Sunday, April 29, 2012

Magic the Gathering News Vol 17: Avacyn Restored, GP's and Lots, Lots more.

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another edition of the monthly, this month i will be covering lots in regards to Avacyn Restored, as well as the official announcement on Return to Ravnica and the speculation of Gold cards entering the core set, along with the usual nice things, Grand Prix updates and more as per usual, so without further ado let's begin.

Earlier this month we learned at the Penny Arcade Expo or PAX for short, we would be returning to ravnica after a long 7 years, yes it has been that long since we got to see that particular plane in question, now speculation is abound on this particular set that we will see the reprint of good old modern staples in the form of the Shock Lands, for those who don't know what shock lands are, they are basically dual lands that you either have them enter the battlefield tapped, or they come in untapped and you lose 2 life, a simple process honestly for those unfamiliar to the old school, now semi old school in the form of Modern, without further ado let's see what's going to be in Return to Ravnica stats wise.


For the curious sorts this is the set symbol for Return to Ravnica the stats are as follows

Set Size: 274
Prerelease Date: September 29-30, 2012
Release Date: October 5th, 2012

For the remainder of the information including Game Day, Launch Weekend and all that see the link i will post below.

Arcana for Announcement ---> Return to Ravnica Announcement

So gold cards in the core set, hmm it doesn't sound too unlikely since we've got some impressive gold cards and walkers to choose from for the gold cards, but none more so then Magic's most infamous dragon elder, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Rumor is floating around that he is going to be included in this year's core set, Magic 2013, which we all know usually to be about 50% reprints and 50% new cards, look at last year's core set as a example.



This particular wall paper gives clues and hints at the set, due to the shape of the horns, so it makes me wonder if it truly the elder dragon that everyone loathes.

So i heard you like Grand Prix's well here's some more winners for this month, which basically feeds into the 3rd pro tour of the year, held in seattle. First up David Crewe conquered the land down under in Melbourne with a impressive top 8 final over Geoff Zhao to take the crown for Melbourne, Antonio De Rosa took the lone modern event of the month with a impressive top 8 showing over Michael Thiel in Turin, Italy, giving himself a shot at the lone modern event of the year in Pro Tour format. Sharar Shenhar took the crown for a second time this year over a hell of a finals against Michael Peterson for the crown of Salt Lake City's champ. Finally a belgian player takes the crown of Manchester with a impressive win over 1000 other players, including Mario Pascoli in the finals of Manchester, congrats Alexandre Darras for the impressive victory in Innistrad sealed.

With Avacyn Restored only 5 days away as of this article, i hope you had fun at the prerelease this past weekend, but until next month this is vergil signing off.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Avacyn Restored Intro Pack Deck Lists

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another edition of the emporium today we will be talking about the latest thing to be revealed which are the intro pack deck lists for the set of Avacyn Restored, which were revealed at the following link.

Intro Pack Lists ---->Intro Pack Lists Arcana

Angelic Might


Lands


11  Forest
13  Plains
1  Seraph Sanctuary

Creatures

1  Angel of Glory's Rise
2  Angelic Wall
1  Archangel
3  Borderland Ranger
2  Cathedral Sanctifier
2  Emancipation Angel
2  Gideon's Lawkeeper
1  Goldnight Redeemer
1  Herald of War
2  Seraph of Dawn
2  Serra Angel
1  Timberland Guide
1  Voice of the Provinces

Spells


2  Angel's Tomb
1  Bladed Bracers
1  Builder's Blessing
2  Defang
1  Defy Death
1  Oblivion Ring
2  Rampant Growth
2  Righteous Blow
1  Scroll of Avacyn
1  Triumph of Ferocity

The two rares for this intro pack are Angel of Glory's Rise and Herald of War which are believe it or not great in EDH, if you Kaalia players are looking for a addition or two in your EDH builds, then pick this one up since it has some very decent cards in it, in my opinion.

Solitary Fiends


Lands


11  Island
13  Swamp

Spells


Creatures


In this particular intro pack , Lone Revenant and Demonic Rising are the two rares for this one, it also has the inclusion of Swiftfoot Boots as well if you players are looking for that but overall not the best intro pack we've seen yet.

Slaughterhouse


Lands


12  Mountain
13  Swamp

Creatures


1  Blood Artist
1  Bloodflow Connoisseur
3  Butcher Ghoul
2  Demonic Taskmaster
1  Demonlord of Ashmouth
1  Driver of the Dead
2  Evernight Shade
1  Gang of Devils
2  Goblin Arsonist
1  Harvester of Souls
1  Havengul Vampire
1  Hunted Ghoul
1  Maalfeld Twins
2  Raging Poltergeist
2  Reassembling Skeleton
3  Soulcage Fiend

Spells


2  Barter in Blood
2  Bone Splinters
2  Fling
2  Grave Exchange
1  Scroll of Griselbrand
1  Unhallowed Pact

In this particular intro pack, Harvester of Souls and Demonlord of Ashmouth are the intro pack rares here making this one a decent intro pack for a change, considering there are also 2 Demonic Taskmaster's here alongside it and a lot of good cards overall.

Fiery Dawn


Lands


12  Mountain
12  Plains

Creatures


2  Benalish Veteran
1  Devout Chaplain
2  Elite Vanguard
2  Goldnight Commander
2  Kessig Malcontents
2  Kruin Striker
1  Manic Vandal
2  Moorland Inquisitor
3  Riot Ringleader
1  Somberwald Vigilante
2  Thraben Valiant
1  Zealous Conscripts

Spells


1  Angelic Armaments
1  Banners Raised
1  Cathars' Crusade
1  Commander's Authority
1  Fireball
2  Incinerate
1  Pacifism
1  Pillar of Flame
3  Thatcher Revolt
2  Vigilante Justice
1  Zealous Strike

In here we have Zealous Conscripts and Cathar's Crusade as the intro pack rares for the Fiery Dawn intro pack and is that 3 Thatcher Revolt alongside 2 Incinerate, wow i'm sold on this one, i must get this one when  it arrives and give it a overall review.

Bound by Strength


Lands


13  Forest
12  Island

Creatures


1  Acidic Slime
1  Deadeye Navigator
2  Druid's Familiar
2  Elgaud Shieldmate
2  Flowering Lumberknot
1  Geist Trappers
2  Latch Seeker
2  Llanowar Elves
1  Nephalia Smuggler
2  Nightshade Peddler
1  Pathbreaker Wurm
1  Runeclaw Bear
2  Tandem Lookout
3  Trusted Forcemage
2  Vorstclaw
2  Wingcrafter
1  Wolfir Avenger
1  Wolfir Silverheart

Spells


1  Ice Cage
2  Joint Assault
2  Lair Delve
1  Overrun

With our last intro pack we get both Deadeye Navigator and Wolfir Silverheart as the intro pack rares for this particular pack which is absolutely amazing since the Navigator is considered to be one of the premier rares of the set, as i've seen over at MTGSalvation as of late.

Anyways that's it for today, tommorow i will not be doing a article, unless it is about the Event decks for the set, so until next time this is vergil signing off.