins are a iconic token for the set.

Hmm, Hellion tokens that must mean Hellion Eruption is being reprinted, wizards why reprint that card, we don't need more overpowered tokens in the set.

Both the Beast and the Wurms are generated by Garruk, Primal Hunter of course,  plus the fact he's proven he can do the business for green compared to his 1.0 counterpart.

We got Saprolings this time around, 1/1's that are generated by something in the set, wonder what it is of course, i'll show that off tommorow.

Finally the new emblem for Lillana is revealed at long last, much like Sorin, Lord of Innistrad has one, Tamiyo has 1 and now her, 3 emblems in 3 sets. Well that is it for this edition this is vergil signing off

Magic 2013 Spoilers: More Spoilers Part Deux

Well it's almost the end of the Magic 2013 spoiler season, with very little left to actually spoil and me not doing the set spoilers for the core set, let's take a look at the latest revealed cards, let's take a look at what was missed.

Mythic #14, Thundermaw Hellkite is a pretty good red mythic this time around, it kills most tokens and plus  it's a 5/5 with flying and haste for 5, balanced much.

Omniscience, mythic #15 of the set is the 10 mana bomb, much similar to that other green one we got in Avacyn Restored, but blue gets it this time, it basically allows you to combo out in EDH, that's all i see it being used for i am afraid, since of course it costs way too much to be effective and by the time you reach 10 mana usually in EDH already can play your win cons.

Augur of Bolas is a neat little 2 drop i find, since it allows you to basically make Delver more effective as a whole, plus the whole 1/3 body blocker for 2 mana is kinda neat, setting up for potential late game delver shenanigans.

Gem of Becoming is going to basically be the Grixis EDH search of choice here, but it is also going to make a nice impact in Limited as well, since search artifacts are few and far bewteen in sets these days.

Yeah, Mono red has a new reason to basically be more impressive each set, i feel Mindclaw Shaman is a perfect fit, in not only EDH, but limited as well, since the limited format is going to be pure M13 this time around, decent set so far.

And for those curious as to what type of land is coming back, it's the original m10 duals this time around yes, Sunpetal Grove, Drowned Catacomb, Rootbound Crag, Glacial Fortress and Dragonskull Summit which will be returning as confirmed by wizards of the coast this morning, welcome back you effective duals, it's nice to see em back in M13 for yet another year.

Well that's it this time around for this edition, stay tuned tommorow for a new edition most likely, until next time this is vergil signing off.

Elder Dragon Highlander Primer: Barrin, Master Wizard

Hello and welcome to the first edition of what I believe is going to be many in a long line of Elder Dragon Highlander primer guides to building specific styles of decks, in this first edition as the title clearly states it is all about the Urza's Saga general, Barrin, Master Wizard and his mono blue antics as being a general, so without further ado let's begin, in this article I will go over what the shell of the deck should be, the readers of course can build around it.

So who is Barrin, Master Wizard first off, he's a 1/1 that costs, 1, Blue, Blue, is a Wizard and has the ability pay 2 mana, sacrifice a permanent and return target creature to it's owner's hand, this is key for the deck, the power/toughness factor is a little slim but it will work in the deck's favor by providing boosts and bonuses with various other cards in the format. As you may first think, Barrin of course is a wizard, so automatically we can look at the various wizards in Magic's long running history, some of whom are also famous generals in their own right, there's Azami, Lady of the Scrolls, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant and my personal favorite, Arcanis the Omnipotent, automatically these three are going to lend themselves to the 99 other cards in the build, since each one is quite useful in it's own regard.

