Return to Ravnica Exclusive Preview!

The new set Return to Ravnica is two weeks away from entering the stores! If you follow the official spoiler page, or any spoiler page that is, you already have seen these cards:


Gate will be a new land type and, as far as we can tell, there will be some interaction between your spells and these new lands. Take for example this Azorius Mastermind:


The control freak himself has allied with the Senate, and will help protect yourself from some harmful spells your opponents throw. And when he is on the battlefield, nobody can lay a finger of him! Have fun casting the legendary programmer!

Jace

  • Yo all! Less than a month away from the Return to Ravnica prerelease! New cards, new mechanicks, new old new dualands...

  • New version of bad boy Jace! We saw him at PAX (Spoiler Alert!), but today, we are going to show you some early versions that designers were considering to put into the set:
  • This version of Jace was designed with the show Grey's Anatomy in mind, and would be showcasing Jace's delving into the healing / reanimating business.
  • Here we see Jace posing as the famous spy, Bond. His abilities show the intelligence gathering, sniping and total destruction any spy should possess! And finally:
  • We see Jace's angry version due to the natural cycle. We love the mean Jace and we want him back!
  • That's all for today! Have fun and happy spoiler season!

Poker Vol.1

  • Hiya all! Today we are going to discuss a major issue for the Magic community: the Poker issue.

  • It is true that many players have semi or fully abandoned the game in favor of poker. A similar strategy game, that does, however, help them make enough money to live!

  • Julien Nuijien and Gabriel Nassif are among those players, and I am sure you all would love to see them back competing at the top tier events!

  • So, we got word from Wizards that they are planning to promote a version of the game that includes the 52-card deck used for playing poker. And some of the poker rules.

  • Things are not clear, but it seems that it will be a regular game of magic and a sidegame of poker.

  • This of course means that new cards will be coming! Mark Rosewater send us a few of those, along with some comments:
The first one was made with the largest online poker community in mind, Pokerstars.
It is a Starstorm type effect that will sure find it's way into ramp control decks.

The old favorite is back, now with an added bonus when you play him during the River.

This one shows the kobolds of Kher Keep taking a trip to Las Vegas and visiting Poker Keep, the Casino.
They really depend on your Poker hand to do their job,
but I am sure many red mages will love them!

Another old favorite but this time also hated card. The top is back to check the top of the deck,
and reward you if you find the strongest card.

Finally, Jace is back! You can see him here in his dark version, having drawn the Dead Man's hand.
  • I' m really looking forward to trying this new Magic version!

  • Word. Also, the last card is interesting, since we know another Jace will be in Return to Ravnica. And the next Ask the Dusk will be about the possible versions of this Jace!

  • Until then, have fun playing Magic, or Poker, or both!

At the beach

  • Da imp be back from vacation. Magic at the beach is tricky, you need good waterproof sleeves, big umbrella, but it's all going to get messy soon. What can be done, is magic cards imitating the trip to the beach. Here they are:

  • Have fun at the beach!

Birthday

  • Today is my birthday!
  • Today be psy birthday!
  • This day of the year the blog owner was born!
  • Don't hold back! 

Battle of Wits

  • Magic is a game. You are having fun playing it and even more fun when you win. But it is always the same thing...

  • You need to play creatures, attack with creatures and kill your opponent. Oh, there are also the mill decks, but everyone knows they don't actually work.

  • They do after this came out!

  • No, they still don't. Anyway, every once in a while, Wizards decide to grace us with something different, like poison or this card:
  • This is extra fun! You enter the tournament with 237 cards cobbled together, and when you do win, everyone is amazed, befuddled, twiddled, asparagus and whatnot.

  • So, we asked our inside man at the headquarters if they are willing to explore more of this type of cards. Guess what? He actually gave us some cards that will see print in the future, when the time is right.
First off:
A lot of tapping - untapping needs to be done for this to work, but there surely are many possible ways to cruise a deck like that to victory. If only I had a snow globe...

Then we have this:
This is an interesting one, as it will drive players to learn more about history and there are already talks for a GP in a castle in Britain, or in the Colosseum in Italy.

Moving on:
 This is rather amusing, since every time you attack with that Emrakul, or you are about to cast Ajani's ultimate, your opponent concedes. Well, not anymore! Also, this comes as a double spoiler, since it hints that the rules about concession are about to change...

