Gatecrash Leaks

[quicksilvervii]

Not sure if this is real, but if it is...

[KrauserKrauser]

Terese continues to do wonders.  The card... meh.  Great off a Mind's Desire or Dream Halls.  Maybe a wish target in the Omni Show deck?  Likely not as Petals does this even better.

[brokenbacon]

Oh my haha... Wizards, we are trying too hard...
I mean, 12 mana for a guaranteed Tendrils kill - if you hit it with Mind's Desire you're golden, otherwise how the hell do you justify ramping to this if you could just as easily ramp to a 9 storm Drills.
It's bonkers, but I think the fact that it costs 12 is a little much. Show and Tell -> Omniscience -> This is cool though

[quicksilvervii]

Not sure about the Vintage applications, but seems absolutely insane in Legacy High Tide.

[KrauserKrauser]

Is it really that easy to float 16 mana?

This + Turnabout because you would need to float mana afterwards otherwise you instafizzle.

[The Atog Lord]

This card is going to be fighting Emrakul. Emrakul costs 16 mana, but doesn't get you randomly killed if something goes wrong. Also, Emrakul is better with Show and Tell, and most decks running this would be casting Show and Tell to get Omniscience into play.

On the other hand, maybe this will do something interesting in Standard in conjunction with Omniscience. It's two-card combo to end the game, even if one of the cards is expensive. In either case, it's an interesting card, if one unlikely to see play right away.

[boggyb]

Heh.

Jace, Architect of Thought's ultimate just got more attractive

edit: Oh-- looks like they're way ahead of me. That's Jace in the artwork, isn't it?

[Russian Alara]

Also leaked :

[brokenbacon]

Holy fucking shit.
CAN R&D PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ACKNOWLEDGE THE INSANE POWER CREEP ABUNDANT IN THESE RELEASES.

[Cody.TopDeckInsurrection]

any news on the reprinting of Mayor of Avabruck? Fuckin love that card! vintage staple people!!

[Samoht]

These look very fake to me, but color me a skeptic.

[TheWhiteDragon]

Eh - I'm not seeing anything playable or useful in Vintage.  The dragon is the closest thing to having a good Vintage effect, but he's unplayable outside of oath - and Grisel is just better.  Just pay 2RR for shatterstorm and be done with it if you really want to hose artifacts.  I mean, I guess you could artifact ramp mana into this guy, but then null rod just kills you.

[Norm4eva]

I'm trying to decide if I like the RG walker or not.  Being able to make your beaters fight as removal is appealing, lets your burn go to the face more.  Drawing creatures is appealing.  I could just be undereducated in regard to planeswalkers in an aggressive deck but I get the sense that tapping out to play one is bad in a deck that could be dropping a bunch of Nacatls and a burn spell instead; maybe it'll help to give such a deck a more robust midgame, and let you do a little bit of card drawing and Fighting to prevent the opponent from stabilizing via board position.  Or maybe it's just another bad 3-drop walker.  vOv

[Darkenslight]

I'm trying to decide if I like the RG walker or not.  Being able to make your beaters fight as removal is appealing, lets your burn go to the face more.  Drawing creatures is appealing.  I could just be undereducated in regard to planeswalkers in an aggressive deck but I get the sense that tapping out to play one is bad in a deck that could be dropping a bunch of Nacatls and a burn spell instead; maybe it'll help to give such a deck a more robust midgame, and let you do a little bit of card drawing and Fighting to prevent the opponent from stabilizing via board position.  Or maybe it's just another bad 3-drop walker.  vOv

Domri's good as a 1-2 of, mostly because that ultimate is insane for long-game.  The bigger problem is, "is this card better than everything else in R/G?"

