M11 Card - Ivory Mask Leyline (free ivory mask)

[matt_sperling]

 FROM TWITTER:
misterorange    #M11 Spoiler - White Leyline is a free Ivory Mask! Same cost and everything! Nice! http://bit.ly/dxvOxJ

The link leads us to salvation, where someone has confirmed (I assume) the following card

Leyline of the ~

2WW

Enchantment

If Leyline of the ~ is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.

You have Shroud

------------------------

I think this card might be very good in Vintage.  They can't oath, but not only that, they can't therapy, duress, thoughtseize, unmask, mind twist, gifts ungiven, hurkyl's recall, etc.  

Let's say I'm a stax player.  If I start with this and you can't kill it, I can't lose to Oath, hand destruction, or Hurkyl's!  

I haven't attempted an exhaustive list of what this card shuts down, and its already very interesting.  Let me know what you think.

quick edit:  If I'm an Ichorid player, you better have Relic or Leyline and not Tormod's or Bojuka.  another anti-hate option there.

[Troy_Costisick]

It is a nice card.  I'm liking the new leylines.

[Cyberpunker]

That is actually pretty scary for Oath because Oath's protection cannot stop it and they have to make room for more Nature's Claims on the sideboard if that card starts getting played.

You know, this does mean that you cannot Ancestral Recall yourself 

[matt_sperling]

good point re not being able to Recall yourself. 

and I can't believe I forgot to mention Tendrils.... awkward.

[BruiZar]

White stax here I come!

[Killane]

wow, a free ivory mask.

back to the drawing board re: Storm decks. If this sees major play Storm decks take another hit.

Workshops may indeed be the best deck in Vintage now.

[Troy_Costisick]

White stax here I come!

Could it be the card that brings Parfait back?

[Delha]

White stax here I come!

Could it be the card that brings Parfait back?

Was Parfait ever really "here" to begin with? Just sayin.

[paladin3056]

White stax here I come!

Could it be the card that brings Parfait back?

Was Parfait ever really "here" to begin with? Just sayin.

It never was, but this pushes white to an all new level. Seriously this card hoses a lot of decks like storm (which has already been hosed) and Oath, and many others which highly relies on targeting players. The great thing about Leylines is that you do not have to play its color, you would have to rely on luck to get it to your opening hand though.

[voltron00x]

This is another exceptionally interesting Leyline for Vintage, and frankly it is probably the one that is worth playing immediately.

NYSE Stax already plays Serum Powder.  This card helps strengthen the Storm and Oath match-ups at the same time, should they choose to play it.  Noble Fish might not want this over True Believer, I'm not sure.  It is pretty interesting though.  This is another scary weapon for Dredge though, giving it more ability to race Oath, Storm, and have resistance to hate like Tormod's and Rav Trap. It has all sorts of weird effects like turning off your own Recall, blanking your opponent's Gifts, etc.

[Troy_Costisick]

This is another exceptionally interesting Leyline for Vintage, and frankly it is probably the one that is worth playing immediately.

NYSE Stax already plays Serum Powder.  This card helps strengthen the Storm and Oath match-ups at the same time, should they choose to play it.  Noble Fish might not want this over True Believer, I'm not sure.  It is pretty interesting though.  This is another scary weapon for Dredge though, giving it more ability to race Oath, Storm, and have resistance to hate like Tormod's and Rav Trap. It has all sorts of weird effects like turning off your own Recall, blanking your opponent's Gifts, etc.

Three out of the five leylines are playable in Vintage, I believe.  That's pretty incredible for a modern cycle of cards.  

[neocronx]

An important difference in wording on the current spoiler: http://mtgsalvation.com/m11-magic-2011-spoiler.html#4440

You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.

Thus if this wording is correct, ancestral and others are fine.

[Troy_Costisick]

An important difference in wording on the current spoiler: http://mtgsalvation.com/m11-magic-2011-spoiler.html#4440

You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.

Thus if this wording is correct, ancestral and others are fine.

Still stops Oath and things, so it's even better than originally thought.  Sheesh!

[FlyFlySideOfFry]

Finally a good new Leyline. Thumbs up it'll make an impact in my opinion for sure.

[Raph Caron]

It feels like Christmas.

Seriously, this is a great card for almost all formats.

[BruiZar]

White stax here I come!

