Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 1, Week 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dark Ascension Intro Packs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dark Ascension Arts #2

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, in this edition the recent arts that wizards have spoiled are the main topic once again, but there is a difference, there are 11 different arts instead of 10 from the previous edition of this mini series, so with that in mind let's begin

So with this first art in question it's time to see what Dark Ascension offers, ok let's start this one so as per one can tell this is obviously a human fending off several cursed werewolves with plenty of silver at that, a silver sword, shield and the other necessary tools to do the job, it seems like he is a defender type card by doing this or something along those lines but one cannot be certain of this.

This seems oddly familar of course, Ludevic's Test Subject anyone because of the lab feel this picture offers, so i believe it's the continuation of that particular card or something but a spell form, probably blue for sure at this rate, we will see when the card arrives.

Now what does this particular art remind me of, oh yes Glissa's Scorn but it doesn't have that artifact killing feel, just a death feel to it, making it hard to determine if it's red or black, but putting it mildly i would have to say it is a black based art, since the whole dark and dreary vibe is present.

I really don't know what to classify this as, Blue or perhaps a Red spell, it has something to do with skeletons or something, one can never be too sure these days, i only know that whatever the card is for this art it's sure to be good honestly.

Werewolves, it had to be werewolves seriously i am sick of these things already, but this seems like a creature or a enchantment to me, not a spell since the wolf jumping signifys that there is something going on there, plus the full moon is out for starters, so if it's the after effects of Full Moon's Rise i'll be shocked.

Vampire with a bloody Trepanation Blade usually means bad times for everyone, this one is probably somehow related to Clan Markov in a way, i don't know to be honest since our favorite vampire walker is coming back in this set.

Human cards are going to be scarce in this set i would imagine, this shows why, since the people are scared out of their mind, with demons and that on the rise i'm calling this as a white creature card, no more, no less.

"Batten down the Hatches, secure the Gate" a epic scene of a specific favorite movie of mine, but done in card form, it's so similar to Hold the Line for sure, i'm going to be shocked if i am wrong.

Curses, why did it have to be curses honestly, i'm not a big fan of these cards, this art though is cool and i would for sure like to see a curse removal other then Witchbane Orb but another curse come on wizards.

Legendary Werewolf alert, this guy screams legendary creature to me, no doubt about it, much like how we had a Zombie legend, spirit legend, vampire legend, this guy has yet to give people a reason to fear the dark.

Anyways that's it for this edition of the emporium, on monday begins DKA previews, yay, anyways that is it and this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Arts

So hello everyone and welcome to the first edition of the emporium for 2012, i'm vergil and it's great to be back for a new year, with a normal work day in the United States it means wizards of the coast is back in operation once more meaning we have Dark Ascension updates and stuff for you to view, so without further ado let's begin this edition, this first art is a familiar one we've seen before

Yes this particular dark and gloomy piece is also a playmat art, what it is for i do not know, but i can assure you fine folks at home that it's one of the 158 cards in Dark Ascension, probably black if i had to guess, this next piece is a bit different and little more humane

With Dark ascension there are always things that go bump in the night, my guess is this is either a DFC or a white card, based off the human shown here, holding what appears to be a lit torch, interesting but i'd rather not speculate on this particular piece any longer, let's look at the next piece shall we?

Blood is a significant theme in this set, with cards like Curse of the Bloody Tome already, but it seems to be more like a reflection card like Evil Twin, if i had to guess though i'm calling this is a blue or red card most likely based off the theme in the mirror, onto another piece of art.

Ah yes what would a horror set be without a half dead man, in a crypt no less which is not that much of a surprise, with the horror theme in this set i would have to place this as a black card art, with significant ties to specific undead cards already in the set, onto the next art.

Now pardon me for saying this but this art looks seriously cool in all retrospect, the ghost theme or spirit theme rather would grant me to say it's white, green or perhaps even blue based upon how the art of the dead spirits attacking are depicted personally, this is getting to be good in terms of a set, onto the next art piece.

So it seems the dead are indeed returning from being slain again and again, if i had to guess this is defintely black based off the zombie depicted here, we've got enough knowledge of how the horror tropes work in this set to know zombies don't die so easily either, onto the next piece of art.

So it's not just the usual horror fare destroying things, humans also do it too in this set since everything is going to hell in a hand basket so to speak, if i had to guess on the color this art represents it's possibly green in every respect but more likely it's red in the art category, based off the malice shown here, anyways onto another piece of art.

