- PAX Spoilers

[MaximumCDawg]

As usual, MTG Salvation is on it with spoilers minutes after they appear.  Their visual spoiler is here:

http://mtgsalvation.com/return-to-ravnica-spoiler.html

And links to the images they captured at PAX are here:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=443693

So far, a good chunk of these cards are very flexible and powerful.  A few might even be Vintage playable.  (Not Jace 4.0).

Guttersnipe 2R
Creature - Goblin Shaman   
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Guttersnipe deals 2 damage to each opponent.
2/2

This seems potentially playable as a storm win condition that functions to block hate bears before you go off.  Maybe Charbelcher?  Talrand was sort of like this, and though Talrand's effect is stronger, maybe this will find a niche.

Judge's Familar
Creature - Bird   
Flying
Sacrifice Judge's Familiar : Counter target instant or sorcery spell unless its controller pays 1.
1/1

This card seems pretty good.  I don't see it displacing Cursecatcher, but it fills sort of the same role early in the game.   Makes Tinker a tad less likely on turn 1.  And it's in the same color as Thalia and Stoneforge Mystic.  And has evasion.  Just saying....  you could do worse than curve out with Familar -> Thalia...

Azorius Charm WU
Instant   
Choose one - Creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn; or draw a card; or put target attacking or blocking creature on top of its owner's library.

This is interesting basically because it answers Blightsteel and can be maindecked like Fire // Ice because it cantrips.  Maybe.

All in all, nothing earthshattering yet, but I like the direction this is going.

[Saya]

Chromatic Lantern...
Great tool of 5c Stax!Now they can cast Ancestral Recall from Mishra's Workshop,even Bazaar provides color!

[vaughnbros]

Judge's Familar
Creature - Bird   
Flying
Sacrifice Judge's Familiar : Counter target instant or sorcery spell unless its controller pays 1.
1/1

This card seems pretty good.  I don't see it displacing Cursecatcher, but it fills sort of the same role early in the game.   Makes Tinker a tad less likely on turn 1.  And it's in the same color as Thalia and Stoneforge Mystic.  And has evasion.  Just saying....  you could do worse than curve out with Familar -> Thalia...

So we get cursecatcher that has flying instead of relevant creature types.  It seems solid for a mono white fish deck since that deck lacks good one drops, but I don't think this card makes that deck that much better.

Chromatic Lantern...
Great tool of 5c Stax!Now they can cast Ancestral Recall from Mishra's Workshop,even Bazaar provides color!

Yeh this is probably the best mana fixer.

Nothing else seems playable to me.

Also another jace they cant make a different planeswalker? The abilities almost seem forced at this point like they are running out of ideas.  Bad fog, mini fact or fiction and as an ultimate bribery for any spell.

[TheProfessor]

I agree about Jace.  The abilities dont seem relevant, or rather that useful in vintage, other than the mini Fact or Fiction.  For 4 mana, I'd rather cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Fact or Fiction, or Gifts Ungiven.

[Blue Lotus]

*Selesnya Charm  


Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn, or exile target creature with power 5 or greater; or put a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield.

I do like to play GW. I do think this is very good.

Judge's Familar
Creature - Bird  
Flying
Sacrifice Judge's Familiar : Counter target instant or sorcery spell unless its controller pays 1.
1/1

This card seems pretty good.  I don't see it displacing Cursecatcher, but it fills sort of the same role early in the game.   Makes Tinker a tad less likely on turn 1.  And it's in the same color as Thalia and Stoneforge Mystic.  And has evasion.  Just saying....  you could do worse than curve out with Familar -> Thalia...

Yeah but... Spiketail hatchling?

edit -  missed the casting cost. But still dont think this is very playable.

Oh and this:
Lyev Skyknight 3/1 flying detain for 3 mana. Thats  real swingy effect. Not sure if its vintage swingy but it shuts down jace hard and is relevant in every match up except dredge.

[Saya]

I heard the rumor that Rosewater packs eternal level duallands in RTR.As everyone knows Shocklands are not vintage level cards.
May "Gates" be vintage playable???

[mrjumbo03]

Hmm maybe because there is the possibility of having "gate"-fetches?

[Ten-Ten]

Dreadbore seems playable..

Dreadbore 
Sorcery

Destroy target creature or planeswalker.

In Rakdos-controlled neighborhoods, everyone is part of the show.