Then we have this marvelous piece of marvel:
 All you need to do is find a witch, then burn her. It's a pity Thiago Chan is not a lady.

And finally, the one Battle that will always be remembered:
The answer is, of course, GP Columbus. Until next time, have fun winning differently!

Goats

  • M13 has come out and brought us the following card:
(You can see the goats in the middle, especially after reading one of the arcana)
  • So, we got some goat love (ok, just one card. and only one of four abilities) but we sure as hell want more.

  • Wiseman-of-the-Mountain went over to the headquarters and spoke to Maro himself about the matter. Lets see what he has to say:

  • I went over to the WotC headquarters and spoke to Maro himself about the goat matter.

  • We already knew that. What did he tell you?

  • He told me many things!

  • Specifically?

  • He told me many stories about goats. And he has many, many plans about them. At first, one of the soon to come out expansions will feature the long awaited goat lord:
  • That block will also feature the return of the transform mechanic. This one was a keeper, one of the few not-broken mechanics loved by the majority of the players. Also, the block will feature ideas from the Innistrad block, the Lorwyn block and some future sight ideas. So, let's see...
He was slowly walking towards the village, towering the already small folk and beating fear to their hearts. The anger was carved in his otherwise elegant features and his pointy ears were tense to hear the whispers of the folk about the incident. Another incident. Was anyone safe anymore?
"I will show them.", he muttered to himself. "I will find who the terrorist is, and I will send him flying."
The giant was none other than Lars, the legendary ranger with the flying goat fighting style.

The warrior, who as they say, learned to fight like that from a Spanniard Gladiator excelling at the local festivals, arrived at the town hall, kicked down the remains of the broken door and proceeded to the scene of the crime.

"The bodies, Lars. The bodies are pilling up outside.", said Gaddock Teeg, the Kithkin village advisor, called to help with the investigation.
"I don't think the dead bodies will help us solve this crime. It is clear a beast killed them, but no such things live in these areas. I fear, a more sinister force shadows over this village. Were is the mayor?"
"I don't know Lars. He was at his home last night, or so it seems. Do you suspect him?"
"Well, Gaddock, in times like these, no man must be considered innocent."
"You are right. By the way, you need to see this. We found this soup cooked when we arrived here. We have already sent a sample for analysis, but it doesn't smell like poison to me..."
"A soup, you say? What can this... NOOOOOOO!! Where IS IT?"
"What? Here" He showed him the soup.
"This is goat soup, Teeg." The giant was almost crying. "Only one kind of human -no, more than human- being can commit such an atrocity in order to cook the goat soup."
"What kind of atrocity?" asked the Advisor in a bizzare voice. Lars explained:



"You start craving goat. You can't help it. I know this, Teeg, I also fought this feeling. But others are not like me, they do not possess the required strength. They will not stop until they find their goat. And once they do:"



"Apparently the soup itself is really tasty and has healing abilities. But the way of creating it..."
"This is appalling" gasped Gaddock Teeg. "Lars, who could do such a thing?"
"I don't know. But I know someone who might."

Lars paced outside and screamed on top of his lungs "ESCAPEGOAT"
"You are calling Escapegoat? You think he could have done such a thing to his breathen?"
"No. I know he didn't do this. But I also know he was here this dawn. I heard rumors of a flying goat and it was not one of mine."

After a while, a smiling goat arrived from the sky and explained to them that the town mayor had called him in the morning.


"What did he say to you, friend?"
"He asked me to take him somewhere. He was spacing out, didn't look like he knew excactly who he was."
"I... I have seen this before. With another mayor. I will deal with Mwani another time, I need to go now, before it's too late." Lars told Gaddock Teeg, then asked the goat "Can you take me where he went?"
"Of course! Hop on!"

Lars mounted the flying goat and they went off. After a not very long trip, they landed at Goating Hill.

"Thanks friend. I will call again when I need you."
"Have a nice day Lars!" the goat said, before vanishing from sight.
"Now let's see what happened here."

He arrived at the house on top of Goating Hill and knocked impatiently at the door. After a while, an old man came.