It had to be demons eh, if this is legendary i'll flip cause it doesn't seem so legendary but it's obviously Black or perhaps even Red based off the demon shown here since we did have a few of em in Red in Innistrad personally, i wouldn't be surprised at wizards for shutting my guess down compeletely.

Humans fighting the undead showing me it's white for sure, much like all that remains noble and good in this set as a whole, plus the fact it's a one eyed man gives me some purpose to think it's something of a champion in this set, who knows for sure these days, wizards does.

Wow wizards saved the best art for last as usual, this is a weird skeleton with horns or some stuff like that, very dark, ominous and all that neat stuff when it comes to Dark Ascension, it's defintely black and has some significance to Sorin Markov me thinks, anyways that's it for this edition of the emporium, stay tuned soon i'm sure wizards has some cool stuff to feature for the set, this is vergil signing off.

The Year in Magic the Gathering - 2011 Review

Hello everyone and welcome to the year of magic in review, this year has been quite a entertaining one with new products arising, tons of new tournaments as well as new faces to the game and heck even returning legends make a appearance back to magic every once in a while, so with that let's get started on the year in review in magic month by month.

January - With the beginning of a new season there is always tension when it comes to various things in magic, this new season began with a bang taking Extended for a ride in Atlanta, Georgia with the only set of Scars Block, Scars of Mirrodin legal at the time of the event, though it's not to say that Star City Games had it's share of excitement too with their 2011 invitational series underway a few weeks beforehand, Jason Ford took Atlanta by storm and won the whole event with a impressive record to beat Ben Stark 2-1 to take the finals with ease. We also learned a bit about Mirrodin Besieged during the spoiler season for the month with the respective factions of Mirran and Phyrexian having a different promo card for the first time in prerelease history, depending on whom you sided with the Mirrans got a sweet foil edition of Hero of Bladehold while Phyrexian players got a foil Glissa, the Traitor for taking root in the deep oil of the phyrexian menace, spoiler season was fun to say the least for this, we learned of the fact the set was split down the middle 50/50 for both sides with each side having different rares and such like Mirran Crusader and Phyrexian Crusader as well as the fact for the first time ever we had Faction Packs for the event of the prerelease for Mirrodin Besieged which was pretty cool to be honest, but back then there was still the menace of such cards like Lightning Bolt and such that delivered a lot of sweet decks in the game of magic..

February - During the month of february, we learned a lot of new things, for example we learned of the first introduction of Event Decks which were powerful preconstructed decks which could be used at a local FNM event since both decks were standard legal mind you, we also learned a old face from the Shards of Alara block came back in the form of Tezzert, Agent of Bolas which became the staple for Blue/Black short afterwards, as well as having tournaments out the wazoo, with Paris being first at the first ever Magic Weekend Paris, thanks to a rather uncouth year in the player of the year race, we had the first ever player of the year playoff bewteen the United States's Brad Nelson and France's Guillame Matingon for the title of player of the year as well as the typical stage of pro tour paris to go along with it, but thanks to a little cunning from brad nelson we had our 2010 player of the year wrapped up along with the usual winner of the event which was Ben Stark, along with a whole slew of other events during the month the first real competitive month of magic came to a head, ending the month of february in a neat fashion.

March - It was during this time magic had come to a turning point, we had just learned the third set of scars's block was going to be called Action with 2 cards officially spoiled for the set, however it was a slow month for magic as a tournament game, with only one grand prix to speak of during the month of March, which took place in Barcelona and was won by Martin Schenin late in the month of march, magic had also taken a turning point with the recent rise of a certain deck called Caw-Blade which was winning tournaments left right and center, Magic R&D however had announced a quarterly change during the month of march which affected the format of Two Headed Giant and how poison counters worked, it changed from being 10 counters to 15. We were also in the midst of Mirrodin Besieged War league's across the world which would determine the fate of the third and final set which saw the phyrexians winning at every turn to take the lead and would they dominate the world of mirrodin or fail in their quest.

