Author: carteblanchehobbies

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Gatecrash Preview: Aetherize

aetherizeEvacuation for a Standard situation

This is one heck of an exciting card to be sure. You probably would think its applications are rather straightforward, but let me assure you they are not.

You see there is still a point AFTER you have dealt combat damage with your creatures that they are still considered attacking. I mentioned this a while back in my Maverick article. The trick was with Maze of Ith which gave your creatures pseudo-vigilance (usually to a Knight of the Reliquary)

What does this have to do with Aetherize? Well, you see…if you play a lot of  ‘enter the battlefield’ trigger creatures much like everyone does in the current Standard metagame, you might want to do this. You can get insane value off of your Thragtusk, since you get a 3/3 then recast to gain 5 life afterwards. Or it can just be a great way to play around cards like Supreme Verdict as well (by returning not all creatures, but the ones that you can recast for value while retaining a good threat and forcing the Supreme Verdict).

Gain even more value with Snapcaster Mage too! Any whacky scenarios you can conjure up are sure to be reasonably good.

 

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Gatecrash Preview: Aerial Maneuver

aerialmaneuver

 

Great white combat trick

This card has many applications all of which are strictly relegated to the realm of Limited magic. The one I think is most relevant is to give you a great defence against a card like Aurelia, the Warleader.

Next!

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Gatecrash Preview: Blind Obedience

blindobedience

Cancel Haste and maybe a small amount of Life Drain

A great great card in a lot of formats, except maybe in limited where you would probably just prefer another blocker. It makes other cards like Ball Lightning or its Boros brother Spark Trooper rather bad. The extort makes it really interesting as most Extort abilities are attached to creatures. Basically, it gives you time to react to the Standard dominating haste creatures in the RB Aggro deck:

Falkenrath Aristocrat

Thundermaw Hellkite

Hellrider

all great creatures but somewhat less so when you can actually slow them down enough to drop an Oblivion Ring or Detention Sphere on them. I honestly believe there is very little missing for an Standard Enchantress-style deck right now. That thing would be something akin to Argothian Enchantress or Enchantress’s Presence.

enchantress's presence

argothian enchantress

Ah! my lovelies!

Perhaps the greater application is in the said Enchantress deck in Legacy. You make slow down Goblins and in some Death and Taxes /Maverick decks you get some free swings in versus insane roadblocks like Progenitus. If you have something like a Meekstone, you can ‘Stasis‘ almost all opposing creatures as well.

The possibilities are pretty nice, especially in the enchantress deck where you can use this in multiples as an alternative win condition instead of Words of War and Sigil of Empty Throne. It gets pretty crazy if you play any kind of enchantment that can bounce itself back to your hand such as:

shimmering wings

there are others as well…

Basically, you can redraw every time you cast this off of your enchantresses as well as drain for 1 life with your white mana (multiple white if you have a Serra’s Sanctum in play.)

Whatever your deck ideas, I’m sure this card has a great home in them.

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Gatecrash Preview: Biomass Mutation

biomassmutation

Wow! Instant and playable in Blue OR Green?

Really big merfolk is what I see in this card. Assemble a horde of little green or blue guys and just watch them explode! Like those old commercials for the little sponge creatures that grow with added water and you keep as pets (80’s represent).

The Instant on this card is what makes it awesome. As opposed to Overrun, this is an actual combat trick. Probably more in limited where you attack with a bunch of your little guys to seemingly just poke a tiny bit of damage through. Your opponent will either block your little guys or let them through, either way it’s a losing proposition if you have this in hand with a decent amount of mana on the battlefield.

overrun

These creatures look somewaht smaller than the ones on Biomass Mutation, no?

Think of the insane possibilities with Elf decks packing Elvish Archdruid or Priest of Titania. Make a ton of mana with your one elf then swing in with the rest of your army. In Commander, where matches usually last really long, this can be a great finisher with even only 3 creatures in play. It also does wonders with creatures like Needle Specter or Cold-Eyed Selkie which get you a better benefit when they grow.