[Guli]

Lyev Skyknight will be a candidate for my designs. It has the FLYING most humans lack and also gives tempo and clock. Also interesting if the ETB can be reused somehow.

Selesnya Charm is also a very interesting INSTANT removal spell for Wurmcoil and Blightsteel. It avoids Mental Misstep, hence very interesting in versions with Gaddock Teeg. Should also be playable in versions with Thalia because 2 mana + 1 for sphere is really not an issue. The +2+2 is also interesting versus Lightning Bolt when your bear has 2/2 body. A very versatile card!

I do hope that there is another strong and playable human bear pops out of this. The Skyknight is not exactly what I was hoping for but it will be tested. That being said this card is also interesting:

Fencing Ace 1W

1/1 Double strike, Flying

It has the Human type, and with a card like Mayor it becomes a 2/2 Double striker. With Exalted this baby can deal 6 damage/turn. Not to be underestimated, the ability Double Strike! And with Thalia, it means you have 3 power first strike on the table. Not GREAT, but very welcome in certain situations. Example: Golem

[xouman]

Fencing ace does not fly. Not vintage playable imho.

New jace is not vintage playable. But the second ability is nice, even when one pile goes to bottom and not grave. First ability is dead against most of the field...

Guttersnipe is great! It costs one mana less than talrand and kills inmediately. Not sure about the best deck to fit it, but we will see some tops with this card for sure (not in the long term I'm afraid)

Nivix Guildmage is too mana intensive. It features my favourite colors, but first ability is weak for 1UR and second ability is unplayable. Not viable by any means

Rakdos's Return: now we have a mythic sorcery. BR is not easy to have in vintage, and its effect only great against big blue (discarding and maybe killing a PW). In fact, blightning is far better 90% of the time, and sees 0 play.

Judge's Familiar is weak in a metagame filled with MUD, but decent against control or dredge. Those old UW fish hosers would have played it. Attacking only for 1 is a bit low nowadays...

Chromatic Lantern seems created for 5c stax, but 4c or 5c control decks could also play it. Factories and wastelands give color mana if needed. Against mud it's one more mana and fixes mana color.

[BlackVise]

I really like the new Jace, he's nowhere near as good as JTMS and I highly doubt he'll see any Vintage play, but a cool card nonetheless - although the one thing I do like about him more than JTMS is that over two turns he digs deeper into your library then JTMS does, which could be relevant when trying to find a specific card.

It's a shame his +1 ability is so irrelevant, even if it was just something like '+1: Scry 2' he would have more chance at seeing Vintage play.

[tribet]

Bad Jace. They've been been surfing on the hype but they are clearly running out of good ideas, abilities and mechanics. So now, they are overloading the new cards with 20 things at once to make them decent (re: Charms & Planeswalkers...)

Back in the old days, sometimes you needed a magnifier + 5 min to read + 10 min to understand some cards. Now, you also have to remember all the different things each bloody card is doing!

How do you call it when it is worse than "going backward"?

[MaximumCDawg]

Dreadbore seems playable..

Dreadbore 
Sorcery

Destroy target creature or planeswalker.

In Rakdos-controlled neighborhoods, everyone is part of the show.

I don't remember when I last saw someone using Terminate, though, and this is very similar.

[vaughnbros]

*Selesnya Charm  


Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn, or exile target creature with power 5 or greater; or put a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield.

I do like to play GW. I do think this is very good.

Is this really better than a normal removal spell though?  The +2/+2 and trample is rarely better than removal.  The exile part is removal for only big creatures.  So basically is being able to generate a 2/2 vigilance worth playing a worse removal spell that costs 2 colored mana?

Dreadbore seems playable..

Dreadbore  
Sorcery

Destroy target creature or planeswalker.

In Rakdos-controlled neighborhoods, everyone is part of the show.

Its a sorcery and costs 2 non blue colored mana.  If one of these wasnt true I'd agree with you.

[Saya]

we can replace it with lightning bolt at 90% of the situation

[Blue Lotus]

*Selesnya Charm  


Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn, or exile target creature with power 5 or greater; or put a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield.

I do like to play GW. I do think this is very good.

Is this really better than a normal removal spell though?  The +2/+2 and trample is rarely better than removal.  The exile part is removal for only big creatures.  So basically is being able to generate a 2/2 vigilance worth playing a worse removal spell that costs 2 colored mana?