April - This was one of the worst months in recent history for the game, since the leak incident happened during the last 2 weeks of the month, as well as the fact we learned that the 3rd set was going to be called New Phyrexia, worst of all the leaks were caused by a world champion and his friends causing them to get banned from the game for a while, we won't be seeing them for a while yet since the bannings for 2 of the culprits do not end for a year and the remaining two are banned for 3 years, you should not have done that, that's for sure. With the entire set of New Phyrexia basically spoiled it meant for the first time in spoiler history we knew the set inside and out 3 weeks in advance. March/April however brought us a new product in magic for it's Duel Deck series in the form of Knights vs Dragons which had a few good cards for it but not that many, i did however like the new alternate art Knight of the Reliquary that's for sure. Along with new products came new tournaments with Dallas/Fort Worth Texas seeing a standard tournament where it was perfectly legal to play Caw-Blade and Kobe, Japan seeing a extended round of events this time around, as well as Grand Prix London which leaked into the first day of May and that saw us a Scars of Mirrodin/Mirrodin Besieged Booster draft for the last event of the month of April.

May - With the month of may we saw the release of New Phyrexia which hit store shelves on the 13th of May, as well as the fact we had a few things rise and fall in terms of popularity, Infect was becoming more of a dominant threat in magic with the fact the scars block had been completed and the fact we had ourselves another Scars of Mirrodin/Mirrodin Besieged Sealed/Booster draft in Prague, then we moved from Prague to Providence, Rhode Island for the 1st of 2 Legacy events of the season, this really gave us a idea of what to expect from scars block to be popular this season and it showed why Dismember was really high valued even in Legacy of all places, however may didn't have much else in terms of interest for magic, for we moved into the first of 3 months of summer for magic in June.

June - Where to start, with Magic Weekend Nagoya arriving in the first 2 weeks of the month we were treated to a awesome Scars Block Constructed event and Scars draft which pretty much showed why Tempered Steel was still a beast of a deck which dominated scars block constructed the entire weekend, but that wasn't the only big thing happening in June, with June there was a new multiplayer product, or rather a endorsement of a already existing format called Elder Dragon Highlander or EDH, but now there was 5 pre constructed decks for the format with 51 new cards for the thing as well, i know i picked one or two of these up for kicks since EDH is now my favorite of all formats to talk about i dunno about you folks.

July - July gave us another usual core set shenigans again this time with the new arrival of 3 new walkers and 2 old returning friends, Sorin Markov and Gideon Jura whom were replacing Ajani and Lillana respectively for this particular edition, as always though the new walkers are pretty impressive since we got a few new cards for the set in terms of cards named after the walkers including the true fashion of each and every one of the colors, Game Day for this particular core set was decent since we have 2 event decks at this point in time for each set coming out, with the arrival of the core set however also brought another 2 event decks to the table, Illusions and Vampires which were both perfectly legal at the time they showed up, which isn't a surprise to me at all.

August - August is what i like to call spoilers month in magic, it usually brings a new from the vault, this time from the vault: legends arrived on store shelves in late august, we got a sneak peek at innistrad at PAX thanks to the magic conference there as per usual, along with Gen Con we got our fair share of magic during the month of august, but this also gave rise to the spoiler season for Innistrad believe it or not since we learned a few of the cards in the set at this point in time.

September - Not only do i love september as a whole, but i also love the fact it's always a spoiler season month, espically since the fall prerelease falls right around my birthday every year, sweet present to myself if you ask me. Innistrad arrived on store shelves and so did Ajani vs Nicol Bolas which was the latest duel deck in the series of awesome, but it did turn out it kinda tanked honestly, though Innistrad was a new thing with all those sweet horror tropes hitting the scene with vampires, werewolves, spirits and even humans being present in the set, along with sweet new mythic rares.

October - Usually when a fall set becomes legal for events i tend to cringe, but Innistrad was a decent set to draft honestly with cool stuff like Geist of Saint Traft and Olivia Voldaren in the set as a whole it turned out to be a nice change of pace since we all got mythics based around specific colors or tribes of creatures all except for werewolves whom got the shaft but got Garruk, the Veil Cursed/Garruk Relentless the first ever dual faced walker in magic's history which was neat. Game day for this was also kinda nice with two new event decks being present for the 4th time this year, a B/U/G style deck and a White Weenie beatdown deck being constructed for the events in question, as well as any shenigans a player can think of.

November - With november it was time for the final wizards held events of the year, a few GP's and Worlds later the japanese came out on top for the final pro tour worlds event in magic's history, congrats to them for winning it all when it counted, we got us some sweet new standard and modern style decks for the event, as well as a few other things, but with november means the holiday season is upon us and magic has a life of it's own with the holiday season.

