Although I find all of this talk about Wizards screwing over customers
with Lin Sivvi and Dingus very funny,
I doubt they'd do that to paying customers.
It'd be like making little 8 year olds cry on purpose
when they spent their birthday money on cards that would be strong against their peers,
but were given a Dingus Egg instead.
Additionally,
I doubt that Wizards would print anything too situational
or something banned because of a specific broken card interaction(s).
(I'm not up on my Magic history, so please point out mistakes.)
They would want players to be able to play these cards,
so I'm assuming that most of these cards should be strong on their own.
It's possible that they'd include 1-2 "build around me" cards, but I doubt that includes something like Crop Rotation.
Also, the cards in the set could be of a substantial power level, since we already know Balance is in.
I'm not really sure where to draw the line on power, since it's so subjective in this case,
so I'll just leave all the broken stuff in.
So, taking Troy's second list (before he took out overpowered stuff)
and removing Fastbond (reserved, thanks Katzby) and Hurkyl's Recall (it's in tenth),
and skimming it of the above two criteria, I got this:
Aether Vial
Ancient Tomb
Arcbound Ravager Balance
Berserk
Black Vise
Brainstorm Burning Wish Channel
Crop Rotation Demonic Consultation
Dingus Egg Disciple of the Vault Doomsday
Enlightened Tutor
Entomb Flash Frantic SearchGoblin Lackey Goblin Recruiter Hermit Druid Imperial Seal
Ivory Tower
Land Tax
Lin Sivvi, Defiant HeroLotus Petal
Mana Crypt
Mana Drain
Mana Vault
Maze of Ith
Merchant Scroll
Mind Twist
Mind's Desire
Mystical Tutor
Necropotence
Oath of Druids
Personal Tutor
Recall
Regrowth
Rishadan Port
Serendib Efreet
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Strip Mine
Stroke of Genius Tinker
Trinisphere Vampiric Tutor
Voltaic Key Windfall
Worldgorger Dragon Zuran Orb
Next, I think we can get rid of all the situational tutors,
which were banned or restricted because they got specific overpowered cards,
like Mystical Tutor, which itself is not broken without stuff like Ancestral Recall, and Yawgmoth's Will.
I'll leave general tutors like Vampiric on the list, since those can played in most decks without super brokenness present.
Also, let's remove cards that have been restricted or banned recently,
and those that currently see play in Extended,
since the announcement referred to the selected cards as "elder cards",
which means, from my viewpoint, that they should be old enough
to not be known or banned from the recent extended season.
Aether Vial Ancient Tomb
Balance
Berserk
Black Vise
Channel
Demonic Consultation
Doomsday
Enlightened Tutor Imperial Seal
Ivory Tower
Land Tax
Lotus Petal
Mana Crypt
Mana Drain
Mana Vault
Maze of Ith
Merchant Scroll Mind Twist
Mind's Desire Mystical TutorNecropotence
Oath of Druids
Personal TutorRecall
Regrowth
Rishadan Port
Serendib Efreet
Skullclamp Sol Ring
Strip Mine
Tinker
Vampiric Tutor
Windfall
Zuran Orb
Last, I'll remove cards which I personally don't think will be in the set for various reasons:
Ancient Tomb (Is not strong or flashy enough in my opinion. It also deals consistent damage, which drives away some players.)
Balance
Berserk
Black Vise
Channel
Demonic Consultation (I can't imagine a casual player that would want to cast this. It's too risky.)
Doomsday (I'm on the fence about this one, since it's so flashy. But in the end, it strikes me as too narrow.)
Imperial Seal (It's a tutor that loses life. Lame.)
Ivory Tower
Land Tax (Not broken without Moxen, and admittedly not fun at all.)
Lotus Petal (Could happen, but strikes me as too small of an effect.)
Mana Crypt --> (I hope they print this one, but it does lose life, so it's iffy. Hopefully, the coin flipping will make it fun enough to justify.)
Mana Drain
Mana Vault
Maze of Ith
Mind Twist
Necropotence
Oath of Druids (Why this card can be played fairly as a singleton, it's more infamous for being abused in multiples. So, why include just one?)
Recall (I think this one could happen, but I just hope they don't do it, since this card sucks even by today's standards.)
Regrowth
Rishadan Port (Tap a land? That doesn't seem very good to a non-Spike.)
Serendib Efreet
Sol Ring
Strip Mine
Tinker--> (I think this one is a really close call. It's not too hard to build around, but it does require a fair amount of commitment. It's also fairly new compaired to the other things listed.)
Vampiric Tutor --> (I think it's iffy, since it's a tutor that loses life, but maybe it could happen.)
Windfall (Not broken without a broken deck.)
Zuran Orb
So, this is my final list of the 15 that I think will probably be printed:
(Albeit, it's a hopeful list. It could so, so much worse. RECALL SUCKS!
)
Balance
Berserk
Black Vise
Channel
Ivory Tower
Mana Drain (If this doesn't make it, please give me a Mana Crypt, Wizards!
)
Mana Vault
Maze of Ith (The art possibilities for this are awesome.)
Mind Twist
Necropotence
Regrowth
Serendib Efreet
Sol Ring
Strip Mine
Zuran Orb
Of course, the fact that they put Balance as the preview makes me think that Mana Drain won't be in it.
Unless they're waiting until right before the release to announce the product's contents
as some type of perverted game to award those who reserve it,
since everyone and their mom would buy something with a foil Mana Drain inside, if they could,
wouldn't they say they were printing a $100 card?
In which case, Recall will probably replace it, making me sad.
