gatecrash spoilers

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Gatecrash Preview: Giant Adephage

giantadephage

Spawnwrithe Take 2!

In the history of Magic: the Gathering, there are creatures so good that updated versions of them need to be made. Such is the case of Spawnwrithe. Probably relegated to casual play, this creature offers us something somewhat cool in a reanimator style deck: the ability to replicate itself. While the other reanimator fatties are cool, they somewhat keel over and die to removal (obviously!) but if this guy lasts a turn, then your opponent’s out would be a mass removal spell (which not many Standard decks pack). This mythic will probably be in some demand early on at your local game store. I suggest you trade some quickly as I don’t see it becoming more than a mythic bulk card.

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Gatecrash Preview: Diluvian Primordial

diluvianprimordial

Not as impressive as the other Primordials

So you get a 5/5 flying body for 7 mana with a possible half-Spelltwine . It’s bound to see play in EDH/Commander to replay a ‘bomb’ Instant or Sorcery. Due to its reliance on an opposing graveyard, it’s unsurprising that it won’t show up on any Standard lists. It will probably hit some spell in Sealed/Draft. You will always be shoving this in any blue limited deck.

No flavor text is a bummer. I don’t think any of them have much of that, due to the fact that there’s too much ability text. Ever noticed how these 5 new avatars are like a toned down version of the M11-12 Titans? Hmmm…..

sylvanprimordial  primeval titan

moltenprimordial  inferno titan

luminateprimordial  sun titan

sepulchralprimordial  grave titan

diluvianprimordial  frost titan

All these titans make it feel like the new God of War videogame!

god of war

Part Four or Five for sure! LOL

They get better in multiplayer games, obviously. I guess Wizards of the Coast figure the Titans were a little too powerful and left little room for the smaller 4-5 mana guys to have an impact. Also every other 6-drop would have to be comparable in power level. This caused them not to come back in M13 (thank goodness!).

I guess this is there way of letting us have the titan-level goodness without the efficient cost. Each one is basically a spell built into a fatty. The effect improves based on the number of opponents. I guess there is no point in examining each primordial individually, but ranking them for constructed might be an option.

1) Sylvan Primordial

Obviously right? It has basically 2 effects, one of which is a ‘Beast Within‘

2) Luminate Primordial

Swords to Plowshares on a Elesh Norn-sized body. You can obviously cast this on your own guys for fun and profit.

3) Molten Primordial

A bigger Zealous Conscripts, but only on a creature. Still, pretty good as it provides a bigger, albeit unnecessary body.

4) Sepulchral Primordial

Animate Dead an opposing creature? Sure! It has Intimidate which is probably better than the #5 creature

5) Diluvian Primordial

Probably the worst in the one on one category since it relies more on what your opponent may or may not have in grave. Sepulchral Primordial has a bigger chance of making an impact.

Will any of these guys realistically appear in a Standard deck?

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Gatecrash Preview: Devour Flesh

devourflesh

Diabolic Edict in Standard? Nice!

Cool card and cool art. drawn by fan favorite Kev Walker. You have the advantage of running it in Modern over Geth’s Verdict since it only costs 1 black mana instead of two. Secondly, you can realistically use it on yourself to gain some life. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as you can just sacrifice something that was going to die anyways.

 devour blurb

How about that quote?

You are what you eat… literally! That’s err… logical. I think foil versions of this are going to be sought after for Legacy play and probably even Standard. It beats out Geist of Saint Traft by a turn, which is awesome.

Who knows, it might bring about the resurgence of Mono-Black in Standard? What do you guys think?

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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)

 

 

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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.

 

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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.

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Gatecrash Preview: Balustrade Spy

balustradespy

 

About 1.5 times more efficient in Limited formats

Not the vampire most people would play in a vampire deck. Unless you have pipe dreams of milling your Bloodghasts and Gravecrawlers ….Woah! That comment went from being sarcastic to almost revelatory!

In all seriousness, you probably want to draft this up a lot in Limited as it actually allows you to ‘Cipher’ pretty well. The Keymaster Rogue combos pretty well with it too. It can block a few smaller Boros creatures early on and allow you to survive and perhaps mill out your opponent for the win (what all Dimir limited decks aspire to do).

Go forth and mill little vampire!

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Gatecrash Preview: Arrows of Justice

arrowsofjustice

 

Arrows of Justice

Four damage to something that blocks or attacks? Nice! Take that silly Restoration Angel!

damaged restoOw! 

“I’m hit!” yelled the Restoration Angel as she crashed into the nearby foliage. The noise causes the great mage to wake up from his DREAM!

Yeah, this is the unlikely scenario that will rarely happen. Oh! but of course: It’s great in limited formats.

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Gatecrash Preview: Armored Transport

armoredtransportSwing with Safety

A creature with a buil-in Dolmen Gate . Unfortunately not a great impact if it connects.

In draft/sealed, the Boros decks will probably load up on a few to enable some good ‘Battalion’ runs. It can be funny in some Affinity deck home brews with cards like Cranial Plating equipped. Maybe even in Legacy to get those safe Jitte swings in.

Hmmm….maybe this little guy has more potential than I first thought….

 

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Gatecrash Preview: Angelic Edict

angelicedict

Punished by the Angels!

While you probably want multiples in Gatecrash Pre-releases and Releases, you can maybe squeeze just one into your constructed decks.

There aren’t many ways to get rid of cards like Assemble the Legion in gatecrash limited so this gets the maindeck nod. Also, the number of mythic creature bombs is through the roof. You will need this common solution to those. Unfortunately it does nothign against this guy:

obzFear the Council!

This card is just a pain to play against in Limited You better hope to have Rapid Hybridization or Grisly Spectacle.