December - The final month of magic came and went with a scandal or two, the infamous Star City Games Invitational scandal which saw the winner of the event Alex Bertocinni banned from the DCI and his prizes revoked as well with the titles going to Gerry T and Adam Prozak for player of the year and invitational winner, nice work SCG you earned a bit of respect in my eyes for doing this. The Quarterly bannings also happend with Wild Nacatl and Punishing Fire getting the ban hammer from modern as well giving zoo one less option and the Fire/Grove combo is killed off thanks to the bannings, nothing else was banned either which is a surprise honestly. We also got a sneak peek at Dark Ascension and the new Multiplayer product Planechase 2012 which comes out in June, a super fun idea to bring back which is nice to see honestly, i cannot wait to see Planechase next year.

Anyways that's it for the yearly wrap up, if i missed anything important, lemme know in the comments below, other then that Happy New Year and see you all in 2012, this is vergil signing off.

Banned and Restricted List Update: December 20th, 2011

It's that time again, hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, yes it's the quarterly bannings and unbannings period in magic, this particular edition we have 2 cards to talk about being banned which are Punishing Fire and Wild Nacatl believe it or not, so let's get down to the bannings as a whole

In all the other formats today nothing got banned believe it or not, Standard hardly needs a ban enforced, Legacy just had one, Vintage well it's up in the air as far as i am aware, Modern is a whole different story wizards is basically just saying ban 1 card from a good deck now, and those two are the two affore mentioned cards stated above. Let's see the reason why Nacatl is banned first off, so as stated in this article ---> B&R List Explanation  nacatl is banned due to the fact it's just a really good creature that blocks and attacks well as well it is a component of Zoo which is pretty dominant so banning this card actually gives Zoo a lot less options in terms of anything, i don't see why this should have been banned honestly but it's Wizard's call on this one.

Punishing Fire however i understand got banned for a specific reason since it was part of a combo with Grove of the Burnwillows but this combination of cards as stated is a "Very slow and reliable win condition" as well as being "Devastating to creature decks that rely on 2 toughness creatures". In all honesty this should have been banned prior to this announcement, here's when this changes kick in for tournament magic.

Announcement Date: December 20th, 2011
Effective Date: January 1st, 2012
Magic Online Effective Date: December 21st, 2011

So for you magic online players this is your last chance to play those cards in modern, before you see the ban hammer for them, for the full statistics go to the following link --> B&R List Announcement

But for now this is vergil saying, adios for 2011 in terms of magic updates, see you at the year end wrap up on December 31st 2011 and remember have fun playing magic it's only a game, this is vergil signing off.

Magic the Gathering News: Vol 13, Avacyn Restored, GP Promos, Magic Comics and More

Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of the emporium, in this edition we will look at the latest Grand Prix Promotion Card, some news on the next installment of the Magic Comic Book series due to hit store shelves soon, as well as the news on Avacyn Restored's big secret and SCG's big Invitational Scandal, so let's get going.

First on the chopping block for this month's news is the recent suspension of Invitational Winner Alex Bertonici whom was caught cheating several times on camera during this year's invite run, now this lead the DCI to suspend him for a full 18 months, but he's not going to be playing magic since his twitter account @amentalmisstep basically stated he's no longer playing period after this year's invitational. However it also means he's basically also been stripped of his prize winnings and the power nine he received for winning the second invitational in a row, grats to you star city for making the proper decision in this closed matter.

For next year's Grand Prix's you will end up receiving a sweet promotion card, much like Malestrom Pulse was for this year, next year's big card of choice is a old zendikar favorite in the form of Goblin Guide which has yet to be made a promotion card in any sense, it suits the current Grand Prix choice however with Mono Red being dominant in standard these days or so i would think, let's take a look at the promotion card.

Wow that is one heck of a good promotion card, if you read Brian David Marshall's the Week that was last week you would have already seen this particular card, not a bad promo card for those who are going to the GP's next year, but onto other news.

Magic's 4th edition of the magic comic book starring the mysterious Dack Fayden is scheduled to launch sometime next year with this edition being shrouded in mystery, let's see the pretense for this edition of the comic.

So he finds the mage whom slaughtered his home village, but will he fail prey to the same spell which is draining hundred's of life forces, we will see, for the full news on this see the link below

Info on Comic ---> Magic Comic #4

Last but most certainly not least is the information on Avacyn Restored we've all been wanting to know is it going to have Double Faced Cards like Dark Ascension and Innistrad, the answer is no thanks to the following tweet on Mark Rosewater's official twitter account.

