2007 - 2010 Rumors/Previews/mtg.com articles

[vassago]

Also, ELEPHANTS

You had me at ELEPHANTS.   

[Yare]

From mtgSalvation:

Kazandu Elephant Caller   1G

Creature - Human Shaman   
Level up 1G
[Level 2-5] : Put a 3/3 green Elephant creature token onto the battlefield. (1/1)
[Level 6+] : Put two 3/3 green Elephant creature tokens onto the battlefield. (1/1)
1/1

Is it just me, or is this card balls to the wall insane if it's real?

Also, ELEPHANTS

Activation cost to make elephants is tapping.

[Norm4eva]

I don't feel like paying 3GGG over a few turns to make elephants is balls to the walls anything.  I'm sort of skeptical of any of the Level Up guys that have to get to like level 2 or more before they actually become cool - unless I grossly misunderstand the new mechanic, it seems like all the Level Up guys come into play at Level 0.  So while I really like the flavor of the mechanic and its execution is pretty much spot on, it's like an even slower Morph, only you know exactly what it's going to be when it 'grows up'.  At least with Morph, even when you know it's an Exalted Angel, sometimes it's a Whipcorder.

[TopSecret]

Activation cost to make elephants is tapping.

Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Troy_Costisick]

I don't think any of the level up creatures will be used in any constructed formats.  None of them (so far) have protection of any kind and since you have to play their ability as a sorcery, it limits your options too much. 

[Bill Copes]

From mtgSalvation:

Kazandu Elephant Caller   1G

Creature - Human Shaman   
Level up 1G
[Level 2-5] :   : Put a 3/3 green Elephant creature token onto the battlefield. (1/1)
[Level 6+] :   : Put two 3/3 green Elephant creature tokens onto the battlefield. (1/1)
1/1

Is it just me, or is this card balls to the wall insane if it's real?

Also, ELEPHANTS

I'm, assuming you mean the level 2-5 part?  Even then, you're paying 6 mana for a guy that taps to make 3/3 tokens.

80 people beat me to it.

[CorwinB]

From mtgSalvation:

Kazandu Elephant Caller   1G

Creature - Human Shaman   
Level up 1G
[Level 2-5] :   : Put a 3/3 green Elephant creature token onto the battlefield. (1/1)
[Level 6+] :   : Put two 3/3 green Elephant creature tokens onto the battlefield. (1/1)
1/1

Is it just me, or is this card balls to the wall insane if it's real?

Also, ELEPHANTS

Considering Leveling is sorcery speed and creatures start at level 0, not 1, it's not that great outside of Limited. When the first elephant is ready to hit play, you are already looking at 3GGG (initial cost + 2x Level Up). Limited bomb for sure, though

[TopSecret]

Considering Leveling is sorcery speed and creatures start at level 0, not 1, it's not that great outside of Limited. When the first elephant is ready to hit play, you are already looking at 3GGG (initial cost + 2x Level Up). Limited bomb for sure, though

Oh.

You have to level up twice.

Ok. That's what I was missing. I thought it was too broken to work how I thought it did.

That's way worse.

I thought it was 1G, then another 1G, then make an elephant.
But instead it's 1G, then another 1G, then ANOTHER 1G, then make an elephant.

Thanks for clearing that up, guys.

[Evenpence]

If he has a large butt, he'll probably be really good in Standard too.

[Diakonov]

If he has a large butt, he'll probably be really good in Standard too.

[Level 2-5] (1/1)
[Level 6+] (1/1)
1/1

[Evenpence]

Gah, he's probably a Baddie McBaddenstein then.

[LotusHead]

MTG's Rumor Control

Also

[Evenpence]

MTG's Rumor Control

Also

That guy is probably really good in Limited and really terrible in everything else.

EDIT:  It's also April 1st, btw, for that link above.

[Will]

I feel like Kargan Dragonlord will be playable in Standard/Block but will never reach Extended like Figure briefly did.  When you compare him to Figure of Destiny like Flores did he seems reasonable but certainly not overpowered because you can't level him up EOT and he is a 2 drop rather than a 1 which makes a world of difference.  Also, being stuck in red is another strike against Kargan because white obviously can not use him like they could with Figure.  As a whole I see it having no impact on Vintage (obv) and seeing play in Standard as a support card rather than something you would build around.  I hope this isn't the "chase" card because if it is this set is going to disappoint me more than initially expected. 

