Rumors/Previews/mtg.com articles 2010 - 2013

[honestabe]

!

What the? I don't even...

Gulp.

This hoses Welders, Oath, Yawg Will, Dredge, Tinker, ... !

Don't forget Panglacial Wurm!

But really, it hits Future Sight also.  And Snapcaster.

Yay!  Dredge hate that doesn't blow in the main.   Looks like Trinket Mage might be making a comeback!!!

[DubDub]

There's a new and improved Mental Note: Thought Scour.

I think it is potentially playable, even though Mental Note fueled Threshold decks haven't been the rage in years.  Here's why:
1. It can target your opponent for the mill 2, which could screw with topdeck tutors in Vintage.  This is a big bump in power level.
2. It puts Jacestormed cards in a more useful place than Scrying them to the bottom with Preordain.
3. It is an instant, which means you don't have to abandon Snapcaster Mage's flash when you want to gain some incremental value.  Mainphasing a Snappy in order to Preordain feels a little crappy, whereas holding mana open to Snap-Scour on an opponent's endstep may be preferable.
4. Feeding the graveyard in the first place works well with Snapcaster.

Imagine you cast this, mill a useless land and a Flusterstorm.  Next turn you hold up  , what does your opponent do?  You're threatening Snap+Flusterstorm for any aggressive play they make, but can Snap-Scour if they timewalk themselves.

A bit player at most, for sure, but a fine card that may have its uses.

[DubDub]

Full spoiler is out for Dark Ascension now.  I will be skipping this prerelease and release event.

Cage will obviously make huge waves for Vintage, and Thalia will boost some fringe strategies, but I'm not compelled by this set.  Even from an EDH standpoint I think I can skip this one more or less.

I'm interested to see how Cage affects block constructed, not that I play that format, but because it so efficiently hoses half of what the block is trying to do.  I can understand their not wanting to wait a year anymore to provide relief from dominant strategies in Standard, but I think Cage may prove to be overkill.

[Troy_Costisick]

Cage will obviously make huge waves for Vintage, and Thalia will boost some fringe strategies, but I'm not compelled by this set.  Even from an EDH standpoint I think I can skip this one more or less.

This is the only other card I saw that may have implications for Vintage:

[honestabe]

Full spoiler is out for Dark Ascension now.  I will be skipping this prerelease and release event.

Cage will obviously make huge waves for Vintage, and Thalia will boost some fringe strategies, but I'm not compelled by this set.  Even from an EDH standpoint I think I can skip this one more or less.

I'm interested to see how Cage affects block constructed, not that I play that format, but because it so efficiently hoses half of what the block is trying to do.  I can understand their not wanting to wait a year anymore to provide relief from dominant strategies in Standard, but I think Cage may prove to be overkill.

Yeah, I don't think this set is very spectacular.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Even from an EDH standpoint I think I can skip this one more or less.

I'm pretty sure you're underestimating Sorin and the deathtouch/lifelink land.  Emblems are forever and it's not like Elspeth in that you're guaranteed to get one if he resolves.

The local store offered $90 (tax included) preorders when the economics were looking a bit better, so I'm on the hook for a box.  Probably won't regret is given the high number of cards that likely belong in a cube:
-Gravecrawler
-Sorin
-Huntmaster of the Fells
-Geralf's Messenger
-Strangleroot Geist
-Mikaeus (maybe)
-Niblis of the Urn (maybe)
-Predator Ooze (maybe)
-Vorapede (maybe)
-Curse of Echoes (which seems redonk in EDH, maybe in Cube too)

[DubDub]

Even from an EDH standpoint I think I can skip this one more or less.

I'm pretty sure you're underestimating Sorin and the deathtouch/lifelink land.

No, I recognize that they're really good, but I don't consider them must-haves.  And I'm not excited about them.  I'm speaking only for myself.  I mean, I'm not committing to never own a Sorin2.0, but I'll probably wait until he's out of Standard and down to ~15 bucks.  Perhaps I should clarify that while I have a handful of EDH decks built I'm not playing them routinely and competitively.  I'm not dying to spend more money on them.  My most cutthroat deck, Radha, is  and I'm not about to shoehorn in a werewolf subtheme, so most of Innistrad block is going to miss the mark for me completely anyway.

