Looks so-so. Kinda looks like a dude though…
Jace looks a little sick, perhaps he spent too much time with Liliana?
Now this Liliana definitely looks black, no? It’s not just me is it?
We already saw this one, but it also comes with some words of ‘wisdom’ from the big guy himself
Well, Ajani, I’m convinced this is the best art you’ve had since original Ajani Vengeant
Not too shabby Wizards! Now if only most of us that didn’t go to the San Diego Comicon could get our hands on these…
Yay! Tentacles!
That’s right, Experiment One is your September FNM Promo card. It looks so much cooler than the original one in my opinion and will probably be in high demand for those players looking to pimp their Naya Blitz or Gruul Aggro decks.
Remember that one of the only ways to get it is to go play at your local game store’s Friday Night Magic Event!
At a Magic: the Gathering store near you!
4 FNM cards are distributed – 2 to the first 2 players in the standings and 2 at random. So remember to stick around until the very end to get a chance to grab a promo even if you didn’t perform that well. You never know…
It’s no Beast Within
Bramblecrush is sort of like Acidic Slime‘s and Beast Within‘s love child. They decided it would basically be a Sorcery (worse than Instant or Creature in this case) and would destroy anything but creatures , including planeswalkers (better than Acidic Slime and worse than Beast Within). The end result is rather unexciting because it’s too fair and that’s not something most Magic: the Gathering players like. We like that little extra oomph that is sometimes included with our cardboard crack.
The Wolf Pack reunites after ‘the Hangover’
It’s really nice to see this card back as we are constantly sold out of it. It sells really really well. Casual players love it and it’s actually not terribly bad in a Monogreen Commander deck either. The fact that it makes wolf tokens works great with Master of the Wild Hunt.
Monogreen removal!
This should be winning some hideous art contest soon
Just another reprint under another name. Not particularly exciting outside of the real of limited Magic.
It kinda suck that they could not just use the original artwork
This is strictly worse than Caravan Vigil, a card which saw like zero play.
Draw your own conclusion from there.
‘Sliver Ramp’ or ‘Paradise Sliver’
We have seen Gemhide Sliver in the past , but just like all other slivers in M14 this one only affects your Slivers. Even in non-sliver decks it does provide acceleration into a turn 4 play on turn 3, which is great (much like Farseek allowed a turn 3 Olivia Voldaren or Huntmaster of the Fells in Jund decks).
With no assured ramp spell in Theros, this card may indeed be replacing Farseek as the Standard Rampant Growth variant.
You tell ’em Garruk !
What more can be said about this awesome card? Nothing, really.
So, can we have the Enchantress card now please?
It would be nice to get a self-bouncing enchantment or enchantment card drawing effect to go along with this. On its own it obviously rather underwhelming. Even the elf creature on the card seems to be suffering a little.
More words of wisdom from Garruk
Even the quote is dull
If you’re gonna go out of your way to reprint this, why not strike up a deal with Geico and make a functional reprint called Gecko.
You can save more on Magic: the Gathering by buying a Fat Pack!
That’s correct you crazy Gecko you! He’s so adorable too. But nooooo! they had to go with the hideous Rootwalla.
Translation: ‘we don’t like your kind ’round these parts! ‘
I know I’m giving these M14 cards a bit of a hard time by mentioning cards whose power level is a bit higher at times, but I really wanted Squall Line here. A nice green finisher plus it sounds like a wrestling move. Oh my gawd, he nailed him with the Squall Line! It’s over!
I do still think it’s a fin uncommon inclusion for limited purposes and potential Standard sideboard hate.
Elesh Norn quote? Wha?
I was a little confused and unsure that this was a legit card in M14 and I still don’t really see the reasoning behind it. The only real reason I can fathom is that Wizards of the Coast decided to make the card more accessible in the secondary market for EDH/Commander purposes. This somewhat hurts a bit if you’re a seller but in the end it’s good for the players. Not to worry though, it will probably be in heavy demand once people stop cracking them M14 boosters.
Woah? A Koth quote now?
Are they really teasing anther return to Mirrodin? In a world of Keyrunes and Chromatic Lantern, I highly doubt this will see serious play. Of course all the Commander players can rejoice just as they did when Reliquary Tower was reprinted in M13 (for no good reason).
Nice to have this back
This is exactly the kind of card you want in a Core Set : not too recent and representing a not too common mechanic. Being a judge , I know I’l have to endlessly explain to players exactly how double strike works when the attacking creature kills the lone blocker after the first strike part.
