Magic the Gathering News Volume 24: Judge Promos, Dragon's Maze Prerelease information And Much, Much More

Hello everyone and welcome to the end of yet another month in magic the gathering, this month we've got quite a bit to talk about, besides the tournaments that happened, 2 judge promos were revealed this month, along with information on Dragon's Maze pre-releases as well as next month's FNM promo, so let's go.

Excited for more modern FNM's next month, well you should, how about a Foil Reliquary Tower for you folks for FNM next month, yes the M13 reprint is scheduled to be next month's FNM promo and it's something I am sure everyone is happy about, since January's was a little lack luster.

So a couple of Judge promos popped up on the net, one of them was a promo Bribery which has the collector's number 2/8, it's a very nice card and it is sure to fetch a pretty penny since the original is a hefty sum, a very nice choice wizards for commander players.

Another was this foil Swords to Plowshares which also popped up which has the collector's number 1/8 and like the previous one is a commander favorite for all white players, competitive or not, be sure to scoop this bad boy up while you can.

Dragon's Maze pre-release information was revealed earlier this month as well, it's the same as the other two, you pick a guild, but with all 10 available, you get to have a shot at any guild of your choice, this time though the prerelease card is not allowed to be used in your deck, but here's the catch, for the guild you pick, you get 4 dragon's maze booster packs, 1 gatecrash pre-release pack with the aligned colors you choose, so if you choose Azorius, you'll get a Dimir pack, then you'll receive a Return to ravnica azorius prerelease pack.

Also in Dragon's maze the basic lands are gone for the set, you'll open non basic lands, guildgates with the Dragon's Maze set symbol on them, the shock lands will also appear in this set, as their normal rarity, plus with their normal set symbol, wizards is really pushing modern here folks. As well as there's a Mythic rare land scheduled to be in this set, we will see when the time comes of course.

Over the course of the month, the next core set was announced Magic 2014, previewing what could be a brand new Chandra, let's take a look at the preview piece.

For the full set details, see the link below.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1141

And that's it for the month of January, with pro tour gatecrash around the corner, I will be expecting to see how good the standard format is with the brand new cards of Gatecrash in combination with return to ravnica, so until next time this is vergil signing off.

Magic the Gathering News: Vol 21: RTR, Judge's Promos and Much, Much More

Hello everyone and it's that time again, time for another monthly wrap up here at the emporium, september in the books of course, in which i celebrated my birthday as of last sunday the 23rd, so it's a bit of a joyous occasion here, but with september always brings us a new fall set, another Pro Tour and of course so much more, so without further ado let's dive right into september's news.

Return to Ravnica's pro tour is coming up, so judges are going to be happy to hear this news, Karakas and Noble Hierach are the promotional cards this time around for judges who attend this event, so apparently back in may there was a rumor floating around that judges in the future were going to be getting the foil Karakas which is pretty good, but to have a old bordered Noble Hierach is kind of nice and wizards is thinking about the old school players this time around, which is always nice, speaking of promos.

Next month's Friday Night Magic promo is floating around the inter webs, in which October is going to be giving us a foil Evolving Wilds, not the best of choice of the FNM promos this year, but with the recent reprint in Avacyn Restored, it's nice to finally have a foil one, i guess EDH players will really appreciate this in some form.

So earlier this month we got the Banned and Restricted List announcements for both Commander and the regular formats, but there was something i never talked about in the previous article, which is the new changes made to the rules in favor of some old ones. For you competitve players out there who read this on a monthly basis, there are a few changes being made in terms of "Triggers" and the like for Competitve events.

1. You now need to announce ALL your triggers, regardless of whether they are minor or not, since the past there was a subclass of triggers that had what was known as "No Visual Effect" or minor triggers like on cards such as Goldnight Commander or Kruin Striker

2. You CANNOT forget your triggers, your opponent isn't required to remind you either, if someone misses a trigger and you want it to happen, call a judge provided it's still within the turn, if not the trigger won't occur and it will be a "Missed Trigger"

3. You MUST be present at a event to receive Planeswalker Poiuts, so no more friends signing up for you and you not showing up, from October 1st on you will no longer be able to do that.

4. Video Replays are maybe going to be used for Investigations NOT rulings so no more of these incidents like in the past, aka the Berton Cheaty incident and the like.

5. All updates are going to take place as of the MONDAY after a prerelease, no more erratic dates, all rule changes will be in effect as of the release of a new set.