+2/+2 trample is a decent finisher card. Swords isn't very good at finishing off your opponent. Obviously it isn't BANANAS but I don't think it is immediately disregardable either.

[vaughnbros]

*Selesnya Charm  


Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn, or exile target creature with power 5 or greater; or put a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance onto the battlefield.

I do like to play GW. I do think this is very good.

Is this really better than a normal removal spell though?  The +2/+2 and trample is rarely better than removal.  The exile part is removal for only big creatures.  So basically is being able to generate a 2/2 vigilance worth playing a worse removal spell that costs 2 colored mana?

+2/+2 trample is a decent finisher card. Swords isn't very good at finishing off your opponent. Obviously it isn't BANANAS but I don't think it is immediately disregardable either.

Your only dealing 2 extra damage on that trample.  If I'm casting swords on a 2/1 to open my opponent up to an attack this card is essentially giant growth in comparison.  Its only when your opponent has multiple creatures that they would block with that I think it really ends up having a significant impact on the game.

Your paying 2 colored mana versus 1 with swords/path.  It being 2 mana makes the card nearly useless against first turn lodestone and first turn tinker.  It being 2 colored mana means your also probably going to be exposing a non basic in order to cast it.  On top of that you can't answer Bob unless they decide to attack or block with him.

Basically your build would have to be extremely aggro to want to play this card over swords/path because the only thing is really does better is dealing damage.

[serracollector]

Chromatic Lens seems amazing to me.  I remember when Control Slaver (albeit before the mighty TV/Key combo was out) always had to choose between Workshops/Ancient tombs version, or the Mana Drain versions.  With this you could easily run workshops and tombs in a monoblue deck with 4 drains all day long.  I think this card could breed many decks besides 4-5 c MUD.  Might even be able to make the Uba Mask/Jace TMS deck more viable......

[nineisnoone]

Jace AoT, not bad (4 cards for 4 mana and all). But just goes to show you "it's Vintage" where this card is generally going to be worse than your other options (Fact or Fiction, Jace TMS). His first ability isn't bad (though just a waste of space), his last ability is good, but since the only way to gain loyalty is to use the first ability when there are no creatures are around, it's kind of awful.

Guttersnipe. YEEESSSSS.... I can build that Janky sligh deck again. But more seriously (not that I'm not serious about building a sligh deck), I could definitely see this having play in a Storm deck, this gets the edge over Talrand in this case due to the immediacy of the damage. Also, Talrand is a Legend, this is not, so getting multiples of this card in play is somewhat retarded. Metawise might not be the best build, but could be a nice dark horse deck. (Should have been instant, sorcery, or goblin so that it could be played in a goblin deck, but whatevs)

Azorius Charm looks good to me. Particularly in decks with creatures (lifelink in the mirror match would be pretty boss). But even without, removal that cycles is pretty strong.

Izzet Charm & Goblin Electromancer both seem pretty good (though mentioned elsewhere)

Nivix Guildmage - The abilities are very expensive (though perhaps with Goblin Welder for Control Slaver maybe?). I think this is a nice mix with Gush however, however that sounds much more like win-more.

Chromatic Lantern looks prreettty retarded for Shops. I used to only mess with MUD shop decks because I hated balancing all the colorless and color mana, and this card lets your run 5 color shop (basically) without even having colored mana sources. Also, lets not forget that letting Mishra's Workshop tap for any sort of mana to pay for non-artifact spells is pretty significant.

Overall...

Chromatic will see play.

Izzet/Azorious Charms are playable, though it's difficult to say if they will see play as the strength of the utility is highly deck/meta reliant.

Guttersnipe has potential, but I'm ass at making storm decks so I don't have a clue. So does, Goblin Electromancer, which I think fits nicely into a blue control deck with minor hiccups. Nivix has a niche, but probably no.

The only other cards possibly worth talking about are Selensya Charm... no, but go for it if you want.

Also Grisly Salvage, which seems like it might have a strong niche application for deck for an aggro-control variant with it's deep dig and ability to stack the graveyard. I'd have to sit down and mess around with it more (than I am able to currently) to see if it makes sense or not though.

[serracollector]

Grisly Savage could see play in Legacy Dredge maybe?  I think the 2 color cc keeps it out of vintage dredge, but who knows I could be proven wrong.  But IMO finding that bazaar, while putting a ghast/dredger or 3 in my grave doesn't sound bad for 2 mana at instant speed.