[Norm4eva]

I'm trying to decide if I like the RG walker or not.  Being able to make your beaters fight as removal is appealing, lets your burn go to the face more.  Drawing creatures is appealing.  I could just be undereducated in regard to planeswalkers in an aggressive deck but I get the sense that tapping out to play one is bad in a deck that could be dropping a bunch of Nacatls and a burn spell instead; maybe it'll help to give such a deck a more robust midgame, and let you do a little bit of card drawing and Fighting to prevent the opponent from stabilizing via board position.  Or maybe it's just another bad 3-drop walker.  vOv

Domri's good as a 1-2 of, mostly because that ultimate is insane for long-game.  The bigger problem is, "is this card better than everything else in R/G?"

See, when I think of a 2-of in a RG deck, I start thinking of, like, Fireblast or Thunderous Wrath; something you just cast once and surprise your opponent b/c they didn't know they were secretly at 15 instead of 20 this whole time.  I don't know if it's better than those cards, because then you have to decide whether it's better to end the game in the mid-game, or start trying to actually have a mid/late-game.  And then you're just kind of a mid-range deck with worse creatures.  I dunno, maybe it's an enabler for some mythical RG midrange deck that doesn't actually exist yet.

[MaximumCDawg]

I feel like Aurelia is the strongest of these spoiled cards in a vacuum.  Enter the Infinite (which should be "Omniscience," and Omniscience should be "Omnipotence") is an insta-win, but like everyone else has said, there are plenty of better ways to win once you hit 12 mana.  I'd love to see a deck running of this, but good luck.

Aurelia, though, she's a thing.  Standard and Modern (probably not older formats).  In the great tradition of six-mana soul-crushing bombs, she comes down and immediately swings for 6 for 6 mana if the air is open.  If you're an aggro deck and you have a few other troops, she will likely end the game immediately.  This is a good card.

[Vennie]

The borborygmos one is really an EDH bomb, but outside of that it's manacost is just way to high.

[Norm4eva]

Yeah I keep forgetting that 21 commander damage is a win-con.  It's a rule I could do without and I honestly don't see very often, but new Borb definitely capitalizes on it.

Aurelia says hi to Kaalia of the Vast.  That deck is fairly brutal in 1v1 EDH, and being able to attack multiple times with Kaalia in play seems like kind of a big deal.

[Nefarias]

Yeah I keep forgetting that 21 commander damage is a win-con.  It's a rule I could do without and I honestly don't see very often, but new Borb definitely capitalizes on it.

Aurelia says hi to Kaalia of the Vast.  That deck is fairly brutal in 1v1 EDH, and being able to attack multiple times with Kaalia in play seems like kind of a big deal.

The "21 Damage" Rule only applies to combat damage. Granted a 7/6 Trampler can do that in short order, but I'm guessing that's not what you meant.

[Norm4eva]

Yeah I keep forgetting that 21 commander damage is a win-con.  It's a rule I could do without and I honestly don't see very often, but new Borb definitely capitalizes on it.

Aurelia says hi to Kaalia of the Vast.  That deck is fairly brutal in 1v1 EDH, and being able to attack multiple times with Kaalia in play seems like kind of a big deal.

The "21 Damage" Rule only applies to combat damage. Granted a 7/6 Trampler can do that in short order, but I'm guessing that's not what you meant.

Oh, I thought it was direct damage too, my mistake.  Like I said, it never comes up whenever I play EDH vOv

[Nefarias]

Yeah I keep forgetting that 21 commander damage is a win-con.  It's a rule I could do without and I honestly don't see very often, but new Borb definitely capitalizes on it.

Aurelia says hi to Kaalia of the Vast.  That deck is fairly brutal in 1v1 EDH, and being able to attack multiple times with Kaalia in play seems like kind of a big deal.

The "21 Damage" Rule only applies to combat damage. Granted a 7/6 Trampler can do that in short order, but I'm guessing that's not what you meant.