No, you do not get to hit your opponent with a shot of regular damage. The creature was blocked so nothing goes through unless of course the attacker had Trample, in which case all the remaining damage goes through.
This is going to be really annoying to face in drafts
I like the direction Wizards of the Coast is taking with some of the more underwhelming rare artifacts of the past (Jayemdae Tome, Primal Clay,etc) by lowering their rarity and putting them in Core Sets. It shows newer players why this cad may have been somewhat good in the past by giving them a chance to play with it a little.
You don’t get to complain that your rare is some has been card and gain a new appreciation for how the game has evolved over the years (unless of course you are totally against the power creep).
More bad news for the goblin is that it can almost wipe out a good percentage of their kind
As sad as this sounds: Rod of Ruin can totally dominate the battlefield in a limited environment. It destroys any one toughness creature as well as provides you with a clock. For those unaware of what a clock means, it basically gives your opponent X numer of turns to live unless they can remove the clock. In this case, it’s a rather weak-looking 20 turn clock but you get the point.
You will soon be able to trade in goats like in ancient Greece when Theros comes out
This card brings back some lukewarm memories. I had picked it to be a sleeper card in M13 and that didn’t go all too well. I ended up trading 3-4$ cards to obtain these. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that I was probably on the losing end of those trades in the long run. Even when a monoblack control list featuring Trading Post appeared late in the M13-Scars format, it did not to much to revive Trading Post.
I’m not sure what kind of decks will be running this in the future Standard format, but I think I have enough copies as it stands. Like many cards of this genre, Commander is pretty much the perfect format for it. Pick one up and try it in your EDH/Commander deck and you might be pleasantly surprised if like most people you run a great deal of artifacts in your deck.
Well, not much to see here is there
With only 3 nonbasic lands in M14, we kind of reviewed them already. We could go over the basic lands if you would like, seeing as how they see little play in the current Standard format to the point where it seems most players have forgotten about them. Well, maybe not totally: I still see people rushing to the local store’s Land Station during FNM Drafts.
That’s it then! Prepare to have fun during the Magic 2014 Pre-release on Friday , July 12 or Thursday at midnight if your store does that sort of thing (all the ones here in Montreal do).
As far as the reprints in this set go, this is one of the better ones. I like it in both limited and constructed since it serves as both a sacrifice outlet and card draw. Works best with zombies like Gravecrawler and its partner in crime: Geralf’s Messenger
Some innovation
Wow! Wizards is giving Black a nice new toy and some added reach versus artifacts, well more specifically Equipment.
I like the flavor of this: if there is a living being within the equipment, they get crushed within it. While it doesn’t technically ‘destroy’ the equipmen, we can all agree that the equipment has pretty much been rendered useless. Except of course:
I really do love this card
Ack! a little vampire child
Ah yes, the obligatory Vampire Aristocrat reprint. Although it’s technically weaker since it cannot sacrifice itself.
M14 Vampires are back in full force. Well, actually it looks more like the second string line-up of Vampires.
Can’t have the white without the black eh?
They really don’t want the new Commander players to miss out on this
Go go Combo decks!
Aw! such a cute Zombizzle! Can we keep it?
Blood Artist with stats and a sac ability, kind of. It’s definitely not unplayable.
This card does not harbor vast potential, regardless of its flavor text
It’s not horrible since you get 3 mana back, but it still actually requires you to have 5 mana to cast. I really hate it personally. Then again, it’s a common so it’s not horrible in limited and perhaps some Pauper decks.
Can we hope for more new art? Would it make the card better? Nope and Nope.
Back to haunt your dreams
Shade abilities plus flying = Yay!
almost double the cost to play and activate the abilities = Boo!
Really?
So now we get about 3 months or so of the 2 black enchantment combo. For those of you who are not aware, it comboes with this:
All that is required is one point of damage for the whole thing to go off (or one loss of life)
So basically play one on turn 5, then the other on turn 6 and drop a land. Play something like Shock and laugh maniacally because you are truly and ‘Evil Genius’.
Because -2/-2 might actually kill a few creatures and we can’t have that now can we?
Not a terrible reprint, no a great one either. I suppose it may find its way into more eccentric sideboards that are seeking to disrupt reanimator strategies.
This actually saw some play when it was in M12, so I wouldn’t be surprised that it does so again in M14. Sure Disfigure is sill probably better but we can’t have ‘everything’ in Magic 2014.
Not too shabby for a little red common
A cute little common that provides some aggro as well as card filtering, so you can hold those lands in your grip and wait for something better to potentially come along.
