My wishlist:

Diluvian Primordial
Enter the Infinite
Lord of the Vault
Molten Primordial
Skarrg Goliath
Aurelia, the Warleader
Merciless Eviction
Mystic Genesis
Psychic Strike

Any others?

Lord of the Void 
Creature - Demon (M)
Flying
Whenever Lord of the Void deals combat damage to a player, exile the top seven cards of that player's library, then put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield under your control.
7/7

Mystic Genesis 
Instant (R)
Counter target spell. Put an X/X green Ooze creature token onto the battlefield, where X is that spell's converted mana cost.

My Return to Ravnica list:

Angel of Serenity
Cyclonic Rift
Grave Betrayal
Necropolis Regeant
Utvara Hellkite
Worldspine Wurm
Counterflux
Epic Experiment
Essence Backlash
Fall of the Gavel
Firemind's Foresight
Havoc Festival
Hypersonic Dragon
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Supreme Verdict

I think that's it. Anything I missed? Any objections? Would hate to go after a new foil and find out later that it stinks. And I always enjoy thoughtful input.

Along with the dragon and the wurm, we get this:

Havoc Festival 
Enchantment   
Players can't gain life.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player loses half his or her life, rounded up.

Compare with Baneful Omen. Probably sticks more often to greater effect. And helps bring down players with high life totals.

Here is my M13 buylist with comments:

Diabolic Revelation - want to see this art in foil. Will have to fix the X somehow, either pay life instead of mana or roll a D6.
Elderscale Wurm - initially underestimated this guy, until it frustrated me in a pre-release. Not the same in T4, but acceptable.
Omniscience - this is the ultimate ACC card. Clearly busted, will make for some fun stories and quick deaths.
Spelltwine - another nice T4 card that will enable lots of different interactions.
Worldfire - see my earlier comments. Decree slows the game down so much it's boring. Biorhythm ends it too quickly (sometimes in a tie just for funzies.) Worldfire should strike a nice balance of power and further gameplay.

Overall, not bad for a core set. Looking forward to playing with new toys.

Make room in the stack for this red spell:

Worldfire 
Sorcery (M)
Exile all permanents. Exile all cards from all hands and graveyards. Each player's life total becomes 1.

Not sure what to comparison to make. Kinda like Biorhythm and Decree of Annihilation had a kid. Looks like it will be more fun than Decree, but more dangerous than Rhythm. You want to cheat this with Vedalken Orrery at EOT and draw something like Siege-Gang Commander.

Looks like some goodies are coming our way:

Maelstrom Wanderer 
Legendary Creature - Elemental (M)
Creatures you control have haste.
Cascade, cascade.
7/5

Etherium-Horn Sorcerer 
Artifact Creature - Minotaur Wizard (R)
  : Return Etherium-Horn Sorcerer to its owner's hand.
Cascade
3/6

Any others look good yet?

How about this:


How often will this just do nothing? Depending on the stack/drafted deck. Works well with effects that throw CMC as damage, like Knollspine Invocation and Riddle of Lightning. Of course, you could just hit a bunch of permanents and go nuts.

Nice find. Thought it was mana on first glance. Now to decide if I want the promo or regular art. Hmm...

Here she is:

Avacyn, Angel of Hope 
Legendary Creature - Angel (Mythic)
Flying, Vigilance
Avacyn, Angel of Hope and other permanents you control are indestructible.
8/8

Big, tough, and relevant. Checks all the boxes for a T4 fatty. Also looks like an EDH card, making it harder to get a foil copy for my stack.

Just sleeve up Withengar.
I really want to swing with that demon, but I get your point.

And too bad Archangel's Light isn't an instant for us like Beacon of Immortality.

We're off to a slow start this year with Dark Ascension. Let's hope we get more cards in Avacyn Restored.

My Dark Ascension buylist and current FOIL prices:

Counterlash $8
Drogskul Reaver $20
Havengul Lick $30
Elbrus, the Binding Blade $20
TOTAL $78

Already picked up a FOIL Counterlash in trade. I hope to see the other cards opened this weekend and trade for them.

Our first counter:

Counterlash       

Instant (rare)

Counter target spell. You may cast a card from your hand that shares a card type with that spell without paying it's mana cost.

...and a new legendary equipment:

Elbrus, the Binding Blade // Withengar Unbound         

Legendary artifact - equipment (mythic)

Equipped creature gets +1/+0.
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, transform Elbrus, the Binding Blade.
//
Legendary creature - demon

Flying, trample, intimidate
Whenever a player loses the game, put thirteen +1/+1 counters on Withengar Unbound.
13/13

How about some graveyard shenanigans?

Havengul Lich 

Creature - Zombie Wizard

 : You may cast target creature card from a graveyard this turn. When you cast that card this turn Havengul Lich gains all activated abilities of that card until the end of turn.

4/4

Pros: repeatable recursion, may lead to busted plays, will create interesting/varied gameplay
Cons: counts as your spell for the turn, can't use on opponents' turns unless the creature has flash

And he's a zombie wizard...for Cruel Revival and Voidmage Prodigy.

Here is our first card. Behold:

Drogskul Reaver 5WU

Creature - Spirit (M)

Flying, doublestrike, lifelink
Whenever you gain life, draw a card.