Now for the purposes of this article I will outline the core essentials that Barrin requires to function as a general or as part of the 99, since this deck has quite a few legendaries we can work off except Erayo since she is banned as a general, so 2 out of the 3 isn't that bad at all. For a few of the essentials, these two cards are a must have, Glided Drake and Crystal Shard, these allow you to basically steal whatever you want and ensure that you get the best and biggest creatures on the board as well as control opposing attackers, allow me to explain how this combination works, Steal a creature with Drake, then use the creature to either hit or deal damage, sacrifice to barrin's ability and get your drake back, or there is the easier way of Sharding your drake, sacrificing your stolen creature after it's done it's business and bouncing another opposing creature in the process, controlling the board state to a point where you will be pleased with the results, so here's our list as it is now.

Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant


Artifacts


Crystal Shard


Most mono color decks need some form of recovery when things go wrong and what better recovery method then a use of a Eldrazi, preferrably Kozilek, Butcher of Truth to reshuffle our graveyard into our library should something bad absolutely happen to us, like a Wrath of God, Akroma's Vengeance, etc, plus the amount of ramp we are throwing into this deck kinda makes it super easy to cast him when we need him. Though blue has access to very few sweeper spells, none stand out better then Evacuation, need a mass bounce spell at a pinch, this is the spell of choice, plus we have ways to reuse our spells over and over again, so again let's update the list


Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth



Artifacts


Crystal Shard


Spells


Evacuation


Personally since we are running Blue we have access to some of the better more recent cards in the game, including one Rite of Replication for the late game, blue mages personally love this spell for it's kicker cost and the fact it's a spell means with what we will add later allows us to play it probably twice during the entire game. However spell wise i'm sure we can find some decent counter spells to add in since we are blue, because we all know,  blue loves counter spells, what better counter spell to start with then Counterspell, yes the original bad ass counter spell in magic, perfectly costed as well at 2 blue, allows us to hard counter stuff that's a problem child, as well as the fact it's a spell allows for even more versatility in game. Most blue mages agree though in Elder Dragon Highlander there can be no better counter spell then Cryptic Command, I tend to disagree on this fact but, the command is welcome in the deck because of it's dual effects which are kinda nice, so let's update the list.


Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth



Artifacts


Crystal Shard



Spells


Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command


How about our artifacts though, they are looking quite barren, well here's a few I can of course recommend, the first being the most obvious choice Sol Ring, it's been a EDH staple since it was first printed, well rounded, well costed and allows us to ramp into some of the better spells of the deck, another i feel is better then it's Time Spiral predecessor is Caged Sun this basically replaces Gauntlet of Power in the build, is cheaper cost wise and doesn't give your opponents that essential mana ramp, plus the +1/+1 boost is kinda nice for what we have in mind. Now if you have the money the recommended card of choice for this build also is Glided Lotus, yes that 5 mana artifact that pumps out 3 of 1 color, considering it's price these days is sitting around the 12 dollar mark, it's still nice to have as a fall back plan should your lands get destroyed, speaking of lands, we've got none as of right now, so let's throw out a few general lands to add into the deck.

The land base is quite simple, a bunch of basics along with the recommended lands I suggest here, Temple of the False God, Magosi, the Waterveil, for the extra turn factor, Reliquary Tower to ensure we never have to discard and finally Minamo, School at Water's Edge so we can untap the various legendary permanents we throw into this deck, the recommended basic land count should sit either at 27 or 28 basics and if you can afford get a Maze of Ith but odds are you aren't going to be able to afford considering it's 50 dollars per copy. So now our deck is starting to take some shape or form, we have our precious land base sitting at 32 lands, which is very nice, we've got some supporting artifacts to help us, here is how the deck looks now.


Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth



Artifacts


Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring



Spells


Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command


Lands


Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands


Let's touch back on the spell base for a while, we have quite some valuable spells for the format in terms of counter spells, Cancel, Dissipate, Draining Whelk, Pact of Negation, if you can afford it, Spell Crumple, Hinder just to name a few of the many available counter spells we can offer for the deck, plus with Draining Whelk it's a counter spell on a body, so technically it's reusable in the deck, so that should alone give it a spot in the deck right, right. so Draining Whelk is a auto include for the build, so that is quite useful to us, since the whelk can get big, be reused for a new spell later on and continue the counter spell war. Hinder is just great because the spell you counter gets tucked to the bottom of the library, Cancel is just straight up casual but it's still a good spell because of it's versatility in the build, Dissipate does the exact same thing as cancel, but with a bit of a twist, sends it to the exile zone, Spell Crumple is funny to play since it acts much the same way as Hinder. Pact of Negation though you don't pay the cost for the spell till your upkeep can screw you if you don't have the appropriate mana by your next upkeep, because of it's auto lose clause, so we should probably avoid this particular spell. so again let's update the list once more.


Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk



Artifacts


Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring



Spells


Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple


Lands


Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands


The build is coming along quite nicely, considering how fast it's coming together, we currently sit at 50 of 99 cards, meaning we can add 49 more to the basis of the deck, which isn't that bad honestly. Here mono blue looked quite difficult to build, but now let's touch a bit more on the creatures because we're going to be abusing enter the battlefield effects for this deck, we need creatures that do a sufficent job at either stealing, triggering when they enter the battlefield or my personal favorite trigger upon going to the graveyard, let's look at a few choices for this deck.

If you were intending on stealing things, Thada Adel, Acquisitor is probably the best creature for the job, 3 mana, she steals any artifacts from a opponent whom she deals damage to and the Islandwalk factor isn't half bad, even though she already has a build based around her, she is a most welcome addition to this deck. For the most part there is also the choice of Snapcaster Mage, he basically makes our spell base doubled because of the simple flashback ability printed on him, plus he has Flash as well, allowing us to basically do whatever we want as a response to a casting. Not of course forgetting about the big mac daddy of flash, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir as well, he basically makes counter spells a thing of the past in terms of worries for you, plus granting flash to all non lands is kinda nice on a 3/4 body. Snappy however may be a bit out of the price range we want, but he's kind of essential to a wizard build, just due to what he does in a sense. so we will add him to the essential tribal theme list for now.


Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk
Snapcaster Mage
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thada Adel, Acquisitor



Artifacts


Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring



Spells


Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple


Lands


Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands


We are most likely going to need some form of wrath type spell, or way to deal with opposing threats in the format, All is Dust is probably our best option for when the board gets a little too out of control, plus it only hits colored permanents, so your artifact ramp, plus Kozilek will be safe and sound. Even though it costs a mere 7 mana, at sorcery speed it can still be quite effective in our build, plus dealing with those nasty big threats like the Mimeoplasm, Animar and of course Riku of Two Reflections players is kind of appreciated here. Another intersting creature for the deck is of course Grand Architect, he's basically a lord creature, granting all our blue creatures +1/+1 plus he's a great Rite target, but we don't need his partner in crime Pili-Pala at all, so we are going to exclude the combo from this deck.


Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk
Snapcaster Mage
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Grand Architect



Artifacts


Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring



Spells


Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple
All is Dust


Lands


Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands


A few of the really fun spells for the deck haven't been included as of yet, Ray of Command which is basically the Blue version of Act of Aggression except better, Extraplanar Lens to provide a bit more ramp for the build and of course Tidespout Tyrant to provide that extra bouncy feel for spells you play, these three particular spells are what I like to refer to as auto includes into the deck, these should at least be a part of the 99, regardless of what you are thinking, so far we are looking quite budget for what we are doing, considering this list right now is about 250 dollars tops, including the biggest bomb Snapcaster Mage, so let's update the list one final time.


Creatures

Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk
Snapcaster Mage
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Grand Architect
Tidespout Tyrant


Artifacts


Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring
Extraplanar Lens


Spells


Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple
All is Dust
Ray of Command


Lands


Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands


This particular finalized list is the core of our deck, this is pretty much how Barrin should start, enough spells to provide some comfort, you can add combos if you wish, make improvements, add a land or two here, etc but with these basics you should be floating enough mana and that to do it without making huge alterations to the land base itself, creatures can of course vary from time to time, but Barrin is all about bouncing and controlling the game state, this basic shell is for 1 vs 1 and 3 way multiplayer match ups only, for the 4 player and up match ups, i'd suggest adding in the following 6 cards.