It would have been much better as a forced discard without the ‘if you do’ clause, obviously. Not sure how high these will go in draft.
There is no escape
So we get a Manabarbs variant which encourages you to play monocolored decks and punishes your opponents that probably play 2-5 color decks. I like it personally, since it’s rather obvious they would not print a hate card like Blood Moon in standard.
Burning Earth is sure to find its way into numerous sideboards for the full year or so that it will be legal in Standard, s pick up your playset now while they’re cheap.
Nice flavor text
I don’t think Cyclops’es’ were meant to get any better than this guy
Pillage is not coming back, ever
Guess they had to bring this back with Acidic Slime not coming back to the party in M14.
A variation of Rukh Egg
You crack the egg and out comes a little Furance Whelp. Not too shabby. Block with it early on then go on the offensive in the late game.
There’s usually one of these in Core Sets for limited purposes.
Beautiful Hate
Being a fan of Wayne Reynolds, I absolutely adore the art on this card. Moving on to the card itself – I must say it’s really better than I expected. Its base stats are really nice and its hate ability can get out of hand quickly.
Of course it somewhat harms opponents casting Sphinx’s Revelation but it does a lot versus cards like Think Twice and Azorius Charm as well as Snapcaster Mage (which usually flashes back a blue/White spell). Of course you can always redirect the 2 damage to an opposing planeswalker which is really nice. It also trades with cards like Boros Reckoner which is really valuable since that is one really huge roadblock for a lot of red decks.
Overall I think Wizards of the Coast did a superb job on all the color hate cards. While they do not hose opposing colors, they do become a thorn in their side and give you a good enough advantage over them. I really prefer them over the instant color hate cards ( Flashfreeze, Combust, Celestial Purge, Autumn’s Veil and Deathmark).
The new shatter is back for good.
A nice limited combat trick that can potentially double as the poster for the next Thor movie.
The instant Blaze finisher in red-based draft or sealed decks
Works great with…oh wait, Squee was reprinted in Modern Masters
It’s been a while
It’s really nice to have this card back in the Standard format. I do remember that it was rather effective against a certain card called Cryptic Command. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.
Similarly, I believe it can help combat cards like Warleader’s Helix and Sphinx’s Revelation. While you do not get the full benefit in the case of Revelation, it still nets you life and cards (Good!). In the case of Helix, it can pretty much close a game out if your opponent was in ‘Survival Mode’. It will still only net 4 damage overall, since he will helix himself, but gain 4 life (effectively blanking his copy) and then your copy can simply deal 4 to him.
That about ends this Previews article. Be back soon for the final one where we take a look at Green , Artifacts and Lands.
Well, all 249 have been spoiled !
No official art yet! Does anyone care?
I know I don’t.
A ‘blessing’ they changed the artwork
Nice to see they dug up this old fossil just in time. I think it can really be a contender …. in draft.
Oh my!
I want to hate on this card so bad, but I have such fond memories of playing it when I was a beginner. I guess it’s not terribly bad….
It can give you a lot more life versus a token or if you are playing a token deck. Then again, you’d probably prefer a mass boost or a mass removal depending on which side you are on.
Why bother making a variant of such an awesome card? Reprint it and make everyone happy!
It’s actually not THAT bad. Having played in the Time Spiral block limited format, I can vouch for this card’s effectiveness.
By all means, stop reprinting
Still not good on a planeswalker (since you sacrifice them when they go to Zero loyalty or under. Maybe we’ll see this in some ‘wacky’ enchantment deck.
They had to bring it back since it’s the ‘basic’ creature control card. I mean, whatever else would we do to deal with Thragtusk and the like?
Yet another Bonfire hoser
That’s riiiiight! All the damage! Damn you overpowered white cards! *shakes fist*
A Sunspire Gatekeepers with no upside? Oh riiiight, the 4 toughness IS the upside.
Silly me!
For when you want everything to go bye bye!
Seriously?
They couldn’t reprint Cataclysm or something?
Just kidding!
I suppose they still need to keep those planeswalkers under control.
Found in 1 out of 3 white based draft decks.
That should be Sin Collector being quoted there
For when you want to make it into a non-interactive affair. Seriously did they need to really reprint this thing? I don’t think it’s hard to pick up in the secondary market AND the modern deck that runs this card is pretty much dead.
I think Grand Abolisher would have been more appropriate and more appreciated as well.
Sorry pal, maybe next Core Set
An ‘acceptable’ Disenchant variant.
Try not to crash into Flying Men little hawk!