[Bill Copes]

-Curse of Echoes (which seems redonk in EDH, maybe in Cube too)

I wish this was resolvable in vintage.

[AmbivalentDuck]

-Curse of Echoes (which seems redonk in EDH, maybe in Cube too)

I wish this was resolvable in vintage.

It probably is, actually.  The issue is that it doesn't read, "I win."  Against certain types of decks, it's very close to "I win."  But too many decks can play a solid game of Magic without playing an Instant or Sorcery.  Ie. Shops.

In the case of the blue/blue mirror, it may be a sideboard bomb.  But it's rare to even see a REB in a sideboard.

[The Atog Lord]

Here is a very interesting article in re Cage.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/179

[Zieby]

Here is a very interesting article in re Cage.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/179

Indeed very interesting.

[Delha]

Here is a very interesting article in re Cage.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/179

Indeed very interesting.

Agreed. It certainly pushes me more in the direction of believing that the good coming from WOTC is intended rather then incidental as some have suggested.

[maatn]

Perhaps not entirely relevant for Vintage, but anyone see the announcement for the two Event Decks that will come with Dark Ascension?

Especially the Spiraling Doom deck seems interesting, containing 2 Birthing Pods, 4Strangleroot Geist and Solemn. Seems solid for a preco.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/902

Code:

Main Deck

60 cards
	
2  Evolving Wilds
14  Forest
1  Grim Backwoods
8  Swamp
25 lands

1  Acidic Slime
1  Bloodgift Demon
1  Brutalizer Exarch
1  Hex Parasite
1  Morkrut Banshee
1  Myr Battlesphere
1  Perilous Myr
1  Phyrexian Rager
3  Skinrender
1  Solemn Simulacrum
1  Stingerfling Spider
4  Strangleroot Geist
1  Viridian Corrupter
4  Viridian Emissary
1  Wakedancer
4  Young Wolf
27 creatures

2  Birthing Pod
2  Diabolic Tutor
3  Doom Blade
1  Mortarpod
8 other spells

Sideboard
1  Acid Web Spider
3  Autumn's Veil
1  Beast Within
1  Despise
1  Dismember
4  Distress
1  Entomber Exarch
1  Gravedigger
1  Myr Sire
1  Wakedancer
15 sideboard cards

[Troy_Costisick]

They are both really good.  I can't believe they put 2 Inkmoth Nexus in the red Pre-con.  These event decks are no joke.  They have great cards in them.

[DubDub]

Not mine.  (I wish!)

[Delha]

Might be too much to hope, but I'd like to believe that this is their way of lowering the cost of chase rares. I haven't followed the price of staples in Standard for a couple years now, but this strikes me as a good way of putting extra copies into circulation. Jace2 was never in a precon, right? I'd assume that if he was, his price tag should have been significantly lower.

[CorwinB]

Might be too much to hope, but I'd like to believe that this is their way of lowering the cost of chase rares. I haven't followed the price of staples in Standard for a couple years now, but this strikes me as a good way of putting extra copies into circulation. Jace2 was never in a precon, right? I'd assume that if he was, his price tag should have been significantly lower.

There are never any Mythic rares in those Event decks. They are generally quite good, though.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Might be too much to hope, but I'd like to believe that this is their way of lowering the cost of chase rares. I haven't followed the price of staples in Standard for a couple years now, but this strikes me as a good way of putting extra copies into circulation. Jace2 was never in a precon, right? I'd assume that if he was, his price tag should have been significantly lower.

There are never any Mythic rares in those Event decks. They are generally quite good, though.

Consider the cross-format appeal of 4x Stoneforge Mystic.  Costs $7 each.  Why?  Because it was a 2x in a $25 precon.

[MaximumCDawg]

It doesn't have to be WotC intentionally pushing down prices of chase rares.  It just requires people at the product design stage being free to make Precons with fun and powerful cards they liked in testing, without being too worried about the secondary market.  Remember, they don't know how something is gonna blow up in Standard when they design stuff months in advance.

[honestabe]

It doesn't have to be WotC intentionally pushing down prices of chase rares.  It just requires people at the product design stage being free to make Precons with fun and powerful cards they liked in testing, without being too worried about the secondary market.  Remember, they don't know how something is gonna blow up in Standard when they design stuff months in advance.