- Lighthouse Chronologist
- Contagion Engine
- Contagion Clasp
- Clone
- Phyrexian Metamorph
- Mimic Vat


These particular 6 cards are designed for Multiplayer 4 way matchups and of course the 1 vs 1 and 3 way multiplayer builds of the deck, you can of course add infinite combos to the deck such as Time Stretch/Memonic Wall and the previously mentioned Grand Architect/Pili-Pala infinite mana combo, but it is surely going to get you hated out at your local group where you may play this build, this build was designed with Blue players best ideals in mind and for fun of course, because we all know Elder Dragon Highlander is all about fun, with that however it is time to end this primer, so until next primer this is vergil signing off.

Remember, if you do follow this primer, please do post a list in the comments below, i'd love to see the outcomes of how you built this particular general.

Magic 2013 Promotion Cards

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the emporium, today it's all about the Magic 2013 Core set promotion cards, so let's dive head long into these and see what they are.

So everyone and their grandmother knows that this is the Buy-A-Box promo for the set, i've talked about this at least twice, we all know what it does, though i imagine stores are going to have limited copies of these say 20 tops, so it's more of a first come, first serve basis with this promo.

For you folks who love to compete in magic game day's here's a brand new card, Magmaquake, this is to be given out to the top 8 at each game day, costs X, Red, Red and is a instant, a rare of course and it deals X damage to each creature without flying and each planeswalker, so it replaces Earthquake this year, this is actually better then that.

For the particpation card this time around, you will be getting Mwonvuli Beast Tracker, which is a uncommon in the green category, it is a 2/1 that costs 1, green, green and allows you to seach for a creature with deathtouch, hexproof, reach or trample and reveal it, then shuffle and put that card on top of it, a interesting tutor variant honestly.

Now this particular promo will be given out at the FNM on launch day, since of course they got rid of the Launch Parties, Staff of Nin, it's pretty much what i talked about in a previous edition, but this is the promo version of the card, nice to finally have the full translation.

Last but not certainly least is the prerelease card, Xathrid Gorgon, we all remember this one, but this one has neat alternate art, it's going to be given out at the prerelease for this set this time around, so remember you'll get this, plus 6 boosters of M13 to work with for the entire set, other then that it seems like it's a good idea to have fun, but that's all for this edition, till next time this is vergil signing off.

DCI Banned and Restricted List Announcement: June 20th, 2012

Well this is it ladies and gentlemen and the big news day has arrived, we learn if anything gets banned or unbanned in any format, so without further ado let's find out.

Standard: No Changes, guess i was wrong about Snappy and Delver
Modern: No Changes, whew.
Legacy: Land Tax is Unbanned, say fucking what holy hannah.

Yes  Land Tax is unbanned, dear lord it's about time wizards, for the full reason why, please see the link below.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/06202012a

Bannings and Unbannings of course as always begin as of July 1st for the summer announcement, this is going to be a short edition, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Elder Dragon Highlander Bannings: June 20th, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, we recently got word of the first set of bannings, in Elder Dragon Highlander, so without further ado here they are.

Griselbrand is BANNED completely from EDH, woo hoo, it's about time Sheldon and the rest of the crew, i'm so happy that i called at least 1 of the bannings, he's stupid as a general and stupid in the deck good on you boys.

The second banning i'm a little shocked at honestly, here it is.

Yes Sundering Titan is also banned in the format, period, it's just been one of those cards that have been teetering on the edge of the banned list for some time according to the article, for the full details see the link below.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/commander/24321_Nath_Of_The_GiltLeaf.html

That's all for now, see you all tommorow for the Standard and other bannings, this is vergil signing off.