@maro254: I've gotten a lot of people inquiring, so let me set the record straight #mtgdka will have some cool new DFC's, #MTGAVR will have none

Yes another inciteful piece of information from one Mark Rosewater, we basically know DFC's are a judging nightmare and one of the many reasons why i didn't attend Innistrad Prereleases or Release Event's considering the rules for them were only issued a few days prior to the prerelease and no one is quite clear on what Opaque sleeves are in my area at least, anyways that's it for this edition, i guess you can consider the December Wrap Up for 2011, so until next time this is vergil signing off.

Arcana Announcement: "Roll" is known as Avacyn Restored

Yes hello everyone and welcome to this edition of the emporium, today's edition covers the announcement of the 3rd set of Innistrad block being called "Avacyn Restored" which is quite a large set, so let's take a look at the details for the set first.

Set Size: 244 Cards

Yes you read that correctly it is a large set compared to New Phyrexia last time around with it matching the first sets of the new blocks usually by a single card which isn't that bad, it also beats out Rise of the Eldrazi by 11 cards as a large third set of choice, since rise ended up being 233 cards total so i cannot wait to see how this one influences the next while.

Prerelease Events: April 28th and 29th, 2012

Release Events: May 4th, 5th and 6th, 2012

Release Date: May 4th, 2012

Magic Game Day Dates: May 25th and 26th, 2012

Pro Tour Date: May 11th, 12th and 13th, 2012 at Pro Tour Barcelona

So we know the release date is about the same time as a usual third set, somewhere in the first week of may as well as the fact the game day for this set is being held on the last official weekend of May meaning it will be a pretty busy year starting next year with Dark Ascension in like a month and a half, this coming out in May and Planechase 2012 coming out just a week or two after the game day for the event.

There is a piece of art which goes along with this, let's take a look at it.

Wow, if that's not a cool art i don't know what is, for full details of the set and the designers behind it as well as the set symbol check the following arcana listed below

3rd set announcement ---> Avacyn Restored Arcana

Well that's about it for this edition of the emporium, since i'm out of things to talk about again, this is vergil signing off.

Grand Prix/Pro Tour Update: April to August 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium where today i will discuss the recent announcement for the additions of pro magic from April 2012 to August 2012 where i will go over each event as it was announced by wizards of the coast here ---> Tournament Announcement so let's begin.

So the second of 3 pro tours next year will take place in Barcelona, which hasn't really been there since 2001 in pro tour form anyways, Grand Prix's have been there though plenty of times prior to this announcement with one held there this year in march, so it's nice to see a place like this represented, also a reminder thanks to the new system the winner of Pro Tour Barcelona will automatically get a invitation to worlds in Gen Con next year, so good luck to them for attempting to make it next year.

Grand Prix's are also represented with additions representing various locales next year, for people in canada you'll be pleased to know the first event here is in Vancouver June 23rd and 24th, 2012, more american events have been added though in the forms of Grand Prix's at locations such as Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Columbus and Boston for the american events for those particular months with each event varying in date of course, check the listing for the date necessary for the event, for the rest of the world however we know now that locations such as Manchester, Yokohama and Sao Paulo are going to be for the GP's for the year, again for event details check the link at the top of the article, so for sure i know we will see some interesting play next year, provided there is a lot of outcome thanks to the new rules and how to qualify, but good news if you win a Grand Prix you get a pro tour invite thanks to the article above explaining it, so no more discouragement from you GP players ok. Anyways that's about it for today, i figured i'd bring the information to roost for the updated schedule, till next time this is vergil signing off

December 2011 FNM Card - Savage Lands

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Emporium, today we look at the latest Friday Night Magic promotion card to be fully revealed and it is none other then Savage Lands, which is the Alara block tri land for Black/Red/Green so without further ado let's see the FNM card of choice for the month of December.

Yes that is the FNM card for the month of December and will be the last for 2011, remember folks if your playing FNM this week this is the going to be the first week with this up for grabs, so keep that in mind whether you Draft, Play standard or do some other ridiculous event like Winston Draft or something of that nature, this card of choice is not legal for standard at all anymore but when it was in Standard it was a powerful card for a land, since it helped Jund to victory so many times when Jund was a dominant force in the game of magic, however that is all for today since i wanted to bring this to your attention, this is vergil signing off.

