gatecrash preorders

by

Gatecrash Preview: Daring Skyjek

daringskyjekAggressively costed? You think?

If, like myself, you were around Time Spiral block then you remember the following creature:

blade of the sixth pride

Me- Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! 

This vanilla 3/1 for 2 mana might not seem like much but it was a first. It’s almost like now where they are making 3/3’s for 3 mana with bonuses all over the place. It’s become a very aggressive place, this Magic: the Gathering universe!

So now we have a similar card with better creature types and a decent upside. Nice! is it going to make the cut in weenie decks? Perhaps… I would consider it for sure. In a random Boros deck example you can curve out with it.

Turn 1 

boros elite

Turn 2

daringskyjek

Turn 3

skyknight

Huzzaaaaah!!!

You’re attacking for 8 damage here (with potentially 1 damage on your turn 2). It’s nothing to sneeze at. From a limited standpoint, it’s the nuts! Constructed-wise your opponent ‘can’ come back from that, it’s just not a certainty. If you follow up with a Boros Charm (either for the 4 burn or double strike a flier), you have dealt 20 damage!

keanu-reeves-whoa

That’s right Keanu!

So don’t just pass this card off as a random aggro dork, he can and will surprise you. (I meant the Skyjek, not Keanu)

 

 

by

Gatecrash Preview: Crowned Ceratok

crownedceratokTrample your Evolve guys, Rhino Style!

A great beefy creature in both limited and low budget constructed, the Ceratok can provide a nice late game push to your team of beefy trampleless creatures. The quote is a bit funny too.

It can combo well with older casual Ally decks from Zendikar block or Spikes from Tempest block if you just need a low cost finisher for those kinds of decks. In limited I would for sure put him in any of the green-based decks as his stats and random benefit + built-in trample make him playable.

 

by

Gatecrash Preview: Crackling Perimeter

cracklingperimeterGuildgates Assemble!

I don’t care to analyse the Standard possibilities for this card, just that it must be a blast to play with in a Casual deck. Play it with green for Gatecreeper Vine and maybe Urban Evolution for lots of laughs. Pinging your opponent has never been so ‘odd’.

gatecreeper vince

“Yay! I found a home!”

I suppose if you really want to stretch it in Standard it can ping away a few planeswalkers, eventually. But don’t hold your breath.

 

by

Gatecrash Preview: Cinder Elemental

cinderelementalWe’ve met before, no?

old cinder

Yeah, I remember now …

Just kidding! It’s not exactly  creature you would remember much unless you did some Mercadian Masques block limited events. It was even better back then since combat damage went on the stack and stuff.

You 100% want this in any red draft/sealed deck as it splashes well and doubles as a removal/potential win condition. If you are playing Red/White/Black, attack with Treasury Thrull and get this guy back to keep Blazing your opponent or his creatures. Not ‘blazingly fast’ though, more like ‘blazingly slow’ but it’s fine, we’re in a limited format.

He can obviously just chump a creature then tap, shoot and kill another one. Not bad at all for a little uncommon!

 

by

Gatecrash Preview: Cartel Aristocrat

cartelaristocrat

Not quite Falkenrath Aristocrat eh?

Nice something that looks like a vampire but isn’t. It’s definitely a great sacrifice outlet that can potentially become unblockable or dodge a removal by pushing someone in the way of it. (Love the quote) Stats are fine for the cost too. You can sacrifice a ‘enters’ the battlefield creature to it and use Treasury Thrull to get it back and repeat.

It does have a slim chance of seeing Standard play. I was thinking that since it’s a human it can fit into a deck featuring Ravenous Demon. Once you have nothing substantial to sacrifice to the demon, you can cast this guy and sac the demon and not fall victim to its disgusting drawback. Ouch!

ravenous demon 1 ravenous demon 2

Stranger things HAVE happened!

by

Gatecrash Preview: Call of the Nightwing

callofthenightwing (1)A one card combo? Neat!

A nice little token generator that potentially keeps on generating tokens!

Since the Cipher ability resolves after the spell itself resolves, you will have the 1/1 token with flying in play and can legally Cipher onto it. How cool is that? It’s a common play in limited for sure and most probably some will attempt it in Standard.

Dimir Keyrune and Invisible Stalker say Hi! as well.

invisible stalker

 

by

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.

 

 

by

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