Oh, I thought it was direct damage too, my mistake.  Like I said, it never comes up whenever I play EDH vOv

Yeah, it sucks. When I first heard about the format, I put together a ramp Maga, Traitor to Mortals deck with the intention of just Fireballing everyone out. Then I re-read the rule

[Jenni]

(Following post is assuming these are legit, as they are still unconfirmed)

I would like to sneak attack the new dragon against affinity in legacy, not because it's good mind, just because it would be funny. Maybe it would be equally funny vs shop decks in vintage too if you managed enough mana to resolve and use sneak attack while the shop player has a board for this to impact (so, not that likely to happen). Though, if you can cheat any creature into play, then there are much better options.

infinite is another "I win" card, annoying that it has such a high power level but the decks that could possibly play it have other ways to just win anyway, so whats one more.

Gruul guild leader seems like he belongs in one of the commander decks, not a real set.
The planeswalker might be okay in modern, extended(is that still a thing?) or standard in a R/G beatdown/ramp deck where you play big creatures, use him to keep threats in hand to survive sweepers, kill spells, etc. Or as a removal spell since your creatures should be bigger and meaner than anything the opponent has anyway, and if he ults all your creatures for the rest of the game are great.

Aurelia is a solid finisher and top end for a boros deck I think (standard or modern), she comes down, hits for 6 on her own the turn you play her, + gives you the chance to double your damage for a quick end to a game that dragged on long enough for boros to have 6 mana.

None of them seem really great to me though.

[hvndr3d y34r h3x]

Holy fucking shit.
CAN R&D PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ACKNOWLEDGE THE INSANE POWER CREEP ABUNDANT IN THESE RELEASES.

If you go googling, you can find they've acknowledged it in regards to dudes many times.

[Norm4eva]

There are more and more leaks coming from the mothership, and mostly they are uber disappointment. Heh.  I'm just about out of break time @ work so I'll not post links, but the keywords are looking pretty terrible.

Orzhov - Extort (whenever you cast a spell you can pay {WB} to have all opponents lose 1 life, then you gain that much life).  Or as I've been calling it, "shitty kicker"

Simic - Evolve (whenever a creature ETB with power OR toughness greater than -this-, put a +1/+1 counter on -this-).  Playing fatties to make fatties out of weenies?  Behh.

Gruul - Bloodrush (it's just like Channel, but you know, just to pump your guys).  I so badly wanted this to be good and have lots of neat effects, but apparently MaRo says "nope, it's just creature pump." So so bad.

Boros - Battalion (whenever -this- attacks, if two other creatures are attacking as well, -effect-.) So far looks the most playable, I just love turning mans sideways, especially three of them. It's better than Radiance, but that doesn't make it very good, and even though most of the non-Abrupt Decay removal is shitty in Standard, it'll still be insanely easy to keep suckers off having that third man in play.

[Thecheese]

I agree the previews have just been meh to me

[MaximumCDawg]

There are more and more leaks coming from the mothership, and mostly they are uber disappointment. Heh.  I'm just about out of break time @ work so I'll not post links, but the keywords are looking pretty terrible.

Orzhov - Extort (whenever you cast a spell you can pay {WB} to have all opponents lose 1 life, then you gain that much life).  Or as I've been calling it, "shitty kicker"

Simic - Evolve (whenever a creature ETB with power OR toughness greater than -this-, put a +1/+1 counter on -this-).  Playing fatties to make fatties out of weenies?  Behh.

Gruul - Bloodrush (it's just like Channel, but you know, just to pump your guys).  I so badly wanted this to be good and have lots of neat effects, but apparently MaRo says "nope, it's just creature pump." So so bad.

Boros - Battalion (whenever -this- attacks, if two other creatures are attacking as well, -effect-.) So far looks the most playable, I just love turning mans sideways, especially three of them. It's better than Radiance, but that doesn't make it very good, and even though most of the non-Abrupt Decay removal is shitty in Standard, it'll still be insanely easy to keep suckers off having that third man in play.

We don't have enough information Bloodrush or Extort to know if it's good or not.  A 1cc permanent that does something vintage-useful with Extort might be playable.  Bloodrush might be playable if there is a cheap way to end the game with it. 