Half a Squadron Hawk in every way! Some would even say a quarter of a Squadron Hawk.
I enjoy vanilla once in a while too, but this is a little ridiculous no?
Ah! trusty wall made out of sword!
Nothing beat a good old Wall of Swords.
Except: how does it manage to just float in the air all on its own? Magic….oh yeah, ‘Magic’.
The pauper Snapcaster Mage
It’s like a Gravedigger for your instants and sorceries. If she can trade with an opposing creature on top of it, you will gain even more value out of her.
This card is by no means meant to be a real deal in constructed formats, but boy is it fun in limited! I look forward to once again drafting up a Red/Blue deck full of burn, bounce and utility dudes.
Archaeo comes from the Greek ‘ancient’
Mancer usually refers to the manipulator of a certain element or simply a magician
Now that you know this, you can sleep a little better.
It’s a crab in armor. How funny! We got it the first time Wizard of the Coast, no need for a repeat performance.
What? were you all expecting Counterspell ?
I think even something like ‘Deprive‘ would have been asking for too much?
Will it be better or worse?
I suppose they really need to test out how well that new ‘Legend’ rule is going to work with the Theros block. No better way to do this than to reprint the original.
I guess you might need one – IF you plan on making an all-merfolk Commander deck.
Simple yet effective. It does sometimes see a semblance of competitive play.
Now an M14 Rare
I feel really cheated that this thing is now a rare. What brought upon this change? It’s sure as hell not Control Magic, not by a longshot ( and even that card was an uncommon).
This and Negate – Core Set forever!
As a 1/1 for one blue mana, it has TWO more abilities than Coral Merfolk. How insane is that?
Good old reliable! I still like having no really good counterspells so as to force players to decide between this and Essence Scatter.
not to be mistaken for that archaic accounting software
A nice ‘Johnny‘ style of card. You can probably do some insane plays with it, plus it actually draws you a card so it’s not totally a dead draw when you’re out of gas.
Not really as good as Ophidian was now that the Constructed formats are more creature-heavy.
Much needed new artwork
Another counterspell? I’m still not sure how I feel about this one, but I’m guessing that most of the time you’re simply overpaying to counter stuff.
That poor bear!
Azorius Charm minus the combat restriction, but at sorcery speed and one mana more.
If only it somehow had a Relentless Rats clause…
Now back with a change in rarity!
Not only is this no longer that great of a mill card, but they have the audacity to bump this up to mythic ratity? Really?
This is like in all those ‘mill’ decks that never work. I would much rather play the other blue mythic in this set: Jace, Memory Adept
EDIT: So finally it’s still a Rare, I apologize for the misinformation.
Half an Aetherling, in cost only.
Its efficiency gets cut down by half, then half again and again.
*Gasp!* a new card!
It’s actually not that bad as you don’t have to waste your turn 4 to play something like Levitation. Now that was bad!
Getting rather tired at this moment, so I’ll be back with the rest of the cards tomorrow. Good night!
Let’s get to it!
Zombizzles are sort of back
All bummed out about the Innistad block Zombies rotating out in November? Well, don’t be! You still get about 3 months to enjoy them. M14 even brings in a new recruit into the ranks. Although most of the time he might probably be sitting on the sidellines.
He hates on Green and White (black’s enemy colors) AND has evasion. His stats are pretty bad, but if you’re getting in for 3 once in awhile it’s not too bad. You basically get to drop him on turn 3 and pre-emptively deal with a Thragtusk, Trostani, Angel of Serenity and Restoration Angel. Nice!
If you’re playing him in a Zombie tribal deck you also have Cavern of Souls to make sure he sticks. Another thing he’s good at is supporting your discard spell and making sure you don’t ‘accidentally’ get them to discard a Loxodon Smiter (always a pain).
Yeah, this guy
I can see hi fitting in some kind of black-white discard aggro deck with Sin Collector, Liliana of the Veil and Liliana’s Reaver. Of course the white is also to partially double up on the enter the battlefield abilities by playing Restoration Angel. And you might even want to consider a copy of this:
Double your value – Double your fun!
I really like that it allows us to permanently deal with Angel of Serenity. This card is such a pain to play against and it becomes a bigger headache in multiples. All in all, it’s nice to see black getting this nice little boost as I feel that it’s the most underplayed color in the current standard format (with Red or White being the most played.)