Whoa, that's a lot of rule changes, considering the amount of stuff needed to be covered for REL type events, this is going to change a lot of player's and how they play the game i bet, but i doubt it, but onto more important stuff, like the awesome events going on in the month of september. In terms of competitive events in the month of september we had quite a few, starting of course with the last of the Magic 2013 events, grant prix Moscow which Luca Casadei dominated the field to take home the crown of GP Moscow champ and Japanese player extreme Shuuei Nakamura took home his 4th GP title in Costa Rica in perhaps the final M13 draft event of the season in terms of physical play. Congrats go to both of them for taking home the crowns of both these events.

Also the players championship happened at the last weekend of the month and Yuuya Watanabe took home the player of the year trophy and 40 grand for his troubles in this star studded event, beating out guys like Jon Finkel and Luis Scott Vargas to take home the player of the year title this year, good job man.

And for those looking forward to the intro packs for RTR well look no further as of this past tuesday wizards went and spoiled the lists for them, so the link will be down below.

Return to Ravnica Intro Packs

With that though it's time to sign off for this month, until next month this is vergil saying enjoy your release of Return to Ravnica and join me next month for more awesome magic news.

Judge Promos - Pro Tour Avacyn Restored

Welcome back to  yet another edition of the emporium, this particular i'll be taking a look at the 2 new judge promotion cards that were announced yesterday and give my thoughts on each one, so without further ado let's see these judge promos.

Interesting i must admit, Command Tower and Sneak Attack are the new promos this time around, very interesting, Command Tower right now sits about 5 bucks,  Sneak Attack sits at about 25 dollars right now due to the simple fact it is a legacy staple card these days, impressive honestly, since both are legacy legal but one is only useful in that format, guess which one, yep the sneak attack. Command Tower is good and all but it was made specifically for Elder Dragon Highlander and not any other format, though it is nice to have a promo version of this finally revealed not even a year after the release of the commander product which sold out pretty much in North America the first day of it's release. Sneak Attack however has neat new art to go along with the new shiny black bordered frame and updated wording, meaning you can expect this to be a 60-70 dollar foil in the long run and Command Tower looks to be at about 40-50 dollars roughly by my estimates based on the past promos that are given to judges.

So you ask now how will people get their hands on these, well if you are a judge and you judge Barcelona this year you'll get a full set according to a source on MTGSalvation, GP Judges get 2 each i think, correct me if i am wrong and if you aren't a judge at any of the events well the only real way is to wait and see the ebay listings or check the usual sites like Star City Games, Channel Fireball, Blackborder, etc to ensure you get at least 1 of them for your commander deck of choice, anyways that's it for this edition of the emporium, another short but sweet one, until next time this is vergil signing off.

November 2011 FNM Card - Go for the Throat, Speculation for Next Buy-A-Box Promotion Card

Hello everyone and welcome back to another emporium update for the month of october, today i will be talking about two things, the november Friday Night Magic promotion card and the slated names for the Buy-A-Box and Prerelease for Dark Ascension the 2nd set of the Innistrad block so let's go.

As we all well know friday night magic is all about cool promos and the ability to play magic on those days, whether it be draft or standard, today i bring the official photo of the new FNM card for november 2011.

Go for the Throat which was featured in Mirrodin Besieged as the next big removal spell of choice is the choice card for november 2011, it also has new artwork for it as well as it having the obvious symbol for a promo card of this caliber, now let's compare it to the old artwork which was the original

Pretty different eh from the original, plus it's the english version of the text this time instead of the different language used in the photo below, anyways time to move onto the speculated names for the Buy a Box and Prerelease for Dark Ascension the 2nd set of the Innistrad block.

Here is what we know so far, the names of Ravenous Demon and Gravecrawler are the names of the two promo cards so far, the demon is rumoured to be the buy a box promotion card and the Gravecrawler is rumoured to be the prerelease card for the set, now known information aside time to speculate, the demon sounds like something in black, the gravecrawler is sounding a hybrid type of card, perhaps this is the notion that the hybrid cards are coming back, who knows, names aside this is pretty much all we know for the set so far since wizards doesn't seem to wanna give us hints as of yet these days, though i could be wrong like always but again speculation is speculation it means nothing till proof is shown, if i know wizards though they will be tight lipped about this until the worlds event in november, since that is the event before the prerelease of Dark Ascension which is also rumoured to have a new Sorin Markov variant in it, due to the pictures shown at the Penny Arcade Expo, anyways that's all for today i just wanted to bring these two things to everyone's attention i will be continuing with my set review as always and expect it to be shoved down the pipeline before the 20th of this month, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Magic 2012 Game Day Promotion Cards