Evolve, we have a little more information that.  I like Fathom Mage quite a bit, but only for casual at the moment.  If they print a way to merge Fathom Mage and Lorescale Coatl's abilities somehow, you've got yourself a Vintage-level win-con.  (Draws as much of your library as you like.)  That's worth keeping an eye on down the road, but I doubt you'd see that combination in this particular set.

I like these new cards, since they let me go through the Gatherer and look for interactions.  Sadly, as it stands, Fathom Mage doesn't combo with anything worth playing.  What it really wants is a relevant Vintage 2/2 creature who blinks at the price of removing +1/+1 counters or adding -1/-1 counters; doesnt exist.

First, there are ways to put counters on the Mage to draw cards directly. This turns some cards of varying quality into other useful effects:

Mikeaus - Tap to draw a card, limited by how big Mikeaus is.
Blade of the Bloodchief, Sadistic Glee - 3GU or 2BGUFecundity.  Stinks.
Daily Regimen - 1W to draw a card as many times as you like.  Not awful, if will have creatures to pump during your end step with spare mana anyway.
Amok - 1 to discard a card at random and draw a card.  Pretty stinky on it's own, though, and useless without creatures.
Dragon Blood - A slightly cheaper Jademeayde Tome that is terrible without Mage out.  Stinks.
Evolution Vat - Only slightly more interesting; lets you go nuts on card draw once Mage is ramped up.  Still pretty stinky, though.
Gavony Township - Interesting!  Land that taps for mana, lets you pump dudes if you have 2WG sitting around during an end step, and turns into a Tome.  Probably not good enough, but interesting.
Contagion Clasp - A Tome that kills Bob when it comes into play.  Not obviously terrible!
Primal Cocoon - One-sided howling mine for 2GGU.  You can choose to stop drawing cards and attack or block if you must.  Pretty terrible otherwise.
Ring of Evos Isle - One-sided howling mine for 3GU.  Also protects your Mage at the same time.  Would be interesting if only the Ring had other applications.
Forgotten Harvest - Interesting!  One-sided howling mine for 3GGU.  The first part grows your dudes slowly at the cost of your used fetchlands.  Might be even a thing if there are creatures that otherwise use +1/+1 counters for useful effects.  Requires no mana investment or tapping after initial payment, which is awesome.


Then, you got the cards that let you pull counters off the Mage.  This lets you keep drawing cards if you keep playing 2/2 creatures/

Sage of Fables - Essentially pay 2 to draw 2 cards every time a 2/2 or larger enters the battle.  There might be a legacy engine in there somewhere, if only the cards weren't so bad on their own. 
Torture, Glistening Oil - You to keep drawing off every 2/2 you cast,.  I guess it also kills Bob in a pinch... after they draw a card to replace him.  Glistening Oil even kills your own mage if you're not spamming creatures.
Gore Vassal - Grows mage, protects mage, and shrinks him for future growth.  That's a good deal of work.  However, the Vassal is really bad on his own
Scarscale Ritual becomes cuter.  Not cute enough, though.

Overall, I feel like this guy is clever and maybe there will be some modern / legacy implications... but not there yet.

[TheWhiteDragon]

Whispering Madness  2BU

Sorcery   
Each player discards his or her hand, then draws cards equal to the greatest number of cards a player discarded this way.
Cipher (then exile this spell encoded on a creature you control.  Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, you may cast this spell without paying its mana cost.)

Now THAT is a freakin sick ability.  The expensive windfall isn't great, but slapping it on an evasive critter and casting it for free every turn could be degenerate.  I can only imagine what else they print with cipher.  Being a UB mechanic, I can only assume lightning bolt or disenchant effects are out, but most definitely we'll see draw/discard and bounce.  Would a UB bommerang that ciphers be vintage worthy?  How about a UB thoughtseize?  Maybe a UB "opponent discards a card, you draw a card"?