Quarterly Bannings Period: My Predictions

Hello everyone and welcome to this super long edition of the emporium, over the course of this article i will be explaining my take on the Quarterly banning period, what i believe will be banned and what i know will be banned for each and every format, so without further ado let's begin.

Now with every March, June, September and December there are the quarterly bannings and unbanning periods in magic, where specific cards can get banned or unbanned depending if the format is healthy enough, let's start with the most popular format that people play, Standard.

Before you go all meta haywire on me about this here are the two cards i believe should be banned tonight in standard.

The first candidate tonight should be Delver of Secrets, i believe wizards of the coast made a mistake with this particular card in question, a 1 drop that can literally turn into a 3/2 flyer is nothing to scoff at and considering we've seen it in the top 8 of almost every event to date, it's due to get the banhammer simply because of how broken it is right now, even without the New Phyrexia and M12 Spell base to back it up, players are going to just run the M13 stuff, it's warped the format so badly it's either you player Delver or don't win, it's that simple.

Now a lot of people will debate with me on this second choice, Snapcaster Mage, Zac Hill called it a mistake card printed as it is, if you know wizards even said they messed up with this guy, it's a big oopsies on their part i'm afraid to say. So you get a 2/1 with flash, ok, i'll just reuse my counter spell aka Dissipate and flash him in, flashing back that spell in response to your titan, it's literally that stupid, it makes 16 counter spells 20, 20, 24, etc, etc. In my humble opinion Snappy here was the most broken card printed in recent memory and has been seen fighting alongside the first choice Delver.

A lot of people however namely the Cardboard Witch in her most recent article as seen Here have been in a heated debate over Snappy and the potential incoming ban, because as she had inherently stated below

No, I don't think banning these cards is a good idea because as a general rule I am against the banning of anycards in Standard.  While I'm fairly certain people will get over a ban on Ponder or Delver of Secrets I am particularly opposed to banning Snapcaster Mage a mere 9 months after it's release

So in a sense she clearly stated she is opposed to the simple fact that even if Snapcaster Mage is banned in the current meta, she doesn't like the fact that Snappy is a huge potential candidate for the quarterly banning period this time around simply due to how it's performed in the past 9 months since it's been out to date. Now i wanna go off topic here and talk about another card that slipped heavy under Wizards's radar, Bloodbraid Elf  you know the 3/2 4 drop that cascades into pretty much anything it wanted to back in the day, during the entire time it had existed in standard due to Jund, as The Cardboard Witch had clearly stated

Anyone who's ever played against Bloodbraid Elf can tell you the card is overpowered, idiot proof and ultimately absolutely no fun to play against; it's the very definition of a "negative play experience"

Now anyone who's ever played against this card can agree with this particular statement, the elf was a completely Negative play experience simply due to how it turned out to be, but did wizards ban it while it was in standard, unfortunately no, they didn't to my memory anyways, but last june they went and banned perhaps the unnecessary pair Stoneforge Mystic/Jace the Mind Sculptor when they were due to rotate in 3 and a half months, so what makes me think that wizards won't do this again, let's look a little farther back at Lorwyn Block when Ponder was banned, with Ponder back, wizards may do it again for 3 more months and cause players to get all pissy because if they do end up banning Ponder once more, it will somewhat resemble the last June bannings of Stoneforge/JTMS once again.


Overall in the standard format honestly, i'm expecting either one of three bannings, Ponder is banned, don't know why it's only got 3 months left in it's standard existence, Snappy is banned, because wizards openly admitted to making a mistake with this card, Delver is banned, just because of consistency and the fact he's basically too good for his mana cost. Let's move onto one of my favorite formats, Elder Dragon Highlander


Over the past month and a half since the release of Avacyn Restored i've been seeing more and more of this guy, Griselbrand.

To be honest with you it's making me sick to my stomach to see him almost every time i'm on Cockatrice, here are the reasons i believe this guy should be auto banned from the format, as a general and a card.