[CorwinB]

I feel like Kargan Dragonlord will be playable in Standard/Block but will never reach Extended like Figure briefly did.  When you compare him to Figure of Destiny like Flores did he seems reasonable but certainly not overpowered because you can't level him up EOT and he is a 2 drop rather than a 1 which makes a world of difference.  Also, being stuck in red is another strike against Kargan because white obviously can not use him like they could with Figure.  As a whole I see it having no impact on Vintage (obv) and seeing play in Standard as a support card rather than something you would build around.  I hope this isn't the "chase" card because if it is this set is going to disappoint me more than initially expected. 

I think playabillity for Levelers in Standard will depend on the amount of removal left once the Alara block finally departs, which can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned. The Chase Mythic of the set (in addition to the Eldrazi and the colorless sweeper) could be Gideon Jura, the new white planeswalker.

[Troy_Costisick]

Gah!  All of these cards are so close to being good for Vintage, just not quite.  Here's another example:

[Evenpence]

Gah!  All of these cards are so close to being good for Vintage, just not quite.  Here's another example:

I read this as only costing R instead of 3R and I was like "this thing will definitely see a ton of play..." and then I checked casting cost again.  *frown*

[Troy_Costisick]

Gah!  All of these cards are so close to being good for Vintage, just not quite.  Here's another example:

And another card with all the right abilities with the wrong cost:

Dreamstone Hedron
Artifact 
: Add to your mana pool.
, , sacrifice Dreamstone Hedron: Draw three cards.

[The Atog Lord]

Wow, a giant Mind Stone. Just what I wanted for EDH.

[AmbivalentDuck]

*sigh* Again making the Rofellos deck even better.

[DubDub]

I was deciding between Worn Powerstone/Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus for my Radha deck, which is the primary deck I'll be adding Eldrazi to in the short term.  This definitely takes that slot.  I imagine 'Karn' decks are happy with the colorless draw too.

[Norm4eva]

It hasn't been mentioned specifically yet, but I sort of just caught on to the fact that the colorless Eldrazi guys aren't artifacts.  They're just colorless guys.

In case I somehow wasn't the last person to recognize that. 

[Norm4eva]

I know double posts are tech.  But it looks like they made at least one reasonable Level up guy.

Student of Warfare  {W}

Creature - Human Knight    Rare

Level up {W}

(Level 2-6) First strike (3/3)

(Level 7+) Double strike (4/4)

1/1

Hey look, it's Figure of Destiny's goofy half-brother.  And he's not mythic!  Much like FoD, the "huge man" ability is sort of dumb - if that guy makes it to Level 7 you're doing it weird, or your opponent is.  Even with the power creep of late, a 3/3 first striker for WWW is still quite good - compare to FoD's 4/4 for (R/W)(R/W)(R/W)(R/W)(R/W).  Extended has a lot of retarded one-drops for White Weenie.  Might be time for me to change formats :D

[Troy_Costisick]

This set is starting to feal a lot like Alara Reborn as far as playables for Vintage go.  I'm not going to hold out hope for much more, here.  Everything being spoiled has huge casting costs and plays mostly at sorcery speed. 

[DubDub]

This set is starting to feal a lot like Alara Reborn as far as playables for Vintage go.  I'm not going to hold out hope for much more, here.  Everything being spoiled has huge casting costs and plays mostly at sorcery speed. 

I think MaRo has hinted at a spell costing U that says in part "Draw three cards. [Drawback]"  Depending on the drawback it could be good.  Likely not.

I pretty much agree with you though that EDH is the primary reason why I'm checking the spoiler at this point.  Next block will hopefully contain some seriously busted artifacts!

[Chill79]

Wall of blossoms shifted to white

[TopSecret]

Wall of blossoms shifted to white

This guarantees Walls' dominance in Standard, and subsequently the death of Magic.

Walls will be the least interactive deck ever and the mirror match will also be the most boring thing that has ever happened.

RIP MTG

[Troy_Costisick]

For Standard, Wall of Omens will certainly make the W/U Control decks that have been gaining ground a lot stronger.  For Vintage, though, outside of Emrakul in Oath and Realms Uncharted in some future-yet-to-be-invented deck, there isn't much here.  A lot of high casting cost cards w/ not immediate effect on the battlefield.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Tuktuk actually borders on playable if people start bringing more creature sweepers main.  He's a wrecking ball against Stax.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

Wall of blossoms shifted to white

This guarantees Walls' dominance in Standard, and subsequently the death of Magic.

Walls will be the least interactive deck ever and the mirror match will also be the most boring thing that has ever happened.

RIP MTG

This is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard in a while; magic has survived worse things than some walls, like affinity and tarmogoyf. I’m sure there will be enough stuff to deal with walls if it seems like a problem. Of the top of my head: flying, intimidate, and considering the low mana cost of most walls, if they printed some sort of instant speed mass smother that’d do the trick… oh wait they’ve got that one spoiled.