[MaximumCDawg]

Whispering Madness  2BU

Sorcery   
Each player discards his or her hand, then draws cards equal to the greatest number of cards a player discarded this way.
Cipher (then exile this spell encoded on a creature you control.  Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, you may cast this spell without paying its mana cost.)

Now THAT is a freakin sick ability.  The expensive windfall isn't great, but slapping it on an evasive critter and casting it for free every turn could be degenerate.  I can only imagine what else they print with cipher.  Being a UB mechanic, I can only assume lightning bolt or disenchant effects are out, but most definitely we'll see draw/discard and bounce.  Would a UB bommerang that ciphers be vintage worthy?  How about a UB thoughtseize?  Maybe a UB "opponent discards a card, you draw a card"?

Really?  I think this card was deceptively well designed and is alot less powerful than people are thinking.  At 2U, the Windfall effect is accessible early in the game, often the first turn.  The power comes in when you break the symmetry, by say, emptying your hand while they have a full grip.  At 2UB, it's already really questionable whether it's easy enough to cast to reliably take advantage of the asymmetry when it occurs.  Admittedly, it's in the right colors.

The Cipher ability here though, I don't think it does much.  The longer the game goes on, and the more obvious the threat of Windfalling is (pretty obvious when this is Ciphered) the less effective it becomes.  Windfalling when your opponent has fewer cards than you is a nobo; doing it when he or she has one or two cards more than you is merely decent.  I could see this wreaking havoc on a control player who is trying to hoard countermagic in his or her hand, but then, if you're getting in each turn for damage, then the game is going really well anyway.

I think this could go into some cute Legacy deck using evasive creatures to sneak in with Swords, perhaps, but I don't see this working in Vintage at the moment.

[Delha]

One of the most interesting things about this to me is that fact that Cipher doesn't appear to target. Throwing it on something with Shroud to dodge removal sounds like a nice way to avoid the traditional Aura problem.

Really?  I think this card was deceptively well designed and is alot less powerful than people are thinking.

I think you're vastly underestimating this card. I very highly doubt that the question is whether the effect is impressive enough, but rather if the hoops you're jumping through first are too burdensome.

Any deck running this will presumably be built to abuse the hell out of it. Consider how brutal this becomes when paired with any sort of bounce. Hurkyl's hitting say Sapphire and Emerald into Windfall is huge. Rack and Ruin can be backbreaking already, one that costs and cantrips is flat out sick. Hitting any more two targets this way is quite likely autoscoop.

Even ignoring that, the threat of never keeping what's in your hand is disruptive on it's own, forcing suboptimal lines of play.

Against Shops, sure you shouldn't plan on resolving Whispering Madness itself, but mainboard Steel Sabotages and Hurkyl's probably don't hurt your matchup there. Something like the theoretical UB Cipher Boomerang mentioned below on an Angelic Curator/Tel-Jilad Chosen seems like an absolute nightmare.

I'm not saying this will becomd the latest greatest deck in the format, but I'd definitely say it's effect is much more powerful than you're giving it credit for.

[MaximumCDawg]

I think we're talking about different things, D.  Sounds to me like you're talking about other potential Ciper cards, such as a Bounce Cipher.  Such a card would probably be playable.  Ditto with Cipher-Duress or Cipher-Draw. 

This card in particular, though, I'm not seeing how it's strong.  You're suggesting a deck that uses lots of bounce and then uses this fellow to cycle away all of the bounced permanents.  You want to set up an end step Sabotage or two on moxen, then barf up Whispering Madness (or Cipher it off your creature) to eliminate the artifacts and draw more cards to boot.  Alright, I see that.  The problem is, it's not a trivial situation to set up, and 2UB is not a trivial spell to cast.  I don't think you'll often live the dream of resolving an Invisible Stalker, later resolving and Ciphering WM onto it, then having a late game situation where you want to bounce a bunch of artifacts and allow your opponent to cycle them all.    Heck, this is doing them a favor if you bounced a certain 11/11 artifact.