1) Yawgmoth's Bargain - This is already banned in 2 different formats, Legacy and Commander, this guy is basically that on a body with flying and lifelink, sure his mana cost may be different then Bargain, but none the less, being able to draw 7 as a response to any form of removal is stupid, i mean there are more decent mono black generals out there and this guy doesn't even deserve to be in this format as i care.


2) Easy to Ramp Into - Black has too many easy to access cards in this format, Cabal Coffers/Urbog, Tomb of Yawgmoth make it so you can churn this guy out as early as turn 6, draw 7, reloading your hand and equipping either Greaves or Boots to grant him haste, as well as Hexproof/Shroud, How about Nirkana Revenant on the field, all swamps essentially generate 2 mana off her, making it almost too easy to generate the necessary amount of mana to cast this guy, even if your not playing him as a general.


3) Tutors Galore - With Black having access to perhaps the best tutors in the game, Vampiric, Diabolic, Demonic and of course Increasing Ambition to name a few, there are too many easy ways to get this guy into your hand, which in all honestly makes me worried for the health of the format.


So i implore you please ban him tonight, i am quite tired of seeing him even as a card and he's the most broken thing to come out of Avacyn Restored, but i'm not done.


If your gonna ban one legendary, there's another that needs to be rebanned, of course i'm talking about Rune -Tail, Kitsune Ascendant

Isn't there a reason Erayo is banned as a general, if that is banned then i believe this should be rebanned as a whole allow to me to state the reasons why.


1) It was already banned prior - Yes 4 years ago this was on the banned list at the time Kokusho was put there in the format, it was already a broken record as a whole, it's just how much do i need to remind you people that when this was not banned white was very much too overpowered as a whole.


2) It auto flips when it enters - This and perhaps other enchantments can be used to basically make a invincible shield to protect yourself during the entire game, creating a stall deck essentially which drags the game out too long, making it a not very fun experience for your opponents if your playing this as a general.


So please, committee please re ban this card, for the love of all things, it deserves to stay on the banned list, even as a banned general.


Unbanning wise i believe it's time Kokusho, the Evening Star was allowed back in the format, even as a card, not a general, you can restrict him as a general for all i care, but we want him back, he's what's known as a Silly Six-Drop in the format for a reason, besides if all the other Kamigawa dragons are legal, why shouldn't this one be, hmm.


Modern wise i believe there shouldn't be any bannings, same goes for legacy, unless you wanna ban Delver in both those formats too, that'd be nice, anyways that's my take on the bannings for this quarter, if you of course have thoughts, post em in the comments below, this is vergil signing off.

Magic 2013 Spoilers: June 18th, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the emporium, believe it or not this will be a short edition just due to all the fact we got all the big spoilers as of friday, so let's review for those who don't know what the hell's going on anymore.

Ajani 3.0 was spoiled on friday by Evan Rrwin of the magic show, can i just say right now, best walker in M13 period, he's got 3 neat abilites, his +1 grants a +1/+1 counter to a creature, -3 grants a creature Flying and Double strike until end of turn, while his ultimate is literally a White Sun's Zenith in disguise putting X 2/2 white cat tokens onto the battlefield where X is the life total, he costs 3 mana and starts with a whopping 4 loyalty for that 3 mana, which is balls busted honestly, amazing stuff here wizards.

It seems the old doll has returned, Stuffy Doll is back for another year, last we saw this guy was a long time ago, 5 mana for a 0/1 that's indestrucible, you get to choose a player and whenever it is dealt damage it deals that much damage to chosen player, plus it can ping itself for a point of damage, glad to see this bad boy back and hard at work.

Finally a new tutor spell which seems to be all the rage, Diabolic Revelations, which costs X, 3 and 2 black mana to cast at sorcery speed, it's a rare that allows you to search for up to X cards and put em into your hand, then shuffle your library, a very mana intensive version of Diabolic Tutor honestly, not bad, but not good either.