"Hello. My, you are a tall man. How can I help you, sir?"
"Old man, I am here investigating a crime. Did you hear anything unusual last night?"
"No, no I think not. Oh, wait! Now that you mention it, I did hear something unusual in the morning, when I had to go to the bathroom. It sounded like a dog, but ... but bigger."
"Did you see where it went?"
"No, sir, I did not. I am a frail old man, I was afraid. I even bared the windows before I went back to sleep."
"Sigh. You should be worried. There was a terrible creature roaming our town last night and I suspect it came here. But... is that goat that I smell?"
"Ooh, sir, your nose cannot be fooled. It is some goat's cheese my nephew brought me. You came at the time of my breakfast. Would you like some?"
"No, thanks. And thanks for your time, old man. Be careful these days. But before I leave, what's this device?" Lars pointed at a strange looking thing on the floor.
"Oh, that. You wouldn't understand what this thing does. I don't understand either. I wanted to create an oven, but gone are the days of my youth. Now it is some useless junk lying on the floor, waiting for my nephew to clean it up."
"Right. Goodbye then and, as I said, be careful."
"Thank you, tall sir. You too have a nice day."

The old man could hear Lars' footsteps as he was walking by. He started climbing the stairs down to the basement, where he stared at a tunnel filled with captive goats and more of those strange devices.

"An oven? An O V E N ? What did I come up with this time?" The old man laughed at him self. He looked at the goats and his pupils dilated. "We will meet again, Lars.", he said with what started as a laughter, then turned to sinister scream "Soon, I will be complete. Soon. Very soon!"

Movies Vol.1

  • I enjoy watching films. On DvD, at the theaters, even when they had those. Wut wut I also enjoy, be playing Magic.

  • Right. So, what if Magic was more "based" on movies. Wouldn't that be fun?

  • You mean like wut wut they did here?

  • Yes. Kinda. These were cards based on a movie, but there was no card for the whole movie. I meant it like here. But not with series, with movies.

  • Yeah, I totally get it. Cards that more or less make sense, but are thematically based on a movie. When you play with them, double the pleasure.

  • Double the pleasure it is ! Straight from Imdb:



  • Yeah. Just like that. I wish they made cards just like that. Oh wait...

Nicol Bolas

  • Fly evening fellow Magic players! I hope you are getting ready fo' the M13 prerelease tournaments taking place tomorrow.

  • The new core set will be a special one. It will be the first to feature a multicolored card!

  • Who be that card you ask? It's the archenemy of all, the boogeyman, the most evil creature ever to be printed. It is, of course, Nicol Bolas.

  • Nicol Bolas terrorized Wizards of the Coast and made them put him into this set in order to terrorize more. And not only that, he made them promote him by creating four prerelease cards altering himself.

  • They are ingeniously made to appear innocent, funny or cool. Nicol Bolas will never stop to pursue world dominion, even if he has to mock himself a little. So, one of these cards will be distributed to players attending the event:

  • Here he takes the form of well-known movie heroes, Blade the Daywalker and Darth Vader. They are considered really cool by the majority of the people, in spite of the amount of blood in their hands. And finally:

  • In tyos final alternate card, he tries to convince people that he be bored of the life of a planeswalker and will surrender his spark to return to his former form.

  • PLAYERS BE CAREFUL! He is not what he poses to be. By all means enjoy the cards, but do not sympathize with this terrible being. He will consume you alive and haunt your spirit. Or something like that.

  • You were warned. Until next time, have fun at the tournament!

Magic Online

  • Magic online turned 10 years old at the 24th of June this year! Happy birthday Magic Online!

  • As hinted in the last article by Wiseman-of-the-Mountain, this day will be dedicated to the popular online version of our favorite game.

  • If you read tyos article, you already know that today was the MtgO team members online chat. I was at that chat and chatted with the team members (duh). Wut wut I learned was astonishing.

  • Indeed. We were informed that Magic Online, at some point in the future will, explore the possibility of creating a slightly different game of magic. An online-only version of the game.

  • And because there already are online-only sets, integration will not be difficult at all. So, in the next Masters Edition release, be prepared to see those new cards: 

  • You may have noticed that these cards already exist but, of course, do something else. Remember that this is only a preview article, and the actual names will be slightly changed in order to match valid card creation rules.

  • Tyos be not the last of the online themed cards, but we are saving the rest when Masters Edition V launches. Until next time, have fun playing Magic online!

NBA

  • Miami Heat won last night and were crowded NBA champions for the second time in their history!
  • While every one on the team helped to achieve this goal, it couldn't have been done without the Big Three:

  • And of course, the king: