Gatecrash Preview: Burning-Tree Emissary

burningtreeemissaryCombo?

Quite an interesting creature in aggressive decks as it can be a free 2/2 creature. Sometimes you can chain one into another into another. It’s more probable in Limited due to the 40 card deck size versus 60 in constructed.

burningtreeemissary>burningtreeemissary >burningtreeemissary

Combo!

I’m not convinced this thing will be good enough in Constructed but people will try, that’s for sure! I like it personally because in older formats you can play it on turn to into something like Umezawa’s Jitte which is great.

If you bring a bunch back from your graveyard via something like Living Death you get a mana refund which is kinda cool.

 

 

Gatecrash Preview: Boros Reckoner

borosreckoner

Oh My! Spitemare has Evolved!

This is a pretty big deal if there ever was on in Gatecrash. A 3/3 creature for 3 in either Red or White with nothing but bonuses is really pushing the curve. Sure, it’s all colored mana and no colorless, but it’s well worth it. If you do some quick math, you will notice that this minotaur can take down things like Primeval Titan and Wurmcoil Engine (or both its tokens). These creatures are not in Standard at the moment, but they are in Modern. There just happens to be one obscure Modern format deck that will be trying to fit this guy in:

jeanhugues (3-1)
Modern Daily #4776257 on 12/29/2012

Main Deck
60 cards

3 Scrying Sheets
21 Snow-Covered Mountain
24 lands

3 Magus of the Moon
4 Spellskite
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
10 creatures

2 Batterskull
4 Blood Moon
2 Dismember
2 Flame Javelin
4 Koth of the Hammer
4 Pyroclasm
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Skred
26 other spells

Sideboard
4 Mindbreak Trap
2 Slagstorm
4 Torpor Orb
4 Vandalblast
1 Wurmcoil Engine
15 sideboard cards

Yup! right at home! I had suggested Boggart Ram-Gang as a 3-power creature for 3 that would be good versus bigger creatures as well since it would effectively shrink them down with Wither. It was tested with less than good results, but I think Reckoner is a four-of in this build. The overall Moon color-screw package will remain as well as giving you the opportunity for hitting a potentially lethal Skred late game.

skredCome on Boros Reckoner, take one for the team!

For Legacy or casual decks, there’s always:

didgeridoo

Blast from a forgotten past

Gatecrash Preview: Boros Keyrune

boroskeyrune

Cute, but good enough?

Ah! another keyrune. While a little more costly than the original Ravnica Signets, they do give mana on their own and also animate into creatures when needed.

This one basically becomes a Boros Swiftblade. Sure it’s cool and all, but how often do you see this being good? if you do have an equipment to slap onto this, keep in mind it will cost you 2 to ‘creaturize’ this and 2 or more to equip. Not very efficient methinks.

Alternatively….

callofthenightwing

Cipher? of course!

From the Gatecrash FAQ:

“702.97c The card with cipher remains encoded on the chosen creature as long as the card with cipher remains exiled and the creature remains on the battlefield. The card remains encoded on that object even if it changes controller or stops being a creature, as long as it remains on the battlefield.”

Nice! So we can Cipher things onto it. What would the advantage be? Well, over the other keyrunes, I’d say that this one woudl cause Ciphere to trigger twice. That’s double peanut butter and chocolate awesome!

peanut butter and chocolate + peanut butter and chocolate

Double Yummy!

The color combination might be off though, since it might be 4 color. But if we go with blue/white/red we have a few ciphers to work with:

handsofbinding lastthoughts stolenidentity

Which seems cooler to you? 

Obviously Stolen Identit  right?

stolenidentity

Did you catch it?

That’s right! you’re not only cloning a creature, you’re cloning Mana! That’s some kind of weird ramp, no? I think it’s rather funny. An ‘Explosive Vegetation‘ each time you double strike. Of course you can just copy a better creature but this gets you infinite more style points.

The other 2 are fine as well. One is like a ‘double Frost Titan‘ and the other a better Thieving Magpie. Either way, it’s probably something to think about. Otherwise, you are just looking at hitting for two damage on an post-Supreme Verdict battlefield.

Gatecrash Preview: Dual Lands

sacredfoundry godlessshrine waterygrave

breedingpool stompingground

Yeap! they’re back as well!

Some are nicer than the old ones and some are not.

sacred old godless old watery old

 

breeding old stomping old

 

The ‘originals’

I guess the big difference is also the flavor text. You can still play the old duals in order to confuse your opponent if they randomly catch a peek of your hand. I sometimes do that with the old Ghost Quarter from Dissension. People stop me and ask if it’s Standard legal. Goes to show how much the card sees play eh?

You should probably snatch these up early if you want to build your Gatecrash Standard decks as they are probably the Number One card in demand at the set’s release. If you are going to purchase boxes, I believe the ratio is more or less 3 per booster box. Let us know how many you pulled in your box by commenting below!

Gatecrash Preview: the Guildgates

borosguildgate orzhovguildgate dimirguildgate

 

gruul guildgate simicguildgate

 

Yay! Manafixing to the rescue!

I know most of you guys think these are usually relegated to Drafts, Sealed and Pauper decks. The RB aggro deck ran 4 Rakdos Guildgates, so we might see one of these played in Constructed as well. Usually they will act as the third dual land behind the M13/Innistrad duals and of course, the Ravnica duals.

You pretty much always play these on the early turns due to the fact that they come into play tapped, unless you want to mess with your opponent by implying that you’re ‘Color short’ in some cases. The artwork on these is pretty cool and I vastly prefer them to the original Ravnica block common lands. They are pretty much a straight port of the Invasion uncommon ‘dual land’ cycle with a rarity downgrade.

Oh! and you get one guaranteed in your guild pack for when you do pre-releases. Might want to keep that in mind.

Gatecrash Preview: Boros Charm

boroscharm

Wait, what?

Wow! this is one charm I think everyone can get behind. All three modes are sooooo good in constructed!
1) 4 damage to target player? for two mana? Yes please. How insane is that? I think even regular mono-red decks will splash white via Sacred Foundry and Clifftop Retreat to go out of their way in order to play this burn.

2) Permanents you control are indestructible until end of turn? Take that Supreme Verdict! I think Terminus will have to be the solution now, hands down.

Note: it will however not save your planeswalkers from dying to unblocked attackers.
Bonus: Play it in commander with something like obliterate and watch your opponents cry!

3) Double strike? Double Cleave? Slap that on an unblocked creature and double your damage output. It can be pretty insane with any creature ability that triggers via combat damage or a creature that has something Ciphered on it as well.

flame rift rootborn defenses EN MTGHOP Cards V3.indd

Which mode will you choose?

All 3 modes make you want to run 4 maindeck in any Boros deck and quite possibly Naya decks. It keeps the aggro going at all times. In Commander, I would again consider this in my Gisela deck. I can tutor it up with Sunforger and effectively ‘Negate‘ a Wrath of God -style effect. I probably won’t be choosing the other two options much.

Well, the 4 damage ability usually makes quick work of a few early planeswalkers.

Burn spells are generally half as effective in Commander due to the fact that players start at 40 life. In this context, red decks are generally disadvantaged and also less popular. Aside from burn damage, Chaos Warp is probably on of the few red spells to deal with planeswalkers. Including this in your 100-card deck will give you some unexpected range.

In those Magical Christmas land situations, you can always cast this targeting your Gisela and bring your opponent 1 damage short of losing to Commander damage. We can always dream right?

Sweet dreams!

 

Gatecrash Preview: Borborygmos Enraged

borborygmos enragedBack and better than before

Another costly rendition of the Gruul Guild leader.

old borborygmos

 

Totally unimpressive ,Eh?

This one is a Seismic Assault on legs with a +1 damage on the activations.

As if this wasn’t enough, he can potentially feed his own ability each time he deals combat damage. Much like Seismic Assault in older formats, games will not last long if you manage to find Life from the Loam and proceed to cast it over and over(works best with cycling lands).

life from the loam

 

The best Dredge card and it’s not played in Dredge decks

Obviously, he fits into the whole ramp sub-theme/mechanic of the Gruul guild. He gives added benefits to drawing those late game lands (something akin to landfall from Zendikar block). He provides a rather huge body at 7/6 but I would almost always like to see those statistics reversed. A seven on the butt is huge in Standard.

 

 

He might seem to be the least desirable of the Gatecrash guild leaders, but don’t count him out just yet!  He will probably be easy to trade for unless a big ramp style deck surfaces early on and increases his demand. Hopefully he will not go the way of poor Isperia who seems to be beyond neglected at the time being.

isperia supreme

It’s a sad story indeed

 

Gatecrash Preview: Bomber Corps

bombercorpsOnly the ‘bomb’ when in Battalion formation

Not much to say about this little guy aside from the fact that you may want to draft them in multiples as they are still better than a Grizzly Bears with their one power. Just Imagine: 3 of these guys attacking can combine for>

lightning bolt

Still the defining red burn

 

Gatecrash Preview: Bioshift

bioshiftOh the humanity!

This cute little card can work for Simic as well as against it. I see it mostly used in Pre-Releases and releases as a way to get your biggest guy through. However, it’s also great against the Simic as you can just block their biggest dude and put the tokens on a creature with lesser effects that didn’t attack. That way you probably kill their better creature and have an extra turn to deal with the ‘new’ big dude.

Other than that, I guess if you’re playing with a couple of Undying Geralf’s Messengers that each have a +1/+1 counter on them, you can cause one to ‘Undie’ again. But I digress…

 

FNM Promo for February 2013

fnm reliquary tower

 

Commander players rejoice!

While February’s FNM promo is not really played in Standard, it’s bound to make a few Magic: the Gathering players happy. After being reprinted in M13, Reliquary Tower shows up again with new artwork. I really dig the new version and the quote is cool as well.

Go to your local Magic: the Gathering store and participate in an FNM for your chance to get one.

FNM_logo

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