It's that time again kiddies, with the full spoilers up, the last official piece of unknown news is the magic 2012 game day promo cards, this particular core set's cards are going to be Dungrove Elder and Stormblood Berserker which are both in full art frames, let's take a look see at the picture with the two cards in question

Now if i had to guess the Berserker dude is going to be for the particpation prize, top 8 will more then likely receive the full art Dungrove Elder since the rare is usually given out for the top 8 of the game day or something of that nature, i don't know wizards has to confirm this as of now and i would expect confirmation just shortly after the release of the newest core set on the block, onto good news though for those keeping track the prerelease is 2 days away, remember it's a sealed deck draft for those particpating, enjoy and this is vergil signing off from a rather short update article.

Magic 2012 Promotion Cards

Yes the title is correct the promotion cards for Magic 2012 have been spoiled, for both prerelease and release parties which are held this year in July, let's take a look at the obvious prerelease promotion card known as Bloodlord of Vaasgoth

Ever notice with this set so far there's been a theme of vampires for black, this makes it a sure thing vampires these days are so fun to play, it's not even funny, this dude has Bloodthirst 3, flying is a 3/3 and a mythic rare, costs 5 mana to summon one more then Vampire Nocturnus which was in the core set 2 years ago and it gives all vampire creature spells bloodthirst 3 when they are cast, making them that much sweeter to play this is given out at the prerelease on July 9th and 10th and is perhaps one of the better black promos of the set, who knows could there be a 3rd mythic for black this year, we will find out, onto the release promo which known as Garruk's Horde

I love free creature spells with this guy, he's a creature heavy butt whooper and is a 7/7 with trample, yes!, you play with the top card of your library revealed, not bad, only downside is he costs a whopping 7 mana to summon for a rare does this make him unplayable, not really ramp can solve that problem, oh wait i take back what i said you still gotta pay the spell's cost huh confusing as all hell personally but i am sure we will get some clarfication on this one when the rulings are needed, if that ever happens but i think it will since this set is 249 cards and all so there are lots of reprints on the chopping block for this set, but nice innovation wizards seriously nice innovation into a release and prerelease promo, that's all for me for this one stay tuned later on today as i cover the usual commander update

Magic the Gathering News: Vol 6, Judge Promos for PT Nagoya, Some FNM Changes and More

Hello all and welcome back to Volume 6 of the monthly news, i'm vergil and it's time we wrap up may in style, Pro Tour Nagoya's Judges are gonna get a sweet card, FNM changes round the block and much more to discuss so let's get straight into it.

Pro Tour Nagoya is gonna get a bit of flavour for Judges as recently on MTGsalvation there's a promo for PT Nagoya judges in the form of Mana Crypt, wanna see the art, let's take a look at it shall we?

So as you can clearly see the wizards promo cards have been redesigned for some time now FNM wise and well today's no exception to this rule, the new and improved mana crypt which is going to be the Judge's promo for Pro Tour Nagoya or magic weekend Nagoya if you wanna call it that since a GP and a PT happen on the same weekend. This card however going for about 60 dollars at the moment in time is a gentle giant in the world of magic and perhaps may see a limited print run for these promos but i'm sure one or two will float on around EBay or something of that nature we will have to wait and see, onto a more serious piece of news, FNM changes.

Well Friday Night magic is gonna get a lot sexier with two new formats entering FNM's starting in July with Extended and Block Constructed formats hitting FNM's locally starting this summer, so this means as follows, FNM's not only can hold the usual assortment of Standard, Limited and even Two Headed Giant events, but now these two monster formats enter the battlefield as well, dear god help us all, but there are a few downsides to this little bit of news promos from FNM's can no longer be sold via shops but they can be distributed as door prizes at these events making them a nice piece of work, the link to the full news can be found here -> FNM Changes Article meanwhile today being the 30th of May begins Commander Previews starting with a already spoiled card but then again it could be a different piece of art since the one i showed earlier was a promotion card for the event, let's take a look at Edric, Spymaster of Trest which was spoiled via MTGCommander.net.