Blind Obedience on legs
Imposing Sovereign is sure to revitalize the White Weenie archetype. Just like it’s enchantment counterpart it makes Advent of the Wurm and Restoration Angel lose a bit of their effectiveness. I’m little befuddled as to why the creature type is simply ‘Human’ . Would it have been a stretch to make it an ‘Advisor’ or something?
The blue ‘Abyss’?
I was joking at a local card shop as to how ridiculous this card is. At 7 mana however, I don’t see it entering the realm of competitive Magic. Still, your opponent’s creature basically gain the disadvantages of cards like Phantasmal Image. If you have an easy way to target over and over for free or almost free – you’re set!
In commander this basically becomes downright unfair. All your pingers basically one-shot anything with needed cards like Basilisk Collar. Plus it takes card of indestructible dudes like this guy.
Finally, we can run something other than Ghost Quarter
Nice! we get a Wasteland variant in Standard! Tectonic Edge was pretty decent when it was in Standard (plus it’s even run in a few Modern decklists). This one feels a little more underwhelming still. Kind of like it had a little label that said:
I mean, 4 mana ? Really? I guess the Theros lands are going to be crazy good for this effect to cost 4 mana. We don’t get any dual lands or other lands in Magic 2014 for those of you who are not aware. So basically pick them up now and hope you get to use them productively later.
Ever since there was that Red/White/Black Zombie Bombardment deck in Legacy, people have been reacquainting themselves with Goblin Bombardment. This card is a great tribute to the might enchantment.
I wish I had an army of Goblins
Barrage of Expendables will probably see play in a Red/Black Zombies list just like Mortarpod had a few years ago. There’s also other things you can do – like run it in a Boros deck to have your Fiend Hunters permanently remove opposing creatures while maybe even taking down an additional 1-toughness creature. It’s also a great way to defend yourself against Boros Reckoners. You block them and sacrifice your creature before damage is deal, that way the Boros Reckoner is temporarily contained while your life total is preserved.
You can also use it against decks running cards like Supreme Verdict so that you can get some extra ‘reach’ against them by doing a few extra points of damage. Also, you can sacrifice anything they target with cards like Warleader’s Helix (soon to see much more play) so that they don’t get to gain 4 life. Likewise, it can be used to tick down opposing planeswalkers when you are unable to attack them.
Here’s a few other suggestions thanks to our good friend ‘Gatherer’.
They really want us to miss Reassembling Skeleton, huh?
Why must they always print superior Grizzly Bears ?
A few more reprints were confirmed as well:
Rewind, Sign in Blood, Briarpack Alpha, Gladecover Scout, Verdant Haven, Plummet
Yeah, nothing exciting aside from maybe Rewind which was always cute with Flash creatures. Let’s hope the final 50 or so remaining cards contain a few pleasant surprises.
In the meantime, you can Pre-Order your singles here!
Back already! A few nice cards were recently spoiled, so let’s take a look:
Pretty legit card right here
Woah! I had to actually do a double take after reading it through. Essentially we get a ‘better’ Moonsilver Spear. Instead of getting a 4/4 angel when we attack, we get to have a 4/4 when we are down to no creatures. How useful is this? Very.
Bonfire of the Damned got you down? Well, now you get to at least defend yourself with a 4/4.
Just played a Supreme Verdict ? What are you waiting for? Attack!
Losing all your creatures left and right while your opponent is +’ing his planeswalker in anticipation for a nasty ultimate? Active and attack his planeswalker.
His creatures are bigger than you? Activate Haunted Plate Mail and equip another Haunted Plate Mail. You are now attacking with an 8/8. I don’t know about you, but that’s preeeeetyyyy big!
How’s that for big?
Another neat feature after you’ve equipped and attacked is that you can then activate the untapped Haunted Plate Mail in order to block any retaliation/counterattack. This is probably going to be seen quite often if this little piece of equipment becomes popular, so keep an eye out for it.
It’s probably one of my favorite rares in M14 as it can also easily be put into a Commander deck where quite a few people just spam a bunch of planeswalkers and play multiple Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, etc.
Take that you Greenie Meanie!
This nice little utility merfolk brings us some answers to Thragtusk in Standard and quite possibly Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze in Modern. I mention mostly the green creaures because red is more apt at removing our little merfolk wizard here. Plus, there aren’t that many huge red guys you want to tap down (aside from maybe a Thundermaw Hellkite).
I can also see it getting some much needed sideboard use in Merfolk Legacy decks that sometimes have issues dealing with Maverick creatures like Knight of the Reliquary. The problem is what to side out, but I’m guessing the Cursecatchers are the first to go in that matchup.