3/5

Pros: decent flier, gains some life, draws at 2 cards/turn on its own
Cons: dies to removal, does nothing on its own the first turn
Verdict: I look forward to using this in my stack. It will work well with other life gain like Tower of Eons and Obelisk of Alara. Also expect it to help a player come back from low life.

Blightsteel Colossus sure is a beating in any format. In Type 4 though, he is just another fatty, albeit a one-shot kill.

Other discussion points: Does anyone actually play Elesh Norn? I have not. But I chose the praetor over the wrath because she (it?) seemed more interesting than another sweeper.

Also, played a game where one opponent had Mind's Eye and another had Consecrated Sphinx...untap, upkeep, DRAW....

What do you guys think was the best T4 playable card in 2011 and why? Share your thoughts before we start Dark Ascension previews on Sunday night!

What are the best cards for Type 4 printed in 2011??? My picks are bold. Discuss...

White:

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Phyrexian Rebirth

Blue:

Consecrated Sphinx
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Phyrexian Metamorph
Sphinx of Uthuun

Black:

Sheoldred, Whispering One
Rune-Scarred Demon

Red:

Hellkite Igniter
Avatar of Slaughter
Chaos Warp
Warstorm Surge

Green:

Green Sun's Zenith
Praetor's Counsel
Moldgraf Monstrosity

Colorless:

Karn Liberated
Blightsteel Colossus
Knowledge Pool
Etched Monstrosity

Multicolor:

Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
Riku of Two Reflections
Olivia Voldaren
The Mimeoplasm
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Kaalia of the Vast

BEST TYPE 4 CARD OF 2011 -----> ????

"As pointed out to me by a fellow Type 4 afficionado, this card is pretty savage."

Thanks for the credit. Olivia Voldaren should be bonkers.

Good article, keep it up.

D-oh! Reading is tech.

Cards of note:

Back from the Brink --> T4 playable enchantment. Powerful and hard to deal with.
Cackling Counterpart --> Copy opponents' goodies. Twice!
Dissipate --> Mirage reprint.
Lost in the Mist --> Counter+bounce=autoinclude
Ludevic's Abomination --> I will just sleeve it as a 13/13. No transformation necessary
Memory's Journey --> Versatile instant with flashback. Probably too narrow.
Army of the Damned --> Who doesn't love zombies?!
Tribute to Hunger --> Bye bye Emrakul
Unburial Rites --> Replaces Dance of the Dead, Vigor Mortis, or Hymn of Rebirth in that order
Heretic's Punishment --> Want an elegant fix...maybe tap, maybe sacrifice...
Bramblecrush --> Slow but versatile
Creeping Renaissance --> 80/20 between creatures/artifacts. Use with Timmy or Myojin
Moldgraf Monstrosity --> Fun fatty! Dies to removal...then recurs two friends.
Evil Twin --> Copy and removal in one. Autokills legends too.
Olivia Voldaren --> See previous discussion.

Love the "flavor" of Army of the Damned (mmmm...brains). And it does make 13 dudes. Twice. But I'm not sure the novelty is worth it.

MTGS has started the spoilers. Let's look at some new cards:

Ludevic's Test Subject//Abomination --> Although a 13/13 trampler automatically qualifies, seems kinda boring anymore. Anybody else feel like that with all the super fatties in print?

Olivia Volderan --> Love the flavor. Seems awfully flexible. Shot gun the board Vampiric Dragon style, steal indestructible dudes. Make her arbitrarily big and fly over.

And swampwalk!

Domo arigato, Japanese spoilers!

Karn, the Released 
Planeswalker - Karn
Mythic Rare
+4: Target player exiles a card from his or her hand.
-3: Exile target permanent.
-14: Set aside all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn, then restart the game. Then put all cards set aside this way onto the battlefield under your control.
Illus. Jason Chan #1/175   6

Yes please!

Ways to deal with Igniter: counter, destroy, bounce, block, steal, prevent damage, reverse damage, end the turn. If you can't do one of those things, then you die. Why not give it a try.

Hellkite Igniter 
Flying, haste
  : +X/+0 til EOT. X is # of artifacts you control.

How about this conditional wincon?

Go for the Throat 
Destroy target nonartifact creature.

How close is this to making the cut for spot removal? I count six dudes in my stack that Terminate kills that this doesn't: Draco, Masticore, Memnarch, Molten-Tail, Sharuum, Steel Wind. Other artifact creatures dodge anyway with indestructibility or shroud. In a creature heavy stack it still has lots of targets. But I guess it will feel terrible when you can't use it.

Knowledge Pool --> good grief. Follows in the tradition of wacky enchantments like Eye of the Storm, Hive Mind, Cast Through Time, Malstrom Nexus. Sure, they are Type 4 playable, but it makes my head spin.

Black Zenith --> awesome wrath variant. The shuffle back in is nice too.

Green Zenith --> best target is...? No clue, but too slow and limited for me.

Spine --> go go reusable diplomacy. Slow answer for Emrakul and other degenerate cards.

Into the Core --> should read "up to two targets" to work here. Same problem that Hex had.

Bonehoard --> Dies to removal!  Also, too many cards that empty graveyards.

Holy death-stick, Batman! Flash in at EOT ftw!