You are just asking for trouble with this dude out, he's a 2/2 a legendary creature, costs 1, a blue and a green mana is a rare, it has whenever a creature deals combat damage to one of your opponent's it's controller may draw a card, simple right, as i said before this itself replaces Momir Vig, Simic Visionary for sure and is perhaps the best general so far for the new commander cards, though i'm sure we will end up seeing a usual better commander, ahem Skullbriar, the Walking Grave for Green/Black but this is a decent enemy general for the format and is perhaps a worthwhile promo, expect me to show up at the promotion event on June 19th, that's all for today, so till next time magic fans, this is vergil saying Keep your legendary creatures untapped for now see ya next time.

Commander Update Part 1: New Promos

So the time has pretty much arrived when the new commander cards will slowly be spoiled and well promos are nice and but we have actual photos of the cards and what they do observe the viewing globe and take a look at Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Nasty eh let's examine him he costs 1 black and 1 green mana to summon, has haste, gets +1/+1 counters when he deals combat damage to players, counters remain on him as it moves to any other zone but the library or hand and starts as a 1/1, nasty seriously nasty as a general, he's a zombie elemental so he fits right into either and or deck type, he's a bad ass when it comes down to it personally, as well as the fact i love black/green generals which cause massive damage and that most of the time, onto the next one in the form of Edric, Spymaster of Trest.

You have to be kidding me a elf rogue with 2/2 power and toughness, costs 1, a blue and a green to summon, whenever a creature deals combat damage to a opponent, that creature's controller gets to draw a card, as well as being a legendary creature, is this seriously better then Momir Vig, Simic Visionary. Hell yes it is, not only does it reward for combat tricks but itself is a creature that allows for massive card draw, no standard evergreen keywords on this dude but he don't need none to be effective during combat, onto the final general in the form of a nasty White/Black vampire known as Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter. 

Oh my dear god, this thing is utterly so much fun, flying and lifelink, very cute wizards very cute, you sacrifice a creature and put X +1/+1 counters on this dude where X is the sacrificed creature's power, so this essentially means you can make this dude a 20/20 in the late game with recursion. Removing all those counters though gives another creature -1/-1 per counter removed this way, so this is the field clearing ability for that matter at a 5/5 balance of power and toughness seriously this is a 5/5 you're just asking for a bad boy vampire for sure, note it's only a rare and seems to me like this would end up being useful for a Black/White build around this dude since there are a lot of cards which do so.

That's about all she wrote for this one, till next time this is vergil signing off.

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

Commander Launch Party Information and Update

So with just under a month to go as of this point, the new commander decks are sure to please the eyes however we received information on the launch parties themselves which take place on June 17th-20th in local game stores all over the place, let's get some of the information outta the way.

Commander Facts and Information this is where you will find all the relevant information about this format, there are 5 promotion cards being given out for this event they are as follows

- Basandra, Battle Seraph [Card was already previewed last article, found here -> Basandra Preview]
- Edric, Spymaster of Trest 
- Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
- Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
- Nin, the Pain Artist [Card was previewed by wizards of the coast]

These five also go with their enemy deck colors so you will see one of these five depending on which one of the 5 starter decks you are given which are found here in this article Commander Decks and Information which i wrote about a month ago, i do not know which of these promos are for which yet, but when i do i will be sure to note it in this blog, let's move onto some of the more impressive details

During the event, you will be given a achievement card the achievement card will look a little something like this

It also has ten different achievements on it, for various different things like What does this one do? which is basically rewarded for particpating in the event, or Command Tower which is a new type of card to cast your general with specifically, i will list the achievements down below

-  What does this one do?
-  Command Tower
-  Second in Command
-  Get into it
-  Join Forces
-  Kaalia's Trifecta
-  Riku's Mirror Gallery
-  Ghave's Spore Cloud
-  The Gifts of Zedron
-  Hunger of the Mimeoplasm


Note the new keyword "Join Forces" this is a emphasis on teamwork against other players, if you play a spell with this, you can pay whatever the Join Forces cost is and get the secondary effect of the spell, one of the new ways to emphasize the new commander subtype format, which starts basically June 17th and runs all weekend long, check your LGS for more information, though if your in the toronto area, be sure to go to 401 Games at 401 yonge street on college that's where i'll be on the 19th of June playing in this event, if you want to meet me just ask for my real name in the comments below.

That about covers it for this article, stay tuned i'll keep you folks posted on the new commander information which will probably start in June, till next time though this is vergil signing off.

June 2011 Friday Night Magic Promo Card - Rhox War Monk

So earlier last week it was revealed that the next promotion card in the long line of friday night magic cards is gonna be Rhox War Monk which is the uncommon from the shards of alara block for the Bant color scheme of Blue/White/Green, let's see the final piece of artwork for this particular card shall we?