Could it be the card that brings Parfait back?

Just quoting this for reference:

MEANDECK PARFAIT
 10 Plains
  1 Strip Mine
  4 Wasteland

  4 Mox Diamond
  1 Mox Pearl
  1 Mox Emerald
  1 Mox Sapphire
  1 Mox Jet
  1 Black Lotus
  1 Sol Ring

  4 Ethersword Canonist
  4 Aven Mindcensor

  4 Land Tax
  4 Scroll Rack
  4 Aura of Silence
  3 Argivian Find
  3 Swords to Plowshares
  1 Balance
  1 Seal of Cleansing
  1 Zuran Orb
  1 Trinisphere
  2 Orim's Chant
  2 Abeyance
  1 Enlightened Tutor

Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
1 Rule of Law
3 Moat
2 Orim's Chant
2 Abeyance
1 Swords to Plowshares
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon

This was before the printing of Leyline of Sancity, Silence and the unrestriction of Enlightened Tutor.

[Cyberpunker]

Good luck with bringing Parfait back after roughly 8-9 years of absence. On the other hand, White Weenie does get a boast in the right direction 

[BruiZar]

White stax here I come!

Could it be the card that brings Parfait back?

I took you up for the challenge, a first draft of a revamp of my old UW parfait list:

Amsterdam Parfait
1   Strip Mine
2   Wasteland
1   Tolarian Academy
3   Tundra
2   Flooded Strand
7   Plains
4   Mox Diamond
1   Mox Sapphire
1   Mox Pearl
1   Black Lotus

WHITE
4   Land Tax
3   Orim's Chant
3   Enlightened Tutor
4   Leyline of Sancity
3   Abolish
2   Dust to Dust
1   Argivian Find
1   Balance
2   Jotun Grunt

BLUE
4   Force of Will
4   Daze
1   Ancestral Recall
1   Time Walk
1   Tinker
1   Gush
1   Mystical Tutor

ARTIFACT
3   Scroll Rack
1   Sensei´s Divining Top
1   Time Vault
1   Voltaic Key
1   Isochron Scepter

You counted 5 cards too much? That's right, it is still a draft. I need to tweak this and the sideboard but I'm running out of time today. However, you can still look at what I made. Amsterdam Parfait doesn't care for Seal of Cleansing and Aura of Silence. It uses Dust to Dust to exile moxen, the occasional vaultkey piece and Lodestones, DSC, Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Thorn of Amethyst/Sphere of Resistance/Metal Workers. Dust to Dust laughs in the face of Welders. Abolish is a nice turn 0 answer to opposing Leylines, Null Rods and Chalices, but also the occasional turn 1 vault key blow out, or turn 1 oath of druids. It is fueled by Land Tax. The ultimate turn 1 for this deck is Tundra, Land Tax go. Then Daze their mox or other spell and trigger your land tax. You can lure opponents into playing lands by playing lands yourself, then gushing EOT and scroll racking. You can also Gush in response to a wasteland, then pitch the land to Abolish. Jotun Grunt is a win condition that puts back your business spells which you can draw after you've triggered Land Tax and shuffled your library. Jotun Grunt is also useful because he has an upkeep. You can let him die and Balance to clear the board for 2 mana. Orim's Chant is there to stall time. It's usefull against a lot of decks but mostly MUD and Ichorid. The singleton Isochron Scepter is to randomly steal games when you've got an Orim's chant in your hand. You can tinker for it or use Enlightened Tutor and tap your Divining Top/Scroll Rack to quickly put it in play. The singleton Argivian Find is so that you do not have to rely on cycling back with Jotun Grunt first, to assemble your combo when one half has been countered. Enlightened Tutor will help you to quickly assemble Vault Key or Scepter Chant, depending on what you have in your hand. Worrying that Leyline # 2-4 clutter up your hands? Just put them back with Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack. The inclusion of 1 Sensei's Divining Top has a lot to do with the inclusion of 3 Enlightened Tutors and Mystical Tutors. Sometimes you want access to the tutored cards without paying mana for Scroll Rack. It's also one mana cheaper, which is definately relevant.