Magic Holiday Promotion Card - Yule Ooze

Hello all and welcome to this special edition of the emporium today's edition sees the return of the Holiday Magic Card tradition, with the latest holiday card being revealed known as Yule Ooze, wanna see the card itself let's see it here.

It's the ooze that keeps on receiving if i may say so, now your probably wondering how you get this well there's Ebay, but prices for these holiday promos are a little steep at around 50 bucks these days, there's being a member of wizards's of the coast's staff which is perhaps the easiest way to get this and of course there's being a business partner to wizards of the coast as well, i am neither so i won't be getting my hands on this promo anytime soon and Ebay forget it, as per tradition this card basically represents one of the things of the holiday season,  this edition we see a ooze eating up a christmas feast which was supposed to be only Jello, kinda funny if you ask me, with each year since 2006 we've seen different holiday cards let's go back a bit and start with the history of these holiday cards.

2006 came around and it was basically the first year of this big holiday card theme, the first of which was a fruitcake themed card named Fruitcake Elemental

This particular card was created in the one of the traditions of the holidays which was fruitcakes which are not that great honestly, this one kinda depicted a fruitcake going rogue and merging with a elemental to turn into the giant hulking mass seen before you, 2007 was a really funny take on a Kamigawa card called Gifts Given which took the alternate persona of Gifts Ungiven

When this card was thought up i kinda laughed a little and found it quite nice, since Gifts Ungiven was one of my favorite Kamigawa block cards, besides the obvious Umezawa's Jitte and Sensei's Divining Top it was nice to see this put into the holiday theme and given a new persona basically when it comes to alternate holiday cards, 2008 however saw a card no one expected in the form of Evil Presents which was literally depicting presents coming to life and attacking, such is the way with black cards.

Not a decent choice of card, but funny all the same, 2009 gave us a funny little take on a family tradition, with the usual season's greetings, instead we got Season's Beatings this was probably the most humored card of the current holiday tradition, depiciting a goblin standing outside a home with a bag in hand, wondering if he was allowed in, a very nice and funny take on a old tradition.

This was itself perhaps the best current holiday card, 2010 however took a whole new turn, with a new decade came another tradition in the form of Snow Mercy

This was a snow globe that gave us no mercy espically with the wording "Shake Gently, Contents may cause choking, hypothermia, and/or planar invasion" which kinda seemed dumb at first but it was all that worth it, but that's pretty much the most recent holiday cards printed so far, what awaits in the next holiday card who knows, but with a friendly greeting the emporium wishes you a safe and happy holidays in advance, this is vergil signing off, have a good one.

Magic the Gathering News: Vol 12, French Suspension [Again]. Worlds Overview, Player of the Year Race and much more

Hello everyone and welcome to the 12th edition of the monthly wrap up of magic news this month's news covers a few big things, Premium Deck Series Graveborn is finally out and available for the general public, another french suspension, worlds information and top 8, as well as the player of the year race effectively ending at worlds 2011, some big changes to how organized play is now done and so much more, so let's go.

Premium Deck Series: Graveborn has arrived on store shelves this month and it's quite a package as i've spoiled in this article ---> Graveborn List and is available for around 40-50 dollars roughly depending on the local game store you go to, expect this to go quick however as it's a highly demanded product, onto some more important news though.

Another french player has been given a ban and his name is Lucas Florent, he got a lifetime ban for the following comment "I made a joke on the french forum, i said i was going to rape helene bergeot at worlds, after the announcent, i personally know helene and i sait right after it that i was gonna have a talk with her about the meaning of the announcments, and know i receive this." so this makes him the 3rd major french player banned this year for something that wizards didn't like, the first 2 were for the incident with the whole godbook of new phyrexia which was spoiled almost a month early, his lifetime ban basically negates him from ever attending any more Wizards Play Network events ever even little store events like prereleases, have a nice life Lucas, it's gonna be a boring one since your banned and all.