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Gatecrash Preview: Assemble the Legion

assemblethelegion

 

A better Goblin Assault? Sign me up to the Boros Legion!

At first glance this card may not seem impressive. Then you begin to analyze it: 1 token, 2 tokens, 3 tokens…woah! It does make a LOT of tokens at a decent pace. This is probably the rare you want to open in your Boros Guild pack if you want to win. If you want value, you probably want one of these:

aureliathewarleader

Relentless Assault has never been this sexy!

If you can’t attack profitably , you can probably just wait it out and cast this lovely common:

massiveraid

‘Massive’ is correct

In Standard it will probably be the new Goblin Trenches, a card which was played in a USA Control deck back in the Invasion days of standard. This one does not cause you to sacrifice lands and makes much much more tokens. Supreme Verdict? I’ll just ‘muster’ up some more tokens and swing at you at my next turn bro! Terminus? sure, not much more effective versus this card.

Get them while they are reasonably cheap. The risk is low and the playability in casual also increases its desirability.

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Gatecrash Preview: Adaptive Snapjaw

adaptivesnapjaw

 

Gotta love that quote!

This card gives us a nice little peek at the possibilities of the ‘Evolve’ mechanic. While not being the greatest of commons, it does almost always Evolve your other Simic guild creatures. Its low toughness is actually great as it will also most likely evolve on the following turn when we cast a 3-toughness or greater creature. So basically it’s a 7/3+ for 5 mana that you have to wait a turn for. If you have played limited for some time, you surely realise that it’s a pretty good deal. It grows a creature and possibly keeps growing itself.

A great follow-up to Fathom Mage to be sure. Make Fathom Mage a 2/2 and draw a card off it. That’s probably going to be restricted to being a limited play, but who cares? Try it as an cheap casual deck for fun!

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Gatecrash Preview: Act of Treason

actoftreason

 

It’s M12 all over again!

What can be said of this reprint that has not already been said? You probably want a few when drafting or at your local pre-release. It combos great with cards that allow you to sacrifice creatures afterwards. This causes it to act as both a temporary Control Magic and a removal spell all-in-one.

The art is the main thing I personally hate about the card. I guess they couldn’t reuse the M12 art as it had to be more Ravnica-flavoured. It’s also a cool inexpensive casual and Commander card as well. The steal and sac concept being quite popular in the Commander format.

Who know, maybe we will see this played as a one-of in a Standard sideboard? Maybe some decks will prefer to just need 3 mana over the five required for Zealous Conscripts?

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FNM Promo for January 2013

searing spear fnm

 

Standard’s version of Incinerate is hot

Searing Spear is seeing quite a bit of play in the current Standard format and it was nice of Wizards to make it January’s FNM promo. be sure to play in your local gaming store’s FNM for a chance to win one. We all love the quote and it is quite versatile as well.

FNM_logo

Click the FNM logo above to find an Friday Night Magic Event near you!

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Gatecrash Preview: Experiment One

experiment oneNot too shabby for a one drop

A lot of people are comparing the ‘Evolve’ mechanic to the old ‘Graft’ one that the Simic Guild had last Ravnica Block. I think that Evolve is slightly better though.

The regenerate ability is good if you overcommit and you’ll be able to somewhat rebuild instead of just outright losing everything. it gets better if your Turn 2 is a Strangleroot Geist (that way you get even better post Supreme Verdict recovery).

Supreme Verdict

No fear! well, kind of….

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Gatecrash Preview: Viashino Shanktail

viashino shanktailThe Bloodrush ability has been spotted on some cool cards, this not being one of them

For its regular cost, this card is not really something you would envision playing. Even in limited, you can think of this more like a spell than anything else. Getting that First Strike bonus definitely helps a lot.

The fact that it has a ‘dual role’ is still pretty good in limited. If you are in dire need of a good blockers, then he’s your man. If you wanna push through the final three points of damage, likewise.  However, if there is a common pinger in the format, this card’s value will decrease quite a bit.

Hopefully, the next Bloodrush card preview will be a bit more interesting.