So... Where's the sideboard?
As I said, this is still a draft. Cards that are up for contention for the sideboard include:

Ravenous Trap
Tormod's Crypt
Hurkyll's Recall
Wheel of Sun and Moon
Moat
Humility
Exalted Angel
Qasali Pridemage
Swords to Plowshares
Path to Exile
Silence
Abeyance
Leyline of the Void
Pithing Needle
Ethersworn Canonist
Kataki, War's Wage
Meddling Mage

Cards that didn't make the cut, but are worth mentioning:

Treasure Hunt
I was very tempted to play this card. Especially with Sensei's Divning Top and Land Tax and Scroll Rack in the deck. That said, it's not going to be awesome because A) It's sorcery. B) Tapping Scroll Rack to put lands on top means you can't tap Scroll Rack again to put the lands you draw with Treasure Hunt back and get some actual advantage going C) With Sensei's Divining Top you could do this, but it requires 4 mana and I already have a more powerful engine in the deck.
Rushing River
Great card, can trigger Tax and remove 2 different permanents. I just don't know what I'd bounce to be honest. This may go back in the deck later
Aura of Silence
It's too slow! You want to cast this BEFORE they drop moxen, not after!
Swords to Plowshares / Path to Exile
I use Balance instead. Balance doesn't work against Oath, but I have Leyline and Abolish to win that match. Sideboard I might add Humility/Moat.
Meddling Mage
This was a hard choice. I love meddling mage but he is excluded because I don't run any creature hate. My plan against creatures is not paying upkeep for Jotun Grunt and then casting Balance. If I have Meddling Mage on the table, that plan goes out of the window and I have to clutter the deck with creature removal.
Merchant Scroll
I don't have enough blue instants to take advantage of this. I don't want the only line of play to be Merchant Scroll -> Ancestrall Recall. Mystical Tutor can do that for me.
Trinket Mage
Enlightened Tutor is 3 times as cheap. Doesn't go to hand, but who cares when playing with Top and Scroll Racks
Zuran Orb
Win more. I have Daze, Gush and strip effects to trigger my Land Tax
Hurkyll's Recall
This is a sideboard card. I want to get rid of moxen and without Aura of Silence, that isn't happening.
Karakas
I love this card, but I don't have a way to abuse it.
Timetwister
I like it a lot with all the pitch cards and leylines. I think I need to find room for this, but that would mean I'd want some T.Crypt effect main that can double as something else. It's a hard choice because you don't want to load your opponent with fuel especially since this deck fights so hard to win the attrition wars. You win with this deck through CA, and twister levels the playing field so I'm not sure if I should play it.

[Troy_Costisick]

Not bad, Bruizar.  Not bad at all.

[dangerlinto]

It has all sorts of weird effects like turning off your own Recall, blanking your opponent's Gifts, etc.

Note that the current wording from a photo shows that the Leyline is better than just "you have shroud".  It's trollshroud (Can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control).  So you can target yourself with Recall, but they can't target you with those effects.

So it's even better than first thought.

picture:  http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2214/img0229ga.jpg

[nataz]

lol,

I just want to point out that the guy who invented parfait just posted in this thread.

[Cyberpunker]

White stax here I come!

Could it be the card that brings Parfait back?

I took you up for the challenge, a first draft of a revamp of my old UW parfait list:

Amsterdam Parfait
1   Strip Mine
2   Wasteland
1   Tolarian Academy
3   Tundra
2   Flooded Strand
7   Plains
4   Mox Diamond
1   Mox Sapphire
1   Mox Pearl
1   Black Lotus

WHITE
4   Land Tax
3   Orim's Chant
3   Enlightened Tutor
4   Leyline of Sancity
3   Abolish
2   Dust to Dust
1   Argivian Find
1   Balance
2   Jotun Grunt

BLUE
4   Force of Will
4   Daze
1   Ancestral Recall
1   Time Walk
1   Tinker
1   Gush
1   Mystical Tutor

ARTIFACT
3   Scroll Rack
1   Sensei´s Divining Top
1   Time Vault
1   Voltaic Key
1   Isochron Scepter