Yep, this is the final art for this card, it has it's standard lifelink abilities along with the friday night magic logos all over the place, it's a alternate art card and sure to be something else in particular, though this is june we are still about 3 weeks away from seeing this in stores, though things are sure to be better with this art and such, a lackluster card for friday night magic but i cannot complain, that's all for this edition of this one, since i got nothing more to say on this one, till next time this is vergil signing off.

New Phyrexia Game Day Promotion Cards

So game day being only about a month away as of this time it's time to reveal from me the official game day promotion cards which will be disturbed for even attending and top 8 qualifications, let's get down to it they are down below

Dun dun Priest of Urabrask is the particpation promotion card and Myr Superion is the top 8 card for this particular set, not bad but i could think wizards would do far better in there choices of these cards, however said this is a decent double promo if you even bothered to watch the overview of New Phyrexia from Wizards's main youtube page.

That's all for this article as i've got lots to write about so little time, ciao.

New Phyrexia Release Promotion Card - Phyrexian Metamorph

So from this arcana here --->; Promo Card Arcana we get another piece of New Phyrexia in the form of it's release promotion card called Phyrexian Metamorph let's take a look at it shall we

#42) Phyrexian Metamorph 3mana, Phyrexian mana Blue
Artifact Creature - Shapeshifter (R)
(Phyrexian mana blue can be paid with blue mana or 2 life)
You may have Phyrexian Metamorph enter the battlfield as a copy of any artifact or creature on the battlefield, except it's still an artifact in addition to it's other types.
0/0

So this is basically a Clone variant for New Phyrexia except it targets artifacts and creatures as a whole, instead of just creatures so i think this is the next generation of Clone personally but who am i to tell let's take a look at the art for the promotion card

Not bad eh, the release is scheduled for May 13th, 2011 and this is the promo card you are gonna get for even entering a release event for New Phyrexia, i expect like it's prerelease cousin legendary Sheoldred to hit about 5 dollars to start with for preorders, though the variant is different then most copy creatures this is still one hell of a good card for new phyrexia, that's all for this article see you all next time.

May 2011 Friday Night Magic Promo: Squadron Hawk

Yes may's FNM promo has leaked out today and it's a doozy of a promotion card, it's Squadron Hawk from the M11 core set which is also the feature card of Caw-Blade and Caw-Go this card is just stupidly fun to play and if you attend FNM on a weekly basis starting in may you'll get a shot to win this one, though the fact of the matter is, there are limited numbers of this made, so then again there won't be many issues for demand there, unless someone decides to sell these online somewhere but enough about that it's time to reveal the promo.

Yes brand new artwork for this one and believe me it's fun to play and all of that stuff, remember to win one of these you gotta place in the top 2 at your FNM or get it as a door prize or something of that nature, depending on your local game store. But this article is as short as it can be since all this is about is the FNM promo for next month as of this writing, so till next time magic fans, attach your swords to a hawk and swing for mass damage, this is vergil signing off.

New Phyrexia Buy a Box Promotion Card

So with the 3rd set pretty much being a 90/10 ratio for phyrexians everywhere it's about time we got ourselves a phyrexian buy a box promotion card, now some might question this and all that but i sure as heck don't personally, this block we've seen a Knight for a buy a box promo that kicks some serious butt in standard, A black spell that does basically a Cranial Extraction and now we are seeing the return of another very good black spell in the form of Extirpate so with that being said, ladies and gentlemen presenting Surgical Extraction 

Surgical Extraction) It contains the new phyrexian mechanic of Paying 2 life or paying that color's mana cost so let's see, Choose target card in a graveyard other then a basic land. Search it's owner's graveyard, library and hand for any number of cards with the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

So personally i expect this to be 5 or 6 bucks off the bat, since Extirpate this days is going for a decent 12 dollars per copy of the card and well this is basically the new standard variant of the card with a new set mechanic which is pretty decent and all that. Also the artwork is kinda shoddy personally as a card art person well it could have been better but this is what their giving us, this card is also #74 of 175 of this set for collector's purposes and as such i'm sure there will be a few out there who wish to collect this puppy.

Now however since we've seen the buy a box promotion card which last set was spoiled late december/Early January of this year, so technically it's about the time they do this again, but that rounds the total for 2 black cards and 1 white cards for the entire block of promotion, yes i am keeping a running tally, that's all for now this time folks, this is vergil signing off

April 2011 Friday Night Magic Promo Card: Artisan of Kozilek

It's official this next FNM card will shock you, as it has a new symbol, new artwork and everything and for those whom read the title of the article you've just spoiled yourself, It's Artisan of Kozilek from the Rise of the Eldrazi set and boy have i got a few pics to show off.