Well that's it this time around, with 2 days left to the quarterly bannings i cannot wait till we find out what is getting banned and what isn't, until next time this is vergil signing off.

Magic 2013: Daily MTG Spoilers June 15th, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another edition of the emporium, we got three cards for you today, so without further ado, let's get straight to business as per usual.

So this is Lill 3.0 huh, Lillana of the Dark Realms, Mythic rare, costs 2, Black, Black, +1 you search for a swamp and put it in your hand, of course revealing it, -3 Target creature gets either +X/+X or -X/-X where X is the number of swamps you control, a very interesting secondary ability. Finally her ultimate is very fun, You get a emblem where Swamps you control have tap to add BBBB, to your mana pool, yes, so they quaduruple in production i'm afraid, she starts with a meager 3 like Jace Beleren, a very interesting black walker none the less.

So guess what you doubters, Rancor is indeed being reprinted for Magic 2013, yes, but as a uncommon this time around, instead of a common, costs 1 green mana to play, the enchanted creature gets +2/+0 and trample and whenever this aura is put into a graveyard it goes back to your hand instead, making it one of the most annoying auras in the game to deal with, i am surprised wizards would even bother to reprint this stupid thing with Infect still around for 3 solid months more before the rotation kicks in.

So finally we come down to yet another card revealed via the wallpaper of the week, this time it's Captain's Call, a 4 mana token generator card that generates 3 1/1 white soldiers on your side of  the field, great with a certain tactician one would say don't you think, it's at sorcery speed, is a common but it is still not Spectral Procession aka Three Dudes, still a good token generator considering what Avacyn Restored gave us in terms of those.

Anyways, that is it for this edition of the emporium, hope you enjoyed the last edition for this week, see you next week with even more spoilers to talk about, this is vergil signing off.

Magic 2013: Daily MTG Spoilers June 14th, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another edition of the emporium, in today's edition it's all about the current spoilers of course from the various sources on the internet as per usual, we have a Channel Fireball spoiler as well and a confirmed reprint via a specific photo, so without further ado let's go.

Introducing our Buy-a-Box promotion card for the set, Cathedral of War, it adds one mana to your mana pool, it enters the battlefield tapped, it gives Exalted, hooray for it giving it exalted and has some good kick butt regular art, it's a rare land at that so expect it to be a neat thing when the set drops in July and you get a chance to get the Buy-A-Box promo version of this card.

Now wizards i know loves pushing specific archetypes when the core set comes out every year, this is of course no different, oh how about some juicy mill cards for you folks, introducing Sands of Delirium, 3 mana for a rare artifact that you can pay X and tap it to have target player put the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, which is also known as milling, it seems to me wizards is indeed pushing this archetype so much, that with Innistrad Block there are more then enough Mill cards to do the job alongside the Core Set's offering this year we might see a standard mill deck rise out of the core set.

Oh how about a nice green beater, introducing Thragtusk, the Channel Fireball preview for this set, 5 mana for a 5/3 that when it enters the battlefield you gain 5 life, excellent hmm, but when it leaves the battlefield you get a 3/3 beast in it's place, meaning that you can abuse the tricks of the last set Avacyn Restored to blink this out of existence and return it to activate it's abilities yet again, netting not only a 3/3 but returning the base creature and gaining 5 more life.

It appears that we are getting a old red enchantment for this set, known as Fervor, yes that neat 7th edition enchantment that grants all creatures haste is indeed getting reprinted for this set, alongside of course Kitesail and Elixir of Immortality which are pretty much also confirmed at this point in time, but that black  enchantment is known as Crippling Blight and was spoiled quite some time ago when there was a massive common/uncommon spoiling, but yeah it is nice to see a few old reprints every core set as per usual.

With that it's time to end this edition of the emporium, but stay tuned, there's more news where this came from, expect yet another edition later today, with a bit of news on Duels of the Planeswalkers, till then this is vergil signing off.