You counted 5 cards too much? That's right, it is still a draft. I need to tweak this and the sideboard but I'm running out of time today. However, you can still look at what I made. Amsterdam Parfait doesn't care for Seal of Cleansing and Aura of Silence. It uses Dust to Dust to exile moxen, the occasional vaultkey piece and Lodestones, DSC, Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Thorn of Amethyst/Sphere of Resistance/Metal Workers. Dust to Dust laughs in the face of Welders. Abolish is a nice turn 0 answer to opposing Leylines, Null Rods and Chalices, but also the occasional turn 1 vault key blow out, or turn 1 oath of druids. It is fueled by Land Tax. The ultimate turn 1 for this deck is Tundra, Land Tax go. Then Daze their mox or other spell and trigger your land tax. You can lure opponents into playing lands by playing lands yourself, then gushing EOT and scroll racking. You can also Gush in response to a wasteland, then pitch the land to Abolish. Jotun Grunt is a win condition that puts back your business spells which you can draw after you've triggered Land Tax and shuffled your library. Jotun Grunt is also useful because he has an upkeep. You can let him die and Balance to clear the board for 2 mana. Orim's Chant is there to stall time. It's usefull against a lot of decks but mostly MUD and Ichorid. The singleton Isochron Scepter is to randomly steal games when you've got an Orim's chant in your hand. You can tinker for it or use Enlightened Tutor and tap your Divining Top/Scroll Rack to quickly put it in play. The singleton Argivian Find is so that you do not have to rely on cycling back with Jotun Grunt first, to assemble your combo when one half has been countered. Enlightened Tutor will help you to quickly assemble Vault Key or Scepter Chant, depending on what you have in your hand. Worrying that Leyline # 2-4 clutter up your hands? Just put them back with Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack. The inclusion of 1 Sensei's Divining Top has a lot to do with the inclusion of 3 Enlightened Tutors and Mystical Tutors. Sometimes you want access to the tutored cards without paying mana for Scroll Rack. It's also one mana cheaper, which is definately relevant.

So... Where's the sideboard?
As I said, this is still a draft. Cards that are up for contention for the sideboard include:

Ravenous Trap
Tormod's Crypt
Hurkyll's Recall
Wheel of Sun and Moon
Moat
Humility
Exalted Angel
Qasali Pridemage
Swords to Plowshares
Path to Exile
Silence
Abeyance
Leyline of the Void
Pithing Needle
Ethersworn Canonist
Kataki, War's Wage
Meddling Mage

Cards that didn't make the cut, but are worth mentioning:

Treasure Hunt
I was very tempted to play this card. Especially with Sensei's Divning Top and Land Tax and Scroll Rack in the deck. That said, it's not going to be awesome because A) It's sorcery. B) Tapping Scroll Rack to put lands on top means you can't tap Scroll Rack again to put the lands you draw with Treasure Hunt back and get some actual advantage going C) With Sensei's Divining Top you could do this, but it requires 4 mana and I already have a more powerful engine in the deck.
Rushing River
Great card, can trigger Tax and remove 2 different permanents. I just don't know what I'd bounce to be honest. This may go back in the deck later
Aura of Silence
It's too slow! You want to cast this BEFORE they drop moxen, not after!
Swords to Plowshares / Path to Exile
I use Balance instead. Balance doesn't work against Oath, but I have Leyline and Abolish to win that match. Sideboard I might add Humility/Moat.
Meddling Mage
This was a hard choice. I love meddling mage but he is excluded because I don't run any creature hate. My plan against creatures is not paying upkeep for Jotun Grunt and then casting Balance. If I have Meddling Mage on the table, that plan goes out of the window and I have to clutter the deck with creature removal.
Merchant Scroll
I don't have enough blue instants to take advantage of this. I don't want the only line of play to be Merchant Scroll -> Ancestrall Recall. Mystical Tutor can do that for me.
Trinket Mage
Enlightened Tutor is 3 times as cheap. Doesn't go to hand, but who cares when playing with Top and Scroll Racks
Zuran Orb
Win more. I have Daze, Gush and strip effects to trigger my Land Tax
Hurkyll's Recall
This is a sideboard card. I want to get rid of moxen and without Aura of Silence, that isn't happening.
Karakas
I love this card, but I don't have a way to abuse it.
Timetwister
I like it a lot with all the pitch cards and leylines. I think I need to find room for this, but that would mean I'd want some T.Crypt effect main that can double as something else. It's a hard choice because you don't want to load your opponent with fuel especially since this deck fights so hard to win the attrition wars. You win with this deck through CA, and twister levels the playing field so I'm not sure if I should play it.