In a more casual environment you can amuse yourself by utilizing this guy with artifacts like Distorting Lens.
Works well with all of the color-hate creatures
Our final little spoiler today is clearly not as ‘cool’ as the two first, but he does have his uses.
Rancor + sacrifice outlet = removal?
You can get pretty creative with little wizard. He works really well with self-bouncing Auras such as Shimmering Wings . My main gripe so far as it was with the previous Core Set is that they still have not printed an ‘Enchantress’ card like Argothian, Verduran or Enchantress’ Presence. Playing a ton of Auras or Enchantments is not very exciting without those.
In limited he will truly shine since he basically adds value to whatever enchantments you decide to include in your deck (Pacifism, Claustrophobia,etc)
See you soon for even more previews of Magic 2014!
Here’s another edition of the upcoming Magic 2014 Core Set spoilers. Let’s get things under way with somewhat of a combo card:
They can’t all look like Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Not even close !
Let’s focus on what this flavourful card does:
Festering Newt and Bubbling Cauldron?
So what are these cards she can search for and how do they fit in the grand scheme of things? Does she give us anything neat to do or are we just tutoring for random jank?
Festering Goblin‘s ‘evolution’
So this thing can take down 5/5 s? Nice.
Oh wait, there’s some fine print on the Witch that indicates our little Salamander enters the battlefield tapped. There will be no easy value tricks here! Still, you can block some 2 power dudes and activate the witch at your opponent’s end fof turn to slowly gather your army of salamanders.
Let’s take a look at the final piece of this odd combination of cards.
Like a mini Trading Post
Oh! I see… That’s how the poor little Newt dies. Neat! So if all goes according to plan, we can kill 4 of our opponent’s creatures AND drain them for 16 points of damage. Cool cool! This is probably going to be a nice little gimmick deck to keep around. Not really going to cost much to build and it’s fun to play with once in a while. Unless something really insane is released in M14 that makes this ‘deck’ (and I use the term loosely) viable, I don’t see this getting played in Standard. If such a deck were to exist, you probably would only need one copy of the cauldron since it’s tutorable and is less likely to be destroyed/countered (especially if it’s just put into play with the witch).
It reminds me a little bit of these past ‘built-in’ combos.
Spirit of the Night represent!
So powerful it cannot be spoken of
While the ‘big’ card may seem weaker in the Bogbrew Witch ‘engine’ , the end result is much much better than these previous ‘combos’ could hope for. Plus it featured cards that potentially are more useful on their own.
It’s nice to see Wizards of the Coast redo something like this. A lot of people have complained and said it’s very Yu-Gi-Oh! ish , but I think it has its place in Magic: the Gathering as long as it’s done in small doses.
If you ever open a Bogbrew Witch in a draft format it’s definitely worth trying to incorporate in your deck (even if you only get like 0 Cauldrons and 2 Newts).
Slivers rejoice!
It’s been really popular since its introduction and is actively sought after still. Of course the first thing that comes to mind is Slivers, but elves are not too far behind. Granted there are not many elves out at the moment but that may change (probably after Theros block since there are no elves in Greek Mythology).
Door of Destinies is going to find its way into numerous deck, but of course most of which will be casual. A self-bouncing creature could potentially put a great deal of counters on this thing.
A couple of these might do the trick
Sprinkle some of this…
That’s just a quick example and perhaps not all that impressive but you can do some pretty sick things with it for sure. Infinite sacrificing of Persist creatures also work (just that most don’t share a creature type). You’re gonna have to choose between Ouphe or Goblin.
Decisions, decisions …
One more before the next article
Of course there have been many similar to it in the past
I really dislike the Hexproof ability as it produced perhaps the most unfun deck to play against in recent memory (the deck being Bant Auras in Standard, which featured Geist of Saint Traft and Invisible Stalker). It really discourages any interaction and purely gives you an advantage. At least the Shroud ability made it fair to both players.
Then again, I can’t really argue much since Magic: the Gathering is now more popular than it has ever been. They are obviously doing many things right. I just don’t think this is one of them.
Witchstalker is fierce but it fails the Restoration Angel test. The angel is not a blue or black spell, so when it is flashed in as a blocker against the Witchstalker it will block, kill it and live to tell the tale. However, since Witchstalker is hexproff you might as well enchant it with something like an Unflinching Courage before sending it off to battle. If Unflinching Courage gets countered, the Witchstalker grows, in which case Restoration Angel is no longer a problem.
Come out come out wherever you are
This thing looks like the big bad wolf and in many cases it will be. It’s going to give multiple headaches to a lot of control decks out there.