These images recently surfaced on MtgSalvation and are going to be the new design of the next card including the Logo in the corner of the artwork and the fact there is a big hulking shooting star in the text box it kind of sucks to be honest, but however small this is the newest itirration of the FNM promo card design and is a poor choice thank god i stopped doing these a long time ago, however said it is, i am impressed since this will be a decent one but only for EDH, till next time from this short article this is vergil signing off.

March 2011 Friday Night Magic Promo Card: Wall of Omens

So as is the case with every single promotion card wizards brings out the news is as follows, for those wondering what the march promo for the year is it is Wall of Omens, featuring the usual FNM symbol in the back of text box and the ever present new art for the card, as usual it's a short one this time around but i figured i'd show this off for those curious.

As you can see since wall of omens was a popular card it was the selected choice for a FNM promo card due to the fact it's original art seen here below was pretty interesting.

Howard Lyon did the art for the FNM promo and the original art was done by James Paick, so i will leave you to gaze at the glory of this card for the next while, this is vergil signing off from another shorty.

Mirrodin Besieged Game Day Choose a Side Promos

So today's arcana which you can read here ---> Action's First cards has revealed pictures of the two promotion cards you will receive if you contain a affilated deck with either the mirran side which rewards a pristine talisman or the phyrexian side which rewards a Suture Priest which is a combination of both, Blood Seeker and Soul Warden, each of course has their own affilated watermark with their respective factions and their set symbol. Though as we know wizards has already decided the outcome of the war and is just waiting for the proper time to reveal the set name so the spoiler season can begin anew for the third and final set of this fall block which comes out this may.

Over the course of the article i will be talking about the various elements of the game day event and what to expect since it is a standard event, so let's begin.

Now game day has always been about various things, showing off the new products as well as the fact there are awesome game day promotions cards to follow such as the Treasure Mage and of course the obvious top 8 card which is going to Black Sun's Zenith, both provided in full art but the cards i'm going to spoil today are completely different these are the final arts for both Suture Priest and of course Pristine Talisman.

Both cards contain their respective set symbol as well as the faction symbol making them legit for showing off,  before you ask though yes, the cleric is way better since it's a creature, but the talisman is nice since it gets you ahead in mana and provides a point of life. Game day though is always set a month after the new release of a set and is the first real chance outside of a pro tour or grand prix to get used to the standard enviroment which will feature some effective standard decks but there is another thing i want to talk about the game day starter decks which will be coming out later this month and will be set at a reasonable price of about 24.99 per starter deck containing 60 cards and even has a 15 card sideboard with a spindown life counter in it.

Though i will be talking about those lists in another article i just wanted to add that in so that is all for now and enjoy the article, see you next time this is vergil signing off.

New Archenemy Promotion Card - Imprison this Insolent Wretch

I couldn't really think of anything better to write about at the moment but i was going to do this down the line, the people who still play the format known as Archenemy which is all 2 of you, this might actually concern you, if you don't like this format, go read another article if you would please, this is in regards to the gateway promotion card that was featured in store gateway packs.

The card is known as Imprison this Insolent Wretch and is a new scheme for the game of archenemy, now let's take a look at what the card does "When you set this scheme into motion, choose target opponent. Permanents the opponent controls do not untap during their untap step, When the chosen player is attacked or becomes the target of a spell or ability, abandon this scheme" Which means in all respects it sucks plainly as attacking or throwing spells at the enemy makes this scheme go away, picture of the scheme is down below.

That's all she wrote for this article, since this is another quickie filler till tommorow's big time one featuring some Mirrodin Besieged news and thoughts, so this is vergil signing off

2011 Convention Promotion Card - Bloodthrone Vampire

As you may know i am a fan of promotion cards and i find them to be nice, so nice in fact i've developed a personal binder for foil cards in general which i will do another day, but today's little article is about the recent spoilage of the new promotion card of bloodthrone vampire which will be given away at various conventions around the world, including at this year's comic con in san diego california the list of these conventions will be below of course.


Pax Prime
Pax East
Essen Spiel
Lucca
Comic con International, San Diego.


The picture of the card is found below as well

Not bad for a picture of this card if i do say so myself, well that's it for this one since it's a short one and well i've got bigger fish to fry, till next article this is vergil signing off