I mean, they test standard before they release cards, so they do have a fairly good idea.  The knew Stoneforge was going to be a staple in Standard, for example.

[LotusHead]

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/918

From the Vault: Realms

aka Foil Lands! 

What lands could WOTC put in there to make Vintage players happy?

Is a foil Tolarian Academy out of the question? (I don't know exactly what's on the reserved list)

[Meddling Mike]

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/918

From the Vault: Realms

aka Foil Lands! 

What lands could WOTC put in there to make Vintage players happy?

Is a foil Tolarian Academy out of the question? (I don't know exactly what's on the reserved list)

Best guess for the artwork preview: Glacial Chasm

Other possibilities:
Dark Depths
Snow-Covered Mountain
Ice Floe

The WOTC reserve list can be found here.

No Academy reprints incoming 

[Ten-Ten]

...first card to jump to mind when i saw the art: thawing glaciers
but it's on the list. has to be Glacial chasm, which I still like 

...I did notice that Force of will is not on the reserve list?

[maatn]

...first card to jump to mind when i saw the art: thawing glaciers
but it's on the list. has to be Glacial chasm, which I still like 

...I did notice that Force of will is not on the reserve list?

Thawing Glaciers was my first guess too!
WotC did make a Judge Foil version of Thawing Glaciers in 2010 if I'm correct?
http://magiccards.info/jr/en/51.html

The same year as the last changes were made to the reserved list, so it could be that the reprinted Glaciers was done before the card was put on the reserved list.

Other lands to appear in this FTV could include EDH staples like Maze of Ith, Volrath's Stronghold_{also on reserved list...}, Academy Ruins, Wasteland OR Strip Mine, Mikokoro?

[Darkenslight]

I'm betting on Ancient Tomb/

[DubDub]

WotC did make a Judge Foil version of Thawing Glaciers in 2010 if I'm correct?
http://magiccards.info/jr/en/51.html

The same year as the last changes were made to the reserved list, so it could be that the reprinted Glaciers was done before the card was put on the reserved list loophole was closed.

Fixed.

Other lands to appear in this FTV could include EDH staples like Maze of Ith, Volrath's Stronghold_{also on reserved list...}, Academy Ruins, Wasteland OR Strip Mine, Mikokoro?

Definitely not Strip Mine, which was just in FTV:Exiled.

Foil Guru-Art basics?  It'd be rough if they took up five slots though from 15.  Maybe if the set counted as one slot and we still got 14 others.

[failtofind]

riashidan port, urborg tomb of yawgmoth, mutavault, riptide lab,glimmervoid, karakas, all seem like good choices to me

[Prospero]

I'm betting on Ancient Tomb/

Ancient Tomb is a powerful card across EDH, Legacy and Vintage.  It would be a great selection.

I am, however, not a huge fan of the foiling process that I've seen, so far, in the From the Vault series.  Beyond that, the original art for Ancient Tomb is really, really cool.  So I don't know that they're likely to top that. 

I had been hoping that I'd see something like an old frame foil Ancient Tomb with the same art and a minimum on the number of DCI related stamps on the thing (having it on the art and where the set symbol usually goes for Dark Confidant was overkill.)

I wonder if they'd release Maze in this set after they'd done a judge promo of it.  I don't see that happening.  I also don't see them re-doing Wasteland or Strip Mine.

Rishadan Port seems like a fine call, though it's nearly guaranteed to be a downgrade.  The art for that card is iconic, I sincerely doubt that they'd be able to top it.  I wish I owned that art.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth could be a good call, too.

The art that they showed looks like Glacial Chasm.

I'd look to whatever people play in EDH when I started putting together a list of cards that would see high demand, in foil.  Extra emphasis would be put on cards that haven't previously been available in foil, especially because EDH seems like it's the great lair of foil junkies (like myself.)

[Samite Healer]

Rainbow Vale!!!

[Norm4eva]

Original wording Lotus Vale??     LOL I KEED I KEED

Wasteland or Port would be pretty cool to see.  Maybe even the Onslaught fetchlands, although they are nowhere near as difficult to get as many other cards they're still bloody pricey (IMO).