Worlds 2011 happened earlier this month and was in the nest egg of san francisco which was basically the last time we will see a worlds event in any place other then indiapolis since that is where worlds is being held next year effectively, we had a heap of a worlds this year with both the team and individual events happening but there could only be one really whom dominated this year, congratulations to Junya Iyanaga for winning the 2011 world championships, Team Japan for winning the team competition and of course Rookie of the Year going to Matthias Hunt


Organized Play in magic is perhaps the single biggest thing for magic today, with hundreds if not thousands of players going to gun at the next big Grand Prix or perhaps even attempting the pro tour, but as of this month wizards has done a few things i'm not particularly proud of, the first of the new changes was the ending of 16 long years of history by killing off the pro tour event that made worlds what it is but as of this month it's all dead guy ale basically and this means starting next year we can expect to see a Invitational Like event for worlds where the top 16 will battle it out at Gen-Con to become the best of the best, but the question is how do you get there to be fighting for the title of being the best magic player, let's take a look at the 5 ways you'll get to do so.


1) Win a Pro Tour - yes to basically get into this major event you gotta show off and be the best you can be, one of those spots is already taken thanks to Samuel Estrattie whom won the first Modern PT earlier this year, 2 more of those spots however have yet to be decided as of this point.


2) Be the World Champion - It wouldn't be fair to the defending champ if he/she didn't get to defend the title they worked for would it, no it would so be unfair to them and believe me wizards took considerations into this change for organized play.


3) Qualify via Your Geo Region - Your geo region is your continent basically, taking the planeswalker point system into account and determining via that who has the best PWP for the continent, this hurts smaller countries but doesn't really affect bigger countries, but magic countries like the United States will have very few particpants as of now in this big time event.


4) Win the Magic Online Title - Yes this spot is always decided somehow near the end of the year and whomever wins the event at Worlds usually ends up getting a shot to go to the next one, this year's defending MTGO champ will have his chance to fight for the world title next year, good on you wizards.

5) Professional Planeswalker Point Total - All that grinding you fine folks did earlier before this event basically is taken into account, the remaining slots which is who knows who many will be decided via the highest totals among all active players today, so this still gives those whom didn't win a Pro Tour a shot or didn't get in via Geo-Region a shot in the dark basically.

This change also affects how the National Championships are done, it basically means that nationals as we know it are no longer going to be feeding into worlds and those whom win their national title will get a substantial amount of Planeswalker Points plus the cash for winning the event as per usual, but the chance to go to worlds ended as of this year's big event, sorry all you folks whom were looking to go to nationals to win a shot to go to worlds this next year. During the process of this change it also means the end of the current Pro Players club system which pro players use to pay for their expenses and stuff at the events they attend, though it ends as of this current year, it means that all the events they were eligible for will still be able to be attended but 2013 is a whole new ball game with no idea what comes next in terms of this major change.

With the Player of the year this year it came down to worlds and how it all ended for the season, but i am pleased to say congratulations to the 2011 player of the year Owen Turtenwald of channel fireball for winning the title for the last year, good work dude.

In other news most recently a new promotion card has surfaced in the form of a card called Faithless Looting which is a new promotion card that is being featured in the 2nd edition of the Magic the Gathering comic starring a new face named Dack Fayden, here's the image for the card promo.

It's confirmed to be in the new set Dark Ascension which hits store shelves as of Feburary next year, this does beat a lot of the current red cards of choice, but since the promo versions are always rares it will have a different which we know this to be a common from the set thanks to this arcana Faithless Looting and it will have new art besides this of course, expect it to be a interesting set then with Flashback on a Careful Study 

Last but most certainly not least it's time to take a look at something i feel is important for all you Friday Night Magic Players, the last FNM card of the year, which is going to be Savage Lands yes the alara block tri land that was the Red/Black/Green tri land of choice and i will be sure to post the necessary information picture in the next edition of the emporium which will follow this, so stay tuned, but for now this is all i have for the month of November, thank you for reading and i will see you at the Year End wrap up for Magic for the year of 2011 in December, this is vergil signing off.

Arcana Announcement: Planechase 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, today's edition covers the announcement of the newest multiplayer format which will hit store shelves in June of 2012, that is Planechase 2012 effectively. For the purpose of the article i will be talking a little about the previous edition of this multiplayer game and featuring all the new information we have on it, so let's get started.

Planechase is a multiplayer game where 1 deck of oversized cards is placed in the center, then the first player in the game flips over the top oversized card, which grants specific effects in game, along with various field bonuses towards all or one player depending on the card flipped over, each turn a player may roll a Planar Die which has two symbols, a chaos symbol which represents the card's chaos effect and a planeswalker symbol which sends you from one planar card to the next. When the game was introduced in the middle of 2009, i was just a young punk back then who didn't know what multiplayer was essentially, however with this new Planechase coming out, it's sure to be different.