That about wraps it up for…. Ok, ok! One more for the road.
Part Glorious Anthem part Righteous Cause
I’m not going to go into much depth about this as there are countless lifegain cards, but we’ll just leave it at this guy:
Will he be returning in M14 ?
There are many lifegain cards already in the M14 Core Set, so a return would somewhat make sense. On that note, I’m out of here.
We’ll start off with one of the ones we were really anticipating:
Um…I guess it’s better than the last one
I honestly don’t think the anticipation was worth it. She’s kind of underwhelming overall. Definitely not a reason to crack M14 boosters, boxes or cases. I hate the fact that she can’t even burn anything relevant like the original Chandra Nalaar used to be able to.
I don’t think it would have been a stretch if she had a Pyroclasm ability as a -4 or something as well. Her artwork is by far the worst looking Chandra art ever and quite possibly worst overall planeswalker art ever (maybe tied with the new Garruk art which is pretty bad).
Let’s examine her abilities:
So at best you can hit a player and redirect to an opposing planeswalker plus hit one of their 1 toughness guys for ‘value’. I use this term loosely because it’s a rather unlikely scenario. You then probably get attacked by one of their bigger creatures and die. I’m guessing this would have been ok if you had something like a Cyclops Gladiator in this set. In that case you could hit their biggest dude so they cannot block the Cyclops and then have the Cyclops ‘fight’ with one of their smaller guys and possibly deal them 4 damage. Even in that scenario, she’s not really defending herself at all. Maybe with vigilance creatures? How many of those exist in red? Yeah, not many…
Not gonna lie. This is pretty damn cool!
So Wizards of the Coast decided to innovate a bit on red planeswalker abilities and I think that’s a step in the right direction. Basically, you’re going to either use this late game or start using it the turn after she came in to play on curve (since on turn 4, barring acceleration you cannot have mana to actually pay for the card. Or, in the case of it being a land, you cannot play an additional land in the turn.)
Knowing what the top card is kind of helps, in case of a format like Commander. In Legacy formats you can have ‘fun’ with this Chandra and a very frustrating Enchantment:
Probably one of the most hated cards, ever!
Yeah, kind of like Ral Zarek and Stasis. When their dudes are just 1/1’s it’s easy to constantly Chandra-snipe them. Also with a Sensei’s Divining Top in there you can actually play extra cards when you’re done trouncing their creatures. Not terribly exciting, but this is the kind of deck she would be most effective in all while being able to defend herself and possibly finish the opponent off with her ultimate.
Speaking of which:
Yay! Time to burninate our opponents!
So at -7 we ‘might’ get something in our top 10 cards that we can ‘triple cast’ and can potentially lead us to victory. *Sigh* I guess… If it’s a Searing Spear, it’s just 9 damage. Kind of makes us miss Chandra, the Firebrand’s 6 damage to up to 6 targets ultimate. In more casual formats you can do stuff like Triple Wheel of Fortune or something along those lines.
Final Verdict
This is not going to have been worth the wait. Whatever hype it has, it will not live up to it. We can only hope that the ‘black foil’ version they sell at Gencon looks amazing (which it probably will). Like most real-life Red planeswalkers , Chandra still has a lot to learn before she can achieve greatness.
So this thing is back
and so is this:
Oh joy!
I know that personally I will dread opening these up in boosters and you probably will as well. Do future generations of Magic: the Gathering players a favor and either:
A) tear these up
B) give them to new players who are just beginning to discover the wonderful world that is Magic. It might brighten some youngster’s day.
A ‘fixed’ Primordial Hydra for one mana less
Here we have a nice green fatty that is sure to be played in the upcoming Standard format since it’s slightly ahead of the curve on its abilities. If it gets to actually attack the following turn it becomes a legitimate threat as an 8/8 Trampler. This obviously gets scarier if it has been granted haste (Fervor, for example).
If you’re into attacking with big bad creatures, then this is for you. Of course, in the tradition of big green beast you’ll probably need some little mana dorks/acceleration to get them out a turn or two earlier.
Isochron Scepter , but vulnerable as a creature. Yet no mana cost limitation on what it can copy.
Mmmm…double dipping!
Strionic Resonator (not the most obvious two words in the English language) is going to be one of the coolest cards ever. Think of anything that had a ‘when’ ‘whenever’ or ‘at’ clause that you thought was awesome and double it.
Snapcaster Mage x 2 . While you don’t get the creature twice, you get to effectively ‘flashback’ 2 spells.