That is an impressive list. Would give Oath lots of problems ><. Good luck with it!

[Razvan]

This is another exceptionally interesting Leyline for Vintage, and frankly it is probably the one that is worth playing immediately.

NYSE Stax already plays Serum Powder.  This card helps strengthen the Storm and Oath match-ups at the same time, should they choose to play it.  Noble Fish might not want this over True Believer, I'm not sure.  It is pretty interesting though.  This is another scary weapon for Dredge though, giving it more ability to race Oath, Storm, and have resistance to hate like Tormod's and Rav Trap. It has all sorts of weird effects like turning off your own Recall, blanking your opponent's Gifts, etc.

Unfortunately, the 2 biggest anti-ichorid cards, Jailer and the old Leyline of the Void still work, so I don't know if it's such a great Ichorid weapon. Racing Oath and Storm is never really that big a deal, minus stupidly broken hands anyway.

[Killane]

This is another exceptionally interesting Leyline for Vintage, and frankly it is probably the one that is worth playing immediately.

NYSE Stax already plays Serum Powder.  This card helps strengthen the Storm and Oath match-ups at the same time, should they choose to play it.  Noble Fish might not want this over True Believer, I'm not sure.  It is pretty interesting though.  This is another scary weapon for Dredge though, giving it more ability to race Oath, Storm, and have resistance to hate like Tormod's and Rav Trap. It has all sorts of weird effects like turning off your own Recall, blanking your opponent's Gifts, etc.

Unfortunately, the 2 biggest anti-ichorid cards, Jailer and the old Leyline of the Void still work, so I don't know if it's such a great Ichorid weapon. Racing Oath and Storm is never really that big a deal, minus stupidly broken hands anyway.

what are your thoughts on the Flash leyline?

[mmcgeach]

that list seems like it'd be better with the blue leyline against some decks (shops, blue control).  Inspiring list, in any case.

[BruiZar]

Thanks for the positive feedback everybody. Leyline of Anticipation could fit in the place of Sancity too for the turn 0 Land Tax or Orim's Chant and the speedy Dust to Dust, Balance, Time Walk and Jotun Grunt ambush, but I think Sancity is a bit better. Maybe yuou could go with a split of 2/2/2/2 Leyline of the Void/Anticipation/Ancity/Singularity+ Karakas, but that would be another deck. One that would use Serra's Sanctum and Tolarian Academy. =) There are so many things we can do with the Leylines that I think it will take a while before real conclusions can be drawn.

[KrauserKrauser]

Just wanted everyone to know that the Leyline actually gives you Troll-Shroud.

Arguably strictly superior to giving you straight shroud.

[Delha]

Just wanted everyone to know that the Leyline actually gives you Troll-Shroud.

Arguably strictly superior to giving you straight shroud.

Congrats on being the third person to say so.

[nineisnoone]

I like this for Dredge, but I'm not sure about other decks.  Parfait sounds cool though.  But tutoring up a Chain of Vapor (or whatever) isn't really that big of an issue.  It's not as if it Oath or Storm has never had to do something like that before. The inability to cast it in most decks seems problematic (though if you are Parfait, then it's a non-issue).  Plus, it's pretty much only relevant on the draw since if you're on the play you could just cast a hate card or leave mana open for one. 

But I suppose if you are cramped for space and need an Oath + Storm hate card, it's better than True Believer if you can't cast  .  It also interferes with Dredge (shuts out Therapy).

For me though, I would only run it in a super-hate deck though (or Dredge). 

[BruiZar]

I like this for Dredge, but I'm not sure about other decks.  Parfait sounds cool though.  But tutoring up a Chain of Vapor (or whatever) isn't really that big of an issue.  It's not as if it Oath or Storm has never had to do something like that before. The inability to cast it in most decks seems problematic (though if you are Parfait, then it's a non-issue).  Plus, it's pretty much only relevant on the draw since if you're on the play you could just cast a hate card or leave mana open for one. 

But I suppose if you are cramped for space and need an Oath + Storm hate card, it's better than True Believer if you can't cast  .  It also interferes with Dredge (shuts out Therapy).

For me though, I would only run it in a super-hate deck though (or Dredge). 

The problem is, you can tutor for Chain of Vapor but what if Iona is on blue, or what if Terastodon just destroyed all your land?