In this edition of Planechase we are going to have 32 new planes to venture onto, 8 different Phenomenon effects and 21 new magic cards introduced with this format, like this guy for example

Maelstrom Wanderer is a legendary creature introduced with this format, wait what's that i see do i see haste for all creatures you control, but that's not all, a 7/5 double cascade dude, wait what not a single cascade as introduced on let's say a Bloodbraid Elf or Bituminous Blast but two cascades for the price of one, he's also listed a mythic rare with a casting cost of 5, a blue, a red and a green mana so essentially he's a enemy color legend introduced solely for this format, impressive wouldn't you agree. Now moving on from creatures we have ourselves the first new planar card to show off as well by the name of Time Distortion

This particular card is the first Phenomenon introduced to us via the latest arcana announcement, it basically makes the game go in reverse order any time this is flipped, so if you were playing clockwise, you'd go counter clockwise and so forth. This is a weird card but good nonetheless, now let's move onto the details of this particular multiplayer format and when it hits store shelves.

Release Date: June 1st, 2012

MSRP: 19.99 US

Initial Concept and Game Design: Mark Globus (lead), Kelly Digges, Dave Guskin, and Ryan Miller

Final Game Design and Deck Development: Mark L. Gottlieb (lead), Ryan Miller, Lee Sharpe, and Ken Troop, with contributions from Matt Tabak

That's about it for this edition of the emporium for more information see the link below for the arcana announcement, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Planechase 2012 Announcement

Worlds 2011: Thoughts and Overview

Hello all and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, after i've given the game in card form, let's talk about something that's more recent like i don't know Worlds 2011 for Magic, oh yeah that's this weekend so this will be probably the only time i get to talk about it, this weekend we're gonna see a lot happen, Hall of Fame Inductions will happen obviously, Legacy/Modern and Standard for the team events will also happen, as well as Draft, Standard and of course the Top 8 where it's always standard at worlds. Also after worlds we will be seeing some Dark Ascension maybe early december, middle of december, or perhaps they will do it like last year where they previewed two cards at Worlds, i'm looking at you Mirran Crusader and Phyrexian Crusader. But enough talk about last year's cards let's see the results of the event after the grand finale of the top 8/team finals competition, starting with the team competition.

The team competition as it is this year was down to the wire with Japan and Norway leading the way into the top 8 live webcast, but only one could come on top, however it's not to say it wasn't a boring team competition to be honest, we had Modern, Standard and Legacy matches taking place at the same time, with the respective team members of each running specific decks, in the standard portion it was Ryuchiro Ishida's White/Green Wolf Run Ramp deck vs Kristoffer Johnson's White Green Tokens build while in the Modern table side it was Sveinung Bjørnerud's Big Zoo deck vs the Pester Twin deck of Makihito Mihara. Legacy saw itself a barn burner of a deck spree with Fujimoto Tomoya's Show and Tell deck vs the awesome raw power of Andreas Nordahl's No Cat Zoo deck, however there could be only one with the team of Japan taking the title in a convincing 2-0 sweep, making it so simple it wasn't even funny.

In the regular edition of the top 8, we saw all 4 members of Channel Fireball take on their respective opponents, all the members being Luis Scott Vargas, Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa, Conley Woods and of course Josh Utter Leyton all running the exact same deck this weekend which was believe it or not Tempered Steel, the exact same build for all the respective players, but a bit of good news for you canadian fans, we got a canadian in the top 8 of this year's worlds by the name of David Caplan whom was running Mono Red this weekend against one PVDDR for short, we saw their match was a barn burner and would have given anyone a run for the edge of their seats. But in the end again the one whom was crowned world champion was of course Junya Iyanaga whom showed wolf run ramp can indeed get the job done at the big show, we look forward to seeing you at worlds next year.

Anyways the Player of the Year race was a little different this time around, with of course having a few challengers this time around, but we know it was going to be an american as Player of the Year this year, but a big congrats go out Owen Turtenwald for winning the title but that is all she wrote for this year's event in short, this was a excellent event overall and proved that worlds went out in a blaze of glory, however this was the last time we get to see something like this with the new worlds format taking over next year at Gen Con in Indy but until next time this is vergil signing off, for full detailed coverage of the event go to the link below.

Worlds 2011 Coverage