Acidic Slime x 2. This is just disgusting and we can prboably be glad that Acidic Slime won’t come back in M14.
Angel of Serenity x 2. If you’re on the receiving end of this, good luck!
Also comboes decently with this new card from M14:
Neat-o!
Most people are pretty excited that black gets another Phyrexian Arena style card after Underworld Connections (which was and still is not too bad). This one has both an upside and downside.
Up 
You get to sort of control it by sacrificing creatures and chump blocking.
You get to potentially draw multiple cards a a turn.
Down
You can’t fully control it, so your opponent can technically finish you off by killing your creatures.
You need creatures on your side of the battlefield to utilize it.
Triple black mana cost.
Verdict
So it’s not clearly better than Underwold Connections which is currently in Standard. Dark Prophecy (cool card name) will surely see lots of constructed play early one (we won’t even mention the countless Commander decks it is going to be played in). It’s just a really well designed card from top to bottom. Great job Wizards!
So the sliver lifelink ability gets discounted by one and becomes black. Interesting!
Winged Sliver strict upgrade!
A ‘fixed’ Fiend Hunter
Bringing ‘White Weenie’ back
We now have enough cards that begin with ‘X’ to make a deck with
This card is more or less a functional reprint of Rotlung Reanimator. Of course the ‘Human’ clause is a lot more relevant than the ‘Cleric’ one. You also get double your value with things like Doomed Traveller and Loyal Cathar. The only downside to the original is that the Zombie token comes into play tapped, but I think that’s acceptable.
The card kind of allows decks like the Aristocrats to stick around in some form past the November Standard rotation. Of course they will have to adapt and try out some new cards (Dark Prophecy perhaps?).
It’s a trap!
For all the coolness this card posesses, it has one very glaring drawback: it does nothing and I mean absolutely nothing on its own. Once you get past that, you can examine the obvious cool things it can enable. Chandra, Pyromaster becomes less of a slouch with this thing in play (she needs all the help she can get). Your Searing Spear and Warleader’s Helix s become that much more devastating.
But at what cost?
I mean, there are so many other things you would much rather be doing on turn 5 than tapping out for this thing, no?
With just over 70 cards left to spoil this set is looking fairly fun and exciting. What’s to come? Maybe more lands? Some older Modern reprints? Who know?
Stay tuned!
The art on the left is ok, but Damn! that black foily version is sexy!
We finally got our M14 Garruk spoiled and boy is he something.
At +1 we get basically a Lead the Stampede which is rather nice in a creature-heavy. We have become accustomed to those as of late with Naya-colored decks (those that already run Domri Rade). It’s nice, sure but nothing to get too excited about. We are paying six mana for this guy after all and we would like to be rewarded.
Now we’re talking! we pay 6 mana for basically what is a Dramatic Entrance. Cute and potentially insane. In the current standard, the biggest baddest dude you can plop down is this guy:
That’s a lot of Wurm meat
Of course, if you’re going to go this route you better make sure you have some kind of sacrifice outlet so that you can benefit from the 3 5/5 Wurm tokens that this thing can churn out.
Also known as the Advent of the Wurm token
More trample is what green needs I always say. But seriously, this might have a legitimate shot of happening in future Standard. Of course you can use his ability in Commander to cheat this next guy into play.
Who plays Natural Order anyways ?
Um….what? yeah! You get to do silly things once you hit that ultimate. So cast random mana dork, go get big huge effect fatty from deck and unleash all kinds of fun. Repeat as you wish, preferably with some little creature you can bounce back into your hand and re-cast.
The possibilities are pretty endless on that -7. Kind of like your whole deck is in ‘Omniscience‘ mode. Your creature spell just needs to be cast and not actually resolver. You know how to cast creature spell don’t you? Just put your finger on the appropriate land cards and tap.
Of course if you’re like me (total fanboy) you won’t just settle for cracking a M14 Garruk in a pack or even getting a shiny one. You’re obviously after the big loot.
Looking for this?
I mean, seriously, how cool is this? It looks more like a comic book cover than a Magic: the Gathering card. It’s one of five M14 planeswalkers available in alternate art black foil. You can only get the at the Hasbro booth at the San Diego Comicon.
The exclusive MTG cards are not on that page but they are confirmed. I really wish I could go grab some or at least convince anyone headed down there to pick me up a set of the 5 black foil planeswalkers. Reply to this post if you can do me that favor. Otherwise, I would have to try to get a group of us from Montreal to head down to San Diego.
Brother Of Runes 